“People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes”

Good evening everybody! Welcome to the summer of 2024 and the 97th in our camping history. My name is Woody and I’ll be writing the Word every night in an effort to keep you abreast of what we are doing this summer.

We have already enjoyed the company of the Fantasy campers (alumni who are trying to relive their youth without pulling a hamstring), and Fathers and Sons, an even bigger group, some of whom enjoyed their first taste of camp. Of that group, 28 boys remained at camp to await the arrival of the buses today. And so they arrived, at 2.55 exactly. The rain had stopped (we’ve had a lot of rain thus far, but camp is very green as a result) so we were able to greet the boys off the bus under a hazy sunshine and usher them into the Rec Hall (Wasserman Hall to give it it’s full name. It was the Wasserman’s – Nate and Edna – who founded Camp Menominee way back in 1928). We then got our five-station-rotation underway. This is the necessary admin’ stuff we have to do to make sure that the boys are well (health checks), they know the rules of the waterfront, they have written letters home, banked any money they may have, and handed their computers (phones) in. They also sign-up for the Big Ten activity activities that they will do most mornings.

Our first-day tradition at camp is a game of Capture the Flag, ‘right here in the gully’. This was always going to be fun given the amount of rain we’ve had, and the fact that the gully can get flooded when we’ve had a deluge. But it made for a fun game, as the show went on as planned.

We finished our first day down at ‘beautiful’ Sand Lake around a bonfire, where we sang and got to know one another a little bit. It’s a warm muggy night in the Northwoods tonight, a ‘windows-open’ night for sure. I don’t know of any issues we might have as we play taps, therefore all must be well, so safely rest.

Goodnight everybody.

As ever…WOODY!