A Surprise Find and some Fall Color

Cheryl's News From Camp Webegone
Thursday, September 29, 2016

What you don't want to find in your campground. This nest, the size of an adult head, was along the road on the way to the pit toilet nearest to our

Bald-faced wasp nest

camp. The maintenance ranger came and sprayed the nest. When the wasps were no longer moving, he removed the nest. I'm told he hung the nest above his office desk.

As cooler temperatures arrive, the leaves in the campground are beginning to show their fall colors.

Vine maple leaves after a recent light rain

Sunday Evening Musicals

Cheryl's News From Camp Webegone
Friday, September 23, 2016

This summer every Sunday evening Rich and I watched a musical DVD. Many of them our favorites, and others to expand our cultural exposure. Two films we watched were really films with songs, the Beatles' A Hard Days Night, and Disney's Frozen. If you are a fan of musicals and would like a musical mind puzzle..... Match the verse with the musical. Musical titles follow the verses.

1. All at once am I
Several stories high
Knowing I'm on the street where you live.

2. Seventy-six trombones caught the morning sun
With a hundred and ten cornet right behind
There were more than a thousand reeds
Springing up like weeds.

3. At the end of the day you're another day older
And that's all you can say for the poor
It's a struggle, it's a war
And there's nothing anyone's giving

4. If I were a rich man,
Yaha deedle deedle, bubba bubba,
Deedle deedle dum.

5. The soul of a knight
Should be a thing remarkable.
His heart and his mind as pure as
Morning dew

6.Way out west, they got a name
For rain and wind and fire
The rain is Tess, the fire's Joe and
The wind they call Mariah.

7. There were bells on the hill
But I never heard them ringing,
No, I never heard them at all
Till there was you.

8. I just kissed a girl named Maria,
And suddendly I've found
How wonderful a sound
Can be!
Maria!

9. Money makes the world go around
The world go around
The world go around

10. I don't know how to love him
What to do, how to move him
I've been changed, yes really changed
In these past few days

11. A law was made a distant
Moon ago here: July and August
Cannot be too hot

12. I'm gonna wash that man
Right out of my hair
And send him on his way

13. Maybe this time, I'll be lucky
Maybe this time he'll stay
Maybe this time, for the first time
Love won't hurry away

14. So Laugh in your loneliness
Child of the wilderness
Learn to be loney
Learn how to love life that is lived alone

15. Everything was beautiful at the ballet
Graceful men lift lovely girls in white
Yes, everything was beautiful at the ballet.

a. A Chorus Line
b. Cabaret
c.  Camelot
d. Fiddler on the Roof
e. Jesus Christ Super Star
f. Les Miserables
g. My Fair Lady
h. Music Man
i. Paint Your Wagon
j. Phantom of the Opera
k. South Pacific
l. West Side Story

Bonus: Which of the above songs did the Beatles sing on their album, Meet the Beatles?

Tidbits

Cheryl's News From Camp Webegone
Friday, September 16, 2016

Little bits of daily life, each too short for a solo blog.

When it is 34 degrees out, the pit toilet seat is very cold.

A few days before arriving at Natural Bridge Rich lost his hearing aid. A few weeks later his backup hearing aid took an unexpected plunge into a pit toilet, to remain there forever.

Mimi brought a live mouse into our tent while we were sleeping. She gave the mouse a merry chase. The poor little thing tried to hide in the bedding by Rich. He picked it up and flung the mouse out the tent door. I renamed Rich, Mouse Slinger.

It has been a pitch filled summer. Pitch on the bottom of our shoes. Pitch on

Pitch laced white fir cone

Mimi's paws. Pitch on clothing hung up to dry. Pitch on tables and chairs. The culprit this year is the white fir tree cone.

Carpenter ants have been eating our sleeping tent. They chew little holes, some the size of a pencil eraser tip. Their intent to gain access to the cat box. Moisture or an interest in cat pee? We sprinkled sage inside the tent where the floor and wall meet. No more carpenter ants.

This summer, especially September, has been perfect. And that of course is an illusion. The high and low temperatures have been mild. The last rain we had was at the beginning of June. No wild fires so no smoke filled mornings. A perfect illusion of a perfect life in Camp Webegone.

A Typical Work Day

Cheryl's News From Camp Webegone
Friday, September 9, 2016

If there is such a thing as a typical work day it would go something like this.

Rich, Mimi and I wake up. First off, Mimi asks to go outside to check out the great outdoors. I imagine she is hoping for a wandering mouse or chipmunk. After the three of us eat breakfast, Rich and I sit and read. Mimi looks for a sunny spot for a little nap.

Around 10:00 a.m., Rich and I begin our morning work round. Gathering the rake and backpack stuffed with toilet paper, paper towels, gloves and 409 we head out of camp on foot to clean the seven pit toilets. Enroute if there is a vacant campsite we do campsite clean up: pick up micro-debris which includes a lot of cigarette butts, sweep off the table and benches and rake the site. Next we walk the Upper Rogue Trail behind the campground picking up micro-

Cascade Lily along the trail.

debris. This is best part for me. It is really an excuse to walk along the Rogue River. The morning work round takes about an hour and half to two hours depending on the number of empty campsites.

Now it is lunch time. Yeah! Reading follows eating. If the weather is fine about 2:00 p.m. we go for a hike or other outdoor adventures. And if the weather is not so fine. Well, more reading of course.

Dinner time is followed by evening work round. We grab our bicycles and clip board and zoom around camp gathering vehicle license plate numbers, type of recreational vehicle, number of tents and the campers planned exit date. We also answer any questions posed by campers.

Rich and I wind down in the evening by watching a movie/DVD on a computer.The days go very fast. A common non camp related question, don't you get bored? In truth, there is not time to be bored. Rich and I love the flow of our work and off duty time.

Trials and Tribulations, not ours fortunately

Cheryl's News From Camp Webegone
Friday, September 2, 2016

Our first year at Natural Bridge our biggest challenge was helping folks jump start their car. This is the first year that Rich and I have had campers with emergencies. The first was a woman who fell and broke her arm while walking the trail in back of the campground. Rich drove her friend to their car so that the friend could drive the woman to the hospital. Our next excitement was the arrival at camp of the State Police and three sheriff vehicles. We were told that a young man or two were assaulting women on the trail between Union Creek and Natural Bridge. Our job was to notify the campers, especially the camp with all women and keep our eyes open. Maybe a week later we had a camper arrive at our camp stating that her husband thought he was having a heart attack. Not good. This emergency required using the NFS radio to call for paramedics and an ambulance. A few days later the wife and their son came to take home their trailer and camp gear. Her husband was doing well. Okay, that was our first four weeks at Camp Webegone. Since then we have had nothing serious, just keys locked in their vehicle, until this week. Monday a guy broke his ankle. Another call with the NFS radio asking for paramedics and an ambulance. As of today he has not returned to claim his stuff which is a dilemma for us. It is Labor Day Weekend and we may need every available campsite. All that said, Rich and I are doing well. Healthy and fit, at least for our age. Wishing you all a safe and fun filled holiday.

Cheryl and Rich