Troop 53 Stories | Seth Hendrick2024-02-07T11:20:05https://troop53stories.shendrick.net/Seth Hendrickseth@shendrick.nethttps://troop53stories.shendrick.net/One-Day Adventures/2024/02/05/atriptohannaford.htmlA Trip To Hannaford2024-02-05T00:00:00Seth Hendrickhttps://troop53stories.shendrick.net<p>In case it wasn't obvious by the existence of this website, I have many memories about my time as a scout. Camping trips, hikes, canoe trips, and many more. And yet... there is one memory that sticks out to me. It is, in hindsight, perhaps the most boring memory one could think of when doing scouting, and yet, I think it is my favorite one. It wasn't a trip up a mountain or across a lake, oh no. It was a trip to the local super market.</p>
<p>I was a senior in high school. Rob, John, and I were among the last few people remaining in our troop of my generation. The others have either turned 18 or moved on to other activities. Being the oldest boys in the troop, the adults would at times depend on us. Mr. Z, our new scoutmaster at the time, emailed me and asked us to put together a list of things we had to pack for an upcoming camping trip, and which food to buy.</p>
<p>I messaged Rob and told him about the task Mr. Z entrusted us to do. Rob said to me "you know, we have the keys to the equipment room in the scout hall, why don't we just get the equipment out ourselves? The adults never do anything right anyways!"</p>
<p>I arrived at the scout hall; I don't remember if John picked me up or if I drove myself. John was one of the few of us that had a license and a car at the time, so we always asked him for rides. At the scout hall, we went into the equipment room and got out everything we needed. We also took the opportunity to make a pile of ancient utensils and other old things that seemingly haven't been used in decades. We found old jello mixes, Kool-Aid pouches, and busted utensils. We ended up throwing out a lot of expired and broken junk that night. The equipment room also never looked better!</p>
<p>We did notice that we were missing some things. Rob said to us, "Let's go to Hannaford!". <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannaford_Brothers_Company" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Hannford</a>, for those who do not know, is a grocery chain in the north eastern United States. We got in John's car and drove to Hannaford and we bought food and other things we needed for the trip. And you know something, we had a blast. Maybe it was because we were small-town nerds and this was the most exciting thing we did on a Friday night in a long time. But there was something amazing about going on a shopping trip with your friends for an upcoming camping trip with no adults around.</p>
<p>In hindsight, I think this was Rob's excuse to do the shopping himself. I think Rob got annoyed whenever the adults did the shopping or planned the menu. Usually for lunch, the adults would do cold-cuts or something boring, while Rob would always plan delicious meals, and also knew how to buy things cheaply as well. Rob always claimed "I don't know what the adults do, but I always seem to buy enough things for a camp out for less money than them!" We always ate well when Rob was on a camping trip; he always insisted on doing the cooking.</p>
<p>We got back to the scout hall, dropped off the stuff we bought, and went back to our homes. I emailed Mr. Z and told him "We did you one better Mr. Z, we went down to scout hall, got the equipment sorted, and also bought some supplies at Hannaford." Mr. Z was absolutely blown away, and he thanked us for our initiative. He didn't forget it either, he told this story to other scouts to inspire them to step up to the plate when needed.</p>
<p>This is such a silly memory. We literally did grocery shopping and moved some stuff around; and yet I will never forget this night. I think this was the first time I tasted the independence adulthood is supposed to bring. We drove ourselves, we did the shopping, we finally got around to cleaning the equipment room, and we did it all on our own without anyone telling us to. This was our troop, and we would do anything for it. A simple ask to put together a list turned into a night I would never forget. The adults always claimed we were a "boy-run-troop", and they were just there to advise. The trip to Hannaford proved it.</p>https://troop53stories.shendrick.net/Eagle Projects/2023/11/10/myeagleproject.htmlMy Eagle Scout Project2023-11-10T00:00:00Seth Hendrickhttps://troop53stories.shendrick.net<p>In order to become an Eagle Scout, a Scout must complete an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Scout_Service_Project" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Eagle Project</a>. An Eagle Project's purpose is to demonstrate a scout's leadership skills, as it must require significant effort to complete.</p>
<p>I figured I would ask my church, <a href="https://www.sacredheartcastleton.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Sacred Heart of Castleton</a>, if there was any projects I could help with. They wanted to build a railing along a newly paved path, and also plant a garden next to it. It seemed doable, so I started to write up the Eagle Project Proposal, submitted it, and it got approved!</p>
<h2 id="buying-materials">Buying Materials</h2>
<p>By far, the most annoying part of the eagle project was buying the materials to actually do it. I had to end up buying:</p>
<ul>
<li>Wooden posts for the railing.</li>
<li>Chain to go inbetween the posts.</li>
<li>Quikrete to secure the posts in place.</li>
<li>Chain connectors to connect the chain to the posts.</li>
<li>Caps to put on top of the posts.</li>
<li>Renting an auger to dig the holes.</li>
<li>A tree to plant.</li>
</ul>
<p>I was a broke high school student, so I had to fund raise. The most expensive part would have been the chain. Thankfully, my dad knew some people at a towing company that had some spare chain that they weren't using, so they donated it to me. I also sent out some letters to local businesses asking if they were willing to support my effort. I had the letters proof-read by my english teacher, and its a good thing I did, I had some spelling errors.</p>
<p>I have to thank the following businesses who donated something to the project:</p>
<ul>
<li>Accu-care Home Health</li>
<li>Country True Value</li>
<li>Dawson's Towing</li>
<li>Morris Gardening</li>
<li>Stewart's Shoppes</li>
<li>Sunnyside Garage</li>
<li>Webb's Farm</li>
</ul>
<p>Once I had enough funds, it was time to buy the stuff I needed. It is a good thing Rob had a massive van we could use to drive around and pick things up. I got all the lumber and hardware from my local Curtis Lumber, and we put it all in the back of his van. The Quikrete we got from my local Home Depot. I got the tree from a local gardening place. My dad suggested I rent an auger to dig the holes since digging 14 holes by hand would have not been fun. My local Country True Value gave me a discount to rent one.</p>
<p>Everything was bought. I don't remember how much it cost, but it was a good chunk of change. I would have never been able to do it without the donations. Now, we could actually begin building the thing.</p>
<h2 id="placing-the-polls">Placing the Polls</h2>
<p>The day finally arrived to actually start the project. At home, I loaded up my Dad's old blue truck with all the materials we needed. Wooden posts, a post hole digger, a cement mixer, and it was towing the big auger. I arrived early to start preparing. When I arrived, there was an older woman there, asking if there was a funeral there. I said "I didn't think so, I didn't hear anything." She ended up leaving. A few minutes later, the music director arrived and said "by the way, we have a funeral later today, just keep it down as best as you can." Oops, sorry older woman, hopefully you came back to pay your respects.</p>
<p>The rest of the troop was actually picking up garbage along the road they adopted that day. I coordinated with the troop to start the Eagle project after the garbage pickup day, and we'd have pizza for lunch in between. My dad arrived with his big blue truck filled with everything, and then the rest of the troop arrived shortly after. We had lunch and the fun began.</p>
<p>He had to work fast, since we wanted to get the loud part done before the funeral started. So, I had Mr. N, who was the strongest adult leader there, start to drill the holes using the auger. He earned the nickname "Auger Man" that day. There were 14 or so holes to dig, and he got it done in no time at all. Renting the auger was the right decision; trying to dig those holes by hand would have taken forever.</p>
<p>Once the holes were dug, my dad's job was to mix the Quikrete. I had scouts dig some of the holes a little deeper using the post-hole digger, and had other scouts help pour the Quikrete in the holes and made it look nice.</p>
<p>At some point, the music director came out to warn us the funeral was leaving, and that we did a good job of keeping it down, they couldn't hear us at all inside. We stopped working, stood up, and removed our caps as the hearse drove past out of respect. Then, it was back to work.</p>
<p>Overall, I think everything mostly went without a hitch. I think there was one one small speed-bump, where one of the holes we were digging ran into a tree root. One of the scouts had to cut through it, and it took quite a bit of time.</p>
<p>After a long day, the job was done. All of the posts were secured in the ground. The hardest day was completed. I couldn't believe it was actually happening.</p>
<h2 id="creating-a-garden">Creating a Garden</h2>
<p>The second part of the project was to create a garden. The church wanted to grow grass there, but it just wouldn't grow. So, they decided to put in a garden instead. We had to rototill the area and get rid of all the weeds. However, no one had a rototiller. One of the church ladies <em>strongly</em> suggested to hire someone, but I didn't have the funds for that.</p>
<p>Thankfully, my dad ran the local <a href="http://www.cyony.org/Page.asp?n=75205&org=CYONY" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CYO basketball</a> organization, so he sent out an email to all of the coaches asking if anyone had one. In an amazing stroke of luck, someone did, and they lived just two streets down from the church. So, on a weekend, my dad and I drove over to the house, walked the rototiller over to the spot where we wanted to put in the garden in, and ran the rototiller. My dad is a big guy; 6 foot, 4 inches tall, former cop, and mostly muscle. Even he struggled with that thing. He described it as "wrestling a bear". Once we were happy with how the garden started to look, my dad returned rototiller back. Brett, Rob, and I then started to rake up the old grass and weeds. Apparently we didn't do that great of a job, since one of the church ladies wasn't too happy with the amount of weeds we left behind. People are hard to please sometimes. We ended up doing a better job the following weekend.</p>
<p>We then had to plant the tree. My dad's big blue truck came to the rescue again as he picked up the tree in it, and drove it to the church. Brett, Rob, and I were there, and we started to dig a hole to put the tree in. However, we found something slightly horrifying, it looked like a wire. I called over the music director, and he was surprised there was a wire there. He had the electric company come over to spray paint where the wires were, and there was supposed to be none located there. We don't know what kind of wire it was. It wasn't electrical, since that was above on telephone poles. We guessed it may have been some ancient telephone wire or something. The church was built in the late 1800's, so who knows what it actually was.</p>
<p>We moved the hole over a bit so we didn't break the wire in case it actually was important, and we planted the tree.</p>
<h2 id="finishing-up">Finishing Up</h2>
<p>The hard work was done. Now, we just had to put on the final details. I would stop by after school or on the weekends either by myself or with Brett or Rob to finish the job. We had to hang the chain up and put the caps on the poles. However, eventually, it was done! And it looked amazing! There's an image gallery below.</p>
<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
<p>Eagle Scout projects are no joke. This project took several months of planning and fundraising before I could even get started. Honestly, building the actual project was easier than all of the planning. To any Life Scouts reading this looking for Eagle Scout project ideas, please please please, do not wait until you turn 17 to start this project I like did. It will stress you out.</p>
<p>I did this project in 2009. As of writing, it is 2023. Fourteen years later, the railing is still standing at the church. I don't live in Castleton anymore, but when I do visit, I do make sure I drive past the church to look at it. It brings back a lot of good memories.</p>
<h2 id="image-gallery">Image Gallery</h2>https://troop53stories.shendrick.net/Stories from Meetings/2023/10/09/directorskit.htmlMy First Skit2023-10-09T00:00:00Seth Hendrickhttps://troop53stories.shendrick.net<p>Every year, our troop would have a court of honor. It was when we all gathered at the local fire house and had a delicious dinner, and celebrate everyone's accomplishments throughout the year. It was tradition that each year, there would be a skit.</p>
<p>The year 2004 (or so) was no exception, and I got drafted into doing a skit with my friend Jim and a few other scouts. This skit was a version on the <a href="https://scoutermom.com/25556/making-a-film-skit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Making a Film</a> skit, also known as "The Director". The idea is a scene plays out normally, but at the end of the take, the director doesn't like it. So, they add some suggestions such as make it a musical, or make it fast, or slow it down. At the end, the director likes the last take. I won't spoil the final punch line from there :).</p>
<p>I brought my video camera with me, and Matt M, playing the camera man, recorded it. Below, you'll see a video of us being silly and having fun. I play the doctor, and Jim plays the guy who calls for help.</p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fXxBZcBTuA0?si=6zMr6-ignx1Tg42g" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>I hope you enjoyed it, we had fun putting it on!</p>https://troop53stories.shendrick.net/Summer Camp/2019/12/24/thunderstormatthunderbird.htmlThunderstorm at Thunderbird2019-12-24T00:00:00Seth Hendrickhttps://troop53stories.shendrick.net<p>It was my second year of Summer Camp as a scout. We were at Camp Rotary, but this time around, we were put in a campsite very far away from the center of camp; a campsite called Thunderbird. The previous year we were in the Algonquin campsite. One nice thing about Algonquin is that it was convenient. It was a short walk away to the dining hall, the trail to the water-front was basically a driveway, so it was an easy walk. Thunderbird, meanwhile, was far away from practically everything. We had to leave the campsite very early in order to make it on time to places. We rarely came back to the site because there just wasn't enough time between activities. The trail to the site was also what you would imagine a standard hiking trail would look like: Narrow, bumpy, and full of tree roots.</p>
<p>Thunderbird, however, was a nice campsite, despite its seclusion. However, it was in this campsite where I think, by far, my scariest moment in scouting happened.</p>
<h2 id="foreshadowing">Foreshadowing</h2>
<p>During the first day of camp, the staff talked about the safety instructions. They sounded a few different types of sirens. One of the sirens stood for there was an unaccounted for swimmer, and the staff have to dive into the water to search for them. One of the other sirens that sounded represented bad weather. If we heard this siren, we had to seek shelter.</p>
<p>The next day, we were back in the campsite. I don't remember how many people were in the campsite, but I do know there was at least myself, Old Seth, and Rob. The campsite wasn't fully isolated from the outside world, there was a road relatively close by. That's when we heard a siren.</p>
<p>However, anyone with halfway-decent sense of hearing could tell that this was not from the loud-speakers. This was from a actual emergency vehicle from a nearby road. So Rob and I ignored it.</p>
<p>Old Seth then comes over and says "Don't you guys hear the siren! That means bad weather. Get under the pavilion". Roger and I look at each other, dumbfounded. Yes, it was sprinkling outside, but the weather was obviously not severe. Also, <em>the sirens weren't even the same ones that meant "severe weather"</em>. But Old Seth outranked us, so we complied. After several minutes of sitting under the pavilion, Old Seth lets us go.</p>
<p>Of course, we had to make fun of him behind his back after that. When a rain drop fell, Rob would look at me and said "Seth, look out, a drop! Its severe weather! Take shelter!". We laughed.</p>
<p>One thing we didn't realize yet was that Old Seth wasn't wrong, we was just a few days off.</p>
<h2 id="the-storm">The Storm</h2>
<p>After a long day of activities, the troop was back in our campsite. It was dark out, so it must have been after 9PM. We hear thunder in the distance, but weren't overly concerned. We camped in thunderstorms before. But, we were all gathered under the pavilion anyways; just in case. The wind then started to pick up, and then the rain started. This rain, however, was <em>heavy</em>. It felt like going on the Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls.</p>
<p>The storm only got worse. The rain continued flow from the skies, the wind was still howling. The only thing protecting us from the full-strength of mother nature was a pavilion, who only had a roof and no walls.</p>
<p>Running up the trail to the campsite was a camp staff member. He tells us that there has been a tornado warning, and we needed to get to shelter ASAP. What boggles my mind is that a severe weather siren didn't sound. I almost wonder if the storm took it out, or it did sound, but we couldn't hear it over the storm. Either way, we were thankful for the staff member braving the storm to get us to shelter.</p>
<p>So... remember... Thunderbird was the furthest campsite away from everything. The closet shelter was a 10 minute walk away. On a nice day, this isn't so bad. But at night? During a really bad storm? It was like walking through a horror movie.</p>
<p>So, we begin our wet trek through the woods to shelter. The closet shelter was the Seneca lodge; which had a basement. Just thinking back through this walk through the woods, I remember all of our ponchos of various colors blowing around in the wind. The trees were dimly illuminated by our lanterns and flashlights, but was otherwise pitch black. The only other light we saw was when lightning struck, and for a brief second, it was like daylight. It was spooky, we walked these trails every day, but at night it looked completely unfamiliar. We were all afraid, including the adults.</p>
<p>The trails were basically a stream because of all of the rain. Some spots of it were so deep, they seemingly became small ponds. In spite of our terror, however, we managed to have one funny moment. Jim wore white New Balance sneakers. He took a mis-step into a really deep muddy puddle. When he took another step, his shoe came off. He laughs to himself, but then starts to notice that his shoe is starting to sink into the mud. "Oh Crap!" he says as he stumbles to grab his shoe and puts it back on. Yeah, his shoes weren't white anymore after that.</p>
<p>After what seems like hours during the most terrifying walk in my life, we arrive at the Seneca lodge. We then hurry into the basement. The basement is full of bunks that we all sat on, waiting for the storm to pass. There were scouts from several other sites down there as well. I don't know if the entire camp was in the basement, but we were very cramped down there. The camp staff start singing songs to pass the time and calm us down (it didn't work, at least on me).</p>
<p>Eventually, the storm passed. We emerged from our shelter, and it was quiet. We headed back to our campsite using the same path we walked on. This time around, it wasn't as scary, but we had to dodge a lot of puddles. When we made it back to our site, we dried off and went to bed.</p>
<p>It wasn't until I got home when I realized just how bad it was. My mom said there was a tornado somewhere around our camp. Given my mom, it was probably "just" a tornado warning, not an actual touch down. Regardless, it was unnerving, knowing that we were completely vulnerable to a tornado.</p>
<h2 id="lessons-learned">Lessons Learned</h2>
<p>We did not go back to the Thunderbird campsite the following year. I think the second the storm cleared, our scout masters requested the Algonquin campsite for the next year. Its perhaps a good thing we changed sites. There was another (though not as bad) storm that hit the following year. But, Algonquin was a 100 yard walk away from the handicraft lodge, not half a mile from anything. Jim told me that during this storm, when thunder rumbled, he blinked, opened his eyes, and I was gone, running for the handicraft lodge (I guess I was still scarred from the previous year). The troop hung out there until the storm cleared.</p>
<p>Our troop from then on took safety during storms <em>more</em> seriously. I remember a few years later at Camp Wakpominee, our scout masters took us to the dining hall during a storm, which raised some eyebrows from the staff, wondering why we came. Our scout master told them "if we were in the middle of nowhere, we would have to ride the storm out. But we are not in the middle of nowhere now, aren't we? There's shelter here, why take the risk of being exposed?".</p>
<p>Personally, this experience made me respect Mother Nature more. When I am snuggled up in my home, looking outside during a nasty thunderstorm, I think to myself "This storm doesn't look so bad". Then I remember my second year of summer camp, and think again to myself "On second thought, I wouldn't want to be outside right now". This attitude has followed be my whole life. I like watching storms, I like watching lightning, but I would NEVER want to be outside in it. When I see a nasty storm coming and I am outside or on the road driving, I seek shelter right away.</p>
<p>Mother Nature can be terrifying at times.</p>https://troop53stories.shendrick.net/Summer Camp/2019/12/23/bugspray.htmlBug Spray Shenanigans2019-12-23T00:00:00Seth Hendrickhttps://troop53stories.shendrick.net<p>My third, and final, summer camp trip to Camp Rotary was the year we discovered how fun bug spray was. Not only was it a useful tool to keep bugs at bay, but it was also incredibly flammable.</p>
<p>Clearly, being the responsible scouts, we would <em>never</em> misuse this discovery. We had our fire training after all!</p>
<p>My response to that is: clearly, you don't know teenage boys with little adult supervision now do you?</p>
<p>Also, do not try this at home... we shouldn't have either to be honest.</p>
<h2 id="a-flame-thrower">A Flame Thrower</h2>
<p>During some down time back at the campsite, Kyle and Jim called me over to behind a tent to share a discovery that they made. They told me that they had a flame thrower. Well, I didn't believe them. After all, I didn't see a massive gun that could shoot flames (like you see in the movies).</p>
<p>While it was true they did not have a WWI-style flame thrower, they did <em>technically</em> have a device that would throw flames. You see, Kyle and Jim discovered that if you light a match and spray a can of bug spray at it, the flame would follow the bug-spray and would create a burst of flame. To our teenage brains, it was a cheap flame thrower!</p>
<p>Well, they tried to set a dead leaf on fire with it, which they could not. After failing that, Jim lit a match and sprayed the bug spray from under the match to create a tower of fire. We all laughed maniacally has teenage boys do with fire.</p>
<p>But, it is all fun and games until an older scout comes over. The flame tower caught the attention of Old Seth. Old Seth came over and yelled at us and took away our matches and bug spray. We thought we were in trouble, since he went over to our scout master, Mr. M. We watched nervously as Old Seth told Mr. M what happened.</p>
<p>It was this moment when I realized that I don't think Mr. M really liked Old Seth, or at the very least thought Old Seth was a giant tattletale. I realized this because he just laughed at Old Seth. I don't remember if he took the bug spray and matches, but we did get them back. Mr. M probably just told us to not do it again.</p>
<p>Realizing that we escaped trouble, we listened to his warning so we wouldn't get into trouble for a repeat offense. Unfortunately, someone else did not hear his warnings.</p>
<h2 id="a-tower-of-flame">A Tower of Flame</h2>
<p>Chris...</p>
<p>Word travels fast, and soon everyone in Generation 0 discovered just how flammable bug spray was. But, the person who discovered it the hard-way was Chris.</p>
<p>Chris was tending the fire one day, but it was starting to go out. So, he had a brilliant idea: he could make the fire bigger by giving it some more fuel. His fuel choice? Bug spray!</p>
<p>Chris took the top off of his bug spray and starts pouring it into the fire. To Chris's amusement, the fire got bigger. To Chris's horror, the fire started to climb the stream of bug spray being poured out. The flame climbed higher and higher and Chris freaked and dropped the whole bug spray container into the fire. In a poof, the fire got bigger for a short period of time before returning to the its original, pre-bug-spray size.</p>
<p>After we realized Chris was okay, we all started laughing. But, that wouldn't be the first incident with Chris and bug spray.</p>
<h2 id="a-lot-of-pain">A lot of Pain</h2>
<p>Its all fun and games until someone gets hurt.</p>
<p>We were all in a tent, and Chris was playing with a can of bug spray (I don't remember if this was before or after his fire incident. For all I know, maybe he a stash of them). I don't remember the exact string of events that happened, but it ended with Chris making a (bad) joke and sprayed the bug spray inside of the tent. But... the spray ended up in my face, and got in my eye.</p>
<p>It hurt. It hurt a lot. DARN IT Chris! I ran out and ran into Mr. M and said that I got bug spray in my eye. He chuckled and said its not the first time its happened in the troop. It happened to one of the older scouts the previous year. He brought me over the latrine and I washed my eye out. I never had to flush my eye out before; it was an odd sensation, and I hope I never need to experience it again.</p>
<p>So with that, we were done playing with bug spray.</p>
<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
<p>So that is our saga with bug spray during our third year at summer camp. It was fun, but for all of the wrong reasons.</p>
<p>Scouts! While bug spray can be fun, remember it is not a toy. It can hurt a lot if used wrong. Don't make the same mistakes I made.</p>
<p>Or do, I'm not your father. Just some random guy with a website.</p>
<p>...(but seriously, don't).</p>https://troop53stories.shendrick.net/Camping Trips/2018/08/05/scoutislandrevenge.htmlRevenge at Scout Island2018-08-05T00:00:00Seth Hendrickhttps://troop53stories.shendrick.net<p>In the middle of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sacandaga_Lake" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Great Sacandaga Lake</a>, there is an island that is named <a href="http://www.trcscouting.org/News/scoutislandinformation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Scout Island</a>. No, really, that's its name. Even check <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Scout+Island/@43.0904926,-74.2150431,1518m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x89de589f61d62151:0xb1996dd83d247f09!2sScout+Island!3b1!8m2!3d43.0909064!4d-74.2137437!3m4!1s0x89de589f61d62151:0xb1996dd83d247f09!8m2!3d43.0909064!4d-74.2137437" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Google Maps</a> if you don't believe me.</p>
<p>Almost every year, Troop 53 would paddle canoes to the northeastern side of the island and camp on the beach there. We would canoe, swim, fish, or walk around the island.</p>
<p>Take a peek at the Google Maps linked above. You will notice on the northeastern side of the island, there is a peninsula that extends east, and then north, and there's a small island at the tip of this peninsula. Although tough to tell in the Google Maps picture, during the summer, the water was low enough where we could walk out to the island at the tip of the peninsula. This, is where stick wars was played. And that's where our story begins.</p>
<p>In 2006, I believe, a fresh wave of scouts crossed over from Pack 253. I was patrol leader at the time of the Flaming Arrows Patrol. A young scout, Will N, was added to my patrol. Will N, along with all the new scouts, would walk out to the tip of the peninsula, and play what they called "stick wars". I never participated in stick wars, but from what I understood, the scouts would pick up sticks they found at the tip of the peninsula, and... well... hopefully they didn't wack each other with them.</p>
<p>This game was the latest obsession with all of the new scouts. When they weren't eating or swimming they were on the tip of the peninsula, playing stick wars... much to the annoyance of the older scouts. Don't get me wrong, us older scouts were fine with the younger scouts leaving us alone. What was annoying was when we had to do chores and they didn't come to help.</p>
<p>I believe the converstion went something like this.</p>
<ul>
<li>Me: "Will N, can you please come help us wash dishes?"</li>
<li>Will N: "Nahh, I'm going to go play stick wars!"</li>
<li>Me: "Its our Patrol's turn to clean, please help us!"</li>
<li>Will N: "Kids should play, not work!"</li>
</ul>
<p>He then walked away. I was obviously mad. However, my assistant scoutmaster at the time, who was also Will N's father said "Don't worry Seth, when he's a patrol leader, he'll also have an annoying kid not following orders."</p>
<p>Years passed, and I became and assistant scoutmaster myself. In 2010, we went to Scout Island again, and I knew this would be my last trip to Scout Island, as the following year I would depart for RIT. As usual, we paddled out to the island, set up our campsite, and had all kinds of fun. Stick wars was STILL a thing, even after all of those years. The younger scouts still went out to the tip of the peninsula for it as well.</p>
<p>During this trip, Will N was acting patrol leader for one of the patrols. During lunch, it was Will N's patrol that had to clean up. While cleaning up, Will N asked one of the younger scouts to help clean up, but he said "Nah, I'm going to go play stick wars!" and ran off. Will N, holding a pot in one hand, just starred as the young scout ran off.</p>
<p>I and Will N's dad saw this and were laughing. "Hey Will N! How's it feel!?" we said. Will N rolled his eyes, and scrubbed the pot.</p>
<p>It took several years for it to happen, but I finally had my revenge on Will N for not helping me clean up. And all I had to do was wait for Will N to grow up to have stubborn younger scouts.</p>
<p>Will N's dad was a wise man.</p>
<p>Let this me a lesson to any new scouts: if your patrol leader asks you to scrub a pot, scrub the dang pot. Althrough you won't know the feeling of being ignored yet, you will when you're a patrol leader. And if the scoutmasters remember you ignoring orders when you are younger, they may ignore your cries for help when your underlings ignore you when you are older.</p>https://troop53stories.shendrick.net/Stories from Meetings/2018/02/21/paperairplane.htmlOP Paper Airplanes2018-02-21T00:00:00Seth Hendrickhttps://troop53stories.shendrick.net<p>I think I was a bear cub when this story happened.</p>
<p>The monthly meeting of Pack 253 was coming up. The meeting's theme was a paper airplane contest. The scouts would simply show up, fold an airplane, and throw it. The plane who flew the farthest was declared the winner would get a prize.</p>
<p>Apparently, however, this wasn't good enough for our den leader. See, our den leader was a carpenter who enjoyed "going against the system". Folding paper airplanes? PFFTTT! Anyone could do that. No, our den leader did something more exciting.</p>
<p>During the den meeting right before the paper airplane contest, we were gathered around our den leader, and he told us to pick a piece of paper from a hat. Only one slip of paper was marked with a pen. I got the marked paper, but I didn't know what this meant.</p>
<p>Our den leader finally revealed why we picked slips of paper. We were going to be constructing paper airplanes for the contest in a few days. But... these planes were special. They were paper airplane kits, but they didn't fly by being thrown. No, they were powered by rubber bands and propellers. They were still made of paper, so technically, it wasn't breaking any rules!</p>
<p>We picked from the hat because I guess they ran out of the normal paper airplane kits, and I had to get a special kit. The other scout's final product looked something like <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Delta-Education-Dart-Balsa-Plane/dp/B008C4OVK6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">this</a>, while mine looked something like <a href="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d4/3e/30/d43e30f70b319299e2e94333b55ada57.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">this</a>.</p>
<p>Two days later was the pack meeting at our town's middle school gym. The cub master took one look at our horribly overpowered planes. He said that our planes couldn't compete with the other scout's planes. So... we had to fly separately :(. But, we got our revenge.</p>
<p>After the other scouts flew their paper airplanes, it was our turn to throw our super planes. We wound them up, and let them go. Mine flew up high, and hit a beam. It then fell straight down... right where the cub master was standing. Luckily, the plane was as light as a feather, because it crashed into the cub master on top of his head.</p>
<p>I don't remember who won amongst our den, probably because I was afraid the cub master was going to be mad at hitting him in the head. Eh, it was karma for not letting us compete with the other scouts!</p>
<hr />
<p>There are a couple of reasons why this story is memorable for me. First is I thought I caused bodily damage to my cub master and I was traumatized for doing that. But the second was that I was taught that finding loopholes can be fun!</p>
<p>Let this be a lesson to upcoming cub masters... either make the rules very clear when making a contest, or you may be hit in the head by a loophole.</p>https://troop53stories.shendrick.net/Summer Camp/2015/12/23/theinkblob.htmlThe Ink Blob2015-12-23T00:00:00Seth Hendrickhttps://troop53stories.shendrick.net<img src="/static/img/badges/CampBoyhaven_2001.png" alt="2000 Boyhaven Badge" class="alignleft"/>
<p>To keep in the spirit of scary camp stories, I decided to tell the tale of the Boyhaven Ink Blob. This story was told to us during my second, and final, year at Camp Boyhaven. Enjoy!</p>
<hr />
<p>This happened many years ago after Camp Boyhaven closed for the season. Some camp counselors decided to go back and go swimming at the waterfront. No one was there, so they could do whatever they wanted. It was early morning when they snuck into the campground, and made their way to the waterfront. It was a few guys and a girl. They all jumped into the water, and swam out to the dock in the middle of the pond.</p>
<p>After a while, they notice a very dark patch of water. It looked like someone spilled ink in the water. One of the counselors decided to go and see what it was. He swims over, and enters the inky area of water. Once he does, he starts screaming and thrashing around in the water. He goes under, and does not come back up.</p>
<p>Another counselor thought the first counselor must have been drowning, so he jumped in the water and swam over. One he reached the inky area of water, the same thing happened: he started to scream in pain, thrashed around in the water, and went under, never to be seen again.</p>
<p>At this point, the counselors realized that the blob of ink was bad news. One of them decided to swim back to shore and go get help. However, as he approached the shore line, the blob of ink started to move towards him. The closer the counselor got to shore, the faster the blob moved. The counselor was in knee-high water when the blob reached him. The blob surrounded the counselor, and the counselor disappeared under the shallow water, never to be seen again.</p>
<p>The blob approached the dock, and when it got close, it stopped and waited-daring the other counselors to try to get back to safety. The remaining four counselors came up with a plan. One of them would jump off the back of the dock away from the ink blob, and once the ink blob started to pursue, another one of them would jump off the other side and try to get help. The hope was the ink blob would be confused over which counselor to chaise, and they would both make it to safety.</p>
<p>And so, one counselor jumped off the dock and started swimming to shore. As expected, the ink blob followed him. Another counselor jumped off the other side of the dock and started swimming to the other shore. That’s when the ink blob split into two blobs. Ultimately, both blobs caught up to the counselor they were chasing, and they were both pulled under, never to be seen again.</p>
<p>The remaining two counselors had no idea what to do now, so they stared at the blobs as they recombined back into one. They both decided to wait until help arrived. Eventually someone would notice that they were missing. A couple hours passed, and the female counselor decided to lay down on the dock to work on her tan. Unbeknownst to her, her long hair was falling into the water. The ink blob swam over and grabbed her hair. The female counselor started screaming as the blob pulled her hair. The top of her head was pulled into the water, and that point it was game over. The ink blob pulled her into the water and consumed her.</p>
<p>One remained.</p>
<p>The last counselor stood in the middle of the raft watching the ink blob. The ink blob floated in the water, seemingly watching him. Night fell, and they kept watching each other. Morning came, and the ink blob floated downstream and over the falls out of sight. The last counselor quickly swam to shore safely, where he told others of what happened the day before.</p>
<p>Some say you can still hear the screams of the victims if you listen closely at the waterfront. Screaming to be freed from their inky prison.</p>
<p>Therefore scouts, do not go into the water when no one is around. You might be consumed by an ink blob of death.</p>
<hr />
<p>The story was definitely told to keep us very young scouts out of the water when no adults were around. Needless to say, it worked. Many of us were scared to go in the water after that story.</p>
<p>I already didn’t (and still don’t) like swimming, and I think this story may have had something to do with that :P.</p>https://troop53stories.shendrick.net/Summer Camp/2015/12/19/theboyhavencreeper.htmlThe Boyhaven Creeper2015-12-19T00:00:00Seth Hendrickhttps://troop53stories.shendrick.net<img src="/static/img/badges/CampBoyhaven_2000.png" alt="2000 Boyhaven Badge" height="250" width="250" class="alignleft"/>
<p>My first post here will be about the first ghost story I heard on my first trip to Boy Scout summer camp. It scared all of us.</p>
<p>It was my first year at Summer Camp as a first-year Webelos at Camp Boyhaven. It was nighttime and we were around the camp fire. One of the assistant scoutmasters then told us the story that would cause us to not sleep that night. That story was the story of the Boyhaven Creeper.</p>
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<p>Many years ago when the camp first opened, there was a trolley that traversed the camp. It was a way for the scouts to get around the camp quickly. It’s also the reason why the camp’s mascot is a trolley. When we were Webelos, there was no trolley in the camp. The trolley was taken out due to a terrible tragedy.</p>
<p>One day, a boy was walking down the trolley tracks to get to his next program area. He was alone. For some reason or another, he did not hear the Trolley coming behind him and was hit. The trolley driver stopped the trolley as fast as he could and rushed over to the scene of the accident. However, he only found the boy’s legs. The boy’s torso was nowhere to be found. The staff and the authorities looked everywhere nearby for the upper half of the boy’s body but had no luck. Night was falling and they decided to start again in the morning. The police took the boy’s legs away, never to be seen again.</p>
<p>At a nearby campsite, some scouts decided to stay up late. The curfew breakers were in the woods behind their campsite when they heard a dragging, like someone was dragging a sack of potatoes on the ground. They looked down and saw him-the boy who was hit by the trolley-dragging himself by his arms.</p>
<p>“MY LEGS! WHERE ARE MY LEGS!” growled the torso. With glowing red eyes, he stared at the first boy who was frozen in fear. The torso dragged itself over to the boy and grabbed the boy’s legs. With demonic strength, the torso ripped the legs off the boy, who started to scream in agony. The torso then tried the legs on itself to see if they would fit. They did not. It chased after the other two boys who started to run away. Unfortunately, one boy tripped and sprained his ankle. Unable to move, he heard the dragging sound, and suddenly felt a powerful tug rip his legs off. The torso did not like the way those legs fit either. However, morning was coming so it disappeared into the night. The last boy made it back to the campsite to get help for his fallen comrades. It is unknown what became of the two victims.</p>
<p>The torso demon became known as the Boyhaven Creeper. Late at night, it drags its legless body around looking for a new pair of legs to try on hoping to walk again one day.</p>
<p>So scouts, if you decide to stay up late one night, leave the campsite, and you hear a dragging sound…</p>
<p>Run!</p>
<p>It might just be the last time you use your legs.</p>
<hr />
<p>This story scared us scouts. It explained the camp’s strange trolley mascot and explained why we couldn’t ride around in a cool trolley that year. The story was probably intended to scare us into staying in our campsite at night. The story itself is pretty ridiculous, but it was the events that happened the next few days that made us think the story was true!</p>
<p>One of my friends, Roger, swore when we went to the bathroom that he saw the ghostly image of a trolley in the distance. Knowing him, he was probably just playing off our gullibility. Another boy said he heard in the middle of the night “Billy! Nooo!” Presumably another prank, but we decided that it was the ghost of the boy’s mom mourning over his remaining body. Poor Billy :(. The freakiest part for us was on the day after the story was told; we found a piece of a bandana along a hidden path to our campsite. We decided the bandana piece was from the creeper, who must have payed our campsite a visit the night before. Yeah… we didn’t sleep much the remainder of the week.</p>
<p>The story the scoutmaster told did its job: it kept us kids from venturing out in the middle of the night. It scared us and it scared us good.</p>