October 2012: Forestburg Scout Reservation

This month finds Troop 101 at Forestburg Scout Reservation in Forestburg, NY. This camp is actually down the mountain from our summer camp, Camp Turrell.

We tried something a little new this trip, in implementing a theme for the weekend. In this case, it was our Wild West Weekend. We focused on Dutch Oven cooking executed with great success by our first Assistant Scoutmaster, Mr. Foray, as well as firearm safety and shooting at the camp's rifle range. Everyone who went dressed as close to cowboy garb as they could get, but cowboy boots are more appropriate for the desert then they are in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in October.

Not to say that the weekend started out very October like. Friday night proved to be quite humid while we were setting up camp, and just as we were getting settled, it finally cooled off and everyone slept in relative comfort.

We awoke to brisk more October-like weather, and spent the morning practicing woods tools skills to keep the fire going - which proved a problem as a large storm had passed through Friday morning to make sure all the wood in the area was completely soaked. Once we got the fire going, we had a great breakfast made in the Dutch Ovens of a breakfast souffle and Bisquick biscuits (and don't forget the cowboy/scout leader/web designer staple COFFEE!)

Due to the unforeseen issue with keeping wet wood lit, and the fact that Dutch Oven cooking is a time consuming event, we went from breakfast to working on a few rank advancement requirements, to the rifle range for a little shooting!

...and by a little, I mean about 400 rounds of .22 ammunition.

If you ask any camp staff member, they will tell you that the two most dangerous places in the entire camp are the waterfront and the rifle range. As an avid outdoors-man as well as a firearms enthusiast, I am always worried about shooting with mixed groups of people. The meeting before, I had given a brief lecture of firearms safety and operation, and I am happy to say that not only were our Scouts and Scouters very safe, but they are also pretty good shots! Even the range officer said that he almost didn't have to watch because we were so well behaved.

While our one Scout did have his rifle merit badge, our other Scout had never fired a rifle before, and for a first timer, he was as good (and in some cases better) than most of our group! (I say in some cases better, because a left-handed individual has great difficulty firing a rifle designed for a right handed shooter).

All in all, everyone was well behaved, had a great time, and, more importantly, incredibly safe. I'm thinking that we may have to schedule some time in the future to work on the shotgun merit badge...

Now I wish I could say that the shooting and the cowboy aspect was the memorable part of the trip, but I think the most memorable part was that this entire trip was sponsored by Bisquick. Every meal we ate had Bisquick in it. Mr. Foray, despite his pre-planning, forgot a few crucial ingredients for his beef stew - specifically, the flour to thicken the gravy, and the bouillon or 'Gravy Master' to make actual beef gravy. So, what did we have that was close to flour? BISQUICK!

So, dinner (which came out quite tasty) was a Bisquick Beef Stew, along with fresh corn bread and salad - and we got fancy since we had croutons as well! We had one minor mistake with the corn bread; while it was edible, we couldn't quite figure out why it had an odd taste to it... it wasn't bad per se, just a little...off. After eating a few pieces, it occurred to us that perhaps we had greased the pan with olive oil infused with garlic as oppose to Crisco...

Yep, that was it.

At any rate, after a busy day, we burned the rest of our firewood and headed off to bed.

We got up and packed our gear while Mr. Foray made breakfast; bacon and (you guessed it!) BISQUICK PANCAKES!!!

This is the first camping trip where we went through a whole box of Bisquick... and needed more!

So there you have it; Troop 101's Cowboy Themed Weekend at Forestburg Scout Reservation sponsored by our friends at Bisquick: The miracle powder!

Time to unpack, clean the gear and get ready for the next adventure - and head to the store and stock up on some more Bisquick!

2012 Asbury Park Zombie Walk

What better way to celebrate October and Halloween then dressing up as a zombie, right? Well that's exactly what we did at the 5th Annual Asbury Park Zombie Walk.

These shenanigans have been going on for the last few years ever since some suburban mom got fed up with boring Halloween costumes in her town every year. So, she decided to get a bunch of friends together, and really, really, really get into the spirit of Halloween by dressing up as the undead and terrorizing her family, friends and neighbors on Halloween night.

Of course, everyone thought it was a brilliant idea, and like...well, a zombie outbreak, thousands now get together in various places around the country every year to do their own Zombie Walk. Whether its the fact that most of Asbury Park already looks like the zombie apocalypse happened or because of the not-quite-right-in-the-head people who frequent the area, Asbury Park is the home of the largest (and possibly only) zombie walk in New Jersey. A few years ago they actually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest gathering of zombies in the country, and every year they manage to bring more and more people.

This year, we were 5 of 15,000 zombies.

Actually, its a pretty interesting experience. Keeping in mind that if it happens, you will become a zombie no matter what you are doing at the time, and this makes for quite the interesting cross section of the American zombie. Obviously we were the undead Boy Scout Troop, but there were also (in no particular order):

• Elvis
• Girl Scouts
• Ghostbusters
• police
• firemen
• K-9 search and rescue
• Bride & Groom
• American Gothic (the painting)
• chefs
• various characters from zombie and horror films
• mental patients (though I think some of these may have been actual escaped patients)
• Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera

Well, you get the picture.

Believe it or not, we were the talk of the walk. Everyone wanted to take their picture with us, and I'm not sure if its because we were a complete, cohesive concept of a costume with more than two people, or if its because of the Scout that was with us.

Because what happens when you take the (at least this is the general consensus in the troop) best looking of us all and glue a giant fake bolt on his forehead and cover him in blood?

Apparently, the zombie girls swoon.

But the highlight for me was not the amount of attention we were getting (which I think was great for Scouting as well as the troop) but for the quote of the day: "Boy Scouts!? Awe man, I thought they were supposed to survive this thing!"

Pictures are here.

2012 Fall Court of Honor

Our season always starts off with our annual Fall Court of Honor. Every year, this event allows us to award all the merit badges and rank advancements that happened over the summer at camp, as well as an opportunity to discuss the events and shenanigans that happened at camp, and what is coming up in the troop's schedule for the year with all the parents and family of our Scouts.

This past summer we had 5 Scouts attend, with the awarding of over 30 merit badges combined with 5 partial completion of merit badges for Astronomy, and one rank advancement for Mike "Foot" Kane to Second Class.

We also showed our friends and family the award that, in combination with Troop 222, Troop 101 won for the weekly Water Carnival at Camp Turrell - the Silver Oar Award for Second Place!

This is actually more of an achievement than it appears. Troop 101 had 5 Scouts, while Troop 222 had all of 3 Scouts (now you know why they combined us into one team). For a total of 8 Scouts competing against troops not only twice their size numerically but also physically, second place is quite the accomplishment!

We ended the night with a new tradition (but my personal favorite) of having all the boys stand in front of the room and tell their families not only what they did at camp, but answer questions about their favorite part of camp, or merit badge, or what they learned, if it was fun, etc. etc. Why is this my favorite part? Because its amazing how quickly a chatty little Scout all the rest of the time clams up once he's in front of a group people! We actually have grandparents drive 5 hours just to see that part of the night!

It was great night of recognizing the hard work of our scouts, and also having a little fun - and maybe embarrassing them a little to. Troop 101 - proving once again that we work hard and play a little bit harder.

Unfortunately, we've had so much going on this year (and its only October!) that we're still sifting through photos. I'll get them up as soon as I can.