Update on the ACL & Camp Redington

Thanks so much to everyone who wrote to inquire about the ACL website and offered to help us get it back up. We are working out a deal to get it back up at twu.net ~ I'd like to keep it at the same address since so many places link to it there. The whole server deal is in Nordica's hands, I'm just the person who fills in the pages.

Things are real hectic right now because we are rebuilding our home at the same time we're building the campground. We've been living out of suitcases up at the bunkhouse while we plan, organize, paint, landscape and construct. The office will be moved to the front of the museum and Nordica and Fred need their own gertee now (we outgrew mine somehow). I used all the new materials I had for my new gertee on the museum. It's our showcase so it had to be nice, and it's exceeded my expectations. Hopefully it's going to draw visitors and pay off as well.

We finished the exterior of the museum gertee yesterday. I added a couple extra one foot rows of materials at the top and bottom that works so well I'm making it part of my cover design. The clear plastic over the four foot center roof ring is awesome. Tim has thrown himself into the project and it shows. (It really helped that he stopped at the new yurts a glacier hiking company put up around 100 mile on the Glen. They paid 5k for a 16 footer with no floor and 14k for a 24 footer with no floor. Now he understands we just built a $15,000+ yurt.)

Note to Sean and Johnny: the pool cover works perfectly! I put a parachute under it for an extra layer and a softer interior color and feel. It looks good and will be totally secure and waterproof too since it's all one piece. Thank you! A little sign will list all the people who contributed to the museum, and you guys and a few of our other ACL supporters will definitely be on it, with just a first name and a last initial for those who prefer to remain anonymous.

I worked on it until midnight and when I stopped I thought it was maybe 10pm... I almost forget every winter what it's like to have 24 hours of daylight all through June. There was no direct sunlight because it's been cloudy and cold all week, but it was *bright*. If we keep the camp open all winter this will be a great guest gertee for viewing stars and the Northern Lights.

The first bathhouse gertee is done too, and it's adorable. It has a campshower hook-up and it will be interesting to see if anyone wants to shower in it. I'll take pics later today. So we'll have a campground/hostel/showers/cookshack and fish camp ready by Friday!? Then we'll build a new 20' gertee for my growing family. I got Fred his first bike at a garage sale, I think he needs a round race track in the middle of their house. One of the things I admire about the traditional Mongolians is that their daughters get their own gers when they grow up, they never send their children out into the world without providing them with a shelter. In the U.S., according to many prominent writers, Americans expect their government to provide "proper housing." Our free people want free HUD housing in tightly regulated communitarian compounds.

"Moreover, none of the candidates represents so-called mainstream America. In poll after poll, voters make clear that they want the normal decencies of jobs, proper housing and health care. They want their troops out of Iraq and the Israelis to live in peace with their Palestinian neighbours. This is a remarkable testimony, given the daily brainwashing of ordinary Americans in almost everything they watch and read. ..." John Pilger, "After Bobby Kennedy"

Again my sincerest apologies for the ACL interruption. And I'll be on Trish and Sam's radio show this Tuesday, I'll post the links tonight.

In loving memory of my father, who would have been 75 today. He's the one who taught me how to build a "good camp" and "think." I miss you dad.