The rain we had yesterday evening seems to have cleansed the WiFi of its demons. I have been able to upload photos and even AirDrop photos with the other leaders this morning. Out of necessity to the plot, I will return to Sunday evening to round out our story line.
The opening campfire on Sunday evening opened at 9:30 PM with music, singing, and an attempt at sketch comedy by the staff. Some skits were more inventive than others, such as the waterfront staff's "evolution of a lifeguard," which ended with a staff member doing a belly flop into the lake in full scout uniform followed by a lifeguard attempting to rescue him. The highlight of the meeting was definitely the female staffer who demonstrated her skill at baton twirling. She progressed from double to triple batons before taking up a set of three flaming batons. He final act used swords as the implements of twirl. I felt certain that chainsaws were next but she ended the act with the swords and a quick application of burn cream to one of her arms.
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| Nothing like flaming batons to set the tone for the week! |
Sunday turned out to be a long day so we were easily able to get the scouts to bed before midnight. We did ask if anyone from the troop was planning to participate in the mile swim this week. It requires swimmers to practice over various distances each day before completing the full mile on Thursday. Several scouts were interested until they found out that they need to be at the waterfront for practice at 5:30 AM each day. Despite an offer from Mr. Dagg and the scoutmaster to swim with them, the interest quickly waned and no one from the troop made the effort.
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| Proof of life photo to show the new parents that their boys are awake and healthy. |
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| Beck contemplates his tower of toast. |
We did have everyone up and out of their bunks by 7:00 on Monday morning (some in better spirits than others at that hour). We headed down to the parade ground for the opening flag ceremony and the opportunity to move into a crowded queue for the cafeteria line. The breakfast was a cheese omelet that included two slices of raisin bread. There was no butter or jelly to put on the toast and most of the boys left it untouched. Beck revealed a preference for the toast and the other scouts quickly signed over their rights to him. There was also oatmeal, cereal, fruit, and even yogurt for those with delicate digestions. However, the big draw seemed to be the rice krispy treats that were also on the plates.
As part of the routine duties that scouts must perform are serving as waiters in the dining hall to set up our assigned tables with silverware, napkins, cups, and pitchers of water and bug juice. Everyone in the troop is assigned to the duty on a rotating schedule created by the SPL. Two of the older scouts are also assigned to campsite cleanup and ice pickup. We have two coolers in the campsite filled with drinks so a daily infusion of ice is necessary. The ice is picked up from the trading post and the number of bags received is based on the number of scouts in your troop. We are entitled to four bags per day, which must be carried a quarter mile back to our campsite each morning. Ice bags are not easily carried that distance clutched to one's chest nor are the string closures a comfortable handle. Miles and Olen were the first scouts to be assigned this duty and Miles quickly came up with a good solution by using a thick stick as a handle for the strings. Thus the ice made it to camp with only the inconvenience of water drops into their socks.
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| Miles intends to sell the rights to his invention for use by other ice carrying scouts. |
They also picked up around the campsite and cleaned the decrepit latrine as best as possible in anticipation of a high score on the daily campsite inspection. Unfortunately, the inspector was confused about which part of the campsite we occupied and scored us based on the area used by the other troop. We never saw the inspector but he left our scoresheet on the tables used by the other troop, who passed them on to us. As yet, we have not been able to track down this elusive staffer to have the score corrected. I guess we will have to see if he figures it out for Tuesday before we appeal to a higher court. It is hard enough to motivate the boys to take care of their area without the added impression that they are being scored unfairly.
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| The latrine in its cleanest configuration. |
All of our scouts are doing merit badge classes rather than high adventure programs, so they are off to the first round by 9:00 AM, stop for lunch by noon and resume after lunch for afternoon session. It makes for a quiet campsite and several leaders from the troop took the opportunity for deep and sustained meditation in the afternoon. In the morning however, the leaders roamed about the camp taking photos of the various classes and keeping up with what the scouts were accomplishing. All of the first year scouts are in a program called The New Trail, which is ominously referred to as TNT. They are learning the scout skills they will need to advance to Tenderfoot and beyond in the coming year.
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| Several Troop 50 scouts are enthralled with the teaching skill of the young staffer. |
They are also working on Swimming merit badge and various handicraft badges such as leatherwork, wood carving, and basketry. Harrison P. seems to have easily picked up the woodcarving skill and is already far along on a carved thunderbird neckerchief slide. Although I don't have a photo of that yet, we have learned to share other photos among the leaders even in our cyber-limited locale. Thus I have managed to upload all of the low resolution photos we have taken to the photo gallery. Sunday's photos are found at this
link and Monday's photos are found
here. The photos include several of our campsite and the camp flag ceremony along with the various merit badge classes. We are lacking a photo of the breaded and fried mystery meat that we had for dinner. There are several theories about what it was but no definitive answers as yet. The lab results are still pending.
I will leave you with one last photo taken as the sun began to set. We had some rain in the afternoon and evening but it cleared up by sundown for a nice night. I will return this evening to post on today's activities, WiFi permitting.
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| Sunset over Rainey Mountain |
