Your camera takes very clear and sharp pictures. You guys were the last campers standing.

Montane

Can we be like all into this kind of thing and yet not be made fun of. I thought not. But I can live with that!
We went to Camping World this morning which serendipity placed right around the corner from us and bought the “Papertowel Trekker”. Check it out. Now we be stylin’

Please recreate your post of favorites.

Things to add to my list for next time (help me out if you have ideas)

Big plastic bucket with a handle - to carry water & other things (baked potatoes)
Rake - to clear tent site of rocks (ouch)
Toilet paper - there’s never enough good stuff
Safety pins - for when your brand new screen shelter zipper breaks
Pens and paper - for keeping various scores
Big butane lighter - for when all the matches fall in the sink
Second swimsuit - the first one needs more time to dry (putting wet one on 1st thing in a.m. no fun)
Bigger french press coffee maker - We’re so addicted
Electric dog fence - Racoons beware!
Big tupperware tubs - To keep food away from racoons that navigate electric fence (you know they’ll find a way)
Talcum powder - for chaffing (the poor boys suffered so)

I’m still doing laundry and washing pots and pans, but as soon as those are done I’ll start planning the McKinney Falls trip.

Group camping rocks!

Kim, I love the post with the songs, we’ve listened to them several times. Put up some more, it’s great.

Here’s the new songs I’m working right now. I’m really proud of them.

“Muevete” (Move)

“Te Voy A Olvidar” (I Am Going To Forget You)

Lynne, not to downplay the challenge you have everyday with the wildest 2 year old in the world, but I think you know how intensely loved Will is within the group. He’s a big part of the heart and soul of the whole deal. You and he were sorely missed on Sunday and it was a relief when you brought him back on Monday.

I, too, was amused by the heckling, as I very innocently told my stories, from Jimmie and the “hens”. Those were very interesting stories. Or at least I thought so at the time.

I am now very pleased that I can use the term “hens” since it has been introduced into the weblog vernacular.

David,… David… WhippleWorld to David Priest. Come in David Priest.

David’s the dude on a lot of subjects including astronomy. Such the dude that he gave me a piece of Mars which I have in with my most prized possessions.

He and Bonnie have been readers but not posters. Come in Priests, we need you!!!!

Pretty cool.

Approaching Mars

Here’s a fun site I found for playing a very boggle-like game
FREE!!!

BOGGLER INSTRUCTIONS - Word Plays Interactive Word Games

I was typing my “favorites” and an epistle to the beauty of the “slipped off the clock” philosophy when the blog freaked out on me. I’m not sure whether to try to recreate it or leave it like the scene in Forrest Gump where they disconnect the microphone when he’s talking about Vietnam - “And that’s all I have to say about that”.

Lynne, don’t talk that way about Glenn! He’s only acting like a normal boy.

not only am I responsible for the noisiest, most exasperating member of the group, but now I am to blame for drunken ribaldry! Where will it end? The hen heckling was quite amusing, though. Now, how did I end up at the pointed end of the finger for this? A couple of photos…didn’t get the camera out until the last day.

Jim said yesterday that she was thinking about asking everybody to post a list of their favorite things. I’m glad to see that she did. Here’s a few from me:

* Seeing all the couples and the kids having so much fun just being together for such a long stretch. It was a village.
* The late night swims by tiki torch in the crystal clear, calm, cool water. And then the wake up swims.
* The Saturday night poker champsionship game not only because it was fun but because Taylor was so excited about it.
* Trying with Randy and Willy to run and jump onto the swing like the teenagers did. We were all able to do it. Not.
* The trek through the middle of the Blanco up to the old crumbled down bridge and then the Sunday hike up the creek to the waterfalls.
* I loved it when people asked what time is was and no-one had any idea. No-one seemed to ask because they wanted to know but just because they realized that we all had slipped off the clock.

I was surprised by the fact that we didn’t play guitars and sing around the campfire much. Well, I thought that the schnapps would loosen us up for that first night campfire song swap. Boy howdy, we shot right past loose into something that doesn’t have a word to describe it.

It wasn’t Renee. To be totally frank and brutally honest…. it was Lynne.

I just keep going over all the great moments from our group camping experiment.
So glad Willy felt that connection happen because that’s one of my favorite things to come out of this deal. Like watching him play chess with Taylor. How cool was that! And when he worked so hard cooking and fed us all that wonderful steak - YUM! And playing games around the campfire - he was so funny. What a great guy.
Very special.
Other things . . .
When it rained - all the kids in our big tent playing and talking. Us standing outside together all so wet. Glenn’s great tarp. Swimming in the rain. The sound of thunder echoing on the cliffs.
Hammock time.
Food, food, food! I enjoyed sharing meals. Makes the mundane sublime.
Rope swings - watching all the kids progress each day gaining confidence and strength, then seeing the “big” boys give it a shot. Such fun.
And of course, going out in Scrabble with a bingo (a rare thing so late in the game).

I always enjoy waking up and seeing the trees overhead.
It’s even better knowing so many people I care about are experiencing the same thing.

Please post your favorites - I’m looking foreward to seeing things from your perspective.

Thanks John and Taylor. Those are excellent photos. I liked your reflection photo very much Taylor.

it’s a good thing “I” didn’t bring out the heroin.

Well, the Obregon-Pattillo (or Obretillos as Anne calls us) campers are still just blown away by this weekend. We had an incredible time. As you know, Willy is sort of his own self-contained entertainment unit usually but he says he felt he really connected with the group. That may not be easy to read from him - but trust me - he did. I kind of thought he’d be over camping for a while but he wants to know how soon we can go again!

I’m so proud of Grace! Leslie, thank you for being such a great family archivist. The pictures of Grace going off the rope swing are priceless to me.

Thanks Kim! We downloaded the Michelle Shocked songs but Grace and I prefer your renditions.

…and anyone else who cares to listen.

These were recorded live at the Vintage in Bulverde on April 12th. Did I remember the right 2 tunes? I’ll get them to you on CD next time I see you…

Over the Waterfall

Hello Hopeville

Do you listen to Michelle Shocked? If you don’t, you should. I’m not sure if you know these are both Michelle Shocked tunes. Hello Hopeville I do pretty much like the original — Over the Waterfall has morphed into something very different from the album.

A paraphrasing of my favorite two lines of the weekend. Either both from Randy or from Randy and Mitch: “I’m just a white man in a white man’s body and this isn’t my first rodeo”.
I keep thinking back on all the funny stuff that was said during the camping trip. Today, I had to stop every now and then and laugh. And it wasn’t all said on that first night when Renee encouraged the group to chugalug a three dollar fifth of Peppermint Schnapps. This is just a very wild and witty group.

Here’s a little anecdote about the guitar scene.

That cockroach quote reminds me of the scene in Animal House when Belushi smashes the folk singer’s guitar over his head during “I Gave my Love a Cherry”

All so painfully true.

Evan Jumps From Tree

Everybody, let me know if you can view this move ok. If so, I have others from the camping trip I can post. This one is a little over one meg. Those with broadband won’t have a problem but dialup members might. The others are up to 15 meg but they’re really cool.

Does anybody know about video compression in the new Media Player 9 format? Even Divx users are moving over to it. That would allow putting up movies that everyone can stream.