The board is life! That's our bulletin board, and it hangs in the staff area. All vital information is posted on that board. We have the daily camp newsletter there, menus, work assignments, waiter assignments for meals, and other information that the boys need daily. Mondays at camp take a little getting used to. The boys are constantly coming over to ask What's happening next? When do we go to merit badges? What can we do tonight? It takes until about Tuesday mid-morning for them to get the hang of checking the board. That happens because the leaders are constantly saying, "Check the board!" We have to say that, because after a few days in the heat and humidity, relieved by nights on canvas cots, we can't remember anything on that schedule. The boys now go straight to the board for all the answers to life.
I have some other good pictures to post soon. I was having some problems with the computer and wireless network. Scouts are kicked out of the admin building at 10:00 p.m. Up until then, there were quite a lot of scouts from other troops sitting around the Henson computers. It really bogged down the network. All of the troop 1 scouts, though, are down in the campsite. By 9:00, most started taking showers, and everyone planned for lights out at 10:00. No one is complaining about bedtime. They are too exhausted.
We love it here at Henson. There is something happening every night. At last year's camp, the evening was spent vegetating in the campsite. Here, there are lots of choices. After dinner (roast pork, mashed potatoes, rolls, veggies, salad, apple sauce and gravy), the boys were back in the campsite and quickly preparing for evening programs. The Brownsea Boys spent about an hour in their program area reviewing CPR. They all practice CPR on dummies, and did very well. Joe, Dominick, Sean, and Scott went up to the pool for the 1/4-mile swim, which they quickly completed. Ryan headed out to the Nature lodge to register the troop for the critter competition. We were the only troop to take part in this activity. The idea was to collect various creepy crawlie type life forms from around camp and bring them to the nature lodge. I'm not sure what the boys collected, but I did see several boys with toads in temporary holding cells made from water bottles.
Work on our gateway continues. Boys who are working on lashings are helping the most and learning to tie square, diagonal and sheer lashings for first class requirements. So far, they have a center archway completed. They have until Thursday morning to complete an impressive structure made from fallen logs lashed together. The gateway will be judged by the campstaff that day for the gateway building competition.
Our Scoutmaster is now running merit badge sessions in Archery to help out the Henson staff. There was quite a big production around the staff table in the campsite as he, AJ and Mr. Frank worked out the special contraption that makes bow strings. It's hard to describe how this works, but just know that it involves lots of fine nylon that is easily tangled. For his help in this project, AJ was rewarded with a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. And for spurring troop members to participate in the critter collecting contest, Ryan was also treated to ice cream. This set the Scoutmaster back $9.00 for two pints of ice cream. He was compensated to a degree later in the evening at the trading post leaders event. All adults were given free ice cream and soda. That was a nice treat! Another plus at Camp Henson! The leaders are also looking forward to the coffee truck tomorrow morning. We're first on the list, so the special delivery of coffee to our site by the camp commissioner is scheduled for 6:00 a.m. Coffee brought to your tent each morning is a HUGE treat at summer camp!
Tomorrow will be a busy day. The evening program includes a very large campwide game with a Gladiator theme. I'm not quite sure what to expect, but the boys are excited. We also plan to make ice cream a la the Becker hand-cranked ice cream maker. We'll be cranking two gallons tomorrow. One gallon for the troop, and one gallon for the kitchen staff as way of thank you for the great food we're having.
So here we are at the end of another good day. Your sons are having a great time at Henson. Now, it's off to bed and another great day tomorrow!
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