Tuesday Torture Day

With dawn comes realization that I have been bitten by some creatures yesterday.  I begin to doubt the efficacy of the smoke repellent methodology.  As the scouts fall out of tents I inquire as to how the 5 man tent fared.  They say it was great, after which they immediately back track and with stories of how someone fell out of the tent, how there were someone’s hairy legs in a bad spot and that at some point in the early hours they had devised a much better arrangement.  I only regret I won’t be there tomorrow morning to ascertain the success of the new method.

I’ll be honest, I have low expectations of the Marriott food.  Most times I’m not disappointed, but it isn’t terrible and it feeds the machine so to speak.  The eggs were typical. The sausage wasn’t too bad.  The oranges were very good.  However, the pancakes… well, if they hadn’t burned all the cardboard the previous day I would have accused the food picker uppers of pranking the troop.  But the blood shot eyes from the smoke tell me there is no cardboard left.  They provided no butter, but given the disks are cold they wouldn’t have melted it anyway.  I pour the syrup over them and let them sit a bit to see if they will soften to somewhere to where they might fall in the Mohr’s scale at somewhere south of diamond.  But the “pancakes” must have seen that coming and like water from a ducks back shed the viscous substance.  I eat two of them anyway.  I can’t let them get away with it, but I don’t count it as a win.

At 9am the scouts head off to class.  For you rookie parents, the first day is a terrible day to be at camp to take pictures.  Almost every merit badge involves sitting around listening to someone talk to you about something.  It’s a lot like school, only bugs are biting you.  I have a few pictures and you should be proud that they stayed awake pretty much the entire time.  The best heart break story comes from the waterfront.  The 9 o’clock canoe and kayak classes both got into the water.  The 10 o’clock kayak class (including Tyler F, Logan, and Mason) stood in the hot sun wearing their PFDs while shouting the parts of the paddle.  For those of you who have forgotten, those PFDs don’t really breathe….  They did not get in the water.  The 11 o’clock classes, including the canoe class with, yep, Tyler, Logan, Mason, and a couple other members of the troop, spent 50 minutes, yep, standing in the sun, wearing PFDs while shouting the parts of the oar.  They didn't get into the water.  I’m not a sympathetic person by nature and torturing the scouts just a little is a hobby, but even I’m feeling bad for them.  

As we ate lunch choking on smoke from the bug defenses (which was ok, I prefer my lunch meat a little smoky) we realize that at scout camp there is so much to do and so little time.  Folks are trying to decide if they can do the canoe campout, the wilderness survival campout, and the mile swim.   Given they are offered on two nights and there are three activities, it doesn’t look promising.  But they are pretty smart and creative boys (I mean they have 5 folks in one tent) so I’m interested to hear how it all turns out. 

It was a pleasure for me to be at camp again.  I’m really thankful to Tim and Dermot for being there all week.  I’m really proud of the boys who are all pitching in and showing kindness to each other.  It is always a blast for me to be there. I wish I remembered more of the quotable quotes, they were legion.   I’m pretty sure I spent the only money I’ve spent in the store for a t-shirt.  Note, not the only money of mine that has been spent there, but the only money I’ve spent there!

Thanks for sharing your kids.  Give them a quick hug when they get home, make them shower and then ask them to tell you all about.  If you think my write ups are long and tedious, you probably haven’t heard anything yet.