Letters from camp, a little levity please

[GernBlansten]

Letter from scout camp

Dear Mom and Dad,

 

Our Scoutmaster told us to write to our parents in case you saw the flood on TV and are worried. We are okay. Only one of our tents and 2 sleeping bags got washed away. Luckily, none of us got drowned because we were all up on the mountain looking for Adam when it happened.

 

Oh yes, please call Adam's mother and tell her he is okay. He can't write because of the cast. I got to ride in one of the search and rescue jeeps. It was neat.. We never would have found Adam in the dark if it hadn't been for the lightning.

 

Scoutmaster Keith got mad at Adam for going on a hike alone without telling anyone. Adam said he did tell him, but it was during the fire so he probably didn't hear him. Did you know that if you put gas on a fire, the gas will blow up? The wet wood didn't burn, but one of the tents did and also some of our clothes. Lester is going to look weird until his hair grows back.

 

We will be home on Saturday if Scoutmaster Keith gets the bus fixed. It wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked okay when we left. Scoutmaster Keith said that with a bus that old you have to expect something to break down; that's probably why he can't get insurance. We think it's a neat bus. He doesn't care if we get it dirty, and if it's hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the fenders. It gets pretty hot with 45 people in a bus. He let us take turns riding in the trailer until the highway patrol man stopped and talked to us.

 

Scoutmaster Keith is a neat guy. Don't worry, he i s a good driver. In fact, he is teaching Jessie how to drive on the mountain roads where there isn't any traffic. All we ever see up there are logging trucks.

 

This morning all of the guys were diving off the rocks and swimming out in the lake. Scoutmaster Keith wouldn't let me because I can't swim, and Adam was afraid he would sink because of his cast, so he let us take the canoe across the lake. It was great. You can still see some of the trees under the water from the flood.

 

Scoutmaster Keith isn't crabby like some scoutmasters. He didn't even get mad about the life jackets. He has to spend a lot of time working on the bus so we are trying not to cause him any trouble.

 

Guess what? We have all passed our first aid merit badges. When Elvin dived into the lake and cut his arm, we got to see how a tourniquet works. Willie and I threw up, but Scoutmaster Keith said it probably was just food poisoning from the leftover chicken. He said they got sick that way w it h food they ate in prison.

 

I'm so glad he got out and became our scoutmaster. He said he sure figured out how to get things done better while he was doing his time.

 

By the way, what is a pedal-file?

 

I have to go now. We are going to town to mail our letters and buy some more beer. Don't worry about anything. We are fine.

 

Love, Billy Joe

[funscout]

LOL, this reminds me of the song, "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah, here I am at Camp Granada. Camp is very entertaining, and they say we'll have some fun when it stops raining...."

[Eamonn]

Hi Mom,

Summer camp is fun.

Could you please send more money, last nights poker game wiped me out. Tell Dad that he was wrong, our Scoutmaster says you can have a four in a royal flush.Boy is he lucky he won every hand last night

Dad was right about pitching tents on top of ant hills.

When you send the money, send some tomato juice. I don't seem able to get the skunk smell out of my hair.

It's a good thing that there aren't any alligators down here. Terry fell in the river, it wasn't his fault he was reading the map.Our Scoutmaster says that we need to work on that.

Every morning they have a polar bear swim, we don't go, we just feed the bears that are in the woods.

We have a big day tomorrow. We are going on a hike and burying a cat in a hole. I'm not sure who brought a dead cat? It's really strange our SM keeps talking about making flowers out of toilet paper.

I watched Tim take his swim test and found out why they call it red, white and blue.

When you jump in the water is so cold that you turn white, Tim got real red and when they fished him out his lips were blue.He gets to do again tomorrow.

Must go now we have a campfire, the SM says that he is cremating someone called Sam McGee, maybe Sam was his cat?

Your Loving Son

 

Eamonn.

 

[webdog]

Found this one on a scout web site a while ago .Troop Unknown

 

Dear Mom and Dad,

 

We are having a great time here at Lake Typhoid. Scoutmaster Webb is making us all write to our parents in case you saw the flood on TV and worried. We are okay. Only one of our tents and two sleeping bags got washed away.

 

Luckily, none of us drowned because we were all up on the mountain looking for Chad when it happened. Oh yes, please call Chad's mother and tell her he is okay. He can't write because of the cast. I got to ride in one of the Search and Rescue jeeps. It was neat. We never would have found him in the dark if it hadn't been for the lightning.

 

Scoutmaster Webb got mad at Chad for going on a hike alone without telling anyone. Chad said he did tell him, but it was during the fire so he probably didn't hear him. Did you know that if you put gas on a fire, the gas can will blow up? The wet wood still didn't burn, but one of our tents did. Also some of our clothes. John is going to look weird until his hair grows back.

 

We will be home on Saturday if Scoutmaster Webb gets the car fixed. It wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked okay when we left. Scoutmaster Webb said that a car that old you have to expect something to break down; that's probably why he can't get insurance on it. We think it's a neat car. He doesn't care if we get it dirty, and if it's hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the tailgate. It gets pretty hot with ten people in a car. He let us take turns riding in the trailer until the highway patrolman stopped and talked to us.

 

Scoutmaster Webb is a neat guy. Don't worry, he is a good driver. In fact, he is teaching Terry how to drive. But he only lets him drive on the mountain roads where there isn't any traffic. All we ever see up there are logging trucks.

 

This morning all of the guys were diving off the rocks and swimming out in the lake. Scoutmaster Webb wouldn't let me because I can't swim and Chad was afraid he would sink because of his cast, so he let us take the canoe across the lake. It was great. You can still see some of the trees under the water from the flood. Scoutmaster Webb isn't crabby like some scoutmasters. He didn't even get mad about the life jackets.

 

He has to spend a lot of time working on the car so we are trying not to cause him any trouble. Guess what? We have all passed our first aid merit badges. When Dave dove in the lake and cut his arm, we got to see how a tourniquet works. Also Wade and I threw up. Scoutmaster Webb said it probably was just food poisoning from the leftover chicken.

 

I have to go now. We are going into town to mail our letters and buy bullets. Don't worry about anything. We are fine.

 

Love,

Your son

Webdog

 

P.S. How long has it been since I had a tetanus shot?

 

 

[SWScouter]

Those are funny. Back in Feb, I posted a real letter from a scout at camp (me back in 1973). See http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=123065

 

SWScouter

[LauraT7]

I don't have the actual letters - but I heard my mom tell this story many times over the years....

 

Girl scout camp in wisconsin in the 70's was very different from boy scout camp - we did not go as a troop with our own leaders like the boys do - you usually went alone or went with one or two friends from your troop or area. Camp sessions were TWO weeks, not a week, and the counselors were high school and college girls who ran our units and lived in the same kind of canvas/ platform tents we did. no adult leaders, and certainly no one we already knew.

 

One summer a group of 3 of us girl scout friends went to scout camp together. we must have been in late grade school or middle school - 5th or 6th grade. As I remember, it was me, Melinda (Mindy)R & Lori K. I was the one big into scouting - my mom had been our troop leader, nature lady at day camp, etc. I had been to camp every summer and longed for the day i could be a camp counselor myself. Lori was the adventurous one - bubbly and outgoing. Melinda was my best friend - but shy and a little nervous about being away from home so long.

 

Predictably, Lori and I threw ourselves into camp life and had a great time - our first letters home were short, (the counselors REQUIRED us to write home every 2 or 3 days) but full of horseback riding, the cool pet crow the Nature counselor had, and swim tests.

 

Melinda's letters were different. She was lonely - she missed her dog and her parents, even her pesky little sister. it rained alot, she was cold at night and the woods were scary, and her stomach hurt because the food was bad. She wanted to come home - wouldn't her parents PLEASE come get her?

 

In a panic, her mom called my mom -

she was so worried about Melinda - and ready to drive up to camp that minute! But my mom, the experienced leader, assured her that Mindy was probably just a little homesick - and looking for sympathy. Give her a little time, she counseled - that letter was probably written the first night (it was) and most kids got a little homesick. She had her friends with her, and had been camping before - Melinda would probably be forget all about it and the next letter would be full of excitement.

 

Lori's and my next postcards told of cookouts, learning to sail, wonderful counselors, new friends and adventures.

 

Melinda's were worse - camp was boring and the counselors were mean. Even her best friend had turned on her and we were teasing her mercilessly. She had no friends, and cried herself to sleep every night. Please, Please come and get me Mommy!

 

Mindy's mom panicked. she called my mom, and together they called the camp.

 

the moms talked to the camp director and our counselors They were told that Mindy had been quiet the first few days, but after that had opened up and seemed to be having a good time. she wasn't a loner, and had made some friends, though she stuck pretty closely with her tentmates. (Lori and me). They were not aware of any teasing or problems and we seemed as close as when we'd arrived. Last, they agreed to have Mindy call her mom back as soon as they could track her down at camp.

 

So Mindy was found and they called her mom back - Mindy was full of excitement - she'd passed her Swimmer's test and was learning to sail, She got to horseback ride every day, etc - Mindy's mom could hardly get a word in edgewise! Finally, Mindy let her mom talk and her mom said she'd come to take Mindy home - if Mindy wanted to go. but Mindy didn't WANT to go home - she was having fun! When her mom asked about the letters - Mindy said - "oh, I made that all up. I did feel bad at first and wanted to come home. and I wanted you to come get me. but I knew you wouldn't let me come home unless it was really bad here - and I wanted you to feel just as bad as I did so you would feel sorry for me and let me come home. but I don't want to go home NOW!

 

Mindy finished out her 2nd week at camp and even went back to camp again - but my mom, and I'm sure her mom - never forgot those sad, sad letters!

 

 

[SR540Beaver]

I posted a portion of this letter in a different thread a week or so ago. The camp we attended this year had wireless access at the admin building. Each night, our camp SM would pull his van up outside the building and send out an e-mail dispatch via his laptop to the parents back home. This was his last e-mail from Friday night.

 

Scout Parents,

 

This will be my last transmission from this outpost here at Camp Tom Hale. We not only find this location becoming increasingly more hostile we feel we have taken advantage of all this location has to offer.

 

You may ask how could your location be so hostile you need to depart for the flatlands of Oklahoma City? We arrived here at Tom Hale with an outstanding group of Scouts. Although they were well trained they still needed some improvements in knife handling, personal hydration, tent maintenance, and troop formation protocols. WE have improved in all those areas. But we have just been informed almost 700 new, untrained, rough-around-the edges scouts will arrive here on Sunday - so we need to evacuate to make room for them so they will not contaminate our outstanding troop.

 

This morning before dawn a number of our scouts led by one adult leader, Jack (Ironman) Sprat made a recon run by swimming one mile looking for a safe and quick way out. Those brave souls were Bill (Webbed Feet) Smith, Tom (The Unflappable) Brown, Harry (Always Cool) White, Joe (The Gentleman) Black, Sam (The Surfer) Green, Mack (Leatherneck) Jones and John (Always Ready) Doe. They will be honored for their heroism with the award of the coveted mile swim patch.

 

In addition, this morning at dawn one additional scout Tim (Hiking Man) Roe led by adult Ed (Tree Hugger) Johnson reconnoitered another possible escape route over Bohannon Peak on an 11.5 mile hike. They too will be honored for their heroism. The elements even played against the "Hiking Man" in his prep for his mission. Having borrowed some "Gold Bond Medicated Powder from Scoutmaster Lumpus, and being unaware of its "cooling, medicating" action on those places where we tend to chafe, he came out of the shower in agony as he was "on-fire" (his words) in that most sensitive area. He was upset that the adult leaders were unable to sympathize since as old men we love that cooling medication action. But he persevered and embarked on his mission.

 

We have completed numerous merit badges, possibly over 100, and most of our new scouts have earned or almost earned their next rank. In addition we have a visiting scout who did earn 2nd class. So there is no reason to stay and brave the hot days, attacking raccoons and a sleepwalking disorder brought on by the cool clear night air.

 

We have decided, with the help of reinforcing drivers, we will depart this paradise for home at approximately 9:30 AM tomorrow after a breakfast of Belgian Waffles. We expect to arrive in OKC at approximately 3:30 PM. We will have tons of laundry and will need a lot of tender loving care after our ordeal.

 

See ya tomorrow.

 

Scoutmaster Lumpus