Slipping and Sliding

This weekend found me back at Scout Camp with the "Pugulance". Given that football season is over here in Minnesota, attendance was over 700 parents and scouts combined both days. There were lots of bumps and bruises tended to, and both an adult and scout went to the local ER, one for observation for a head injury and one for a dislocated shoulder. But, by all reports, everyone had a blast -- the snow tubing hill was extremely fast and the broom ball court was in perfect condition.

Almost the entire camp is covered in a sheet of ice, and the field where most of the activities take place is a combination of smooth fast tracks where campers have beat a path, and deep holes. I made a number of trips across both to tend to the victims of aerial snow tube launches, and by the end of the second day, people were cheering me on as I bounced through the holes. Based on the minor injuries I was being called for, I'm pretty watching some dumb ass riding a bike over and through what amounted to frozen gopher holes, was worth the price of admission.

I leave before dawn to get to camp, and this weekend, the full moon was absolutely stunning. I am told this will be the largest moon visible to us this year given its proximity and with the cold, clear skies, it was a treat. Taken with my cell phone camera, the picture above does not do justice to the moon's size and clarity.

The icing on the cake was the bald eagle that circled the field for several hours on Sunday. It flew low enough several times that one wondered if it was casing all those nice plump little scouts for dinner.

Cheers