Boys

Shasta has taken his family on vacation- they took a train to Texas and now are in an R.V. with his dad and brother driving up through Colorado.  We all miss the little ones very much (and their parents, too, of course, but no, mostly, the little ones).

Here's part of an email the Equuschick sent us about their adventures:

We saw a baby bunny rabbit! It was very cute and The DPG was very excited. He stood staring at it in rapt attention for several long minutes and I watched my cherubic little man and imagined all the sweet and tender things he must be thinking about this adorable little bunny straight out of a Beatrix Potter.

And than my cherubic little boy (emphasis on the boy) said "Frow rocks bunny wabbit?" 

He was not allowed to throw rocks at the bunny rabbit, but he is allowed to throw rocks in the lake, which makes him quite happy.

Meanwhile here at our house in the woods, my Boy is planning a party.   An Airsoft party.  He has been cutting trails through the woods for 'P.E.'

Boy. Steel-toed boots. Woods.

He asked me if that could also be handiwork, since he is planning them out with some care. I said no.  Planting me a knot garden, designing an arbor, building me a willow bench, those things would be handiwork. 

Woods. Weeds. Log barricade.

He has built a barricade using branches and small downed trees he dragged to the right location.

teepee, boy, woods.

He cleaned up the teepee and the ground around it.He is standing awkwardly because I asked him to stand still for just a minute.

Teepee

Our teepee was made with logs from the woods and a large piece of bill-board fabric. It's been standing for at least two years now.

He also did some work on the treehouse area, but I didn't make it back to look at that, so you'll have to admire from a distance:

He cleared out the firepit, made rules (no headshots), and more.

I am once more the Mother of the Year (you may remember I lost that when I wouldn't let him build a latrine in his dirt fort) because I bought hot dogs, buns, canned beans (.50 a can, Mother of the Year is going cheap this year), and will let them cook these over the fire outside, along with potatoes wrapped in foil.  This hamburger, pork'nbean and cheese sandwich would probably be a huge hit, too. Maybe another time.

If I can come up with five dollars cash money between now and Friday, I'll stand them a watermelon, too, perhaps.  I wanted to take it out of the doctor's bills envelope of our Dave Ramsey envelope system, but then, with all these boys out running in the woods with airsoft weapons, I thought maybe the doctor's bills envelope needed all the money we could scrape up.  Even if nobody gets hurt, I will need mental health therapy when it's over.

The Mess and Red Cross area, around the firepit, is off limits for shooting.  The laundryroom bathroom is the Latrine, and will be so marked, although I humiliated the FYG when I remarked that I did know boys would probably use the woods, and I just hoped they avoided the poison ivy.  Well, I was actually a wee bit less tasteful in what I said that I knew boys would do in the woods, but this is a blog.

The Wimmin Folk is staying inside where it is cool and where there are no bullets flying.  We are eating salads.

I learned recently all this is illegal in Australia.  Probably all over the civilized world in fact.  I have mixed feelings about it myself.

The Pros:
outside play and exercise and plenty of it.  My kid is getting muscles.(he wouldn't let me post pictures unless I paid him five dollars)
strategy skills
the development of excellent hand eye coordination
Learning to be a good sport
Learning to be manly about pain, as those who make a big fuss about little things like getting shot in the arm or backside with a plastic bb that goes 180-300 fps are relegated to target shooting or KP
I get a lot of weeds removed from the property
teamwork
My son is getting pretty good at handling the hedge clippers and, he just informed me,  a machete
Male bonding


The Cons

It's, um, guns.
And they shoot each other.
These babies are 'safer' than pellets or even paintballs, but they still hurt.
I did not know he was using a machete.

The thing is, those cons are all, "Hoo-RAH, YES!" to my 13 year old.  "Shooting each other is male bonding,Mom," he explained patiently when he read this post.

These flowers and berries are here because there was too much testosterone in this post and it needed balance.