Getting B from camp

As I posted previously, last week B was at Boy Scout Camp.  On Friday, the rest of the family went to see him.  The camp is Tomahawk Scout Reservation in Wisconsin.  It is about two and one half hours from home.  The pick-up time was Saturday morning but there was a Court of Honor meeting and campfire on Friday night that was open to family and visitors.  Another family in the troop (the parents of B's tent-mate) has a cabin in the general area.  We stayed with them Friday night and then retrieved B in the morning.

I'm glad we made the effort to see the camp Friday afternoon.  By Saturday morning, the boys had removed all signs that they were ever there.  But on Friday, things were still laid out as they had been all week.  We found B hustling about with some other boys, busily cleaning up a dining area.  When he saw us, he was all smiles.  It was evident that he'd had a good week.  He was wearing a new hat which he made certain we noticed.  The hat identified him as a member of the camp's "dimeclub".  He explained that to become a member of the dimeclub you had to fire seven rounds from a rifle at a target such that all seven hit the target within the circumference of a dime.  Given that he'd never handled any sort of firearm before camp, we were impressed.  We're still not certain what to do with this new-found skill - I haven't seen any summer job postings for snipers.

B wasn't just shooting rifles for recreation; he was working on a rifle merit badge.  After telling me about the dimeclub, he gave an excruciatingly detailed account of how to clean a rifle.  I am continually impressed with how much information he absorbs and retains.  He worked on four merit badges and had a wealth of information on each topic.  There are some tools that he used while working on his woodcarving badge that he would like to buy.  I like the fact that even though he's already earned the badge, he is still interested in continuing with the carving.  He's been like that with all his merit badges thus far.  Earning the badge has been the beginning of a new interest, not something checked off a list.  I think that's how it should be.

B was surprisingly cleaner looking than we expected.  The boys were in their uniforms for the Friday night meeting and they all looked pretty good.  The schedule for Friday morning involves a lot of swimming which I suspect is an attempt to clean them up a bit before they go home.  The camp has showers but they seem to be primarily used by the adults.  When I picked B up Saturday morning, I only really noticed one obvious sign of grime - his socks.  I wasn't sure if they were supposed to be gray or not.  I remarked that it looked like he hadn't changed them all week.  He looked mildly offended and explained that he had, indeed, changed his socks once, on the second day - making this day seven for this pair.

It is good to have him home again.  He wears his hat often and is only too willing to explain its meaning.