GimletBlog

On November 9, the OA lodge hosted Fall Rally, an annual event that was at Camp Brinkley.

I got there at 6:00 PM, and the first thing that happened was a presentation on unit elections, which is where Arrowmen go to troops and have the scouts vote for eligible members of the Order of the Arrow.

Then, after playing board games for some time, we watched The Avengers. I slept in the loft in the dining hall and the next morning, it was snowing and sticking until about 10:00 am.

I went to some training classes for things like ordeals, and being a chapter officer, and then after lunch, everybody played capture the flag around camp, with chapters grouped together to make teams.

Later, we had dinner, more board games, and then there was a concert performed by some members of the lodge.

Fall Rally is fun every year, and you can learn a lot.  This year we also learned about how to design and build a totem pole for the new OA longhouse that is being built at Camp Pigott.

The next Monday was Veterans’ Day, so our chapter joined other scout troops in the area to put up flags at Evergreen-Washelli.

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It’s time to catch up with Thing One’s latest scouting activities before the summer begins:

Every year Thing One helps his local Order of the Arrow chapter place flags on the veterans’ graves at Evergreen-Washelli.  Early on the morning of Memorial Day, when most people are celebrating the holiday by sleeping in, this cemetery is probably the busiest place in the city.  The OA chapter, along with several other Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and Girl Scout groups, perform this service, and the work goes very quickly.

Thing One was elected OA Chapter Chief for the upcoming year!  Congratulations, Thing One!  He is looking forward to a great year of fun activities and plenty of the “cheerful service” for which the Order of the Arrow is known.  This year promises to be especially historic as the lodge’s longhouse will be rebuilt at Camp Pigott, and hopefully completed in time for next spring’s Conclave.

In other good news, Thing One’s braces came off in May.  We’re hoping for more frequent smiles in the pictures now.

Looking ahead, Thing One will have a brief break after school ends, then he returns to Camp Pigott for his second year of camp staff, followed by his third year of NYLT staff.

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Thing One and his Order of the Arrow chapter assist other local Boy Scout, Cub Scout and Girl Scout troops and other community volunteers to place flags throughout the Evergreen-Washelli Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery, honoring the men and women who have sacrificed for our country.

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Editor’s Note: Earlier this month Thing One sealed his membership in the Order by going through the Brotherhood Ceremony at the April Ordeal held at Camp Brinkley.  Congratulations, Thing One!

A conclave is an annual regional meeting of neighboring Order of the Arrow lodges.  About 300 Arrowmen attended this conclave from three lodges in Western Washington and two in Alaska.  Over the conclave weekend, Arrowmen trade buttons and patches and take classes.  After the long drive to Camp Hahobas on Hood Canal, we checked in to the Section W1N Conclave of the Order of the Arrow.  I drove Thing One and two other Arrowmen.

After the long walk to the campsite in the rain, we were called to come quickly to the opening ceremonies, so we stashed our packs and walked back.  After the opening and a “cracker barrel”, we walked back to our campsite and set up the tent.  Fortunately the rain had let up some and it was just setting up a tent in the dark rather than the rain and dark.

The next morning we awoke to a fantastic view, but also a day of rain, then sun, then wind, then rain and repeat the cycle.  The cycle lasted about 30 minutes each time. Breakfast was a scrambled egg and bacon burrito.  The eggs looked unappetizing but with enough cheese and salsa breakfast was fine.

After breakfast it was time for classes.  There was a set of introductory classes to welcome the new Arrowmen, and advanced courses in three categories:   outdoor adventure, induction & ceremonies, and chapter & lodge leadership.  Thing One is on the Hyiu Chuck ceremonies team and took classes on that topic.  I took outdoor adventure track classes.  We had a hamburger lunch (about the worst burger I remember).   We spent the afternoon with Thing One at a ceremonies evaluation.  The team is excited and ready to continue on after a successful run.

After the ceremonies evaluation we packed up our gear along with one of the two Arrowmen who was leaving with us on Saturday.  We packed out our gear to the car and then returned for the feast: barbequed beef ribs and chicken.  They were stingy with the potatoes and generous with the meat.  The way a BBQ should be!

Thing One had a great time, and I had a pretty good time too.  Next year’s conclave is in Palmer, Alaska.  We will have to see if we can plan ahead and go!

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Last Saturday I went to the Order of the Arrow’s Hyiu Chuck chapter of the T’Kope KwisKwis lodge service project for Camp Pigott. We moved firewood from the side of the road to the firewood cover. Then, we went to Scoutcraft and moved poles into a truck. We also made a trail to the Wilderness Survival merit badge area. Then, we had lunch and talked about the parts to play in the pre-ordeal ceremony. Then we went shotgun shooting with clay pigeons (which I did never hit, but my dad actually got one) for about an hour. Then, we had dinner, cleaned up and left at about 7:00 pm.

I had fun doing this and I would like to go to another one. I met new people and also one who goes to my school and was staff at Camp Parsons. I liked shotgun shooting the best.

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Visit the WashJam photo album in the Gimlet Gallery.

On August 20, 2009, my troop went in to Fort Lewis for WashJam. There were about 6,000 people who came to this camp.

There were activities like the mountain man area, where there was caber tossing, shot put, and knife throwing. They also had tomahawk throwing and archery, but those were either closed or had a long line.  Other fun activities were gold panning and blacksmithing.

On Friday I worked at a pizza stand to raise money for my 2010 Jamboree troop.  While trying to get rid of the last pizzas of the day, the whole pizzas had dropped in price since the afternoon from $18.00 to $10.00. at one point while walking through camp I made advertisement for the pizza. “oh wow, camp food! It may be charred on the outside! It may be raw on the inside! But at least it’s got that special outdoor flavor! … of lighter fluid! Mm-mm, when do we eat? Come and buy your troop whole pizzas for $10.00!” it was easy to work with the troop in the stand as runner (brings to the table the order) and as stocker (brings pizza from truck to stand and carries signs about the pizza and specials.

There was music at the end of the day at the stage, which the staff had built at Fort Lewis.  The rental equipment was bad and shocked one person, and there was nothing in between shows for a few minutes, but some of the songs were still good.

On Saturday I went to the NYLT staff meeting, which talked about when they would know who the staff would be, and when the dates of the staff meetings would approximately be. We also got to talk to who would be staff, which was fun. Later, WashJam had an inspirational speech at the stage at night.

Sunday was church all day. They had sacrament meeting at the stage for all 1,600 LDS troop members. After the priesthood meeting, there was dinner, breaking camp, and a fireside with talks. After the fireside, we finished up breaking camp and left.

I liked going to WashJam.  It was fun to especially do the mountain men area, and I liked the Order of the Arrow museum, and the booths about different camps, like Camp Sheppard and its High Adventure program. There were lots of things to buy at the stores.  It was fun to see people that I got to know from OA, NYLT, and Camp Parsons earlier this year.

If your troop goes to a future WashJam, see everything you can, and do as much as you can, because there’s not enough time to do all the activities. Sometimes it was hot and sometimes it rained, so troops should bring a pop up canopy.  It’s also a good idea to bring folding chairs so you don’t have to sit on the ground, and lots of food for breakfast and after the stands close.  I would recommend troops go to the next WashJam because it is fun to be with so many scouts and there are activities to do there that you usually cannot do in your home area with just your troop.

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Gimlet’s Note: Every once in a while you get to do something as Scoutmaster that indicates the program is working for the boys you work with.  When one of the boys is your son, it is that much more fulfilling.  As we drove to Camp Pigott for the Order of the Arrow Ordeal, the boys started talking about the fun they had at Camp Pigott last year.   The bottom line is that when they were talking about plans for this year and the future, I wanted to step out of the car and do a “Toyota Jump”.

The most fun on this trip for me was checking them in for the Ordeal and then saying, “See you tomorrow at 9:00, bye.”  It was a little odd sitting in the car and calling home to say I would be there in an hour.  I usually am staying with the boys.

Another father of one of the boys wanted to come to pick them up because he wanted to hear the immediate reaction of the boys to the Ordeal.  He was not disappointed and enjoyed hearing about the cold night and hard work.  “Cheerful service” is what the OA is after.  The drive home was talkative for a while until the dark night, lack of sleep, and hard work took hold.  Everyone stayed awake for the ride home but I don’t think anyone stayed up after a quick shower.

Grandpa Gimlet was a brotherhood member (and charter member) of Twoa Ba Cha lodge, The Gimlet was a brotherhood member of Topa Topa lodge, and now Thing One is an ordeal member of T’kope Kwiskwis lodge.

Four scouts (including me) from my troop were nominated to join the Order of the Arrow, and three of us were able to go to Camp Pigott for the ordeal this weekend.  We got there and waited at the dining hall for a few hours waiting for everyone to get registered.  By the time they were finished in the dining hall, it was dark, and they had everybody go to the circle and they had an introduction presentation. Then the staff started the silence and the counselors took us to a forested part of the camp to sleep that night. It was dry outside, but 33º F, and the ground was bumpy, even under a tarp and sleeping bag. (more…)

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