Completely random brain dump but wanted to get this out before I forgot absolutely everything. Lake Piru, 2008.

Got there first this year and put my tent up in the same location as last year. It's very close to the lake and a place where the youngest kids tend to congregate (since I have a couple of them). They spent quite a long time jumping from air mattress to air mattress inside (because I don't sleep on the dirt anymore). Lots of crappy snacks and dirt in there but we;ll worth the trade-off since I always know where my kids are.

Brother Pat and neighbor Matt show up next and begin putting their stuff together. Then the troops start filing in. Dave Ely came up to get camp setup though he'd have to leave (but he'd re-arrive the next day without having the hassle of setting things up) and come back the next day with Jonathan. Folks began packing in and before too long there were tents all over the perimeter with a spacious, err, space in the middle.

The wind thought it could take Dave's tent before it was staked and it almost did but we're seasoned campers and we won the day!

Matt brought his backyard BBQ. The full propane, stainless, 6 burner BBQ. We're not slumming this year. 2KW generator too. But we're still camping because there's no cell coverage.

I stopped on the way to pickup wood from a local mass wood vendor and spent $20 on a crapload of long-seasoned, quality wood. Matt bought a bunch of similar and with others bringing theirs, we had to take some home for the first time that I can remember.

Kids had a great time running around the campground and down to the lake and since we had the "group campsite" we didn't have to worry about outside traffic. Cousins and friends all played together.

Ben and Lucas decided it would be a good idea to look down the barrel of Darin's pellet gun. No one is blind.

Megan skipped past some Stinging Nettle and it caught her ankle. She's always been a trooper and a bit of Benadryl cream set her straight. Pat walked her back to point out what had nailed her so she knows to avoid it in the future. My guess is, she will.

Dinner was not a big deal on the first night but everyone was able to use any one of four BBQs or stoves along with roasting over the fire. I had to get up at 6am so I could take Abby back to town for her last softball game of the season. Gone by 7:15am and back by noon.

Older kids want to do their own thing but are always careful of the little ones (I won't speak to the middle kids' fates). I was shocked (shocked!) and how respectful they were and how aware of the little ones when things wanted to get crazy. Bravo teenagers.

Kent's daughter Katie is nearly a master camper already (before me!?!). She's an asset to the crew and can be relied on to pull off any camp duty, without complaint. I'll watch Kent and Abby will need to watch Katie and we'll be golden soon.

No boats this year -- Or so we thought! Some weird fresh water mussel is spreading across the local lake and if your boat was wet, you could not get in and our main boat was wet (from rain but who would buy that story?). But Chris Johnson's boat was dry so he got in and saved the weekend (for boating).

Chris piloted the boat most of Saturday and Sunday so all kids got multiple rides. He F'in rocks and basically gave up his weekend for the rest of us. Makes me want to buy Epogen.

Abby went on the "pull toy" for the first time and got dumped at some point. I almost dove in after her but Chris tells me to hang on and let her float... he'd be there before I could swim to her. Abby did great but the water was 59 degrees so she chilled pretty quickly and preferred not to go in again. Big milestone for Abs.

Went on a "nature walk" with Jonathan Ely, looking for deer and toads. He "Pied Pipered" the little kids with his factoids. Plenty of toads but didn't run into any deer this year. No snakes either!

Couple of old pals from Camp Emerald Bay, Catalina came this year: Dave Sander and Dean Ellis. Haven't seen Dean in 20 years. Still good guys. Dave gave me a copy of his book which is on deck for this weekend as a read.

Pat gets hassled by everyone and their mother over his wins at the Emerald Bay Tri-athalon. Everyone thinks they can beat him but so far only Pat can pee without toilet paper.

Johnboy fed my kids most meals like the good uncle he is. Most of the food I brought went home with me while the kids leeched off uncle John. I've taught them well. Most of my food came from the master campers (Matt, Darin, Kent, Chris).

Was down to the last 4 adults on Sunday but had to leave because kids were finished by sun, softball and water. Last year I was the last family to go by an hour.

One full picnic table of crap (tshirts, fishing poles, oven mitts, tie-downs, tent covers, blah) that was left behind from others that we tried to sort out. I have stuff from several siblings (rookies!) that I have to return, just like last year. When will they ever learn? Of course, I'd be in the same spot if I had left earlier, but that's not the point.

Left the campsite cleaner than when we arrived. Everyone did their part and the last few did a final walk to get the itsty bits. Fruit Loops on the ground left for the birds... it's their natural food!

There was much more but that's all my brain can return atm.

Every year our volunteer Home Owner's Association manages a neighborhood garage sale with a cleanup weekend two weeks later. This gives everybody the chance to get rid of old or unneeded things and ultimately helps keep the neighborhood looking nice. For example, TQ decided to put a new rook of his house so he timed his work for this weekend so he could get rid of the old shingles. Others are trimming back their juniper bushes that have grown out of control.

Across from La Canada park there are dumpsters for general waste, green waste, rock/dirt and sheet metal. They also have a Salvation Army truck available for donations. As the dumpsters get full trucks come with new ones and take away the full ones, until everyone has made their trips.

I had one truckload of trash and another of donation items. As I made my way to the dumpsters I ran into Darin who decided to jump in the truck and give me a hand. When we got down there we emptied my truck and helped a few others lift their heavier items. Then we ran into Keith who had a clothes dryer and mattress set to get rid of but no truck. So we jammed to his place and took care of those items, having a beer upon completion. We then made it back home and noticed that neighbor Tim had a full truck but he was out of town. We grabbed Tim's keys from his wife and emptied that one. We ran into TQ who had a full truck of shingles and helped to empty that one. We followed him back to his place and helped him load up the rest of the shingles and dumped them. Back at Darin's house now, we headed upstairs and tore out one of his bathrooms. Off to the dumpsters and back again.

Finally we ended up on TQ's roof to nail in some tarps because his roof was now stripped and we were expecting rain. Most of the people I've mentioned in this note have been at my place attending a "barn raising" at one time or another.

It might sound like Darin and I were being very good neighbors yesterday (I suppose we were) but I'm simply logging the type of activity that goes on in this neighborhood all the time. There were some neighbors just hanging out at the dumpsters helping folks lift heavy items and others who had trucks that helped those without. I find that there are less and less "strangers" in and around this place every year. The currency around here consists of handshakes, smiles, "thank yous" and the occassional beer (okay, beers are not so "occassional").

Neighbor Darin is bumping his age by one so we're doing a party for him tonight. He already had a birthday lunch with his staff on Friday last week so of course we had to poke some fun at him a bit. A bunch of us got together, bought, decorated and installed a grand present that you see pictured on the right. I had the easiest part, basically writing a check and helping with the install. One of the women Darin works with did the hard part of obtaining and decorating with proper colors and decals (Thanks!). Neighbor Matt acted as the brains behind the install, having me as a laborer when necessary.

If you haven't figured out from the thumbnail on the right what Darin's present is, it is a urinal, decked out in GB Packer colors with a Mn Viking as your target. Both Darin and I are big Green Bay fans so I have a high level of appreciation for the detail.

Installing a urinal in someone's backyard might seem a bit gross at first, if not at least tacky. In this case it was welcomed with open arms (and dropped trousers?). Darin's backyard is nicely suited for entertaining so we often gather for dinner, evening drinks and cigar smoking. On summer nights we'll hang out until the wee hours of the morning sharing "war stories" from work, life in general. With the built-in BBQ, keg-o-rater, fire pit and spacious patio, it can be difficult to leave at night. So from time to time, with everyone talking around the fire, someone might go to the corner of the backyard and "relieve" himeself. I'm not advocating this practice but it does happen -- I'm not naming names here but you know who you are!

At installation time we had not yet asked permission from the woman of the house so we put measures in place so we could remove it with the only negative effect being four screw holes in the fence posts. But after seeing it, we've got the go-ahead to complete the installation with running water, drainage, etc. Truth be told, Darin had to do some direct work to complete his own gift. Bogus, I know. Who knows how long it will last but for now, we can begin a new source of story telling and a fresh path to neighborhood memories.