-Will J. & Jeremy B.
Last Month was full of excitement. The Troop went to the Spring Camporee where they faired pretty well. The troop earned a total of twelve ribbons. There was an eventful trek to Camp Old Indian with HA last week. This proves once and for all that we have the best chefs in the troop. The troop went on a adopt-a-highway and cleaned up the road for the community. Daniel Zelmer had his Eagle project and it was a big success. The OA had a Spring Fellowship and our chapter is still the coolest. Last but not least, Merit Badge University was held and many attended.
-Various
It’s the time of the year again for Summer-camp signups. If you plan on going, sign up on the sheet on the bulletin board. As of the end of the meeting April 14, there were 10 signed up. Hurry people! Sign up! -CH
Remember to come to the PLC if you are a patrol leader, guide, scribe, ASPL, or SPL. You control the troop. They are on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month. VOTE! -JB
Camporee Campout Review
-Jeremy B.
This campout is probably out of your mind by now, but when I wrote this it was still fresh in my mind, in fact today is the Monday after the campout. I am, of course, talking about the 2004 Camporee. I hope this review won’t offend you: this is completely opinionated. Anyway enough with the disclaimers, here’s the review.
If you glanced at the results of the campout, you might think that it was a complete success, Troop 159 won 12 ribbons including best campsite, we had two new scouts in our troop attend, and Jeremy B. was acting SPL. For me, however, this campout was just average. Normally Camporees don’t bother me, even though I do prefer the regular campouts, but there was just something off about this one. First off, most of the events were uninspired. I thought that the idea of having a cooking themed Camporee would work; I mean the Cook-offs in the troop are always a blast, but the events felt kind of bland, they needed to be spiced up (no pun intended). There were just WAY TOO MANY EGGS. If I ever see an egg again it will be too soon. I did enjoy the volleyball and basketball (we murdered the other team). The campfire wasn’t that great either, other that the Ram’s skit the whole fire was bland with bad acting even for boy scouts. They even somehow messed up Bad Actors, a surefire way to entertain; without Brent and me, it didn’t feel right. I have to admit though that 320 did a pretty good job for the time that they had to put the thing together.
Outside of the events the campout was OK. One thing that most of the scouts enjoyed that I just couldn’t was the “You got peeled! You got chaired! You got tented!” In fact this was a funny premise: LAST CAMPOUT. I admit that I started the whole “You got peeled” thing last campout, but I thought it would have been one of my random catch phrases that just die. I did enjoy the food for the most part, the Ram’s steak was pretty good and so were the French fries. I promised that I wouldn’t get into it, but I burnt my hand after somebody was being stupid and that was definitely a bad. Sunburns stink, but they aren’t the end of the world and I don’t want to hear everyone complain about the sunburn on the back of their neck. I know it hurts, but get over it; everyone has to go through it.
I’m going to try and devote a whole paragraph to goods, because up to this point I have been mostly negative. The new Patrol Leaders and Guides did a very good job for their first trip, and I was very impressed. There was very good weather and no rain. The campsite looked great and with a few exceptions, it was clean. We did get a ton of awards, much more that I expected. The new Vikings were great and behaved better than most of our older scouts (I don’t know if that’s good or bad). Without a doubt the new patrol arrangements are working and I didn’t see much conflict between people of the same patrol.
There were some good points on this trip, but for the most part it wasn’t that great for me. I hate to start off with a bad review, but I got to do it.
4 out of 10
HA Spring Break Campout Review
-Jeremy B.
Oh, Mr. Colvin! You and your High Adventure! I applaud you! Not only are you one of the coolest baldheaded, spandex-wearing war veterans that I have ever met, but you supply this troop with some good, old fashioned High Adventure excitement.
As you probably know, eleven boys and five adults went on the annual High Adventure Spring Break Trek. This year we went to Camp Old Indian for some good old HA time. I am very glad that this campout happened because I didn’t want to leave you with one bad review. This was a good campout. It would almost be impossible for it not to be, all we did was shoot stuff and play sports. It had all the elements needed for a good campout.
First off, there was little imposed on you, but tons of stuff to do. There was an illusion of slacking off, but in fact, a lot was at work. Above the campsite was the Archery and Rifle ranges. There were plenty of shotguns, bows, arrows, and targets. Below the ranges were the fields where (as the homeboys say) we got our game on. Scouts were seen playing volleyball, football, and capture the flag and riding bikes. On the second to last day, there was a short five-mile hike to the top of Old Indian Mountain. Not only this, but there was plenty of time to play cards or just lounge.
In fact, what I love about the Spring Break treks is the absence of the normal distractions in regular campouts. There are no skills to learn, no Vikings to teach, we just get strait to the meat and bones of the fun. This applies double to last year’s High Adventure trip, which I will admit was better than this year’s. There isn’t that much that needs to be explained that will show you how great this campout is, it was just a good time, no more needs to be clarified. Great Weather, Great Church Service, Good Campfire.
Now onto everyone’s favorite part: BADS. I’d like to mention food right off the bat. The food inhaled sharply. A certain someone (Will D.) didn’t buy right. We will leave it at that. As I said before, this campout was not as good as last Spring Break, and I believe there is only one reason for this. Last Spring Break had the likes of Steve and David S., Locke B., Robert, Brian, Sean B, and many other Older-Older scouts. This campout was missing Sean O, David S., Robert, Greg, and the rest of the older scout regulars. Some of the Younger-Older Scouts did not pay attention when they were spoken to, however most of them were obedient.
It was a great trek, but last Spring Break it was not. With that I give it an…
8 out of 10
Horoscope
-Colin H.
Horoscope for everyone: If you do not give Colin H. Five Dollars at the next meeting, rabid monkeys will attack you when you are least expecting it.
Jan. – The word ($) will appear as a money sign inside parentheses to you.
Feb. – Do not eat pasta. The sauce will get into your eyes and sting them.
Mar. – Mickey and Minnie Mouse will haunt your dreams.
Apr. – Next time you hold a pencil while standing on one foot outside, a falling tuba will hit you.
May – If you divide your locker number by your IQ and round it to the nearest half, you will get your shoe size.
June – Facing a stop sign in your bathroom will give you good luck.
July – Beware of clowns with three eyes during normal working hours (Also watch for clowns working overtime).
Aug. – Snoop Dog will attack you.
Sept. – If you smash a lamp with 2 light bulbs on your refrigerator, your leys and arms will become unscrewable and tradable.
Oct. – Your television goes to sleep at 11:00 AM and wakes up at 4:00 AM. If you try to watch TV while it is sleeping, it will cuss at you through the speaker.
Nov. – The next time you go to KFC, your chicken won’t be dead quite yet. Either wait until it’s dead, set it free, or keep it as a pet.
Dec. – The stars favor your chances of successfully raiding mystical creatures such as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Mr. Colvin with hair, etc. When they come.
Skits
–Jeremy B.
Every campfire, every campout, and every month I see the same old skits and the same old bad acting. You’ve never been to acting school or have been taught how to make people laugh. You can, however, appear like you have an understanding of your art. I would like to give you an example of a person that puts on good skits, Brent. I am here today to teach you how to put on good skits like Brent.
Lesson number 1: Speak up. This one is the most basic of all the acting tools. Most people do not speak loudly enough and no one can understand you. Last campout there was a skit with some younger scouts who might have been hilarious; except they were quiet no one could hear them. It’s important to speak loudly, but don’t yell. I just wanted to make that clear.
Lesson number 2: Know your part. Do not, I repeat, do not ever wait until you get up on stage to learn your part. Practice the skit before the campfire so you can tweak your part and memorize all the things you need too. You don’t have to know the part word for word, just get a general idea so you know what to do. It looks really unprofessional if you ask people what you have to say while on stage.
Lesson number 3: Keep the jokes coming. Do you know why “Bad Actors” is a favorite of the troop? It is because there is no one punch line. You do not have to wait three minutes for a lame joke or silly pun. An example that proves my point is the way every one cheers when they hear “Bad Actors” is coming up and groans when they hear the “Lawnmower Skit” is coming up. That makes a good transition to my next lesson…
Lesson number 4: Don’t repeat skits. I’ve done it. You’ve done it. We do the same skits over and over again. I would like to refer to the “Bad Actors” and “Lawnmower” skits again. Everyone has seen both skits tons of times in the past, but the thing that separates these two skits is that “Bad Actors” changes every time and the “Lawnmower Skit” is always identical with the same joke. We have a skit book: use it!
Lesson number 5: Improvise. Sometimes the funniest thing in a skit is when the actors just are themselves and make up jokes as they go along. This is very similar to my next lesson…
Lesson number 5½: HAVE FUN! Skits are supposed to be fun for not only the audience, but the actors, too.
Planning Menus
-Jeremy B.
I am about to show you the formula for planning menus and how this whole troop is wrong. Saturday breakfast is either pancakes or eggs with either bacon or sausage. Saturday lunch is sandwiches or Raman noodles with chips. Saturday Dinner is usually a wildcard. Sunday breakfast is cereal or cereal. You know its true and you see it every single campout and I am here to encourage Patrol leaders to spice up the menus and have a little variety. How about for breakfast you have fried potatoes or French toast or (even though I personally hate it) grits. For lunch you could always cook something different like hotdogs or cheeseburgers. Not every campout has to be the same. Most of the time you have over an hour to cook and eat, why not take a little more time to make better meals and make the campouts more memorable? Maybe we should have more cooking competitions or just encourage a higher price for meals like nine dollars each instead of the usual seven.
Merit Badges
-Jeremy B.
Had it not been for Mr. Colvin and Mr. Hollar, I would still be a First Class Scout without enough merit badges to make it to the next rank. Most Scouts in this troop, myself included, just wait until Summer Camp or a merit badge class to earn a merit badge. In fact when I look at my merit badge sash, out of 24 merit badges, 15 are from Summer Camp, 6 are from Adult taught classes, 2 are from Merit Badge College, and only 1 is from me working on my own. Unless you couldn’t guess, that merit badge is Public Speaking, a merit badge that I earned because I taught it.
I wrote this to encourage you to get off your butt and pick up a merit badge book. Our Librarian is getting free Leadership time for doing nothing. The object of Scouting is to develop skills and merit badges zoom in on specific skills and teach you how to do these talents. Don’t wait until you are seventeen to get all of your merit badges for Eagle, you have to start now!
Do you want your articles, recipes, jokes, or stories added to the Eagle? Just want to make a suggestion or comment? Email Jeremy and he’ll help you out.
The Eagle is Jeremy B., Will J., Colin H., Blake M., and Matt S.