Preface

All of the stories told within this document are accurate and were documented by Mr. Leonard as they occurred, no names have been changed, no one is innocent.

We met at Dr. O’Dowd’s house at 10:00AM. There were more scouts going to camp this year than ever before for Troop 29, twenty in all with five leaders.  Mr. Leonard was the senior leader and Jimmy Leonard was the Senior Patrol Leader (SPL). Both were prepped by Dr. O’Dowd. They had the medical forms, schedules, blue cards and check book.  They could handle anything.

We packed the cars and loaded the scouts.  There were seven vehicles, enough to carry the scouts, their gear, two grandmothers and two dogs.  Mr. Leonard didn’t know why there were grandmothers or dogs coming, but they fit comfortably.

Mr. Leonard took the van and the most senior scouts.  This is a great advantage over the other vehicles as they don’t ask questions, they can carry Mr. Leonard’s gear and they don’t have to take unexpected bathroom breaks. 

We left at 10:45AM, much later than planned, but this time it’s not Mr. Leonard’s fault.  Mr. Leonard was 20 minutes early, much to Jimmy’s displeasure.

We stayed in a caravan formation for the entire trip, a troop first.  The Scoutmaster, Mr. Mooney, led the way in his new Honda SUV, with the stationary roof rack. We took the normal bathroom break just past the Monticello Raceway and admired the last glimpse of civilization.

We arrived at camp and the staff was waiting.  The campsite was perfect: it already had a shelter over the picnic tables; there were enough tents, cots and mats; there was even a new archway into the camp, it was perfect.   Then Mr. Leonard saw Mr. Mooney go through the new archway and apparently the troop that built it didn’t have any tall people.  Mr. Mooney had to duck as did everyone over 5’ 10”.  Tragically, it was still perfect for Mr. Leonard and Jimmy. 

We got ready for check-in, the paperwork was perfect (God bless Dr. O’Dowd), our bathing suits were on and we marched to the Mess Hall to get started.  After the medical evaluation, we went to the waterfront.  The shallow end of the lake was covered in a carpet of mosquitoes. Yuck.   All of the scouts and leaders passed the swim tests they attempted, although getting out of the lake was not a pretty picture for the leaders.  The ladder is straight and sways with the dock, so large stomachs are a problem and leaders have large stomachs.  They should let the leaders walk out of the lake, so we can keep our dignity in tact.

What happened to the dogs? 

We got back to camp, finished setting up and got ready for dinner.  They trick you with the first meal as parents sometimes come up with the scouts and they want to make a good impression.  We had barbequed chicken with corn, potato chips and watermelon.  If you didn’t stay for dinner, you could just go see Chris Cortese and look at his hair as it often contained the last meal he ate.  Chris had a problem keeping is hair back since they don’t let you wear hats during meals. 

The SPL and ASPL with Mr. Leonard attended a leaders meeting.  It covered the camp rules and schedule.  Following the meeting, they served pizza.  Awesome.  We then went to Mr. Leonard’s van to get the cookie cake.  What cookie cake?  Well it’s Patrick O’Dowd’s birthday and Dr. and Mrs. O’Dowd sent a cookie cake.  The trip was treacherous as none of us had a powerful flashlight so it was hard to see.  Cookie cake is a rare treat at camp; we had to be careful while eating and cleaning up, as there were a few black bear incidents last week in Family Camp. 

After the campfires, the scouts settled in to their tents.  The second campfire is for the new scouts that haven’t seen the old skits.  Mr. Mancino and Mr. Ryerson took the first year scouts to it.  It was in a different location this year, a far away campsite. It might be the last time we go as neither Mr. Mancino nor Mr. Ryerson have any intention of walking to that campsite again.

Teddy and Evan went to go take a shower.  As it began to near 11:00PM, Mr. Leonard and Mr. Tipa went to look for them.  It’s bad to lose a scout on the first day.  We found them near the scout’s shower facility; they were waiting for hot water.  Scouts can be so silly.

The leaders got to bed around midnight. 

About half the camp had to go to the polar bear swim at 6:30AM Monday morning.  That meant that the leaders got less than 6 hours of sleep.  That’s okay, we’ll get to bed early tonight.

The scouts taking BSA Lifeguard (Jimmy Leonard) or Lifesaving (Chris Cortese, JJ Fincken, Anthony Mancino, Anton Schauble, Peter Schauer and Chris Voce) had to take an endurance test to make sure they can complete the work.  Most had to swim 400 yards and Jimmy had to swim 600 yards.  They all made it. Awesome.

While walking to breakfast at 7:45AM, we noticed a lone white sock on the trail.  Weird.  The trail was muddy in parts, but not too bad. 

After flags and breakfast, the scouts went to their sessions, all but Patrick Hoblin.  Patrick had a problem.  He signed up for merit badges that required him to purchase supplies, but he only had $2.  He explained that last week when he went to Eagle Camp, his mom gave him $100, $50 for Eagle Camp and $50 for Scout Camp.  He spent $98 at Eagle Camp on slushies, a tasty sugary drink and was broke.  Mr. Leonard congratulated him on his good planning and told him to get a program schedule in the office and pick other badges that he could do without money and go to those programs.  Patrick went on his way.

The leaders went to work.  Since we had so many leaders at camp this year, Mr. Leonard volunteered to paint the chapel.  Mr. Leonard also volunteered the other leaders.  All the leaders were happy to help.  By 9:30AM, Mr. Ryerson, Mr. Leonard, Mr. Mancino and Mr. Iamsanstham began to lay out the drop cloths.  Mr. Tipa went to look for a tall ladder.  It was nice at the chapel; the constant breeze off the lake made it the perfect place to work.  Mr. Tipa returned with the ladder in a few minutes. He took it from the climbing tower.  We hope he checked that all the scouts were off the tower. 

We thought he was going to find the ladder and then get help to carry it.  But he just carried it himself.  It was around 100 yards.  Wow.

We began to paint. The rules were simple, if you dripped on it, paint it.  That’s why we painted the benches in the rear of the chapel.  After painting for a few hours, it was clear this was going to take forever with brushes, so Mr. Leonard went on a roller hunt.  He found the sleeves in the supply shed and the rollers by the climbing tower.  He looked up and didn’t see any scouts, but by then they may have been rescued.

Mr. Tipa was eager to use the ladder he just carried and he wedged it between the front wall and the chapel’s main horizontal support. He climbed up like it was nothing.  Little did he know, he was the only leader that could.  Mr. Mancino was worried about Mr. Tipa flipping over and held the ladder.  No other leader seemed that worried.

Much to our surprise, at lunch, we found out that Vespers would be held tonight.  Mr. Leonard thought Vespers were on Thursday.  After lunch, we went into high gear.  Chris Fernandes and Bobby Duggan helped.  We put on 3 coats by 4:00PM and cleaned up by 5:00PM.  We even saw a bat that was resting in the spire.  Mr. Tipa always follows the rules, so look for a terracotta colored bat flying around camp next year.  Nothing could stop us, although Mr. Ryerson did repeatedly mention that it looked beautiful and we could stop. 

We were proud and exhausted.  As we sat in front of the leanto, Mr. Leonard realized just how exhausted we were as he saw mosquitoes land on Mr. Tipa’s face and legs and Mr. Tipa didn’t even notice.  The mosquitoes stayed away from Mr. Leonard as he just smelled too bad.  We couldn’t relax too long as we were having our pictures taken at 5:50PM.  We cleaned up and got ready to smile.

The troop looked good for pictures.  Mr. Leonard looked fantastic.  We realized the camp takes the pictures on Monday knowing the scouts will not look good on Friday.

Before dinner, Patrick O’Dowd told Mr. Leonard a funny story.  He was taking the Archery merit badge and saw a scout that seemed impressionable.  He told the scout that he was blind and that he spotted the targets through smell.  Chocolate was the center.  The scout believed him.

After dinner, Mr. Leonard was asked to stop by the office for a meeting.  Being called to a meeting by the staff is never fun.  It was actually two meetings, lucky Mr. Leonard. The first meeting was about a scout in our troop that keeps crying and seems sad.  Before Billy Smith, the Program Director, could finish, Mr. Leonard said, “It’s Brian.” “Why yes” answered Billy. Mr. Leonard continued, “Some scouts are goofy, some sing show tunes and some cry.  Brian’s a crier. He’s a good scout and will get through it just like last year.  Not to worry.”  Billy seemed surprised.  Mr. Leonard explained that last year, he tried to be a concerned caring scout leader, but that didn’t work too well, so this year he’s trying a Mr. Mooney, Chuck Norris approach. 

The second meeting was with Joe, the camp’s EMT.  Joe mentioned that none of our scouts came by his office for their medicine and that another one of our scouts burnt all of his fingers on his left hand while taking the cooking merit badge.  He reached down and touched a hot griddle.  The griddle was over an open flame.  He suffered 2nd degree burns on all of his fingers.  Mr. Leonard assured Joe that he’d speak with the scouts involved. 

Mr. Leonard needs a little divine guidance, so it’s off to Vespers. 

As we sat in the back row at Vespers, Mr. Leonard asked Mr. Tipa if anyone told the Minister or choir that the paint was still wet? Well, he didn’t and neither did any of the other leaders, so we had to make a decision.  Do we run down there and tell them or just wait to see what happens.  We couldn’t run anyway as we were all too tired and sore.  Luckily, Dak Zaza, the Camp Director, walked over and asked us the same question. Upon hearing the answer he ran to the altar and warned everyone.  He did the right thing, but watching the choir stick to the benches would have been amusing.  Wrong, but amusing.

When the choir got up to sing, the leaders noticed that Colin was in it.  We didn’t know he could sing.  Surprisingly, Anton, who is always singing, stayed with the troop.

As we walked back to camp, we saw another white sock on the trail. They’re everywhere.

It was a cold morning, below sixty degrees, so no one wanted to do the Polar Bear swim.  The day started out great, eggs for breakfast.  Mr. Leonard signed up JJ and Chris Voce for the 5-mile hike and after dinner all OA members were invited to a cracker barrel.  That means all that hard work to become an OA member would be worth it, finally Mr. Leonard would enjoy the fruits of his labor.  We’re talking pizza or wings or both.  Awesome.

The scouts went to their programs, the leaders went back to the chapel, this time to move 4 trees.  When planted, the builders thought they were small bushes, but they kept growing and are now blocking the view of the alter, so we’re moving them to the side of the chapel.  The digging was easy, no rocks.  Completely different from where we live.  The trees were moved before lunch. 

At lunch, two senior scout leaders sat at Mr. Leonard’s table.  As the conversation progressed we learned that one of the leaders, Mr. Carmine Montabano, was the man who built the chapel.  Mr. Leonard invited him to come visit it as it was just painted.

Mr. Montabano went to the chapel and started to give the history of the chapel to Mr. Mancino.  Mr. Montabano’s son, Robert, was an Eagle Scout and he designed the chapel as a young man.  Unfortunately, Robert passed away at the age of 37 before he had the chance to build it.  Mr. Montabano rallied organizations and individuals and raised the funds to have it built.  The location of the chapel on the east side of the lake was personally picked by Mr. Montabano so the light from the setting sun would shine through the  two stained glass windows during Vespers.  The stained glass window on the left depicts a Scout Master and the one on the right depicts a Scout.  Mr. Montabano explained that the scout in the window was made from a picture of his son when he became an Eagle Scout.  There is a plaque on the back wall of the chapel that dedicates the chapel to Robert P. Montabano. It reads:

Mr. Montabano then asked Mr. Mancino if he could cut a limb from a tall tree that was overhanging the chapel roof.  Mr. Mancino explained that in the old neighborhood when Carmine Montabano asks you to do him a favor, you do the favor.  So, the leaders got their last bit of strength and cut down that limb.  The limb was as big as a tree and just as heavy, but we just couldn’t say no to Carmine. 

The leaders were exhausted, but this time we had OA scouts to help. Patrick O’Dowd, Evan Farrell, Bobby Duggan and Chris Fernandes, trimmed back the weeds and raked up the area.  We were finished.  The project took a little more than 80 man-hours to complete, but after meeting Mr. Montabano we knew it was worth it.

Now, don’t get too teary eyed, Mr. Montabano then explained that the pavers stacked behind the chapel were for a path between the pews.  Mr. Mancino said, “Next year” and that was fine by Carmine.

As we headed up to camp, Mr. Leonard noticed another white sock on the stump by the chapel’s sign.  Where are they coming from?  Is it the same one just walking around?

Mr. Leonard goes to take a shower and get ready for the OA cracker barrel.  He hears rumors, they’re going to serve pizza.  Awesome.  After his shower, he goes to the trading post to buy a plastic soap dish and some bug spray.  He leaves the trading post with a coffee mug.  Don’t ask what happened, just don’t get old.

The other leaders noticed that Mr. Iamsanstham left without saying goodbye.  Mr. Leonard thinks he was worried we’d make him do another project.  Mr. Tipa left later that afternoon.  By the way, it took 3 men to return the ladder back to the climbing tower.  Mr. Tipa will be back Friday.

When the programs ended that afternoon, Mr. Leonard saw JJ sitting outside the trading post. He was drinking a slushy, but he couldn’t lift up the cup.  He just finished the 5-mile hike.  He didn’t like it, but he finished.  Good man.

Two more white socks spotted at the trading post.

Tonight is the camp wide games.  All the troops compete against each other in everything from archery to a scavenger hunt.  Troop 29 doesn’t do too well in the camp wide games.  We always have a lot of new scouts and we’re just not as big as some of the other troops, but we always give it our best.

The one event, in which we often do well, is the scavenger hunt.  This year the hunt was lead by Anthony Mancino.  He had a unique strategy, split up the scouts in teams and have each of them get an item or items for the hunt.  JT Mancino and Patrick Owens were assigned just one task.

As the scavengers split up, Mr. Mancino noticed JT and Patrick wandering near the trading post.  Mr. Mancino asked them what they had to find.  They explained that they had to fine a pinecone from the eastern side of camp, but they didn’t know which way to go.  Mr. Leonard saw an opportunity to teach the scouts.  Mr. Leonard asked them, “Where does the sun set?”, JT answered, “In the West.”  Mr. Leonard continued, “So, which way is East?”  and the boys pointed in the direction opposite of the setting sun.  They were off. 

Mr. Mancino and Mr. Leonard sat there and continued to enjoy the chaos that camp wide games brings.  Then, we saw off in the distance, JT and Patrick coming back.  They were carrying a huge traffic cone.  When they arrived, Mr. Mancino asked why they were carrying a traffic cone.  JT explained that Anthony told them to get a cone from the eastern side of camp and they did.  Later, Anthony came back and Mr. Mancino checked the list for the scavenger hunt.  The boys were supposed to find the pinecone of the Eastern Hemlock.  Chris Fernandes stepped in and brought the boys to find the right pinecone and return the traffic cone. 

Mr. Mancino and Mr. Leonard wondered how many cars crashed without the traffic cone in place.

The last event in the camp wide games is the tug-o-war.  Troop 29 does not do well in the tug-o-war.  We lost in the first round.  The last tug-o-war was a special event, the leaders against the staff or as Billy Smith said, “the old men against the young men”.  But Billy forgot leaders have mass and mass doesn’t move easily.  It was the best battle of the day, but after some give and take, the leaders won.  That’s right, Mr. Leonard won something.  He fell on his butt and can’t move his left arm above his shoulder, but he won and felt great. 

The OA cracker barrel started right after the games and Mr. Leonard was one of the first to arrive.  Joe, the camp EMT asked Mr. Leonard to meet with him privately.  He explained that there was a fight in the scout’s showers and that he knew members of our troop were in the showers at the time.  He was sure that no one from Troop 29 would participate in a fight, but if I could ask our scouts if they saw anything it would help the staff figure out what happened.  We went back to the cracker barrel.

It was confirmed, Mr. Leonard was having pizza.  While we were chatting before the meeting started, Mr. Leonard saw Sammy walk in to the mess hall.  He was speaking with two counselors and was crying.  Mr. Leonard went to see what was up.  He found out that Sammy was sad and went out to see Mr. Ryerson.  Mr. Ryerson brought the scouts down to the showers.  All scouts that did not take a shower so far this week had to take one.  The counselors saw Sammy was upset and thought it would be best to have him see Joe, the EMT.  Mr. Ryerson was dealing with other more pressing scout issues and agreed.  Sammy was now standing in front of me, the Mr. Mooney, Chuck Norris leader.

Mr. Leonard simply told Sammy not to cry and walked him back to camp.  He was fine.  It was just a momentary lapse.  When we got to camp, Mr. Leonard asked Mr. Ryerson about the fight in the showers.  It was then he found out it was our scouts that had the fight.  Mr. Leonard was not happy.  He spoke with the scouts involved, took notes and yelled. Two scouts embarrassed our entire troop, but he couldn’t do anything at that time, as he had to get back to the cracker barrel.  When he got back, the cracker barrel was over and the pizza was gone. 

Those two scouts caused Mr. Leonard to miss the pizza.  Mr. Leonard earned and needed that pizza.  On top of missing the pizza, Mr. Leonard had to go and meet with the staff in charge and tell them that the scouts that had the fight were from our troop.  He went over my notes with the staff and we decided not to do anything until the morning as it was nearly midnight.

Mr. Leonard had another night with less than five hours of sleep.

Tonight is the mega cooking event as well as ice cream night.  It makes the scouts cheer.

After breakfast, Mr. Leonard is asked to meet with the senior camp staff.  The meeting was about last night’s fight.  Mr. Leonard meets with a senior scout from another troop who saw and heard everything.  His story was documented and will be discussed later with Mr. Mooney.  The senior staff also met with some other scouts from a third troop and their stories matched, but they did not meet with Mr. Leonard. 

At the end of the meeting, it was determined that the scouts would not be asked to leave camp, but rather the scout leaders of the troop would determine the proper punishment.  It’s good that we just finished painting the chapel.  The camp leaders did us a favor.

Mr. Mancino wanted to touch up the chapel’s sign.  He went to the craft area and asked Lola for some white paint.  Lola said that glow in the dark paint might be better.  Mr. Mancino asked Lola if she had glow in the dark paint he could use.  She said, “No”, so white paint was perfect and the sign was painted.

Mr. Ryerson heads out as Mr. Cortese arrives, perfect planning.  Mr. Cortese brought dry wood for a fire, syrup for the ice cream and most importantly energy.

It began to rain in the morning and didn’t stop.  It was the hardest rain Mr. Leonard ever saw.  Nothing was dry.  It rained so hard that the mess hall began to flood.  Mr. Mancino and Mr. Cortese went to Mr. Leonard’s van to get the EZ-up so we could have more dry space in camp. 

We placed the EZ-up parallel to the leanto and perpendicular to the existing shelter, but it had a small problem.  The rain ran off the EZ-up and in toward the leanto.  We tried folding up the sides of the EZ-up to create a gutter, but it kept collapsing. Mr. Mancino came up with the idea to cut off the tops and bottoms of the water bottles and use them as spacers in the folds of the EZ-up. It worked perfectly and the water would run down the gutter and gather at the end of the EZ-up collect for a few minutes and then flop over on to the ground.  It kept us nice and dry, but it had a strange rhythmic beat to it.  All night you heard the sound of rain, rain, rain, and then plop. 

The mega cooking event was held in the mess hall, it was awesome.  We filled our stomachs and even had seconds.  The pork was spicy hot, but tasty.  After the meal, the senior scouts got the ice cream equipment and ingredients.  They were warned by Dak, the Camp Director, that the vanilla extract they were given was the only vanilla extract in camp and that the unused portion must be returned. We headed back to camp, cleaned the equipment and started to mix the ingredients. 

The equipment came with a recipe and we started to make ice cream.  Jimmy and Bobby followed the recipe perfectly, but there was a problem.  Mr. Leonard knows ice cream; he can’t remember what happened yesterday, but he knows when the level of ingredients is too low in the bowl.  Mr. Leonard stopped the process and a heated discussion started.  Jimmy and Mr. Leonard had a number of heated discussions in camp, but Mr. Mancino stepped in and settled the matter.  We doubled the recipe as he knew the bowl would fit a gallon of ice cream.  Mr. Mancino knows ice cream like Mr. Leonard.

The senior scouts, Bobby Duggan, Patrick O’Dowd, Jimmy Leonard, Evan Farrell, Chris Fernandes and Colin Farrell left for a meeting in the mess hall about advancement to Eagle Scout and getting a job next year at camp.

As the younger scouts  began to churn the ice cream, it became clear that we needed more supplies from the mess hall.  Mr. Leonard sent three supply teams out:

• Teddy and Patrick Hoblin for more ice

followed by

• Peter and Brian for cups and spoons

followed by

• Chris Cortese and Anthony for a serving spoon

We needed a few more things, but we ran out of scouts that the leaders would send down in the dark.  The first year scouts kept churning and the supply teams came back.  Soon, the ice cream was ready and don’t forget Mr. Cortese brought the syrup.  The scouts had all they could eat and so did the leaders. We made two gallons, enough for all the scouts to have seconds, and some scouts even had thirds.  The leaders always have thirds, some have fourths.  Mr. Leonard had fifths and then regretted it.  Don’t get old.

The rain stopped in the morning.  The leaders got about four hours of sleep as they stayed awake worrying about the rain and the scouts.  It didn’t help hearing rain, rain, rain, plop all night long.  Thursday is catch up day.  The leaders review how the scouts are progressing in their merit badges and they help the scouts catch up.  This can mean giving simple encouragement or physically assisting the scout. This is especially important for the first timers and they often need help.

Mr. Cortese focused on getting Sammy through basketry, Mr. Mancino made sure the first timers finished the 1-mile orienteering course and Mr. Leonard finished building the short cut to the parking lot from camp.  Mr. Leonard shouldn’t  work directly with the scouts as the Mr. Mooney, Chuck Norris leader isn’t very patient.

Throughout the week Mr. Leonard emails parents when he needs confirmation of a task they did for a merit badge before they got to camp.  For example, Peter Schauer needed to confirm that he took a 4-hour bike trip for the camping merit badge, so his mom sent Mr. Leonard an email stating he took such a trip.  Anton needed a similar email from his mom saying that he caught two fish for the fishing merit badge.  Anton’s mom, bless her heart, sent the email with photographic proof of every fish he ever caught.  Anton easily earned the badge.  His mother should earn one too.

At lunch, Mr. Mancino told Brian Seidel he was going home on Friday.  Brian smiled from ear to ear. 

The dessert at lunch was brownies, the best dessert at camp.  We only had six sitting at our table for lunch, so there were two extra brownies.  Normally, Mr. Leonard offers the extra dessert to the youngest scouts, but the closing song was about to begin, so he gave a brownie to Josh, who was sitting next to him, and was going to give the other to Chris Voce after the song.  During the song, Mr. Leonard saw Chris get up, creep around the table and grab the brownie.  No harm done, it was his to have.  Chris laid the brownie on a napkin and finished the song.  After the song, dismiss is yelled and the scouts clean up.  Chris started to walk around the tables, but he left his brownie on his table.  Well the other scouts did as they were told and cleaned the table and Chris’ brownie with it.  When Chris got back to his table, the brownie was gone. Mr. Leonard never saw such a stunned depressed look from a scout.  The leaders hope he can recover.

After dinner, there was free time at each merit badge station so the scouts can catch up on their work.  The leaders try to help.  If a scout does not need to catch up they can try other skill areas.  Josh, JT, Anton and Patrick Owens went to the climbing wall.  Sammy and Brian went to basketry.  The others scattered and had a good time.

As the leaders sat at the craft area, Dak came over to ask where the vanilla extract was as another troop needed it.  Mr. Leonard was sure it was returned the night before, but since we sent all the scouts down at one time or another, we didn’t know who delivered it and to whom. 

Mr. Mancino and Mr. Leonard were still sitting in the craft area trying to remember which scouts returned the vanilla extract back to the mess hall and little Anthony walked by.  He had a six-foot supply of plastic lanyard strings around his neck and was twirling them like an electric fan.  Mr. Mancino asked Anthony to come over to ask him about the supplies he returned.  Anthony walked over and energetically gave a happy woo, woo.  It was like a train in the Thomas the Tank Engine cartoon.  As the leaders laughed, Mr. Leonard said to Mr. Mancino, “I hope you don’t expect a useful answer from him, he’s loopy”.   Mr. Mancino didn’t give up and asked Anthony about the now infamous vanilla extract.  Anthony remembered that he and Chris Cortese carried the supplies back and gave them to Joe Parrino the EMT.  The mystery was solved.  We blamed Joe.  Dak found it in the kitchen.  The vanilla extract was safe and secure.

A huge problem was creeping up on the leaders.  They knew about the issue, but expected it to be solved by the scouts involved.  The Nature Merit Badge Counselors assigned a task at the beginning of the week for the scouts taking that badge.  They had to make a casting of a non-human animal’s footprint.  The scouts looked and looked, but no footprints were found.  Sammy was getting nervous, Mr. Mooney said no partials.  It was getting dark and four scouts, JJ, JT, Patrick Owens and Sammy needed a footprint.  The leaders were speaking about this matter when little Anthony had an idea of simply drawing 3-lines in the mud and telling the scouts that a rare exotic Ranachqua turkey bird left the print.  The idea was brilliant, but we needed something that would make identical prints.  Mr. Leonard went a short way down the path and found a shrub that had 3 perfect branches that formed the footprint of the rare exotic Ranachqua turkey bird. 

Anthony and Mr. Leonard sprang into action.  Actually, Anthony sprang,  Mr. Leonard walked with a slight limp.  Mr. Leonard went down the trail and made 4-footprints in the mud and tossed the magic branch away.  Anthony went up the trail to get the scouts.  Off in the distance Mr. Leonard hears Anthony screaming, “apparently we found 5-footprints of the rare exotic Ranachqua turkey bird”.   Mr. Leonard looks around in the dark and luckily found the magic branch and made another footprint.

The scouts ran down with their plaster of paris, unfortunately none of them brought water, so they went back to camp for water.  When the water arrived we started to mix the plaster.  The fifth scout, Anton, was standing in a muddy puddle as we mixed the plaster.  Mr. Leonard asked him to move, but he explained that he was wearing his water shoes so he’d be fine.  Everything was going fine, except Anthony kept giggling.  Mr. Leonard kept shushing him, but he couldn’t help himself.  Luckily, the other scouts never caught on and the castings came out perfectly.

Thanks to Mr. Cortese’s dry wood we had a fire that night at camp.  We told camp stories and had a good time. 

Two more days, just two more days.

The leaders went to bed about midnight and Mr. Leonard woke up at 4:00AM to go to the latrine.  Don’t ask, just don’t get old.  He took a few steps in to the latrine and his instincts kicked in as he jumped back after he saw a porcupine sitting in the urinal eating the wall of the latrine.  Yuck. A porcupine is big and really prickly.  It was the first and last time Mr. Leonard saw one.

Mr. Leonard’s choice of leadership methods finally helped him.  Mr. Mooney and Chuck Norris would have been proud.

• Mr. Leonard did not scream.
• Mr. Leonard grabbed the only weapon he could find, a broom.
• Mr. Leonard banged the side of the latrine and chased the animal away.
• Mr. Leonard saved the campsite.

Just after Mr. Leonard saved the campsite, Anton came out of his tent and started to walk toward the latrine.  Mr. Leonard stopped him and before Anton said anything, he threw up four times in immediate succession.  Yuck, yuck, yuck and yuck. 

Why do all the scouts feel the need to throw up in front of Mr. Leonard?

Mr. Leonard calmed him down and since he didn’t have a fever and since scouts eat too much junk food, Mr. Leonard had him go back to bed.

Mr. Leonard went back to his leanto.  The other leaders were up, since brooms can make a lot of noise.  Mr. Leonard told them his tale and none of us went back to sleep.  We heard more noises and at one point Mr. Leonard and Mr. Cortese ran out of the leanto, this time with real weapons, a sickle and an ax.  The animal ran away for the rest of the night.

Mr. Leonard would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Mr. Ryerson as two nights earlier, Mr. Ryerson thought he heard a large animal in the latrine and Mr. Leonard just didn’t think he did.  Mr. Leonard was wrong.  Mr. Ryerson was right.

In the morning, we took Anton to the EMT and he was just dehydrated.  A little water and less junk food and he was fine.  Mr. Leonard decided to try and get him home Friday.  Mr. Leonard doesn’t like to keep the scouts that throw up in camp needlessly.

Mr. Duggan arrived at camp in the afternoon; he’s always a great help.  He, like Mr. Mooney, knows how to motivate scouts.  He was disappointed that we had ice cream on Wednesday, but he stayed anyway.  Mr. Duggan helped Mr. Leonard review the paperwork at the end of the day.  We found two errors that were corrected before we left camp.  

Due to the rain, we had dinner in the mess hall.  It was another barbeque, this time with hot dogs and hamburgers.  It was a fine meal.  The staff wants your last memory of camp to be a pleasant one.  The rain cleared up and we were able to have the final campfire outdoors. 

They honored the scouts that earned their BSA Lifeguard Certification and Jimmy went up with the other lifeguards.  Also, the troop was honored for their charitable work on the chapel.  Jimmy, being SPL, also went up to get that award as well. 

In the end, the troop signed up for 87 merit badges, 1 BSA Lifeguard Certification and the restoration of one chapel.  We completed 84 merit badges, 1 BSA Lifeguard Certification and restored a chapel to the delight of an old Scout Master who had another chance to tell the story of his fallen son.

Troop 29 worked through its problems and did a fine job at camp this year. The new leaders that stayed with the troop proved themselves in battle and will carry the troop well into the future.  Troop 29 is in good hands.

Despite our desire to wake up early, pack and be ready before Mr. Mooney got to camp, it just didn’t happen.  We were just too tired.  We barely made it to breakfast.

Mr. Mooney has a way of motivating the scouts and we were quickly packed and sitting in the cars.  The ride home was pleasantly quiet as most of the scouts slept all the way home. 

Last year Mr. Leonard wrote that he’d never go back to summer camp, but he forgot.  Next year, he hopes he remembers what he wrote.

Never get old.