Wednesday all the boys in camp got together for the Camp Olympics Competition. All morning there were double elimination games to see who was going to compete in the finals after a late lunch. The games included an Obstacle course relay. Ten guys at each end of the course, the first guy runs the course forward tags the next guy on the other side and then he runs the course backwards. The backwards part was the most fun to watch. At one point while going forward you climb a 35 foot cargo rope ladder up to a platform. Next you shimmy across and down a 90 foot rope that is attached at both ends. First attached at the platform, then it crosses a small pond, and is attached to a 6 foot steak in the ground. More boys fall into the water going backwards and up than going forward and down on the rope climb. There were 5 obstacles in all. One by one cabins were eliminated from the Obstacle course relay. Mean while there were Tug-of-war games going on too. Also there were row boat races, a greased pole team climb, and an archery contest that included the hatchet throw. The greased pole climb was as fun to watch as the backward portion of the obstacle course. The pole was 12 feet high, and each team had to form pyramids, of some kind, around the pole to reach the top. This was a timed game, and quite messy. There was a small plank of wood attached to the top and the object was to get your smallest guy up there and sitting on it. And his reward was getting to jump down into a blanket being held by the Cabin Counselors. I wish I could have been able to do that. The archery games proved to be quite interesting this year. Two cabin counselors were breaking records left and right. They were both from the same High School and had both been to National Archery competitions before. One arrow actually hit the tail of another arrow that was already in the bull's-eye. Now it didn't split it like you hear about in stories like Robin Hood, but it did chip the plastic end into a couple pieces. The crowd cheered for almost 3 straight minutes.
Upon entering the Tug of War, the twenty boys from Cabin Echo were grunting and groaning as Cabin Antler slowly pulled them into the mud pit. Stephen and Jarred were the front two on Cabin Antlers side. In the first minute of the war Stephen's right foot was pulled into the mud, and he wasn't fancying the idea of being covered head to toe. So Stephen whispered back to Jarred for a second and said "Are you with me?" "Absolutely" Jarred answered. So then Stephen let the rest of the team know what was on his mind. He hollered back, "If Cabin Antler takes the tug of war competition, Jarred and I will let you shave our heads." Now after a variety of pranks and just plain goofing off, the rest of the cabin was looking for something they could do to these two. Jarred would stick spiders, and crickets in pillow cases, while Stephen would short sheet the bunks. This happened almost every day. So naturally cheers rung throughout the line behind them and the rope started to move backwards. "Looks like you found the motivation you guys needed to win." Their cabin counselor Mike said. So with that in mind, Mike made them all another offer. "If Cabin Antler takes the most Gold medals, I'll let you guys shave my head too." More cheers roared from the Antler side and then with all their might there was tug one with a grunt, tug two with a grunt, and finally while tug three began to tumble Cabin Echo up and over their own feet into the mud, there was a loud slow thunderous battle cry. "Annntttllllerrrrrs!!!!!"
Cabin Antler took the Tug-of-war competition, and as promised Jarred and Stephen got their heads shaved. However the Antlers tied for first place with The Devil Dogs Cabin in all the rest of the games. Back at the cabin Mike pretended to be sorely disappointed in the failure of the Antler Cabin for having not completely won. He threw his arms in the air and exasperated in a long sigh "The Dooooooooogs?!? You tied with the 'D' Dogs!" I thought 'hey there's nothing wrong with us dogs', but he wasn't talking about me. You see, Mike had been prepping the guys every night with some really good motivational type speeches, and though he couldn't have been more proud for all the effort each boy put into the games, he was now pretending to chew them out for slacking so much, and kept telling them how close they were. And then just as most of the boys were looking down at the floor in disappointment of themselves , he quickly picked up something from under his pillow, and with his hands behind his back, like some kind of Drill Instructor Mike said "If you wimpy Antlers hadn't tried so hard, you wouldn't be able to enjoy this moment." The boys looked up wondering what he meant by that. And then he pulled from behind his back the barber shears. "Tied for first place, is STILL first place." There was a short pause of confusion from the boys, but then came the battle cry Mike had been teaching them the whole week before the Olympics. So they cried out and they all jump from their bunks in unison tackling and dog piling on top of Mike in the middle of the floor.
Mike only got one nick on his head from the shears. Stephen did it when Franky bumped his elbow. And it was funny to see his glowing white head come from behind his short curly hair. It kind of looked like a thin helmet with the rest of his face and neck tanned like it was. Mike had a picture taken of the three now bald guys from Cabin Antler. He took a grease pencil and wrote "A - N" on his head, "T - L" on Jarred head, and "E - R's" on Stephen's head. The three of them bowed their heads down for the photo. Mr. Brydare took a few more pic's of those three for the Wall Of Fame in the Chow Hall. There was one picture with the three of their heads poking out from behind a table with honey dews on it. You could just see their eyes peaking below their own melon heads.
Later that evening the Camp Olympics had it's winners award ceremony. Each year Mr. Brydare would make some wooden token type medals to pass out to the winners. He'd paint them Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Last year the medals were shaped like stars. This year the awards were in the traditional circular shape with some interesting designs carved in them. Mr. Brydare had just gotten himself some new tools and was ever so happy to test them out on the Medals. I even got an honorary Gold Dog Bone medal for helping out.
Camp was all but over.............
Henry the Dog.
Upon entering the Tug of War, the twenty boys from Cabin Echo were grunting and groaning as Cabin Antler slowly pulled them into the mud pit. Stephen and Jarred were the front two on Cabin Antlers side. In the first minute of the war Stephen's right foot was pulled into the mud, and he wasn't fancying the idea of being covered head to toe. So Stephen whispered back to Jarred for a second and said "Are you with me?" "Absolutely" Jarred answered. So then Stephen let the rest of the team know what was on his mind. He hollered back, "If Cabin Antler takes the tug of war competition, Jarred and I will let you shave our heads." Now after a variety of pranks and just plain goofing off, the rest of the cabin was looking for something they could do to these two. Jarred would stick spiders, and crickets in pillow cases, while Stephen would short sheet the bunks. This happened almost every day. So naturally cheers rung throughout the line behind them and the rope started to move backwards. "Looks like you found the motivation you guys needed to win." Their cabin counselor Mike said. So with that in mind, Mike made them all another offer. "If Cabin Antler takes the most Gold medals, I'll let you guys shave my head too." More cheers roared from the Antler side and then with all their might there was tug one with a grunt, tug two with a grunt, and finally while tug three began to tumble Cabin Echo up and over their own feet into the mud, there was a loud slow thunderous battle cry. "Annntttllllerrrrrs!!!!!"
Cabin Antler took the Tug-of-war competition, and as promised Jarred and Stephen got their heads shaved. However the Antlers tied for first place with The Devil Dogs Cabin in all the rest of the games. Back at the cabin Mike pretended to be sorely disappointed in the failure of the Antler Cabin for having not completely won. He threw his arms in the air and exasperated in a long sigh "The Dooooooooogs?!? You tied with the 'D' Dogs!" I thought 'hey there's nothing wrong with us dogs', but he wasn't talking about me. You see, Mike had been prepping the guys every night with some really good motivational type speeches, and though he couldn't have been more proud for all the effort each boy put into the games, he was now pretending to chew them out for slacking so much, and kept telling them how close they were. And then just as most of the boys were looking down at the floor in disappointment of themselves , he quickly picked up something from under his pillow, and with his hands behind his back, like some kind of Drill Instructor Mike said "If you wimpy Antlers hadn't tried so hard, you wouldn't be able to enjoy this moment." The boys looked up wondering what he meant by that. And then he pulled from behind his back the barber shears. "Tied for first place, is STILL first place." There was a short pause of confusion from the boys, but then came the battle cry Mike had been teaching them the whole week before the Olympics. So they cried out and they all jump from their bunks in unison tackling and dog piling on top of Mike in the middle of the floor.
Mike only got one nick on his head from the shears. Stephen did it when Franky bumped his elbow. And it was funny to see his glowing white head come from behind his short curly hair. It kind of looked like a thin helmet with the rest of his face and neck tanned like it was. Mike had a picture taken of the three now bald guys from Cabin Antler. He took a grease pencil and wrote "A - N" on his head, "T - L" on Jarred head, and "E - R's" on Stephen's head. The three of them bowed their heads down for the photo. Mr. Brydare took a few more pic's of those three for the Wall Of Fame in the Chow Hall. There was one picture with the three of their heads poking out from behind a table with honey dews on it. You could just see their eyes peaking below their own melon heads.
Later that evening the Camp Olympics had it's winners award ceremony. Each year Mr. Brydare would make some wooden token type medals to pass out to the winners. He'd paint them Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Last year the medals were shaped like stars. This year the awards were in the traditional circular shape with some interesting designs carved in them. Mr. Brydare had just gotten himself some new tools and was ever so happy to test them out on the Medals. I even got an honorary Gold Dog Bone medal for helping out.
Camp was all but over.............
Henry the Dog.
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