There are a lot of perks to living at a summer camp. You can do things that you won't normally do in every day society. If you want to have a smore every night, go for it, there is almost always a family having a fire in back yard pits or even chiminea.
Washington Family Ranch, as it's called nowadays, has gone by many other names and has evolved since people first started living here. What was once a ranch, became a cult cloister, is now a Young Life camp. A Young Life camp with a water park. Yes, it's true, I live near a water park, and not just a water park, if I am over there when the park is running, it's FREE.
Last week was sort of a test week for many of the things that happen at camp. The Creekside Activity center was running and there is a full ropes course, indoors, and a basketball court, mini-golf, some other things that are fun to play on, but the new toy that most of us staff were excited to get a turn on was the Go-Kart track. There are 11 carts, one carries two people, and we got a few nights to run these machines to break in tires, the track, and the crew that is going to be running them during the summer.
The Mark 2 guys all got a turn on the carts and I took one of the less coordinated out on the two seater so he could "go fast" as Ricky Bobby would say. He sat in the car and I strapped him in. I crawled around over him trying to get the buckle all done correctly and finally had him strapped down so he wouldn't fall out. Not that I really think you could. I sat next to him and realized there was going to be very little room for my legs once both of us were in. The car is designed for one big person and one little person. Not a Job Coach and one of the Mark 2 guys. It was crowded. I managed to get him situated that he would be out of the way of the gas pedal and I would be able to steer without bumping him. We drove, we bumbed, he yelled, we passed some cars, and The Todd cut us off. It was a great time and he is still talking about it.
Something about living in the desert that you forget about is the wildlife. There are all kinds of birds, a few frogs here and there, I caught on in the pond actually, and reptiles. I have seen more kinds of snakes the past week that I reallky wanted to. I was out for a run on my day off, there is a barn about a half mile from my house and as I was passing it, I wasn't really watching where I was going and I almost stepped on a stick. I nearly fell in the effort to not step directly on it, and as my foot connected with ground, the "stick" coiled itself up, hissed at me, and began to shake it's rattle. Were I more jumpy, I might have wet myself, screamed like a little girl and sprinted off down the road, as it is, I wasn't bit and kept on with my run.
My house is at the end of the Mark 2 property. There isn't much of a porch and I have a gravel path in front of the house. The day after my near collision with the rattler, there was about a 3 foot bull snake sunning in the gravel by my porch. They are not poisonous, but after seeing a snake that could kill me the day before I was taking no chances. I first pissed it off by breaking a shovel... yes, breaking a shovel over it's head. He slithered toward my front door and tried to squirm into one of my boots. Armed with a broken shove, and full shovel, and a plastic chair, I proceeded to corner him and then chop his head off. He bled on my deck, and I didn't want to move the thing because even headless, it was still squirming. I threw it in what counts as my yard, which is really just a bunch of weeds growing in the mud. It stayed there for about 4 days before it started smelling bad enough for me to move it to the brush across the street.
Some of the work that I do takes me into the kitchen on Canyon side of the camp. The kitchen is known as the Iron Kettle or IK for short. Wednesday this week when we went in to help put away the food order, the truck from FSA had just arrived and the order wasn't checked in. I pulled the guys aside to get them out of the way when Robby pointed to the far wall and said, "look a bird". I thought that he was joking until I saw it fly across the back wall. I was a little suprised, but it is a large kitchen and it shouldn't really suprise you to find a wild animal in there from time to time. I found a milk crate and standing on my tip toes, reachind up to the window, I caught that bird with my bare hand. Yes, my bare hand. I took the bird to the door and let it go, but I felt really awesome because about a dozen people saw me do this.
So far, living in camp has been pretty awesome. Every day brings some new adventure, whether it's tracking down a cricket under a pile of mops or catching a mouse that has got into my bathroom and is hiding behind the toilet, there is always something crazy happening. Even better for all the crazy stuff happening to me, there are hundreds of other people that live here that are also having experiences. No shortage to the stories, and therefore, no shortage of life happening.
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