Ah 2007... there are so many descriptors for this week.  The year without a boathouse roof, let alone railing.  The year the weather turned on us.  (Could these somehow be related?)  The year of Orphan Ken.  The Year of the Mohawk.

At 10:30 on Saturday morning, Ken Jackson was heard to say, "Dave, you got to be awfully desperate to get up here this early."  Yes, Ken, Dave is always desperate to get to Jackson's for that second week of July.  It's all Jude can do to keep him from arriving even earlier.  By mid-afternoon the entire resort was abuzz with activity which was amazing considering the heat.  Vacationers unpacked in 90 degrees and high humidity, but no one complained.  All were looking forward to a "put your lawn chair in the lake week" that could only be described as "Hot! Hot! Hot!"

It was mid-afternoon when a wail was heard throughout the camp.  Katie high tailed it to Dave's cottage where she whispered that we already had an "issue."  There was no roof on the boathouse, let alone a railing atop it.  Please, please...tell us it ain't so!  Where oh where would Mary reside this year?  Since the boathouse was in the process of enlargement and renovation... Mary was left strapped to the light post next to it.  Mary was NOT happy.

Despite this major setback, everyone crowded down to the beach for a late afternoon of swimming, water skiing and watching Tom and Ken Jackson slap a roof on that boathouse so fast that it made everyone dizzy who looked their way.  Ken had a real rhythm going with that hammer when all of a sudden the sound of impact on the nail changed from a sharp staccato to a dull thud.  Next thing you knew there were flying hammers and roofing boards.  But to Ken's credit... not a word was uttered.  Even when Dave hollered, "Ken, don't think this will buy you any strokes tomorrow on the golf course!"  Needless to say, all roofing stopped for the day.

Sunday brought a warm cloudy day.  With Lennea, George and Anna leaving for a short vacation in Chicago, Ken was hoping someone in the group would adopt him for the week.  Sorry Ken, you picked the wrong group!  Despite the clouds, once again the beach was crowded with swimmers and skiers.  This lasted until about four in the afternoon when a storm blew through.  Everyone ran for the cover of cottages and porches where John Durante was heard to say that this was the first time in ten years that he could remember being forced off the beach due to bad weather.  Mary, Mary, where art thou?

Monday was a perfect day for just about everything.  Even so, the golfers got off to a questionable start when their T-time reservation specialist and carpool leader led them to the wrong course.  If that was not bad enough, all credibility was lost when, later after golf, he could not find the Twilight.  Could it be time for a new "Leader of the Pack?"

Thanks to Val Fosbinder, later that afternoon found vacation goers punked out on the beach.  You see, Sam came up with a Mohawk and asked Uncle Dave if he would also wear his hair that way.  Uncle Dave agreed and the rest, as they say in the hair salon business, is hairdo his-to-ree.  With very few exceptions, everyone in the group was donning a Mohawk or punk style within a matter of minutes.  Quite the ski show.  The driver of the boat with a royal blue Mohawk and his passengers and skiers with various "dos" of psychedelic colors none of which moved in the wind.

The rain moved in Tuesday morning around 11 and the temperature began to drop... and drop... and drop.  As much as the temperature dropped, the wind picked up... and so went the rest of the week.  Cold, windy and rainy.  Rumor had it that Mary had fled to the southern part of the State looking for a boat house roof where the weather was sunny and nice.  Who could blame her?

The bad weather did not keep the group down, however.  Everyone made the best of things and found other activities to do.  There was biking, bowling, fishing, ice cream runs, Twilight visits, napping (mostly by Bean), deer spotting, manicures and pedicures at Val's kitchen salon and shopping just to name a few.  There was even a Scoobies run by some of the group to watch Mamma Bear and her three cubs play outside the dining room.   But, the one that turned out to be the biggest challenge for many in the group was Val's "Jackson's Trivia Game."  While it was meant to keep the children busy, the adults jumped right into the game.  One report said the game even caused what shall ever be called by the locals the "Mutiny on the Tiki Bar."  Patsy, could this be true?

O.K. on to the important stuff!  2007 was the first year that the children also won awards on Friday night in the Lodge.  We will start with them.  With the exception of the Clan of the Fond Du Lac Baiers who headed south to their natural habitat earlier that day, all children received an award.

Matthew Berry -- Youngest Vacationer

Noah Berry -- First Tooth Ace

Johnny Berry -- Jet Skiing Ace

Cullen Berry -- Pool Ace

Sarah Fosbinder -- First Time Water Skiing Ace

Aidan Ryan -- Fishing Ace

Lauren Berry -- Bowling Champ

Nathan Ryan -- First Time Water Skiing Ace

Sam Fosbinder -- Master of the Mohawk

Kyle Berry -- Water Skiing Champ

Amanda -- Best Babysitter in the Whole World

George and Anna Jackson -- Best host and hostess in St. Germain

Congratulations go out to all the kids.  Way to go!

So, on to the adult awards.  Mary returned to grace the boathouse roof in fine shape.  But, alas, there was no boathouse roof.  As a result, Mary took a beating this week and was a bit wind burned and water logged by Friday night.  Poor, poor Mary. The dice, on the other hand, seemed to multiply over the week.  Dave Treleven showed up at the Lodge on Friday night with two sets:  the ten-year-old "Beanized" dice which were promptly given to Ken Jackson as a permanent award for the boathouse debacle.  (Mary even smiled at that one.)  The second set was brand spanking new.  It is hoped that the new set will be in a bit better shape ten years from now than their predecessor.

Speaking of Bean, once again she had the most award-winning mentions.  Therefore, we will start with her.  Other nominees are mentioned in no particular order.

Bean Durante:  For trying to set Katie and thereby the lodge on fire; for losing her shoe and wallet on her way home from the lodge at 3:30 a.m.; for losing her way and crashing in the wrong cabin.  For missing golf on Monday and sleeping half the day away.  For being a willing participant of the Tiki Bar Mutiny and then missing dinner due to her over-indulgence, not to mention that she again crashed in the wrong cabin.  For leaving a full beer sit and go warm in front of her at the Twilight the next morning.  And the "coup de Grasse"... after killing so many brain cells during the week for having forgotten how to dress herself on Friday morning, which left her swinging free and easy at Plumb Lake.  Sweet!

John Durante:  For setting a record for the longest sustained inebriation in camp, during which time he:  Used the Lodge ladies room; fell off the dock; nearly drowned trying to get up on water skis; did a "Full Monty" on the raft while cleaning the seaweed out of his swim trunks.  Apparently John thought the people already on the raft were looking the other way, not to mention the beach dwellers!

Val Fosbinder:  For leaving her poor husband, Scott, in her dust (literally) as she took off down the road without him.  The family was going to the Laundromat and then into Minoqua.  Half-way to the van Scott realized they had forgotten their cell phones and returned to the cottage to get them.  When he came out Val and the kids were driving off.  Poor Scott was forced to spend the next several hours horizontal on the couch catching up on his reading.  Poor Scott.

Pat Laasch:  For locking Bean out of her own cottage.  I mean, really, even if it wasn't an accident, can you blame her?

Kristy Gusse:  For desecrating the hallowed ground outside the brand new Hammond on her wee-hours return from the Lodge.  Lucky for Kristy, Sable cleaned it up for her the next morning.  For mutinying her grandmother and refusing to leave the Tiki Bar at the appointed time.

Ken Jackson:  For the BOAT HOUSE!  For jumping in the lake fully clothed and without removing his wallet first.

Dave Treleven:  For leading the golfers to the wrong golf course on Monday only to discover that he totally screwed up the week's T-times by matching the wrong phone numbers to the right golf courses.  For being unable to find the Twilight Bar after Monday's golf on the first try.  Even though most side-roads look alike in the North Woods, you'd think the smell of beer and fried chicken wings would have gotten them there.

Patsy Schroeder:  For pitching a fit after she was mutinied at the Tiki Bar and refusing to join the old folks at Scoobies because she was too mad to eat that artery clogging deep fried lobster she had been talking about all week.  Patsy, didn't you just have a heart attack?  Deep fried lobster?

This year, the S.H.I.T. had a better time controlling the group during the nominations via the process of elimination.  In the end, two rounds of voting took place.  One for the dice and one for Mary.  Each vacationer was allowed one vote for each round.  Nicely done, John.  While there were many nominees, it was still a landslide for only two, the winners were...

For the second consecutive year, John Durante took Mary home to Tinley Park, and the dice went back to Racine with Dave Treleven.

Congratulations to the same old S.H.I.T., John Durante and runner up Dave Treleven!!