Well, I’ve starting developing my curriculum for survival classes today and this past week finished my certification for Low Ropes courses and Climbing walls.  That’s right…I’m a climbing all instructor now (who would have thought!)

Virginia is in-bound from the Soo and so are all the pets.

I caught a 3 pound Northern Pike on my 5th cast of the year and was nice enough to throw it back.

More to come…maybe even pictures.

In so much as one can be truly amazed, I find myself in such a state.  The past five days have really been eye opening.  Mostly, I’m amazed at how much can be accomplished in 10 weeks of camp.  Last summer I missed out on enough change that I could walk around camp and see a different place all together.  When you’re actually amidst the fray, the progress in camp seems slow and arduous, but witnessing first hand the before and after of such a large effort on the part of so many students is sobering.

So far the guys I’ve been working with have been pleasant company.  Staff aside, our “opening crew” students have been well motivated and enthusiastic.  I’m looking forward to an amazing summer and yet it hasn’t really started yet, without Virginia at my side (not withholding Ellie, Lola and Petunia)  I miss my love.

Some new staff have already come, along with some old friends.  It’s been wonderful catching up on old time with Jared and seeing Simone again.  Tom and Donna are back, and of course I spent the weekend with Peter and Darlene Bergs (tetrayoungins in tow).

Ultramontanism is a religious philosophy within the Roman Catholic community that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the pope. In particular, ultramontanism may consist in alleging the superiority of Papal authority over the authority of local temporal or spiritual hierarchies (including the local bishop). It literally refers to support for those dwelling “beyond the mountains” (ultra montes), that is, beyond the Alps — specifically referring to the Pope in Rome.

The actual origin of the term is relative and technical ecclesiastical language from the Middle Ages: when a non-Italian pope was elected he was said to be a papa ultramontano.

The word was revived after the Protestant Reformation. Among the northern European governments and peoples there gradually developed a tendency to regard the papacy as a foreign power, especially when the Pope interfered in temporal matters by favoring some ruler or country over another. This name of Ultramontain was applied in France to the supporters of the Roman doctrines and papal superiority, above all of papal political interference, as opposed to the “Gallican liberties” and Jansenism of the indigenous French Catholic Church, which however remained in full communion with Rome. The term was intended to be insulting, or at least to convey the implication of a failing in attachment to one’s own country. From the 17th century, ultramontanism became closely associated with the Society of Jesus, stating the superiority of popes over councils and kings, even in temporal questions.

In the 18th century the word passed to Germany (Josephinism and Febronianism), where it acquired a much wider signification, being applicable to all the conflicts between Church and State, the supporters of the Church being called Ultramontanes. (It is in this sense that Paleoconservatives in the United States are sometimes referred to as being Ultramontanist.)

The word ultramontanism was revived in the context of the French Third Republic as a general insulting terms for policies advocating the involvement of the Roman Catholic Church in the policies of the French government, in opposition to laïcité.

Well, it’s back to camp…but no Dave.  This means no bread and no beef jerky.  This means no kissing cardboard cutouts of the BBQ sauce man and no 1st of July celebrations with a good friend.

Dave’s a good guy and we had some fun times.  Killing rabbits with stones and making rabbit stew.  Playing some guitar.  I’ve tried and tried to make my own jerky…but it’s not like Dave’s.  I need your recipe man.  Give me a shout some time.  Camp won’t be the same.

For anyone who gives a rip about where I sit, or becomes curious to see this from my perspective:  This is my desk.  That’s actually how clean I keep it, being as I’m meticulous and all.

It’s been some time since anyone has seen updates to my genealogy section and Stubbe section of the site but don’t worry.  I can’t stay completely bored with it forever.  Believe it or not (and some do because they have blogs) writing into the void becomes a tedious thing.  Especially now that facebook and myspace are here people don’t leave comments anymore.

Social networking is such a lame excuse for interaction.  Even now, you might be reading this and feeling as though I’m speaking to you but it’s an illusion.  We’re given this false sense of security when it comes to relationships because we can maintain them from a safe distance.  We can talk to people on the phone, send them a note on facebook or poke them.  Well, what a tremendous waste of human interaction that is.  We have so much to offer one another in person.

Come and see my desk for yourself and I’ll bake some fresh bread and boil water for tea.

As anyone who knows anything about the Stubbes, particularly concerning their top 10 people in Tulsa they care about the most list, Calley Crews (the number one placeholder) lives there.  According to my spying, which teeters on the cusp of invasion of privacy, She’s been to our website and not left a comment.  This post is therefore a challenge to Calley and to all of you to tell the Stubbes how you are.  we’re going to be gone for 14 weeks so you’re taking us for granted by not commenting on the final few posts we will be making for the summer.

Leave a comment Calley!

Virginia finally got a new Kayak a few weeks ago.  So I went into a design firm and made a custom decal for it.  I think it’s cool and hope hse likes it.  For those of you wondering how much cutom stickers cost to print, it was 20 bucks for two 40X10 Decals.  That’s in centimeters for all you USAicans.

Latin American History: %94
Photography II: %90
French Canadian History: %88
Canadian Literature (Double Credit): %85
Photography I: %85
Ancient Western History: %82
French Grammar and Verbs: %80
Geology: %75
French Literature: %60

Well, this is my past year of work.  Besides trying to read French novels for the first time in my life, I did all right.  Back to work I guess.  I hope I’ve made all the readers of thestubbes.com and Stubbes abroad proud of my ‘A’ average.

Me love this long time.  It’s called lightbox…

Click the image!  It’s pretty.

Virginia and I keep running into people in our building who make a point of harrassing us for owning a dog.  They call us “lawn wrecker” and “irresponsible” because for some reason they think we’re single handedly responsible for every piece of excrement on the front lawn of our building.  At one time I was adamant about cleaning up all the things my dog left behind, I would even kick the yellow snow.  But now, it seems to be included in my rent.

When I was a child as punishment my sisters and I would have to go on poop patrol as a punishment.  It meant walking around the yard picking up every single piece of dropping that my 70 pound german shepard left after his morning meal.  Now that I’m grwon up, there’s a collective of people who do it voluntarily!  Every time I walk outside there’s someone wandering around with a bag cleaning up dog mess and further reinforcing my desire not to have to do it myself.

Honestly, I would have a HUGE problem leaving poop on the lawn if it stayed there and got stepped in, but people clean it up for me!  This is fantastic.  So, I would like to give a big shout out to the “Poop Patrol” of MacDonald avenue and thank them for cleaning up for me so that I don’t have to and remind them that what they are doing is hegemony.  Self proclaimed victims make the world go ‘round.