Sunday, April 17, 2011

"Last Blast of Winter" Family Camp

Twenty JFW Families converged on Jeannette Lake in the Meadow Lake
Provincial Park for an unforgettable weekend March 18-20th 2011.  It
really doesn't get any better; Great facilities, super food, agreeable
weather, beautiful scenery, really excellent instructors and, above
all, lots of highly enthusiastic wardens!


Camp Oshkidee is a first-rate camp with many amenities.  This is the
first time that the Woodlanders have been able to afford such a nice
facility, thanks entirely to our hard-working parents and volunteers
who have put in many hours at bingos!   The comfort and convenience
made it possible for all of our families to take in the entire three
days.

Challenger leader Richard Dabels was in charge of the camp's
well-equipped kitchen, and with numerous helpers made sure that
everyone ate like royalty.  Wardens took their turns in the kitchen,
too.

Instructors and special guests gave freely of their time, and in some
cases traveled a long way to contribute their knowledge and skills.
In order of appearance:

Tony Vandenberg - knife sharpening instruction, up-and-coming knapping
instructor, as well as a handy guy with a snowplow!
Brenda Larocque-Hill & Robert Hill - Project Wild games & icebreakers
(Brenda is our Bingo Queen!)
Richard Dabels - tin can candle lanterns (very effective lights for
dark winter trails) and cooking instruction
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Nancy Carberry & Shawn Perry - Storytelling, survival pack, shelter
building & survival demonstrations, endlessly helpful and very
knowledgeable
Rhys Beaulieu - Interpretive nature hike, skiing lessons, maker of
custom curling 'rocks'
Kirt Bennett - Animal ID, Talent Night facilitator, Magician, and a
real talent for keeping a large crowd organised!
Mark Dallyn - Spoke to us over lunch about his wildlife rehabilitation
operation.  We want a tour!
Michelle Vandenberg - Introducing a project to turn 12 years of JFW
photos into some impressive scrapbooks!
Doug Allen & Norm Arcand - Flint knapping.  Kept a large group of
people enthralled with making arrowheads, arrows & flinty necklaces.
SImply awesome!
Tim & Angela Jeske - A local family who had lived in the high arctic
for 5 years, and brought us an after-supper presentation of their
experiences there.  (When JFW gets going in Nunavut it will be known
as Junior Frozen Wardens)
Garry and Larry Nelson - Sunday morning team competitions, campfire
stories & adding to the fun at every turn

Also travelling a long way to to join us were JFW families from Cold
Lake, Ardmore, and Edmonton.  The best part of JFW gatherings is
getting together with people from other clubs, swapping ideas and
sharing experiences.  Thanks for risking those Saskatchewan roads to
be with us!

Other weekend highlights included curling, skating, tobogganing &
snowball fights on the lake, fire lighting & log sawing challenges,
some 'trapping knowledge', zipline, moonlit night hike, coyotes
howling, late night campfires, a Bronze Badge award,  and some really
great adult visiting time.

Club Coordninator Carmen Dabels (in addition to lots of
behind-the-scenes organizing) put together a web-based evaluation,
which elicited many insightful comments in the week since the camp.
The main 'complaint' was that the weekend wasn't long enough!

Many thanks to everyone who helped in any way, and especially to
everyone for being there!

- Your winter camp organising committee