Saturday visit with Ian at UNH

Yesterday Carol and I went to UNH to visit Ian which timed well that the UNH Woodsman Club that Ian belongs to were holding their only home meet of the year. We brought Patches along with us leaving the house at 7am, the event started 9am. A cool, crisp, sunny November day indeed with a steady breeze blowing most of the time. Club members had been preparing the event the night before, setting up the wood to be used then getting up early Saturday to make the final preparations for the 14 teams participating representing 6 colleges. Colby, Unity, UMaine, UVermont, Dartmouth and the host UNH. Both men and women compete in all the events which to the best of my memory were: wood splitting, axe throwing (at a bullseye about 20 feet, no moving targets), buck sawing, 2-person cross cut saw, vertical cut, horizontal cut, chainsaw, wood toss, an obstacle course, log rolling ( not the " in the water" type), and a mystery event. That turned out to be firestarting - teams were given a small box of matches and a large coffee can with soapy water - team members were then sent across a large grass area, at a full run, about 300 feet to the woods where they were to gather wood and kindling, no tools. Tools could be used back where the fires were to be built. It turned out to be a wild, fun event that Ian's team did a great job on. I may not have what each event was called correct but they're close enough. All these were timed events except the axe throwing. The UNH club both competed and did the setups and cleanups necessary to take place during the entire day which kept them all busy. Ian competed in axe throwing (3rd best score, real good for a first timer), horizontal cut (nothing like watching your kid swing an axe between his feet), wood tossing, log rolling, cross cut relay, and the fire building. It's funny how some of this make a connection to stuff he did in scouting and at the same time contradicts what he was taught in scouting but it comes together well. I must say Carol and I were very impressed with all the students participating. Focused, great spirit and sportsmanship, team work, it was terrific being around them. Between his activities we got to spend some good time with Ian. Patches was quite a hit with a number of people, they were several other dogs around as well. Since Carol and I had tickets to the Portland Pirates hockey game (lost 2-0) that night we had to leave before the club would finish with the cleanup but the time we had with Ian was fun as was the entire visit. If I get a chance I'll post some of the pictures I took of other students competing later this week.

This is a series of pictures I made from a video I shot
of Ian throwing the axe for a bulls eye. Note the axe
in mid air in the center photo.

Ian waiting to go on the block he'll be chopping through.

Ian rolling his end of the log.

Fire building is well on it's way.