BSA Troop 451, Lewisville, TX

There have been several events that occurred over the past several weeks that have caused me to reflect on the events of my life over these past 12 years in scouting, 18 years at Grace Baptist Church and 20+ years with my children. I can give you more specifics to the church and family, but wanted to focus on scouting in this note. For summer camp this year, we came to the Arapaho campsite as we have for the past several years and there at the head of the dining fly area was a picnic table with a star and Lewisville , Texas router-ed into the center board of the table. This was one of the 2x10s that Troop 451 donated to the camp in 2002 for the old council ring. The camp had asked troops to donate boards rather than sit on the ground for opening camp fire and Wednesday night activities in the old council ring. Bill Webber and I routered a couple boards all those years gone by. I can still remember the hot afternoon and the sawdust all over the place as we worked behi...

Tonight, after a long and excting week, this year's journey comes to an end. We go to the dining hall tonight for dinner, then the scouts who are not involved in Mic-O-Say will attend the closing council fire. The foxmen, who have been silent all day will complete their journey to become Mic-O-Say braves, and the adult foxmen will become Honorary Warriors. The weather for tonight's ceremonies should be spectacular, cool and clear, with temps in the low 70's to upper 60's. Tomorrow morning, we wake up, load the truck, and head for home. We'll be taking home souviners from the trading posts, new achievements and merit badges, and lots of good memories. I'd like to say thanks to the folks at Camp Geiger HQ for all their paitence, hospitality, courtesy and freindship, especially at times in some challenging circumstances. That's all folks, don't forget to tip your waiters on the way out. Tonight's dinner - pulled pork, and mac and cheese. Weather - M...

The nature here in the bluffs of the Missouri River is amazing. The deer footprint above is evidence of the abundance of it around here. The men who are doing the service project by the new shotgun range have seen several turkey, and today at the swimming pool, I was standing there minding my own business, when out of the woods popped this... There are a lot of tired bodies around camp today. Naps seem to be in more than a few people's future. The candidates from last night are doing their daily merit badges as well as working on a service project. The candidates are now called Foxmen, their first status in the tribe of Mic-O-Say. They are not allowed to speak with anyone today, unless of course they are working on a merit badge or a project and need to communicate. Our Foxmen have been treated pretty well by the rest of the boys in the troop as far as they're not trying to make them talk. We spent a lot of time showing you the tapping fire we built. The fire was lit about 8:30...

"I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink..." - John Lennon/Paul McCartney Lots of sleepy eyes around camp this morning. It was long and glorious night. Boys and many of the adults were up until 12 to 1am. The tapping ceremony lived up to all the expectations, and then exceeded them. I'll have a lot to report on that, but first lets' take care of some business from yesterday during dinner. We talked a lot about the King PeeWee contest held after dinner. Leon Jacob was the reigning champ from last year. After careful deliberation throughout the day, and like George Washington, who decided the time he spent in office was enough, Leon decided his reign should end after a year, and would pass on the opportunity to be king to another worthy champion. The young man who stood up was Trey Stevens. The competition was fierce, and Trey weighed in at 69 pounds (although 4 of that was his shoes). But at the end of the day... Trey, brought home the title for troop 451. Hail K...

"Tonight's gonna be a good, good night." - Black Eyed Peas The air is full of excitement. I know it's a cliche, but you can really feel the electricity. Tonight's tapping ceremony? Well , yeah, but...It's time to crown King PeeWee! Last year our own Leon Jacob was the winner, and made his proclomation. This year he's looking to repeat, and he thinks he's got a great shot. We'll let you know later how it turns out. In all seriousness, there is an electric feeling in the air. All the kids, especially those who are in their third year coming here are really starting to feel nervous. It is truly an honor to become a part of the Mic-O-Say organization. It is a program that really gives young people confidence and teaches leadership, while helping to maintain the excitement of scouting that they had when they were much younger. The camp truly transforms tonight. It really does go from a scout feeling to a tribe feeling, and it will be that way for the re...

This is the new COPE tower at Camp Geiger. COPE stands for Challenging Outdoor Physical Exercise and consists of many high wire activities. You can challenge yourself to walk across cables, climb giant rope ladders, climb the rock climbing wall or take a ride on the zip line. COPE is for older scouts only, although on occasion the have open rappelling and zip lining. Here's Tristan Goodnight taking off down the zip line. Also, all over camp scouts are finishing up merit badges. There will be some opportunity to finish some things tomorrow, but everyone tries to get finished up today, as some scouts will be tapped, and they will have different things to do. So they're getting that final paperwork done to complete their merit badge... ...or finishing up that last project. Non merit badge activities are reaching a climax today too, as competitions in the buckskin games heat up. While those are going on, Marvin, a fixture at Camp Geiger, who is the tomahawk king, regales the boy...

"Tonight's the night..." - Rod Stewart As we awaken to a misty morning on the bluffs of the mighty Missouri River, the air is thick not only with moisture, but with anticipation for tonight's tapping ceremony. Several of the boys have actually said the nerves are starting to take over as they contemplate being tapped out to join the Mic-O-Say tribe. A light rain fell all night long, leaving the camp with more mud, but as we left the dining hall, a cool dry breeze greeted us. The feeling was wonderful. The camp is also still buzzing about last night's incredible council fire and fireworks show. All of our boys who are currently in Mic-O-Say work hard all year long on their dance, and on their regalia, I thought I'd include some pictures of how their hard work has paid off. Some tribe members are very serious and intimidating... ...others, not so much. A Scout is... Kind A great moment yesterday at camp that lived up to one of the tenets of the Scout Law. One ...

Yes, this is how our night ended. I know, you wish you were here. I'll get into more detail in a minute. Sorry for the late post, but a busy day and I confess, I took some time to sit around and tell stories with the rest of the dads. No video today, but I promise a bunch tomorrow. Today the boys continued their hard work on their merit badges. Like Archery... Pottery... Leather work... And Trading Post. Although Trading Post is not an official merit badge, the boys have become very good at it. Tonight was family night at Camp Geiger. Most of the troops here have families that live close by and can come visit. Our troop, as you know, is a little further away, so we mainly bring most of the dads, and sometimes some moms too, for the whole week. On family night, the routine of the dining hall changes and the bring food in from town to feed whoever is in camp. I'll post the usual dinner report below. Another treat tonight is the big fire in the council ring. This is an amazing s...

Just before lunch, a mysterious sign showed up on our gate. We don't know how it got there or who put it up, but let it be known that if the men in this troop were for sale, it would be for a very high price. Pranks do happen around camp. Last year someone "borrowed" our Texas flag, this year it's the For Sale sign , and, oh, a there are a few things we pull on ourselves. Like I said a couple of days ago, you can't fall asleep around these people. Tapping Fire update Here's how the tapping fire is coming along. If you're wondering exactly what the tapping fire is, I'll start by saying it's no ordinary campfire. This is a 16 foot tall fire that is lit the night of the tapping ceremony. That is the ceremony where certain kids who have earned their keep in camping and scouting will get "tapped" into the tribe. Basically they have been deemed worthy enough to join by the Mic-O-Say council. Mic-O-Say is a very traditional tribe, and has been a...

Another dry, but humid day at Camp Geiger. We usually start our day getting up at6am to clean up the camp for inspection. There are other boys who get up even earlier. A certain set of boys getting the fishing merit badge wake up at 4:30 in the morning to go down to Lake Richardson to try and catch fish. Up to this point, they haven't been successful, but they'll keep trying! But they were successful at something much more important. A Scout is... Friendly This is a group of boys that go fishing every morinng for their merit badge. There is a boy at the end who is not in our troop. Before Mr. Kunamneni took this picture was taking, the boys from our troop were saying,"Wait! Eric needs to be in this picture!" Obviously Eric became part of this close knit group. That's one of the best things about scouting and it's not the only example we've seen at camp. In scouts, and here at Geiger, you can meet friends that you can have for a lifetime. It's kids wh...

This is the entrance to our home sweet home after dinner, the Arapaho campsite at Camp Geiger. There were many fun activities throughout the day today, including an archery contest, and free turns on the zip line or rappelling . Usually after dinner the kids wind up at the Trading Post. The Trading Post is almost like an old fashioned general store. It's got everything scouts can use while camping, snacks, drinks, and of cours slushies. Kids can buy souveniers there, the most popular being the shoulder satchels, but there are t-shirts, hats, Indian garb, even animal pelts. Lots of times the kids will just hang outside the Trading Post and play cards or just talk. There are nighttime activities also. Tonight was a big activity night. The boys had their choice of soccer, ultimate frisbee, and a giant slip and slide! Tapping Fire update As you saw earlier today, the adults started building the big tapping fire for Thursday night. I'll explain more on the significance of the fire a...

Camp Geiger isn't only a fun place for scouts to go, it's actually quite beautiful too. There are so many parts of the camp, it'll take you a few seasons to really see them all. The above picture is from a road that leads to the new shooting ranges, currently under construction, which leads us to... A Scout is... Courteous There are always subtle and some not so subtle ways the folks here let us know that they know we're from Texas. I guess we contribute a bit to the good natured ribbing by showing our Texas pride. We put up a Texas flag at camp, have them on our tabled in the dining hall, and when we win the contest for sharpest dressed unit for dinner we usually raise the Texas flag up outside the dining hall. The people in the Pony Express Council have extended every bit of graciousness and courtesy to us, and they have every time we've been here. One small example of that courtesy is allowing us to hang out at the Headquarters and blog. The staff also makes sure...