GimletBlog

See Thing One’s NAYLE photo album in the Gimlet Gallery.

An overview of the NAYLE program from the official web site:

The National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience (NAYLE) is an exciting program where youth enhance their leadership skills in the Philmont Backcountry. Scouts will expand upon the team building and ethical decision making skills learned in National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT). NAYLE uses elements of the Philmont Ranger Training as well as advanced Search and Rescue skills to teach leadership, teamwork and the lessons of selfless service. NAYLE will offer Scouts an unforgettable backcountry wilderness experience where they live leadership and teamwork, using the core elements of NYLT to make their leadership skills intuitive.

NAYLE will equip youth leaders to be better leaders, NYLT staff members and/or superior camp staff. It will help guide their journey to become true “servant leaders,” able to develop all members of whichever team they lead. It provides life skills for now and the future.

On Friday, June 25, I flew on a plane from Seattle to Albuquerque.  The Saturday flight from Seattle to Albuquerque would have been too late for the Philmont shuttle so I had to arrive a day early instead. I stayed at the house of a friend from my last Philmont Trek.  We hung out, went to Chili’s and watched movies.  On Saturday we had lunch at Dion’s Pizza in Albuquerque, and then I went back to the airport to take the shuttle to Philmont.

About eight other people rode on the shuttle, and we watched the movie Dodge Ball. The trip to Philmont took about four hours. Half of the people came on Saturday, and the rest arrived Sunday morning.  Everybody was either from Indiana or Texas, with sizable minorities from California and Minnesota.  Saturday night we stayed at Base Camp, ate dinner at the Philmont Training Center (PTC) cafeteria and there was a cracker barrel later in the evening.  At dinner I was recognized by one of my dad’s friends who was attending the LDS week at the PTC.

| …continue reading Thing One’s week at NAYLE

(Cross-posted on Sinister Craftiness.)

Apparently Nanaimo was jealous of all the attention Chinook has been receiving for his recent illness (two car rides to the vet, nightly pills and gel in a syringe) so he has one-upped his housemate by sneaking into the craft room and swallowing an embroidery needle.  Nanaimo’s fondness for thread has been previously documented on the blog, but Your Humble Narrator spent over an hour crawling around the downstairs on hands and knees, hoping the needle would turn up, before admitting her most dread suspicions and calling the veterinarian.

The X-rays confirmed our fear:

A variety of options for removing the needle were presented but none seemed to be as effective as surgery.  With a heavy heart and light wallet we left Nanaimo at the veterinarian’s office to be operated on later that afternoon.

The veterinarian called us after the surgery to let us know that it went very well.  The silk thread which had tempted Nanaimo in the first place had wrapped itself around the needle like a cocoon, preventing the needle from doing any damage to his insides, but also causing it to lodge tightly in his stomach, so surgery really was the only option after all.

The next day, Your Humble Narrator and Kitty Grandma (also known as Hå to her human grandchildren) visited the patient.  Nanaimo was pretty miserable but calmed down a little when he recognized his family, and the visit seemed to comfort him. We also collected the souvenir needle.

Wednesday morning Nanaimo came home with a row of stitches on his shaved tummy (which should help him stay cool this summer) and wearing a “cone of shame” to protect his stitches.

Now he, too, has pills to take and follow-up visits to the veterinarian.  Chinook gave Nanaimo the once-over and fled from him as though he were a space alien, or perhaps he recognized the scent of the vet’s office.

By our reckoning, Nanaimo has used up at least three of his nine lives thus far.  The Gimlet hasn’t decided whether this incident should be categorized under the the pet budget or the embroidery budget, but he is determined to get as much enjoyment as possible out of Nanaimo stumbling around, bumping into furniture and walls, or futilely trying to chase the light reflecting off the collar snaps.

It’s strawberry time!  Last year I found this tasty strawberry clafouti recipe in Sunset magazine, and have been eager to make it again this summer with our sweet, tender local fruit.  It is a delicious dessert or brunch.

Strawberry Clafouti

• 1/2  tablespoon butter
• 8 ounces strawberries, hulled and halved lengthwise*
• 2  teaspoons cornstarch
• 3  eggs
• 1  cup milk
• 2/3  cup flour
• 1/4  cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2  teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4  teaspoon salt
• Powdered sugar

* While the recipe calls for 8 ounces, I choose to completely fill the bottom of my gratin dish with chopped berries instead of the measured amount, because you really can’t have too many fresh strawberries.

• Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 2-qt. baking or gratin dish with the butter. Toss strawberry halves with cornstarch until evenly coated, then arrange berries, cut side down, in bottom of dish and set aside.
• In a blender, whirl eggs, milk, flour, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt 15 seconds. Pour batter over strawberries.

All the strawberries the dish can handle, and the batter is ready to be poured.

• Bake until puffed, golden brown, and set in the center, about 50 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.

Just out of the oven, and dusted with powdered sugar. Yum.

Between all the preparations for sending Thing One off on his adventures, and the decidedly unsummery weather we have been experiencing, we’ve been a little slow to start up Thing Two’s garden.  He wants to grow cucumbers and pumpkins this year, so inspired by this Sunset magazine article, The Gimlet built a 4′ x 6′ raised bed.

Thing Two supervised the construction process from a safe distance.

The finished product met with Thing Two’s approval, except for the fact that the box has no growing vegetables in it.  But that will come soon …

Not long after this photo was taken, Thing One boarded a flight to Albuquerque, where he will spend the night with one of his friends from last year’s Philmont mountain trek.  Saturday morning he begins his NAYLE course at Philmont, which we’ll describe in greater detail when he returns.

If Thing One were here, he’d like to point out that he’s just about Gimlet height.  (And as much as we like Alaska Airlines, they don’t offer a nonstop flight to Albuquerque.)

We hope he takes plenty of photos and has many stories to share from his week.  Meanwhile, we will do our best to keep Thing Two from appropriating all of the cool stuff in Thing One’s room that Thing Two would like to have for himself.

The eagerly awaited Fathers and Sons outing happened this weekend.  Your usual narrator called me Friday morning to let me know that Thing Two had started packing at about 9:30 a.m.  He was ready to go!  The poor little guy has to stay behind for all of Thing One’s adventures but this one.

We made it out a little after 3:30 and were able to avoid most of the traffic.  The weather until Snoqualmie Pass was pouring rain.  It dried up to a slight drizzle after we reached the pass.  We arrived just in time to grab a burger (hot dog for Thing Two) at the lodge.  We had dinner with the Tuckers and Bishop McCann (Read about their Fathers & Sons Outing traditions on their family blog).

Thing Two went out to play with the other kids and would pull longer grass from our side of the fence to feed the horses on the other side.  He enjoyed it when they ate the grass from his hand.  (Giggles and “That tickles!”)

After dinner was a magic show that Thing One has participated in in years past, and this year Thing Two was amazed by it.  After that we all went to the fire circle.  Last year I led the group in a few scout songs before the official campfire began.  This year I was asked to do a repeat.  I led a rousing rendition of the Bear song twice (once from memory and once with the cheat sheet.  My memory is going and the cheat sheet will be used forever after.) On Top of Spaghetti and Junior Birdman rounded out the singing portion.  After that President T usually tells a story.  He did not this year and it was missed.  (We hope that next year the story returns!)  Without the story we went straight to the s’mores.

Bed time went well, although Thing Two did not want to use the unfamiliar toilet facilities.

In the morning, the drizzle had ended and nothing but blue skies greeted us.   We were disappointed that Thing One could not go on a trail ride due to service projects.  That is two years of not being able to go riding.  I am not sure what we need to do to make it happen next year, but we will try again.

Thing Two and I went out in a canoe for about 20 minutes and at about 9:30 the water slide opened.  Both Things were eager to go sliding.  Thing Two walked up to the edge, discussed going down with Thing One and then returned to sit with the Gimlet and watch Thing One slide.  We watched for a while, returned to our cabin and packed and returned to the slide to continue watching Thing One slide.  After about two hours of sliding I decided I had watched all I could and we needed to go.  With that we packed up and drove home.  It was a great campout.

After our digital cameras were stolen in the February burglary, the search was on for new point-and-shoots.  We had bad luck with the first replacement we chose for Thing One, but the second replacement seems much more durable and he’s happy with it.  This particular model takes batteries, which is important because Thing One won’t have access to electrical outlets for most of his summer.

However, after trying out several different cameras, Your Humble Narrator couldn’t find a camera she liked as much as the one she had owned, and of course her camera was no longer available in stores.  She was decidedly grouchy about it until she found one on eBay, new in the box yet!  She needed no further encouragement to Buy It Now.

It’s not exactly the identical camera, though:  our camera was the silver lens model, and this one is the black lens model.  When it was unpacked, the Gimlet said, “Your camera’s wearing guyliner!”

That, combined with the fact that this camera has managed to stay shiny new despite its age, has led Your Humble Narrator to nickname the camera “Richard“.

Nerdy jokes (and guyliner) aside, it’s great to have our camera back.

Last Thursday night Chinook had an upset tummy and was unusually lethargic and unresponsive the next morning, so he spent Friday morning at the veterinarian.  He doesn’t appear to have eaten anything permanently damaging (we learned early on that Chinook has never met a packing peanut he could resist, and keep an eye on him whenever a package arrives) and thanks to antibiotics, he began to come around Sunday morning.

By the end of the holiday weekend he was eating again and playing with his favorite (safe) toy.  He is still resting more than usual, which is difficult to tell with a cat, but there’s definitely a difference between normal catnaps and a sick cat lying listlessly on the floor.  In this photo he is back to climbing up to his favorite napping spot on our bed, which he wasn’t able to do all weekend.

Nanaimo celebrated the invalid’s return to activity by jumping on Chinook and trying to wrestle.  Even now, while Chinook is napping, he is staying close by on the windowsill.  He has missed his buddy.  (And Nanaimo wants his fans to know that he is feeling just fine, by the way.  Thanks for asking.)  We’re all glad that Chinook is on the mend.