A Scoutmaster's Blog

Eight Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 had a great weekend during their annual trip to Camp Watchamagumee over the Memorial Day Weekend. The troop arrived at camp on Friday, May 23, and stayed until the morning of Monday, May 26.

The Scouts accomplished a lot during the weekend. They began by reviewing the safety rules when using a saw or ax, and using campfires. They played games including kick ball and their favorite, Cature the Flag. The also spent a couple hours working on campsite improvements.

Building things seemed to be the theme of the outing. One group of Scouts built a raft. Another group worked on building a dock in the pond. A new treehouse was started but will take one more afternoon to complete.

Of course, it would not be a Watchamagumee weekend if the troop did not hold its annual Egg Drop Competition. The Scouts formed four teams that would create a package for an egg using only natural materials found in the woods. The packages would then be dropped from various heights. If the egg survived without cracking or breaking, the package would move on to the next level.

Each evening ended by sitting around the campfire. Each patrol had its own campfire on Friday night. The troop gathered around one campfire on Saturday for lots of stories to be told. During the Sunday night campfire program the Scouts did songs and skits, and played “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?”.

The troop would like to express their thanks to Mr. Duevel and Kraemer Lumber for their assistance in the treehouse project, and to Vern and Melvin Klasen for allowing us to use their land.

One month ago I wrote about a little song that caught my attention nearly a year ago called The Scout Law. I thought, and still think, it is a cute song that nicely pokes a little fun at Boy Scouting, and yet teaches the Scout Law and the meaning of the twelve points (kind of). This song is available as a free download provided by the two man group The Croutons at http://music.download.com/thecroutons/3600-8592_32-100115552.html

When I wrote that blog post on May 4, the song had received 241 listens since it was posted on that site on April 6, 2004, over four years ago. During the last month, after writing about it on this blog and a couple of Yahoo Scouting groups, and recently talking about it during the PTC Media audio podcast A Leader’s Campfire, there have been quite a few visits to the site and listens to the song. I checked out the site today and it shows a total of 327 listens. That is a 36% increase of the amount of listens during a one month period. While I do not take all the credit for that increase, I would like to think that I helped a little to get the word out about it.

Now that some of you have listened to the song, I would like to hear what you thought about it. Leave a comment by clicking on the link below.

Boy Scout Troop 68’s theme for the month of June is Cooking. Each troop meeting will cover a different area of cooking and give the Scouts a chance to sharpen their cooking skills a little. During the first meeting we will do breakfasts, the next will be desserts, and the last will be suppers. Of course, everyone is looking forward to desserts.

The troop usually meets at one of the city parks during the summer months, but this month we will meet in my backyard. The troop’s storage shed sits next to my garage so it is easier holding the meeting here instead of loading up all the gear needed and bringing it to the park. Much easier to put everything away also.

It was thirty minutes before the first meeting of the month during which the Scouts would be making pancakes and omelettes. As I began to take the gear from the shed it began to lightly rain. “Oh well,” I though, “I guess I will have to set up the stoves in the garage.”

The light rain continued throughout the meeting but the Boy Scouts did not seem to mind. After opening the meeting with the Pledge of Alligience and the Scout Oath, and a brief intro about cooking today’s items, they began having fun cooking an evening breakfast, and then eating their creations. They could have cared less that they were in a garage.

They tried various ingredients in their omelettes. They tried making pancake batter at different consistencies. They discovered thick pancake batter is as challenging to fry as batter that is too thin.

As the last scrambled pancake was scraped out of the frying pan, the dishes and stoves were cleaned and stored away in the shed, and the floor was swept. Then it was into the basement of the house for game time which included card games, darts, and ping pong.

As the meeting came to a close we discussed the June calendar, this month’s camping trip to Duluth, and the upcoming court of honor. The Scouts ended the meeting with the America Yell, and then the parents arrived to take them home.

It was great watching the boys as they had fun cooking breakfast at 7:00 in the evening. They had a good time trying new foods and working on their skills. I hope on the next camping trip they put those skills to use.

Next week is desserts. I have a feeling the meeting will be even more fun as the boys try making a cake in a dutch oven, and a pie, and a cheese cake. My mouth is already starting to water.