Housing for day sleepers

      A few weekends ago the PBCC stockade boys mounted some bat houses here at Whisper canyon. Actually the leaders did the mounting. We are trying to encourage the bats and the assistance they provide in eating the insects. This also will help keep them out of the bathhouse. The girls will appreciate that.

I do not know the story of the broken power pole. There are two of the bat houses mounted back to back here. This is near the water tank on the north end of the property.

Animals

Fall is when spring is anticipated. A time of new births . Here are some pictures of the buck deer being interested in the does. You can see 2 bucks who are both interested in one of the does.

Over the last week or so we have seen numerous bucks walk through camp. We do not normally see any bucks.

We even have had some tom turkeys wander through.

 Not pictured is the resident skunk which is getting harassed recently. It's aroma wafted through camp on Saturday morning. Have you heard of "nature deficit  disorder " Whisper Canyon is an antidote for that big city problem.

Stockader's and food

We had a group of stockade boys from Cupertino use the camp the weekend of the 20th. This was a group of 14 men and boys. They helped clean up bark around the log splitter and hang some pre made bat houses. Both of which I neglected to get pictures of. What I did take pictures of was food.

Dinner was hobo stew. So while the boys played the men chopped vegetables for the stew.

They took a hamburger patty, broke it up, and added carrots, potatoes, onions and celery onto the foil, a bit of bullion seasoning then folded it up, placed it direct on the coals for 20 minutes, then dinner was ready.

Then there was breakfast. Pancakes with chocolate chips, sausage and hash browns. They ate well.They did have a good time and lots of rocks and sticks got moved.I hope to receive some pictures from them showing the work they did. I will post them when I do. 

Back in July

While the PBCC high School water ski trip was going on Sonja and her friend Randy helped work on the fire pit we had started. They are adding rock fascia to the fire bricks we had put in place earlier. We anticipated warm weather so we got the canopy out. It was easier to work with some shade.

Here was the test run trying to figure out the placement of the rocks.

In an effort to keep the concrete from cracking we kept it covered and wet. We ultimately will have a metal grate on it to help impede the sparks. We also plan on having it run on propane in the hot and dry portion of the year. So if you want to see how this turned out you will need to stop by.

The animals are moving around

We are finding that some of the  animals have changed their patterns. We are finding the does closer to the house we stay in.

These gals were settled in just below us a few days ago and snoozed for a while.

This evening the Turkeys slowly came out of the draw and fed their way across the field. They were scratching and eating like a bunch of chickens.
       This has been a slow period for camp usage.Our next scheduled group will be Igelsia De Jesus Christo from King City.

Water ski weekend

PBCC from Cupertino held another water ski weekend at Whisper canyon. They have been using Lake Nacimiento for their skiing adventures.

They went straight to the lake on Friday morning then spent the evening and night at the camp. This
 is Saturday morning loading of the cars.

They usually have a time of worship at the amphitheater.  You can see the boys sleeping area off to the right.

It was a fun time for Jennifer and I to host this group. But Sunday morning came along and it was time for them to leave.

Century plant @ 3 months

This was taken on July 25th. In just over 3 months this stalk shot up and has some form of blossoms on it. I am not sure if it will fill out some more or not. Keeping an eye on it.

Bay Area Baptist

Bay Area Baptist came down to Whisper on Thursday June 21st. It was a men and boys retreat.

Here are some of them enjoying breakfast.

This was their "black market kitchen" Here one of the guys fixed bacon wrapped hot dogs, cerviche and other foods.

They had a lot of young men in the group who enjoyed the zipline.

We do prefer hosting groups at the camp, having it used as intended.They appreciated the exclusive use they had, it made it easier to hold their meetings

Century plant

I spotted this stalk back on April 28th. It was already about 4' tall

So I stopped by on May 19th and got this picture. Notice the grasses have changed as well

We rolled into camp this afternoon and I made a point of checking out the stalk.

Pretty impressive growth rate. It might be full height but it is still developing. We will have a group in this weekend. I will see if it goes through more changes. Not sure it's height, maybe 15'

Iglesia's spring retreat

It is always nice to host Iglesia De Jesus Christo. They have been using Whisper Canyon for more than 10 years.

Pastor Arturo was teaching on the cross, which is in view from the amphitheater.

There was time to play . Thew newly installed play structure was explored, and the zip swing is now broken in. It might need to be tightened up as it has stretched a bit.

Iglesia is one of the more frequent users of Whisper canyon with a spring and fall retreat. They brought lots of kids this trip.

Fire pit and century plants

Jon started our new fire pit back in early April by laying out the firebricks. Last week Jennifer and I added the construction blocks for strength and volume.

Her she is helping wet down some tools and prep the area. Does not look like much at this stage.

First batch of concrete was a little wet but that helped it to flow into the blocks a little easier. I helped build 1 fire pit earlier this year. This is my 3rd experience in mixing up the concrete. Jennifer did great getting the mix down into he blocks, and dressing it up a little. This fire pit will be set up to burn oak in the winter and propane in the warm and dry season.Next step is choosing some fascia rocks and attaching them.

I saw last week that we have a century plant sending up a stalk. When we first got here I cut down about a dozen stalks the were maybe 12 feet tall. I will keep track how this one grows. We have not seen a blossom.

Play structure and a peeping tom

Here is a picture of the first play structure completely assembled.

I have just barely started moving the fibar under it. Eric came up the weekend PBCC left and helped me add the last platform and then the cork screw slide. It will receive 12" of the fibar. There will be a second structure parallel and closer to the camera , some day. There are lots of one man jobs at the camp but this needs at least 2 to get it set up in 3 dimensions.
       Then there are the turkeys. This young tom came strutting across our deck at 10:15 one morning.

  This is looking out our bedroom sliding glass door. The hens are laying eggs,the toms and hens  are walking around camp looking forlorn, and feeding on bugs and seeds. They seem to be solo and not the groups we have seen at other times.He was actually looking in the window just moments before I took this picture.

PBCC

Similar to last year, the trip was delayed a day due to rain, They came for a week to do vacation bible school in King city. But that story is for others. What happened at Whisper Canyon was wonderful.

While a lite rain came down on Saturday 3-31, Scott ran the wacker and compacted the electrical trench going to both cabins. He is dressed in his work tee shirt and shorts as opposed to his dress tee shirt and shorts.Emmit spent the week grading the roads, drainage enhancement and working on the canyon service road.

  The advance team came in Saturday but held off making camp until Sunday when the storm had past.
Monday Scott sorted the play structure, not a simple task with only 1 of 2 manuals. Tuesday we started on the assembly.

Not very impressive. 1 man 2 poles but there is always a beginning. This is Hank waiting...

Slowly it took shape.

Using the Dingo and the ramrod tractors to stabilize it at first. We switched to 2x4's , which did not sag. So we drilled, assembled,  stabilized, then poured concrete.Saturday 4-7 Eric came down and we completed the assembly. Sorry I neglected to get a picture.

While that was happening a joint trench was dug for gas, electricity and water to Victory Circle.

On the left, Al is connecting the electricity, middle , Scott and Hank are back filling and in the distance is Emmit is dressing up the back fill. Not mentioned or pictured is Greg who attached the water heaters to the bath house wall and helped with the concrete pour.
  Then there is Jon. He supplied the mini excavator and , well, all the equipment we used.  Thanks Jon
What a delight it is to be part of a vision, have others drawn in , and see the camp become a little better with time.

 Friday is the conclusion for the students. Communion and a blessing of the seniors  wraps up the week and is a send off toward their future.

There are many stories to tell. I have a few but the students have more. Stories of a Thinplace, where the fabric between heaven and earth gets a little thinner, and the presence of the Holy is closer.

Game camera

I have set the game camera up on an Oak tree at the Wye in the road. Lots of deer and rabbit pictures at 3AM. Here are some of the more interesting ones.

We supect this Bob Cat is a cross breed. He is yellow like a mountain lion. but smaller

This might be the same skunk I caught in a live catch trap last fall. If it is he needs a good brushing to clean up his tail. I do not volunteer.

I had trapped a gopher and placed it in front of the camera. Not sure who had dinner but the scent drew in this owl just  after the skunk.

We do not see the turkeys all that often. They are more common out on Smith road. We do delight in being so intimate with God's creation. To see what Jesus created, having them stroll through camp is beyond words.

Tent sorting weekend

The weekend of the 19th we had the 20 something group come down to Whisper Canyon. They are from our home church PBCC in Cupertino. We have this heap of tent ribs in the back corner of the shop.I thought they might be interested in a little challenge.

So we loaded metal parts and some material onto the trailer and moved it to near the dining pavilion.

I had no idea what we had. There were 2 types of tubing so thought we might have two tents. This one is 20 x 30.

Turns out we have 3 tents of heavy vinyl material. You can see the 2 smaller ones in the distance. They probable will be pretty warm in the summer but for now we will leave them up.

They had assembled the frame in the field then picked it up and walked it to under the trees.

 So we have a 12x15 tent and a 12x20 tent. These are very sturdy tents.

We also had a refrigerator cleaning crew. These were brought down from Scott's Valley a few days earlier. They also helped clear a trail below the amphitheater. This was another fun group to have at the camp.