Salt of the Earth

Last few days have been stressful because of a situation that is really beyond my control. It doesn’t involve my kids directly- but another kids behavior is effecting them. I don’t really want to elaborate except to tell a story that is similar to my current situation. 

After I graduated from high school I went back to visit my parents in Saudi. They had made friends with a family that had a son who was a bit off. Teachers told them he needed counseling to deal with his anger and behavior issues. The parents stuck their heads in the sand and continued to believe that it was everyone else but their son.  Their son scared me. He never threatened me but there was something about him that made me very cautious of him. I had seen his temper rear it’s ugly head a few times for what appeared to be NO apparent reason. It was irrational and out of control. My mom and I used to talk about him and say that one day he was gonna hurt someone really badly and that’s what it would take for his parents to get their heads out of the sand. Sure enough he lost his temper one day cause someone was teasing him about his shorts and he cracked some kids head open with a hockey stick. His parents took some responsibility for it but not as much as they should have.  They blamed the situation and the other child. I do not understand parents like that. They frustrate me. They anger me. GRRRR They like to point out other kids flaws when instead, they should be focused on their own issues. 

Anyway, I’m watching a bad sci movie now with the boys and I’m going to get into bed and sleep this day away.

SO after many days of cleaning Thomas’ room I have finally finished. I could not believe what I found in his room and have come to the conclusion that he is a pack rat. This is what I found:

12 empty pop cans

11 dirty socks

10 missing glasses

9 tangled up cables

8 broken pencils 

7 dried up markers

6 loads of laundry

5 bags of garbage

4 boxes of Goodwill

3 pair of scissors

2 miss matched  flip flops

and a partridge in a pear tree. 

Well, not really, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I had found that in there. 

I left his desk and top of his dresser for him to do- since I don’t know where he wants that stuff. The brown stuff you see on the ground is carpet. I’m not sure he knows what that is. And the big blue thing against the wall- that’s his bed.  Usually covered with books, laundry, toys, cats……

The big blue thing-

Thomas comes home in a few hours. I’m sure he’ll be tired, hungry and dirty. Ah to be 12 again. 

T

On Thursday Graham and I ventured past Mt. Hood to visit Thomas at camp. It was a BEAUTIFUL drive and the  camp was one of the nicest I’ve ever been to. 

We were so happy to see Thomas and his patrol and vise versa. I got several hugs and lots of smiles. It was awesome. 

The boys are responsible for making their own food at this camp- so they were busy getting water boiled for hot dogs. Graham and I brought our lunch – chicken salad- which I ended up not getting any since the boys wanted it. I didn’t mind since I KNOW how bad camp food can be. 

We got to hang out with Thomas and his friends for an hour or so before he had to rush off to his next event. He said he was having a great time, sounded like he was loosing his voice and was pretty dirty. The boys started telling me how Thomas was spending all his money on Frapacinos at the trading post. Thomas just looked at me and smiled.  Then one of them told me he hadn’t showered all week. I put my fingers in my ears and started singing “LA LA LA LA” so I couldn’t hear anymore. Then I said “hey, what happens at camp, stays at camp” and Graham said “just like in Vegas!” It was pretty funny.  I bought up a case of Henry’s root-beer (Thomas’ fave) and my new hammock. Thomas and his friends decided to try out both. Thomas approved the new hammock and wanted me to leave it there for him to sleep in. 

We brought up some tattoos with us that were a HUGE hit and the boys that stayed in camp after Thomas left covered themselves with all the crazy designs. Even the scoutmaster had me put two claws on each of his hands. 

Graham and I ventured down to the lake which was absolutely beautiful. We got to sit on the dock and soak our feet. It was truly amazing. 

We had to head back after that because one of the ladies that rode with me was having trouble with her son wanting to come home. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see Thomas before we left. We did stop at this awesome place called Calamity Janes on the way home. They have great burgers and even better shakes/malts. 

It was a great day and I’m glad Thomas got to spend a week there. I can’t wait until Graham is old enough to go. 

T

SO Thomas left for camp on Sunday. Usually when he goes I spend the week cleaning his room. This time I decided to take a before picture. Notice you can not see any floor or even tell that there is a bed in there. My son is a pack rat and doesn’t throw anything away. He keeps every scrap of paper, boxes, cords, and hand me down equipment from his dad. I had a full load of laundry that was hiding behind his door.  I spent 2 hours in there last night and I still have a huge job a head of me. 

before

I will post pictures of the after unless i get lost in his room and never make it out. So if I don’t blog with in the next 2 days someone please call the SWAT team to rescue me.  

Graham and I are driving to Thomas camp tomorrow to visit him. It should be fun and a beautiful drive. 

Well, I should get going on his room. UGH!

T

Cub World ’06

Cub World ’07

Butte Creek ’08

Every year I try to get a picture of Graham and me together at camp. Here are the last 3 years. 

T

5:30am came all too quickly and it was time to get up to feed the cows and chickens. Once again I opted out for this- to avoid too much walking. I got up and got Graham ready then packed us up since we would be able to go home later that day. I got dressed and made the long, slow trek down the mountain to meet the boys for morning flag and mail. The day before I had gotten a little cup and a licorice rope at the trading post for Graham- and put it in the ‘mail box’ so he’d get something at mail call. At first, they call out all the letters and he was so sad when he didn’t get one. Everyone else in his pack got letters from home   and it made it so hard for me to not tell him he had something coming. When they came to packages they called his name and he was so happy. He thought it was cool that his cat Rory sent him something from home. He grinned ear to ear and it made me so happy.

After breakfast we headed to the archery range where one of the dads discovered a huge mark on Graham’s leg. We stopped and took a look at it and determined it was a spider bite. Since Graham is stubborn like his mom and doesn’t like missing anything he opted to stay at the range and go to the nurse later. We pulled out our first aid kits and cleaned and bandaged it up which made him happy.  Graham did really well and almost shot a bulls eye. I went in for my turn and wasn’t as lucky. Still had a lot of fun. 

After that  we went back to geology and did more panning for gold. Graham made a haul again and wanted to spend it at the trading post. It broke my heart to tell him that it was only a souvenir and couldn’t be used as currency. One of the others dad said it was ‘fools gold’ and then some of the mom’s and I brought up that episode on Little House on the Prairie where Laura thinks she and Albert have struck it rich.

 After geology it was time for lunch and then BOB. Since our stuff was packed in the car I took Graham to the nurse. She cleaned it up and put a band aid on it and told me what to look for in case it was a poisonous spider bite. Graham was unfazed by all of it and just wanted to get back to having fun.

We headed off to pioneering where Graham got to wash his socks and make rope. He had a good time washing his dirty socks from the day before and suggested we do it at home. I informed him of just how many socks that would BE and he said ‘oh…..’  

After hanging his clean socks we got to make rope. Since we were running late we had to run to our last station- dutch oven cooking. The staffer taught the boys how to make peach cobbler and then they got to eat their creation. It was awesome. 

At that point it was free time before the big family BBQ then time to head home. Graham decided he was ok with going home early to see Thomas and dad. I let him get one more snow cone and we said our good-byes and headed back to Portland. I was pretty tired and was looking forward to Graham keeping me company on the drive home. 15 minutes into the ride and he was fast asleep. I was glad that a friend called my cell phone and kept me company (and awake) for most of my drive home. 

When we got home we were greeted by a very happy Thomas and dad. I think they missed us.

Even though camp can be hard at times it is always so worth it. I would never give up the chance to do it with the boys because in so many ways it brings me so much closer to them.  I am so fortunate that I am able to go with them and share this experience with them.I got to know the parents of this new pack and the boys are so wonderful. Graham fits in just perfectly. Even though I am glad to be home and in my own bed I am still so happy I got to go to camp. It was priceless.  I wouldn’t trade it for anything- not even ‘real’ gold. 

We started our second at 5:30am with a trip down to the horses. After feeding them the boys headed back for breakfast. I opted out and stayed in the nurses station with ice on my swelling foot. After breakfast we hiked back down to the horses and it was time for the boys to ride them. Before Graham got to ride he learned how to rope a cow. It was very cool. I sat and watched and talked a few of the boys into riding. It was a beautiful morning and I really enjoyed watching the boys. My favorite part was getting to know the boys and parents and spending all that time with Graham. Graham’s was riding the horse. He was scared at first but as soon as the horse started moving all his fears were gone and he had a great time. 

Around the time Graham was returning from his ride my foot started throbbing and the nurse sent a car down to the stables to pick me up. I spent the rest of the morning on her couch with ice on my foot and listening to her tell me stories. Graham and the other boys went onto their next station which was Nature. 

I caught up to them at lunch time and we had sub sandwiches and tater tots. The sandwiches weren’t that great so we put the yummy tater tots on the sandwiches which improved them greatly. 

After lunch we made the hike back up to the tents for BOB time. (bodies on beds) By the time we made the hike we only had 5 minutes on our beds and it was off to leather and BB’s. Graham made a little coin bag with his initials on the outside. He was so proud of it cause he sewed it all by himself.

After leather we walked across the field to the BB range. Graham begged and begged me to shot with him so I did and I ended up hitting a bulls eye. All the boys cheered and I kissed my arms and did a little victory dance. (hobbled around is more like it) It was awesome.

Afterwards we had free time for 2 hours. Graham wanted to go to geology to pan for gold. It was so much fun. We stayed down by the creek for almost the whole time and Graham got a fair amount of “gold”.

After decided that he was rich enough, Graham decided to trade in his pan for a snow cone and a trip to the trading post. He decided he wanted to buy a hat that all the staffers were wearing. Since he’d saved up his allowance for camp I let him  make what I thought was a big purchase. (better than candy, I guess).

It was time for dinner before we knew it- and I hiked up that hill to get chairs for us to sit on during the program. Graham and a few of the other boys came with me cause they wanted to help bring down smore supplies for the camp fire.

As a special honor we got to see a flag being retired. The boys were a bit confused but curious about the whole process and sat patiently through the ceremony. Afterwards we made smores and then headed up the mountain to bed. I took my brace off my ankle and noticed that it was starting to change colors a bit. I stuck it under my covers and decided I wanted to live in denial until I got home. The nurse had recommended a trip to the ER- but I declined in fear that they would make me go home. So into bed I got in hopes of a better nights sleep. 

Just as I was settling in I felt the back of the tent moving. I thought it was one of the dad’s playing a trick on me cause I had told them at dinner that raccoons scared the crap out of me. After I realized it wasn’t a dad, I turned my light on and saw little paws trying to pull the tent open. I knew if I screamed I’d wake up a bunch of tired and cranky boys so I hit the tent and said ‘go away’. No such luck. I summed up the courage to open the flap and squirt the raccoon with my water bottle in hopes of scarring him/her away. WOO HOO victory was mine. THe raccoon scurried off and I tucked the tent under my mattress and slid over onto Grahams mattress with him. He was sleeping and I was clinging onto him with my eyes shut very tightly. Eventually, I fell asleep.

It was a good way to end our fun day.

T

Graham and I returned from Gilbert Ranch last night. We spent 3 days and 2 nights at cub scout camp with our new pack. Even though we came home tired, dirty and very hungry we had a blast. I’ll give the run down day by day. 

The first day (Sunday) Graham and I loaded up the Scion to head out for our annual summer adventure. We were both weary at first, since we are not very familiar with this new pack. The only thing that eased our concerns is that we both like adventure and we’ve always had fun at camp. 

After almost a 2 hour drive we arrived at Butte Creek, where the camp is. It was about 10 degrees warmer there than in Portland which made it very warm. After we checked in we were told to follow our Trail Boss, Michelle. She led us to what we thought was our camp ground then pointed up a hill and said we were ‘up there, way up there.’ This was a huge shock to us because originally we were to be on the bottom level due to adults with bad backs, injuries etc. We got bumped to the 3rd camp because kids in wheel chairs were there and some dude with a peanut allergy. The other thing was that we were supposed to have a flat bed truck haul up our gear to our site- and that didn’t happen. Everyone packed with the intention of not carrying their gear so when we were told we had to walk 1 mile UP we all cringed. SO we instantly became pack mules and started up the hill. By the time we got to our spot most of us were sweaty and ready to drop. Few boys almost barfed and I near went down for the count. After sitting for 5 minutes we set up camp. Even though we all brought tents (which added to our load) we all ended up staying in the tents that were provided.

After a few minutes we were told we had to climb back down the hill so that the activities could start. We filled the boys up with water and sun screen as it was still very hot.

Since the theme was  an old ranch the camp had some staffers dress up like robbers (aka the McNasties) and they road in and stole all the camp flags.  The boys had to find their camp flag- which was a fun way to give the boys a tour of the entire camp. I opted to sit in for the parent/leader meeting cause my legs still felt like jelly from the first hike up. 

After that we had our first staying which was games and activities. We ended up playing dodge ball and Coyotes and cactus. It was a lot of fun. 

Not soon enough it was super time. (dinner is lunch) and the boys had to put their class A’s on for flag.

Dinner was good- and the boys scarfed it up. Afterwards we had chapel and then the staffers put on skits for us. 

THEN we got to hike back up to camp to go to bed. It was much easier without gear but still a tough one. We had to pull a couple boys up cause they were tired. 

Graham fell asleep pretty quickly. I laid on my matt in my sleeping bag for hours finally falling asleep for about 2 hours. At around 4am i had to go to the bath room- which required a hike down to the road. 

And since it was dark I took a tumble and this is what happened. 

Thus ending my first sleepless night at cub scout camp. 

T

today my house was turned into a battle field. What started out with 2  boys having a water fight- turned into 7 boys and 1 girl getting soaked in my front yard. I went out a couple times to check on them- and they ended up all ganging up on me and soaking me (as per Thomas’ command).  It was a good day for a water fight. This is Graham attacking the neighbor boys. 

This is Thomas getting ganged up on by the two neighbor boys he just soaked and showed NO mercy. 

And in the midst of all of this Butters snuck outside and was chasing bugs and eating weeds. When I caught him he looked up all innocently at me.

After dinner my house was full of kids again- and then they all moved outside and skate boarded, played basketball and baseball. It’s a good group of kids so I don’t mind them being here. Couple of them hadn’t had any dinner and were hungry so uncle Buddy made them grilled cheese sandwiches. It’s so reminicent of my own childhood cause my house was the house where all the kids hung out. Buddy enjoyed all the noise and enjoyed watching them all play. 

It was a cool night- which is nice since it’s going to heat up in the next few days… ugh… i don’t like the heat. Oh well, summer doesn’t last forever. 

Tina

Today was very warm. We are one of the few that do not have central air in our house. UGH! On days like today I so wish we did. 

Tonight we went out side and did this:

Graham decided recently that he DOES want to play baseball so I’ve been outside every night pitching and shagging balls with him. I got him a T today to practice on. And yes, he STILL loves those crocs and wears them all the time. 

One of the neighbors asked me who Thomas was. When I said “Thomas, my son.” She was shocked cause Thomas has changed so much. She said “THAT’S LITTLE THOMAS?” It was funny. 

A few of the neighbor boys came over and played football with my boys. It was fun. Perfect summer night. 

It was a good night. 

T