by Barbara Dixson
In the past few weeks, Mike Orella, Tom Mihm, Bill Fisher, and lately Peter Fee, Steve Jensen, Erik Lacey, Ryan Mullen, Gary Speckmann, Mark Strey, Karl Wolf, and Ron Zimmerman have been working to refinish the beautiful and very sturdy benches that accompany the ash tables in the Menzel Pavilion. They knew the maintenance on this wooden outdoor furniture would be ongoing, but they’ve been surprised by the toll the pervasive snow and rain take on the finish. They redid the tables last year (shown above). This year, the benches.
Because the fall was busy with other projects, the refinishing was delayed till now, and so it has to be done in the basement of the Visitor Center. The limited and shared space slows the process—in future, say, on a three-year rotation, they hope to do this work in outdoor weather. They are sanding where needed and applying three coats of finish, with an outer layer of varnish. The benches are turning out “real nice,” Mike allows.
When the crew was working on the trails at Moses Creek Meadows in the fall, Mike fell over a stump, scratched his leg painfully, and sat on the ground to recover. Over came Tom with chainsaw, telling him, if his leg hurt, Tom would be glad to cut it off for him—and then, instead, cut the offending stump. Thus hard work, understated kindness, and the different sense of humor each person brings keep the crew going.