Camping Was Fun And I Learned Something That Made Me Feel Good

Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 22777 – 988

Here’s the haps:

If you want to read a first-rate telling of the campout you can check out my son, Ben’s, blog post over at Brother’s Campfire, called, strangely enough, Brother’s Campfire… Camps. But I did have a good time and took a few pictures. Normally I go at oh-dark-early on Thursday with my son and two grandsons but this year I worked my regular shift from seven am till eleven am. I did this because my boss has been very gracious about giving me time off, even on Fridays when I’m needed the most and so I didn’t want to take too much advantage of her good nature. But, this meant that I didn’t leave as early as I’m used to and also had to drive alone. The location was the same as last year and was made even easier to find because Ben and the boys post the colors at the entrance turnoff on the Forest road. I pitched the Taj Mahal (the big red tent I use for myself) with the help of a couple of veteran campers, the Thirteen Year Veteran of Life helped the most with this part. He’s been doing this since he was three and has a clue. The other one is no slouch either and I believe he may have come with us about 12 or more years. It’s nice when they are grown enough to be helpful and mature enough to offer. then they took a pistachio break.

After that, I had a beautiful cup of sock coffee. There’s something about camp coffee that is unlike anything else.

My son built a nice fort on the side of the hill.

I also got to play with a new toy I bought. It’s a sundial and compass combination and I bought it originally as a gag. “I’m so old my pocket watch is a sundial.” But the compass was functional and sundial worked. There were a couple of drawbacks to it, however. It didn’t automatically adjust for Daylight Savings Time and I couldn’t seem to make it work at night. The picture contains a link to the Amazon page I bought it on but it’s not an affiliate link and I don’t get anything if you buy one. Not saying whether you should or shouldn’t of course, but I don’t get any money from this blog.

I bought a “Betsy Ross” flag from a local flag store and brought it along. We always like to have a flag in our camp as well as the one by the road and I have wanted one of these for a long time. You can fly any flag that has ever flown over the United States and this is one I really like. “Thirteen stars in a new constellation. None of them greater than the other.” Nobody knows what the actual first flag looked like but that Betsy Ross did make it for a committee of the Continental Congress was attested in a sworn affidavit by her daughter, which can be read here. I don’t know if the inestimable Author Sarah Angleton has written about this and I just can’t remember but if she has and provides a link I will add a link to this post. If you have never read her blog it is definitely one worth checking out.

Anyway, Ben was able to dig up a flagpole, literally, and he dug a three-foot deep hole and put this old tree in it so it would be firm and secure. It worked because it survived the winds we get. He (and our whole family, really) has a deep love and respect for the flag and would never allow anything bad to happen to it.

The thing that I learned that made me feel good was something I should have remembered from other years. My grandsons know how to properly fold the United States Flag.

And Americans, remember, it’s a good thing them fellers back there won that Revolutionary War or we’d all be talking English right now.