Here’s the Summer Camp video from our week at Camp Olmsted.
Archive for category Troop 11
Summer Camp Video
Jul 25
Summer Camp Part 3
Jul 22
Several of the boys got up early this morning to go to religious services. I stayed in bed to catch up on missed sleep. Had a boy last night about 11PM wake me to tell me that he felt sick. He was shaking and and a little bit confused sounding, and complained of his throat feeling funny. So I took him up to the first aid post, we got the camp director out of bed and went off to the main camp medical facility to see the RN. The diagnosis was dehydration so we plied him with lots of water and after a while, he was visibly improved. We took him back to Camp Olmsted and let him sleep in the air-conditioned first aid room. He was returned to us this morning as good as new.
This points out the dangers of dehydration. We constantly have to remind everyone to drink plenty of fluids, even if you don’t think you’re thirsty. You can get dehydrated quickly in the heat, but it’s preventable with attention to staying hydrated.
The boys are all trying to finish up merit badges today. This is the last day of formal classes, although they can catch up on missed things tomorrow. This evening the Space Exploration guys get to launch their rockets. Got to see that!
Still no luck on video uploads. It would take two hours to upload a ten minute video over this link, so they’ll probably have to wait to be posted until we return Saturday. Although the boys are all having a good time, they’ll be glad to see all of you, too 
. Tomorrow evening, we’ll pack up and leave early Saturday morning. We’ll call about a hour out of Newport News.
Yours in Scouting
Dick Barnes
Summer Camp Part 2
Jul 21
Well, we certainly had an exciting day yesterday! We had a fast-moving thunderstorm pass through with high winds and heavy rain. Bradley and Chris were sailing in the middle of the lake at the time, and capsized. To make a long story short, they were upset (literally) and had to wait for a rescue to arrive. Chris lost his glasses over the side, so Joe drove up last night and brought his spare glasses. By that time, it was very late so Joe spent the night and most of the next day with us at Camp.
I apologize for the lack of videos, but the WIFI here is really slow and every time the upload times out, I have to start over again. I have yet to be able to complete an upload. I am shooting videos, though, so they will be posted eventually. Nights have all been cool, with sleeping bags feeling comfortable, and with the days in the 90’s. The boys are doing well, eating plenty, and working diligently on their merit Badges. Seems a shame to have to do homework at camp, but it’s a necessary evil. There were conflicts with class schedules due to our not understanding what they were trying to do, but some of the blame lies with unclear instructions. But, with all that said, everyone is earning Merit Badges.
Stay tuned for the next installment …
Yours in Scouting,
Dick Barnes
Summer Camp Part 1
Jul 19
We arrived at Camp Olmsted at the Goshen Scout Reservation in the Virginia Mountains about 2 PM yesterday afternoon. Check in was uneventful, and we were treated to something we hadn’t seen at home for a while … RAIN! Thunderstorms and rain off and on for most of the evening, night, and again this morning until about midday. Last night was cool to the point where we needed sleeping bags or a light blanket for comfort. Today, though, the temperature got up into the 90’s with a low tonight predicted for the 60’s. The boys all spent today in merit badge classes. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have some video to upload. Everybody is doing just fine.
Dick Barnes
Final Mulch Delivery
Mar 31
Well, we delivered our final 1500 bags or so of mulch this past Saturday. The turnout as not as good as we had hoped for, but all the bags were delivered to the customers by around 3 pm or so. Our partnership with Peninsula Hardwood Mulch for a second year in a row was the way to go. Previously we had dealt directly with the manufacturer, and had to order in trailerloads. This way, we could order exactly what we wanted with no leftovers.
I supervised an OA election for Troop 242 this evening, and all went well. They only had one eligible candidate, and he was elected. One for one!
The weekend before, the Troop did a day trip to Washington DC in conjunction with the Citizenship in the Nation Merit Badge. Bruce has promised me some video of the trip, so when he comes through, I’ll post it.
We’ve got 2 Eagle projects coming up Saturday. Most of the projects has been “prebuilt”, and we’ll finish up Saturday. To top that off, Saturday is my Daughter’s 14th birthday so I’ll be busy!
Yours in Scouting,
Dick
Well, we picked a great weekend . Snowed on us … not as bad as the previous weekend … just flurries this time! Before going out to deliver fliers for our annual Mulch Fundraiser, we did the Adopt-a-Spot (the road in front of our Charter Partner). Then we spent about four hours blanketing neighborhoods with our fundraiser fliers … over 3500 delivered!
Well, the food was great, the Scouts received their well-deserved awards, and the bidding at the Scout Bucks auction was intense. This year, we had several tables of goodies for the Scouts to bid on. The bids came quickly and furiously, with no quarter given. Everybody seems to have had a great time, and I think everybody was able to win a bid on something. Several boys, who had earned enough points to be “independently wealthy” went home with lots of loot!
Each year, the boys are able to earn points or “Scout Bucks”, for things such as advancements, summer camp attendance, merit badges … just about anything that Scouts do earns points, so an active Scout earns more than one that doesn’t participate as much. At the end of the year, the points are tallied and the boys can use them to bid on items at the auction in December.
This meeting closed out the year. The next meeting will be after the holidays. I’m finishing up the recharter now, and a snowstorm is on tap for the weekend. How much … nobody is sure . Christmas and New Year’s are around the corner and life is good! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
Dick
Looks like the guys really did a great job! The Troop placed 32nd out of 63 Troops. The older Scouts (First Class or above) placed 40th out of 122 teams, and the younger Scouts (not yet First Class rank) placed 26th out of 120 teams. Way to go, guys. We made the trip with only 5 Scouts and 2 adults. We’re looking at another orienteering event in the Spring a bit closer, and hope for better participation.
Bill S., our newest Eagle
This evening Bill S. passed his Eagle Board of Review, which I had the honor to sit on. All of the board members were impressed with his answers, and feel that he is very deserving of the award.
The board members were especially interested in his project, which was building an artificial oyster reef. Not your average run-of-the-mill project 
.
Congratulations, Bill!
Orienteering Meet
Nov 8
Well, we got back from the northern reaches of Maryland about 11:30 this morning after a 7 am departure. Only one pit stop along the way .
I am told the younger Scouts team placed 30th. That doesn’t sound to good until you know that there were 190 other teams competing. Good job guys!
We were hosted by Troop 873, Scoutmaster Steve’s old troop in the Baltimore Area Council, and his brother and Dad are both still active with that Troop. They treated us great! We arrived after a long drive through terrible traffic at about 10:30 Friday night. Since they were the service Troop for the Saturday event, they put us in the bunkhouse with them, fed us all weekend, and just generally made sure we were looked after. They’ve got a great group of Scouts and Scouters. They really made us feel at home. And the event was professionally run by the Quantico Orienteering Club. The Scouts learned a lot and had fun as well.