They Hated me at Camp
They hated me at our "Camping Basics" training this weekend. But my back loves me. I went Friday night to Camp Piedmont outside of Murfreesboro because when my girl scout troop goes on our adventure the weekend of October 20th, this training is required for the place we're staying. It didn't help that I brought a bad attitude with me ... all because I was missing Blogger Bunco for a bunch of soccer moms and wilderness experts.
They started the evening with us telling about how much "experience" we have at camp. Were we Grizzly Adams or Paris Hilton or Shelley Long (Camp Beverly Hills) or Juliette Low. Being difficult, I said I was like Martha Stewart in that I could be creative, but baby give me a hotel and a soft bed. Har-Dee-Har-Har. It was such a funny moment that I had them in the palms of my hands... they were buttah. Then we listened to the trainers talk and talk and talk ... blah blah blah. We told them what we hoped to accomplish at camp, what we wanted to learn. I wanted to learn about the dutch oven, but obviously I even had that wrong because I really meant the "box oven". I :::did::: learn how to burn "dump cake" in a dutch oven.
We put up tents, built a fire, played a game with flashlights, went on a night hike, and stayed up talking until 1:00 a.m. And then I did my little thing that made everyone mad. I wasn't kidding when I said "give me a hotel." I refused to sleep in the tents after our lady-in-charge said she didn't care if we slept in tents or the cabin. In that cabine were perfectly good - albeit thin - mattresses. So that's where I slept. I mean, I'm solidly middle-aged, have IBS, creaky knees, and a hip that's going bad, so why in the f*ck would I want to sleep on a hard platform in the freezing cold?? Let those women who like being Mrs. Wilderness have at it, but if I'm given a CHOICE, I'm going to go for comfort. And apparently I was much more comfortable than the others for I did get a couple of evil looks the next morning. But I didn't care.... it's bad enough to have four hours of sleep in relative comfort. I don't want four hours of sleep in misery.
Anyway, my little group didn't have any hard work at all to do. We didn't have to cook. We did mix the cake to cook in the dutch oven. We smelled it burning but our leader kept saying it wasn't. So we had burnt cake. We cleaned the bathrooms, but not really because the group in front of us did all that work.
We got to be "hostess" and made centerpieces in true Martha Stewart fashion. Here's a pic of one! Impressive, huh? The big green things aren't tennis balls... the gung-ho nature girls called them hedge apples.
Anyway besides being hostesses, we were supposed to "inspect" the tents at the end, but the gung-ho's already did that. We DID learn how to use a compass which was actually a lot of fun, tie knots, proper use of a pocket knife, saw and ax/hatchet.
Here's a photo of the box oven that I was most interested in, but didn't get to do.
You get a big box and wrap the inside with heavy aluminum foil. Tape it down on the outside with duct tape, and make sure you have the little air hole in the back. Once it's built, you put cans with hot charcoals inside the oven.
Then put the dish you're cooking on top of the cans, close the door, and let them cook. Or you can use a pie tin for the coals, and run a couple of metal rods through the box to use as shelves to put the items to cook on. I like the can idea best, though. I definitely want to teach the girls in my troop this really cool way to cook when we go camping in October.
And yes our camping trip is the weekend of the Middle Tennessee Blogger and Podcaster's Group Meeting. I plan to bring my nasty, grungy self to the meeting at Belmont (an excerpt from ThisisSmyrnaTN:
Meanwhile, camp training really was kind of fun, but I was so ready to come home and shower. I showed a couple of houses, and now I'm finally relaxing for the rest of the weekend. Ahhhh.
They started the evening with us telling about how much "experience" we have at camp. Were we Grizzly Adams or Paris Hilton or Shelley Long (Camp Beverly Hills) or Juliette Low. Being difficult, I said I was like Martha Stewart in that I could be creative, but baby give me a hotel and a soft bed. Har-Dee-Har-Har. It was such a funny moment that I had them in the palms of my hands... they were buttah. Then we listened to the trainers talk and talk and talk ... blah blah blah. We told them what we hoped to accomplish at camp, what we wanted to learn. I wanted to learn about the dutch oven, but obviously I even had that wrong because I really meant the "box oven". I :::did::: learn how to burn "dump cake" in a dutch oven.
We put up tents, built a fire, played a game with flashlights, went on a night hike, and stayed up talking until 1:00 a.m. And then I did my little thing that made everyone mad. I wasn't kidding when I said "give me a hotel." I refused to sleep in the tents after our lady-in-charge said she didn't care if we slept in tents or the cabin. In that cabine were perfectly good - albeit thin - mattresses. So that's where I slept. I mean, I'm solidly middle-aged, have IBS, creaky knees, and a hip that's going bad, so why in the f*ck would I want to sleep on a hard platform in the freezing cold?? Let those women who like being Mrs. Wilderness have at it, but if I'm given a CHOICE, I'm going to go for comfort. And apparently I was much more comfortable than the others for I did get a couple of evil looks the next morning. But I didn't care.... it's bad enough to have four hours of sleep in relative comfort. I don't want four hours of sleep in misery.
Anyway, my little group didn't have any hard work at all to do. We didn't have to cook. We did mix the cake to cook in the dutch oven. We smelled it burning but our leader kept saying it wasn't. So we had burnt cake. We cleaned the bathrooms, but not really because the group in front of us did all that work.
We got to be "hostess" and made centerpieces in true Martha Stewart fashion. Here's a pic of one! Impressive, huh? The big green things aren't tennis balls... the gung-ho nature girls called them hedge apples.
Anyway besides being hostesses, we were supposed to "inspect" the tents at the end, but the gung-ho's already did that. We DID learn how to use a compass which was actually a lot of fun, tie knots, proper use of a pocket knife, saw and ax/hatchet.
Here's a photo of the box oven that I was most interested in, but didn't get to do.
You get a big box and wrap the inside with heavy aluminum foil. Tape it down on the outside with duct tape, and make sure you have the little air hole in the back. Once it's built, you put cans with hot charcoals inside the oven.
Then put the dish you're cooking on top of the cans, close the door, and let them cook. Or you can use a pie tin for the coals, and run a couple of metal rods through the box to use as shelves to put the items to cook on. I like the can idea best, though. I definitely want to teach the girls in my troop this really cool way to cook when we go camping in October.
And yes our camping trip is the weekend of the Middle Tennessee Blogger and Podcaster's Group Meeting. I plan to bring my nasty, grungy self to the meeting at Belmont (an excerpt from ThisisSmyrnaTN:
To begin with, we spoke about the special announcement. The special announcement is that the October Blogger and Podcaster's Meeting will be a little different in that we will be meeting as a panel of experts at Belmont University. We will be live podcasting, streaming directly to iTunes for this event. Asked toDefinitely looking forward to this meeting!
participate are: Amy D., Kathy T., Michael H., Gunner, Michael A., and Kathryn
C. The invitation has been extended to Middle Tennessee Blogger and Podcaster
Group Members. If you are a member and would like to participate, let me know.
For those who have confirmed, I will need a bio and a image. I also ask for your
permission to post on the MTBPG members page. Thanks to Paul Chenoweth of Chasing the Dragon's Tale, for kindly orchaestrating this. I look forward to the opportunity as do others of MTBPG.
Meanwhile, camp training really was kind of fun, but I was so ready to come home and shower. I showed a couple of houses, and now I'm finally relaxing for the rest of the weekend. Ahhhh.
posted by Kathy T. at 8:49 PM
3 Comments:
you go girl...I woud never sleep outside in a tent...too many wild animals out there for me..give me a nice warm bed to sleep in....glad you had a wonderful time...he he he
mark
Keira went to a birthday party on Friday and they slept in tents. She said it was COLD.
"Dutch oven" heh, heh. "Dump cake" heh, heh.
I'm so twelve.
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