Not your Father’s Oldsmobile

This is not version 6. This is simply some tweaks and changes that I’m looking into incorporating into version 6, so try avoid feeling so disappointed. I honestly have no idea what version 6 is going to look like. I know what I want in it, but the guts are going to be more difficult redesigning than the front door. Stand by to stand by, as the Corps always says.

Another camp out is under our belts with the Boy Scout troop. I could tell you where we went, but I can’t spell it so you’ll have to stay guessing. We worked primarily on Pioneering and managed to construct a halfway decent tower with bamboo poles and lashings. Coleman and I risked life and limb to climb it but the boys weren’t allowed to. What we didn’t want is a body bag taking up valuable room in the Land Rover on the way home.

We also worked on the Totin’ Chip. It’s a mini certification that teaches proper use and care of an ax, hatchet, saw, and knife. The boys are now all officially qualified to wield a variety of pointed, sharp instruments to include scissors and even tweezers in airports if need be. Let the havoc begin.

General camping knowledge like fire building, a little stew cooking over coals, and trying not to get chewed up by flying velociraptors cleverly disguised as minuscule insects was covered extensively. The good thing that came out of all the insect bites is that I’m not the only one who swells up like Oprah Winfrey on a crash diet. I learned that the cause of my mysterious swelling from the first camp out was, indeed, from these insects and not some grotesque undercover CIA experiment.

What a relief.

We have another camp out scheduled for 24-27 October. A two-nighter! My $300 worth of new camping gear arrived last week with much delight. Its the first new camping stuff have purchased in about 15 years. My external frame pack is actually older than the Scouts, so I picked up a new Jansport Rocky Mountain internal frame, plenty of bungee cords, and a whole slew of goodies and gadgets. I plan on loaning my old pack and some gear to some deserving souls in the troop so they don’t have to go ghetto every time we pack up and move out. Its rather sad, actually, to see kids which such a love for camping and the outdoors which no real camping gear. I’ll do what I can. I’ve got six new packs on order for the boys to buy or use until they can get their own. With any luck they’ll be here before the next camp out and they can put them to good use.

My tick count is now up to 2. My most recent find was under the waist band of my boxers on my left hip. The damn things here in Brazil are only about 2mm in size, at the most, and they’re a bugger to find before they’re nice and fat on your blood. The first tick I found in a most undesirable location (as if there were any location which was desirable) and for the sake of decency, I won’t mention where.

Summer is definitely coming, and with it is heat and humidity rumored to be unbearable at best. These Brazilians obviously haven’t lived in North Dakota. The cicadas are getting louder every day. It’s a constant whining sound that even rises above traffic. If you’ve ever read or seen The Langoliers, by Stephen King, then you know what I’m talking about when I say that the end is near. It’s downright creepy around here lately.

Thanks for the patronage as of late. Thanks for the suggestions and comments and complaints and much needed information. I’m beginning to develop quite a following across the net, if my web statistics are correct, and it’s the little people like Billie and Sally and Jane and Tommy who are making this all possible. You guys are great.

While I’m at it, I should let you know that design changes will be slowing way down in favor of better content so you have more stuff to snoop through.

*End transmission*