A happy day and connected ramblings

Today is such a beautiful day down here at the beach. One family swimming, cloudy but not rainy, constant breeze, no waves, buoys where they should be, and an occasional mink. It is quiet so I can think, but no quiet I go insane. And unlike most of the nation right now, it's not too hot...maybe low 70s.

I lifeguarded yesterday too. It started off with some annoying kids, but they left and things got interesting. There was a group of girls here, maybe 6 or 7, all roughly 12 +- 4 (I suck at guessing age). They were nice and behaved, just how I like lifeguarding (besides young families here). Normally nothing I would write about but glad to have days like. These girls made my day weird enough though, and all it took was popcorn.

They would take a bag of cheesy popcorn and rub it on their face then jump into the water. I don't know why but it was just funny watching them having orange faces and jumping into the water.
I know that doesn't sound that special, but the last few times guarding it has been stressful as people don't listen to the rules and constantly ask when we are going home so they can break the rules.
Oh, and before you think wearing popcorn into the water is weird it's not. Last year some boys found a can of shaving cream and would cover themselves in the cream. Not great for the water, but not knowing what is in it, it wasn't enough to tell them to stop. Shaving cream bottles hold a lot of cream! Back when I was guarding at my YMCA, I did have to kick kids out of the pool after they coated themselves in soap from the shower, and were going to jump in the pool.

I don't think that would have been as bad as what one friend back at my Y thought of. We had a slide there, so he thought (though did not do) you could take liquid soap, put it into a bag, and pop it on the slide. The slide would have mixed it up and make the water all bubbly. I am curious as to what that would look like, but please don't try that at home. (recently thought about a water balloon of food coloring in a pool and how much it would take to stain someone. Or in a mean approach of that, in general, throwing a food color filled water balloon at someone and how bad that would stain them. Youtube time!)

Actuality the idea of soap on the slide would have been nice one day at the Y. Islam (and I think other cultures) require full body or head covering, and apparently even while swimming. We had a girl come in covered in cloth as required by her beliefs and went down the slide. Unlike swimsuits and skin, cotton is not very slick. She was stuck on the slide all the way down, resulting in doing a crab walk all the way down a 420 degree turn. Hmm, I wonder if they make polyester full body swimsuits that would have met her requirements but still let her slide down the slide. Considering how hot it gets out where Islam is most common, pools with slides would have already found that a problem and found a solution. Must be like cool technology...always slow to come to America.

From the guy with the eye on the sky and water enjoying a beautiful day, Travis, the on-hiatus camping lifeguard.
:) :D
Sorry couldn't help it

Wait! No! Don't Leave!

The Camping Lifeguard is going on a camping hiatus. I have been asked to house sit until the 20th. I am going to miss camping, but for the next 10 days I can have cold stuff like ice cream, chocolate milk, and cookie dough.

It also leaves the campsite more room, which they are expecting about 200 people for an educational thing. They will need all the room they can get!

I will still post as I have material, but there might be less than normal.

From the guy with his eye on the sky, Travis...the camping lifeguard

Day Off

I would like to thank one of my co-workers for letting me have yesterday off. My having it off I was able to go on a 4 mile swim along the shore. That 4 mile swim wore me out enough that I took a nap. The nap ment it was harder to go to bed that night, and had I been asleep at midnight like I should have, I would have not gone to the bathroom at 1 am. 1 am was when the aurora was out. Thank you for taking my shift!

From the guy with his eye on the sky, Travis...the camping lifeguard

The Aurora

Last night I had to go to the bathroom before going to sleep and it was bright out. Didn't take long to look up and see the Aurora was out and dancing. A frantic rush to my camera and I got some of the pictures you see here on the right.

Unforchently digital cameras suck at this. There were three lines of lights, the line directly overhead would pulse like a rave. Below that (more north) was a small layer of green glow, then the main system. Again, my camera doesn't do justice. The aurora was bright enough that I could see my shadow on the ground. When you look at the pictures I took, most of them used a 60 second shutter and then were digitally lightened.

Click on the image to see a larger version!

From the guy with his eye on the sky, Travis...the camping lifeguard

Oh, and while I was watching I played with the fire too!

Do you have the key?

Act 1 Scene 1

Setting: A day at the beach. Swimmer and Lifeguard are on the dock. Down at the beach is a green row boat

Swimmer: Can we take the boat out?

Lifeguard: Sure.

S: Cool! (runs down the dock)

LG: (shouting) Don’t forget the boat plug!

S: plug?

LG: Yea, plugs the hole in the boat that is used to drain it.

S: Oh….we will use a stick (starts walking down to the beach. Stops and turns to friends and LG) Dude, there is a chain on it.

LG: Yep.

S: Do you have the key?

LG: No, it’s in the lifeguarding house.

S: Oh (gets ready to head to the house) is it locked?

LG: Yep.

S: Where is the key to the house?

LG: In my car.

S: Which one is that?

LG: Green one.

S: Is it locked?

LG: Yes

S: Where are they keys to that?

LG: I’m not letting you into my car!

S: Oh (walks back to diving board disappointed)

LG: Besides, you would need the paddles anyways.

S: Where are those?

LG: One is in the lifeguard house, the other doesn’t fit the boat

Act 1 Scene 2

Setting: NC pool. About a dozen swimmers in the water. Swimmer and lifeguard are talking

Swimmer: Can we use one of the kiaycks?

Lifeguard: Not right now.

S: When?

LG: During open boating.

S: When is that?

LG: During the school year

S: Just a quick ride?

LG: Sure

S: (start walking to the boats, LG smiles) Hey, they are chained up

LG: Yea.

S: Can I get the key?

LG: Sure (points to the key box)

S: What is the combonation?

LG: I belive it’s 135680

S: It doesn’t work

LG: Yea, they changed it

S: What about that boat, it doesnt look chained (points to an unchained boat against the next wall)

LG: No!

From the guy with his eye on the sky, Travis...the camping lifeguard

Weirdos

I mentioned with Baydays last month I had to call the police three times to remove people from the beach, one of them I shall call Dude. Dude was removed because he went over the railing twice. On Sunday while lifeguarding Dude came down with his buddies to swim.

It was a beutifle day (though you would never know by my spelling) with calm, warm water, warm air, and no swimmers. My co-guard and I went in the water to hang out and swim and I swam out to scare seagulls away, as they are annoying, fight with children for food, and increase our e-coli levels.

On my swim back to the dock, Dude came to the diving board. He and a buddy were standing on the diving board, which we allow only one at a time, so I asked someone to get down. After I got onto the dock, the three boys walked down to the other lifeguard. They talked to her for a bit then the boys left. I asked later and I was told Dude and his buddies asked if she could trade locations with me because I had called the police on him before.

Yes, this is a true story! Not many people are dumb enough to say they have gotten in trouble before. Oh, and my co-guard, she enforces different rules to a different extent than me, but if you get in trouble, its worse than when you get in trouble with me.

From the guy with his eye on the sky, Travis...the camping lifeguard

And a two

It has now been two months from today that I officially became the camping lifeguard. It is August, swim lessons are done after 80+ kids, the Forth of July has passed, Bay Days went by with incident. We have had warm water, heavy rains, and hot days.

Swimming in the lake, I think about what I miss about home, but how much I love being out here. I miss my mom and dad, my sister and brother, all of the cats. I miss being a continual system admin at home, and having computers for video and image processing.

I really like being up here though. I feel happy, and not stressed. I know my parents don’t want to read this but I wish I could stay here past the summer...even all year if winters didn’t get too cold in a tent.

There are a few things I have learned for next year. Next year I want to bring my smaller tent. My six person tent is way too big and I only use about half of it. I have a two person tent that I can use all of since I am so tall I have to sleep at a diagnal. There is a water source up here, so I don’t need as many water jugs. There are other things I don’t need, like some cables and flashlights. I think the only thing I want more of is blankets and another pillow.

And maybe a cat.

From the guy with his eye on the sky, Travis...the camping lifeguard