Surviving the Deep Freeze

Last weekend was definitely the coldest weather I’ve ever seen, with daytime temps at 20 below and windchills 35-40 below.  That’s cold!  The worst of it was on Sunday, and due to the weather Community Day was cancelled.  You would have to be crazy to want to ski in those conditions.

Sunday evening was the beginning of Winter Family Camp and it ran through Wednesday.  I was originally scheduled as ski tow operator on Sunday night, but the hill remained closed, which enabled me to watch the Super Bowl. 

Our local church’s youth pastor and his wife, Luke and Mikaela Hatfield, invited us over to watch the game.  We have been enjoying our new friendship with the Hatfields.  We have spent a little bit of time with them since meeting last summer and have hit it off pretty well.  Luke made a comment last week after the Super Bowl that I was extremely impressed with.  After I had brought up the subject of dc Talk (which I do quite often), Luke made the bold claim that Jesus Freak is the best album ever made.  The amazing thing about this is that just the day before I was telling Jesse Schutt that the longer I live the more convinced I become that Jesus Freak is the best album recorded by man.  I expect many differing opinions on that matter that need not be voiced (or written) on this website, so I was thrilled when I heard another human being make such a similar comment only the next day!  And since I’m on the topic, I would like to let everyone know at this time that I fully expect another dc Talk album to be released in the future (other than a 10-year Supernatural anniversary commemorative album thing that they like to do).  And when it is officially announced that another dc Talk album is being produced, I will throw a party.

Now back to the cold.  The worst is over, from what we can see.  It’s a little bit warmer as we are now seeing daytime temps at +10 degrees, which isn’t so bad.

Random comment:  I just heard someone on tv say, “No pun intended.”  I would like to say that a pet peeve of mine (in addition to the words pet peeve) is when someone says “no pun intended” only to draw attention to their witty comment which really means that they did intend it.  End random comment.

Before I sign off on this one, I would like to thank the thirteen of you who voted on the better burger between Hardee’s and Culver’s.  After throwing in my own vote, Culver’s wins 9-5.  Go treat yourself.

Coming to a Freezer Near Us

This is a steer.  But he is no ordinary steer.  He is a Harvest Home Farm steer (click to learn more).  Mike Poulos, a friend of ours and founder of Harvest Home Farm, gave us the opportunity to buy some beef along with several other families.  We thought it was a great opportunity to fill our freezer, so we agreed to buy 1/8 of the steer. 

I also had the opportunity to be a part of the steer slaughtering!  This event happened on Tuesday, January 23.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I helped or assisted in the slaughtering.  Being a city boy and not used to seeing these kinds of things at all, I decided it would probably be best if I just observed, or “managed” shall we say?  So I watched as Mike Poulos , Larry Guthrie, and Jesse Schutt slaughtered and quartered the steer in about three hours.  The beef is now hanging in the butcher’s shop and will be in our freezer within the next couple of weeks.  Stop on by and we’ll fire up the grill for some 100% natural steaks!

On to the next beef item.  If you read the previous entry you may recall my paragraph in which I expressed my inability to conclude who serves the best burgers between Hardee’s and Culver’s.  I have set up a poll for you to voice your opinion on this very important issue.  Please take a moment to cast your vote.  However, if you have not had the pleasure of tasting a burger from each of these fine fast food chains I would ask that you go treat yourself in order to add validity to your vote.

Metal in My Eye

Well, here is the scoop if you have not heard:

Roy and I were fixing a metal door at camp that had been dragging on the floor.  I took a grinder to the bottom of the door which solved the problem.  And I will have you know that I was wearing protective ear and eye wear.

That evening, after I had crawled into bed and was trying to fall asleep, I began to feel a slightly irritating object in my left eye.  I put some eye drops in my eye that proved to be inaffective, and then I just figured whatever was in my eye would just flush out overnight.

On Saturday I went through the day without feeling a thing in my eye until the evening.  I was operating the tow cable on the Bunny Hill when the irritation returned with greater intensity.  I had my eye drops with me, and after putting about 500 drops in my eye I gave up.  Again I went to bed that night just hoping that the speck in my eye would just flush out.

Sunday was horrible.  While I was at camp I was trying to avoid going outside (which is impossible) because the brightness of the snow brought unbearable irritation to my eye, even when it was closed.  Even indoors it hurt whenever my eyes would change focus.  Due to my inability to function properly, I went home early.  I had been told that if I had metal in my eye, it would begin to imbed itself and rust in my eye.  That was not comforting news.  Since it was Sunday my options were to wait until Monday to see a doctor or go to the ER.  Having had corrective Lasik eye surgery four years ago, I did not want to play games with my vision, so we decided to drive an hour south to Marshfield.  The doctor numbed my eye and was able to dig out a couple specks of metal.  He could still see a rust ring in my eye and he referred us on to see an ophthalmologist the next day.

The highlight of the day was when we stopped at Hardee’s on our way home.  I cannot decide which fast food restaurant has the best burgers: Hardee’s or Culver’s.  I had the double thickburger, which was incredibly messy and delicious.  Tawnya faithfully pointed out some ketchup on my face which was actually out of my tongue’s reach!  Now that’s a messy burger!  You’re probably wondering what Tawnya ate, but if you know Tawnya you would guess chicken strips.  Yep, chicken strips.  She claims that she’s kinda “burgered out.”  Unbelievable.

So Monday we returned to Marshfield to receive great news from Dr. Anderson.  After removing the rust ring, he gave me some antibiotic eye drops and said that I had a swollen cornea.  He expects my blurred vision to return to normal as the swelling goes down.  Because I am a diabetic he said the healing could take several days to a week, but I have noticed a significant improvement in my vision in the 24 hours since that appointment. 

Thank you so much for your prayers.  The greatest thing about life is that our God is in control.  The One who spoke the universe into existence is in complete control of even a microscopic piece of metal.  It is great to know and rest in that.

Community Day

Community Day is held each Sunday afternoon at camp. This is a day when our facilities are open to the public for tubing, skiing, skating & snow-shoeing.  Many in the community come and bring their families to these afternoons.  Free ski lessons and a family-friendly environment make these days enjoyable for many! We see Community Days as a great way to serve the local community and to expose people to Camp Forest Springs who may have never been to a camp program before.

Sam was scheduled on the tube hill yesterday, and here you see him loading campers onto the tube lift�

�.and getting a camper group ready to head down the tubing hill!

It�s great for Sam to have this camper interaction:)

Visits Are Always Welcome

Our site is a little updated now with the option for you to leave comments after each post we make – more of a blog-style site if you will?

We’re living it up here with Mark, Sam’s brother, and his wife Katie visiting from Omaha.  It’s been great to take them out to camp and show them around.

So far we’ve done a little skiing…

…a little tubing…

and have played two full games of Cities & Knights of Catan!