CRM - Friday/Saturday: Exodos

     Now that we are back in the land of unlimited bandwidth and other distractions (such as regular jobs), it should have been easy to add a note of finality to our week. Alas, such closure does not flow easily. My apologies for the tardiness.

     Following the storm of free range Thursday and the subsequent rain, Friday dawned bright but muggy. The scouts were ready to take their last loops around the parade field during the running of the flags before breakfast. Several scouts took turns traversing the wet grass for the glory of Troop 50. I'm not sure I understood the motivation, but I am not a teenager, as has been pointed out to me many times. In trying to capture the troop's aura that morning, I asked them to give me an inspiring pose. The result appears below.

The inspiration moment, except for Trey, who refused to be inspired. 

   

Amazing what you can
do with hot metal.

Following breakfast and the final ice pickup, the boys dispersed back to their merit badge classes. I wandered up the hill above our campsite to investigate the odd noises emanating from that direction. There I found Miles engaged with his Welding merit badge class as he rendered his initials upon a steel plate.   

     Joe wandered down to the waterfront to observe the Lifesaving merit badge class as they attempted to save each other from (simulated) drowning. Benson, Olen, Jake, and Jackson L. worked all week learning various techniques for performing water rescues including reaching out to a drowning victim with an arm or other object, throwing a rope or floatation device, using a boat or other support, or entering the water to swim to the victim. Going to a victim is always the last resort as a drowning victim can often harm the rescuer in a fit of panic. The scouts seemed to be well-trained in these new skills. 

Jackson throws in a flotation device ahead of entering
the water and heading to one of the victims. 

     The TNT teams of scouts were working on the physical fitness requirements for the Tenderfoot rank. Scouts must do a series of push-up and sit-ups in addition to running a mile on their tenderfeet. We will have to repeat these activities in August to see if they have improved their physical ability.

Johnson runs across the green, green grass. 

      Following lunch, the troop headed up to the bathhouse next to the archery range as part of our service commitment. Troops are expected to help keep the camp and its facilities clean. Some of our scouts were more enthusiastic about the idea than others. The bathhouses at camp at concrete block structures with a large bathroom (several sinks, toilets, and showers) at one end for the male youth and individual rooms with their own sink, toilet, and shower along the other end of the building. The individual rooms have signs on their doors that read "Adult and Female." Somewhat surprisingly, there were a number of male adult leaders who took the meaning of the signs literally and inquired where they could find the showers for Adult and Male. This required the camp director (who is a school teacher) to explain that the signs should be read to mean Adult or Female. Where are the grammar police when you need them?

     Taking mops, brushes, brooms, and spray cleaner in gloved hands; the scouts commenced a scrub down that should make any mother proud. Now that your sons know how to clean a bathroom, do not let that knowledge go to waste at home.

Rhett squeegees the floor with a windshield squeegee.
It seems the camp doesn't know what a floor squeegee is.  

Benson and Harrison learn to mop up water. 

   
     As one would guess from the signs on the door of the bathhouse, there were female scouts in the camp. Some were from new troops started from scratch while others were the sister troops of male units that already existed. These troops had the same number and camped right alongside each other. Overall, I would guess that there were perhaps as many as thirty female scouts in camp during the week and a good number of female staff members as well. As much chatter as there has been over the addition of girls into the BSA, I'm not sure that our boys even noticed. I never heard any of them even mention it during the week.  

     As the day came to a close, the last event was the closing campfire. The staff was at their usual boisterous level as they handed out various awards and recognitions. A number of the troops thanked their staff guides who had looked after their troop during the week and recognized them with thank you gifts such as troop t-shirts. Being our first time at camp, we were not aware that such recognitions occurred. However, since our staff guide hadn't been seen since Tuesday, I'm not sure we would have noted his work in the first place. The final presentation of the evening was by a scoutmaster from one of the larger troops. He had served over sixty years as a youth and adult in scouting, earning his Eagle rank in 1961. That night he was stepping aside as the scoutmaster of the troop at what he said was likely his last week of summer camp. He implored the scouts to continue their quest for their Eagle, telling them how much it meant to him to be an Eagle Scout. He then handed over his hiking staff to the new scoutmaster as the staff and campers rose to give him a standing ovation.

This was the best photo I could manage as we stood to honor him. 

     I will also add a word about the pink t-shirts they were wearing. The troop had different color t-shirts for each day at camp. One of the adult leaders told Christian that this was a mothers' initiative in order to ensure that the boys wore clean shirts every day. It's not a bad idea but I'm not sure about how well the pink color would go over.

     On Saturday morning we rose at our normal time and began to pack up the gear and clean up the campsite. We sent a crew to the dining hall to pick up boxes with our breakfast food. As Everett noted upon their return, in a cruel twist of irony, the camp provided us with Pop Tarts as our meal. As we cleared the gear from the Adirondacks, various clothing and other items believed lost during the week were found lurking in the corners of the shelters. My best guess was that gnomes had carried it off earlier in the week and had just returned it that morning. Please let me know if anyone has a better explanation.

     The ride back to Auburn was uneventful in comparison to the ride up. We stopped for lunch at the Chick-fil-a in Newnan, Georgia. The staff took our presence in stride and turned out our orders with practiced efficiency. I think they could teach the dining hall staff at Rainey Mountain a thing or two. We were back in Auburn just after 2:00 PM and I'm sure that washing machines and showers were churning not long after.

Joe managed to catch a photo of me on the porch
of the administration building as I struggled to craft
a coherent sentence for the blog. 

     I want to thank Christian, Gordon, Ronnie, and Joe for spending their time at camp helping to make this an enjoyable week for the boys. They kept me on an even keel as well. I also want to thank the scouts for their hard work and dedication to the principles of the scout oath and law. I'm proud to be the scoutmaster of "that" troop.

     One final note to the grammarians who think that I misspelled the title of the post. All of the titles this week have been references to Greek and Roman drama (which often seemed appropriate). Exodos means what you think it does, the exit of the players and chorus from the stage. With that, I will leave you only with the link for Friday's photos. 

CRM - Monday's Exposition

     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.

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.

Proof of life photo to show the new parents that their boys are awake and healthy.

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

Sunset over Rainey Mountain

    

CRM - Opening act

     Troop 50 is spending the week in north Georgia at Camp Rainey Mountain, know herein as CRM. After loading the trailer down with scout footlockers, we loaded into the AUMC buses and headed towards the higher latitudes. Despite an unexpected stop south of Atlanta, we made good time to Clayton, Georgia, just south of the North Carolina state line. The GPS system led us down an apparent shortcut that we could have done without but we reached the camp shortly before 1:30 PM.

The troop prepares to hit the road northward. 

     We were introduced to our campsite guide, Matthew, and most of the troop was given a tour of the camp and had an orientation for dining hall operations. The scoutmaster and senior patrol leader checked in at the camp headquarters to turn in the medical forms, fill out some unnecessary paperwork, and be reassured that we owed no further money in camping fees.

     Our campsite is named Mowogo, which is the name of the local Order of the Arrow lodge. The campsite is mostly made up of Adirondacks that sleep six scouts. We also have two tents for the adult leaders. There is another troop staying in the same campsite that consists of six scouts and two leaders. We kind of overwhelm them in size.

     The scouts who just earned their swimming merit badge this year were exempt from having to take the swim test. Several scouts also decided that they were not going near the water this week (which baffles me since there is a very nice lake) so they opted out of the swim test. So, a limited number of the scouts headed to the waterfront for their swim tests while the remainder stayed in the campsite and helped set up a dining fly, lanterns, clothesline, and hand washing station in the latrine. The latrine in our campsite is in rough shape. I have seen better facilities in the backcountry at Philmont. Fortunately, we have a shower house close by so the scouts have already been choosing to head over there to perform necessary functions.

The staff lined up on the parade field following the flag ceremony. 

     At 6:15 we headed to the parade field for the evening flag ceremony, which included the camp staff marching in formation singing a cadence as they marched. After the ceremony, we were called in to dinner by troop number and entered a cafeteria line. Tonight's dinner was penne pasta with sausage along with some type of succotash that I found hard to identify (I think I spotted some lima beans and carrots in there somewhere). The boys were much more interested in the Italian ice that formed the dessert portion of the meal. There was also a nice salad bar, boxes of fruit, and peanut butter sandwiches for the finicky.

The scouts dig into the dinner. 

     After dinner, the scouts headed out for some free time. While the scoutmaster and SPL attended the leader's meeting in the dinning hall. The final event for the evening is the opening campfire. After a full day, the scouts should be ready for bed without a struggle. We'll see how it goes. 

     As a technology note, the camp has no cell coverage and the WiFi is limited in strength. I will be posting blogs as I can, but the photos are hard to upload. I am hoping that they will load at a lower resolution. Once we are home, I will replace them in the photo gallery with the larger file size. I will send the link for photos tomorrow once I am sure they can be loaded.