Camp Pratt

May 1-3, 2009



For the first time, in a long time, it did not rain all weekend. Despite the wind of death and the freezing weather at night, it was actually pretty nice.

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You learn the value of wearing a hat at night when it gets down into the 20s.

Unfortunately me and Dave did not get there until midnight for reasons I will not go in to detail about... Our employers do not quite understand our hobbies, and we should make a habit of packing the Friday morning before we leave.


One exciting new note, Kate has turned to soldier! She did pretty well, too! From what I understand she has been biding her time until she turned 16 so she could carry a rifle on the field. Very clever, Kate, very clever. It is nice when she is a civilian, however, it looks better when we have more soldiers in our ranks.



It was pretty much a weekend of learning and practicing. Everyone got out in the air and refreshed themselves with the re-enactor spirit!



And I realized that I have to go through mine and Dave's things to see why we have so much stuff... I do not know where half of it came from. When you rummage through the box and pull out something that causes you to ask yourself "What the heck is this doing here?" that is when you need to re-organize.

Another note, I have added a new level to my farby-ness; I bought a cot. And I am going to tell you right now, I cannot believe I wasted two seasons on an air mattress! I simply cannot go back. Besides, it keeps me off the ground from biting bugs in the middle of the night. It also makes it easier to store things.

Next event, Memorial Day Parade & Strangers Grave.

More Excuses...

...All moved in, stuff is (pretty much) where it belongs, I am having trouble typing, Norlands this weekend! I will post Camp Pratt & Memorial Day when I get back and hopefully Norlands on the same day! A three for one deal. See you there!

Wow..

....it has been a long time since I have picked up the proverbial blogging pen! Amazing how life can just come at you like a 2x4 that flew off of that over-loaded truck in front of you on the interstate! I guess a little update is in order..



...well, tentatively, the 15th will start it's season at the beginning of May with "Camp Pratt." That glorious camp where apparently it rains every year it is held (that held true for last year, and no Charlene, we still do not have Ghirardelli chocolate).

What is really exciting is that we have rounded up a few new bodies! Deb now has to choose which side of the train she wants to be on; Sara went up to her first meeting already inducted (she made the dress before she even met these people...I raised an eyebrow & told her she should have waited), but she still joined; and it looks like we might get a few more here and there. What is really interesting is that the 15th's civilian base is growing faster than it's military strength. It actually left us looking for a civilian liaison at the last meeting (Mike was eyeing Sara, but it WAS her first meeting so we need to go easy on her, wait until the third). I am now wondering what we can do with this new civilian might. I will be doing some homework on that (between work, regular homework, and my newly minted Historian's duties).

That is another thing, are there any other Company Historians out there who can maybe give me an idea on how to document my company's glorious activities? I mean, any dope can handle a camera (that's why I do it), I was just wondering about registers and the like. I plan on starting a "15th Alabama Family Tree" because once I obtained possession of the 15th's records, I realized as I was going through the photos I kept saying to myself "who is this?" "Where did this guy come from?" and "Wow, where did these people go?" Any tips for the newbie Historian would be great. Historian is really code for "Propaganda Minister," I thought that was what Dave was going to be, Mike. What happened?

Re-enactorland

April 19-20, 2007

Also known as "Camp Pratt." This was another school of instruction that is primarily for the 15th Alabama. It's literally run in the backyard of Mike's Mother's house. This was where we found out Mike's plans to create "Re-enactorland" a theme park portraying the Civil War. Vicky must be so proud.

Here are the guys all lined up for drills. Steve is our 1st Sargent which means he calls out some of the orders. Tom is our Corporal, Dave and Robbie are infantrymen (bodyshields for the officers), and Chris is the surgeon who is there to "patch" the guys up in battle, and he has the equipment to prove it!

Here they are shooting on command. Can you hear how squeaky clean Dave's is (The shame!)?


So what do Civil War re-enactors do after they realize they cannot drill in the rain? They test their math skills on a game of civil war era playing cards. There are no numbers which tells you how much we've come to rely on the roman numerals, and the digital era. It was funny because they had to look at the cards for a minute to figure out what they actually had.

Well, Camp Pratt was pretty good, it rained, but not as badly as it had in past years (so I'm told). It was a good chance for me and Dave to set up our tent for the first time (after waiting about a month to get it). I will say that good canvas tents (and I learned this in Lincoln, RI) are the best tents you could ever own! They are moderately waterproof (I'm sure they'd have trouble with a monsoon, but what tent wouldn't?), keep most of the bugs out, and they are fairly cool at night. And most importantly, you don't need an engineering degree from MIT in order to put it up! That was awesome!