Manweekend

Some years ago Ty showed up very late for Man Weekend. His excuse was that there was a wedding he absolutely positively couldn’t get out of (not his) and that he left his car’s engine running and was heading to Highgate at 90MPH as the final “I do” was still echoing in the church. We other Men had considerable time to discuss the matter and decided to present Ty with a special attendance pin, one that had been cut in half. The quote of the weekend was, “Ty! What part of Man Weekend don’t you understand?”

So all together now! “Allen! What part of Man Weekend don’t you understand?”

Sheesh!

You’d better guard your hat lest you find an important bit of your Man pin cut off.

Allen’s faux pas was more than compensated for by Adam’s courageous act of volunteering to fill the void left by Patrick. Talk about a hard act to follow. Adam did it perfectly by adhering to the traditional menu: sausage, roast beast, and shrimp (for Ty) and by getting the ingredients from authentic sources. The Italian sausage, for example, came with a large imposing guy in an ill-fitting suit with suspicious bulges in the jacket. It was sausage that could not be refused.

The enforcer wasn’t necessary, the sausage was excellent! As was the roast beast which had the usual melt-in-your-mouth quality. Man Weekend has always been very fortunate in that respect.

Adam says the supplies came to $25 each. He takes PayPal at: agoldman at prancing-horse dot com.

Scott supplemented the provisions by keeping, cleaning, and cooking a number of perch and other panfish. No one at the Tobey cottage benefited from this bounty. Scott and Gilbert took the pan to Edgewood and a few minutes later it was all gone.

The Ty-tanic celebrated its 100th year by demanding the usual amount of fuss and bother before it would start its engine. The battery discharged over the Winter so Ty borrowed the HAM’s battery. The HAM isn’t going anywhere until a disintegrated trailer tire is replaced. The AquaPimp ran perfectly as usual.

The weather was excellent and the lake was on the low side. This meant there was space down at the dock to pull up the AquaPimp. The dock and platform were put in early, probably because of the wedding that took place on the lower road Saturday.

John Dill, a college friend of Richard’s, who lives outside of Albany, came up for Thursday night, the most time he could negotiate from his family. John McCall came up Friday evening. Maybe they’ll both be able to stay longer next year.

Unusually, Glenn caught the biggest fish this year, a bowfin out of Rock River. If anyone has pictures they want to share then e-mail them and I’ll post them here.

Here’s a Man Weekend 2012 fish story for you:

“John McCall hadn’t seen the new dock yet. For the last few years John had been coming to Camp Randolph before and after the camping season but never during it. The dock was put up early this year so John and I went down to take a look. Saturday was Free Fishing Day so I bought my fishing pole and tackle box. Traditionally the fishing off the dock is supposed to be good.

“The dock was up but it seemed smaller than I remembered. It was also very wobbly in one section. We went to the end and I attached a lure to my fishing pole. Something nibbled on the first cast! The water was full of minnows but I didn’t see anything when I reeled the lure in. A few casts later I saw a medium-small pike follow the lure in, and saw a pike every few casts after that. No bites however.

“I gave the fishing pole to John who had similar luck. When it was my turn again I cast over by the Rock Dock and promptly got the lure stuck on something. I tried the angle trick and went back to the cement. During one pull my knot came undone or the line broke. One lure down.

“I tied on another leader, attached another lure, and gave the fishing pole to John. At one point he cast straight out into the lake, we were both watching and agree where the cast went, but then the lure got caught over by the Rock Dock again! It was pretty weird. I took the fishing pole and tried the angle trick again to no avail. If the water had been lower I’d have gone around the willow tree and on to the Rock Dock but I wasn’t in a mood to get wet. I debated leaving the pole there until someone with a boat came by but I didn’t want to have fishing line floating around in the water. I could imagine it fouling up someone’s propeller and/or the fishing pole being pulled into the lake.

“I finally decided to go back to the end of the dock and cut the line. At the end of the dock I gave the line another nothing-to-lose pull and the lure came free! As I was reeling it in I turned to John and joked, “Won’t you be pissed if I catch the pike?” and WHAM! the pike hit! I played with it a bit to tire it out as I reeled it in. It wasn’t real big but it wasn’t small either.

“I handed the fishing pole to John and knelt down to get the fish. I was pulling it up by the leader when the pike wiggled and fell back into the water, along with the lure. All the pulling must have weakened the clasp on the leader and the fish’s action finally broke it.

“So sometime someone’s going to catch a pike and get a barely used number 3 copper Mepps in the deal. I hope they appreciate it.”

As Camp Randolph’s Director of Things Requiring Physical Labor, one of Uncle Arthur’s pre-season tasks this year was to take apart the old trash bins in back by the compost pile. The residue provided a convenient source of fuel for this year’s Man Fire. Additional fuel was obtained from a nearby free pile. Chris assumed the role of pyroMANiac and kept the fire well fed at the risk of his hands and eyebrows. As the following picture shows, we managed to burn more of the Ridge this year than ever! Arthur says the coals were still hot after three days.