August 29-30, 2009

Saturday was Show And Do outdoor skills training. There were sessions on cooking, camping, backpacking, Venturing, and knots. I was in the trading post for the bulk of the time but had a chance to attend a couple of the sessions.

I gave some tours of the Beoger Leadership Lodge to anyone that wanted to stay after Show And Do was over. One new addition was the acquisition of some barn wood by Carol Zarnstorff to use as trim in the Great Room

Sunday was a round of Miniature Golf organized by Sycamore District.

Wood Badge & A Century of Values

Last weekend was the start of Wood Badge C-54-09. Scoutmaster Tom Siefken and this staff have a great bunch of participants with which to work. We had a good time in the kitchen even though it takes us away from the regular course activity.

While we were there we checked out samples of the exterior lighting fixtures to see how they match the Boeger Leadership Center.

Tuesday Ed Allen and I went to Rockford and the Kealing-Puri Peace Plaza to welcome Team 9 of Detroit Area Council and their traveling “A Century of Values” tour. The Detroit Area Council is traveling the country to present a copy of the mural to every council. We had a good turn out of supporters along with two television stations, channels 13 and 23, and a representative from one of the local radio stations. Copies of the mural are being offered and can be ordered through the council office.

Then we were out to the Boeger Leadership Lodge to measure bed space. We selected bunk beds from a company named Rocky Top to match the décor of the building. Because of the construction the beds are a little larger than typical and we had to measure to determine how many we can fit into the bedrooms. The building continues to progress with interior painting and staining underway.

Tomorrow is a trip out to Show and Do, our training event for scout leaders that focuses on outdoor skills and high adventure.

This Week - August 17

Monday the Boeger Leadership Center committee met and finalized a budget for finishing the interior of the lodge. It is getting close to the point were we can start looking at furnishing the bunk houses, kitchen, etc.

Tuesday was a reception for Chuck Walneck who was recently awarded the Silver Buffalo, the highest award the BSA bestows. It was a great event with a number of Chuck's former scouts in attendance. Locally we know how much Chuck means to our council, but his efforts are national in scope and is a very deserving recipient of the award. Thanks to John Inman for arranging the reception and Jim Boeger for sponsoring the event. Jack Ward, my Wood Badge Scoutmaster, served as the MC for the evening.

Tonight is the Executive Committee meeting and then down to Lowden to work in the kitchen for the Wood Badge course. It's sort of a tradition where past course directors assist in the kitchen. It allows the staff to focus on the course and not have to allocate some of the limited number of staff members to kitchen duties.

Venturing Summer Camp & OA Conclave

Last week I mentioned being at Venturing Summer Camp and writing about that. I got some pictures to use from the Unti’s. The summer camp is held at Canyon Camp and is designed specifically for Venturers and older Boy Scouts. The camp is open for many of the normal camp activities like swimming, crafts, and shooting sports (including the new paint ball range) but also has activities geared toward being able to complete the Venturing Bronze award (e.g. First Aid, Leave No Trace, and Land Navigation requirements). There are also opportunities to go canoeing on the Mississippi, taking a day long bike ride, and a hike/float through the Apple Canyon River. The Venturers all had a great time. My thanks to Crews 957 and 159 for allowing my crew to join with them for the week.

Caving
Volleyball with homemade net.

Founders Hike through Apple River

Canoe trip.

Several staffers foolishly tried to capture the Zip Zip Bird and paid the price.

Canyon Camp presents an award to a unit based upon participation and enthusiasm. This year the award went to Crew 957.


This weekend was the Order of the Arrow Conclave for Wulapeju Lodge and was held at Canyon Camp. For those of you not yet familiar with the OA, it is a society of honor campers elected by their units after fulfilling certain requirements. The new candidates go through and “Ordeal” following which they become Ordeal Members. This takes Friday night and most of Saturday to complete. The rest of the members work on service projects to benefit the camp in the morning and in the afternoon have different instructional sessions and some free time to go swimming or play kickball. Other OA members work to become Brotherhood members by going through a process to learn about the traditions of the Order of the Arrow. Brotherhood members are eligible to be nominated for the Vigil Honor. It was my great honor to be nominated this year and I spent Friday night doing my Vigil along with the other nominees including Don Reiss, Rick Rhoads, and our Lodge Chief Dan Dick. At dinner Saturday we were presented with our certificates which contain our new Indian names. I was given the name Amendchewagan Milcemosswagon which means Solid Minded Worker.

OA members at the Saturday evening flag ceremony.

Free time kickball.

Providing cheerful service to the camp.

Father Mac conducts mass.

A Century of Values

On August 25 at 10:00 am the Detriot Area Council will be in our council to present us with a copy of the mural “A Century of Values”. The Detroit Area Council commissioned the mural and is traveling across the country presenting copies to every council. The presentation will be in Rockford at the Keeling-Puri Peace Plaza at Riverside and McFarland. Copies of the mural and patches will be available for purchase at the event.

For more information and to see the mural, go to: http://www.acenturyofvalues.org/.

August 6, 2009

We had a McHenry County Distinguished Citizens Dinner planning meeting in the morning. The dinner is really shaping up to be another great event this November.

Then it was out to Camp Lowden to help with the storage closets in the maintenance building. Rick Rhoads started by adding a couple of closets for NYLT and Wood Badge storage. Dave Savone and others framed three additional closet spaces to finish out the side. Two will be for summer camp storage. On Thursday Dave Savone, Don Reis, Steve James, and Jim Zeigler were adding the roof portion so there can be additional storage on top for larger items.

As things were going pretty well, Dave added a new rack for the paddles and oars since the old one was about to fall apart.

After finishing the work for the day Dave and I stopped at the Boeger Leadership Lodge. Wow, what a difference a few days makes. With the stain on the outside and the area being graded it really looked great.

Then it was off to Canyon Camp to be with my Crew for the last couple of days of the Venturing Summer Camp. More tomorrow on that.

2013 National Jamboree

This is a setback. A note on the National Capital Area Council website.

"National Scout Jamboree Site Selection Withdrawn
We regret to inform you that the Boy Scouts of America has decided to withdraw its interest in Goshen Scout Reservation as the permanent site for the National Scout Jamboree. The BSA identified too many potential obstacles in developing the Goshen site to its fullest and is pursuing other venues.
The National Capital Area Council will continue to support the outstanding outdoor programs offered at Goshen Scout Reservation. This process has identified many areas that offer great potential in strengthening our service to youth. Goshen Scout Reservation will continue to serve as our council’s classroom for character far into the future.
We appreciate your support during this long and interesting process."

This will make it difficult to find a suitable location and get the infrastructure in place by 2013.

Boy Scout Handbook

Look what I got at the service center yesterday. It comes with a Centennial Timeline pamphlet that has some pretty good graphics.

August 1 Trek

Today Mary and I took a drive out to Camp Lowden with Bill Reilly and his son, and new Eagle Scout, Billy to do some measuring for trim and counting light fixtures at the Boeger Leadership Lodge. While out at camp I ran into Rick Sanner who was out for the weekend supporting one of the Scoutreach Troops that was conducting their first campout at Camp Lowden. They were getting to do some shooting sports when we saw the group. We also had the start of the Wolf/Bear summer camp overnight. It looked like a lot of activities planned.

We are looking to add some barn wood as trim in certain areas. If you have barn wood to donate or know of someone who would be willing to donate some please drop me a note.

The display loft and the projector screen alcove with dry wall hung.

Kitchen washing area.

Youth bunk room with dry wall hung.

Railing around deck on east side.