I was in the snow with a bunch of junior high students and there was no internet. They were doing fine with it but I was having a bit of the writing itch and thought I would be able to take notes on my phone without anyone being bothered too much. I was having to write this with an "app" on my cell phone and save it for when I came down the mountain. There is a tiny light on the screen that looked like a movie-premiere searchlight in the pitch black cabin in the middle of the freezing cold woods, but the slight annoyance of having a tiny light is more than made up for when you consider that I was giving the junior high students a head start on getting to sleep. This is important. It seems I snore "like a rusty chainsaw that has never been oiled." That is a direct quote from one of the previous victims of my nocturnal cacophony.
Forgive me for jumping back and forth, and sideways, with my verb tenses...Like I said, I wrote it in the mountains after a long day of sliding around on the ice and snow.
Lucky for me, but mostly for them, they are just about as tired as can be, and I can already hear them snoring their tiny little snores. Ha! Amateurs! Apparently when I really get going I can scare people into thinking there is an impending grizzly attack. Makes you all appreciate all the nice things I've said about Sylvia even more now...right?
I'm not an insensitive clod who relishes in causing pour souls sleepless nights. Far from it. I went out and bought an economy pack of industrial earplugs so they can be spared my aural assault. Most of the boys took me up on the offer, but some brave souls said,"I'm a heavy sleeper, I'll be fine." I told them it was ok with me but two things... I'm not even close to exaggerating and don't try to wake me up at three in the morning digging for them while screaming, "Dear God! What is that noise!? Give me the darn earplugs!"
I have high hopes that we will have a great night. Well, I know I will. I'm not so sure about the rest of the cabin... Or three cabins on either side of us. Hopefully they will have brought ear protection as well.
A little about the camp, it's Hume Lake and it is wonderful! Once a year for the past few years I've taken a group from our church up here to snow camp. It's a great place that really puts on a well run program. The pattern is that there's a speaker, wonderful worship, great food, and more activities than can be described in the little time I have here. It's pretty cold but we have it easy compared to two years ago. This year the weather is dipping into the thirties at night. Oh no! I'm scared of the little low temperature. I might have to put on gloves. Two years ago, when the youth pastor conveniently couldn't make it, he sent me up here without him. It was ten degrees below zero!! We could probably have dealt with the ridiculously low temp but one of the activities involved standing on the side of a sledding hill watching crazy teenagers slide down in giant homemade cardboard creations...this is called the "Boxsled Blitz!" I have another name for it. I call it, "Dude, your lips are totally blue!"
Forgive me for jumping back and forth, and sideways, with my verb tenses...Like I said, I wrote it in the mountains after a long day of sliding around on the ice and snow.
Lucky for me, but mostly for them, they are just about as tired as can be, and I can already hear them snoring their tiny little snores. Ha! Amateurs! Apparently when I really get going I can scare people into thinking there is an impending grizzly attack. Makes you all appreciate all the nice things I've said about Sylvia even more now...right?
I'm not an insensitive clod who relishes in causing pour souls sleepless nights. Far from it. I went out and bought an economy pack of industrial earplugs so they can be spared my aural assault. Most of the boys took me up on the offer, but some brave souls said,"I'm a heavy sleeper, I'll be fine." I told them it was ok with me but two things... I'm not even close to exaggerating and don't try to wake me up at three in the morning digging for them while screaming, "Dear God! What is that noise!? Give me the darn earplugs!"
I have high hopes that we will have a great night. Well, I know I will. I'm not so sure about the rest of the cabin... Or three cabins on either side of us. Hopefully they will have brought ear protection as well.
A little about the camp, it's Hume Lake and it is wonderful! Once a year for the past few years I've taken a group from our church up here to snow camp. It's a great place that really puts on a well run program. The pattern is that there's a speaker, wonderful worship, great food, and more activities than can be described in the little time I have here. It's pretty cold but we have it easy compared to two years ago. This year the weather is dipping into the thirties at night. Oh no! I'm scared of the little low temperature. I might have to put on gloves. Two years ago, when the youth pastor conveniently couldn't make it, he sent me up here without him. It was ten degrees below zero!! We could probably have dealt with the ridiculously low temp but one of the activities involved standing on the side of a sledding hill watching crazy teenagers slide down in giant homemade cardboard creations...this is called the "Boxsled Blitz!" I have another name for it. I call it, "Dude, your lips are totally blue!"
As a church group, we decided that we would be the group that takes the championship. We have a relatively small group (two vans full) compared to other churches and their two busloads! But we have a winning combination: A vision for things that are over the top. An abundance of cardboard. An overabundance of duct tape. A youth pastor who is more than a little competitive. And ten crazy eager teenagers who are willing to suit up in snow gear and hockey helmets, drag a forty pound sled in the shape of a Pringles mustache up a hill, and then climb in and slide toward a ramp in the middle of the icy hill! It is quite a sight to behold. We, of course, won first place...for the second time in a row...but that isn't why we were there. If you want to find out what the camp is all about, they have a website and you can look at them here.
Back to the poor guys in the cabin. We had one ask me, at about 2 in the morning, to help him find his way back to the cabin.
"Uh, Pal, we are in the cabin." (I fumbled for my phone and used the screen light as a flashlight)
"Oh" THUD! (He hopped down from the top bunk and started to walk to the front door)
"Where ya going?"
"I have to go to the bathroom."
"Well it's 30 degrees outside...didn't you want to go to the heated restroom? It's over there."
"Oh...yeah..." (he turned around and started shuffling the correct way)
My "I am a sound sleeper" co-cabin leader looked at me and mentioned that he may be a sleepwalker...and asked, "And where the heck are those earplugs!"
(heh heh)
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
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