Blue Dragonfly

The following is a post I wrote on Atlas Quest last summer. I was telling a co-worker friend about the post and told her it was here on my blog. Well, until now it was only on Atlas Quest. I hope you folks like it as much as my other friends did. I wrote it in response to some complaints about new letterboxers and the efforts some seasoned letterboxers take to prevent new letterboxers from seeing the clues until they have some finds under their belt.

You give me inspiration. We all need one another.
Many times while kayaking, blue dragonflies have flown to me and rode on me or my kayak. Sometimes it was when I was sitting quietly near a marsh, but other times too when I was making good time paddling out in open water. Over time my friends started talking about how the dragonflies were attracted to me and not to others. It is more common to have blue dragonflies accompanying me than not.
Last year while paddling with Kathryn, I spotted a dragonfly in distress. This dragonfly had gotten too wet to return to flight. It was a long way out in the lake. I doubled back to it and slowly lowered my hand under it and lifted slowly upward. The dragonfly was perched on the tip of one of my fingers. It did not try to fly.
To get the dragonfly to the shore required the use of both hands. So, I gently moved my hand near to the lashing in front of my cockpit. As I rotated my hand, the dragonfly, sort of, hopped onto the lashing. I continued paddling the course I was originally on. When the nose of my kayak slid onto the shore, the dragonfly flew to some rushes. To me, it seemed this creature recognized my good will and made use of it.
I suppose if we could understand dragonfly language, we would hear a lot of discussion about how horrible boats are. Well, this life lesson suggests there is at least one dragonfly voice saying that not all boaters are bad.
And I say, newbie letterboxers and letterboxers that have restrictions are not bad either.

Kayak Bandit '(*!*)'

Donkey

Recently, an on line conversation reminded me of the game we played called Donkey. I cannot find the rules to the game, but am pretty sure I could play it again. I decided to write the rules down here on line for anyone to use.

• Players---four to eight
  
• Cards---A standard deck without any Jokers. Aces are high.
  
• Object of the Game---is to take as many tricks as possible. The more tricks you get the higher your status in society. The highest society member is the President followed by the Vice President, Secretary, Teacher, Plumber, Carpenter, Chimp and Donkey. You can rename these to any names you like.
  
• Deal---The deal rotates around the table, dealing one card at a time until you do not have enough cards to deal another round and have at least one card left. In other words, if four people are playing you will deal out 12 cards with four cards left not dealt. When younger children played, we would make trump stay the same. For example, we would always have hearts be trump. Otherwise, we would turn up one of the left over cards and that suit would become trump.
• Play---The first hand will establish the hierarchy. The person to the left of the dealer leads any card they want. You must follow suit if you have the suit that was lead. If you do not have the lead card, you can trump or not trump. You are not required to beat a card unless you want to. The person who took the most tricks is the President followed by the Vice President. The person with the least tricks is the Donkey and next to that is the Chimp. The following hands are played the same except that the President chooses two worthless card to exchange with two cards from the Donkey. The Donkey must give Aces first. If he has multiple choices, he must give Trump over non trump. It is acknowledged that trump is more powerful than Aces, but the rule is to pass Aces, Kings etc. At the same time the Vice President exchanges one card with the chimp using the same criteria. If there are ties, the person with the higher rank before the hand began retains a higher rank over the person they are tied with. With the established persons getting more good cards, they often hold their position for a while. When they slip down, they are usually treated with the same kindness, or lack thereof, that they doled out earlier.
  
• Between hands---you always take a short break to exercise your authority. The President can choose anyone he wants to do one errand for him. At the same time, others that have rank over others can ask for one favor from someone that is lower in rank. You can only ask for one thing per break. If you have no one beneath you or if you have been asked to do a task, you cannot ask anyone to do something for you. You must do what is asked of you. You must not ask for anything unreasonable. Typically a request is something like "Please bring me a napkin" or "I would like a cheese sandwich" The fun is taking liberty with the request. The cheese sandwich could be blue cheese, or something. So, the person asking must carefully ask for his wish, or he may end up with something completely different. Those not asked to do something can get something for themselves, or just watch the fun.
• Winner---There will be lots of winners even though you do not keep score. You play this until you tire of it or someone notices that the sun is coming up.

I hope these rules make sense. If not, call me and ask for clarification. I will gladly explain it to you and also return here and edit the rules.
Kayak Bandit