&#%!

My spouse and I became disgusted this past week at the language used by some children at Gordon Lake Beach.  This occurred during our week of camping from August 2 to 7. The first incident, probably Tuesday evening, was actually not cuss words, but rather variations seemingly common today, but intended to provoke a similar response.  The second incident was odd, and the last incident is what really was disgusting.  I will relay all three incidents in this blog post.

LaSalle Falls, Florence County

Before a review of the language I first wish to note it must have been a week for family gatherings at the Laura Lake Campgrounds.  A month earlier when we were at the same campground there were mainly couples camping, only a few children.  A campground that possessed only 6 or 7 of 41 campsites occupied on the cold, Autumn like night Sunday night, seemed to indicate that it would be a quiet week.  That changed over the next two nights, when by Wednesday only 6 sites remained unoccupied, one a tent only and the others having been reserved for the weekend.  The language incidents involved two family gatherings at the campground.  I know of a third family gathering, that appeared to be mostly adults. One afternoon I talked to a person from Indiana whose family has been getting together for about 30 years at this campground.  What surprised him, in all his years of coming here, was how full it was on a Tuesday afternoon.  He had an off lake site, but a camper with a non-reservable lake site departed over two hours late, and this guy and his wife were on a walk and noted the open site.  His wife stayed and claimed the site, he canceled and upped the lake site, which was next to a site his sister, who arrived on Thursday, had reserved.  Families gathering to camp together is not new.  My wife grew up camping with her family and the family of one uncle on her mother's side.  

Twelve Foot Falls, Marinette Co

When we go to Gordon Beach we like to go early, as crowds start arriving at about noon, and it can get quite rambunctious, not to mention crowded and we wish to avoid crowds, particularly in this time of pandemic.  High lake levels, have closed other beaches in the area, so this beach has become the go to for locals, and area cabin owners. I can imagine what it must have been like when the Goff-Schleis Clan went to the beach fifty or more years ago, with a bunch of children.  Although, since my wife is a land girl, and not a water girl, was aversion to water formed in her childhood when she fell in the toddler pool? And at a later age at Dells of the Eau Claire in  Wausau.  What is probably true is that the Goff-Schleis children would not have swore such as we heard this week.  And my spouse, was perhaps the best behaved of all the children. She was one of the older children.

Eighteen Foot Falls, Marinette Co

The first incident occurred on cool Tuesday evening when Cameron, Owen and Jonah arrived with their aunt at the beach.  They were camping with their grandparents.  Cameron and Owen were probably about 10-12, maybe 13 and Jonah was perhaps four or five.  They ran in the water, and C and O were happy playing.  Young Jonah was not long in the water and got out shivering. The Aunt, noticing how cold Jonah was told the boys they had five minutes of which they argued and argued and the five turned into 10 and then 15, all the while Jonah is turning blue and the Aunt is pleading for them to be concerned about young Jonah.  Of which, of course, they were not.  I think it was Cameron who, when told Jonah was cold said:  "well have him get in the water."  I loved that comment.  It was that kind of day where the water was warmer than the air temperature.  The problem, as Jonah found out, was how cold it was when getting out of the water.  A strong breeze did not help matters. It perhaps reached 64 degrees that day. Owen in particular liked to use the word "fricken" and he once used the term "bull crap", for which he was quickly chastised by his Aunt.  I think Jonah was probably blue all night, although bundling up in the Aunt's sweatshirt may have helped warm him as they walked back to their campsite.

Eighteen Foot Falls

Thursday was the warmest day of our stay perhaps reaching the upper 60's.  We headed off to the lake in the beach in the morning before we thought it would get crowded.  We were wrong.  Michael and Sam, probably 12 or 13, either cousins or friends, followed by Michael's older sister and her boyfriend, Brandon.  I know Brandon and his sister are about 18, as they responded to Michael, that as "adults we get to decide if we want to go in the water."  To which Michael responded, well you just 18. Before Brandon arrived, Michael was bragging to Sam about how he beat Brandon in a splash fight the day before.  There would be no splash fight that day. The trouble started once Brandon and Michael's sister arrived, and Michael tried to get Brandon in the water.  At one point Michael took the Lord's name in vain, and Sam asked that he not do that.  The friends/cousin relationship degraded from that point and when one wanted a water float device back the other would not give it and that it when Michael used the F word followed by a slew of cuss words, including the F word in retaliation by Sam.  Brandon and the sister tried to get them to stop, but to no avail.  Somehow the mother's of each child showed up. The cussing got so bad, an elderly couple who was out for a walk stopped at the beach and departed for less salty shores.  

Eagle over Gordon Lake

As the mother's arrived, Michael got out of the water and was blaming everything on Sam, although Brandon, with no love lost for his girl friends younger brother, pointed out Michael started the cuss match.  I recall one mother using swear words and thinking the child is not far from the parent.  Sam's mother said to Sam that she wanted him to come out of the water so she could talk about his mouth.  Other than the language used by Sam, I don't think there was anything wrong with his mouth, so I accepted that as a mother's metonymy.  From childhood I am well aware of what the word mouth means when used by a mother.  "Watch your mouth" was, at times, not an uncommon phrase. Sam, at one point, during her pleading, even said he was going to go beyond the rope line in the water, to which the mother said, go ahead.  It is not like there is a precipice when you get to the rope the lake level drops off by ten feet (although this happens at the Eau Galle Dam lake in NW WI). Sam refused to get out, and then she laid down the point of no return when she said, "if you do not get out so we can talk about your mouth, we will just up and go home right now."  Sam said, "OK, we can go home", probably thinking his mother would never resort to such punishment. I am not sure what happened, last I saw Sam on Thursday he was heading back to the beach in his jeans, as I was leaving. Perhaps he left something at the beach.  

Loons on Laura Lake

Last week Thursday was not a pleasant experience at the beach. What was most interesting is that that group would fight among themselves and not pay attention to the loons or the two eagles that were flying overhead.  I am quite sure that the interests of a 12 or 13 year old are not the same as a 62 year old man, but who could not be impressed by the warning call of the loons to the young and how fast they moved as they spotted eagles soaring above the lake and the trees which form its lake shore.  

Pine River downstream of LaSalle Falls

Listening to the common use of such language was disappointing, but young boys also do some interesting things that make for a laugh.  One example was a couple boys, I think they were part of the group with Owen, who rode their bikes to the beach with life jackets on.  Well ahead of the grandma who came to watch them.  They ripped the life jackets off and entered the water.  One then had the bright idea to ride his bike in the water, and sink it.  they then put a life jacket on the bike, but needed both to make is somewhat float.  By this time grandma arrived with others in the family cohort, including Owen.  Michael was at the beach that day too, and it was that day, Wednesday, that I got the first taste of his mouth.  On Wednesday evening, my spouse and I were out for a walk when we got stuck in a sudden downpour.  (It was not supposed to rain, but because we were camping all weather forecasts for rain chances go out the window.)  We got to the end of loop one, and it really started to rain hard, but a restroom was nearby, so we hung out on the outside eave, backs tight to the building.  Michael came running down the road, obvious need of going to the bathroom, and was swearing as he headed to the privy. 

Sunset over Laura Lake, Sunday night, Aug 2, 2020

Yet, there were also times that the antics brought back memories, like how Owen and others played in the sand, burying one another. They would then get up and run in the water to clean off the sand.  Then there was the few times seeing an two adults throw (happened on our visit in July) each grab one set of extremities and swing and throw a child in the water.  It can, at times, be rather amusing to overhear and watch what goes on.  I don't see much jumping off of shoulders any more, which I used to be the platform for my kids. I am not sure why that is, but while I saw a good number of mothers or grandmas at the beach, there were not many Dad's, or grandpas this time around.  I like to think my kids enjoyed playing in the water and standing and jumping off my shoulders. I know at Owen's camp site, I did not see any grown men other than his grandpa. Perhaps, if they were camping, they were fishing.  I am not sure if my wife's family did any of this fun water stuff, after all my wife is rather adverse to the water.  Or maybe they did and she did not like it, which makes her now find no interest in being in water.  As for the use of &#%!, and variations, I wonder what that generation will be like as adults.