Gone Fishin'

How many of us can say we’ve caught a fish on a pole we made, Tom Sawyer style?  Tomorrow some of your boys will get that chance, the ones who are taking fishing.  Today, as activities commenced all throughout camp, the fishing guys sought some appropriately sized saplings in the woods around camp.  With the help of fishing instructors Luke Carlson and Jack Albritton, poles were fashioned from these trees (chosen in the woods where thinning of the undergrowth is actually healthy - Luke happens to be a forestry major at Auburn).  Boys then had a chance to “customize” their fishing poles with many color options of duct tape.  Of course these poles are safely stored in the Fishing hut, not in cabins!

Tomorrow they’ll try their hand at catching fish at our well stocked pond with hand fashioned poles.  This was all dreamed and executed by Luke and Jack, expert fishermen themselves, and proof of what we always say: “it really is the counselors who make every aspect of Alpine.”

Mentone was surrounded all day with thunderstorms and amazingly we were able to have the first 4 activities with not a drop of rain.  Cloudy skies made for a cool mountain day around here.  The perfect way to start the summer.  We did move all activities under cover during 5th period due to nearby thunder and lightning.  Still, all were able to carry on with some game or fun, despite a bit of rain.

I mentioned a few activities last night without explanation.  Left alone, you might be wondering what’s going on around here with the likes of “Gladiator ball and slaughterball”.  Or you might just figure it’s an all boys camp so of course that’s what we play.  Well, that’s probably true.  What boy wouldn’t want to play games with those names.  But for the curious, these two games are probably two of the most popular traditions at camp, one dating back to the start and one relatively new.

Slaughterball has been around as long as I can remember and much longer.  It’s Alpine’s version of dodgeball with some Alpine specific rules that make it even more fun, we think.  It’s played in the gym, Cherokee vs. Mohawk, by age group.  Other age groups get to watch from the sides, cheering like it’s Game 7 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th of the World Series.  For these boys it kind of is.  So each age group played last night.  Even if your son might have been a bit homesick yesterday (and that’s normal) you can rest assured that there wasn’t any homesickness last night in the gym.  Just boys having fun.

Gladiator ball is a recent addition to camp, so popular that upon completion of one court we decided to build two more.  It’s an octagonal concrete pad with wooden walls about waist high.  As many boys as can fit start the game inside the octagon (Gladiator pit) with one dodgeball.  It’s every man for himself.  Get hit by the dodgeball below the knee and you are out.  The trick is noone can palm the dodgeball and pick it up.  Only open palm slapping of the ball counts.  It’s fast paced and games go quickly.  Even if you get out early before you know it the game is up and you’re back in.

Here’s a brief summary of the meals today.  Food is important around here!  Breakfast: Mrs. Gail’s famous pancakes, sausage, cantaloupe and the breakfast bar.  Breakfast bar is at every breakfast and holds yogurt, greek and plain, granola, blueberries, bananas, pineapple and various other items at different times of the summer.  For lunch: chicken fingers, butter beans, mashed potatoes, and rolls with the salad bar.  The salad bar holds plenty of lettuce mix and spinach leaves, along with an endless assortment of toppings.  For dinner: BBQ sandwiches, chips, baked beans and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

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Good night for now,

Glenn