Rain, Fire, Leaves, and Sand

      Jenny and I stood happily near our campfire, cheerfully waving to Tiffy who had run to another slope of the woods. Then I started to notice crunching and rustling in the leaves nearby. My heart began to pound as I realized that the noises were too loud to be a mere bird. Jenny turned towards me and asked, "Kimby, do you hear those sounds?" Trying to sound unconcerned I replied that I did. For several seconds we waited and listened as something was moving around in the underbrush to our left. I had my suspicions of what it might be, having seen footprints in that area often. A grunt from the underbrush made me quite sure that I was right. I picked up the shovel I had brought and handed Jenny a stick, just to feel more secure. Tiffy was jogging back and Jenny shouted, "Tiffy, there's a wild boar!" She ran faster at that, hoping to get a glimpse of it. Jenny and I stood where we were, watching the bushes to see if it would emerge. Just before Tiffy made it to the top of the hill where we stood, Jenny and I started singing to inform the nearby animal of our presence. As we sang the crunching of leaves grew fainter until we couldn't hear it anymore. Tiffy arrived and panted, "Where is it?" We listened, but couldn't hear it anymore. Personally I was relieved, but Tiffy was disappointed. "I wanted to see the wild boar. I mean how exciting!" 

 

               This weekend Tiffy, Jenny, and I went camping. Due to someone building a house where we used to enter the woods, the hike was a bit more challenging this time. With somewhat aching shoulders from carrying all our gear, we arrived at our personal campsite! We set up our tent, gathered dead branches and twigs for firewood, and prepared for a enjoyable afternoon and evening. Not long after we finished setting up our tent, it began to sprinkle. The sprinkle turned into a light rain which lasted for about 30 minutes. It was just after the rain began to clear up that we heard the rustling in the underbrush. I've seen wild boars several times in Nishinomiya and I have often seen wild boar tracks in our woods, but hadn't actually heard or seen one near our town. Heart still pounding a bit faster than normal, we gathered more sticks for our little campfire. Around five o'clock we started dinner. We roasted hotdogs over the fire and ate our macaroni and cheese with chopsticks. =) It was fun. For dessert we toasted marshmallows and made s'mores! Yummy!

Haha! Jenny is really not sitting on the fire! =)

             The sunset was beautiful! As it started to grow dark, we noticed that there was a helicopter circling over the mountains not too far away. We watched it for a while trying to figure out what it was doing. I would have enjoyed sitting around the fire after dark, but since we didn't want to concern the helicopter we let our campfire die as the sky darkened. The girls finished packing up the food as I helped the coals and ashes cool with sand and water. Once I was sure the fire was out, we all went in the tent to play games. 

             "Umm. Do you guys know where my pillow is?" Tiffy asked as she finished spreading out her sleeping bag. We searched inside the tent. We checked outside the tent with flashlights. We even checked the last part of the trail to see if it had dropped nearby. But we couldn't find her pillow. So I took the pillowcase off of my pillow and we stuffed it with extra clothes. I then used one of the sleeping bag covers as a temporary pillowcase. 

       We played card games for an hour or so. And we discovered that none of us had brought a very good flashlight. =] So seeing our cards was a challenge. By nine thirty we decided to go to bed. So with one last check to be sure the fire was completely out, we zipped up our tent, snuggled into our sleeping bags, and tried to imagine we were at home where it was comfortable and totally safe. Unfortunately for me, I was cold the whole night. So I slept lightly and kept turning over, continually adjusted my blankets, and wished I had brought longer socks. Tiffy found that her make shift pillow wasn't nearly as comfortable as the one she wished she had. So Jenny made up a poem about the poor lost pillow. It went like this:

The poor pillow waits

old and dusty.

It began to deteriorate

and grow musty.

It lies alone, 

forgotten, and forsaken.

Waiting for one of us

to awaken.

Then perhaps, "Oh joy!"

It will be found!

And it will no longer be

a lonely wet mound.

It will be picked up

and used once again.

It will no longer remember

that sad sad time when alone it had lain.

            Just before 5:00 AM, I woke up. Tiffy also was awake. Both of us were trying to warm up as the chilly morning air filled our tent. We tried snuggling deeper into our sleeping bags. We tried wiggling and bouncing to get some circulation. We tried sit-ups which definitely helped, but didn't keep us warm very long after we stopped. With Tiffy and I moving around so much, it wasn't long until Jenny woke up too. Perhaps around 5:30 Tiffy and I decided to get up and run around a little. As we unzipped the tent door we both we were amazed as we stared out over the fog filled valley. The sun was just barely beginning to be visible over the treetops. It was so gorgeous!

 

 

          We enjoyed the beautiful sunrise for a while and watched as the clouds began to dissolve and

 the hill tops appeared. Then we went back in the tent to play more games and eat an early breakfast. The day was sunny and warm. So we ended up talking, resting in the sunshine, and playing games until noon! We packed up and began hiking back home, so that we arrived around 1:40pm. Just before we hiked down the last hill and entered our town, we found Tiffy's poor pillow. Tiffy was carrying so much stuff on the way that it must have slipped out and we didn't notice! Thus "it was picked up" and will be used once again! =) 
           It was a fun camping trip! The first time we have gone with only us three girls!