Just get out of the way

This past weekend Bruce and I hosted our 7th annual NROTC UMaine Alumni and friends at the lake. The first couple reunions were wild and crazy, but over time, the weekends have morphed into a do-nothing relaxing weekend of catching up, rehashing stories, eating, taking naps in the hammocks, and dips in the lake. Oh, can't forget about binge-watching Caveman TV.

What is Caveman TV you ask? It is entertainment that involves fire. Once the sun begins its downward trajectory in the western sky our gears shift from eating and swimming to building a fire and arranging camp chairs around the pit. On Saturday, the weatherman had predicted rain for most of the day into the evening, so when golden hues burned through the cloud cover exposing a spotty blue canvas at 9:30 in the morning, we all decided we needed to take advantage of the sun while we had its presence. We set out to build our fire early.

Tom and I - a.k.a. the fire masters - grabbed dry tinder, paper, and his handy-dandy torch. We set to work like skilled arsonists. WIth the help of butane, we lit the tinder and paper quickly. But the wet wood was being stubborn. We were impatient and added some rain soaked wood a little too soon. No worries, Tom grabbed a piece of cardboard and fanned the young embers encouraging them to ignite the damp fuel. All he seemed to produce was more and more smoke.