Ice Shelter!

Depending on where you live, you might not have received the tremendous amount of snow that Camp got the last couple of days. It total, we had an accumulation of ten inches of snow! So Brian had the great idea to build a snow shelter, ice hut, or quincy. All are acceptables names for a shelter built out of snow. We had a four foot high, seven foot wide mound of snow piled up on the Senior Boys Village basketball courts and started digging it out. I should mention that building a ice hut can be dangerous if you are not sure what you're doing. I highly recommend having someone with you, even better if they know what they are doing. We used a couple of tools. You might have heard of them, snow shovel, snow brush for a car, and dustpan. It took us about two hours, but the end result, as you can see, is awesome. Believe it or not, but the temperature is actually warmer inside, then the air temperature is on the outside. I would have slept in the ice hut, but my sleeping bag is not a cold weather sleeping bag. All in all, it was a good amount of fun, and a nice way to pass the time until Camp starts. Which reminds me, remember, now there is only 123 days until session one, 137 days until session two, 151 days until session three, 158 days until session four, 165 days until session five and only 172 days until session six! I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YMCA and Updated Composting....

How great is this? Here are some great Chingachgook staff from last summer peforming their very own rendition of the "YMCA". You have Katie Georgia as the "Y", Melissa Reohr as the "M", Suz Rossi as the "C" (as she remembered to do it correctly!), and of course, Ali Sweeney as the "A". Can any of you top that? I would love to see you try. Also, take a look at the progress of our composting project at Camp (see below). It is moving along very nicely. We should have the Earth Tub installed and on the completed platform in two weeks at the most!

Composting Tub

Wondering what you're looking at? Well, this is the location of our new Earth Tub! It's located behind the dining hall right next to our accessibility ramp. Our composting program will be brand new at Camp this summer. I hope you're looking forward to helping the environment by placing your waste in our Earth Tub. Not everything that isn't used during meals will be able to go into the tub, but we will make sure you know. Check back every now and then as we hope the Earth Tub will be completed by the end of the month! Can't wait until then? Go to google.com and search "earth tub" or "composting" and see the results that you get. Those will be some good clues until you get to see the real thing this summer. Remember, now there is only 133 days until session one, 147 days until session two, 161 days until session three, 168 days until session four, 175 days until session five and only 182 days until session six!

Frozen Lake Video!!!

Don't believe me about the frozen lake? Check out the short video I made today. The lake depth is at eight inches! This weekend is Chingachgook's annual fishing derby to benefit our Reach Out For Youth scholarship campaign. Can you picture yourself walking on the lake where you actually swim in the summer time? It's a great and weird feeling.

Brrrr it's cold on Lake George...

HI EVERYONE I could not believe my eyes when I looked at the temperature this morning. It was a cold, brisk, -11 degrees and I wasn't even out on the frozen lake! Speaking of the frozen lake, Brian (another camp director at Chingachgook) and I ventured out there today and the pictures you see is my best attempt at the "YMCA". This sounds like a great time for another Chingachgook challenge. Please send me pictures, of all the places you and your friends do the YMCA" pose. I'll look through the photos and put the best in future Chinga Bugle newsletter. Just remember, you have to do your letter "c", backwards otherwise it will end up looking like mine. I'm sure you don't want that to happen! If you had to guess how many inches of ice the lake had right now, what would you say? Well, as of this morning, the area around Camp has 6 inches of ice already. Surely with the low temperatures that number will only grow. I'm going out on a limb, but my guess is the lake will eventually have 18 inches of ice, maybe even more. Each week I’ll update the number. It's kinda funny, as the number of inches of ice grows larger, the number of days till Camp grows shorter! I'm keeping a countdown till this summer and I hope you are too! Remember, now there is only 139 days until session one, 153 days until session two, 167 days until session three, 174 days until session four, 181 days until session five and only 188 days until session six!

A Chingachgook Winter

Have you ever been to Camp with snow on the ground? Camp has a very different, exciting feel to it in the winter time. Believe it or not, in the winter, you can see the Junior Boys Unit from the dining hall. You can see the Senior Girls Unit from the parking lot. Chingachgook is a winter wonderland this time of year. Plus the lake has just frozen which means in a couple of weeks I'll be daring enough to walk to Dome Island! I'll use a pair of snowshoes, maybe some treking poles, and begin the mile long hike. This makes me think...what would you do at Camp if you were to visit in the winter months? Let me know what you'd do and I'll make reference to it in the March edition of the Chinga Bugle! Remember, now there is only 147 days until session one, 161 days until session two, 175 days until session three, 182 days until session four, 189 days until session five and only 196 days until session six!