Saturday, July 3, 2010
4th of July Weekend
It's a beautiful weekend and we are open for camping! Come on out. Tent camping is $10 per person per night. Kids 12 and under are free. RV camping is $35 a night. We sell ice, firewood, drinks and snacks in our camp store. Hope to see you soon.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Stonehouse Front Patio
Gregg and Matt raking gravel and then compacting it for the base of the patio.
Gregg and Matt using sand and screed rods to level the area where the pavers will be laid.
Ellie laying pavers.
Ryno using the hammer drill to remove a little bit of concrete that was in the way.
Ryno laying pavers.
Pavers are laid and waiting for sand to be swept between the cracks.
Elvis admiring the finished patio.
The finished patio.
The finished patio, complete with bench and flowers.
Gregg and Matt using sand and screed rods to level the area where the pavers will be laid. Ellie laying pavers.Ryno using the hammer drill to remove a little bit of concrete that was in the way.Ryno laying pavers.
Pavers are laid and waiting for sand to be swept between the cracks.
Elvis admiring the finished patio.The finished patio.
The finished patio, complete with bench and flowers.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Shack
We have been working very hard on improving the appearance of the Stonehouse Basement Shack.
First we put on a new cedar shake roof to replace the old asphalt shingles. In this picture you can see the bit of eaves and clapboard I painted green last week, and you can also see the lovely new cedar siding going up on the kitchen.
Note the poison ivy on Josh's arm - almost everyone had it last week.
First we put on a new cedar shake roof to replace the old asphalt shingles. In this picture you can see the bit of eaves and clapboard I painted green last week, and you can also see the lovely new cedar siding going up on the kitchen.
Note the poison ivy on Josh's arm - almost everyone had it last week.
Then we cedar sided the shack. A few more finishing details and it will be done. Pictures to come!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Ellie on the Roof
I believe I have uttered the words "This is my least favorite job here EVER" on more than one occasion. Not that I don't like the work we do here, but every once in a while I find myself doing something so rediculous it qualifies as my least favorite job.
Today I tried to paint the house eaves. I dragged a tarp, a scraper, a bucket of paint and a brush up the ladder to the roof. Now, the Stonehouse roof is almost comfortable to walk on but a little too steep to sit on without sliding down. It certainly isn't flat enough for a bucket of paint to stay upright when left to its own devices. I spread out the tarp under the eave, hooked the bucket over one arm, grabbed onto the adjoining roof with the same arm, and tried to paint with the other arm. Immediately the tarp and I began slipping down the roof. I dug in with my elbows and heels and got an armful of splinters for my trouble. As we were inching down the roof I managed a few furious strokes of green paint, then everything (the tarp, the bucket, the brush and I) had to be hauled back up a few feet. Repeat numerous times, with me clinging to the roof by my fingernails while flailing about under the eave with the brush, my hat covered in paint, and the sun in my eyes. It was awful and I was not the epitome of grace. (I was not in any danger, however, as the kitchen roof was right below me and would have caught me safely if I had slipped all the way off.)
Meanwhile the men were having a lovely time siding the kitchen. In the shade. Excellent work as usual, men. It looks great. :)
Today I tried to paint the house eaves. I dragged a tarp, a scraper, a bucket of paint and a brush up the ladder to the roof. Now, the Stonehouse roof is almost comfortable to walk on but a little too steep to sit on without sliding down. It certainly isn't flat enough for a bucket of paint to stay upright when left to its own devices. I spread out the tarp under the eave, hooked the bucket over one arm, grabbed onto the adjoining roof with the same arm, and tried to paint with the other arm. Immediately the tarp and I began slipping down the roof. I dug in with my elbows and heels and got an armful of splinters for my trouble. As we were inching down the roof I managed a few furious strokes of green paint, then everything (the tarp, the bucket, the brush and I) had to be hauled back up a few feet. Repeat numerous times, with me clinging to the roof by my fingernails while flailing about under the eave with the brush, my hat covered in paint, and the sun in my eyes. It was awful and I was not the epitome of grace. (I was not in any danger, however, as the kitchen roof was right below me and would have caught me safely if I had slipped all the way off.)
Meanwhile the men were having a lovely time siding the kitchen. In the shade. Excellent work as usual, men. It looks great. :)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
On the Roof Again
The house roof, that is. The cedar shake we put on last year have gone all nice and grey, and the new ones are all nice and fresh. It was HOT up there today!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Clearing Up a Misconception
Dear readers,
A couple weeks ago we got a lot of rain and had a pretty significant amount of water land in the park. To be exact, we went from having a few puddles at 7 AM on Thursday, May 13 to having 4 feet of rushing water on the ground by 7:30 AM. At the time we believed the deluge to be the result of Shabbona Lake State Park opening their floodgates. Shabbona is upstream from us and their lake feeds into the Big Indian Creek. The Big Indian meanders down from the lake, widening gradually as it goes, and runs through our property before heading further south where it eventually feeds into the Fox River in Ottawa, Illinois.
We were concerned that Shabbona seemed to have the ability to flood us at a moment's notice. We worried about the fate of any Stonehouse campers who happened to be in the way when the gates were opened so we spoke with the Shabbona park ranger. He very nicely assured us that while they do have a spillway, they don't use it to create floods. In fact, Shabbona Lake State Park helps control flooding by taking in and storing large amounts of rainwater and run-off. The mechanism for their spillway is 40 feet underwater and while divers could go down and open it under dire circumstances, they certainly don't do so as a general practice.
The ranger we spoke with believes that the flooding we get almost every spring is a result of our being in a very low lying area which happens to be at the locus of several tributaries, ditches and creeks. Unfortunately there isn't anything at all we can do about that and he suggested that we should be prepared for flooding anytime we get very large quanties of rain like we did two weeks ago. So, the good news is that Shabbona Lake State Park isn't negligently dumping their overflow on us, but the bad news is that avoiding flooding (or even being aware that floods are coming) isn't as simple as flipping a switch.
That being said, we will make sure that anyone who is camping here early next May is camping on high ground, and that anything and everything that could float away is tied down. :)
Sincerely,
Ellie
A couple weeks ago we got a lot of rain and had a pretty significant amount of water land in the park. To be exact, we went from having a few puddles at 7 AM on Thursday, May 13 to having 4 feet of rushing water on the ground by 7:30 AM. At the time we believed the deluge to be the result of Shabbona Lake State Park opening their floodgates. Shabbona is upstream from us and their lake feeds into the Big Indian Creek. The Big Indian meanders down from the lake, widening gradually as it goes, and runs through our property before heading further south where it eventually feeds into the Fox River in Ottawa, Illinois.
We were concerned that Shabbona seemed to have the ability to flood us at a moment's notice. We worried about the fate of any Stonehouse campers who happened to be in the way when the gates were opened so we spoke with the Shabbona park ranger. He very nicely assured us that while they do have a spillway, they don't use it to create floods. In fact, Shabbona Lake State Park helps control flooding by taking in and storing large amounts of rainwater and run-off. The mechanism for their spillway is 40 feet underwater and while divers could go down and open it under dire circumstances, they certainly don't do so as a general practice.
The ranger we spoke with believes that the flooding we get almost every spring is a result of our being in a very low lying area which happens to be at the locus of several tributaries, ditches and creeks. Unfortunately there isn't anything at all we can do about that and he suggested that we should be prepared for flooding anytime we get very large quanties of rain like we did two weeks ago. So, the good news is that Shabbona Lake State Park isn't negligently dumping their overflow on us, but the bad news is that avoiding flooding (or even being aware that floods are coming) isn't as simple as flipping a switch.
That being said, we will make sure that anyone who is camping here early next May is camping on high ground, and that anything and everything that could float away is tied down. :)
Sincerely,
Ellie
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