Saturday in Camp Sinoquipe

The last day of camp started early with a 6:00am wake-up to get packed and loaded for the trip home. We did not have any trouble getting the Scouts up this morning. After breakfast, the camp had an award ceremony where Troop 804 was well represented. You will hear more about those awards and certificates at the next Court of Honor. The highlight was the receipt of the Camp Sinoquipe Honor Troop Award for our participation in camp activities, waterfront, ecology, camp improvements, and Scout Spirit. After the LATE award ceremony, we had the campsite inspected and rushed home for lots of big hugs.

It has been a great week of camp. You could not walk the trails of Sinoquipe without seeing a T-804 crab hat with a water bottle and a buddy. We appreciate the trust you have in the adult leadership by allowing us to play a small part in the maturing of your son. I hope you see the impact that Boy Scouts and Troop 804 have on him. Please mark your calendars for September 30th where we will celebrate the accomplishments of camp at our fall Court of Honor and view the other thousands of camp pictures in a terrific slide show.

Thank you to Steve Judson, Brian Hufker, Shane Keating, Tim Keagy, Doug Fish, Tom Cosgrove, Dave Shade, Dan Schindler, Annie Medford, Tom Milley, and Dave Dowling for sharing their "vacation" with me and cheerfully doing whatever was asked of them during the week. Thank you to all my "Moms" for the letter, cards, and packages. I now know what it is like to receive mail after 25 weeks of summer camp.

--Jay Wilen

P.S. If you did not receive a phone call home, he must have been too busy. They were given at least one and sometimes two chances to make calls each day.

Update

We are twenty miles W of Frederick. We should arrive about 12:30.

On the way

We are pulling out at 10, a little late. More to follow...

Friday in Camp Sinoquipe

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

It's Friday! The boys are in high spirits finishing merit badge requirements and looking forward to seeing their families tomorrow. A number of our boys really surprised themselves and reached goals they didn't think possible before Camp. Troop 804 made a great impression on the other troops and the Camp overall.


We're off to our last dinner followed by the closing campfire. There's an early departure after a hot breakfast tomorrow so even the adults are thinking about going to bed on time. [Editorial note: Brian Hufker has not failed to get to bed on time once this week, and has even turned in early a night or two, so the other adults are a bit puzzled by this last comment….]


- Brian Hufker


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Friday started very early for several members of Troop 804 as the wilderness survival group returned from their "outpost" at 5am (and, of course, made so much noise that many of the adults were up then too). They did suffer some rain but came back wiser for the experience. The Troop assembled at 7:25am for a final-morning pep talk by Mr. Jay to push over those last humps and complete merit badges. The talk must have worked because it was clear that there was more purpose and determination in the boys (or was that fear of Mr. Jay?).


The afternoon began with somewhat threatening clouds and, unfortunately, the skies literally opened with a torrential downpour just after the PM classes began. This was a serious problem for some stations that were not able to proceed but that had requirements not yet completed (aquatics, shooting sports, climbing, and more). The weather passed by about 3pm and we will have to wait and hear back exactly what could and could not be finished.



In about eighteen hours, ten vehicles will pull into the parking lot of Baldwin Hall to dump some of the smelliest dirtiest sleep-deprived bitten-up creatures probably ever conceived - and that's just the adults. The Scouts will be far worse, and with giant stinking bags of knotted up wet muddy clothing to boot [and while it didn't help, every boy was told at least a dozen times to hang clothes to dry before stowing]. Rest assured that after watching what they have accomplished this week, there is no doubt that every single one of them is more than capable of washing those clothes themselves. The adults, on the other hand…. come on, we're tired!
See you tomorrow!!!


- Dave Shade

Special Messages from Camp!

Hi Everybody,

We wanted to get these videos posted last night but we had to offer some logistical support to the Wilderness Survival group (including five Troop 804 Scouts: Nick Caddenhead, Kurt Hufker, Brandon Myers, Andrew Schindler, and Danny Shade). The group spent the night in the woods in shelters they built themselves... and they did weather a short rain.

These videos should hopefully play on most or all computers, but if you have trouble, try saving them on your desktop and opening them from there.

More to come later. Only 1 day left!

- Dave Shade

The Videos

The MooseFront:Joe Coale, Ryan Robinson, Danny Shade Back:Chris Keagy, Seth Jacobson, Gavin Baird	The PedrosFront:Graham Buck, Eric Sommer, Griffin Cosgrove, Brendan Wilen Back:Jay Principio, Ryan Weakland, Nathan Jordan, James Davis, Josh Keating	The PinetreesFront:Trevor Baird, Reilly Pratt, Wes Friese Paul Matthews, Barrett Cosgrove, Tyler Boyles
The RoadrunnersFront:Ben Grieco, Mike Wilhelm, Joey Dowling, Robert Milley Back:Jeff Wing, AJ Medford, Joe Sommer, Sean Mihaly	The TigersFront:Andrew Schindler, TJ White, Ryan Smith, Justin Keagy Back:James Fish, Zach Boyles, Jack Cowan, Greg Cavanagh	The WolverinesFront:Josh Saderholm, Devon Stewart, Shane Kramer, Brandon Myers Back:Nick Caddenhead, Jack Robinson, Andrew Judson, Kurt Hufker

Thursday in Camp Sinoquipe

Hello to all T804 families and friends;

Thanks again for all your support for our annual summer camp experience. I have to say that this has been one of the very best yet. Every single boy has exceeded his own expectations regardless of whether it's his first time or his fifth time (yes, we have some with that many summer camps under their belts.) It is truly wonderful to observe the growth in confidence they have all experienced. As we said last Sunday, the boys will be changed. I can assure you, they are and you will see it Saturday when they come home.

Progress in merit badges is steady. Jay set a goal of 150 for the troop and while that is a high number to reach for, if you don't set a stretch goal, you don't grow. I believe it is attainable and the boys are rising to the challenge.

I am particularly proud of the first year campers. With 16 of them, T804 has, by itself, critical mass for any program area station, and the camp staff has responded in kind. They have set up special times just for our guys to work and learn. And work and learn they have. There was even a special session set up for the first year guys at Horsemanship MB - they all got a chance to ride. You all would also have been as proud of them as I was last night at our troop campfire. All of them participated in skits and jokes. Quite impressive for them to get up in front of the troop when you remember they've only been in T804 for 3 months. Remember - Jack says YES! (Ask about it when they get home.)

The boys are all eating well, cleaning their plates (before they can eat their dessert - yes, Mr. Steve monitors that!) and sleeping well. T804 has built a reputation in camp as a large group of friendly guys who enjoy each others' company and are fun to hang out with AND they have the coolest hats in camp (Tip o' the brim to Ms. Rhonda).

Finally, I want to give a big cheer and clap to the 11 adults who came to camp with me. The boys' fun and success is due to Dave Dowling, Brian Hufker, Tom Milley, Doug Fish, Dan Schindler, Dave Shade, Tim Keagy, Shane Keating, Annie Medford, Tom Cosgrove and Jay Wilen. These folks make the program work like a fine tuned machine and the boys reap the benefits. It's going so well that all there is for me to do is make sure my coffee cup stays replenished, the T804 Scoutmaster's chaise lounge doesn't lack for gainful employment of supporting my body, that I keep up my quota of story swapping with the other Scoutmasters and completing Napping MB.

From what I've heard, you all have enjoyed the blog so far. I know Tim and Dan have burned through the equivalent of several score rolls of film and only a minute portion can make it into the blog. Enjoy the pictures and know that the stories you'll start hearing on Saturday will flesh out and amplify those pictures.

Thanks again for all you do. I know the camp mail clerks will be glad when we've left - they can't wait to divest of the bags of T804 mail every day.

It is truly an honor and privilege to be called Scoutmaster, and I hope to continue to deserve your faith and trust. There is no higher responsibility than that of having other peoples' children under your care, and it is one I take very seriously. However, I will say that if your sons are having half as much fun as I am, they're having a blast!

We're really looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday and sharing our stories then and at the post summer camp party on next Tuesday.

--Steve Judson, Scoutmaster

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Dear Mom,

Your package arrived just as you hoped it would! I had a hard time breaking out of my sleeping bag yesterday morning, but I made it, and I'm happy to report I'm having a wonderful time here at Camp Sinoquipe!

Mom, I have bad news. Please sit down while I relay what happened to the best of my recollection. As I was struggling to get out of my bag yesterday, I heard some of the Two-leg say "these spiders are driving me up the wall." I thought it an odd expression, because I didn't actually see any of them climbing up the wall.

Cousin Hairy and I decided to have a race up the inside wall of one of the young boy's tents, and, well you know Hairy-he just had to show off, so he immediately spun off a thread and did a triple gainer into a beautiful Australian free rappel right down the center of the tent, kicking off the kids clothesline with extra panache, when all of a sudden there was a tremendous breeze blowing through the tent [I think a Two-leg opened the back tent flap… Well anyway, Hairy swung in an arc and grabbed onto the front wall of the tent. Just then the front wall was pulled outward and I watched with horror as a Two-leg named Robert started rollin up the wall. Hairy, I don't know what he was thinking, but he just froze. I was yelling "Run Hairy run!" but I don't think he heard me. I yelled "Jump Hairy, jump!" but he didn't appear to have heard that either. Before either of us knew what was happening, he was rolled right into the wall-squished to death… Mom, it was awful! I don't think I want to be here when that Two-leg unrolls the flap tonight. It'd be too much to bear! Please extend my sincere condolences to Aunt Spinderella Wolf.

When the coast was clear, I climbed down the ceiling, down the wall and spun a line down to the ground. I heard the younger Two-legs say as they were walking out of camp that they wished they could be like some one called Ehr-RIK (such weird names these Two-legs have). They said that today he was taking them swimming (whatever that is), and horseback riding, and rifle shooting, and finishing leatherworking projects.

When all was quiet in the camp, I made my way across the trail and "hung out" at the Seneca site with the older Two-legs. Gramps took me to a concert by "Big Daddy Long and the Legs" they were awesome! Man they've played gigs in just about every tent in Ottawa and Seneca this week! After the concert Gramps told me he's got a real sweet setup over in Seneca. He says the Sinoquipe Staffers (Two-legs with really cool colored tee shirts) came into Seneca two weeks ago and set up a "Dining Fly." Gramps said that sounded really delicious to him, so he decided to move his whole base of operations there. He let me watch as he climbed the tree they tied the "Dinin Fly" to, climbed out on the sisal rope and spun his web last night right there, just like he's done every night the last two weeks, only this time I got to watch him from the shadow of the rope on the tree. Get this not only do flies congregate there, but June Bugs, fire flies, moths (including really BIG JUICY ones like Luna Moths) visit when the bright light shines under that Dining Fly at night. Every night this week, the big Two-legs carry in a big cylinder of something they call "Bug Juice" Gramps says "Doesn't that sound yummy too?" but he hasn't figured out how to get any from the cylinder-yet. Then a tall younger Two-leg named Nathan has a meeting called a Pee-Ell-See (yeah I know it's not a pretty sounding name but that's what they call it!) with other young Two-legs, about 8 of them-that's a great number! Then after Nathan finishes his notes, a really neat Two-leg named Mister Jay talks about all the things that went well and what could have been better that day. Then usually each of the young Two-legs gets to tell what they've been doing in something called "patrols."

Meanwhile, I watched in amazement from the shadows as Gramps expertly caught a cicada in his web. He was on that bugger in a split infinitive, wrapped him up tighter than I was in my sleep sack. Gramps is kinda grumpy and greedy some times though-he plunged his fangs right down into that cicada's skull and let him digest a while. When I asked if I could just have a little sip Gramps just said "NO!" and then, with that really weepy voice he makes some times he told me "Do you know how long I've had to wait for a big juicy cicada? It's a delicacy that you, young feller are just way too young to appreciate. It's like the difference between a filet mignon and that meatloaf they served tonight in the mess hall. To you food is just food, and you're too young to 'preciate the finer things in life.

But gramps isn't all bad. Once he finished his cicada, he helped me tie my first web. He started by showing me the one handed bowline, which looks really really, silly, I thought, with all seven of his other arms just dangling there and getting in the way (why doesn't he just use them I thought-must be a little of Cousin Hairy in him-sniff, sniff). Then he taught me some more useful knots like the taut-line hitch, the clove hitch, the web weave and something he calls "the interlocutor special double blood knot" which he says comes in handy when "Fly fishing." I made him promise to take me "Fly fishing" some time. Anyway, when class was over and I had checked off all the knots requirements for my Tenderfoot-foot-foot-foot-foot-foot-foot-foot badge, he helped me weave my first "Camp Stool Web Seat" which is a horizontal type of web the Two-legs use to sit on around camp fires. Gramps says we've been making Camp Stool Web Seats for thousands of years, these Two-legs are Johnny-come-latelys when it comes to webbing…

So, as I was saying, Gramps helped me spin my first web using almost all the knots he taught me-still not sure about that interlocutor-thing-a-ma-jiggy. Mine was a horizontal jobber, just like the Two-legs sit on. Gramps said his vertical web is more effective at catching flies because it's per-pen-dik-lar to the bright light Mister Jay lights in the "Dining Fly." He says that the light will attract lots of flies and that they should be coming to the fly to dine and when they do, HE will. I hope I WILL TOO!

Well, I better go and drop this paper on Mr. Dave's cot so he'll think one of the Two-legs left it there, and then he'll type it into his light box and send it to you, and I can get back to my web before it gets dark and start catching flies!
I remain ever yours affectionately,

Your son Spindly Spider

-- Tom Milley

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"The patrol method is not a way to operate a Boy Scout troop, it is the only way." Watching the transformation of our patrols that were formed a mere 3 months ago has been fascinating. Patrols, like any other team, go through the four phases of team development: forming, storming, norming, and performing. Looking back on our week here at Camp Sinoquipe as a microcosm of team development, we came together on Sunday forming a support system that would carry us through the week. As could have been predicted, by Monday morning we were storming; where do I go next, what time is my Environmental Science merit badge class and who knows anything about the polar bear club? While no major conflicts were observed or un-Scout-like behavior exercised, the forming patrols were firmly entrenched in the storming phase. Tuesday is an interesting day in a week-long Scout Camp experience because it is synonymous with a Sunday on a typical Troop weekend camping experience. The Scouts make it to Sunday with ease on weekend campouts and likewise generally make it to Tuesday in the same condition. But on Tuesday night the natural instinct of the Scouts is to think "I'm going home" but in reality they come to the conclusion that "I have 4 more nights!" By Wednesday morning we were greeted with patrols that were finally norming; they knew where to go, how to help one another, what duties need to be accomplished and how they fit in the whole scheme of things. It's a beautiful sight to see conflicts quickly resolved and the practice of "A Scout Is Helpful." My personal observations of the "norming" patrols leave a warm feeling that the patrol method is working and Baden Powell's vision is well in place in Troop 804. As the week winds-up the patrols are most certainly moving towards high performing teams. No longer are the Scouts using their "Turtle Time" [editor's note: "Turtle Time" is free time from 1:00-2:00 each day, typically meant to be spent relaxing in camp but often spent buying things in the Trading Post] to play chess or pirate dice but rather they are studying for the Horsemanship Merit Badge test tonight after chapel and busy collecting 20 examples of trees for Forestry. Members of patrol have come together to form study groups, share experiences and spawn new leaders to take advantage of every resource at hand to achieve what they envisioned on Sunday. Our sons are truly amazing and have weathered the storm of forming, storming, norming, and performing and are poised to return to civilization as a stronger team with a broad range of experiences to rely upon as they march ahead in Scouting. Rarely are we given an opportunity to see this type of transformation in such a short period of time but this week at Camp Sinoquipe has been the exception to the rule. I'll close with a caution that your sons will be coming back to you with a strong sense of accomplishment having overcome a great deal of adversity and challenge. If you notice that your little boy has taken on traits of a young man do not be alarmed. Your son is a leader in the making following in the footsteps of our founder. The patrol method, it is the only way!

Tom Cosgrove

Special Message from Steve Judson

Dear Families and Supporters of Troop 804,

I would like to take this opportunity to SINCERELY thank all of you for summer camp this year. You have all been so incredibly supportive of our execution of the Scouting Program. A perfect example is “mail call” – for three days running, T804 has received ¾ of the total amount of mail coming to Camp Sinoquipe! GOOD WORK!

As for our return on Saturday, we are all looking very much forward to it. It really is a climax to the week, a big deal, because the boys come home with an amazing sense of accomplishment and solidarity with their fellow troop members for an experience that cannot be duplicated. This is especially true for the guys who have never been to Boy Scout Summer Camp before.

To that end, to anyone considering coming up Friday evening, we strongly ask you to reconsider. There are several negative consequences to parents coming to camp that evening. First, it is very likely that some Scouts would then want to immediately go home with their parents. This eliminates or at the very least significantly reduces their sense of accomplishment of completion of the week. Second, it causes us to have to reshuffle tenting arrangements because we do not leave a Scout in a tent alone. Third, and by far the most important, there will be Scouts whose parents did not come up who will feel left out and consequently will be at least mildly upset or have another case of homesickness. I stress that my perspective is that of being responsible for forty-six of the greatest kids in the world sharing a wonderful experience. I want them all to max out their enjoyment as I know all of you do. We have often seen the results of parent visits like this and they very frequently are not foreseen by the parent.

I will be the first to say if we were unclear on our philosophy on parental attendance at Summer Camp, then I pledge to you all that we will improve our communications.

We all look forward to seeing you all on Saturday around noon. For those who have not experienced this event, I promise you it will be tremendous. For those who have, you know what I’m talking about.

Thank you again for your support and your time to read my thoughts. I seek and encourage dialog with you on this subject after our return.

Sincerely,

Steve Judson, Scoutmaster