Summer Camp 05 cont.

Day 4 Wednesday

With the rain gone we finally get some sunshine this morning and of course with the humidity rising we can now complain about the heat. We had to get up before 7 AM this morning in order to conduct the Order of the Arrow Elections. We had 5 second year scouts that were eligible to be voted on by the troop for induction into OA. The outcome of the vote would not be known until the evening ceremonies so after the election it was off to breakfast and a long day of waiting for the evenings activities. The evening activities would start with a water carnival and the arrival of parents for family night. The water carnival was fairly uneventful, I believe we took 5th in the relay race and second in the buoy race, which would have been good but there was only 2 teams. You can always tell the 1st and 2nd year scouts on family night they start looking for their parents around 2 o’clock in the afternoon and they begin to get nervous when their parent isn’t one of the first ones to arrive. By their 3rd and 4th years all they want is their favorite food from home and usually some extra cash for the trading post. Finally everyone’s parents arrived and had plenty of time to visit with there scout. Mike Scallorns brought us a couple of surprises enough watermelon for everyone and our Troop T-shirts and hats. We would also gain 3 extra parents for the rest of the week, Richard Hargrave, Dennis Rainey and Rick Samples missed us so much they decided to stay. Do you remember that Matt had set up a tent for him and his dad earlier in the week? Well it seems that Matt’s tent guest must not have been taking their showers because when Dennis opened the tent to put in his gear he quickly decided to set up his own tent. By the way Dennis and Rick we will loan out our troop tents to adults, because I know you guys couldn’t stretch out or stand up in the little baby tents you guys had. Around 7:45 we said goodbye to all the parents who left to go to the campfire and OA callout ceremony and we all changed into our Class A uniforms for the evening. Wednesday night campfire was great the Camp Staff is introduced and skits or songs are performed by the scouts. After the fun we move around the lake for the OA callout, a huge bond fire with 20 ft flames lights up the area and we are entertained by the OA dancers from various districts. Several from our troop helped with the dancing and the callout, we had 5 scouts and 1 adult called out to join the Order. They names were announced to the crowd and they were taken into the woods to begin their preordeal activities which included sleeping under the stars for the night and making an arrow out of a piece of cedar to wear until they complete their ordeal and receive their sash. The Scouts that were called out are Travis Gentry, Alex Bonhert, Ethan Seats, Tyler Samples, Ross Joslin and Letraonna Gentry. Congratulations on a job well done and I hope you can all complete your ordeal at the Fall Reunion.

Day 5 Thursday

Thursday morning is sleep-in day which means an extra hour or so of sleep and breakfast is served at your campsite instead of the dining hall. All of the scouts that had slept out for OA return to camp around 7 AM with a good start on carving their arrows, and we find them some twine to make a strap so they can wear them around their neck the rest of the week. Thursday is a good day to take a look at how everyone is coming with their merit badges and see if anyone needs help completing their requirements. It seems that Matt and Jason are having a little trouble catching fish for their fishing merit badge, they have to have at least 2 and they must be different kinds. In steps the great fisherman Dennis Rainey, he decides to go to class with them and see what the problem is and help them catch those fish. They did a little better that morning each catching 1 fish each, but Dennis not being one to give up easily has a plan, he will go and get some bait and after dinner they will try again. I’m not quit sure what kind of bait he brought back but I do know that before they were threw both boys had 14 fish apiece and were talking about having a fish off to break the tie. We also had scouts building shelters for wilderness survival, finishing wood working and leather working projects for merit badges along with various other projects. Thursday evening after supper is always time for the Mount Logan trip or a trip to the lake for smores and games. Richard Hargraves took 3 scouts up the mountain to spend the night and Craig Nadler took 3 more to the lake. About 9 PM it begin to thunder and both activities had to be cut short, which meant a walk back down the mountain about an hour after the got to the top. Activities at the lake were also stopped but not before a couple of kids got stung by hornets or yellow jackets, nothing serious. With everyone back in camp for the night the threat of rain had missed us, but the cooler air made for a good nights sleep.

Day 6 Friday

Things are winding down today we checked again to make sure everyone had completed their merit badges and tried to help out with any incomplete projects. A couple of merit badges will have to be completed at home but for the most part we finished them. I am looking for a good archer to teach 5 scouts how to shoot a bow it seems this merit badge was extremely hard to master, in fact I heard rumor that only 1 out of 17 scouts completed this badge at camp. Friday afternoon we had 5 scouts complete the mile swim and had the competition for Golden Arrow and Silver Bullet. You may recall that I won the Golden Arrow for the adults last year, well that was my 15 minutes of fame because this year was not a pretty site. However if you want to learn to shoot a rifle I have a scout you might want to talk to. It wasn’t his best shooting for the week but it was good enough to win the Silver Bullet for the youth. I’m sure Lance will try to take the credit for his skill but I don’t think he can out shoot his son. Josh Lemonds can put 5 shots in a target with a .22 rifle that you can cover up with a quarter, he tells me on a good day you can cover them with a dime but he didn’t want to show off, I wonder if he still has that target? Friday night brings the closing campfire, one last chance to get together with the entire camp for some fun and recognition. Halfway through the campfire we start to here thunder and then we see the lightning, things had to be cut short again. It was a good thing we did because just minutes after getting back to camp the sky opened up let us have it again, so we finished the week the way we started it WET. We all gathered in the pavilion to wait out the rain, Rick Samples had decided to sleep in there for the night and even with 20 or so scouts in his bedroom he still snores. The rain passed and we were able to make it to our tents for our last night before heading for home.

Day 7 Saturday

Lots of work to do this morning everything has to be packed up and cleaned up before 10:30 AM. and with the rain the night before lots of things were wet again. However we did finally manage to pass inspection and they let us leave, I still had to go and check out at the office and collect our paperwork for the week. All in all we between 16 scouts we earned 50 merit badges, 2 BSA Life guard certifications, 5 mile swims, and 2 completed Voyager training for first year scouts. The adults attended various training during the week including Child Protection, Safe Swim and Safety Afloat training, Liquid fuel usage and Safe Trek Training. We are gearing up for a great fall program which will begin with a trip to a Cardinal baseball game Monday August 1st. Thanks to everyone for the help at Summer Camp and to the Kiwanis Club for their support, keep up the hard work everyone

Freddy Gentry
Scoutmaster Troop 272