Summer Bucket List

All summer, so far, I have tagged along with our horse manager, Gilly. It has been so interesting for me to learn about horses and how to take care of them, tack them up, work with them, etc.

She has been a great teacher...apart from the fits of laughter she breaks into whenever Katniss, Jamers, or I get on a horse (jk). Some common phrases she shouts at us have been: "Feet!" "Fix your reins or I'm going to hang my washing on them!" "Chicken wings!!". It's been a blast and she has really been patient with us.



Yesterday, for the first time ever, I got to gallop on a horse! It was so cool. I have always wanted to, but never got the opportunity. It was on my camp "bucket list" and now I can cross it off! That's me:

I had such a great time, it must have clouded my judgement on my walk home from the barn. I was coming down a path and heard an animal rustling in the leaves about ten feet away from me. It was really dark, so all I could make out was a medium-sized, dark colored blob. My first, immediate thought was "GREAVER!" so I picked up a rock and threw it right at the mystery animal.

Next thing I knew, I was staring into the eyes of a rather large and angry skunk with nowhere to run and nothing to hide behind.

I literally froze.

All I could think of was "how am I going to get all the way back to camp with skunk juice in my eyes" and "I wonder if we have enough canned spaghetti sauce to get out the smell." We had a staring contest for the longest 6.7 seconds of my life and it decided to have mercy on me and walked away. I power walked all the way back to camp constantly checking behind me to see if it was in pursuit.

Anyways, speaking of my camp bucket list, here are a few additions:

Jump in the pond here (wait until you see it)
Celebrate the 4th of July in Philly
Canoe down the creek
Find a sweet spot for my hammock (that one's for you Mike)
Find an entrance to an underground railroad tunnel in the woods
Use every latrine on camp
Stay a night in Bell Manor
Identify all of the mysterious berry bushes around camp, then eat them

I'm still thinking of some more, so I'll update it as I go!