Friday, December 19, 2008

Wintertime at Camp Nickleby



Well, the end of fall semester is upon us here at Camp Nickleby. A light dusting of snow covers the ground. The campers are taking their last finals today. Most have already packed up their stuff and are ready to get out of here for three weeks. Parents will be coming up this afternoon to pick up their little darlins.

As usual, most of them have waited ‘til the last minute to turn work in. Even though the deadline to turn in work was last Friday, they try to slip their work in under the radar. Over much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I have to let them know that ‘the train has left the station’ and they can round-file their work in the trash.

Christmas celebrations here at camp were somewhat subdued this year. Superintendent Kim Chee sent out a memo two weeks ago concerning upcoming budget cuts. It doesn’t look good for next year. One of the first things to go this year was our yearly Holiday Decoration Fund. If we wanted to decorate our rooms with yuletide flair, it was going to come out of our own pockets! Not having much extra coinage in my pockets, I did the best I could. I went in to Cedarville last week and purchased this second-hand decoration at the Salvation Army thrift store. It was a bargain at $2.99! I told the campers that is was truly the ‘first no-L’! They didn’t get it.

And in the Hey Barack, WTF? category, most of the staff here who supported him for POTUS are wandering aimlessly around camp, shaking their heads. First, the nomination of Arne (close them schools) Duncan for Secretary of Ed, and now choosing Rick Warren to give the invocation on 1/20/09? Coach Shrewsbury has been walking around the last couple of days with a big grin on his face, carrying his autographed and dog-eared copy of Warren’s A Purpose-Driven Life. Can't wait to see what happens next.

And that’s the news from Camp Nickleby, where every youngster enjoys the great outdoors, clean fresh air and daily mountain hikes, where NO CHILD'S LEFT BEHIND!

1 comment:

Sanders BUT not the COLONEL said...

Has the camp gone under due to the state of our state?
No new posts in oh-nine? I spent several hours last Wednesday afternoon learning to appreciate effort.
I can officially you are lacking… or slacking
Either way keep up the status quo… and slide on into summer
Yikes!