In October, we braved the elements for a wilderness survival campout. Perhaps the greatest hardship encountered was the burn ban. Certainly the adult leaders and their waistlines appreciated missing a couple of meals. Everyone survived, and each of us was reasonably protected from the severe weather (low temp overnight was 65 degrees...) Okay, so maybe it wasn't an extreme test of our survival skills. But a successful campout nonetheless!
In the month of November, members of our troop went to Waco and participated in Baylor University's annual Merit Badge College. This took place over the course of two weekends. By all reports, it was a worthwhile way to spend the two weekends.
The weekend before Thanksgiving, it was time for our annual "Iron Chef" campout. This is usually one of our most popular campouts, and despite the prediction of wet weather, the turnout was great and not impacted by the forecasts. Will Woodard did a great job of incorporating an orienteering exercise into the campout.
An unforeseen element that ended up being worked into the campout was Robert Stein's 3-pound bag of Haribo Gummi Bears! (See photo above.) A photo of desserts featuring these delectable gelatinous delights is featured on the homepage of this website. In fact this was the winning entry for presentation. Best dessert was the Mississippi Mud Pie, and best main course were chicken sandwiches garnished with bacon strips. Ah, heaven!
Despite severe caking of mud on everyone's shoes from the dense rainshowers that started in the afternoon and continued into the evening, everyone had fun preparing their entrees/entries for the competition. We had some guest parents come out to sample some of the meals, as well. The next morning, we went through the exercise of getting everything moved back to AUMC, and equipment was then sent home with scouts to get everything dried out and cleaned up. At least, that was the intent...
Before breaking for the Holidays, we had our usual indoor December activity, coordinated by Charlie Patchen, which was a climbing lock-in at the Summit Gym in Grapevine. Nearly all the boys participating earned the climbing merit badge. A very successful event that I bet will reappear on the schedule in the future!
It was great to see the turnout for our end-of-semester potluck dinner on December 8. It reminded me how grateful we are for such generous support from our scouts' families. We would not be able to put on this program without it. Thanks in particular to the members of the Troop Committee for all of their contributions! We have another exciting semester of activities lined up beginning in January, and even before that commences, there is Winter Camp between Christmas and New Years! Happy Holidays to all, and a joyous New Year!
J.D. Bondy