Field Notes: Observations and Learnings from Camp Shortleaf You can catch a fish using nothing more than a hook, a bit of filament, and a scrap of tin foil. You need three types of wood for a proper campfire: starter, kindling, and fuel. A rock, skipped across the surface of a lake can travel with enough velocity to accidentally kill a small duck. If you put your flashlight batteries in backwards when not in use, that will keep it from acciden- tally turning on in your pack. To repel mosquitoes, rub the inside of an or- ange peel on any exposed skin. The finality of death—even of a small bird—is less obvious to some boys of a certain age and temperament. A bow and arrow, when properly deployed, can achieve greater velocity than some firearms. Raccoons can purr. Like cats, they typically purr when they feel content or safe. In dreams, small ducks can talk. All ticks can carry disease, but only deer ticks can pass on troubling Lyme disease. A mouse can squeeze through a hole as small as a ballpoint pen thanks to its soft skull. Some nicknames are not given in a spirit of camaraderie. Deer can jump as high as 10 feet in the air from a full sprint. If you cry in the far stall of the boy’s restroom, even if you’re completely alone, the echoes of your sobs can carry through the vent and be heard as far as the northernmost horseshoe pit. The woodpecker has a tongue that’s up to four inches long to help it eat bugs, fruit, sap, nuts, and seeds. You can tell the temperature by listening to a cricket chirping. Count the number of chirps in 14 seconds and add 40 for the temperature in Fahrenheit. If you apologize to a dead animal in your dream, people in real life can sometimes hear you. You can waterproof matches by dipping them in nail polish or paraffin wax. Underwear, when pulled, can stretch much farther than one would initially be inclined to believe. Although, like any physical material or human emotion, it has its breaking point. Jason Headley