What To Do...

Cardboard boxes have a plethora of aftermarket uses.  Most people mindlessly skip over the obvious and run straight for the exotic, like:

1. Burn barrel starter material.
2. Garage floor covering for oil spills.
3. Packing material for shipping your friends presents.
4. Makeshift dust pans for large floor junk in the garage.
5. Storm window coverings.
6. Broken car window replacements.
7. Coloring material for the kids.
8. Project material for the kids and their friends and their friends...
9. Backing for paper note pads.
10. Garage notes for measuring, drawing or figuring something so you don't have to back into the house to find a note pad and pencil.
11. To use for your outside burn barrel cover, to set on the grass so the hot lid won't burn the grass.
12. Patterns for things.
13. Garage trash holders.
14. Use extra 123's to hold your movies in,
15. Use them for bookshelves or CD holders.
16. Sock drawer separator walls.
17. Place-mats for the table when kids are doing home projects.
18. Fan to restart your burn barrel fire.
19. Computer mouse pads.
20. Wind protector for the beach.
21. Cut & line with foil and create a sun tan shield for your face.
22. Inside cupboard lining.
23. Silverware drawer separators.
24. Mudroom flooring.
25. Recycle.
26. Kids play houses.
27. Play houses for your cats.
28. Tear up for a compost pile or a worm bed.
29. Donate to a local cardboard drive.

But there are some cardboard boxes whose destinies are as clear the nose on the end of your face.  Some boxes were born to be forts.

In this case, a gigantic 3 piece box which originally carried five foot round tables is now being employeed as a luxurious 19.6 square foot condo in Natalie's playroom.

This Time God Sent the Nestle Guy

A few days ago a Nestle brand delivery truck was overstocked with some Nesquik chocolate milk and needed to get rid of it. The driver saw the sign for the Arrowhead bookstore and stopped in to see if they knew of any non-profits in the area that could use some chocolate milk. Well, the obvious answer was, "Yes, we operate two camps in the area that have a winter retreat going on this weekend."

That's when I received a phone call asking me how many cases of chocolate milk I would like.

We ended up with 50 cases of Nesquik chocolate milk, which as you can see below... translates into 600 (16 oz.) bottles of delicious brand name chocolaty goodness. Praise God for the unexpected blessings that make you smile.

Snowthrowing!

A few months ago God sent the Kubota man to camp.

What does that mean...?

Well, we got a visit from our new local Kubota sales rep. He was traveling around making contact with local businesses to see who's who and what's what.

Unfortunately, we do not have any Kubota tractors and the tractors we do have are in very good running condition, which I explained to the Kubota sales rep. Nevertheless I was interested in seeing the full color magazine and other materials that he offered. You never know when you're going to need a new tractor... or when you'll want to switch all your Ag equipment to orange.

I perused the magazine a bit and we talked. He seemed very interested in camp... as most people are when they stop by in the winter time surprised to see that we're open year round. So I described the pending winter retreat season, Shepherds Camp, Day Camp and the general usage of the facilities. As he asked more questions about winter retreats we got to talking about snow... the fun stuff like tubing, ice rink, snow plowing and removal. Of course I had to mention that the next Steiner implement on my wish list was a snow blower. Immediately his eyes lit up and he said, "I've got one, you want it." I was slightly caught by surprise so I asked what he meant by replying, "Huh?" He went on to explain that he had a front-attaching Snowthrower implement that was just sitting in his driveway. It was going to keep sitting there and he thought it would be a fine idea if we put it to use. The very next day we picked it up and brought it back to camp.

With a little research and about $20 in parts... we were ready to make our new frankenstein. Then, after a few weeks of crazy maintenance issues - like freezing pipes, leaking pipes, golf cart parts and similar winter mishaps, the snowthrower was back on the top of the list. Thanks to Brad and his Jekyll & Hyde welding abilities we've got a new Steiner Snowthrower.


Next up: a sweet paint job (the Krylon touch).

How to Build an Ice Rink

[Note: click on pictures to enlarge]

Step One: Remove snow and debris to clear a space for
the ice rink.














Step Two: Select a border/edge material for the ice rink
(i.e. logs or pipe).














Step Three: Construct a raised perimeter for the ice rink.
Preferably no larger than your ice membrane (plastic).














Step Four: Unroll the ice membrane checking to make
sure it will fit the dimensions of the raised perimeter.














Step Five: Stretch the ice membrane from edge to edge
and end to end, wrapping the ice membrane over and
under the outside of the raised perimeter material.














Step Six: Fill/cover the ice membrane with snow and
water. Make sure to stretch the ice membrane as is fills
to ensure there are no air bubbles or raised flaps in the
ice membrane.














Step Seven: Using the snow that was cleared from the
site, pack the snow on and around the raised perimeter
to create a protective layer until the water freezes.














Step Eight: Fill/cover the ice membrane until water
reaches the upper level of the raised membrane. Wait
until the water has completely frozen. Enjoy... your
brand new, homemade ICE RINK!
(note: picture taken 1.31.08 - used here to show full ice rink effect)














It's Wednesday night... conditions are perfect.
There's nothing on TV...
Conditions are perfect... to freeze an ice rink.

The MALAGARI - MAY - RHOADS Memorial Ice Rink

Well, it's been a long journey but the plastic is finally here. A BIG thank you to everyone who made it possible. I appreciate the availability, energy and time that you gave to this task. Each year I cringe at the receipt when I purchase that piece of plastic from the local agricultural store.

Here is the abbreviated delivery schedule:
1. Plastic purchase from ebay (seller in Philadelphia)
2. Plastic pick up direct from ebay seller.
3. Plastic transport to Binghamton, NY is canceled due to insufficient cargo space. Package too large.
4. Plastic transport to Binghamton, NY (second attempt) is canceled due to insufficient cargo space. Passenger overload. No space for package.
5. Plastic transport to Binghamton, NY is re-routed. New destination: Lancaster, PA.
6. Plastic transport to Lancaster, PA delayed. Driver unavailable.
7. Plastic transport to Lancaster, PA delayed. Pick up point is closed.
8. Plastic transport to Lancaster, PA on schedule. Delivery to Lancaster, PA is complete.
9. Plastic transport to Brackney, PA on schedule. Same day delivery to Brackney, PA is complete.

Route info:
Date of purchase - 12.17.08
Date of Delivery - 1.9.09

That was a crazy 3 1/2 weeks. BUT... the plastic is here and so are the cold temperatures.

A Fall Day Off

Monday was a great day off after a big weekend with the Shepherds Fall Retreat. We had a great day - hanging out, playing games, sharing all of our meals together. We also went up the road to the local apple farm. Their trees were all picked through but they did have a few bins of apples just outside their store front. Even though we were geared up for walking around picking from trees, picking from bins was an easy change of plans... especially on my day off. After purchasing our apples we poked around looking at their animals (3 goats and a chicken) and playing in their hay maze. It was simple, fun, and FREE. It was stacking up to be a really good day off.

I spent the afternoon reading a book while Natalie napped. Then we busted out the pumpkins for our annual pumpkin carving.

We talked about what kind of faces to draw on our pumpkins, then we tried some designs on paper to figure out exactly what we wanted. As I was drawing the face on the big pumpkin Natalie with a cute smile casually said, "Daddy you can pull out the seeds, I'm not going to put my hand in the pumpkin." Kelly and I looked at each other in amazement. We purposefully hadn't mentioned anything about reaching inside the pumpkin. Last year we had Natalie try it and she absolutely hated the whole experience. Apparently it left a lasting impression.
Natalie did put her hand in the pumpkin to help pull out the seeds and the goo, but now until we gave her a vinyl glove.

Nontheless we had a great time with the pumpkins. I also experimented with a new method of carving. I used my Dewalt 18v roto-zip. It was a little too effective. It made carving extremely easy, but it also liquefied the pumpkin spraying it here and there. All said and done though - we ohhhed and ahhhed at the final products all lit up.

Camp's New Website!

Arrowhead has a brand new look to the website. It's a better layout for the camp multi-camp structure AND it now has lots of pictures and videos. Here are some helpful links to the main page and other specific Arrowhead pages. Check it out!

Arrowhead Camping Ministries
www.arrowheadministry.org

Arrowhead Bible Camp
www.arrowheadbiblecamp.org

Shepherds Camp
www.shepherdscamp.org

Day Camp
www.abcdaycamp.org

The James Project
www.abcjamesproject.org

Reject Blessings

We received an unexpected package in the mail yesterday. Unexpected because we forgot all about last year's surprise shipment. Unexpected because Kyle (whose mom works for Jelly Belly) is not serving here at camp this summer.
I opened the big white box trying to remember what the last thing was that I ordered online. I wasn't expecting a package, but here was one addressed right to the ministry. What a blessing I found inside...16 lbs. of Belly Flops (Jelly Belly rejects). A big, "Thank You!" to Mrs. Stewart. They will be thoroughly enjoyed.

[To Kyle's credit - he lives in California...and the last few summers he has flown out here to the east coast to serve at Rock Mountain and Arrowhead.]