Lumberjack Takeover
Today I was kidnapped as part of a coup…
I walked up to the Lodge this morning for breakfast on what seemed like it was going to be a normal day, and as I wished everyone my customary “Gooood morning everybody,” things started to get strange. Our head counselor Brad started yelling about how he wasn’t going to take it anymore. I quietly asked him to take his normal place, and he refused, insisting that he do grace and he snatched the microphone from me. We got through breakfast only for something similar to start at announcements.
I was trying to walk everyone through the details of the morning, and Brad starts on a rant in front of everyone how he’s been trying for weeks to get the whole camp to go to the Lumberjack World Championships and I wouldn’t allow it. I politely asked him to stop. He didn’t. I tried to have a separate conversation with him, but he wouldn’t have it. He blows his whistle, and next thing I know there’s a swarm of counselors swarming, and carrying me off bound and gagged! First they threw me in the lake, then lifted me into a fishing boat, and took me away.
I only wish I could have seen the campers’ faces! Brad announced that he was taking over and he was taking the whole camp to the Lumberjack World Championships whether I liked it or not. From what I’ve been told, many of our younger campers didn’t know what to think, especially when the boat came back without me.
Next time they saw me was at the entrance gates this afternoon to the world famous Scheer’s Lumberjack Bowl. Our little town of Hayward plays host every year to the Lumberjack World Championships, and we were lucky enough to be able to all be in attendance for the 62nd annual competition this evening. The boys cheered for ax and sawing events, log rolling, boom running, and speed climbing. We ate dinner, some good Wisconsin fried foods, and came home with some cool souvenirs and autographs. They learned the traditional Lumberjack cheer of Yo-Ho, and the Lumberjack rule that the contestants taking the longest to finish get the loudest applause. They sang songs with the Pinery Boys, a Northwoods Barbershop Quartet singing authentic logging-era music in 4 part harmony. It was a fun day, a special night, and I was glad to hear that some of the boys were even worried about me while I was “gone.”
Today’s Grace:
“You don’t know your strength until you unlock your strength in the mind.”
– Jason Wynyward, 10-time All-Around Lumberjack World Champion
