I Think We Skipped June

Our hot weather trend is holding. The high temperature has been over 90°F every day this week. It definitely feels like we skipped June.

DAY CAMP. The boys have been attending Cub Scout Day Camp. Ben went to this camp in Springfield two years ago so we decided to send them back there this year. The boys have had a wonderful time (even though Nate got sick with a virus yesterday and missed two days). I would say the only advantage the camp they attended last year has over this one is that it runs in the evening when the sun is setting. The boys have participated in all sorts of sports (baseball, volleyball, flag football, etc.), made crafts, and had visits from the fire department, the police, and wildlife management people.

One of the big draws for these camps is the opportunity to earn the Archery and BB Gun belt loops. (Belt loops slip over the boy’s belt and represent and elective activity the boy has completed in Cub Scouting.) Boys can work on all belt loops on their own except these two due to safety reasons. The boys have done the BB Guns at camp before, but this year the activity really resonated with them. I’d say this has been a highlight of the camp.

One thing about having camp from 9:00 to 4:00 on 90°+ days, the boys are tired when they come home.

THEY JOY OF SHOOTING THINGS. There’s something about destruction that finds a special place in the heart of a boy. It’s not a far stretch for a boy to pretend most any object at hand is a weapon of some type -- usually a gun. When I say the BB gun activity resonated with the boys I mean this year they happened to remember I had my dad’s old pump action BB gun at home and asked to see it after the first day of camp. (My old BB gun was a spring action gun and has lost it’s punch, barely shooting a BB ten feet.) When I pulled it out of the closet we took an old pie pan out side and target practice was on.

Those two were in their element. It didn’t even bother them that their sister came out -- without any practice -- and got some great shots on the target. And when they shattered an old jar from about 30 feet away the fun went to a whole new level.

What was funny was when they ran out of ammo. Nate asked me if I had any more BBs and I thought I did. When I was a kid someone gave me a box of about 5,000 BBs. The Freelands and I shot up a lot of stuff when we were kids, but that box is still about ⅔ full. When I set it on the table in front of Nate his eyes almost popped out of his head. It was as if he was digging for gold and had struck the mother lode. Hopefully our windows will survive.

HOW’S THAT. Vicki and Jenna have enjoyed watching American Idol this season. I’ve not watched it much, but this year’s contestants have interested me enough to at least keep up. I would say our collective favorite is Haley Reinhart. We were disappointed when she was voted off.

The other night Jenna was trying to think of one of the songs Reinhart performed and kept coming up with a title which she knew wasn’t right. When she couldn’t figure it out on her own she asked me and Vicki about it saying, “What was the name of that song, House of the Dying Animal?” We both looked at her and said, “What!?”

It turns out Jenna was thinking of House of the Rising Sun, which gained wide popularity when it was recorded by the Animals in 1964 (though the song is much older than that).

It’s sort of funny how the mind can scramble details like that leaving you frustrated about things you know you should remember. We, of course, are getting a lot of mileage out of Jenna’s Dying Animal song.

Joe