Will Week One Ever End?

Back doing a Blackberry update from in front of my tent in Ft. William. It is 9:15, scouts are coming back from free time, touching up haircuts (more on that later) and some scouts are getting ready to go to the Night Skys program, while the mosquitoes are attempting to saturate the air.
Back to Friday afternoon. After lunch, it was time for our Reflections Troop activity. This is kind of like Thorns and Roses, where we talk about what we learned and liked about the week, and things we would change.
Then it was off to our last couple of troop activities and off to the last fourth hour class. The last few people got a chance at the rifle range at 5 while everyone else started dinner. Raw pork chops, potatoes, salad, and Little Debbies. Almost all the meat we get here is pre-cooked and only needs to be warmed up. But Friday night we get raw pork chops. Needless to say I went around to all the campsites to make sure everyone was cooking their meat completely. Everyone was doing a great job. In the Second year site I saw that they had a leafy seasoning on their pork chops and asked what they were using. They toldme they were using sage. I asked them who and brought that and they told me thay had picked it. Sure enough, they had an edible plant book and had found a patch of sage. They confirmed it by look and smell, and used it to cook their pork chops. Now that's what I call out door skills.
After dinner, the patrol dished were cleaned and the patrol boxes that were going back on the trailer were packed up one last time. The scouts were encouraged to pack up as much of their stuff as possible to make it easier Saturday morning.
Some scouts take down their tents and sleep under the star or under their dining fly (and their mosquito netting).
After cleanup, they headed off to their last freeime, which was limited by weather. Flintlock Sailboarding was canceled Thursday and Friday evenings due to wind and rain. The trading post was a popular final destination. After free time it was more packing and then off to bed.
The second week change over is always and interesting balancing act, trying to take down and send back as much equipment as possible, without packing up or sending back anything we need (like the coffee one year). We occupied Ft. William and Two Harbors the first week, but just Ft. Bill the second week. The second years stayed put, Jr. Leadership moved in with Leadership, the fourth year patrols moved into the space vacated by the first years (who all went home), and the adults moved into the Ft. Bill "alley" and now eat with Leadership.
If you can imagine the chaos at the church when we left, multiply that as boys are looking for where they scattered things over the previous week. The trailer was packed, tents and tarps taken down, stoves inspected, and personnals moved by 9:30, so we could have our breakfast of donuts and juice, before the bus arrived about 10:00. The trailer was hooked up, the bus was loaded, and left about 10:45. I heard it got to the church at 4:00.
More about our weekend tommorow. That's all from Many Point. YIS. Jon Yearous