Backpacking with the boys

The scout troop decided they wanted to do the backpacking merit badge, which includes 3 three-day trips of at least 15 miles each, and a week long trip of 30 miles. On Saturday we had the "warm up" hike of 7 miles with full packs along the beach to see who was really serious. Then we left at 5 a.m. Monday for Myakka River State Park near Sarasota for the first three day hike.

Here we are checking the maps and starting out the trek.

The trail was swampy at times with some wildlife. The baby alligators were hidden away in the swamp water so well that we couldn't get a good picture from the bank and no one wanted to get in the water for a closer shot. The snake may be a pigmy rattler who has just swallowed his meal. Some saw a bear in the brush just after dark. Needless to say, they saw the importance of hanging up the food in a bear bag at night to keep the night critters away.

The first day we hiked for 8 hours for 14 miles with rest stops every couple of hours when we found a spot of shade and a wide spot in the trail. Sometimes when I would lie down on my backpack to rest, one of the boys would come over and ask this 74 year old, "Are you dying?" lol. I told them "Thompsons are stronger than that. I'm just pacing myself!"

Everyone was told to carry enough water for at least two days since there would be no water available until the last night. The leaders all carried 8 liters of water but the boys thought that seemed like too much so only brought 2 liters each. That means they ran out on the first day. The leaders shared their water and then we showed them how to purify swamp water so we could make it through the next two days. I don't have a picture of the last filter stage, but you can see that the water looks like watered down Dr. Pepper. It had the taste of mushrooms. The last two days we filtered water for 10 two liter soda bottles each day for everyone to have at least two liters of drinking water to carry plus some extra for cooking to keep 6 scouts and 3 leaders hydrated.

Do these look like happy campers? You don't see me by my tent the first night as I was so exhausted at nightfall (5:30 p.m.) that I crawled in my tent and immediately fell asleep for 13 hours. The second night our campsite had an old fashioned well with a hand pump. I put on my swim suit and did a wash down in the cool water while grandson David pumped the water. I was immediately refreshed and ready for the last day of hiking. The well water had to be treated too. Everyone thought the swamp water actually tasted better even though the well water was clear!

Here we are at the end of the hike. Because of which campsites we were able to reserve, it was going to be a 35 mile rather than the required 15 hike. But with short cuts that the patrol leaders identified on the map, it was only 28.7 miles according to the pedometer that one of the leaders carried. The park rangers warned us to stay on the hiking trails, biking trails, and roads because otherwise we might be wrestling gators, snakes, wild pigs, and bears while walking chest deep through the swamps. We found lots of traces of all of these animals along the trails. The scouts now know how to read a map to find the most efficient and safe route through the wilds of Florida.

Since this was a "winter" hike in Florida, it was only in the low 80s in the day and 60s at night--hot enough for me to sweat 10 lbs of water in spite of drinking 6 liters each day and cold enough to get chilly at night if I hadn't brought dry night clothes. Everyone is excited and ready for the next hike, which may be in the mountains of Georgia or Tennessee during spring break--perhaps even in the snow. Can Florida boys do that?

Merry Florida Christmas

In sorting through our things, we found our collection of bells. We now use a nice loud cowbell to call everyone to eat. The grandkids especially like bell ringing duty. In good Pavlovian style, I now get hungry as soon as I hear it.

Last year on Christmas eve, we moved into our log cabin so we didn't get to do our traditional Christmas Eve caroling. But this year we surprised the neighbors that we have visited with during the year with our lovely carols and a plate of warm cookies and banana bread.

One family was hosting a "low country boil" (clams, mussels, shrimp, oysters, potatoes, corn on the cob) for their extended family. They run the feed store that we visit every week so we know them quite well. They said they had prepared way too much food so they sent home a large plate filled to the brim. We decided to have it for breakfast. It was delicious. I didn't need the cow bell this time to get me ready for breakfast as I had dreamed about it all night.

Oh, yes, the records say that this was the warmest Christmas day ever for Bunnell! Too bad that I don't have my pool yet.

Grandma's Christmas Time

Everyone knows that grandma LOVES Christmas, and especially Christmas decorations. However, with missions, travel, moving and house building, she hasn't been able to get out the Christmas things and do "her thing" since 2009. But not so this year. When we unpacked the shed a couple of months ago, she found all the lights and decorations that she has saved up through the years. This past week she has gone crazy seeing how a log cabin looks when filled with Christmas cheer. Besides lights, ribbons, music boxes, toy Santas, reindeer antlers and garland everywhere, she has put out an extended Christmas village, all our manger scenes that we have collected in the many countries we have lived in, plus our Hungarian hand embroidered table cloths. We are ready for visitors who need a good dose of Christmas cheer.

Merry Christmas!!

The last projects for the year

As of Christmas Eve, we will have been living in our log cabin for one year. Today, I finished up the last project for the year, building the master bedroom closet. Mom now has her long-hoped-for door with a mirror. We also put up bulletin boards around the pantry door for our yearly calendar and table manners directions that Victoria made for us. Now I'm organizing the shed so we can transfer the tools and other building materials out of the house. In January we'll put in the downstairs floors, finish the window trim and the ceilings on the porches. With all of the excitement of everyone coming to enjoy the cabin, we didn't have time to go to the sawmill to get the lumber for these last projects. But the house looks great!!

Scout Master Thompson

This is the fourth time I've been a scoutmaster. However, my last training was in 1981 and according to the local scouting council, they don't keep records back that far so in order for our troop to have a "trained" scoutmaster, I had to take the scoutmaster training again. I was in the Buzzard Patrol and as our patrol flag suggested, food came to be the most important part of our training. We did the usual knot tying, fire building, first aid, and axe sharpening that I had just done with my troop to get them all to be first class scouts (and as of the last court of honor, they are now star scouts), but one of our patrol members in the training program was an executive chef for a chain of gourmet restaurants and he decided that for the same amount of money, we could eat in style rather than have the suggested food. We had Italian sausage, potatoes, eggs for breakfast cooked in a dutch oven, trout imported from Idaho cooked wrapped in parchment paper and stuffed with thin slices of tomatoes, oranges, and various fresh herbs, asparagus cooked over an open fire, toasted gourmet bread, and heavenly apple cobbler topped with whipped cream for the cooking contest dinner (we won by a landslide and I'm getting hungry just thinking about our cooking fun), and eggs, ham, cheese with various herbs on flatbread for our second breakfast. The lunches were boring meals provided by the camp. Cooking our meals was like being on a TV timed cooking contest--someone watching the clock as we mixed, cooked, timed, and tested the dishes. The cooking made the whole experience worth the time. We were also able to prepare our required three meals over an open fire 60 cents under the $13.70 budget per person, including the cost of the charcoal. It helped that our master chef could get everything wholesale through his restaurant.

Next week I am starting my backpacking training. All this should keep a 74 year old young. We may be hiking the Appalachian Trail next summer.

Mailbox

We've officially put down roots: we have a mailbox in front of our place. We'll see now if the postman notices.

Party time

You know that the Thompsons are famous for their parties at Camp Thompson Ranch, especially with the extended family, Wednesday was Sage's 46th birthday so we put on a wienie roast birthday party with Savannah Thompsons, Wilcoxes, and Hendersons. Hendersons were late and didn't make it until the guests had left and guest of honor Sage missed the party since she was on a movie/dinner date with her husband, but the 15 of us who made it had great food and a great time. We had roasted wieners, shrimp and stuffed mushrooms. Summer discovered a great way to roast marshmallows to perfection for smores 7 at a time. I didn't get a picture of that as it was too dark.

The next day was Thanksgiving with the usual yummy food. The Thompsons and Hendersons started out the feast, with the Wilcoxes joining later for the birthday cake and the 12 pies. Of course, the grandkids zoomed around on the golf cart and played capture the flag, soccer, and other games with the adults. It was an intimate group of 26. Our log cabin passed the party test run with flying colors.

Of course, the grandkids have chores when they come to the ranch. Here they are mowing the grass, the old fashioned way...

and getting ready to check the fence line.

More shelves

We've spent the month converting the dance floor for Chrissy's and Debbie's weddings to shelves. Here are the latest ones in the mud room, the jungle bedroom and the library above the door.

I also finished the last "access to void by owner" for extra storage with the air conditioning ducts hidden away. The grandkids love them for playing hide and seek. We have two more sheets of dance floor that we'll be using when we convert the workshop in our bedroom into a master walk in closet.

Some say that the house has developed its own personality and interacts with people in unexpected ways.