Words from Camp:

Dusty. Super busy. Funny.
Tiring. Suprising. Goose-bumping.

Last things first. Sunday afternoon's concert was spine-tingling. The corps played all the music from this year's show -- in March! The closer is amazing. The time changes. the emotional highs. And just the power of the sound coming out of those kids. Wow. And the color guard. It was a beautiful, challenging performance -- in March! I know the guard is bruised and battered after the workout they got. But that performance was worth it.

Thank yous go out to the whole crew that replaced all the ceiling tiles at the corps hall on Friday night and Saturday. By lunchtime Saturday, there was no way those guys were going to be finished before sometime Sunday. But they were done by dinner Saturday night. And all the tables and chairs and the floor in the bingo hall vacuumed and wiped down, too. Gee, that ceiling was supposed to be white all along.... Can't name the whole crew 'cause I didn't take notes and I'd leave someone out, but a big thanks to all of you and especially Jim Hauser for coordinating the whole thing and spending the whole day on a ladder tearing down and putting up tiles. Can you raise your arms over your head today, Jim?

Thanks to Barry for being a great head cook. Overheard at breakfast Saturday morning: "Barry even makes pancakes taste better." Thanks to Jim J. for helping out too. Jim seldom gets to make drink anymore since he's trained so many other people to do it. I now have the reputation as "Drink Master" but Jim trained me and I'm just passing along what I learned. Thanks to all the cooks. I thnk my favorite from the weekand was the cake at Saturday night dinner. Or Sunday's breakfast burritos. Or...I'll just have to post the whole menu when I get a chance.

Thanks to the flag sewing crew. And the uniform fitting crew. And the trash carrying out crew. I know there were a couple of trips out to the cook trailer to see what was there and what was not and what needs to be done before tour. I'm sure improvements are in the works.

There's just so much. If I missed something you did, I'm sorry I can't remember all the specifics. Just know the Colts appreciate all the great help and send a big thanks to everyone.

Lots of old friends showed up to say hi over the weekend. Some of the regular volunteers were missing for various reasons (I heard the Bill S. missed his first camp since Dec. 2001. Is that right? Gee, he deserved a weekend off.) For everyone who had to miss, hurry back! We really, really missed you.

But the good news is that we had LOTS of great new help. And I wanted to say a special thanks to those new volunteers. There's a lot to learn and not a long time for teaching. Thanks for hanging with us. And making suggestins and finding new ways to do things.

Oh yeah. Almost forgot. BLACK PANTS! We saw Colts in brand new BLACK uniform pants this weekend. You maybe could see a picture of a marching memeber in black pants here in the next few days. Check back.

If you have anything to add about the weekend, please click below and leave a comment.

david