Camp Day Riddle

Leaving it up to me to keep this puppy going? --Okay. What's the one sport/game no one has heard of until they go to Camp Day? . . . . . . .





TEATHERBALL!!! You kidding me! The best game on the planet. In fact, the director of Napoleon Dynamite made it a point to focus on this peculiar game toward the end of the movie.


Ever recall saying this? .... "No ropesies, bouncies or kicksies! Of course --Bubbling is fine so long as its only 4 times per turn ... Best out three wins."

If you can recall anymore teatherball terminology ---- by all means add on!


Of course other games that were the "bomb" were: Capture the Flag --Yoshi (sp?) and Gold Rush!!!!!

The Green Angel

The Green Angel was a bike I found at the Easthampton Dump with good ole Stan [the maintenance man]. As we were dumping stuff at the "dump" a beam of light shined in my eye. It was the sun reflecting off a reflector of an old bike. When I investigated a little deeper, I notice an intact bike. The bike's frame was rusted and it had a bannana seat, but, other than that, the bike was solid!!!! I brought it back to camp, spray painted it green, pumped air in the tires and named it "The Green Angel". My thought was to use this bike to get in shape for football. Although I sincerely doubt my football coach would consider 4 times around lake Quacumquasit [in the span of two months] getting in shape ..... :)

My designated Route? ... if you read above you'd know ....... Lake Quacumquasit. Why? ....wherelse could I go? My workout began with a swift [but brisk] ride outside of the camp entrance. I would take left, and ride towards the public beach. Pedal, Pedal .... coast. Pedal, Pedal ..... coast. [it was kinda fun] Anyway, once I passed the Public Beach I encountered a fairly steep hill [great workout by the way]. AND EVERYTIME I "ALMOST" REACHED THE TOP OF THE HILL.... A BLACK LABRADOR RETRIEVER WOULD COME OUT, SNARL HIS TEETH AND CHASE ME! No lie, the 4 times I did this route, the same dog would come after me. Lucky for me I was coasting down the hill by the time the dog almost caught up with me. There's nothing like trying to concentrate on not wiping out while you are laughing and crying as a dog is trying to nip at your toes.

Anyway, whenever I see a bannana seat on a bike, I always think back to the "Green Angel" with a smile ....... Truly good times.

The Five Mile Road Race

On a typical night off at camp, as a counselor, you had a few choices to occupy your time. Besides the obvious, staying in camp and hiding from your campers, you had the option of going out in to "town" for the night. There were basically two directions that you could choose from outside of camp, one that lead to Rte 20 and the other that lead to Rte 9. Each of these destinations had minimal options for young people, especially people under the age of 21.

For us, the most fun was to go to Friendly's which was out on Rte 20. When our little group of friends all got the same night off, we wanted to get there as quick as possible. In order to do this, we had to take a ride on the five mile road. Which, oddly enough, runs exactly five miles from the camp entrance and Rte 20. We would sometimes race in two or three cars to see who could get there first. A lot of times, this was completely reckless and speeds were too high. I remember one time that I swear we made it from camp to Rte 20 in 8 minutes.

One of the things that we did on those rides is get behind a random vehicle that was innocently traveling on the five mile road and shut our lights off. It would really freak the other driver out. Sometimes we would do this to each others cars as well. The road has few lights on it so when you did something like this, the only way to see was to use the lights of the car in front. Sometimes, as a joke, if you were in front, you would shut your lights off too, leaving everyone scrambling for the switch to their headlights before running off the road and smashing in to a tree. We figured out, after doing this many times, that it was almost possible, on a clear night, to ride with your lights off completely and use the tops of the trees as guidelines. Once your eyes got used to it, you could see from the moonlight.

I don't recommend doing this type of thing to anyone. I have no idea what we were thinking but I do know that a lot of times, we ended up laughing our asses off all the way down the five mile road. Seeing as there was almost nothing to do at the end of the road, we at least found some excitement along the way.

Taking Down the Docks

For all you newbie counselors that get suckered into staying an extra day to assist with "wrapping things up", I thought I might reveal one trick that worked for me over the years. .... It's called the "one-finger lift".

Here's how it works:

Step One: Volunteer to assist with taking in the docks. There are always 5 to 6 "heroes" that really WANT to lift the docks --sooooooooooo, let em lift it, while you practive the one finger lift!

Step Two: When it's time to take the docks in, make sure you are standing on one of the long sides of the dock. For example ---each dock is rectangular --- thus, make sure you are on one of the long sides (not the short side). Be careful, some that are wise to one finger lift may try to get to the long side before you. If so, a quick nudge or elbow to the face may be in order.

Step Three: When it is time for everyone to lift the dock, squat down, and mimic all others as if you in fact are lifting the dock. Normally a small grunt and face wince should suffice.

Step Four: Do not ..... I repeat, DO NOT actually attempt any physical effort to lift the dock --- If you do. --Stop right away and re-read Steps one through three.

Step Five: Once the dock is in the air, and everyone attempts to walk it back to the boat house, you can now attempt the one finger lift. Please check your form by putting one finger on the bottom of the dock (while you uncontrollably laugh [in side your own mind] knowing of what you have accomplished). So long as you (1) don't break a sweat; (2) keep a straight face; and (3) [the most important thing] don't lift the dock, you have mastered the one-finger lift.

Step Six: Once the dock is placed on the ground, yell some explicative while complaining to others that the two clowns beside you weren't lifting their share!!!!!!!!

For a seminar on fuseling look back at earlier posts.

Stay tuned to learn how to "clean" the shower room, while actually watching a movie in the movie room (*quoted by one of the posse three "this one is a must read!!!")

Songs of Camp Day

I just heard "American Pie" by Don McLean on the radio. It immediately reminded me of the time I was hanging out at the waterfront with friends, and Dave Grossman cranked this song up on his radio. I again quickly smile, as I envision Billy Rose, walking around the Jr. Unit blaring Van Halen tunes! Of course, songs from BBD, New Edition and Bobby Brown immediately remind me of my Wife, Jen, as these were songs I listened to at camp when we first met.

I bet that all of us that went to camp in the 80's and 90's can relate to different songs or groups that "bring us back to best days of summer". Each song representing a memory of camp, that is quickly brought to mind at the precise moment that certain song is being played. Thus, those that are reading this, and want to put a quick smile on their face, heres a recommendation ........ Go through your old camp stuff (if you have any), put on some of those "memory tunes", and remember the "good times". -- ....................... As I am right now.

Camp Fires

When was the last time you sat around a good fire? Before I attended camp I had never been to a camp fire. I remember the first one that I went to as a camper, it was down at the waterfront over where the T-dock used to be. Most people walked in little groups and slowly sauntered down the camp road, passing by Bascom and on to the beach. One counselor brought some wood to pile on the huge stack that was already there and another some dry leaves. This seemed to make sense and I realized that I had never given much thought to what went on during a camp fire.

Then I noticed someone carrying a can of gas. Yes, gas. The counselors went kind of nutty and made the fire so big that it actually made me a little nervous. I just sat there in awe of the entire situation. Then someone started to sing a song and a counselor who's name I forget, took a long running start and jumped over the middle of the fire! This made everyone cheer (even me). I thought, at that moment, that these people are crazy. I also noticed, despite the madness, that this fire thing caused everyone to start acting more like a big group than a bunch of little groups.

My favorite part was the camp song. This first camp fire, everyone knew how it went but me. Before I could even think of feeling left out someone leaned over, put there arm around me and said, "Ready, here's how it starts...On the shores of..." I could hardly hear what she was saying, but it actually gave me a feeling that I belonged there. I had never experienced anything like it. It was almost perfect.

As the flames started to get lower and weaker, time sort of slowed down just a bit for me. I noticed the embers against the water's reflection of the dark blue sky. I felt the air of a balmy July night as the sun sank behind the trees across the lake. A few times, when everyone was busy yelling, singing, and laughing, I took a deep breath and just simply watched. I swear that no one noticed. Those camp fires were just the sort of thing that could make you kick-back, relax and enjoy life.

Color War

We all recall whether we were on the green or the gray team; however, I remember that some years there was a black team. The black team consisted of the campers that didn't want to get involved with color war (some for the right reasons [e.g.why compete against others] and others for the wrong reasons [followers trying to be cool]). In any event "I got it". Although I always participated in color war, I remember my first year, and the pressure color war placed on me [and I'm sure some other kids].

The event was..... "Everyone Toss your shoes in the middle of a pile, and then find them" . . . I tossed my shoes in, and wouldn't you know, I was the last kid to find and put on their shoes. I will never forget the ridicule I received from some of my "teammates". Although I was a young Jr. (around 10 years old) some of the Senior Campers wouldn't stop harping on how I potentially cost them color war.

The funny thing is -- I don't remember if we won that year. I don't remember the d-bags that harrassed me. I do remember my sister and her friend sticking up for me though. With the quick use of words and threats -- my sister and her friend got those d-bags to back off quickly. .... Thanks Sis and Becky.

The lesson I learned that day is "competition can bring out the best or the worse in a person". I also learned that next time I play "Everyone Toss your shoes in the middle of the pile" -- to tie my shoes together.