Jimmy Del Ponte On The Silly Side

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Aftera long weekend of “camping” in New Hampshire with the kids and the dog,there is certainly some silly stuff to write about. The campsite is now
the summer home of five Somerville families “roughing it” in our trailers and cruising around on customized golf carts. I don’t have one yet, so I am biking it.

Since I am still a novice camper, I wasat the mercy of my veteran outdoorsmen neighbors. The gas won’t come on, the hot water doesn’t work, the stove won’t light, and the toilet won’t flush. I called my pal so many times on his cell phone for help, he started answering it like this: “Now what’s wrong?” Thanks to the patience of my friends, I think I have everything pretty much under control. I realized that if I was a pioneer in the old west, I would have crawled up into a fetal position in the back of my covered wagon and cried my self to death.

I discovered some interesting things this past weekend. I can actually fit into my youngest son’s underwear.I packed five pairs of his and none of mine. If he finds out, it will skeeve him big time. I only brought one pair of dungarees for myself and two pairs of shorts that got filthy real fast. I was in such a hurry to high tail it out of town on Friday, I packed like an idiot.

We brought our family pug who now has spots of tree sap all over his bottom end. He looks like a flat faced half Dalmatian.

The first night it poured like crazy and all my wood and chairs got soaked. I thought the sun had dried the cushions pretty well Saturday, so I sat down to read the paper and ended up with a wet butt.

My two sons are getting to know the other kids at the campground. My 11 year old got in a fight with a 15 year old and my oldest son got a finger in his eye playing football. The kids finger either pushed my son’s contact lens into his brain or the lens got stuck on the lad’s finger. At any rate, we couldn’t find the lens. My little guy, who also wears contacts, took over with a flashlight and lens solution, trying to solve the problem. I was proud of my little makeshift optometrist who showed calmness and patience with his brother. That trait definitely did not come from me.

For many years I was part of theMemorial Day Parade, but this was the first year I missed it in quite a while. I used to be waving at people from the Oldies 103 van, but I
couldn’t get it this year. I guess they have some dumb policy about not letting DJ’s who were fired use the van. Asses!

So our first real camp out was a trip. Our Somerville friends up there are awesome and very helpful, but I hope I don’t have to be the Barney Fife of the campground for much longer. I think I’m getting the hang of it.

The highlight of the weekend was spending one my dearest friend’s birthday with him and our families at the campground. Food ,fun ,family and friends is what life is all about. When you’re camping, just add mosquitoes, ticks, tree sap and rambunctious kids.

You can email Jimmy direct at jimmydel@rcn.com.