Here comes summer!

Summer is just around the corner.  Yes, I've been excited for summer since the last one ended, but the anticipation has recently started ramping up.  Part of that was because of last weekend.  There were a few districts of penninsula scouts at camp for their camporee last weekend.  Having a semi-full camp combined with near-summer weather really sparks that eagerness for the summer season to begin.  Camp has a different feel in the off-season (still great, just different) and that feeling is starting to shift as the weather gets nicer, projects near completion, more people start using camp, and as we start preparing program areas and campsites.

Even things that aren't as pleasant make me anticipate summer even more.  After so many scouts use camp, there are inevitably some plumbing issues that need to be fixed.  Usually they can be remedied with a few pushes of a plunger, but one we encountered on Sunday wasn't quite so easy.  In the end, it turned out that someone tried to flush an apple, but it took removing the toilet from the floor and flipping it over to figure that out.  I also got a pretty good-sized blister on the palm of my hand from so much plunging, which is still painful when I extend my fingers or get my hand wet.  That said, though, even the 1-2 hours of dealing with garbage and bathrooms made me even more excited for summer.  Could be because of my love of camp or hatred for school; probably a little (or a lot) of both.

The staff work party is coming up in a couple weeks, when we will be getting some campsites ready as well as reuniting with old staff members and meeting new ones.  It's always an enjoyable weekend and is sort of the pre-kick-off to summer, which I look forward to every year. 

Also coming up, my family is holding a work party of sorts to do some maintenance and renovation on our property in South Colby.  I'm glad we have a chance to get the whole family together like that for a weekend since I don't get to see as much of them during the summer as I did before I joined camp staff.  Our big project is to work on the foundation of the house my grandpa grew up in, which will involve a lot of digging in small spaces, some of which the local otters have recently grown accustomed to living in.  It's hard to believe this year has gone by so quickly (only 26 more days of school and 6 weeks until NCS), summer will be here before we know it.  And I couldn't be done with school soon enough!