July 10 2024
If you are an early reader of the Blog, you might have noticed that we posted earlier than normal yesterday and thought to yourself “I bet Jimboy is taking the day off, good for him!”. Partially correct assessment! Margaret and I did in fact go into town and had a wonderful experience in a place that made us feel young and vigorous for a brief period of time. We got in the car and shared a gloriously civilized, air-conditioned ride in a nice car to a 10:00 appointment with Dr. Brooks. Dr. Margaret suspected I tore my rotator cuff on Sunday and it turns out Dr Brooks agrees with her assessment… once the insurance company deems the injury worthy of attention, I will get it fixed and be good as new (luckily, the insurance company is very deliberate with such permissions so that inconvenience will likely be after the summer).
So why did a a trip to the orthopedist make us feel “young and invigorated”? Because virtually everyone in the office referred to me as “young man”. As it turns out, Hendersonville is a very popular place for people to retire and many of those retirees are in need of orthopedic services. The waiting room was full of old folks in a lot worse shape than me and that felt great! Margaret and I work in a place of perpetual youth… the average age of our community never gets past 17 or 18. For most of my life I didn’t notice the relative age difference but that changed about ten years ago when a camper gave me a portrait she drew of me in her sketching class. I interpreted the lines she drew above my eyes and beside my mouth as an expression of a developing talent until Dr. Margaret told me “those are your wrinkles”. Ever since, I have increasingly felt like I was turning into grandpa boy. The orthopedist provided a much needed and totally unexpected boost to my self-image, well worth the price of a rotator cuff!
We returned to camp not long after the visit, to enjoy the sights and sounds of nothing. It really was a great day for the campers and counselors. So many fun little things were thrown into the schedule. For instance, we held 4 raffles that cabin groups could jointly enter. The cabin had tree “tickets” and they could “spend” them any way they wanted. Put all three into one prize, thus increasing the odds of winning or choose three “lesser” prizes that would all have good chances of winning. The entire cabin would have to agree how to choose from the following prizes:
- A Boat Ride On Lake Summit
- A Maintenance Tour with Jimboy
- Sit at the Head Table and have access to the microphone and P.A.
- Go into Hendersonville for dinner and ice cream
The winners were announced at lunch, they got their prized on the same day… makes me smile just thinking about it! I couldn’t wait to meet the cabin that would chose the maintenance tour from the list of really great prizes (really, only 2 really great prizes), I couldn’t wait to meet such a group and show them one of my favorite things about camp.
The Maintenance Tour had a theme of (drumroll)… Water! Specifically, where does our water come from and where does it go? It took an hour to answer the question in a “show and tell” format. We cut the line for the King of Pops surprise treat after rest hour (pointing out to the crowd that they were losers and we were winners) and walked up the hill to the Fine Arts Center. This is where the camp well is located (in a janky little shack beside a less janky looking shack that nobody ever noticed before). We opened the locked door and the entire cabin gathered in the cool well house to marvel at the pipes as I explained the wonders of our well. It is an artesian well that provides 1 gallon of water every second of every day. Eighty Six Thousand Four Hundred gallons of water a day, available if we need it. Amazing. We then followed the path of the waterpipe to the reservoir (surprisingly located just behind the Council Fire area, a fact that astonished the girls). We opened the door to the reservoir and marveled at the amount of water just sitting there, so peaceful and cool. Next came the pump house where I explained about water pressure and volume (pointing out with pride our new $80,000 variable voltage pump system). Then came the septic system… another jaw dropping crowd pleasing subject matter. I think West 6 will be talking about their good fortune in winning that raffle for years to come.
Today is Corn Roast! Another awesome program that is much anticipated by the campers: Some of our most loved Alumnae will return to camp for a quick taste of camp on their “skip year” so we consider their sudden appearance to be part of the fun! These girls (who are entering college this fall after graduating from their camper years last summer) will arrive this afternoon and move into the Apple Hill Guest House (a 4-bedroom house and boathouse next to the camp, we brought in a bunch of cot mattresses and Margaret and I provide our house as an overflow so they all fit). Fifty girls driving/flying in from all over the country for one night and one morning at camp… crazy, right? We host this group at this point of the summer every year and always look forward to the reunion. The campers are SO EXCITED to see their friends again and anticipate that time when they will also have this status.
- Breakfast pancakes and sausage
- Breakfast Club Physical Growth
- Joke Hare Spray
- Weather A sweltering, sunny 86 with no chance of rain
- Lunch BLT’s
- Dinner Corn Roast! Similar to carnival, but with a “country fair” theme
