It is Wednesday, so it is time for another silly camp dance and costume extravaganza.

Today is the Roll Out the Red Carpet dance, and we saw lots of creativity.

Some campers saw red carpet and thought “formal party”, so we saw suits and ties and lots of tux shirts.

Most focused on the word “red” and had lots of fun. Here are some highlights:

• A full sized Elmo showed up.
• A tomato joined the party.
• I saw Thing 1 and Thing 2.
• One camper showed up in green - “I’m color-blind”
• We saw Houston Texans, Oklahoma Sooners, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Stanford Cardinals and a Harvard Crimson.

I learned what I is like to be Dodger the Bassett Hound. Dodger does not have any real responsibilities. Basically, here is her job description. Be sweet. Be cute. Allow us to dress her up in silly costumes.

I have perhaps felt too little pity for our poor canine friend regarding the costumes until today. Susie Ma’am explained that we would be Red Riding Hood (Dodger), her grandmother (Susie) and the Big Bad Wolf (yours truly).

It is worth noting that Halloween costumes are designed to be worn in October, so no one thinks about whether a rubber mask will breathe.

Let me assure you that it does not.

So I found myself in Dodgers shoes (or paws) – lovingly allowing Susie Ma’am to dress us up for the amusement of the camp.

On the positive side, the campers were, in fact, amused. They were particularly entertained to see how 18 month old Lola reacted to a walking wolf. She did not panic, but she did keep a close eye on the creature . . . until she saw Dodger/Red Riding Hood, squealed “Dog!” and rushed to the hound.

The campers are in high spirits. The slight uncertainty that accompanied last week’s dance is gone. Campers have friends and counselors to play or dance or joke with.   As I left to write this, over 100 campers were learning and participating in a line dance. I fear that the parts of my brain that spontaneously learn line dances and new songs are vastly inferior to that of your children, so I happily watch as they learn, smile and boogie!

Steve Sir