I had hoped to have pictures for you, but unfortunately my go-to-camp laptop has developed a glitch which won’t allow it to connect to my camera. Look for some pictures early next week.
We have three patrols this week. They are the mostly 11s in the Gluten Free PI led by Charlie Coburn, the 12-13s in the Gummi Bears led by Sam Williams, and the mostly 14s in the 3.5 Musketeers led by Sam Williams. It should be noted that there are 5 Scouts in the 3.5 Musketeers. The derivation of the name is too complex to explain in a short e-mail. The SPL for the week is Nathan Coburn.
The rain held off until after we were checked in and moved into our tents. Then it poured with some decent thunder and lightning. Our feet were wet, but that didn’t stop the Scouts from preparing an excellent first supper of ham and scalloped potatoes. All the patrols did an excellent job with the 3.5 Musketeers getting the Wooden Spoon award. A wet all-camp campfire took place that evening after which we slogged back to the campsite.
I was a little afraid that the bugs would get to us in warm, wet, weather, but that night the temperature dropped a long way. Everything started to dry out. The stars Sunday night were nothing short of spectacular and of course shooting stars were visible. There is very little light pollution at Camp Bell and the surrounding area so we got to see stars that we almost never see.
Monday was dry and warm. The Gluten-Free PI patrol went to their first-year program followed by Challenge Valley in the afternoon followed by a swim in the lake to get rid of the worst of the mud. That was a brilliant solution to how to clean off all the mud. The Gummi Bears and the 3.5 Musketeers both ended up on the waterfront swimming, tubing, and water skiing.
The Tuesday meal fell into the section in my Bell Cookbook called “Big Hunk of Turkey.” All three patrols prepared a delicious turkey stew with potatoes, onions and carrots with biscuit dumplings topping it off. The Wooden Spoon Award was a real toughie, but given their excellent inspection report, their stellar performances at breakfast and supper, and their pretty decent cleanup, it went this time to the Gluten-Free PI patrol.
There was a little certification rain starting around 4 AM Tuesday, but by the time breakfast rolled around the rain had stopped. Breakfast was bagels, eggs, sausage, oatmeal, juice and milk. It is always fun trying to figure out what to do with a ZipLock bag of some oat-like substance which isn’t in the cookbook. We figured out this was instant oatmeal, boiled some water, threw in the oatmeal, then went looking for some brown sugar and cinammon.
The Gummi Bears are at Mountain Man today. The 3.5 Musketeers have gone sailing. The Gluten Free PI are working on Swimming merit badge. I suspect they will all be a tired this evening.
The leaders are holding up well. We are trying to limit the number of times we have to walk up that hill, but we are probably averaging four trips a day. That just HAS to be reduced …
I see the sun is starting to emerge so I think it is time for a swim. I’ll post pictures as soon as I can.
-Hank