To be a dog at Camp Skylemar is a pretty sweet gig. Plenty of pets, pats and belly rubs from the boys. And if you get the opportunity to be in the Pavilion after a meal, there’s a plethora of scraps to find under the picnic tables. Trickey Pond’s great too. It may be extra hot wearing a permanent fur coat, but nothing feels better than a doggie-paddle on a steamy day.
The little Cavalier Spaniels are the oldest, and they like to be held. That’s Cubbie, named for the closet we keep our clothes in, and Trix, named so because “Trix are for kids”. Moose is the well-behaved Newfoundland, and Moxie is the one that’s not so much. She’s a 140-pound puppy, now in her “teenager” phase.
Summit is the blue-eyed Siberian Husky, who would run to NY if let off the leash. Finn is the joyous Golden Retriever, who seems to always be smiling. Ruby, who belongs to Lexie and Mitch, is an obedient Golden Doodle, who spends much of her time at the lake. Mello’s another perfect little pooch, who’s a therapy dog for the Infirmary.
And then there’s Slugger, the ultimate camp dog. He’s the Frenchie who thinks he’s a camper. You see, Slugger absolutely positively loves balls.
Tennis balls, lacrosse balls, volley balls, soccer balls. If it’s round and it rolls then he loves it, surprisingly far more than a piece of cheese or any dog treat. Even just a picture of a ball gets him excited.
Slugger's happy to ruin a lacrosse game or interrupt a basketball game. Put him on the court at the end of a tennis period and it’s like a kid in a candy store. He overflows with happiness – there’s just so many balls to pick from!
This brings us to today, when we faced a challenge... and Slugger had the solution.
Tennis Director Ted complained as he does every year that many of his balls have “disappeared”. He knew exactly where they were... in the cabins, in the woods and on the paths – wherever a boy tossing a ball could end up leaving them. And here was the solution….
During Rest Hour, bunkmates collected balls and wrote their cabin number on each. The more balls you collected the more chances your bunk had to win. At 3:15, the whole camp came to the Bunkline Field, tennis balls in hands. Slugger was waiting.
On the count of three, everyone threw their balls at the same time, and Slugger was elated! Whichever numbered ball Slugger ultimately grabbed and brought back to the crowd would be the cabin to win an ice cream party. Lucky Bunk 24 was written on the one Slugger picked... and lucky Ted – he now has 300 more balls back in his hopper!
In the post-game wrap-up we did hear some stories about creative strategies. Our favorite was the guys who gobbled up some beef jerky so that they could roll their tennis balls in the jerky crumbs. Was that you Bunk 24?
Another super fun all-camp game played today was the Super Duper Game Show for Evening Activity. It was Divisions playing against each other, answering trivia questions and performing stunts. Questions that we were surprised players knew the answer to included: Which country went to every single World Cup? Brazil. What country has won the most winter Olympics? Norway.
The stunts were the really fun part. Counselors from each Division got to do marshmallow catching and the Oreo-on-your-forehead-and-into-your-mouth stunt. Another one involved turning your counselor into a mummy with toilet paper. The very best came last. One brave counselor and two campers from each division came to the stage and were given a can of shaving cream. The task was to use the shaving cream to give your counselor a new hairdo in under two minutes. Special thanks to counselors Ava E, AJ, Cozmo, Brock, Chase and Zac. This proves that you truly will do anything and everything for the boys of Skylemar.
