Everything posted by dcbc
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4th of July Texas Flood
That latter part is weird. That wasn't the case in the 80s and as I may have mentioned above, those camps were above my pay grade when my kids were that age. But the Surly acceptance ceremony is quite nice. @immamac has it catered. Everyone chants, "Muledick!" South Austin's mom has a raffle of sorts. There's a stripper pole and a sex tent. Sorry you didn't get one.
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July 4th Hill Country Flooding Tragedy
I probably jogged by your house more than a few times.
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July 4th Hill Country Flooding Tragedy
It's hard to keep up, but I think there still is a missing counselor, Katherine Ferruzo, age 19. Chloe is the one from Kinkaid (headed to UT), who was confirmed dead. Katherine, also was an incoming UT freshman, who graduated from Memorial. They were counselors in the same cabin, it appears. edit. I added her name. It's in the news at this point. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14882191/photo-entire-cabin-Camp-Mystic-girls-counselors.html
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July 4th Hill Country Flooding Tragedy
They could pay me $500, and the final bill would be too rich for my blood. My kids went to some smaller camps close by and had some fun times. My older son finally got to go to Longhorn . . . as a counselor. Better to make them pay you . . . and they don't pay a lot.
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July 4th Hill Country Flooding Tragedy
Apparently, Indian Springs (a/k/a Ranch Branch to us olds) is the harder one to get into these days because it was renovated most recently. According to my son, they pay their counselors quite a bit more than they do at Inks. When I went there, I went to Ranch because the waiting list was too long at Inks. It was fun for a few years (forty years ago). But there was a waiting list even back then for the "Main" camp.
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July 4th Hill Country Flooding Tragedy
Kinkaid.
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4th of July Texas Flood
I felt like that was the correct answer as well. And I say that as someone who did not keep up with anyone from summer camp. But I can still remember their names and have run into a couple of them over the years.
- 4th of July Texas Flood
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4th of July Texas Flood
What's weirder, this or people who spent 3 weeks at a time with other kids for years, formed friendships, and have kept in touch. I think I know the answer.
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4th of July Texas Flood
He, with his 20,00xth post, said on the most recent iteration of a message board where people interact regularly and have formed friendships. Just saying.
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4th of July Texas Flood
No, it's not. We peeked at it for our kids, and the ones at this level were $5k and up for a 2 or 3 week session. Too much for this civil servant. I wouldn't doubt for a second that exclusive/expensive summer camp attendance is up there behind zip code and private high school attendance for some fraternities and sororities at UT and elsewhere. In fact, I know it is. And the parents who send their kids there surely understand this to a large degree, whether it's Mystic, La Junta, Waldemar, Olympia, Ozark, Longhorn, Champion, etc. But the kids don't figure this out until much later and are there to have fun.
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4th of July Texas Flood
Okay, I missed that part. I figured the text groups were people who had kids there. I went to Longhorn for three summers and by the time I was in sixth grade had decided that was enough. I still remember some names of people there and have run into them a few times since then, but I don't otherwise keep in touch. I guess if I went there for eight plus years, I might keep in touch with more people or have been added to some random text group. But yeah, seems kind of strange. But these camps are pretty close knit, and a lot of these kids (now adults) went to high school (smaller, private schools) and college together. So maybe I'm not so surprised that some of them keep in touch regularly.
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4th of July Texas Flood
I think a little better description of it is that it's swimming, and sailing, and fishing, and horseback riding, and all sorts of other fun things for kids to do. So a lot of the kids go back for years until they are in high school, at which point, some transition to being counselors at the camp. But these camps are very expensive. So, as @C-Man mentioned, later, when some of these kids end up at large Texas universities like UT, some of them know each other and end up in fraternities or sororities together or get recommended for bids to these organizations because they knew each other from years of going to summer camp together. I wouldn't call it weird for what it is at its base. It's just fun shit for kids to do during the summer. But because it's expensive and there are limited spots available (and because people have been attending for generations, it is exclusive and because of that, it feeds into the exclusivity of fraternities and sororities later.
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July 4th Hill Country Flooding Tragedy
I went to high school with her mother and played soccer with her uncle. Sweet people. Chloe was an incoming freshman at UT. Just tragic.
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4th of July Texas Flood
There were a couple of Jewish campers in my cabin and the one above ours. They gathered for a separate service IIRC. I wouldn't have described Longhorn as a "Christian" camp either. But things seemed less in your face back in the 80s, except when it wasn't, in which case, it seemed very in your face.
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Effing jury duty
I show up too. Civic duty, etc. They aren't picking me.
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2025 Thread of the Rains
Well, I mean other than not being able to use the walkway to a floating cabin this morning and having to float shit out. But yeah, for sure relatively fine, and I mean that as a relieved parent.
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All Things Brisket
You misspelled DAF.
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2025 Thread of the Rains
My son was a counselor in one of those cabins this morning. The water was over the walkway this morning. They had to float everyone's gear to shore on paddle boards. All are safe. End of 2nd term today.
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2025 Thread of the Rains
I like the fact that it was posted two posts above your very helpful post that gave us the confidence to tell our son to drive on to Austin. He made it safely, and thanks again for your earlier, in-the-moment info at that time. My wife was pursuing news sights. I went to Surly.
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2025 Thread of the Rains
Much appreciated. Just relayed the info to him.
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2025 Thread of the Rains
Thank you(s).
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2025 Thread of the Rains
Yes. My sister-in-law knows their cousin. Her grandmother is picking her up from camp and has to bear that awful news. They were camping and their camper/vehicle was swept away in the floods.
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2025 Thread of the Rains
This is all just horrific. But quick aside: I have question for those in the area. My son just finished up a term as a counselor at Camp Longhorn. He was in one of the water cabins and they had to float their gear out on surfboards when the water started to rise on Inks. But nothing compared to Mystic obviously. He's in Marble Falls at the moment. With all the flooding in Travis and Williamson counties, we thought he might be better off heading home for the weekend (Tyler) rather than driving to Austin. What are the road conditions like and what is a safe route. Thanks in advance.
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2025 Celebrity Death Pool
It's actually not the worst of its genre.