a more complete GW 2014 report
Mar. 17th, 2014 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
boogieshoesalthough not by much. actually was a very good war. i arrived sunday morning, later than i had planned,but not horribly so. i set up, fixed an unexpected oops on the tent with help of a good gentle, and got into garb. the air mattress did not stay inflated. and the nifty solar lights i got didn't light up. i figured it took a while for the solar lights to charge, so i didn't worry about it. as for the air mattress, well, it'd been a while since i used it, maybe i'd accidentally let it stay open.
understand, gulf war week is my vacation. i love all the christmas activities i do through december, but the month is so full i'm not really 'rested and relaxed' by the end of it. i thought it might be nice to do an actual class this year. did not make a single class. i did go shopping, and found things for mom, dad, 3 ladies at work, candy for folks at work, and a dragon mug for a guy at work. also found some bling. shopping was on thursday.
monday was hot, which was ok, but i ended up sitting around talking to people in the encampment. i learned that the site owner, whom many of us have been complaining about for *years*, because he doesn't even maintain his buildings, much less improve them, got inspected, told off by the inspectors, and one of the buildings on site got condemned. i couldn't help but feel pleased about that. the site owner will either make improvements so he can rent out the site again, or we'll end up having to move Gulf Wars. GW is a *huge* event to move - and there's not many sites that can host something that big. the problem is that the current site owner built absolute minimum, and less if he could get away with it. the majority of actual site upkeep and improvements has fallen to the SCA groups who use the site. it's so bad that church groups and boy scout groups and etc won't rent the site anymore, because they're afraid of the buildings. considering how many people get sick inside the buildings, i don't blame them.
all this came about because a few months ago, somebody stole all the electrical wiring on site. when the owner replaced it, they had to call in state inspectors. the inspectors came while the site owner wasn't there, so they inspected everything.
worst thing is an extra streetlight over axemoor encampment. kinda kills the ambiance, but at least you can see where the port-a-potties are, now - and if someone 'missed'. port-a-potties are some scary things in the dark.
tuesday, it rained. i tried to organize our baroness's tent, but the rain came through the ceiling outlet for the stove pipe. it was warm in the tent, but with the bucket in the middle of the tent, i couldn't do much moving around. because this is the first war i'd been to in years with my own tent, and the first war with my new 'cobbled-together' tent, the rain hit all my anxiety buttons. and then came the lightening. i wanted to be back home with abbie, hiding under the bed. i could *feel* the tension getting worse.
the tent came through the rain on tuesday fine, which was a relief. see, i'd used an EZ-up 10ft by 10ft pop-up, attached walls from another vendor (hence the modifications of trim loops and s-beaners to hang on the tent frame), and then had 2 ground tarps below. the inside ground tarp was pulled up inside the walls, so nothing would get in. the outside tarp was supposed to be kinda crunched up so water couldn't run underneath the tent. i didn't do so well on the outside tarp - next year i need to do better.
inside the tent, i put down that foam flooring everywhere - the 2ft by 2ft pieces that jigsaw together. here was another issue. they don't like to stay together unless the floor tarp doesn't have any wrinkles. on top of the foam went my other stuff, which included a folding table, and a bed platform. the bed platform worked great. the bedding got a little damp, because the canopy dripped some, but it never got soaked. i was able to dry it out fairly decently around the fire. so i count that a success.
the big problem with the tent came wednesday morning, when the wind-front moved through. those nylon tent walls work like nice big sails. unfortunately, the tent *legs* weren't suited to those forces. part of this was my fault. the EZ-up is intended to be a sun-shade, without walls. it came with four stakes to push through the feet. i should have guyed it down, but i didn't think i needed to. obviously, i did. i'm not sure it would have survived, but it would have had a chance. at any rate, one of the tent legs broke, and i nearly did, too. one of our visitors from NorthShield (Minnesota, in this case) lent me an extra stick of something to brace the leg so i could ride out the war. worked rather well, too.
by this time, i'd also figured out that the air mattress had a hole in it. it was by a seam, and would have been impossible to patch, so i pitched the air mattress. i re-arranged the bedding so i had two sleeping bags and the thick winter-weight comforter beneath me, but that didn't cushion me enough to save my back. it's still hurting a bit. this is called 'you ain't in college anymore. dammit.'
Alda, an Axemoor ex-pat in Florida, had told me the solar lights might have a paper covering the charge contacts preventing the solar panels from charging them. i hadn't even bothered tuesday due to the rain. wed, i was too wiped worrying about the wind. thursday, though, i opened up the lights and realized they had on/off switches - in the off position. got that corrected, and they worked fine the rest of war.
wednesday night is 'midnight madness', where the shops are all open until about 11pm. many of the shops mark things down. i didn't buy, but Gentille made me come walk off my worries and window shop. it helped a *lot*. thank you, Gentille.
thursday and friday were both warm by 10, but with a chill breeze. most of my shopping i got done thursday, but i went back friday to mideval miscellanea to talk to the tentmaker. i got a couple of quotes and settled on a tent canopy and frame, with walls to follow next year. i'll pay her before delivery, but in monthly installments so it doesn't hit me all at once.
GW usually breaks up on Sundays, but the weather reports were all that nasty weather was coming in Saturday night and staying until monday. needless to say, especially after the cold Tues downpour, nearly the entire encampment - all participants, i mean - struck camp saturday and booked. first they cancelled closing courts, then they cancelled sunday am staff wrap-up meetings... probably a good idea. i wanted to do more help than i did, but my feet were hurting, my ankles were swollen, and my hips and back were killing me, probably from the hard bed i was sleeping on. (air mattress was the first thing i replaced for next year!)
my ankles still hurt. they're not swollen anymore, but they still hurt. so does my back, although my feet have quieted down.
highlights of the war:
talking to my friends around the campfire. always fun.
connecting with Iohness from Ansteorra and catching up on news. unfortunately, he sprained his knee pretty good in the ravine battle, so they wouldn't let him do schlepping while packing up. but i gave him cookies. and he likes cookies, lol.
Liam, also from Ansteorra, made knight while at war! this was awesome. Liam is a quiet, competent guy who does a lot of things without shouting. but he's going to be a good knight, i know.
listening to one of the Ansteorran bards regale us with songs bawdy and balladic around the fire. mostly bawdy, but i did ask her to sing the Swan Road song - er, the one that goes 'Hasten, oh huscarls, over the Swan-Road,...' it's one of my favorites, a stirring song about going a-Viking. land for the sons of the Saxons to hold indeed.
did help a bit at the Knowne World Party, but my feet gave out before my enthusiasm did, darnit.
THE ONE BAD THING THIS YEAR:
several people got roofied this year, by someone putting (we think) Ketamine in their drinks for the hell of it. i hope they figure(d) out who did it, but since the targets seem to be random, that's not likely. presumably, past missed deeds have led to an infiltration of undercover ATF agents in our ranks. i always find that sort of investigation amusing, but this time, i'd be really glad if there were some operatives on-site this year to keep an eye on things. NO ONE deserves to get roofied - and it's damned dangerous, even if the target doesn't have a job where they test for illegal drugs regularly. you never know how it's going to affect whomever is roofied, and you never know if they will be allergic or have a medical interaction. you could kill someone. makes me so mad i could just spit nails.
i *really* hope they string that sucker up by his entrails.
aside from that worry, i had a lot of fun. everyone seems to have come home fine, so that's good.
and that's the news from the War. good night and good luck.
-boogieshoes, (SCA) war correspondant
understand, gulf war week is my vacation. i love all the christmas activities i do through december, but the month is so full i'm not really 'rested and relaxed' by the end of it. i thought it might be nice to do an actual class this year. did not make a single class. i did go shopping, and found things for mom, dad, 3 ladies at work, candy for folks at work, and a dragon mug for a guy at work. also found some bling. shopping was on thursday.
monday was hot, which was ok, but i ended up sitting around talking to people in the encampment. i learned that the site owner, whom many of us have been complaining about for *years*, because he doesn't even maintain his buildings, much less improve them, got inspected, told off by the inspectors, and one of the buildings on site got condemned. i couldn't help but feel pleased about that. the site owner will either make improvements so he can rent out the site again, or we'll end up having to move Gulf Wars. GW is a *huge* event to move - and there's not many sites that can host something that big. the problem is that the current site owner built absolute minimum, and less if he could get away with it. the majority of actual site upkeep and improvements has fallen to the SCA groups who use the site. it's so bad that church groups and boy scout groups and etc won't rent the site anymore, because they're afraid of the buildings. considering how many people get sick inside the buildings, i don't blame them.
all this came about because a few months ago, somebody stole all the electrical wiring on site. when the owner replaced it, they had to call in state inspectors. the inspectors came while the site owner wasn't there, so they inspected everything.
worst thing is an extra streetlight over axemoor encampment. kinda kills the ambiance, but at least you can see where the port-a-potties are, now - and if someone 'missed'. port-a-potties are some scary things in the dark.
tuesday, it rained. i tried to organize our baroness's tent, but the rain came through the ceiling outlet for the stove pipe. it was warm in the tent, but with the bucket in the middle of the tent, i couldn't do much moving around. because this is the first war i'd been to in years with my own tent, and the first war with my new 'cobbled-together' tent, the rain hit all my anxiety buttons. and then came the lightening. i wanted to be back home with abbie, hiding under the bed. i could *feel* the tension getting worse.
the tent came through the rain on tuesday fine, which was a relief. see, i'd used an EZ-up 10ft by 10ft pop-up, attached walls from another vendor (hence the modifications of trim loops and s-beaners to hang on the tent frame), and then had 2 ground tarps below. the inside ground tarp was pulled up inside the walls, so nothing would get in. the outside tarp was supposed to be kinda crunched up so water couldn't run underneath the tent. i didn't do so well on the outside tarp - next year i need to do better.
inside the tent, i put down that foam flooring everywhere - the 2ft by 2ft pieces that jigsaw together. here was another issue. they don't like to stay together unless the floor tarp doesn't have any wrinkles. on top of the foam went my other stuff, which included a folding table, and a bed platform. the bed platform worked great. the bedding got a little damp, because the canopy dripped some, but it never got soaked. i was able to dry it out fairly decently around the fire. so i count that a success.
the big problem with the tent came wednesday morning, when the wind-front moved through. those nylon tent walls work like nice big sails. unfortunately, the tent *legs* weren't suited to those forces. part of this was my fault. the EZ-up is intended to be a sun-shade, without walls. it came with four stakes to push through the feet. i should have guyed it down, but i didn't think i needed to. obviously, i did. i'm not sure it would have survived, but it would have had a chance. at any rate, one of the tent legs broke, and i nearly did, too. one of our visitors from NorthShield (Minnesota, in this case) lent me an extra stick of something to brace the leg so i could ride out the war. worked rather well, too.
by this time, i'd also figured out that the air mattress had a hole in it. it was by a seam, and would have been impossible to patch, so i pitched the air mattress. i re-arranged the bedding so i had two sleeping bags and the thick winter-weight comforter beneath me, but that didn't cushion me enough to save my back. it's still hurting a bit. this is called 'you ain't in college anymore. dammit.'
Alda, an Axemoor ex-pat in Florida, had told me the solar lights might have a paper covering the charge contacts preventing the solar panels from charging them. i hadn't even bothered tuesday due to the rain. wed, i was too wiped worrying about the wind. thursday, though, i opened up the lights and realized they had on/off switches - in the off position. got that corrected, and they worked fine the rest of war.
wednesday night is 'midnight madness', where the shops are all open until about 11pm. many of the shops mark things down. i didn't buy, but Gentille made me come walk off my worries and window shop. it helped a *lot*. thank you, Gentille.
thursday and friday were both warm by 10, but with a chill breeze. most of my shopping i got done thursday, but i went back friday to mideval miscellanea to talk to the tentmaker. i got a couple of quotes and settled on a tent canopy and frame, with walls to follow next year. i'll pay her before delivery, but in monthly installments so it doesn't hit me all at once.
GW usually breaks up on Sundays, but the weather reports were all that nasty weather was coming in Saturday night and staying until monday. needless to say, especially after the cold Tues downpour, nearly the entire encampment - all participants, i mean - struck camp saturday and booked. first they cancelled closing courts, then they cancelled sunday am staff wrap-up meetings... probably a good idea. i wanted to do more help than i did, but my feet were hurting, my ankles were swollen, and my hips and back were killing me, probably from the hard bed i was sleeping on. (air mattress was the first thing i replaced for next year!)
my ankles still hurt. they're not swollen anymore, but they still hurt. so does my back, although my feet have quieted down.
highlights of the war:
talking to my friends around the campfire. always fun.
connecting with Iohness from Ansteorra and catching up on news. unfortunately, he sprained his knee pretty good in the ravine battle, so they wouldn't let him do schlepping while packing up. but i gave him cookies. and he likes cookies, lol.
Liam, also from Ansteorra, made knight while at war! this was awesome. Liam is a quiet, competent guy who does a lot of things without shouting. but he's going to be a good knight, i know.
listening to one of the Ansteorran bards regale us with songs bawdy and balladic around the fire. mostly bawdy, but i did ask her to sing the Swan Road song - er, the one that goes 'Hasten, oh huscarls, over the Swan-Road,...' it's one of my favorites, a stirring song about going a-Viking. land for the sons of the Saxons to hold indeed.
did help a bit at the Knowne World Party, but my feet gave out before my enthusiasm did, darnit.
THE ONE BAD THING THIS YEAR:
several people got roofied this year, by someone putting (we think) Ketamine in their drinks for the hell of it. i hope they figure(d) out who did it, but since the targets seem to be random, that's not likely. presumably, past missed deeds have led to an infiltration of undercover ATF agents in our ranks. i always find that sort of investigation amusing, but this time, i'd be really glad if there were some operatives on-site this year to keep an eye on things. NO ONE deserves to get roofied - and it's damned dangerous, even if the target doesn't have a job where they test for illegal drugs regularly. you never know how it's going to affect whomever is roofied, and you never know if they will be allergic or have a medical interaction. you could kill someone. makes me so mad i could just spit nails.
i *really* hope they string that sucker up by his entrails.
aside from that worry, i had a lot of fun. everyone seems to have come home fine, so that's good.
and that's the news from the War. good night and good luck.
-boogieshoes, (SCA) war correspondant
