Three mosquito bites, a little road rash on an elbow, and one lost neckerchief slide: Thing Two has entered the world of Cub Scouts. He was excited as a little boy can be to go.
With an early morning wake up and a DVD to make the hour drive to camp go quickly we headed out and went back in time to 1876 and the “Brinkley Territory”.
Old Scoutmasters never die, they just smell that way become Committee Chair.
When last we left you, I was Scoutmaster in my ward troop and also the Boy Scout District Training Chair. After a wonderful week as a Course Co-Director for NYLT, I hoped to be able to be Course Director in 2012, but was waiting to find out if I would have the opportunity.
Wow, the changes a month can bring! First, I was asked to be the Stake High Councilor over Young Men/Scouting and sustained on September 11. As that precludes being Scoutmaster, the Assistant Scoutmaster was asked to be Scoutmaster and I became the Troop Committee Chair the next week on September 18. Meanwhile, on Saturday, September 17 I was asked to be a NYLT Course Director, and then Monday, September 19, I was asked to be the District Commissioner. It appears that both life and the Boy Scouts abhor a vacuum of time!
So now, I am recruiting constantly: As Troop Committee Chair, I recruit troop committee members; as NYLT Course Director I recruit staff and participants for the program; and, as District Commissioner, I recruit Unit Commissioners. Beware — I may be calling you!
This ends my five and a half year stint working directly with Boy Scouts as a Scoutmaster/Assistant Scoutmaster. I still am working with Scouts directly as the NYLT Director but it is not a weekly activity. I once again return to working with adults to try and get them to run the program to help out the boys.
Scoutmaster is one of those “jobs” that really becomes a self-identification and that has been a little bit hard to let go of. When the boys went camping last month, and I had nothing to do other than answer the new Scoutmaster’s questions, it felt odd not to be going. However, next year Thing Two starts Cub Scouts and I get to start all over again!
Triple Threat: New scoutmaster, visiting Japanese scoutmaster, old scoutmaster
See all the photos from this year’s scout camp in the Gimlet Gallery.
Another summer camp has come and gone. The staff at Camp Pigott is great and the facilities outstanding. I am not just saying that because Thing One worked there all summer!
Monday August 1, bright and early we gathered 16 scouts from Troop 175 and headed off to Camp Pigott. It is about an hour drive there. We arrived just in time for the flag ceremony and breakfast.
After breakfast, the scouts quickly dropped our gear at our campsite and headed off to merit badge classes.
Once the scouts were on their way, I had work to do in my capacity as District Training Chair. I headed down to the chapel where I was helping to teach an Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills course.
An experiment in providing the course to Scoutmasters and Asst. Scoutmasters at camp. On Tuesday I taught knife, axe, and saw safety. I had to bring my axe unsheathed because the sheath that was on the axe disappeared once my scouts got hold of it. “Imagine there is a sheath on this axe.”
On the topic of safety, our most serious injury during a Scout camp occurred this year.
What do you say about summer camp? Camp Parsons is great. We met early on Monday morning, August 9, 2010 at the church. Piled into cars and drove to the ferry. I called that a little close. It did mean we did not have to wait long to get on the ferry, but if we had missed it we would have been hurting.
We arrived in camp, quickly moved our gear to our campsite and sent the Scouts off to their first merit badge classes. (more…)
Last Thursday morning Thing One arrived home from the National Jamboree. He picked up the sharp hat at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. He also brought home two memory cards filled with pictures, some of his souvenirs (others, including most of his patches, were packed in the container which arrives in one week), new friends, and many stories to share.
But before we could extract a blog post from him (much less sort through the pictures), he was on his way out the door again, this time for a week at Camp Parsons with his scout troop. We barely had time to wash and dry his uniforms and gear before they had to be repacked.
Will we catch up with him before he heads off to NYLT staff?
See this year’s Camp Pigott photos in the Gimlet Gallery.
The Gimlet reports: The troop earned more merit badges in one camp than ever before. Then Sunday we had a number of the boys complete boards of review for their next rank advancement. It was a successful camp and great fun. Reports are that all the boys enjoyed camp.
Thing One completed the last requirements for his last two required merit badges for Eagle and will be seeing the merit badge counselor tonight. It certainly makes this Scoutmaster happy. Now if I can just get another adult leader to commit to WashJam next weekend we will be set.
At 6:00 am Monday morning, we met at the church building to go to Camp Pigott. When everybody loaded their bags and themselves into cars, we drove off. The merit badges I signed up for were mammal study, and fish & wildlife management (combined classes), leatherwork, small boat sailing, and space exploration. Not much happened on the first day of merit badges, but it started to rain, and ever since, it started raining on and off, without wind (bad for sailboat). In the week, I also earned fingerprinting.
Must be a teenager thing: Thing One has serious thrill issues this summer, from climbing mountains with one arm tied behind his back, to swimming with jellyfish. He earned merit badges in Oceanography and Rowing (plus two partials to finish up at Pigott), thus completing all the elective merit badges needed to earn his Eagle. Read on! (and see all our Camp Parsons photos in the Gimlet Gallery, which is also getting a serious workout this summer.)
Many thanks to the scoutmaster and scouts of Troop 125 for inviting Thing One to be their guest this year. He had a wonderful time and looks forward to more adventures with his new friends!
Thing Two is delighted to report: his tomatoes are ripening, and turning his favorite color!
This week’s theme at preschool was the rainforest, so he made a python (which is sometimes a rattlesnake, when he remembers Camp School) and story pictures, which involved lots of monkeys.
Meanwhile, Thing One is spending the week at Camp Parsons on Hood Canal. When it looked like Thing One would be missing scout camp this year due to our Philmont trip, Troop 125 invited him to join them for their traditional week at Camp Parsons. Later, our troop’s calendar was rearranged and Thing One will be attending Camp Pigott with his own troop later this month after all.
This week promises to be a lot of fun. Camp Parsons provides the scouts with the unique opportunity to camp on a salt water beach, and is one of the oldest scout camps in the USA (established in 1919), so there’s a lot of history and tradition to enjoy participating in. The Gimlet took a few photos when he helped drive the scouts to camp, and if Thing One has time to take any pictures, we’ll add them to the Gimlet Gallery. Watch for Thing One’s report when he returns!
