Girls Camp Preparations

So the fun and excitement has already begun----for us leaders that is.

Last night we (Suzanne, Zalia, Martha & I) went to the storage closet to get the coolers, tents, stoves, etc and we encountered a few obstacles. Envision with me if you will --in a parking lot behind the Sandy institute building overlooking the lovely Bear Park and the summertime football inhabitants-- the four of us clad in flip flops, capri’s and/or shorts walking purposefully toward the Bellview ward YW camp storage facility. This charming little closet is quietly nestled in between the 2 filled-to-capacity-and-overflowing dumptsers that were emitting a not so pleasant aroma and the 7 stacks of busy honeybees conveniently located adjacent to the Stake farm.

With noses upturned to the stench and heads bobbing and ducking the in-flight bomber bees we arrive at the closet ready to embark on the dreaded task to find not one but 2 hornet’s nests snuggly set back in the upper eaves of the storage building—right above our door. We gingerly open the door to find a magnificently spun web with a recently deceased spider hanging in the middle. At least that is the spider I saw at first. Then I looked up alongside the bin and saw the mother of all spiders—an enormous black widow!! I took a photo with my phone—but I do not yet have a micro SD card to download to show you yet. (you really need to see this thing!) After crushing the spider multiple times we started pulling out assorted bins and coolers when ouch! I got stung on my hand and Ouch! Zalia got stung on her leg! So now we are all jumping around moving every appendage to ward off the angry bees—wait—they’re not bees—they are wasps!! Oh yes they are! After a few more bins, Marti says—what’s that on the bottom of that bin?!……….You’re not going to believe this…..a snakes shedded skin!

OK! We will draw the line here!! We need either to change into a beekeepers outfit with leather boots, long pants, shirts, and gloves—or get some men to help us. Our rescuers included our local fireman Gerald (see, he’s used to rescuing people) and our YM president, Richard Ashby. (Greg was at scout camp, Russ was having scouts, and the bishopric were unable to be reached) They came to our aid and pulled out the big tent bag and quickly dropped it and ran out waving arms and shouting!! Yup—they uncovered the mothership—or mothernest if you will. While Gerald went to get some wasp/hornet killer, Richard gently pulled the bag over to the side so the hornets could settle down a bit—every now and then the breeze would pick up and we would remember the dumpster. EEEWWW!

Hornets are now dead. Work can be done. Wait—what’s that?—Oh—don’t you worry our heros have found yet another discovery—the owner of the snake’s skin. Yup the SNAKE! A nice little feller, just a little garter snake, but still a snake! Out he goes! I guess we should be thankful for the snake—it ate the mice so they didn’t destroy the tents. We only found mice poo not the actual mouse-thank goodness. That was definately enough for one evening.

Wow! What an adventure. And to believe this all happened before girls camp! What will happen when we actually leave our cozy little neighborhood???