Shooting Sports at Camp!

Our Fearless Leader shooting Skeet with the 12 gauge!

These are the kind of scores that will earn you a merit badge!

The adult shooting competition:

They have no Idea how dangerous this could be!

• Archery
• .22 Cal rifle
• .50 Cal Black Powder
• Skeet with shotgun

And the winner is Mr. Bill Redmond ( by 1/4 point over Mr. Adams)!

GREAT CAMP QUOTES FROM TROOP 617

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"Good Morning, Camp!" "Good Morning, Josh!" "Way-OH! Way-OH!" "Can we make a fire now?" "I don't need your pessimism." "Where are my shoes?" "Let's play Mafia!" "Can I borrow your knife?" "Can I borrow your fishing pole?" "Who has my knife sharpener?" "I lost the game!" "Only a mom would wear a white sweater to summer camp." "I wanna go home." "What day is it?"

"Who wants to go to the Trading Post with me?"

"How many days are you going to wear those pants?"

"How did you sleep?"

"Palmer looks just like an otter."

"Nuh-uh, he's more like a little puppy."

"No, he's a teddy bear."

"NO! He's more like a SUN bear, look at him!

"Let me see your face, Palmer. ...I'm telling you, he looks just like an otter."

"Eeeww! There's a LOG in the urinal!"

"This would make a great beating stick!"

"Can I sleep in your tent?"

"Where's Mr Redmond? I think he's napping in the stream."

"Dude! You're such a girl!"

"I've always looked down upon you, and I always will."

"Did you guys know the tooth brush was invented in Ramona? If it had been anywhere else, it would have been called a teeth brush."

"That's a good one, I'm gunna go home and tell that one to my sheep."

"That dinner was so good, I think I'll purge and go for thirds!"

"What are you whittling? A stick."

"Ok, I'll just beat the tree while I wait."

"I already showered once!"

"Why would you shower at camp when you can shower at home?!"

"SKIMMERHORN!!!"

"Jokes on you, I have 2 dads!"

"Come on guys, no more racist jokes! ... (unless their good)"

"What is that you're using for your crossbow string?"

"My underwear band... what? it's clean!!"

"Where are you going?"

"To the Operacade."

"Ummm... it's the Aquacade."

"Oh -- that changes everything."

"Mrs Redmond! You can put on the blog that we started a Ninja craze at the flag pole!"

"You didn't adopt me, you abducted me!"

"Palmer's so CUTE!!"

Home for the week!
The Swim Test

Oh No!
The Deep, Dark Lake Water.... Maybe later... Or not!

The only thing  Scaryier than the Swim Test!

BOAT RACING!

Cheers, laughter and the refreshing sounds of the boys' splashing in the stream rolled up and over the embankment below our campsite. I grabbed my camera and ventured down into the cool, dark canopy of pines and alders that grew along the waterline.

Our boys had created two "whitewater" racing channels out of river rocks and fallen branches. Andrew D held between his fingers miniature boats whittled from small twigs.

"3 - 2 - 1 - Launch!", came the cry. Into the stream the vessels went, tossling along in the water, bumping and bouncing their way downstream.

"Man down!" A boat had submerged in the "rapids", only to resurface a few moments later. Rocks, pockets, branches and other natural obstacles made the race as exciting as any professional speed boat race. "Slash! Sploosh!" The boys tromped downstream, one after the other, each clumsily chasing his hand-carved masterpiece.

"Can I race?" I wanted to join the fun.

"Sure, you just need to carve a boat."

"Can you float my feather?" I had just spent the afternoon lazily whittling a neckerchief slide from a balsa wood kit.

"Wow! Did you do that?!" Andrew A was impressed. "Mrs Redmond's boat is EPIC!"

Ever the encourager, Zach grunted, "You have to have a captain."

Each boy had painstakingly hollowed out little holes in the top and plugged in tiny stick "captains."

"My captain is in his cabin." I turned my feather over to reveal the bulky squared off ring for the neckerchief.

I took their laughter for a yes, as Andrew D reached his fingers toward me. I slipped my feather boat into it's "launch" and down they went.

"Splash! Sploosh!" The noise and cheering got my adrenalin going, but I couldn't see anything past the crowd of boys schlomping along in the water.

"Hey! You won! Mrs Redmond won!" I was tickled to hear Andrew A's acclaim for the second time, "Mrs Redmond's boat is EPIC!"

As any mom can imagine, a million bucks and a golden trophy couldn't have meant more to me. In that moment of fleeting glory, I belonged...

KISS THE DUCK! KISS THE DUCK!

Mr Redmond had carved a duck head at the top of his walking stick and was poking Zach's face from 3 feet away. Zach was ignoring him, obviously hoping he'd go away.

"Zach! (quack quack) Kiss my duck!" Zach glared at him.

"Zach, just kiss the duck", David chimed in.

Soon the chant began, "Kiss the duck! Kiss the duck! Kiss the duck!"

Zach realized he wasn't going to get out of it, so he better be a good sport. He suddently chomped on the duck's bill and locked his jaw.

"HEY! Leggo my duck!" His dad was taken by surprise as the joke turned on him. He sulked away with his masterpiece.

By the time the duck saw the light of day again, it was a beautifully carved and painted walking stick, presented to me as a gift, representing as many camp memories as a duck can carry. Ooohs and awws filled the campsite as he approached me...

I was so touched by his creative and skilled handiwork! But the sentimental moment flashed passed me as the chant sprang up again, "Kiss the duck! Kiss the duck!"

MAFIA AGAIN?

them: "Let's play Mafia!"

me: "Mafia AGAIN?!"

them: "Ya, we like Mafia."

me: "Don't you know any other games?"

them: silence...

finally: "Let's play Stealth!"

me: "How do you play?"

them: "Everybody scatters and tries to make their way back to the campfire without being tagged."

me: "In the dark?"

them: "YA! It's really fun."

me: "no flashlights?"

them: "YA! You gotta get back and tag base without getting caught."

me: "What's base?"

them: "The campfire."

me: "You scatter around the campsite in the dark, run around tagging each other in the dark, and then you have to "TAG" the campfire?"

them: "Ya, well I guess we can't REALLY tag the campfire."

me: "Hhmmm. And I have to get up?"

them: "Well, you could be IT."

me: "Do I have to get up?"

them: silence...

them: "Let's just play MAFIA!"

BREAKFAST CONVERSATION...

David: "Hey Zach! You missed it last night! Your mom was such a dictator! We started calling her Hitler!"

Zach: "I didn't miss anything. I live with her."

Mom: "Now that's not fair. You know I always give you a choice:

1) do it

or 2) else"

YOU KNOW YOU ARE AT SUMMER CAMP WHEN...

• you're having lunch with 300 of your closest uniformed friends.
• silly people run around campfires doing silly skits.
• your butt touches the floor when you sit on your cot.
• you find yourself singing Fred the Moose for the 3rd time in 3 days.
• every afternoon you hear the sound of gun shots echoing around the hillsides, and no one's worried.
• Jay walks around the campfire at night in his pjs, barefoot.
• you're served red punch at every meal, including breakfast.
• the "Dining Hall" looks an awful lot like a "Big Top" tent.
• the SPL threatens to deck a kid and the counselor is ok with it.
• little kids think they know more about shotguns than the counselors.
• you're sitting around the campfire and Mr Adams is farting.

            (In my defense, it was "Taco Night", which included a large helping of Refried beans and I do recall

             saying "Excuse Me" !)

• you get into arguments with other kids about star wars, and which little kid TV show is best.
• you're surrounded by red-striped socks.
• everyone around you has gone 3 days without showering and the smell is overwhelming.

You know you're at a pretty darn good Summer Camp when...

• you get to use a toilet that flushes at some point during the day.
• you're not sleeping "down hill."
• you get a FRESH salad bar with both lunch and dinner EVERY NIGHT!

• you have your choice of water: fresh water, light water, low fat water, diet water, city water, well water, mountain water, spring water, zero water, I can't believe it's not water, spit, sweat or "other"
  
  

You know you're at a luxury Summer Camp when...

• the toilet comes with two mirrors and a HOT shower.
• there are no flies in the mess hall (there MUST be SOME camp like that SOMEwhere... I vote we book one of those as soon as we get back!) :)

THE BEST SCOUTS AROUND!

I find myself saying that over and over. The more I'm around other troops, the prouder I am of our boys. We have our troubles and recurring issues, I am full aware. But over all, our boys are respectful, welcoming, amiable and responsible.

When they are asked to clean tables, they actually wipe them down with soapy water as they're told, instead of swiping the food to the ground and calling it "clean."

They line up at the flag poles instead of straggling in late and looking like a scruffy mob.

The youngers almost instantly belong, and are taught the "rules" by example instead of being ordered around and barked at.

We even have boys who will sweep out a tent without being told, and work together to move a campfire stone by stone, without complaint.

I'm telling you, we have the BEST Scouts around!

First Aid, First Day!

Mr Finley was breaking into the troop first aid kit, asking Mr Adams what he needed.

Mrs Red: "YES! Mr Adams got a camp wound! Tell me the story!"

Mr Adams: "Oh it's nothing, really."

Mrs Red: "No, you don't understand... I need to blog about this. Everything is a story to tell!"

Mr Adams: "No, really. It's nothing. There IS no story to tell."

Mrs Red: "NO, REALLY! EVERYthing is a story to tell. PLEASE..."

Mr Adams: "Ok. I scratched myself last week at home, and I broke it open just now."

Mrs Red: "oh. you're right. that won't due."

Mr Finley: "He's being modest. The truth is, he's a hero! He had a run-in with a rattler, and got snagged by a fang. He actually saved 3 kids in the process, he's quite the hero!"

Mrs Red: "Now THAT'S a story!"

and so I'm blogging about it...

Bear Attacks!

Stories of bears invading camp, sneaking candy out from under pillows, were hindering my peaceful night's sleep. I was trying hard to focus my ears on the calming ripple of the stream running alongside my tent. I could feel myself drifting off at last, when a low growl to my left broke my trance-like state.

"I KNEW IT! I should have put my deoderant in the bear can like I was told!"

Wait, there it was again, a rumble off to my right this time. "Wow! He moves fast!"

Suddenly, to my great relief, that moment of fleeting panic was quickly doused by my own laughter as I realized it wasn't a bear's fearsome growl that was frightening me... it was the thundering snores of Mr Adams and Mr Redmond! First on my left, now on my right, back to my left. It was a bit like dueling noses...only not so melodic.

I knew I should have taken that empty tent on the other end of our campsite.

CAMP WHITSETT NEWS

Camp Whitsett Welcomes us with extremely limited and achingly slow internet and absolutely NO phone service... so no blogging like last year. In fact, my phone's dead from "searching for service", so no pics from me. Mr Finley may have better luck, so keep checking in.

We met the water first. Cold, dark... I didn't like it. AT ALL! No Gamble boys to cheer me on with, "Come on, Mrs Redmond! My mom would do this!" Everybody passed but Donna. Then I met the tree. Bill hoisted me up to hang the "bear bag line", wow I've never been so tall! But I got my first camp wounds as I grabbed onto the tree and slashed my fingers on the way down. Blood isn't a good color on me. Already had one lost boy, one head injury, and our turn at the mess hall. Perfect way to start our week, I say! Did you know that pine cones could draw blood, too? Matt's head could tell you stories. Ok, here's the first real blog: The evening sky glowed orange and purple as the crowd gathered at the ampitheater near the lake. With the coming of dark, the noise hushed to a restless silence. All eyes were drawn toward the sound of soft paddles entering the water in the distance, stroke after stroke. Faintly, a single flame came drifting slowly across the lake. Soon you could make out Indians in full dress canoeing toward the shoreline. As they disembarked, the ceremony began, fires were lit, and the fun started..."There was a moose named Fred!" (YES! I know this one!!) In keeping with that proud Scouting tradition, the bad jokes and silly songs kept us laughing and groaning, sitting and standing, singing and clapping throughout the night. Awww... the joy of Boy Scout Summer Camp. I hope I get to do this every year for a long time to come!

Ok, there's a line at the computer... and everyone's already jealous cuz I've got my own private HOT shower (being one of the few women in camp...) so I better GIT! More to come daily, if I can...

Love to all you suckers who stayed home! HA! Mrs Red

CAMP EMERALD BAY STAFF - JULY 18TH, 2011

If you zoom in on this picture you will find Griffin Gamble on the top row, right side, Jordan Gamble, Second row down from top, middle-left, and Levi Gamble on the third row, left side. Okay, okay, I know this has nothing to do with our troop... just indulge us Gambles a bit as we brag about our sons! :)

CAMP WHITSETT NEWS - JULY 24TH -30TH

Camp Whitsett starts this Sunday so please read the following information and Be Prepared.

Meeting Time: Meet at the Pomerado Elementary School at 7:00 am. The drive to camp is 5.5 - 6 hours and we're supposed to check in around 1:00 pm.

Who is Going: 9 Scouts-Matt Adams, Andrew Adye, Andrew and David Divjak, Justin Chung, Cody and Palmer Finley, Zach Redmond, and Stewart Wright. 4 Adults- Bill and Donna Redmond, Brian Finley, Greg Adams

Extra Things To Bring:

• Please bring a bag lunch to eat on the trip.
  
• Please pack your swim suit and towel near the top of your gear as the swim test will be one of the first things we do when we arrive.
  
• Bring a little money for the trading post if you will need to buy craft kits or souvenirs
  
• Please bring a copy of your insurance card, along with your medical forms (unless you have already given it to Mrs. Pigott or Mr. Adams), as well as any parent permission forms needed for your scout to participate in a specific activities (firearms permit required to participate in troop shoot or shooting merit badge).

• Everyone will need to bring a "Mess Kit" ( Plate, Cup, Utensils) as they are no longer using disposables. A Mesh bag to carry kit to/from camp is a good idea as well!

• We are expected to be in class A uniforms traveling to/from camp and at dinner.Otherwise the Class B T-shirt will be worn to classes.
  

• Camp Whitsett website: Go to this link: http://www.campwhitsett.org/summer/summer-camp-info/ and click on Youth Packet

MERIT BADGE WORKSHOP - THIS FRIDAY, JULY 15TH

We hope you all got the email but just to confirm, here are the details for the upcoming Merit Badge Workshop:

What: Merit Badge Workshop for Summer Camp bound scouts and ALL scouts wishing to complete merit badges.

When: This Friday, July 15th

Time: From 2:00PM to 4:00PM

Where: The Divjak's Ranch

Lunch will be provided so come on and let's be prepared together!