Rain! Beautiful Rain!

It rained here shortly after I sent out the last newsletter. We got an inch in about 30 minutes, and we got three quarters of an inch the next night. As a matter of fact, we’re getting so much rain I’m wondering when I will find the time to mow. I dumped two more inches out of the rain gauge today.

Most of the rain has been slow and gentle, but some has been accompanied by intense storms. One clap of thunder woke me up early Tuesday morning. My thoughts went to Ben, but then I remembered sleeping in a teepee during a thunderstorm once. He’s going to have stories to tell just like I do.

CAMP REPORT. Ben is back home now. I got him this morning. As we were leaving the reservation I asked him if he would do it again. He said yes without hesitation. I was glad to hear that.

When we dropped Ben off Sunday I told him I planned to come by and visit on Wednesday. Boxwell is between Gallatin and Lebanon and I knew my work schedule would have me in the area for training and a conference. When I got there Wednesday afternoon I knew I had one homesick boy. He never mentioned leaving early, but he did talk about how much he missed me and the rest of the family (and his bed). What was unusual for Ben was the number of times he said this to me.

While I was there he gave me a tour of the camp and I joined him for supper. Afterwards Ben and I found a quiet spot and talked for a while before joining the rest of the troop back at the campsite. That was a conversation with him I will always cherish.

I was worried about how Ben would do when I left but a bit of misfortune actually made that better. Ben walked me to my truck. As we parted I noticed I had a flat tire so I called him back to hold a flashlight for me while I changed the tire. This turned into an hour job because the ground was so soft my jack sank under the weight of the truck. I was able to get the flat off but had to reposition the jack to get the spare on. By the time I had the truck roadworthy Ben’s mood had changed to concern for me. He expressed this to me saying, “Dad, it’s after your bedtime. Are you going to be okay driving home?”

Now that camp is over I am glad to know he would go back. I think he had a lot of fun and in several ways he didn’t expect. One example of this was his merit badge classes. I checked out all the merit badge books from the troop library that I could for the classes he would be taking and made him read through them before camp. After reading the book he didn’t seem too excited about one class he would be taking, Indian Lore. Turns out that’s one of the things he has talked about most.

Oh, and Ben’s return home was a very happy reunion for Nate who had missed him all week long.

DECORATING. For those of us left at home this week is all about decorating for Vacation Bible School. That’s what Vicki and Jenna did during the day and I joined them when I get home from work. I think we’ve eaten out every night this week except tonight.

Our theme this year is Sky. All I really know about it right now is that we’ve put up a lot of blue background and fluffy clouds. We’ve got balloons and airplanes hanging everywhere. I think there may even be even a pig with wings somewhere. Slowly and surely this thing is coming together as it always does.

AN OLD CAMPING STORY. I wasn’t in Boy Scouts for very long when I was young. My regret is that we didn’t find another troop for me to join. However, our RA group at church was very active at that time and we went camping quite a bit. One spring weekend we were camping out by the river on a church member’s farm. It had been a wet spring and the ground was saturated. They had a large teepee set up from where the Boy Scouts had camped the previous weekend so we got to use it.

That night a severe thunderstorm blew in. Lightning was striking very close and the thunder woke all of us up. The rain, which was coming down in sheets, had no where to go because the ground was saturated so we had to scramble to gather up our gear and head back up the hill to the house. Then we had to go back to the campsite and tear down the teepee before it washed away. We wound up having to lash the last of the teepee poles together and hold them so they wouldn’t float away before we could drag them up the hill with a motorcycle.

David Henry was our RA leader then and it seems like it rained every time he took us camping. I’ll save the canoe trip story for another time.

Joe