Troop 281 Cincinnati, OH

  At this Troop favorite, We head east to Camp Oyo where we then sign off requirements, Unwind in comfy cabins, and ,hence the name, eat loads of delicious foods made by our fellow patrols. So what if it was raining a bit? Ok, A LOT. Undeterred by the weather, Several scouts Hiked for five miles in the pouring rain just to get a single requirement. That's the spirit of our troop. We can do anything that we put our minds to. so after advancement,feasting,festing and fires (It wasn't exactly tropical) we were on our way home. But when in Troop 281, as one adventure ends another is sure to follow.

At most of the Troop's favorite campout this year we had a complete blast! For those who don't know what color wars is (Or forgot) here is a refresher. Color Wars is a competition held at our camp, Achewon, In which the patrol compete in a series of events including the cooking competiion, gateway competition and campwide hide and go seek game. At the end of the campout, Each patrol's points are added up and whoever has the highest amount of points wins the Patrol Cup. This Years winner was the (Drumroll Please) Thrashing Sharks Patrol. And let's not forget the new Serpents Patrol campsite which had been abandoned since the fall of the Moose Patrol and was also the first Campsite ever built when our camp was originally built. So I think I speak for all that (Other than a bit of rain) the campout was perfect.

As the accomplishments of summer camp are rewarded , we see many Scouts have been working toward as many merit badges as possible and were not shy about advancements either. Shown by a whopping 22 advancements and more than 180 merit badges, we were kept very busy. For our schedule this year we have planned some new campouts, such as the mysterious mystery campout, and repeated our old favorites like the crown jewel of our season, Color Wars!!!. But no matter what happens, This season will most certainly please this scout and many in the troop would agree.

 Another new year. And with it come many new plans. This meeting, we started off with a presentation by Ben about what this year brings. All these changes are for the better. This year, we will do things like camp in a non-commercial cave, go to a giant trampoline for a meeting, and go to a campout that nobody knows about. This truly is a promising year.

To start my review I've gotta say this service project exclaims that we can have loads of fun and do great things for others AND help our current Senior Patrol Leader earn Eagle! We gathered at the Batavia League for Animal Welfare on Saturday with a mission, To build a new a new piece of playground equipment to help dogs get adopted. We started out by unloading tons of materials and carrying them to a fenced in area. But not without some things being dropped my foot! We then assembled the equipment and laid down the mulch that we had ferried there with a constant line of wheelbarrows around it. After many hours of work we ate and departed, feeling good about what we had done.

The adult leaders started the last day of camp confused.  We awoke to the senior patrol leader calling for the troop to "fall in".  It was 6:15 in the morning...instead of the usual 7:30.  The scout leaders decided to get up early to clean up camp.  We sorted though all personal items under the shelter and matched them with the owner.  4 sweeps of camp yielded a full trash bag and a clean camp. Last night was a very successful night.  No visible homesickness and many scoutmaster conferences and requirement testing.  There is a rush to finish up remaining requirements to rank up in time for tonight's boards of review.  Many scouts also found time to go to the climbing wall, swimming, jumping on the blog, or attending open shooting at the range... and of course the always popular trading post for a slushie and a card game. Some pictures from the past 24 hours:  Friday Flags at Lakeview Troop service project- clearing brush ne...

A storm rolled in yesterday evening.  Max and Andrew accounted for everyone in the troop, we tied down the tents and sheltered at the campsite until the wind and lightening passed.  It rained all evening and most of the night, but the rain and storms didn't stop Troop 281 from participating in troop competitions, having a campfire, and working on advancement.  We have had the usual homesickness, but nothing we couldn't handle.  Our first year scouts have had a fabulous week... lots of smiles and excitement.  The scouts thank you for the mail, cookies and snacks. Tomorrow is already our last day at camp.  Most agree that the week went very fast.  Lots of scouts were talking about finishing a rank advancement today.  Should be a great one!! Right Canoe: SM water ski- Ken Wilson in water.  Eric and Alexander in the canoe.  Josh working on Second Class at camp The Troop huddled under the shelter before Wednesday's storm. ...

2013 Summer Camp- Sorry for the late post.  We have had trouble with the technology to post updates.  We have had a great week so far.  Record number of scouts attending summer camp from our Troop... 49 scouts!  The Shark Patrol is camping in troop tents at the top of the campsite by the troop trailer.  Everyone else is camping in the traditional canvas platform tents.  On the first day we had several scouts attend a "drop add" session where there was opportunity to drop a merit badge and add another if the class had capacity.  All six troop 281 scouts that went were successful in switching to what they wanted!   Lakeview campsite is awesome.  We have a nice cool lake breeze and access to the lake for fishing at night. Lots of requirements have been signed off on both Monday and Tuesday evenings.  We have had 3 scoutmaster conferences so far with many more expected in the coming days.  We have been awoken every morning by a h...

    Here is the report on the June Service Project: At the service project we made a planters box for an old person’s home on Beechmont. We took large wooden poles and used saws to cut them, then we put them together in a log cabin style. After we assembled one row we would drive spikes into the poles with a mallet. The planter box was 4x8x3 feet.     The scouts who were there were Matt, John, Brian, Andrew, Michael, Brent, and Peter. The adults who were there were Mr. Black, Mr. Mays, and Mr. Lefkowitz.- Courtesy of John M.

This Court of Honor we had great weather and greater advancements. Alex stepped down from Senior Patrol Leader after two years of dedicated service and Ben stepped up to lead us for the coming year. We then awarded ranks to many people. Not so much for merit badges, but still something. We also swore in Mr.Mays as another Assistant Scoutmaster. (Known to adults as moose head) Then we closed up this year and began looking forward to the next.-Nate S. Historian

We drove 4 hours and 49 minutes through the foggy Appalachian Mountains to get to New River Gorge, which was amazing to see, let alone raft on. One thing that wasn't so good about the time we arrived was that it was about 11 when we got there and we still had to set up tents. The next day we would find that it was all worth it. After breakfast, we suited up and boarded a bus to the launch site. We then pushed off the shore and our guide explained commands and classification of rapids. The first couple rapids were entertaining, but rather easy to conquer. Enter the class 3s and 5s. The rapids got way larger then they were in the early part of the trip and some brave souls decided to take a dip in the freezing water.It was so cold! When we first got into the water it felt like we were being stabbed by tons of small needles, but then we heated up a bit. After eating on a small beach, things started to get interesting. Our rafts fell off huge cliffs and smashed through giant waves. An...

 We had many advancements and one new scout on this campout of greatly mixed weather. In survivor Light, Many scouts advanced a rank and some. The night of our arrival at Achewon, It rained like crazy and nobody wanted to leave their tents. They were eventually coaxed out by the mouth-watering smell of breakfast on a warm fire. The weather of Saturday was a rather unpredictable rain, which no one was happy about. But we did get some stuff done. We had a fire building, wood cutting and first aid advancement station set up in on site. After dinner, We all sat around the fire until we could stand no longer. We woke up the next day to a surprising snowfall. After returning to the church, Some scouts  went to camp Micheals to get an orienteering requirement which I am pleased to announce they all earned.-Nate S. Historian 

   Last weekend's camp out started with a weird coincidence when Mr. Todd’s van got a flat. When Mr. Wilson pulled off to find a tire shop, his car was hit hard on the back by a white Dodge Grand Caravan. Fortunately, Everybody was fine. After restarting the journey on Saturday, we visited the National Corvette Museum and had a totally awesome time! Otherwise, the journey there and back was uneventful. Caving was also really fun. We first went on a 1 hour headlamp spelunking tour and then some went on a lighted tour. After that, we turned in for the night. The next morning we packed up and departed for home.- Nate S. Historian