Manweekend

Kudos to Glenn and Gilbert for this year’s motto.

More Men than usual succumbed to The Skirt and sent their regrets this year. This pitiful display of total wimpiness was offset by the fine performance of Ty Tobey who left a critical wedding (not his own) immediately after the second “I, do” and flew up to Burlington in time to get some serious fishing time in. It would be to the advantage of others to learn from his example.

Another fine example was set by Ned Atwater and some of his contingent who showed up Wednesday and had a proper Man Fire Wednesday night! Tom Tobey and Richard Heurtley, who appeared early Thursday, both expecting to garner the prestige of being the First Arrival, now know better what it takes.

Richard regrets to inform his fellow Men that the gorgeous woman who carted him from Richford to Highgate, Jill Lacroix, is Mrs. Vermont 2003. Jill’s husband Marc was invited but couldn’t make Man Weekend this year.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky the entire time. Temperatures ranged from a comfortable (with a decent sleeping bag) 40 to a really comfortable 70. The lake was a few feet lower than usual and ranged from perfectly calm to mildly rippled. Smaller boats could be beached down at the dock, which those of us with bigger boats thought was an entirely unfair advantage.

The fishing was good. Ned Atwater et al. put in Wes Dunham’s old boat, found a hot spot at the mouth of the creek, and sampled nearly the entire lake’s bass population. The Edgewood crowd caught a bunch of juvenile pike and bass and one nice 5lb northern while anchored “off the dock”. Ty and Richard both caught clams while casting with spinners. Gilbert and Scott, once again, did the best with several fine pike and bass, and have the pictures to prove it.

Chris cooked up a MiniMan Dinner of burgers, dogs, and corn on the cob Friday night with contributions of fries from Glenn and deviled eggs from Allen. For the Saturday Man Meal Allen brought 60 dozen clams and steaks provided by Patrick (who, being skirted, didn’t show up in person but after dinner we forgave him provided he shows up next year and brings more steaks). The surf and turf combination was very well received but a few Men observed that pigging out on clams before the steaks were done was, in retrospect, not such a good idea.

Man Weekend Mechanization took a quantum leap forward when Richard bought a timer module for the coffee urn. Now coffee starts brewing at 6:00am even if no one is in any condition to get up that early.

Combustibles at Camp were getting in short supply (note to Ned: Don’t burn all the wood on Wednesday), but while on a beer run Gilbert, Scott, and Glenn came across the end game of a garage sale and, inspired by the “Everything Free!” sign, loaded up Gilbert’s van with crappy pseudo-wood furniture and other odd and sundry items to fuel Saturday’s fire which was of epic proportions. Even Uncle Arthur (wearing a skirt) would have been impressed.

Early on it seemed like there would be a shortage of boats. Ty was coming late and the AquaPimp was imprisoned behind the Ty-tanic in the Tobey garage. Dennis, who usually hauls the Red Rocket and the HAM out of storage, was out on a medical due to an eye operation. The prospect of being limited to the Lamson’s Cadillac and Uncle Arthur’s 5HP outboard spurred the Men into action and eventually all known boats saw the light of day although the HAM and the Ty-tanic didn’t make it into the water. The Men of Grow Cottage were immune to the near boat crisis because they brought the usual array of superb kayaks.

Man Weekend gained yet another tradition, as yet unexercised. Man Weekend hats and pins were first distributed last year at Man Weekend 2003. The question of lost hats was considered during the intervening year and the result was the bright red Man Weekend Garment of Perpetual Regret, or the Man Thong. A lost Man Weekend Hat will be replaced for free with all appropriate pins provided the Man desirous of such a replacement agrees to being photographed wearing just the hat and the Man Weekend Garment of Perpetual Regret, with the image being posted to the Man Weekend web site and to be taken down only if the original hat is recovered. You have been warned. (The first Man to undergo the ordeal has an advantage. The Man Thong is clean now and will never be washed.)

The issue of lost and/or stolen pins hasn’t been resolved. There are a finite number of Man Weekend pins and since the institution of Man Weekend is expected to last for several generations, at least, there is a reluctance to freely issue replacements. Possibilities being considered are:

1. Charging a high price for replacement pins, with the proceeds going to commission the next series of pins.
2. Replacing lost pins on the loser’s fifth or tenth year anniversary.
3. Requiring the Garment of Perpetual Regret ordeal.

The attendance pin policy needs clarification. Attendance pins are accrued for each year of attendance, but are not awarded if the Man Weekend Hat is not present. All this means is that if you forget your hat one year (a not uncommon occurrence) you’ll get two pins next year.

All Men are cautioned to keep Allen Heurtley apprised of their e-mail address so that future announcements (Man Weekend 2005!) will be received. Please send Man Weekend 2004 pictures to Charles so they can be posted on the web site.