The Loon on it's nest at Timanous last summer

When we were at camp last week, I was surprised to hear the cry of a loon as we walked out to Crows’ Point.  It was the first time I’ve heard loons in the winter and had never really given much thought to what they do in the winter.   Looking out on the lake, I saw 3 loons in the open water, just past the cove which was completely frozen.

This summer, a pair of loons nested in the cove, close to the sailing docks.  They built the nest well before the campers and counselors arrived  and they were pretty unhappy when people started walking on the paths close to their nest.  We fenced off the immediate area and they soon seemed to get used to the traffic.  As the weeks went by, we began to wonder if the egg would hatch but finally, sometime in July, we saw the baby loon.  So when I saw the 3 loons, I thought maybe it was the pair and their grown up baby.  Curious about their winter plans, I did a little research and thought I’d share what I found as it was pretty interesting:

• Loons can’t walk on land.  Their legs are further back than ducks which helps makes loons amazing swimmers but too front heavy to walk on land.  The only time they come on land is to nest and  that is why they nest at the edge of the lake.
• They don’t really build a nest but just arrange the vegetation to make an indentation.  We were surprised by that when we investigated the nest once they had abandoned it this summer.
• The baby loon must swim almost immediately as the family  leaves the nest shortly after the baby is born and do not return.  The baby climbs on it’s parent’s back to rest and keep warm.
• The parents leave the baby around the time it’s 11 or 12 weeks old, roughly the time the young loon is learning to fly.  It is believed the parents leave to insure an adequate food supply for their young loon as adult loons eat about 2 pounds of fish a day.
• There seemed to be some confusion about the average life span of loons but  it’s at least 18 years.
• Both the male and female sit on the nest. Unlike some birds, their markings are the same so it pretty hard to tell them apart.
• Loons are heavy birds but can fly long distances.  They need to “run” across the top of the water before they can take off and need between 30 feet and  1/4 mile of open water to do so.
• In the winter, they usually leave the lakes before it freezes and head for the ocean.  Apparently the young loons on a lake will gather and migrate together so it’s likely that’s what the 3 loons I saw were doing.

We are excited to add Washington DC to the list of winter reunions.  These gatherings are a wonderful opportunity for returning campers and their families to reconnect with friends and for both new and prospective campers and their families to meet new friends while learning more about Timanous. There will be a slide presentation.

Please contact us for more information or to RSVP (email: info@campt.com or call: 207-655-4569)

New York Gathering
Sunday, January 27 at 1PM in Rye, NY

Massachusetts Gathering
Saturday, February 9th at 2PM in Hamilton, MA

Washington DC Gathering
Sunday, February 10th at 4PM in Washington, DC

We are at camp for the holidays. When we arrived last Friday, it was 50 degrees and raining. We had a dusting of snow on Christmas morning, 10″ on the 27th and expecting 6 more inches tonight! Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

Sunday was slightly overcast but luckily no rain for our final chapel.  A camper played the violin while the rest of the camp filed into chapel and Tomm Polos gave a wonderful talk which I hope to post shortly.  Sunday afternoon was a regular Sunday schedule.  Late afternoon, the skies darkened and we had a brief thundershower.  It threatened again around dinner and for awhile, it looked like our final Council Fire would have to be inside.  Everyone was relieved when at the last minute, the decision was made to go outside and it was the right decision as not a drop of rain fell.

Monday morning cabin clean-up was  used for collecting laundry.  The campers were told to put EVERYTHING washable  in the laundry and by the looks of most of the laundry bags, they did just that.

Monday was not a regular day but instead it was the 5th annual “Polos Day” – a day the boys really look forward to.  The entire camp was broken into 4 teams and then rotated through 4 different activities:  Tubing, Kickball Slip and Slide, Free swim & Timanolympics.  You’ll have to ask you son to explain but you can check out pictures from the day and it’s pretty obvious everyone had a great time!

Just before dinner was the annual “Fastest Man” Contest and after dinner was the finals for the Twilight League.

Tuesday morning, the laundry was back after breakfast and we had an extended cabin cleanup so everyone could pack.  When they were done packing and  their counselor gave them the OK, campers could go to activities followed by a free swim.  In the afternoon, there was “Water Sports” practice and now everyone is swimming and will then have free time.  After dinner tonight, we will meet for the final time in the hall to watch the finished movie that a group of campers and counselors have been working on all summer along with a slide show of the summer.

Even though we are busy planning the final events, it doesn’t seem possible that in 48 hours, the campers will all be on their way home.  Right now I am listening to the sounds of the lower bunkline swimming at Beginner’s Beach — it will be much too quiet when they are gone!

If you will be joining us tomorrow and taking pictures, please remember that as a member of the Shutterfly site, you can post pictures so if you get some nice shots, please consider sharing them!

Friday was a really busy day.  At morning announcements,  it was announced that  instead of regular activities it would be “Capture the Flag” and everyone cheered!  During cabin cleanup, the campers and counselors got ready, some with face paints, some with their “Cflag” clothing and everyone making sure they were wearing their “team” color.  There were 2 well fought games with Green winning both of them.   The swim after the games felt great!

Friday afternoon was Junior Granddaddy Gorilla where the campers hide and the counselors find them.  Because most of our counselors were campers themselves, it’s pretty hard to find a spot they don’t know about and only 3 campers managed not to be found.  When the game was over, everyone took another swim and then it was time for Friday Candy.

As if that wasn’t enough — that evening, it was the Wohelo Dance!  The girls from Big Wohelo came over towards the end of freetime and joined us for dinner.  When dinner was over, the barn was turned into a dance floor complete with party lights and a DJ and the dance began. Friday was a hot and humid day so the inside of the barn with 100+ people dancing was pretty toasty but no one seemed to mind!

Today was a regular day with lots of regular activities.  Today and tomorrow may be the last chances for campers to complete awards or projects.  Instead of cabin cookouts, tonight was Point Cookout, an all camp barbeque on Crows Point and it was delicious.  After dinner it was  a free evening with a semi-final Twilight League game between the Timanavengers and Barn Jousters.  The winner will play in the final game on Monday night.

It is so hard to believe it is August!  Wednesday was another beautiful day and it was pretty much a normal day program wise here at camp, maybe the last this summer!  All of the regular activities were open along with a Green/Gray Ultimate Frisbee game and a hike up Rattlesnake Mountain for campers who are working on their Land Jester and still needed to complete a hike.  Wednesday dinner was Jimmy Buffet and then at flag lowering, Sandy, our program director, made a dramatic Beach Day announcement from on top of our beloved (but no longer used except special occasions such as this) “Funk Mobile”.  Then it was a free evening with one of the last Twilight League games between  the “No Eyed Deer” and “Hippos”.

Thursday morning, when the bell rang, everyone quickly cleaned their areas and then came to breakfast ready to go to the beach.  It had rained during the night so some were concerned it wouldn’t be a good beach day but the decision was made to go and it turned out to be a great decision as it was an awesome beach day.  There will be lots of pictures from the day.  Everyone has now returned and taken a quick dip in the lake.  It will be a low key evening as everyone is tired from the beach.

Tomorrow is Junior Granddaddy Gorilla! Most campers know where they will hide but some are still looking for a good spot.  There are several campers who are hoping to continue their streak of not being found!

There was a little excitement in our household yesterday.  Some of your son’s may have mentioned that our dog, Daisy was expecting puppies this summer and yesterday, her due date, she delivered (with some help from her human family) 5 healthy puppies.  When we first planned this event, we had hoped the timing would be such that the  puppies would be old enough to play with the campers but sadly, as they will only be a week old at the end of camp and are not supposed to interact with anyone but immediate family for the first 3 weeks,  the campers and counselors won’t get to meet them.

I am sorry for not having posted an entry earlier.  The days are so busy and just flying by, it’s  hard to keep up with everything!

Weather wise, we’ve had some beautiful days and it is picture perfect today.  It warms up during the day but the nights are cool which is perfect for sleeping.  Sunday, we had a lot of rain but it’s hard to complain about one rainy day!

Saturday morning, a group of 40+ campers and counselors headed to our neighboring town of Casco to take part in the annual 4 mile Casco Day Road Race.  The race started at 9:30 and it was warm for the runners but not as hot as it’s been in past years.  Timanous had a pretty amazing showing.  Everyone from Timanous finished in under 41 minutes and our campers swept the top 5 spots in the 14 to 16 camper division; came in 2nd,4th, & 5th in the 13 & under division (our campers were 11, 9, & 11 years old respectively); had 5 runners in the top 25 with our first runner (camper) finishing 3rd over all!!  The runners all had the chance to enjoy some of the fair food when the race was over with fried dough and french fries being some of the favorites (they do have great french fries).

Saturday afternoon was a regular afternoon with lots of activities (archery, soccer, handicrafts, kayaking, riflery, sailing, tennis, and campcraft).  The hall was also open for campers who wanted to watch the Olympics.    Saturday dinner was the last cabin cookout of the year as this Saturday, we will all enjoy our annual Point Cookout.

Saturday night, we had Horse Races in the hall.  You’ll have to ask your sons but the “horses” are counselors who dress in a costume or theme to match their horse’s name and “race” against 5 other counselors.  The campers place bets with the prizes being candy bars.  It’s a fun evening and the counselors came up with some very clever horses.

Saturday night, it rained hard while we were sleeping but luckily, it had stopped by the time the bell rang as we had our all camp picture scheduled for that morning.  Everyone came up wearing a clean uniform and we were able to get some great pictures before breakfast of the entire camp and second session cabin pictures.  Just as the last picture was being taken, the rain started again and was on again/off again the rest of the day.   Hopefully, we will have the picturs from the photographer shortly and  I will post them on Shutterfly.

It was still raining when it was time for chapel so we had our first indoor chapel of the summer but it didn’t lessen the message Hunter was sharing in his chapel talk.

During quiet hour, the head counselors played the senior counselors in soccer and the campers were allowed to leave their cabins to watch.  It was great fun with only a few minor injuries!

Wohelo swimmers came to Timanous Sunday afternoon to compete in a dual swim meet just for fun.  It was pouring rain for most of it but everyone still had a good time.  It continued to rain off and on for the rest of the day, through free swim, free time and right up until dinner so Council Fire was inside also.

Monday morning, a group of soccer players left for one of our neighboring camps where they will take part in a 2 day soccer tournament (returning to Timanous when not playing) and a group of tennis players went to another neighboring camp for a 13 & under tennis match. Other than that, it was a regular day.  Mondays are laundry day so everyone brought their dirty laundry up when they came for lunch and it will be back on Tuesday after lunch. Monday night was a free evening and several campers had the chance to go for  a motor boat ride on Panther Pond.  The Crows cabin went to Wohelo for their Council Fire.  They had written a song for the occasion which they performed for us during dinner — it was great — we hope to still get it on tape as we weren’t prepared last night.

Today is just beautiful — warm with a strong breeze making it a bit challenging for some of the sailors.  The soccer players from yesterdays tournament left to play again today.  It is a normal day for the rest of us but there won’t be many more so the campers are taking advantage of having the chance to work on awards or  projects.  We have a couple big things later in the week including Junior Granddaddy Gorilla which has the campers busy trying to find the perfect hiding spot.  This afternoon, campers with sisters or cousins at Wohelo will visit them for free time and dinner.

Please don’t forget to let us know if you want us to ship your camper’s trunk/baggage or if we don’t have their flight or bus information.  The end of camp is coming much too quickly and with so many special events this next week, these last days will fly by.

Although other parts of the country are still hot, the temperature has changed in Raymond.  Thursday was cooler and mostly cloudy.  We had some heavy rain Thursday night while everyone was sleeping and so far, Friday remains overcast.

The Acadia and white water kayaking trips returned Thursday afternoon.  Both trips were “awesome” with good weather and lots of adventures.  Pictures from the Acadia biking trip have been posted along with some additional pictures from the Katahdin trip.  The kayaking pictures will be added shortly.   Thursday afternoon, a group of second session campers from the lower bunkline left on a camping trip and will return Friday morning.  The 5-day trip will also return on Friday and it will be great to have everyone back in camp!

Thursday, one group of campers went to a neighboring camp for a tennis tournament (picture below) and a second group went to a sailing regatta.  For everyone who remained at camp, it was a regular activity day with archery, kayaking, nature, riflery, wood shop, tennis, waterskiing, 12 & under soccer practice, canoeing & boating, baseball, handicrafts, sailing, basketball.  Also during free time, magic cards in the barn and the USA women’s soccer match was being shown in the hall — sounds like enough to keep busy!!

It was chilly both mornings making those morning dips a little tougher for those who are still Polar Bears (dipping every morning)!  Tuesday, it was sunny most of the day but we had a few showers in the morning and again that evening.

Two camping trips left Tuesday morning.  A group going white water kayaking in New Hampshire left before breakfast.  They will spend 2 days on the river and return late Wednesday afternoon.  The second group left after breakfast for Acadia National Park where they will spend 2 nights and will bike the Park’s bike trails on Wednesday.   With 3 trips out of camp (34 campers and 11 counselors) , the dining room is much quieter.

A group of sailors left during breakfast for an all day regatta at a neighboring camp.  Hopefully they had better wind then we did here at Timanous.

Tuesday evening, with everyone lined up for flag lowering and with little warning, the skies opened and there was  torrential rain — everyone ran for the barn to wait it out.

So far, Wednesday  looks like it will be rain free and there is a great breeze so the sailing should be very exciting this afternoon!

A group of tennis players left after breakfast to attend a tennis tournament at a neighboring camp.

Wednesday's Tennis Players

Sunday was another beautiful day.  We had a great chapel talk from Alex Wheelock and I will be posting it along with last weeks hopefully later today.  Sunday afternoon was so busy with two groups of campers going to Little Wohelo, one to play tennis and the other archery.  Two other groups went to Big Wohelo, one for sailing and one for tennis.  Everyone who went to Wohelo, also had the chance to go for a swim in Sebago Lake.  In additin, a group of Wohelo campers came to Timanous to play soccer.

The twelve campers and 4 counselors leaving Monday on the “5-day” camping trip, took a practice canoe paddle and then did some packing for the trip.  Everyone else got to chose between archery, the climbing wall, handicrafts, rilfery, sailing, wood shop, tennis and water skiing.

Sunday evening, we had  our regular Council Fire which for the second session campers completed a full week of events .

Monday morning, the 5-day group was up early, had breakfast and left for the Aziscohos before our regular breakfast.  For the rest of us, it was a regular morning but right now, I am listening to the sounds of the entire camp playing an exciting game of Capture the Flag!  It is the first game for the second session campers and everyone seems to be having a great time!

It’s going to be a busy week with 3 more camping trips going out later this week.