#staff week

                                        Thursday  

                                           (Staff Week)    

       I had the brilliant idea last night to sleep in my Max suit. It is wonderful, I made it out of a blanket, and it's big enough for people up to like six inches taller than me because excess arm and excess leg means more warmth. So I was super warm, and super happy. It also wasn't raining which is always a plus. Don't get me wrong. I love rain, but I would rather it rain all night, than wake up to rain.

       The rest of the morning is ... A little dysfunctional .... Oscar, Jasper and I are told to head up to Bernard's shop. The only problem is we were given absolutely no instructions, and therefore had absolutely no idea what to do. KEVIN is up at the shop and we are able to help him for a little bit. But other than that we are just uselessly standing around for an hour and a half. We finally decide to walk back to admin so we can do something useful. Of course, the moment we hit the admin area we run into Bernard in his truck, who now has instructions for us up at the shop. So we turn around and hike ourselves back to the shop.        Once everyone is there and we have all are instructions we make quick work of loading up two trucks of things for the rifle range which is brand new and GORGEOUS but missing targets, and the posts that hold them up. We jump into Oscars truck and head down to the rifle range to get some work done.        This is when we realize that our hour and a half of dead time this morning should have been a prophecy for how the day was going to go. We get down to rifle to see very little actual productivity happening. Bernard appears, gives us clear instructions and then leaves to go instruct his staff on what they are to get done today.

       As soon as Bernard leaves, everyone decides we should do THE EXACT OPPOSITE of what Bernard said we should do. I tried to argue otherwise. But being a girl, in a group of "men" I am not listened to AT ALL because I COULDN'T POSSIBLY KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT. Bernard then comes back down, sees that everyone is doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of what he said to do. He asks why we are doing what we are doing, I tell him nobody listens to my because I am not the authority figure on site. This doesn't change anything for him and he begins an angry tirade. I am opposite of him on the site, and everyone crowds around him so the full force of his angry deluge is aimed at me. Of course no-one comes to my defense or says anything, and I become the scapegoat. On the surface this is incredibly obnoxious, but deep down I know it isn't my fault. And Bernard is even more frustrated and angry than anyone out here, and this is his most stressful week so I can't hold it against him. I'll be sure to get him some cookies or his favorite Ice Cream this weekend as a peace offering/thanks for doing all this week without a single thank you.

       The whole mess gets slightly cleaned up, and a little work is done before we head to lunch. Lunch is fine, a few people from nature get to lunch late. They were out checking on the Kaliama (super cool trail that goes all over the property. Also a lot of it is covered in poison oak), making sure posts are near where they are supposed to be. They look a little disheveled but I write it off, they were hiking, they should look disheveled right? Yeah. We'll come back to them. After lunch we went over emergency procedures (missing campers, fire, severe rain etc.) and then Jasper and I headed out to shotgun and O'Reiley's to finish preparing them to open. Oscar had to stay behind to study for his RSO course thing. Luckily, we were able to snag  who worked shooting sports last year to help us out.        We get out to shotgun. Expecting to just have to check on a few things to find that absolutely no work has been done. It only takes us about.... 40 minutes. And then we head up to O'Reiley's. We thought nothing had been done at Shotgun. ABSOLUTELY nothing had been done at O'Reiley's, except a Diet Pepsi had been drank and then the can left. We had absolutely no doubt who had left it either. It took us about.... 2 hours. We had to rake, kill plants, remove logs, take down branches with a MATTOCK??? (I dunno, its some super weird, totally not used for chopping off branches. Anyway it is NOT easy AT ALL mind you) and all other clearing and setting up procedures. And O'Reiley's is in the middle of the woods so there were probably 10,000 pinecones. We were not at all happy by the end. Especially because the pair running the ranges had already spent an entire day out there. Supposedly weeds whacking and repairing fences. Yeah. Sooooooooooooo happy.

                                           Wednesday

                                                (Staff Week)

       IT WAS 38 DEGREES WHEN I WOKE UP. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. THIS IS CALIFORNIA NOT ANTARCTICA!!!!!!!!!!!

       Subsequently, I refused to take off my sleep shorts and sweats, because we technically don't have to be in uniform until tomorrow and shorts are just not gonna cut it. I am a little late for breakfast but it’s ok, I still get a good bagel, though I wish I had my tea because its SO DANG CHILLYY!!!!

       Mornings are parceled away to Bernard, our ranger, who has us preparing camp for Scouters. This means weed whacking, mowing, setting up tents, and repairing the ramp to the dock. I spend my morning doing the latter with Captain, our water front director.

       Making the ramp is actually fun. We are in Bernard’s shop, with a couple other people working on other various projects. We help Jasper and Oscar load up Oscar’s truck with supplies for the NEW RIFLE RANGE!!!!! (Which is really incredibly exciting) and then we get to work. Captain works with Sea Scouts (hence the name) and he makes beautiful boats. The ramp we are making, it is NOT beautiful. There is absolutely no finesse in this thing. Its twelve feet of rotting redwood which would have made a beautiful picnic table but instead has spent the last 8 years partially submerged in the lake. One board is completely rotted and broken so we decided to replace it with a new cedar board.The whole project turned into a giant jerryrigging adventure once Bernard left, because the workshop isn't exactly organized and finding the part you need is pretty difficult. But eventually it all gets figured out and I manage to learn a few things along the way.

        We worked right up to lunch. Washing our hands was a little difficult because we used this wonderful wood stain affectionately called “Green Nasty”  by our staff. By the name you can probably guess that it doesn’t smell all that great, but it helps rot and insect proof the wood so its used a lot. Lunch was pleasant, I had a nice salad and talked to friends about all sorts of past camp mishaps and adventures.        After lunch its back up to archery, but this time we are repairing bows, not counting arrows. Oscar and Jasper accompanied me so it is all pretty enjoyable. when we were sitting at the table, waxing bowstrings we discover that our compound bows sit perfectly on the seat of the picnic benches if you lean them up against the tabletop. Oscar and Jasper accompanied me so it is all pretty enjoyable.

       I have just realized that I have not disclosed where I am working, so I will do that now. I have been “officially” hired as archery director. However, Jasper also knows how to run the range so we will probably rotate around just so we don’t get totally bored with what we are doing, or go stir crazy. 

We move the hay bails out to their correct distances, which Oscar enjoys because he brought his hay hooks from his “off season” job. All in all Archery doesn’t actually take that long so Oscar, Jasper and I head down to the new Rifle range which is awe inspiring. Its truly amazing, with room for 16 shooters and two different lengths for targets. The only problem is there is still no power, and our gun locker has somehow managed to get lost somewhere in shipping...        Dinner goes as per usual, and afterwords we discuss campfires and attempt  set up a schedule, at least for the first two campfires. Yannis is trying to make everything nice and organized, and he wants everyone to participate. Which is nice because then we aren’t just sitting around and let everyone join in the effort of entertaining scouts.        Everything gets managed and we head back to FC at a pretty reasonable time. The sunset is GORGEOUS and Diego has decided to forego heading straight to the Corral and instead decides to spend some time hanging out with people at FC. It really is too bad that the Corral is so terribly far away because it is hard for them to socialize with anyone. Especially because they are up at 5 each morning to feed the horses and the walk from FC to the Corral is just too long to spend the odd night over in FC partying it up with the rest of us.

       I spend the first part of the evening water proofing my tent. The frame is just a tad too big for the actual tent so there are a few holes on the corners where it doesn't stretch enough. After that I spend a good hour in Grants tent with Calvin and Diego (and Grant) laughing, joking, messing around  and getting all my assorted teas into glass jars so they don't get dehydrated when the rain starts tomorrow.

       Diego stays as late as he can, but around 10:30 we all decide its time for the party to end. Luckily Grant is assistant ranger this year so he gives Diego a ride down to the Corral, and we are all able to get to bed at a reasonable time.

(le lake + le sunset, southern view. Notice the “California golden” grass)

                                             Tuesday 

                                               (Staff Week)      

        I woke up at five. Probably because the sun was rising, and I could see it even through the tinted windows of the van. I attempted to go back to sleep, seeing as attempting to escape was futile. Have you ever tried sleeping three 18 year old girls in the back of a minivan without removing the middle seats? And no, three ultra slim water front girls don't count. Let's just say we were very snug, and warm which was nice.

        I woke back up again at 6:23 when my silent alarm on my Fitbit started buzzing. I decided to be kind, and let Nadia and Violet sleep in a few more minutes, because Yannis told me I don't have to be back from town until 8:30 when CPR training starts. 

        At 6:27 Grant appeared at the window. Why he was awake I have no idea because usually he is the last one out of FC (if you don't believe me just read through last years blog posts). He then opened the door to the van, therefore releasing all of the heat from the van which made Nadia grumpy, but Grumpy Cat is her spirit animal so.....         We eventually made it out of camp, we actually made good time because we just left the mattresses in the back of the van (which got us a few odd looks in town, because it really looked like we were living out of our van.) We introduced Violet to the wonder that is Lumberjacks for breakfast, and got a pair of flip flops for the showers and a toothbrush for Grant and then headed back to camp for my CPR certification.         The class was actually pretty great. I sat with Diego, so lots of jokes were made. But the teacher was a retired fireman who has been teaching carts to camp staff for about ten years, so he knows we don't need to be taught the first aid and already know most of the stuff he is going to teach us. After class it's program time, so Jasper, Oscar and I head to archery to get everything in ship shape, which means mowing down all the thigh high grass. Knee high for Jasper but he doesn't count because I am convinced he isn't human, he's a cross breed. Like a unicorn, just with less sparkles.         Mowing is... Interesting. It's the first time I've ever done it, because A) it makes my father feel domestic and happy and B) I am allergic to grass, not respiratory wise. Usually it's just if I'm laying down in it, but still I never wanted to risk it. I didn't have an allergic reaction however, which is nice. After that we counted arrows. Then counter some more. And just a few more. Until the only thing we wanted to do is murder ALL the arrows and never look at one ever again.         After dinner we have a couple important talks, including the no purpling talk (which takes about ten seconds for the girls and nearly fifteen minutes for the guys, because guys are.... Special...) and the laundry talk because frankly a lot of people don't know how to do laundry and no laundry means stinky CIT's and stinky CIT's mean angry staff members. For these talks the girls pretty much hang around and talk among ourselves, all 8 of us. We are SEVERELY outnumbered this year, but we have a really cool new medic, Annaliese, and she seems pretty awesome especially because she has offered to let us take temperature controlled showers which is AMAAAAAAAAAAZING. Cold showers are basically my favorite thing.