Exfoliated Knees

This week I was working at the high ropes course at camp. I look forward to my day at the ropes course each week; in fact it's my favorite activity. This week we opened up a lot more of it than we usually do because it was organ transplant week, so the kids at camp were a lot higher functioning. As I was setting up the course, I got to complete some elements I had never done before, including ones called the catwalk and the Grand Canyon jump. The catwalk is a telephone pole that is about 25 feet up in the air and parallel to the ground. Once you walk across, there is a gap of several feet that you jump across to a platform on the other side (that's the Grand Canyon part). My jump to the platform was successful and I finished setting up that portion of the course.

-When I was done I had to jump back from the platform to the pole. That's a little more difficult because the pole, obviously, is round.

At this point all of the campers had arrived and finished their safety lesson and all eyes were on me. I made it easily over the gap and onto the pole, but before I could get my balance I slipped off the edge of the pole. Now, as a side note for those of you who have never been on a ropes course I was still perfectly safe at this point because I was connected to a rope that went through a pulley connected to a steel cable over my head and down to someone who had me on belay. On my way down, I somehow managed to catch the pole with my ankles, hoping that I'd be able to swing myself back up onto the pole and finish the element. Unfortunately, I just hung there for awhile and couldn't get back on top, so I just let her lower me down.

I came out of all of this completely unscathed; my knees had been nicely exfoliated and I had a few splinters, but mostly I was just disappointed that no one got a picture of me hanging upside down by my ankles.

A Sandlot Moment

If you have ever seen The Sandlot, think about Squints and Wendy Peffercorn as you read this story:

This week was teens week at camp and I was lifeguarding for swim time. I was at the pool for five hours that day and I was roasting! I sat down to reapply sunscreen and I started thinking about the Sandlot kids and how they were all in love with Wendy Peffercorn: "oiling and lotioning, lotioning and oiling..." and I laughed to myself. As I looked out at the pool, one of the campers was just floating there at the side and looking at me. I called out to him and asked him what he was doing and he replied, "staring at you." Taken aback, I asked why. He gave me a little smile and said "you know why." I didn't really know how to respond to that, I just laughed it off and looked around to see if anyone else was witnessing this.

Just a minute later I overheard this conversation between David*, the camper, and, Flipper, one of the counselors:
Flipper: Hey David, what're you doing?
David: Staring at the lifeguard.
Flipper: Why? Do you think she's pretty?
David: Yeah, she's smokin' pretty!
Flipper: Well, you'd better be careful, she's married.
David: No she's not.
Flipper: Yes, she is.
David: I don't believe you!

The way the he responded to Flipper's inquiries was so matter-of-fact that it made me almost fall out of my chair laughing. These campers certainly keep me on my toes!

*name has been changed

A Deceased Fish

I love my job. Its only drawback is that it takes me away from my sweet husband all week. All of my friends from school are tucked away being bad-mouthed by teens and doing paperwork for their internships, while I spend my mornings 30 feet up in the air helping kids with disabilities maneuver around a ropes course. In the afternoon we canoe or go to the pool and the evenings are spent fishing. And that brings me to today's funny camp story:

I finished up my responsibilities early yesterday evening and headed down to the fish pond to help out, hoping to do some fishing myself. Usually the pond is pretty chill and not too many fish get caught. The fish must have been hungry last night, however; altogether we caught ten fish! We do catch and release fishing, so I spent all of my time running around unhooking fish caught by campers. As the evening was coming to a close, I still hadn't gotten to do any fishing myself. (most of the other counselors are quite squeamish about touching fish, so I did all of the unhooking) Finally someone handed me a fishing pole and I got one cast out into the pond. I only waited 30seconds before I was reeling in a struggling rainbow trout!

When I got it up, I saw that there was no way that I would be able to get the hook out. It had swallowed it so deep that I couldn't even see it and unfortunately it was bleeding from its gills. We quickly cut it loose, hoping it could survive the ordeal. However, it was only a few minutes later that there it was, floating on the side of the pond. I scooped it out; all the while sitting on a poky plant and getting prickles in my derriere. When I got it untangled from the weeds, I had to be discrete about going to dispose of the fish, because some of the campers get upset when they see one dead.

I had a hard time deciding where to put it, not wanting to stink up the garbage cans and therefore the whole camp. I finally decided to dump it in the little creek that runs by camp. I figured fish die in there naturally all the time anyway so one more couldn't hurt. When I tossed it over, it immediately got stuck on the side and went nowhere. I couldn't just leave it there to rot, so I scrambled down the steep bank and scooped it back out with my net.

After scrambling back up the bank, I was standing outside the lodge when one of the counselors walked by and suggested that I wrap it up and stick it in the freezer for Chef Chris to cook for me. Brilliant! So I hosed of the pond scum and we wrapped it up and left a note for Chef Chris. Today when I went down to the dining hall for lunch, there was a note for me from Chef Chris. He had my fish all cooked and ready for me! I was a little nervous - I've never eaten a freshly caught fish or trout at all for that matter. It was delicious! I don't know what Chef Chris did to it, but I never would have guessed that that fish came out of that nasty pond!