Okay, I’ve got about half an hour here. Dinner is in another 30 minutes, Sandra has all the kids at the cabin, and I’m in the business office with a computer, an internet connection, and the keys remapped to Dvorak.

Saturday:
We got checked in, unloaded the van into the cabin, and parked Turbo Schlock in the upper parking lot right next to Emerald Lodge (the dining hall). He’s been relegated to the role of “general purpose locker” for the rest of the week. It’s easier having someplace in the center of camp where you can dump stuff and know it’s secure.

I got out the frisbee golf stuff, set up on the ball field, and positioned myself for some long drives. Sadly, my brand-new 134g Leopard leapt from my hand 45 degrees further right than I wanted it to, and then turned even further right…. off it went, over the edge of the field, across the road… the last I saw of it, the Leopard was making a gentle fade back to the left, but the trees obscured its final resting place. I hunted for it to no avail, and even came back on Sunday and looked for it with a stick and permission to tromple some deep wildflowers and reeds. Still no Leopard.

I’ll be buying another one. Probably heavier (so it’s actually LEGAL). I liked the way it flew. I wish I’d gotten more than the one throw with it.

Sunday:
Church. This was the monthly testimony meeting, and I took the opportunity to get up and say some stuff. I won’t trouble you with what I said — I’ll just say that I had more than a few folks come up and thank me afterwards. We all got pictures taken, had lots of quiet time, and I realized that I’ve got a mild case of altitude sickness. It’s nothing I can’t treat with fluids and rest, and that’s what I did.

I also drew a couple of cool pictures, and got out the markers and colored them. They’ll show up in the Schlock Mercenary Premium Gallery — sorry folks, only the comic strip and this journal crap is free.

Monday:
That’s today. The kids were in their program groups all morning. I did some more drawing down at the arts and crafts center with Sandra, and then I decided to go up the climbing wall. That was hard work. My hands, back, and legs are still feeling it. I wore my small, flexible, cheapo boots because they’re better for climbing, but once I got out onto the cables I was regretting it — the New Rocks with their thick soles would have been much better suited for that. But I doubt I could have successfully scaled the wall with those on.

After lunch I took Kiki and Link to “Aspen Follies,” which is a competitive fair of silly outdoor games. We teamed up with the Petersons, and they decided that I should name our team and come up with the cheer.

Team Name: “Mercenaries”
Team Cheer (done to hip-grind dance-step): “WE’LL DO IT! WE’LL DO IT! WE’LL DO IT… FOR MONEY!!”

I’m not going to recount all the games. Suffice it to say for now that I’m not sure we’re gonna get paid on this gig.

–Howard