Family Campout
My parental family and their local descendants camped out last night in my brother's pasture. Here are some of the things I observed and learned.
1. Perfect evenings occur sometimes in Kansas, sometimes in August.
2. Coyote howls are often accompanied by much yipping. The yipping is far friendlier-sounding than the spine-tingling howls are. It always sounds close.
3. Little boys should wash their hands after building "Cowpie Castle" a creation erected and named by the four 5-7-year-old boys in the extended family. It had a shrine shape with carefully arranged plant material adorning the interior. What I thought I saw on the boys' hands turned out to be exactly what it looked like, judging from the fresh appearance of some of the construction materials in the structure.
4. A cluster of pincushion cacti one foot in diameter can be comfortably perched on with bare feet because the spines are mostly oriented in a horizontal direction. The above-mentioned boys demonstrated this to me.
5. Three-year olds who go to sleep before Mama has seen to all the before-bed preparations should be helped into Pampers before they are temporarily put to bed on my cot.
6. Prickly pear fruits are turning purple-red in August, and the clusters should be dodged when driving across the pasture. They're being monitored for their readiness for harvest as a jelly-making ingredient.
7. When you build a fire directly over the home of an underground resident, he/she/it may be smart enough to exit the residence during the night after the coals have cooled. The evidence is a hole surfacing in the middle of the ash pile the next morning.
8. There's no better time or place to keep watch during a meteor shower than in the middle of a pasture on a Kansas prairie before the moon rises on a crystal-clear night.
9. A gentle pink and peach Western color wash at sunset is just right for an August night--reminiscent of the brightness and warmth of the day, but carrying the promise of a soft and comfortable night.
10. Some of my male relatives demonstrated a rather twisted sense of humor when I pointed out the constellation Cassiopeia (accent on next to last syllable), and someone asked "Cassie did what?"
11. When a nephew arrives at the campout with a sheriff's escort (It must have made the officer's day to be bumping along through the pasture, among the buffalo wallows, cowpies, and cacti.), he may not be feeling as invincible as he had felt only minutes earlier behind the wheel of his grandpa's car. If the nephew's encounter with the officer proves to be a direct answer to his mother's prayers, and if his father has had business dealings with the officer earlier in the day, the story takes on some astonishing twists and turns. Driving safety lessons were duly delivered and taken to heart, and, in the end, no tickets were issued.
12. If you ever dump coals that were used to cover the lid of a dutch oven for baking cobbler, do it where no one with bare feet might run through it, or make sure first that everyone is wearing shoes. A pail or basin of ice water is the best way to relieve pain on the bottom of blistered feet. If the foot still hurts when bedtime comes, wrap the boy in blankets, bundle him into a chair and let him dangle his foot into a bucket of cold water. He'll sleep just fine and you'll find him the next morning with his foot drawn into the bundle of blankets on the chair.
13. Snow-on-the-Mountain, and grey-headed coneflower are the two wildflowers in bloom right now in grazed areas.
14. Every pasture needs at least a few trees or thickets, or you need to bring along a port-a-potty.
15. I like for my husband to go along camping , but if he refuses, it's better to go cheerfully without him than to let his absence ruin the whole experience.
16. Take more covers than you think you'll need.
17. When you sleep under the stars, tie back all the hair that might dangle onto your forehead and do a dance in a night breeze. It tickles unbearably otherwise.
18. One of the benefits of a summer drought is that there are no mosquitoes.
19. The meteor you missed seeing will likely be the most dramatic one of the night.
20. The cattle who normally inhabit the pasture you appropriate as a campsite do not appreciate being locked into the corral overnight. They will vocalize their protest periodically throughout the night. But no one wants to wake up eye-to-eye with a Gelbvieh bull, and cattle are far too curious to stay away when novel activities are taking place nearby, so their being penned away is a necessity.
21. Birds make pleasant sounds during the night. They don't sing loud or long in a pasture, but they are there and sound comfortable.
22. A long afternoon nap is a wonderful sequel to a night of camping. The environment is a lot less interesting but the bed is a lot more comfortable.
1. Perfect evenings occur sometimes in Kansas, sometimes in August.
2. Coyote howls are often accompanied by much yipping. The yipping is far friendlier-sounding than the spine-tingling howls are. It always sounds close.
3. Little boys should wash their hands after building "Cowpie Castle" a creation erected and named by the four 5-7-year-old boys in the extended family. It had a shrine shape with carefully arranged plant material adorning the interior. What I thought I saw on the boys' hands turned out to be exactly what it looked like, judging from the fresh appearance of some of the construction materials in the structure.
4. A cluster of pincushion cacti one foot in diameter can be comfortably perched on with bare feet because the spines are mostly oriented in a horizontal direction. The above-mentioned boys demonstrated this to me.
5. Three-year olds who go to sleep before Mama has seen to all the before-bed preparations should be helped into Pampers before they are temporarily put to bed on my cot.
6. Prickly pear fruits are turning purple-red in August, and the clusters should be dodged when driving across the pasture. They're being monitored for their readiness for harvest as a jelly-making ingredient.
7. When you build a fire directly over the home of an underground resident, he/she/it may be smart enough to exit the residence during the night after the coals have cooled. The evidence is a hole surfacing in the middle of the ash pile the next morning.
8. There's no better time or place to keep watch during a meteor shower than in the middle of a pasture on a Kansas prairie before the moon rises on a crystal-clear night.
9. A gentle pink and peach Western color wash at sunset is just right for an August night--reminiscent of the brightness and warmth of the day, but carrying the promise of a soft and comfortable night.
10. Some of my male relatives demonstrated a rather twisted sense of humor when I pointed out the constellation Cassiopeia (accent on next to last syllable), and someone asked "Cassie did what?"
11. When a nephew arrives at the campout with a sheriff's escort (It must have made the officer's day to be bumping along through the pasture, among the buffalo wallows, cowpies, and cacti.), he may not be feeling as invincible as he had felt only minutes earlier behind the wheel of his grandpa's car. If the nephew's encounter with the officer proves to be a direct answer to his mother's prayers, and if his father has had business dealings with the officer earlier in the day, the story takes on some astonishing twists and turns. Driving safety lessons were duly delivered and taken to heart, and, in the end, no tickets were issued.
12. If you ever dump coals that were used to cover the lid of a dutch oven for baking cobbler, do it where no one with bare feet might run through it, or make sure first that everyone is wearing shoes. A pail or basin of ice water is the best way to relieve pain on the bottom of blistered feet. If the foot still hurts when bedtime comes, wrap the boy in blankets, bundle him into a chair and let him dangle his foot into a bucket of cold water. He'll sleep just fine and you'll find him the next morning with his foot drawn into the bundle of blankets on the chair.
13. Snow-on-the-Mountain, and grey-headed coneflower are the two wildflowers in bloom right now in grazed areas.
14. Every pasture needs at least a few trees or thickets, or you need to bring along a port-a-potty.
15. I like for my husband to go along camping , but if he refuses, it's better to go cheerfully without him than to let his absence ruin the whole experience.
16. Take more covers than you think you'll need.
17. When you sleep under the stars, tie back all the hair that might dangle onto your forehead and do a dance in a night breeze. It tickles unbearably otherwise.
18. One of the benefits of a summer drought is that there are no mosquitoes.
19. The meteor you missed seeing will likely be the most dramatic one of the night.
20. The cattle who normally inhabit the pasture you appropriate as a campsite do not appreciate being locked into the corral overnight. They will vocalize their protest periodically throughout the night. But no one wants to wake up eye-to-eye with a Gelbvieh bull, and cattle are far too curious to stay away when novel activities are taking place nearby, so their being penned away is a necessity.
21. Birds make pleasant sounds during the night. They don't sing loud or long in a pasture, but they are there and sound comfortable.
22. A long afternoon nap is a wonderful sequel to a night of camping. The environment is a lot less interesting but the bed is a lot more comfortable.
posted by Mrs. I at
9:32 PM
4 Comments:
You are so funny! Very interesting to read, I definitely agree with #17!
By
Anonymous, at 8/13/2006
This is GREAT! May I use a copy for scrapbooking purposes?
By
Anonymous, at 8/13/2006
I only wish I could have been there.
By
Anonymous, at 8/13/2006
Go here for pics of the event.
By
Anonymous, at 8/21/2006
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