Never again

I spent the last five week days volunteering at Cub Scout day camp and if I have anything to say about it, I will never do that again. I tend to set my expectations for events and people low so that I am not disappointed but this was one of the rare times that I did not set those expectations low enough...it was far far worse than I thought it would be.

I had no idea that when you volunteer for the entire week you usually are assigned the role of walking den leader, which means you walk a group of scouts around to the various activities. Sure enough, I was a co-den leader for thirteen boys and I spent more than six hours each day with them, with very little direction or instruction. And since about 60-70% of the activities took place outside in the Georgia heat, what energy the boys didn't take was sapped by the heat and sun.

Without going into detailed whining, let's just say that any time 300 boys are herded into one place, there will be chaos...especially when a good number of those boys obviously are not made to mind their behavior at home and when a good number of the adult leaders either don't know how to make boys mind or don't care to make them mind. And I was amazed and appalled by the number of adults who came to "help" each day but did little other than sit with their own boy, not helping the den leaders to manage the group as a whole.

If we are still here at this time next year, I doubt we will send Aidan to day camp at all; we were not impressed by the level of (dis)organization or the caliber of the activities. And even if we do send him, I will give them a day or two at most of my time; I do not need to put myself through the hell of five days again.

There were fun and funny moments, of course, and my favorite came from a little dear named A.J., who is a pint-size version of Leif Garrett (isn’t that a blast from the past). I was telling boys to drop some rotting sticks and told them that ticks are often found in dead wood. I asked if they knew what ticks were and they all said yes. As we started walking back to the main building, little A.J. said to me, “My brother once got a tick on his tenders!” I can only imagine what/where the tenders are and I had to laugh out loud!

Rocket boys

Recently I read Rocket Boys, Homer Hickam's account of growing up in a West Virginia coal mining town during the advent of the space race, and how he and his friends decided to send their own rockets into the sky. It was sweet, sad and overall a very enjoyable read.

My own rocket boys sent their rockets towards space today after lunch. James and Aidan built two fairly basic model rockets yesterday and we drove over to Aidan's school to launch them - the big field between the school and the road was the perfect Cape Canaveral for us.

Getting the launch pad set up:


The two proud and able rocket scientists:


And we have lift off!

Battle of the kitchen

Yesterday afternoon a battle of epic proportions took place in my kitchen. I can't tell you anything about the parties in battle nor the subject of the conflict, just that it took nearly the entire kitchen. For reasons clear to only the wild, wonderful imagination of my darling son, the battle involved scores of Pokemon cards, several rocket ships, two robots, a bunny ball launcher, a foam rubber sword and a Fisher-Price flashlight. Actually the foam rubber sword and the rocket ships are the only items that made any sense to me.

When the battle threatened to reach the stove, I had to draw a line in the sand, er, tile and declare certain areas to be No Man's Land; otherwise, dinner was in dire jeopardy of not being prepared for the hungry commander and his family.

I am happy to report that when all was said and done, the kitchen was declared safe for democracy and dinner.

Cat nap

Once, just once, I would like to sleep as well as Spenser...


Other than prompting a change in position, snapping his photo did little to disturb him.

Paying respect

On Thursday, 5 June 2009, Staff Sgt. John C. Beale was killed in Afghanistan along with two other members of the Georgia Army National Guard. Staff Sgt. Beale lived in McDonough, which is in neighboring Henry County, and I paid my respects to him last evening.

The body of Sergeant First Class John C. Beale arrived at Falcon Field in Peachtree City yesterday at 6 p.m. and was escorted to the funeral home in McDonough by the Henry County Police Department. The route of the procession was distributed by email and posted on local news web sites, and the public was asked to line the streets along the route to help honor this fallen soldier and to show his family support and concern.

James and I decided that it was important for us to be there, so we ate dinner quickly, asked Aidan to don his Cub Scout uniform, and then drove to a small church alongside Hwy. 85. We chose that church because the parking lot is close to the road and we were pleased to see when we arrived that we would not be alone. By the time the procession reached our location, the parking lot was full (and then some) and the berm was filled with people of all ages, most holding U.S. flags. As I looked up and down Hwy. 85, I could see many other groups of people gathered on both sides of the road.

As the procession approached, everyone fell silent and stood tall, with either hands over our hearts or in a salute. The procession was amazing. First came law enforcement vehicles from Fayette and Henry counties, fanned out across the width of the road and with light bars flashing. Behind those cars were police officers on motorcycles, then many, many Patriot Guard Riders.

Then came the hearse and the cars of the family members. By that time, tears were streaming down my face, both because of the sadness that I felt for this man and his family, but also because I was very emotional about the people who came out to pay their respects. A few more law enforcement vehicles brought up the rear, and then the procession was over.

We talked with Aidan before and after about the importance of showing respect to those who have died in service to our country and to those who continue to serve. I hope that the family of Staff Sgt. Beale received a small measure of comfort from what we and many others did last evening; it was the very least we could do.

Bits o'knitting

I don't have many FOs (finished objects) to show lately; with the end of school busyness and being away for a spell, I haven't sat down and knitted for good periods of time. The Buckeye book bag is going well - perhaps I am almost halfway? - but I am too lazy right now to take and post a photo.

Quick knits have really been the name of my game lately. I paired some bright green cotton yarn with two great colorful cotton yarns that I received from my friend Kelli for my birthday, and made a set of three dishcloths in my new favorite Double Bump pattern:


I bartered the set with my friend Jennifer in New York for a custom set of catnip filled cat toys for Spenser. In true cat fashion, he is ignoring the toys until some moment (probably around 2 am) when no one is watching, and will thunder around the house, batting them from corner to corner.

(Note: The above photo is now one of the featured photos on the Double Bump pattern page on Ravelry - kind of a thrill to see my work highlighted in a minor way!)

Back in March when I first visited our new local yarn shop, Sugarfoot Yarns, I bought some Mission Falls 1824 Cotton in a bright purple. I frogged the first baby hat that I tried to make with the yarn; there is so much texture in the yarn itself that the pattern of the hat was almost impossible to see. I decided to try a more simple pattern, the Umbilical Cord hat, and I like the result:


I am planning to send the hat to a friend in the Motherhood Later group on Ravelry that has a new bean on the way.

Our dam trip

After a week in Tennessee with my mother, we are back at our house in Georgia. Our saga started over a week ago, on Saturday 30 May. Since James wanted to join us for a few days at the end of our trip, he drove Aidan and I to Chattanooga where we rendezvoused with Mom. After a quick lunch, James drove back to Hooterville while Aidan, Mom and I drove up to her house in Knoxville.

My sister-in-law, Tammie, and nephew Michael drove down from Michigan on Sunday to spend a few days with us, which was a real treat. Aidan had a great time going to Vacation Bible School at my mother's church each morning then playing with Aunt Tammie and Cousin Michael in the afternoon. They had to leave on Wednesday, but Aidan didn't have long to mope because James arrived on Thursday.

On Saturday, we made a jaunt up to Norris Dam, the first dam built by TVA - the Tennessee Valley Authority. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed light hiking before and after our picnic lunch.

Here is Aidan on a platform beside the Clinch River, below the dam:


You can barely make out the fly fisherman on the river:


Humans weren't the only creatures fishing below the dam - that is a heron on the rock, and he caught several fish as we watched:


Aidan and Grandma at the Visitors Center at the top of the dam:


James, Aidan and Grandma looking at Norris Reservoir:


Here is the view of the top of the dam, with the reservoir on the left:


James and me in a photo taken by Aidan - we are only a little off center (but when have I ever really been on center?):


Yesterday we drove back to Georgia, much to Aidan's dismay; he was missing Grandma before we even left her neighborhood. We were greeted at our house by a very annoyed cat and an empty fridge, and soon a mountain of laundry was taunting me. Nothing like catching up after a week away!