A camping I went...

Yep, me the great outdoors man - NOT!

Okay, it's not that bad, I do not mind going camping, I don't like sleeping on the hard rocky ground (which I did), and I don't really care for the long, LONG boring times in between doing something.... ANYTHING!

Okay, so Benjy and myself are going camping to a local Forest Preserve - I didn't even realize that they had camping there. Go figure. We were to meet at the church at 5:30 - we got there around 5:52. Guess what, not really late, I know that sounds odd, especially since we were :22 minutes late. You have to know this Boy Scout troop to understand. Anyway, we gather everyone around and then left around 6:20 - ish.

We arrive at the campsite, in the dark, around 7. Now for a little bit of back story, Jenni just picked me up a tent, because we had somehow managed to damage our previous tent. I think that Benjy left it out, and something about rotten and moldy-ness, in other words - YUCK! So here we are in the dark and I have to 1) find a suitable campsite (which is hard because I really don't know the size of said tent) 2) Set up a tent that I have NO history with and 3) Do it without whining like some little baby!

I did get some help, Benjy told me the tent was a 7'X7' tent, so finding space was a little bit easier. Except for the fact that we were setting up 10 or 11 tents in a space made for probably half that amount. Everyone found a site to set up, including myself, and the tents went up. Mine with surprising ease, and a little help from Benjy and Michael. Plus, I thought I had a great spot picked out, with part of the tent on the high grass - I figured it would make a nice cushion.

Okay, well with my tent set up, I needed to head home for the mess kits that we forgot. Good thing it was only about eight miles away. On the way home I called Jenni and we continued with our little running gag about an old elementary chum that she got reacquainted with at a funeral for a friend of mine's mother. Whew, that was a mouthful. Anyway, the guy is now a "Dr." I only put quotations around the DR because, Jenni does it with her voice - if you know what I mean. Our running gag is that she is having a hot and heavy relationship with the man, who also happens to be a published author, (that part actually bothers me, for some reason). He likes to call her on occasion and give updates on whatever it is that he feels like updating. Am I bothered by it? Nope, I am completely secure with Jenni and my relationship, we've been through a lot of crap over our fifteen years together, that if she hasn't left me yet, I don't think that she will.

Back to the point....

So she answers the phone, imitating one of the kids, and I ask if the good Doctor is in, I knew it was Jenni on the phone. Anyway, she says yes, so I say I need to talk to that man and give him a piece of my mind. Then Jenni comes on with a deep voice and tries to play the part of the doc.

Ha ha ha, giggle, giggle, giggle... What fun we have. While having our conversation she mentions that we are out of milk. I am flabbergasted. I mean I just bought two gallons three days prior! Suddenly we're going through milk like it's water. (More on that later) So I stop by the former-White-Hen-Pantry-now-7-eleven, and pick up the milk. I get home and Maggie says "why are you here?" uh I live here. She is just curious, because she knows that I'm supposed to be camping. Smart kid that Maggie. So after another round of kisses (I love those!) I head back to the campsite. Oh we did have a visitor when I got home - Andy's girlfriend Rachel, can I just say more on THAT later.

I get back a little before 9 and find some kids in their tents already, and some wanting to go on a night hike sans flashlights. Those are fun, better if there wasn't a half-moon, but it was a long hike - probably three miles (yea exercise!). We get back and we have ourselves a "cracker barrel" - no not the restaurant, but something light and high in protein, that won't fill us up and makes us work hard, okay our bodies hard work, and work to keep us warm. Something that supposedly works well during cold nights when camping. Much better than loading up with "Ho-Ho's" and "Twinkies" which is nothing but sugar and kind of a waste. After the "cracker barrel" I decide that I have had enough and head to bed... not really planning on sleeping, but I started getting comfortable, etc. I did have some quality time with my "iTouch" though. Definitely more on that later. Probably reserve an entire post, or three, to it. :-)

Sleep for me is... how do I explain it. I only really sleep anywhere from four to six hours per night, and those hours are very important to my body and I think mind. Didn't get them last night. Oi!

Okay J.D. Drew just hit a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning. There may just be a game seven. Let's go for some extra inning games, okay boys? Get really, really tired! My Rockies are waiting. :-)

Potty Break....

I'm back, seems like no time passed at all, doesn't it? Where was I?

Oh yeah, absolute crap for sleep last night. If there was a rock under my tent - I found them! Yikes. I didn't fall asleep the first time until after 11 - normal for me really. I was awake again at 12 - I heard a train, which proves that I wasn't really sleeping. If I am asleep, I can be right next to a train blowing it's whistle and the resounding Doppler effect later, and still not wake up. Really. It's almost like I am dead. But I am only like that for about four hours, maybe a little more, but no more than six. I was up again at 12:45, 1:17, 1:48, 2:11, 2:49 - I swear that there was something crawling right next to my tent - again not sleeping... more times 3:37, 4:08, and 5:11. I know this because my lovely "iTouch"has a clock on it, and...

Now here is the weird part, I didn't wake up again until 7:11. So, I probably got myself a whopping two hours of sleep. I called Jenni later and told her that she owed me a rub down - oh my aching back. Still hurts, but it wasn't too bad when I got moving around a little bit - oh and a couple of Advil. :-)

One more paragraph, which will point back to a point I made long ago(up there). Got up, watched the kids make breakfast, ate a banana, sat around playing with the fire pit, watched the scouts clean up, sat around some more, watched some scouts go on a nature hike for merit badges (Benjy included), went for the aforementioned Advil and some Diet Coke, sat around some more, watched the fire some more, brought some firewood, waited, and waited, lunch - hot dogs and tomato soup (was supposed to be chili, but someone didn't get the memo), watched the clean up, took down my tent, sat around shooting the poop with a couple of people, got volunteered for becoming Troop Chaplain, said "sure, why not" and finally did something - play cards. Hearts to be exact. Figures we bring the deck out when there is only 40 minutes left before Benjy and I leave. Took Benjy to CiCi's to meet up with Ashley and her friend and mother - they are going to a haunted maze tonight, came to work and I'm still here. See one last paragraph.

Bye-bye.