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Summary
18 Scouts attended
71 Completed merit badges
11 Partials
7 Previous partials completed and not included in the above 2 numbers:
Communications: Rifle:
Bobby Duggan Jimmy Leonard
Evan Farrell
Chris Fernandes Camping:
Jimmy Leonard Evan Farrell
Frank Voce
All Tenderfoot Scouts completed their scout skills program and one mile orienteering hike.
Daily Reports
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Sunday was a challenge; we had six first time campers, a total of 19 scouts and only two adult leaders (Mr. Leonard and Mr. Cortese). We were the first troop to arrive and began to set up camp. After dropping off our equipment, we went to the waterfront to take the required BSA swim test. Unfortunately, there was thunder in the distance, so we waited and waited and waited until the tests were postponed until the next morning beginning at 6:00AM.
 Dinner was a barbeque with chicken, corn, potato chips and watermelon.
There was an opening ceremony and bonfire at 7:30PM; it was great and the skits by the staff were new. After the bonfire, there was a leaders meeting in which pizza was served. Mr. Leonard went with Michael Hoblin, but we were tracked down by Chris Cortese, Steven Cowen and Patrick O’Dowd. Chris and Steven had some pizza, but Patrick O’Dowd developed a 103 degree fever and had to go home. Luckily for Dr. O’Dowd, Mr. Mooney didn’t leave yet, so Patrick rode home with Mr. Mooney.
Around 9:00PM, Chris Voce complained about a stomach ache and even though Mr. Leonard explained that was normal with camp food, Chris went to the nurse. The nurse sent him back to camp with a Tums. During the visit, however, Chris noticed the nice comfortable bed in the nurse’s office. When Mr. Leonard and Chris got back to camp, Chris was cold and couldn’t find his jacket. Mr. Leonard lent him his jacket at which point Chris felt sick again and threw up. Yes, Chris had already put on Mr. Leonard’s jacket. Well, it was 11:00PM and Mr. Leonard and Chris went back to the nurse’s office. After Chris convinced the nurse to let him rest on the nice comfy bed, he fell right asleep. Chris volunteered to sleep in that bed the rest of the night, but that wasn’t allowed, so Mr. Leonard brought him back to the campsite. Just before getting back to camp, Chris asked Mr. Leonard how much he was paid as a scout leader. Mr. Leonard explained, not enough. It was 12:00 midnight, six hours until we had to jump into the lake.
Monday, July 28, 2008
At 6:00AM the scouts taking waterfront merit badges took the swim test. The rest of the troop arrived at 6:30AM. We waited until about 7:15AM before we could take the test. It was below 50 degrees that morning and the scouts were cold. Mr. Leonard finished his swim test without a problem, much to the surprise of his son, Joseph. Mr. Cortese also passed, but 15 yards to the finish swallowed some water, so he had to tread water for a few minutes to catch his breath before he finished. After the swim test, Mr. Leonard was standing behind Chris Voce waiting to exit the waterfront. Chris told Mr. Leonard that his stomach hurt. After 6 hours of sleep, a swim in the lake, and standing there wet on a cold morning, Mr. Leonard was not too pleased and made that clear to Chris. Chris’ stomach felt fine the rest of the week.
After lunch, Mr. Leonard taught the first timers how to clean the sink and latrine. This was a new experience for most of them, but they did find it fascinating that there were different brushes for the toilet and sink. Also, they were introduced to bleach and soap and how to mix them properly in a bucket of water.
 The rest of the day was normal, except that the camp program schedule changed so Mr. Leonard had to write out about 50 new blue cards. Mr. Leonard learned just how valuable Dr. O’Dowd is to this troop.
Mr. Cortese worked with the first year scouts and Mr. Leonard tried and failed to take a nap. Mr. Cortese also helped the scouts taking the fishing merit badge as he knew how to tie a proper fishing knot.
After dinner, the scouts went to vespers, which are scout church services. They were lovely and reverent. Mr. Leonard asked the Reverend, a Lutheran, if the services counted for mass next week. The Reverend asked if the boys were Lutheran. When Mr. Leonard said that they were mostly Catholic, he explained that the Lutherans and Methodists were flexible on this issue, but most priests were not. Sorry boys. After vespers, we lost another scout, this one to homesickness. Anthony Mancino went home that night, but he came back on Thursday morning to finish out the week. With some tutoring, he caught back up and even completed two merit badges. Go Anthony.
After vespers, the first year scouts went to another bonfire to hear the old skits and to have fun. The older scouts went back to camp and played cards.
At 10:30PM, the scouts taking Astronomy went down to the field to learn about the constellations. They came back to camp about midnight and the leaders went to sleep.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
At 6:30AM the alarm goes off, but no one wants to get up for the polar bear swim. It was cold that morning and the leaders didn’t blame the scouts a bit. We started to get into a routine, but one scout (Brian Seidel) was very homesick and was feeling down. He was a tough scout. He kept saying, I miss my family, but I want to finish. He never complained to a leader, he just toughed it out. Brian did a great job.
Breakfast was eggs and lunch sloppy Joes, so the scouts ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly today.
In the evening we had camp wide games. We finished 1st in Scout Skills, thanks to Joseph Leonard and Michael Hoblin, 2nd in Rifle thanks to Peter Schauer, and last in the tug-of-war thanks to competing against some of the largest scouts we’ve ever seen. Overall, we placed 4th in the games.
The leaders did notice that Steven Cowen always had a slushy in his hands. Always. Steven even returned his bug net to the camp store, so he could buy more slushies. Ted Carela also decided not to purchase a bug net. Luckily, it was cold at night and there were only a few bugs to deal with. We also noticed that Ted did not get into trouble as his smile would give him away and he knew it.
After the games, most of the scouts that had a partial in the communications merit badge, gave speeches on some interesting topics:
Jimmy Leonard Retiring an American Flag
Bobby Duggan The History of Scouting
Evan Farrell The Reverence and Fun Parts of Scouting
Chris Fernandes NASCAR
(Chris was stumped on what to speak about thinking it had to be about scouting. When he found out it could be about anything, he gave a great talk about NASCAR)
As the camp was settling down for the night, there was a blood curdling scream from JJ Fincken’s and Brian Seidel’s tent. Mr. Cortese was the first to arrive to discover, not a broken arm or a bear, but an ugly bug that was in their tent and landed on JJ’s shoulder. He was panicked. Mr. Cortese killed the bug, while Mr. Leonard calmed JJ down. It took about 15 minutes, but he did calm down and went to bed. Mr. Leonard had to promise JJ that he’d sit outside the tent to protect him from all creatures until he went to sleep. Mr. Cortese went to take a shower, the scouts taking the astronomy merit badge went down to the parade field, and Mr. Leonard sat outside that tent for 2 hours in the pitch black until JJ went to sleep shortly after midnight.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
At 6:30AM, Mr. Leonard took a cold 30 second shower, but he was clean. It was good timing as the camp started to have severe water problems and it was the last shower he would have until Friday evening.
During the morning session, Anthony Trivino and Frank Voce came back to the camp site to rest before their next session. Anthony had wet shoes, so Mr. Leonard asked him to change them so he wouldn’t develop blisters. Anthony did not have a spare pair of shoes even though it was on the list of what to bring to camp. Mr. Leonard asked Anthony what size were his feet and unfortunately for Mr. Leonard they were a size 10, Mr. Leonard’s size. The rest of the day Anthony wore Mr. Leonard’s new sneakers.
After lunch, reinforcements arrived; Mr. Farrell was a valuable addition to our effort. He is a leather working expert and was able to help nearly all the scouts taking that merit badge finish their projects. Mr. Cortese and Mr. Leonard could not make a lanyard no matter how many times they tried. Mr. Farrell also brought toppings for “ice cream night” tomorrow. He’ll be a hero.
Today was the Cooking Mega Event, a camp wide barbeque that cooks food the scouting way. We had: Dutch oven pizza, turkey cooked in a ground oven, pork cooked on a rock, and potatoes and corn cooked in the coals. Mr. Leonard was able to identify exactly what Peter Schauer had to eat just by looking at his shirt.
After the event, the leaders made all the scouts take a shower. The scouts were not happy, but the camp counselors were pleased.
After showering, the remaining scout that had a partial in the communications merit badge gave his speech:
Frank Voce W.O.W.
(Mr. Leonard had to approve all speeches so he asked, what was WOW? He was concerned it might be about the Women’s Liberation Movement or some other topic best kept out of scouting. He learned it was about World of Warcraft and the addictive nature of video games, a perfect topic of any teenage boy including scouts. It was a great lecture and all the scouts enjoyed it.)
Later that night at 10:30PM, many of the scouts and leaders went down to the field to learn about the constellations and the stories behind them. It was fascinating.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Today was “catch up” day. The leaders and senior scouts tried to make sure everyone was caught up in their work. Mr. Mancino brought Anthony back to the camp and he got right back into scout skills.
At 3:00PM all of the younger scouts went on a 1 mile orienteering hike. They were assisted by Mr. Cortese, Mr. Mancino and Mr. Farrell. They all finished. Even the adults.
Chris Cortese kept asking Mr. Leonard questions about scouting and reaching 2nd class. He couldn’t stop, so Mr. Leonard offered Chris a slushy if he could be quiet for 5 minutes. He made it to 9 minutes and Mr. Leonard paid up the next day.
Tonight is “ice cream night” where the scouts make their own ice cream. Thankfully, Conner Mooney is the Ass’t. Camp Director and made sure we had all of the ingredients. Joseph Leonard was the chef and it came out great. We made 2 buckets of ice cream hoping everyone would get a cup and a half of ice cream, but since we had all of the ingredients this year, we were able to give each scout up to 3 cups of ice cream. Most had 1 or 2, some had 6 cups. All were full and satisfied. The toppings, chocolate, caramel and strawberry, were a huge hit. Mr. Farrell was praised and cheered.
 The most amazing sighting that night was not Steve Cowen eating his 6th cup of ice cream, but that of Mr. Farrell quietly sitting there reading his book while building a lanyard surrounded by 18 ice cream eating scouts. Jimmy Leonard was first in line for ice cream and since he just successfully completed the rifle merit badge, nobody had a problem with it.
Unfortunately, as the camp was settling down for the night, there was another blood curdling scream from JJ Fincken’s and Brian Seidel’s tent. This time, Mr. Leonard was the first to arrive to discover, not a broken arm or a bear, but a mosquito eater bug that was on JJ’s pillow. He was panicked again. Mr. Leonard moved the bug outside and calmed JJ down. It took about 15 minutes, but he did calm down and went to bed.
Mr. Leonard did not have to sit outside the tent this time.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Early in the morning, Mr. Leonard, with the other leaders, made the decision to get the first time scouts home tonight. There were two reasons for this decision: 1) the first time scouts were ready to crack and they needed to be home; 2) the weather was supposed to be large thunder storms Saturday morning and Mr. Leonard did not want the younger scouts to have to deal with closing down camp in that type of weather.
Mr. Duggan arrived after lunch, a bright move, to assist in tearing down camp and driving home.
Colin Farrell worked with Mr. Leonard and Jimmy Leonard on identifying 10 trees in the camp. We got to 3 when we had to move on to the next session. Sorry Colin. The next time we go camping, we’ll wrap it up.
Dinner was hamburgers and hot dogs. It was awesome. Following dinner was the closing campfire.
After the campfire, the first timers went home. The rest of the scouts started packing up camp. We got all the big stuff loaded that night. We learned that the Hoblin’s are the lightest and best packers and Mr. Leonard was the person with the most luxuries.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Mr. Leonard praised God, it was nearly over. Mr. Duggan suggested that we pack up as much as we could on our backs, go to the parking lot, fill up the cars and go to the mess hall for breakfast. That’s what we did.
While having breakfast, Mr. Mooney arrived. We went back to camp, finished packing, and went home. As soon as we were all in our cars, it started to rain, the heaviest rain we’ve seen in years. It rained the entire trip home. It was a tough drive, but it was tougher for the 2 motorcycles we saw on the highway.
Mr. Leonard is looking forward to next year as he has no intentions of doing this again.
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