Tag Archives: Oakridge Ministries

About that Bathroom – the rest of the story

I think the last time you saw the bathroom renovation progress it looked like this –
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The walls were down, the existing showers had been removed, the ceiling taken down and then replaced, and the new showers were being installed in what had previously been a storage room. (Remember those ammo box walls?)

While there weren’t enough hours to get the bathroom all the way done – they did get it from here
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to here-
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And looking toward the new showers –
From here –
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to this –
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There is still plenty to keep the staff busy during the quiet(er) winter months, but they have a good start on what is probably the most spacious dorm bathroom on campus!

At least they left it tidy!

About that Bathroom

Man, the guys have been working hard these last two weeks! With this bathroom remodel/redesign came the moving of the plumbing. Never a pretty job!

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Yes – there’s always more mess before the actual reconstruction can take place!
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With the walls and ceiling down and the new plumbing ditches dug, it was time to begin the reconstruction.
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I’m standing where the new showers will be. The vanity/sinks will be moved to the opposite wall, and the commodes will be spaced differently.
Showers are getting plumbed
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and electric is being run.
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Once all the wiring was completed, onto drywalling the ceiling.
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While work continued on those showers, Eep and Bruce worked on the lighting.
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It’s coming along nicely, but there is still a long way to go before it’s actually functional. We’ll just have to wait and see how far they get next week!
Meanwhile, across the hall, we ladies continued painting bunk beds. Sanding, priming, and (oil-based) painting. Six bunks down, four to go!
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Job security, to be sure!

And behind wall number one…

It’s been an interesting start to our new projects. While we ladies were working on getting bunk beds ready to paint,
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the guys got started on a bathroom remodel. And as often happens, what started as “we need to make some improvements with these showers” turned into “why don’t we take down this wall and move the showers over there.” The first wall was about as easy as taking a wall down can be.
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Remove drywall, remove studs, and done.
But then they tackled that interior wall. It seemed to have some interesting depth to it, but I don’t think any of our guys were expecting to see what that wall was actually built from.
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Wait. What are those things?
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Huh?
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These walls were constructed before the current owners took possession of the camp, so there’s no telling what the reasoning is for this interesting use of ammunition boxes. (Ft. Sill, home to the Field Artillery School (USAFAS), is located about 30 miles away, so maybe there was a big over-stock sale back in the day?).
Ah, but the stories these walls could tell!
I’ll keep you posted on the bathroom remodel and those bunk beds in the coming days, but here’s a picture of Gary I snapped before lunch. Did I mention they have to move the plumbing in the concrete floors?
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Thankfully he’s NOT the one using the jackhammer! Phew.

A night at the Ridge

Here at Oakridge we have wonderful, centrally located RV sites. We’re on the ‘edge’ of the camp, but close to all the areas where we’ve been working.

We’re so centrally located, in fact, that we literally surround their main campfire. This is the view from my kitchen window-
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During the week, this is no problem. In fact, it’s available for us to have our own campfire should we wish. It’s true that during the weekends that campfire gets more action, but all in all it’s not been a big deal. This past weekend, though, the camp was expecting an exceptionally large group that was going to be using the fire pit on Saturday night and they were concerned that we might be a bit more inconvenienced. (Not to mention that sometimes being surrounded by RV’s might put a damper on some of the campfire attendees.) Our hosts generously offered their B&B, The Ridge, to us for the night (or two, they said!).
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The Ridge was a new purchase when we were here 18 months ago, and we girls even helped with some of the early renovations.
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(It’s not often we leave a job looking worse than when we started, so it was wonderful to return this time to see it in all of its beautiful and elegant finished state. Just in the short time we’ve been here it’s been used for two weddings!)
We decided to make the most of the opportunity and worked together to make a delicious steak dinner,
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(Try getting 6 folks cooking dinner in an RV!)
enjoyed the meal in the lovely dining room

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enjoyed a comfy evening in front of the big TV
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and then retired, each of us to our own fancy rooms, complete with private baths.
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We woke to a lovely morning view,
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(you can see why they call it The Ridge, right?)
gathered up our ‘stuff’, and returned to our own little 300 square foot homes.

Thank you, Oakridge family, for opening The Ridge to us and blessing us with a lovely little getaway!

…so when’s the next campfire? 😉