Had there been a First Session 2020, boys would have witnessed lots of very hot weather.  Both Klaus and Jay went out on separate day hikes over the weekend when it was blistering outside.  Klaus, especially, was amazed to have gotten heavy showers while hiking a remote 4000 footer named Owl’s Head deep into the nothingness of the Pemi Wildreness.  “What did you expect?” was about all I could summon to say.

Recently, we worked very hard to paint the ceiling of the Fireplace Uno and so I gave Sam and Oliver a break on a gorgeous day so they could hike Black Mountain. While announced as “time off,”  we changed the mode of their effort into an “exploration” once they reported back. They found the fascinating “lime kiln” along the trail.  What’s that, you ask?  Lime kilns were used to create heat up to 1000 degrees as a process to make limestone into a commercial product called quicklime, used for things like mortar and plaster.

Once on the summit of Black Mountain, they traversed another 5-10 minutes to an outlook that Kingswood has managed to miss in the past several years.  There they rediscovered “Tipping Rock,” a glacial “erratic” that has sat on this spot for centuries on end.  If you stand on it just right, it moves just enough for you to feel it.  Honestly, I had thought the bolder had rolled off as I remembered it being very near the actual summit.  So now you can look forward to Black Mountain with two additional items to check out.

Maintenance man Mike Fusco has been so busy he has to take his laptop along wherever he goes in order to keep track of all the jobs going on at once.  Yesterday, he took the day off and went boating on Lake Tarleton.  “You shouldn’t have told me that,” I teased, threatening to chase after him if I had any questions.  “My boat can outrun yours,” was his pithy reply.

Mike, you see, has been interrupted from his main job, a major overhaul of the UNO’s, about a hundred times in the past week alone.  He is waiting for our new sinks, with foot pedal fixtures, to arrive and has been trying like heck to get all his prep work done.

Nobody particularly liked the old yellow paint on the uno’s, so Kiera has been sampling several replacement colors.  I am fairly confident that boys, when they have to “go,” could care less what scheme there is to the bath houses.  However, and in all seriousness, in a post-Covid world, sanitary conditions in facilities like this one will be of paramount importance.  (What color do you prefer?)This is yet another way we are taking advantage of the summer’s postponements.

The other main task on the grounds has been the extension of the Main Lodge roof in order to ward off wood rot caused by snow drifts against the side of the building.  Look carefully and you can see the steps to the Game Room have doubled in width.  “Now five or six boys can walk up the steps together,” I observed, to which the builder responded, “But, they still can go inside only two at a time.”  “That’s where the elbows come out,” I retorted, figuring I know boys better than he does.

Spanky, and I mean Spanky — not Klaus — has mastered the operation of the tractor, which takes some of the heat off Mike Fusco.

We have been desperately trying to fix erosion issues along the beach front.  Truthfully, we think we have a pretty good handle on this problem, despite those “once in a century” storms occurring about one time per week, or so it seems. 

Bryan would make a pretty good goalie in that mower contraption, which he handles with masterly ease.  The fields are really enjoying the summer free from your compacting footprints and you can look forward to having lush and gorgeous “pithes” come summer 2021.

The very best time to work on repair of sailboats is during times when no one is demanding to use them.  That statement pretty much sums up the approach we are taking during this mandatory pause in camp operations.  Here, Sam and Jay are fiberglassing minor nicks and dents to a Sunfish in expectation that it won’t need to go into “dry dock” next summer.

Everybody on the grounds can attest to numerous trips across the road to the giant construction dumpster, which has been emptied several times already.  Mike Wiff in particular has been adamant about tossing stuff we don’t really use.  “But, Mike, we could use this (something or other) for (something or other),” I would remark, only to hear Mike moan, “Oh come on, dad,” as he threw the item on the junk pile.

I’ve been doing my usual best to create piles of brush, which I would be accumulating on any summer — as you all know so well.

My best friends, too, have delighted in watching me and others do their things, minus you boys scaring them off as you pass by.

Rob Wiff has mostly been confined to the Kingswood office, where he has tons of bureaucratic chores to attend to.  I’ll bet everyone reading this post has had business with him.  Last week he found time to head out to find a trail up Hogsback Mountain, which has open ledges which stretch for quite a bit.  NEWSBREAK:  There is no trail to this furiously rugged perch.  I got a phone call:  “We’re not coming down the way we went up,” and so they bushwhacked…

along the ridge,

and breaking for lunch/map study…

to where they could see Long Pond below them…

where we had a happy reunion.  The road to Long Pond had been closed for a few years but now is open again.  “What a fabulous place for a fishing trip or maybe even a kayak day trip,” all agreed.  Yet one more plus out of a minus summer.

So, stay in touch and continue to THINK CAMP.