Leader: There’s a problem in the adult male shower house
Me: Oh… What’s that?
Leader: One of the toilets is clogged.
Me: Isn’t there a plunger, sit?
Leader: Well, I tried plunging, but stopped when the water started over flowing.  Someone had a very loose stool and some of it got onto the…
Me: Thank you, sir.  I’ll take care of it. *Wait*  (over radio) Pat Toye.
Pat (over radio): Go for Pat
Me (over radio):  There’s a bit of a mess in the shower house. Do you have medical gauntlets?
Pat (over radio): Nope.
Me (over radio):  Well, assemble the war gear, I’m going to lead a sortie into enemy territory.

So, four of us arrive at the shower house and I was skirmisher in the first wave.  It looked like someone had a forceful bowel movement that clogged the john that he tried to de-clog with a hand grenade.  Without years of training, I would have been knocked back, but I know my enemy.  I’ve never become physically exhausted plunging a toilet.  Matt Grob and I went back and forth until finally I think we pressed so hard we cracked the cesspool.  I’ve never had to clean up after something like that such that I had to mop the walls and the bottom rim of the tank.  Never say never, I suppose.  I’ve never had to teambuild a toilet before.

When we were finished it was unclogged, restocked, bleached,disinfected (2nd agent), swept and mopped proving an iron law of dealing with these things.  The dirtier it was before the deed, the cleaner it is afterwards.

WiFi access is now available at Totem Lodge for Leaders and Staffers that sign on to our licensing agreement.  Some leaders like it, really like it.  Today I realized how this changed the camp dynamic when I received this email:

Hi Terry,

What time is BSA Kayaking?

Thanks, (leader name)

That may seem unspectacular except that the leader was in camp, in Totem, next to a phone, surrounded by staff, and I was emailed the question.