I left Marquette Friday afternoon for Charlevoix and then down to the Mid American Camping Conference in Augusta, MI on Monday. I stayed with Paige and Ryan (and Cooper and Finn) and left Atlas with them while I went to the conference from Tuesday until Friday morning. The conference was great and it was nice to be surrounded by not only people who truly love working for the YMCA but also camp people. People who actually get what camp is all about. We sang songs, dunked our heads in the pool for a scavenger hunt and went to important seminars such as Emergency Action Plans and what to do in case of an emergency at camp (I would just like to point out the fact that the guy who gave the presentation worked as a secret service agent and puts together active shooter plans and knows his stuff. When I asked him what I should do if someone comes out to our camp which is 70 miles away from anything, he told me to always carry a pen. This way, I could stab the intruder's eyeballs while my staff and campers made a run for it).
After the conference and after going and getting Atlas and Paige (who came along for the road trip) we were off for the Great Plains. We stopped at a Large Pink Elephant in Wisconsin, went through a molded/sculpture graveyard- where all those large pink elephants go to die, the Corn Palace- which was closed, but still neat, Wall Drugstore- which had some good hotdogs and fries, the Badlands- which were Badass, Mount Rushmore- kind of and the entrance to the Crazy Horse Memorial (long story).
After all of these adventures, we headed to the LARGE town of Dupree- Population 538 (539 now). So, back up to the conference and add in a text from my boss saying that a pipe burst in my house I was suppose to be staying in. Now, I will live in the FEMA trailer which is a term used for the manufactured homes the Government gave out to those misplaced by Hurricane Katrina and whatnot. Awesome. Fastforward to arriving in Dupree. Get to the trailer and the batteries to the thermostat are dead. New batteries, smell of cats and two tired girls and one extremely tired dog (who was a trooper riding in his kennel for most of the two days traveling), we get new batteries and there is heat. Ok.
I am living in the trailer until we get the pipe fixed in the house, which means on top of trying to hire my camp staff, run the afterschool program and all the other things I need to focus on, I will now be hauling wet junk out of the basement to get to the pipe. It's not that bad.
Today I took Atlas to the house and let him run around the fenced in backyard. He LOVED it. Even though it was -14, he stayed out there and didn't want to leave. Hopefully I can get that stuff packed up ASAP and we can get into the house.
As far as work goes, I have been trying to find camp staff and also go through all of the documents the directors before me left. I am also running the afterschool program until we can get the Site Director hired which hopefully will be soon. That would mean I would have a FRIEND too!
After speaking with some of the afterschool staff, we have decided to try and teach the kids in the program Lakota words because the school stopped teaching them their language in school. Apparently there are only two schools in the county or area that are public and not tribal and one is Dupree's. This pretty much means they don't need to teach it. I honestly am looking forward to it and learning myself. Thus the name of my blog... a girl and her dog. :) Hopefully that is correct because I found it online. heh.
I have my afterschool kids coming soon so I shall go. If you know of anyone who would want to come out for the summer and work at camp, send them my way!
-Court
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