Me & the Raccoons...

First it was pigs. This weekend just past, it was raccoons.

We had our annual Girl Scout Association Camporee. Hubs had so much fun last year, that he came this year. This worked out quite well, as he drove the truck with all the gear--tents, stoves, propane tank, his cot... I had to laugh at all the gear he brought. When he camps with the Boy Scouts, he takes his backpack and many of these "luxury" items stay home.

Because it had been an insane week a work, I gave Hubs the equipment list and asked him to gather the stuff on it and pack it up. He did a pretty good job except for bringing two enormous pots and not a smaller one for hot chocolate.

"You weren't very specific on your list," he said.

I shrugged. "The girls wrote the list." My girls (including DD#2) moved up a level from Juniors to Cadettes and I am trying to give them more responsibility for planning activities. This includes things like equipment and menus and all the ingredients one needs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We had some interesting discussions during the meeting.

"We want to have foil dinners."

"Chicken or hamburger?"

"Chicken."

"O.K. What else?"

"Carrots and potatoes. We think we'll need about three carrots and four potatoes." (This is for ten people.)

"Wouldn't it be easier to buy frozen vegetables and potatoes? They're already cut and cooked."

"Oh. Yeah."

The conversation continued along those lines. They wanted bagels for breakfast. They dutifully wrote down "11 Bagels." I pointed out that bagels come in packages of six. Like eggs come in dozens or 18-packs. They hadn't considered that.

DD#1 also came along.

"Do I have to come?"

"No. But I'd like you to."

"Do you need me?"

"Well, my co-chair won't be there [her son's Eagle Project was the same weekend]. And your dad will be. So what do you think?"

"O.K. I'll come."

I have to admit, she was a big help. She ended up doing a lot of messenger service because I could send her off by herself because she's officially an adult. I spent the weekend trying to remember that.

Meanwhile, the new Cadettes supervised the Juniors and Brownies making leaf print neckerchiefs and raccoon tie-slides. They did rather well. They like being "the older girls."

"They should have sung different songs at campfire, though," they complained.

"Well, next year you should volunteer to do campfire," I replied.

"Can we?" They are dazzled by the thought of their own power. Especially DD#2 who has watched her older sister & troop lead campfire songs for several years.

As troops left, I kept hearing, "Next year..." so I guess it was a success.

Except for the raccoons. They weren't quite as brazen as last year, but close. One stood on his back legs, with his paws on my bumper, sniffing the van to check it out for food. During campfire, a group of them decided to have a scuffle and chased each other under the chairs where the Brownies (of course) were sitting. No one lost any marshmallows this year, and we were able to block the drainhole in the dumpster, so we didn't have to pick up any scattered garbage.

Next up: Lego Robots!