Some of our Scouts just completed the requirements for the Historic Carpentry Merit Badge.

This Merit Badge was first offered in 1911 and discontinued in 1952. It is part of the Historic Merit Badge Program that is only available for this 100th Anniversary year. The program honors Scouting’s rich 100-year history by introducing today’s Scouts to the merit badges earned by yesterday’s youth.

Think about how times have changed from a hundred years ago.

Can you imagine a life without power tools?
Long before manufacturing, everything was made by hand. Craftsmen developed their skills to become a master. The final test was the production of a great piece called a masterpiece.

To get the most out of this merit badge, the boys did it the old-fashioned way with good, old-fashioned hand tools.

Special thanks goes to the Hendrens and Newberrys for teaching this Merit Badge.

(See more pictures of the boys working on their project in the Troop 282 Photo Collection.)

By: Ryan Muller

This overnight went really good, considering we hadn’t used the troop equipment in about six months. Everything got set up without any problems and fairly fast too.

After everything was set up we got to do some scouting activities, we built flagpoles with lashings and staves, had a first aid obstacle course, a tracking adventure, and we built small fires trying to burn strings tied to pieces of rebar.

For dinner the leaders made a plethora of different foods for us to try. My personal favorite was the tacos in a bag, it was taco meat with salsa and cheese in a bag of Fritos.

On Sunday, the boys were in charge of making breakfast for their patrols, it went pretty well for the most part. After we tore everything down and packed up, we had a little church service and sang some songs. It was fun and overall a great overnight.

(See more pictures from the November Overnight in the Troop 282 Photo Collection.)

By: Ryan Muller

Parties are always fun, but I think the Halloween Party is the best. My favorite part is the doughnut eating contest. You have to eat a doughnut tied to a string that is suspended in the air without using your hands, it is definitely very entertaining. All the food and drinks that the Mother’s Club brings is amazing too.

(Go check out more pictures from the Halloween Party in the Troop 282 Photo Collection.)

By: Ryan Muller

The weather was absolutely perfect for this ride. It was so much fun and there were no injuries so that’s always a plus.

As far as bikes go we only had one casualty and luckily the rider wasn’t even scratched and he got a substitute bike to finish the ride.

So overall this was a great bike hike and it was also the last one we needed to finish the rest of our 50 miles that we didn’t get to ride on the Katy Trail.

(Go check out more pictures from this event in the Troop 282 Photo Collection.)

By: Ryan Muller

It was by far the most massive Boy Scout event I have ever attended. There were tents everywhere and about 11,500 people there. There were so many different things set up for us to do and they were all a lot of fun.

The weather was even great, except for the cold and rainy part but that still didn’t stop all of us from having a good time. Some of the events were tug of war, sack races, an obstacle course, football throwing and fire starting. The food there was pretty good for all being cold and served out of boxes.

My personal favorite part was the amazing show Saturday night. The Mic-O-Say and Order of the Arrow dancers did quite a few dances for us; there was a magician that was pretty good for us not being able to see him. There were also two bands that played; one of them was Liverpool (a Beatles tribute band). They were by far my favorite part of the whole campout. They even dressed and talked like the Beatles did and they played very well too. They played songs like “Hey Jude” and “A Hard Day’s Night” and even came back out for two encores.

By the time it was done raining, it was a mud fest out there, which made trying to walk without falling a lot harder. As far as I’m concerned it couldn’t have been planned any better.

(If you would like to see more pictures from the Centennial Campout go to the Troop 282 Photo Collection.)

I Can Park It! This is what I tell everybody that works with me on Santa-Cali-Gon Days parking cars. Well I heard someone yell “How about this one Mr. Norton”? I turned and what did I see but a big RV. So kidding I said “Yes, I have room send it on back”. So they started sending the RV. I said “Wait it won’t clear the trees or power lines” so I said send him around back through the alley and we will park him. So with Mr. Gentry instructing him on which to go, he arrived at where I was waiting in the alley to show him where we could park him. With Mr. Dowding and Mr. Gentry assisting me, we were able to guide the RV into a parking space.

Some people were saying that we should charge him more than $4 and I said to the driver that he only had to pay $4. He said “Well, since I take up two spaces and this is for Scouts I will pay $10”. So I thanked him for his generosity and told him and his family to have a good time at Santa-Cali-Gon Days.

At past Santa-Cali-Gon Days I have parked 83 vehicles which this year we beat by parking 87 vehicles in the lot at the same time (full capacity). Now the parking of this 27 foot long RV will be added to my list of achievements that I have accomplished during Santa-Cali-Gon Days. So I can hardly wait til next year to see what will happen.

These things cannot happen without all of you that helped. So I want to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you.

Til next year, “I CAN PARK IT”

Mr. Norton

By Lisa Blann

On August 20th 2010 Troop 282 left for their annual trip to Heit’s Point. It got off to a very wet start as most of the drive down there it was raining. It continued to rain during the night but by morning it had stopped. We found out at breakfast that there was going to be a wedding there which changed up a few of our plans for the evening.

We played horseshoes in the morning and had a lot of fun doing that. We almost missed lunch because Natalie Blann and Amanda Newberry can really make a game of horseshoes last a long time. After lunch we went down to the lake to swim and go tubing. Mr Blann and Mr Gentry brought down boats so the kids would be able to go out on the lake and be pulled on the tube, I think all the kids and grown ups had a great time. They also had canoes and a paddle boat and a dock with a slide so there was something there for everyone, including fishing for a few of the boys.

After we got done at the lake we had dinner up in the pavilion and had a short meeting. After dinner the boys swam in the pool for the remainder of the evening and a few of the adults played card games. We ended our day with some snacks for everybody to munch on and go to bed. I can’t speak for everyone else but I was tired. The next morning we got up loaded the vehicles for the trip home, ate breakfast, went to church and then hit the road for the trip back. I believe everyone had a great time.