2004-2005
Camping 2004-2005
Here's a list of where Troop 505 went camping in 2004-2005:
Wolf Creek Park (Livingston)
Camp Strake (Catholic Retreat)
Enchanted Rock
Camp Karankawa (Winter Camp)
Brazos Bend State Park
Camp Strake
Bovay Scout Ranch
Pecan Park Retreat, San Marcos
Buffalo Trail Scout Ranch
Philmont Scout Ranch, Cimarron, New Mexico
Service Hours 2004-2005
Here's a partial list of how Troop 505 Scouts earned service hours in 2004-2005:
SVDP Festival of Ministries (Aug '04)
Provide color guard at Rotary Distinguished Citizen Dinner honoring George Strake (Sep '04)
Construct model train at Sheltering Arms Senior Care Center (Sep '04)
SVDP Fun Fest (Oct '04)
SVDP Parish Mission (Oct '04)
Remove invasive plant species from Hermann Park (Oct '04)
Plant 15 trees in Terry Hershey Park (Nov '04)
Wait/Bus Tables for Knights of Columbus Fish Fry (Fridays during Lent, '05)
Buffalo Trails Scout Ranch - June 2005
Sunday 1:30 a.m. Chartered bus left from St. Vincent de Paul enroute to Buffalo Trails Scout Ranch,"BTSR". William S. was selected as Senior Patrol Leader for summer camp. We stopped for breakfast in Junction around 6:30 a.m. at McDonald's along with two other scout troops from the Woodlands. Most of the scouts and leaders slept, played cards, played video games or just talked about camp during the 12 hour bus ride. We also watched the movie "Rudy" on the bus's tv monitors. The bus driver really "put the pedal to the metal" as he got us to Balmorhea ahead of schedule. We had lunch at La Cueva de Oso Mexican Restaurant. Nobody got sick from the food or the drive!
Sunday 1:00 p.m. Troop 505 arrived at BTSR . We unloaded all our gear from the bus, checked in with all the proper documents, took troop photos, took a tour of the camp with our troop guides and did our BSA swim tests in the coldest water ever! Also, the 4000 ft elevation made it hard to catch your breath.
Sunday 3:00 p.m. We set up camp at the Flaming Arrow site. The camp staffers had already transported our gear from the bus drop-off . That was nice not to have to haul our stuff a long way. The 6" nails worked great for tent stakes since the ground was essentially one big rock. We made good use of the small area , leaving adequate space for the pop up tents, program areas, and troop formations.
Sunday 6:15 p.m. All Troop Assembly was held for flag retirement ceremony. The loudest and most spirited troops were allowed to enter the dining hall first. We didn't go first ... or last, either. The "supper" as the evening meal is called in West Texas was delicious. We had grilled chicken breasts and the peach cobbler for dessert was almost as good as the Dutch Oven Patrol's. After Supper the Phoenix Patrol checked out the required helmets and threw rocks at the abandoned car and metal animal targets at the Rock Range. The mandatory Scout's Own Service was attended by the entire troop in the Chapel. The Senior Patrol meeting and scoutmaster meeting were held after chapel.
Sunday 10:00 p.m.Taps Lights out. Mr. Heath and John H. set up the telescope and Saturn's rings were very visible. The night sky was lit up with an amazing number of stars. The camp commissioner, affectionately dubbed "Frau Eunice", made us move our telescope.
Monday 7:00 a.m. Reveille Everyone was up by 6:30 a.m. and we assembled at 7:00 a.m. in camp for our troop flag raising ceremony and announcements prior to the all troop flag ceremony at 7:15 a.m. at the parade ground. Breakfast was at 7:30 a.m. with the same yelling and lining up by each of the 8 troops.
Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The typical scout program consisted of four Merit badge training sessions in the morning , "dinner," as West Texans call our lunch meal served at 12:30 p.m. , and more merit badge and scout skills sessions held in the afternoon. Time was set aside for free swim, rifle shooting, archery, projects or power naps.
Monday through Friday 6:15 p.m. All troops assemble for closing flag ceremony followed by supper at 6:30 p.m.
Monday 8:00 p,m. The Staff held a campfire program at the amphitheater , a man-made stone semicircle carved into the side of a mountain, just a short walk from our tents. Some of the more memorable skits at the "Redneck Campfire" were "98, 98, 98, ..., 99, 99, 99, ..." "Spinning belt buckle", "Bambi", " Slow motion crime scene video", "Mine's bigger than yours belt", water balloon launcher, and the rednecks playing with sticks from the campfire ( take away their Firem'n Chit cards!) Trevor, Chris, Stephen, Andrew, Nick, Max, Liam, and Mr. Lauten stayed for the 9:00 p.m. Astronomy merit badge course that ended fifteen minutes later because of a sudden rain storm.
Tuesday 5:00 a.m. Wakeup call for all the Horsemanship merit badge participants was made by Mr. Dismuke and Mr. Lauten. Erich, Trevor, Liam, Graham, Andrew, Nick, J.J., and Chris helped the wranglers with the horses' 5:30 a.m. feeding at the Corrals. Mr. Lauten was informed by Mr. Dismuke that the broad band of stars across the sky was the Milky Way, having never seen it before in Houston.
Tuesday 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. In order to qualify for the Pondweed Conservation Award , Troop 505's project was to remove rocks and debris from a recent rock slide in two stalls in the corral to make them ready for the new colt and new calf. In the heat of the day, we picked, raked, shoveled, and wheelbarrowed dirt from one side of the corral to the other. Some related our type of work to the movie "Cool Hand Luke", with the expressions "workin' here boss", and "what we have here is a failure to communicate."
Tuesday 8:15 p.m. The "Redneck Games" troop contest were held. Spare tire bowling, ball on the plywood balance and bunting were a few of the soon to be forgotten games. Prior to the games, the Horsemanship scouts had to muck the stalls at the corrals as part of their merit badge requirements. Yes, shoveling horse manure adds character!
Wednesday Troop 505 was awarded the Troop of the Day and was given the skunkzilla spirit stick. We flew our troop flag at the parade ground and J.J, decorated, or rather, adorned the skunkzilla stick with troop 505 credentials. Mr. Wolz, Mr. Lauten, and Mr. Simpson hiked the Green Trail to Needle Rock after securing the necessary 2 quarts of water and a first aid kit, signing in and getting Jeanene, the High Adventure director to approve of their trek. SPL William organized the troop in cleaning Buffalo Hall and the latrines as part of the conservation project. Mr. Wolz and Mr. Halbach won the dutch oven cobbler contest at the Scoutmaster dinner with their blueberry spice cake cobbler. The salt and pepper shakers and mustard and ketchup "incident" at supper caused many scouts to miss or be late for chapel service. Adrian instructed the new scouts, Julian, Timothy, Alex, Andy, Stephen, and Audley for the next day's flag ceremony.
Thursday Adrian and the new scouts performed the morning's flag raising ceremony and Adrian said the grace before breakfast. The adult leaders, Audley Heath, Erich Wolz, Rudy Dismuke, Tad Halbach , John Lauten, Helen Holm, Paul Simpson, and James DeWitt took various courses in Trek Safely, (200 foot rule) Climb on Safely, Leave no Trace, YPT, New Leader Essentials , and Safe Swim. We completed our conservation program at the corrals. Cameron swam a mile in the morning at the pool and rowed on the lake at Balmorhea State Park for his BSA Lifeguard award. He said the water wasn't too cold in the morning when you're moving around but when you get out you freeze! We ate at the campsite and had sandwiches, stew and cobbler. Most scouts took a shower that night.
Friday There was an outdoor picnic with chili dogs, brats and kraut. "Samurai Dan" served watermelon. There was branding at the quartermaster store. Mr. Wolz, Mr. Lauten , and Nick completed the mile swim. Mr. Simpson and Mr. Heath hiked the Black Trail. Most of the merit badges were completed. The climbing merit badge participants, Erich, Christian, Andrew, Adrian, Bradley, Liam, Chris, and Max rappelled from Graduation Rock in the inverted position. There was a closing campfire and O.A. call out . SPL William accepted the BTSR Pondweed Conservation award on behalf of the troop. The Phoenix patrol got a good laugh with their "Peanuts" skit. Most of the scouts took their tents down and packed up their gear and slept outside under the stars.
Saturday We said goodbye to BTSR at 9:00 a.m. An hour into the trip the A/C on our 57 passenger bus broke down and we were forced to open the ceiling vents for a few hours until the bus driver could find a place to get the A/C working again. We got the A/C to work the rest of the way, saw "Remember the Titans" and "Miracle" ate at two Mc Donald's and still got back to Houston before 10 p.m.
Memories "Door Nazi", Ranger Dan, Black Dog, Choco Taco, Cat, Mama Sophia, Didi, Miles , Savannah, Forbidden Mountain, Jeanene, Richard, Josh, card playing, 5 o'clock wakeup, getting stepped on by a horse, hat and water bottle mandate, shoveling rocks and stuff, hitting the target, wind, heat, dehydration risks, "oooh,ah ? Oooh ah!" and fun.
Troop 505 liked...
"The tomahawk throw and muffins." William
"Riding horses. " Trevor
"Climbing, archery, and the food." Max
"Climbing." John H.
"Rifle and shooting." Julian
"Archery and shooting." Andy H.
"Archery and rifle free shoot." Timothy
"Rifle ,food, and archery." Audley
"mmmm, the food." Michael M.
"Graduation Rock and horses." Graham
"The food!" Bradley
"Rappelling Graduation Rock inverted." Andrew
"Climbing and pottery." Liam
"Climbing, Graduation Rock and the staff for my classes." Christian
"Acquatics was all around best." Cameron
"Climbing." Chris
"Climbing and shooting." Erich
"Climbing." Adrian
Thank you to all the scouts, leaders and staff for making BTSR summer camp so enjoyable.
Remove Invasive Plant Species from Hermann Park
As part of Chris D.'s Eagle project, we successfully removed invasive plants (more than originally called for) and made a major contribution to restoring the natural beauty of the park. Even Saturday's rain didn't dampen our spirits!
