I know that many in my family have been waiting for me to start a dialogue on our camping experiences and, of course, our campfire songs. I realize that at least for my children and my grandchildren these are memories that are worth sharing again and again. This will be the first but not the last article dealing with these subjects. I am anxious to get started.
Camping for our family was a big part of our recreational activities. It was a perfect family event. We were mostly tent campers. Setting up the camp sites were a big part of the experience. Finding the right camp site in the right campground and making sure that we had a great place to have a big camp fire at night. Our cooking was mostly on little gas stoves. We usually didn’t use the large bar b que grated fire pit for cooking. It was reserved for smores and campfires. We had to bring lots of coolers and ice chests, we were always searching for that particular chest that would make the ice last longer. Ice runs were always needed. We also had sleeping bags but we brought a lot of blow ups to sleep on. We called them blow ups not air mattresses. Most of the blow ups were good for maybe part of one night. It became common place that we ended up sleeping on the ground in our sleeping bags. What a bummer. In later years we found better blow ups and even brought battery operated machines that would inflate and reinflate blow ups. Always had to set up tents. Once the tents were up the camp site took shape and we could eat lunch and then go on a hike. Going on hikes was an essential part of the whole camping experience. Finally, we had to have enough fire wood for the fire pit for a big long-lasting campfire. I preferred to bring firewood from home. It always irritated me to buy firewood at the campground. I don’t know, it just didn’t sit right with me. Obviously, I don’t want to bring negativity into this situation. The whole family loved to go camping and to me all of the things necessary to have a great campsite were part of the whole experience. I remember all of it very fondly and I hope my children and grandchildren do as well. I almost forgot, we always brought horse shoes. Setting up horseshoes was also essential.
Every night we would build a big campfire after dinner. We would always have smores and then it was time for campfire songs. In this article I am going to detail two of our most common songs. The first wasn’t really a song but more of a statement. We would start with this one and then say it faster and faster. It was great to get things started. I will call it the “Donut Song” It goes like this…
The Donut Song
Well, I went for a walk the other night and I walked right in to a donut shop
I saw some donuts on the shelf and I paid for one with a five-cent piece.
Well, the man behind the counter he looked at me and he said, hey kid you’re a cheatin me
There’s a whole in your nickel I can see right through
And I said there’s a whole in your Donut too
Thanks for the donut bye now…
Once completed then we would speed it up and say it again. If we thought we could do it again even faster and we would do that until it became too fast.
The next song was called My Bonnie. This was a great song. What you do is every time you say a word that starts with B you either stand up or sit down…whatever is the opposite of what position you are in.
The song starts out very simple. We are all sitting down and then you will see as the song gets going there are more and more changes because there are more and more words that start with B.
My Bonnie
My Bonnie lies over the ocean (stand up)
My Bonnie lies over the sea (sit down)
My Bonnie lies over the ocean (stand up)
Please Bring Back my Bonnie to me (sit down) (stand up) (sit down)
Bring Back Bring Back, please, Bring Back my Bonnie to me to me (stand up) (sit down) (stand up) (sit down) (stand up) (sit down) (stand up)
Bring Back Bring Back, please, Bring Back my Bonnie to me. (sit-down) (stand up) (sit down) (stand up) (sit down) (stand up) (sit down)
If you do this a few times, it gets rather interesting and a lot of fun. It becomes a pretty good workout.
There are more but I am going to stop with those two. My family and my grandchildren will certainly remember these. Don’t worry more are on the way.
