Home

It has been a week since I got home.  I miss camping and the lake but it has been nice to have some new food, play with the cats and dog (and I am not a dog person) and laugh at our funny and strange chickens.  Now that I am home I can work more on my classes, even though my remaining class is a research paper and I hate papers.

Once this class is done, I plan a few posts about what I need to remember for next year if I am able to camp again.  It might be a while though.  Also when this class is done, I will be done with my first term of WGU, and only 8 will remain.

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

Wait Wait Please Do Tell Me!

Yay!  I won!  You can listen at http://www.npr.org/2011/09/03/140157253/bluff-the-listener.  After listening, I actually didn’t do as well as it sounded.  I first thought it was A, but the audience booed, so I said B, even though it would fall apart when it rains, I just really hoped it wasn’t C.  Well it was, a lifeguard being fired for not wearing a speedo.  This apperently was really in the news, but due to camping, I never heard about it!  Thanks to the audience, I still won!

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


Ok, my mom read this and told me that what I thought my have been misunderstood.  Let me go back to the story, Roy Lester was a guard in New York.  He wears a tightish swimsuit that goes almost down to the knees.  This is what he normally wears when guarding, as compared to regular swimsuits, because regular swimsuits can slow him down.  He had a choice between wearing a speedo, which will keep him moving fast, or failing by not doing the swim.  He chose not to wear a speedo or a loose swimsuit, so he was fired.

A lifeguard should tested in whatever clothing they wish.  If they wish to swim in a sweatsuit they can...and if they pass, then does it matter what they wear?  They have proven that they can perform a rescue yet watch the water comfortably.  His choice, and others, in swimwear should not prevent testing...just test on swimming ability.  If he had dressed like this in prior summers, then he should be simply grandfathered in.

One of the city's swim requirement that they have listed is swimming 100 yards in 75 seconds.  The lifeguard training I was given was that you must always be within a 25 second swim from any swimmers (45 seconds for swimmers with a lifejacket *shiver in horror*).  I know that for myself I can swim 25 yards in 22 seconds with a lifeguard tube, 15 seconds without a tube while sprinting.  There are two differences between a rescue swim and a regular timed swim.  When doing a time swim you are keeping your head in the water, so you can move thru the water faster.  During a rescue you must keep your head above water so that you can keep watch over your victim.  You also normally have a tube under your arms or chest to keep ready until you get close to your victim.  I should also mention I am only tested on 25 yards due to always being in a pool of that size, and I never taught myself how to do flip turns when becoming a lifeguard, so I can't do a further distance when being timed in a pool.

According to the Red Cross requirements (what I am certified under), there is no unassisted hearing or vision requirements, as so long as the candidate can perform the rescue.  As long as the candidate is over 15, age has no impact behind initial certification.

I wish Roy luck and he gets his job back!

A photo my cousin made on my iPad

Wait Wait Do Tell Me!

Today is my last day camping up here.  I still have a few more posts to put up, but I have a test for one of my classes on Friday morning and the nearest testing center is in the Twin Cities.  Between that and missing my family and cats, I am going to be leaving tomorrow morning for home.   I will do a more proper goodbye when I can, but right now I am a little excited!

I just got a call back from Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me from NPR.  I am going to be a contestant for the Bluff the Listener Challenge!  Bluff the Listener Challenge is where the three panelists each give me an odd story.  One is true, the others are faked (though sometimes really cool or correct and they didn’t realize it).  I have to guess which is real.  The recording is tomorrow night, and airs on Saturday.  As to when and what station depends on where you live.  Look online for more information.  WWDTM is also available afterwords to download.  You can either subscribe as a podcast in iTunes or some other method, or direct from the site at ____.  Listen if you can!  I will post the direct link when it is available.

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

♬This is the end, my friends♬

♬This is the end, my friends♬

Yesterday was beach takedown day.  I am officially done guarding for the summer :(  At least the water was warm when I went in to bring in the buoy.  I am going to miss that beach and the loons that come out to visit.  Some days the water was nice and clear, sometimes it was mirky.  Occasionally the minks would come out and tease me with the fact I didn’t have my camera with me.  I’m going to miss swimming under water about 15 feet to pick up two cement blocks and start walking them thru thick, deep mud to put the buoy back to where it should be.  I got to work with some of the best lifeguards Northern Wisconsin.

Yea, there were some troublesome kids that would drive me nuts, but there were others who were well behaved and funny sometimes.  It was fun to watch young families come to the beach for their first times.  Canadians would come down and make fun of the people and guards who think the water is too cold while Floridians would think we are all nuts.

Until next year, from the guy with his eye on the sky, Travis...the formally lifeguarding camping lifeguard.

LEAVE ME ALONE!

I was nice and asleep (I think I sleep better here than in my own bed) and all of a sudden I was jolted awake!  Frogs keep jumping around and two ran into my tent last night.  Normally I get a frog or two over the night for the last few nights, but two at once is a first.  They seem to not realize you need to go around the tent and instead they try to climb up and over it.

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

Geocaching

One thing I like to do is partake in a game called Geocaching.  Geocaching is using a GPS to find containers hidden in bushes, trees, between rocks, and in other locations. Depending on the size of the cache, you can find in the cache a log of who has visited, and sometimes some trinkets like toys, coins, and other little odds and ends.  When you find a cache you take out one item and put in a different one.  On sites like Geocaching.com, you can find caches near you and get the longitude and latitude, a description of the cache, and sometimes a hint.  Once you find it you fill out the log at the cache and online.

When using a GPS, you have to remember that GPS’s aren't exact.  When your GPS give you the Long/Lat, it is based on the time of the radio signal from some satellites to get to your receiver.  However, things like the atmosphere, warm and cold pockets, clouds, and nearby trees and buildings can change the time it takes for the radio signal to get to the receiver.  This slowdown can cause errors of usually 15 to 150 feet or more. What this causes is when your GPS gives you your location, on a good day, that location it gives you is actually within 15 feet of you, but not necessarily where you are at.  When you are finding something that was hidden, its a good idea to double your reported error distance for your search range.  If you have a 15 foot error and the hider a 15 foot error in the opposite direction on a different day, then where you are standing is actually 30 feet away from where the hider was.

Enough with the technical stuff...I have found 20 caches since I started about two tears ago.  I have also hidden two caches now, the most recent on Friday (this post is on Monday).  I hid it on the dock at Bayview Beach at N 46° 36.200 W 090° 51.884 (When I stored that Long\Lat, I had an error of 17 feet).

After setting it and submitting it on Friday, it was approved Saturday morning, and by that afternoon, it had already been found (good job chiroptera79))!  To learn more about this cache, visit here.  When you do, leave a comment on here but no spoilers!

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

Ohh!  The coyotes have caught something.  They are a lot closer tonight than the last time I heard them two nights ago.