This weekend I autocrated my 2nd event & my first 1st camping event with Ages of War: The Great Italian Wars. It was quite the adventure and I am happy I did it. We really lucked out with the weather - we had storms forecasted, but were lucky that they split and went around us. This is the same storm fronts that decimated Parkersburg, IA and Hugo, MN. We had a bit of sprinkles in Austin, MN, but had PERFECT weather Sunday evening and Monday morning for camp clean up. I think Sunday night's clear sky & comfortable weather joined with no bugs to spoil the atmosphere made it the perfect camping night. I don't know that I've had a better night to camp - and the company in front of the fire was also wonderful. Good to talk to Hillians and Luce. Also very good to have the chance to talk to Little John about Crown Tourneys and future plans. It is so cool to have him as a friend & to have him fighting for me on the field.

Eventwise, everything seemed to go well. I got a lot of possitie feedback from people on the equestrian field and also from others attending the event. Ron (the site custodian) was very impressed at how clean we left the site for him, which makes me very happy & proud - especially since he seemed sure that with the numbers we were hoping for that we wouldn't get the entire security deposit back. Hehe. Love proving people wrong with stuff like that.

Feast was fabulous. Stasi is a wonder in the kitchen. I hear a lot of good reports from others that they also really enjoyed it. It was a shame that so many people bought feast tickets, but weren't able to stick around to eat it. We sold 90 tickets, but the feast hall seemed about 1/2 empty. I think the threatening weather sent people home early.

I helped out with getting feast ready to serve, so I was unable to sit in on Court. Which is a shame since Little John got his Griffin's Sword (AoA for heavy fighting)! I am so happy for him to reach this milestone in his fighting career. Lyulf also received this award and others in the shire were also honored. Bummed that I missed this, but helping get feast ready was also very satisifying.

Thank you to all of you who attended and also many many thanks to those who helped out with various tasks over the weekend. It was because of all you that made it a successful weekend for me & everyone else who were there.

I never thought it'd be so hard to find firewood for Ages of War this year. Two years ago, we picked up a couple pickup loads for $20 a load from an Amish woodshop in Preston. Unfortunately, due to last years floods and other circumstances, it appears that they do not have a lot of scraps like they have in the past. Plooey.

I have called a couple commercial tree services in the Austin area, but they either do not sell firewood, or they are a bit out of my price range (2/3 cord or so for $125). Double Plooey.

Craig's List has some people getting rid of trees & scrap wood, and I went to pick up some wood from a fallen willow tree that I was told was dry & dead since it fell over last year. Did you know that willow doesn't need to be in the ground to grow new sprouts?? We got a load full last night but most of the wood appears to be alive and kicking with new growth coming out of the cut logs. We'll split it tonight, and hope for the best, but I'm not holding my breath over it. It seems too green as is. Triple Plooey.

My fingers are crossed though, since I should be hearing back from my contact at the fairgrounds today. He was going to see what he can find for us. If nothing comes about from this, I may have to just bite the bullet and buy wood. Bleh...

This is the last thing I expected! Is this a good thing or a bad thing? We'll just have to wait and see. :)

Right now, it looks like I'll be going to Lilies this year! This will be my first war, & I'm really looking forward to it. Yippy! I have to wait and see how work is going closer to the date, since my job is all about the project I'm working on, and how close I am to completion on it. *crossed fingers* Hopefully, I'll be camping with Luchertola & Sorcha but we have to see if their camp hosts are okay with this. Otherwise, maybe Heraldshill folk from Calontir will take me in. :)