We had tacos for dinner tonight and I needed to continue my alliterative theme with the blog titles. My limited vocabulary and lack of a dictionary/thesaurus keeps me from coming up with a more appropriate title. Today has been terrific. We have had great weather (the temperature barely broke 90 degrees) and everyone has been having fun. We also performed a service project for the camp and held a couple of boards of review for scouts who were ready to advance. And of course there were the tacos for dinner.
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| The day always seems to begin with a card game before breakfast. |
As usual, the boys went their separate ways after breakfast for merit badge classes. Mr. Williams and Mr. Herrit followed one group up to the shooting sports range to take photos. Each of these merit badges (archery, rifle, and shotgun) require the scouts to shoot a certain score to qualify. Some have qualified easily while others have struggled to hit anything within the same neighborhood as the target. Several of these scouts are at the range tonight for open shooting to practice their skills. Regardless of score, all have enjoyed the experience.
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| Miles takes aim at a target. We are just not sure which one. |
After lunch, we had the opportunity to give service to the camp by performing a service project. It was also our assigned day to clean the central latrines. Since both were in the same area of camp, we combined the projects by dividing the scouts into two groups and attacking both at once. The service project consisted of moving gravel back onto the walking paths. Over time, the rain (and the scouts) have moved the gravel off of the paths and into the grass. Using shovels and rakes, our scouts moved the gravel with vigor (some more vigorously than others).
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| Part of the gravel crew works next to the dining hall. |
The other crew advanced on the latrine armed with brooms, cleanser, and a toilet brush. Some of the scouts had never used a toilet brush and were unsure of the proper procedure. The project turned into a training exercise in commode cleaning. I'm sure parents will want to follow up on this new found skill.
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| Liam, Jason, and Louie discuss the optimal procedure for bowl sterilization. |
Following the service project, the scoutmaster took the opportunity to ramble around the camp looking in on various merit badge classes. The ecology lodge had several merit badges in progress that involved the study of insects and other icky things. The scouts seemed entranced so I moved on. At the handicraft pavilion the scouts from the Polaris program were working on various projects. Paul and Tyson were in a group working on basketry, with Paul finishing up on his artfully woven stool seat. Luke was with another group playing a ball game. I didn't want to get too close to that one. I walked around the back of the building to where the metalworking class was pounding on anvils. Boone and Louie were face to face with hot metal so I snapped a few photos and moved on. I also came across Everett at handicraft. I don't know which merit badge he was working on but I took the opportunity to give him the three letters he received in the mail today.
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| Paul shows off his weaving skills |
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| Louie and Boone strike while the iron is hot. |
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| Everett shows off his mail. |
After mile swim practice this afternoon and the aforementioned tacos for dinner, we conducted two boards of review for scouts to advance to their next rank. Our new senior patrol leader, Creighton, has earned enough merit badges for Life rank and Clay has completed all of the requirements he needs for First Class. Our new advancement chair, Billy Lytle, headed up their boards in the campsite and both scouts have now officially advanced to their new ranks.
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| Creighton undergoes the torturous ritual of a scoutmaster conference. |
Tomorrow we have the mile swim and the camp-wide games to look forward to before the closing campfire in the evening. More photos from today are available in the
online photo gallery.
