Pictures and Thanks

Hi gang, I noticed on some systems, the right side of the pictures are clipped. Sorry, I fixed them on the web here so you can see the whole picture without clicking on it. these are pretty low resolution pictures scaled for the web, if you want to download or print one, go to the flickr link below.

 I need to take a minute to thank so many people who made this a great week at camp…the dads who attended camp did all the heavy lifting by running the training, medical issues, achievements, service projects, quartermaster issues, and our campfire program. Without the strong involvement of all 11 dads who took a week off work to help at camp we would have achieved far less.

Our Scouts did a great job leading and following. Leaders of patrols and the troop learned a lot about setting standards and motivating people. Followers learned much about being team players. Their efforts earned Clean Camper Award, Honor Patrols for all 5 patrols, and Honor Troop for the troop.

WELL DONE!!

Bill Andrews

PS: All My Photos from Camp are posted on Flickr. CLICK HERE or on the FLICKR link below on the right. I’ve upload the full hi-res versions so you can print-edit as you desire.

Final Update

Hello 681 parents, We’re having a great day, mid-70’s blue sky. Here are some final pictures before we return home tomorrow. We should be home around 2 PM.

James had a special wakeup for his birthday this AM. (BTW, this tent DID pass inspection 40 minutes later) 

Brothers

 

Fingerprinting was a popular (1 hour!) merit badge. What career is this prep for?? 

All the patrols completed service projects:

 While the leaders did strategic planning:

 Spirits are high as merit badges are completed…

 

Mark Jarvis taught a “totin chip” class, and the Cobras are now legal to carry knives.

Several scouts worked on rock climbing this week….here our leaders are helping:

 

 This was the result: a “leap of faith” where our boys could dare to try.

 

and grow in many ways.

 Bill

Thurs Update

Hello T681 Moms and Dads,

 We had a fine Wed and Thurs is off to  a good start. It’s hot and very humid today, and all are drinking lots of water.

the Cobras are learning a lot from the great Dan Beard staff in their first year at camp:

It’s great to have some brothers at camp this year: Big C and Little C at lunch:

 Poker is still popular as ever before bed,

As well as the ever-popular camp store! (although funds are getting scarce by now):

We didn’t place very highly at the water carnival, but the kids had fun.

This afternoon, many patrols will be finishing their service projects, and we’ll be doing a troop service project.

The food’s still been great, and all are eating well. Night time has settled down a lot, and all are on a good trajectory—as the week progresses, the boys lead more and more activities and the leaders get to be less “hands on”!

Behavoirs have been very good throughout the troop. A few scouts have had to write me two-page essays on the scout law, which has been very helpful keeping everybody on the right track as we enjoy our last two days at Ockanickon. I’m very proud of the progress I’ve seen in skills, self-reliance, leadership, teamwork, and conduct this week!

 Bill

More Pix from Wed

Wed started out well with a tasty Breakfast of French toast and bacon….maybe not so good for our senior scouts??

Perhaps more popular with the other patrols……

And definitely good with the junior scouts and leaders!!!

Falcons are cool:

Hawks are happy to be getting fed

Same for the Knights and Arrows:  

Today the troop competition was a “one match” firebuilding challenge,

Which brought out the best (and channelled!) our pryomaniacal tendencies (under supervision of course)

All the patrols worked on service projects in between other fun camp activities.

Tonight all are looking forward to the water carnival!

No health problems in camp–all are happy, eating well, and having fun….

’till tomorrow,

 Bill

Wed Update

Good Afternoon T681 parents, the troop is in a groove, splitting time between merit badges, pool, and having fun at the campsite playing catch, cards, or working on fire skills.

Thunderstorms threatened Tues PM, but all slid by to the north or south! 

  Pond next to our campsite and T-storm.

the Hawks had some neatness gaps in their tent area, so they “voluneered” to set up a dining fly in case of evening rain.

The Beavers were supposed to help the Hawks with their vast experience with ropes, knots and canvas, but they had to call in Mr Cobert for engineering advice.

 But all were proud of the final results

 the Troop has been looking good at retreat ceremony each evening,

And can’t wait for dinner immediately afterwards! (waiting for the doors to open)

 

Hawks rounded off the Evening with a great campfire!

 We had a bit of rain at about 4 AM, but stayed dry inside our tents.

Tuesday at Ockanickon

Hello from Ockanickon,

Troop 681 is having a great Tuesday. Last night (Monday), the Cobras and others going after the swimming badge did clothing inflation in the pool…Mr Cobert lifeguarded the event and helped all 72 scouts make it through their ordeal on how to survive falling overboard.

Falcons then hosted a fantastic campfire at our site. Skits, jokes and cheers were followed by s’mores supplied by Mr Jackson.

Almost on cue, there were rumblings of thunder and a few drops of rain right at lights out time at 10:30 PM. This did a much better job scooting the scouts into their tents than the bellowing of the scoutmasters. The thunderstorm skirted by our camp to the north, but by then all the scouts were out cold.

I may have to buy some subwoofers for our van for the rest of the week–turn on some rumbling sounds at about 10:25 each night to get people settled in.

Tues AM was smooth, Jeff Hamilton’s Cobras had the best looking site in camp and aced the morning inspection…our youngest patrol set a great standard for the troop. Messiest site was captured by the Hawks–maybe they have too many dads in camp! Our scouts have been pretty well focused on merit badges, a few malingerers were caught in camp after lunch and sent on to their Merit Badge classes.

Knights/Arrows–Working on T681’s unofficial merit badge: “Poker!” 

 

Hawks at Canoeing

 Falcons at Canoeing Merit Badge

 Nick Choppa leading the troop to Dinner on Monday

 All the scouts are healthy. One had some bug bites on Monday night that settled down with benadryl, one had an upset stomach at Mon PM dinner, and was down in the mouth after losing his knife. I’m amazed at the lack of homesickness evident around the troop.

 

Food has been great as usual at Ockanickon.

You can see from this picture of Mr Harvey: it’s all work, work, work at camp for the leaders.

Bill

Monday Afternoon Update

Hello from Ockanickon,

 Our Scouts got many merit Badges underway this afternoon, some were a little dull, since the first day covers many safety topics. Temperatures have been cooler than last year, probably in the high 80s.

Magic Cards have been attraction for several of our scouts

 

Victor Launched a fire-building competition to help as an outlet for our scout’s pyrotechnical interests.

  (click for bigger image)

Many of our scouts headed to the pool during open swim periods to cool off!

All are healthy and happy.

Bill 

Monday AM update:

Quite a few Knights/Arrows/and Hawks got off to an early start with the Polar Bear Swim at 7AM, We inspected camp at 7:45–appearance was generally pretty good, although we had a lot of trash (wrappers mostly) that needed collecting.The Cobras (our 6th graders) had the best looking tents, great job putting the pressure on the rest of the troop!

Breakfast started out with a bang: Choc Chip Pancakes, Sausages, and fruit. Robert Cobert got the leaders going with 2 different flavors of coffee brewed at our campsite–a great alternative to the mess hall’s.

The boys all departed breakfast for merit badge classes. and are learning lots.

Bill

Sunday Evening Update

Troop 681 arrived safely at Ockanickon on Sunday afternoon at 3 PM. It sounds like Burger King was a popular stop on the way up.

We did a camp orientation, processed through medical checks, then took a swimming test. The first afternoon can be summarized by “hurry up and wait!” Like here in the Medical processing line:

Food started off on a popular note at about 6:30PM with hot dogs, hamburgers, beans, ice cream and brownies on Sunday Evening. Hand Washing is an emphasis item at Camp due to the virus this summer:

Dinner was followed up by the opening campfire where the staff “entertained” us (I use this term generously) with several skits.

We settled into our campsite “Mohawk” It’s pretty spread out, with little clusters for each patrol. Nick Choppa did a teriffic job leading a patrol leaders council, getting our boy leadership up and running!

Lights were out (in theory) at around 10:15 PM, although I made further rounds at 1100PM breaking up a bull session in the Hawk patrol, a card game at the Falcons, a Magic game at our senior scout patrol (Vikings, Beavers, Rangers), and some running around at the Arrows/Knights. Knight/Arrow gabbing had to be reigned in a few times after that, but quieted down after the promise of permanent latrine duty at around 12:45 AM

Bill

Last Minute Camp Reminders

Please arrive at the scout house at 9:30 on Sunday AM so we can:

- Pass out T-shirts
- Collect $20 for gas, $8 for T-shirts
- Collect Medical Forms — IMPORTANT– without medical forms, we can’t go to camp
- Collect Troop Permission form

*All scouts need to be dressed in their class-A shirts coming and going to camp. Take metal pins, attachments off
*For those with totin’ chits and fireman’s chits, please bring them so you can carry your knife and participate in fire-building. If you don’t have them, we’ll offer training during the week. If you had them but can’t find them, you can take a test to get another.

If you have any problems, I’ll have my cell phone at the scout house in the AM, 703-638-5915. See you Sunday!

Bill

Camp Money Questions

Parents and Scouts attending Ockanickon:

Please bring

$20 to cover gas and tolls for the round trip to Camp Ockanickon. The $20 will be collected on Sunday morning before we depart.

$8 for each T-shirt you signed up for most scouts and leaders signed up for one T-shirt. If you wanted to sign up but forgot, we will have extras available Sunday morning before we depart.

Optional:

$6-8 Troop Photo
$5 Scuba orientation
$30 BSA Scuba
$?? Extra money for candy/handicrafts/goodies/t-shirts/hats from the trading post ($30 is typical)

Norovirus Outbreak at Ockanickon

Dear Scouts and Parents,

You might have heard that there was a stomach virus outbreak at camp this summer. attached below is an AP news release.

For the latest from the camp staff, please check the camp website http://www.ockanickon.org/

The Camp director posted Ockanickon’s latest  health situation at this link (Camp has been sanitized and has re-opened as of 1 July). This suggests that if all stays good, we’ll be able to go as scheduled.

Bill Andrews

Please see below for two news articles on the outbreak at camp 

Forms Needed For Camp

Mandatory–without these forms your scout cannot go to camp:

- Medical Forms Class 1/2 for scouts and leaders under 40 years,
- Medical Forms Class 3 for leaders 40 years old and up
- Medication Permission for scouts bringing medication to camp
- Troop Permission Form (Troop 681 insurance and medical info needed for camp)

Optional Permission forms (depend on activity):

- Rock Climbing (for those wanting to earn the climbing merit badge, in case the weather is
   bad and the staff elects to go to the indoor climbing gym Rock Climbing Permission  
- BSA Scuba ($30 scuba orientation):  Scuba Permission
- Horse Riding Merit Badge Program:  Riding Permission
- Delaware River Outdoor Program (week-long canoe trip) DROP Permission

Notes on Medications at Camp

Medications must be secured in the camp Health Lodge and dispensed under the supervision of our Health Officer. ALL MEDICATIONS MUST EITHER BE IN THE ORIGINAL CONTAINER OR ACCOMPANIED WITH A DOCTOR SIGNED PRESCRIPTION FORM.

Prescription Medications Campers May Keep With Them

Most fast-acting medications that provide significant treatment may be kept on the camper such as Epi-Pens, fast-acting inhalers, nitroglycerin pills and anything else approved by the Health Officer. A camper with one of these must still complete a Medications in camp form.

Prescription Medication

All other medication must be submitted to the health lodge and must include the name of the medication and the dosage instructions for each medication. If possible, prescription medication should come in the pharmacy-supplied container as it contains all required information. Multiple medications must be individually packaged with name and dosage instructions and then placed in a larger zip-top bag labeled with the camper’s name, troop and council. Please recommend that parents not use pill organizers as each medication is checked at dispensation. Pill organizers can greatly slow administering medication.

Over the Counter/Non-Prescription Medication

Any OTC medications sent with a camper must also include name of the medication and dosage instructions. Other OTC medications may be dispensed by the Health Lodge and campers experiencing minor ailments may consult the Health Lodge for assistance. Please leave the Benadryl and analgesics (aspirin, Tylenol, Advil) at home. Doing so will save your unit time on check-in and reduce the number of medications in camp.

Medication Instructions:

Please download and fill in this Medication Permission form. It should be placed into the ziplock with the medications brought to camp.