Campy Yawgoog

Boy Scouts of America.  Like them or not, I have very fond memories of spending my summers, and portions of the rest of the year, camping, fishing, or learning some skill that would eventually, against my will, prepare me to be a responsible man.

Camp Yawgoog is a Boy Scout Camp in Rhode Island's, Hope Valley. It's about 1800 acres of forest, (hear it comes... like isn't that the whole State?), where boys are allowed to be boys, so long as they stick to the Scout Oath, and the Scout Law, both of which are pretty serious to learn, live, and teach. I'm glad the camp still alive and well.

My 5 summers spent at Camp Yawgoog's Three Point Camp have been some of the best summer memories of my life. It is so hard to find places where young men, between the ages of 12 and 18 can explore, learn, and teach, with their peers free from the constant watchful adult eye. 

What did I learn at Camp Yawgoog? 

1.  I sucked at archery, basket weaving, sharpening my hatchet, and being on time.

2.  I wasn't as smart as I had been told. It took me four years to qualify sailboats, and five years to get my sailing merit badge.

3.  "Swim Check!" (where leaders count people in, and more importantly ON the water), doesn't last nearly as long as it seems to inconvenience swimmers.

4.  I learned that islands have a "wind shadow" behind them. In essence, no wind, means no sailing.  

5.  I learned that old, one sail, dory skiffs need a relatively stiff breeze in order to move.  They tend to STOP behind islands.

6.  Swimming in an old square orange life preserver sucks.  It sucks even more when trying to "swim tow" (unlike Jack Lalane) a small 10 foot sail boat.  It's no where near as graceful as you'd think.

7.  The most stable a small sailboat will be, is on its side in the water... really! 

8.  Be sure your boat partner understands why he needs to be on the opposite side of the boat you're attempting to get into.

9.  After they count "swimmers" at Sandy Beach, they count boats.  

10. Missing sailboats cause Scout Masters some consternation.

11. Swamped sailboats, behind King Phillip Island cause something a bit more profound than consternation.

12. I learned that in breaking the established water front and sailing rules, I had also broken Trustworthy, Obedient, Thrifty, and Brave, of The Scout Law.

13. I'm a pretty bad lier.

14. I can recover from a near total screw up.

15. I learned that I'm a pretty darn good dish washer. 

 Troop 73, Providence!!   (1972-1979!)

Campy Out!

Black Powder Cannon Shot

Here's a better clip of a 160 grain black powder shot.  Shot on the 4th of July 2014 at around noon.

Wait for it.....

That's nice!

Campy Out!

Well here it is!  Finally!

This is a quick movie from the July 4th party at our house.  The cannon shot this time was a 220 grain charge.  We went all the way up to 300 grains and stopped./

Thanks to every one for participating!

Campy Out!

The Cannon Has Been Fired!!!

Well finally!

Here is the final result of the cannon firing today.  This is the fourth shot of the day. The first two attempted by me, using black powder substitute called Pyrodex, were unsuccessfully. (Actually they were admittedly exciting "FFFFFOOOOOOSHHHHHEZZZZ")

The third shot was under instruction by the cannon owner at 50 grains of standard (ff) black powder, with good results.  We increased the charge to 100 grains of (ff) black powder and a fair amount of packing, with excellent results!

I can't wait for the fourth of July!  Woo Hoo!!!!  Here's the video!
(Sorry about the language!)

Campy Out!

Cannon Day!

I'm going to do it today!  Today is cannon day!  I'm going to shoot the cannon where ever I stop today.  I can't stand it any more... I've been up most of the night thinking about this...

I'm so stinking ready to do this!

Cannon Day is TODAY!

Campy Out!

Scars of Life

Man its been a while!

I was watching several young teens playing catch yesterday, in the rain.  Bear in mind that we live in the Pacific North West where rain is part of life, and we know many modes of rain.  Most modes of rain are quite tolerable for the North Westerner.  Yesterday's rain was a very mild drizzle, just enough to make and keep things wet.

As I watched these kids running around playing catch with a foot ball, one of the fathers came outside and ordered the kids inside to play video games, because it was raining, and he didn't want them to get sick.

Wow! Maybe there is something to the generation of kids that stay inside and play videos, rather than stay outside in mild weather playing catch.  It may not be the kids, but the parents who create that mental conditioning.  Maybe kids want to go outside and play, fish, run, ride a bike, skateboard, or hide and seek.  Maybe parents remove the fun of going outside and playing.

Helmets, knee pads, elbow pads, first aid kits, "Play where I can see you," "Stay out of the bushes,"  "Don't get too close to the water," and "Fishing hooks are gross!"  All are requirements and statements made by a parent to a kid wanting to play.  I'm not saying safety gear is bad.  I am saying that kids really don't have a place to learn, moderate, and take risk anymore accept in video games, where they "die" if something goes wrong.

I guess "dying" over and over and over, on video games, is preferable to an occasional scrape, bloody nose, broken bone, or bruised ego.  I'm pretty sure that the scars I obtained, as I was "learning" life before the age of 18, would be seen as some kind of child abuse today, but every one of my scars is a lesson in life.

Chicks used to dig scars.  Hockey is still number one!  220V Power tools and chainsaws rock!  Old V8 Cars sound cool!  Sailing someone else's boat in crappy weather is great fun!

Scars?  Sure, I got a few well earned scars!

Campy Out!

The Cannon is coming soon! Keep listening....

I know its been quite some time since I posted on this blog.

I've been busy!

I thought I'd do the Spring time run down of all the crap I've managed to get accomplished, however that's just going to have to wait.

I've been working on a cannon.  That's right a 23 inch, 40 pound, brass cannon (I was told its bronze, but it sure shines like brass!)  Any how, I'm days away from firing the darn thing.  I've been doing my homework.

Legal stuff... Check
Safety stuff... Check
Muzzle Loader Black powder... Check
Bore safety equipment... Check
Slow burning fuse... Check
Pre-measured loads... Check
Nice quiet, yet safe place to shoot... Check
Video cameras... Check
Find an amateur pyrotechnical expert in my local area... Check
Gather up my balls enough to shoot... Almost...

I'm meeting with the expert tomorrow to line the shoot up.  Man I'm psyched!

Stay tuned!  Story, pictures, and video to follow very shortly!

Campy Out!

What if?

What if?

I was recently asked if now that I'm in my second half of life, do I have any regrets about choices I had made that, given the chance, I would like to rewrite?  What a great question!  I've been pondering this over the past year or so, half hoping someone, someone whom I valued, would ask me this very question!  What one choice would I rewrite, given the chance? I'm going to list ten changes that I'd like to make, and then pick one at the end. So here goes nothing!

1.  I should have chosen to sleep with "nice" D!  Man what a miss!

2.  I should have not chosen to sleep with "evil" D! (Different girl!)  That was stupid!

3.  I should have chosen to work with P.G. and his construction company, when offered a job.

4.  I should have chosen to follow the recommendation of my 5th grade Iowa Test, and Career Placement Aptitude Test, and gone in to the Forestry Service, since I was well suited for "work out of doors with minimal customer contact". (No shit! At the ripe old age of 11?)

5.  I would have liked to have chosen to finish my first college attempt, in digital computing, in 1981! 

(That was a BIG BIG miss!)

6.  I'd would like to not have hit a cop with a baseball bat. It was 3am, dark, they burst into my downtown Providence apartment, I was scared, I started swinging... I hit something... and I paid for it dearly!  

7.  I should have quit worrying about religious guilt, and done stuff for the "right" reason earlier in my life, instead of wondering if I earned enough "good" points to buy off my earlier "bad" points.

8.  I should have never started riding motorcycles.  Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!

9.  I should have learned to weld. I'll never get the chance to weld now due to my brain implant. Really, no fooling! (Deep Brain Stimulator for Parkinson's Disease Feb 2010)

10.  I should have chosen to apply myself to learning how to play the digeridoo, speak French, sell used cars, juggle 5 balls, walk a tight rope, grow a pony tail, parachute, sail around the world, fly fish, grow pot, and a myriad of random thoughts that are racing through my mind right now.

And now the moment of truth.... Drum roll please!

As I am extremely happy with how my journey seems to be ending up, Parkinson's included, I'd have to weasel my choice of rewrites down to one that in no way could alter my present situation.  Of the ten, six would alter any chance of me meeting Susan.  Two I can still do presently, and thusly don't need to alter my past. The remaining two are easy to chose between. Should I have slept with the "nice" D. or should I not have slept with the "evil" D.?  Clearly, my one life's rewrite is that I would have liked to have slept with the "nice" D. when I had the opportunity to.

Roger OUT!