My Trip to the Redwoods

Last weekend, the Boy Scouts took a trip to Little Basin State Park in the redwoods. We got there around 8:00 pm, and in the morning my patrol had a breakfast of omelets.

Then we set off on a hike.

When we got to the top, we had a lunch of BLT wraps, and took a picture with the American flag.

Then, after a dinner of quesadillas, we had a campfire including a Sanders water bottle challenge.

Then, the next morning, we had doughnuts and did a service project of shoveling out the fire pits.

I bought all the food for my patrol. When I bought the bacon and chicken, I pre-cooked it at home, and the scouts thought that was the best idea ever. None of the other patrols did that, and no one else thought of that, so they loved me. The trip was one of the best we ever had. We all had fun, even on the service project. We also had fun with all the games I brought.

Ski Trip

Last weekend, I went on a ski trip with my Boy Scout troop. They always start the year off easy, like as in sleeping in a hotel, and then go hard, like sleeping in a tent you put up yourself. So, since this was the first trip of the year, we stayed in a lodge called Granlibakken. It had a heated pool, and we did the Boy Scout Angel Challenge where you jump into the snow in just your swim suit, and then run back to the hot tub. We got our skis, boots, and helmets, and then went to another ski resort called Homewood. We had fun skiing, and I taught another scout who never skied before how to ski.

Here I am at the top of the mountain.

Here I am on the chair lift.

Now, In this picture, we conquered the single black diamond I will tell you about later, and are about to go down a much easier blue square.

I had a really fun time skiing. One time, a couple of scouts and I accidentally came across a double black diamond, and we took our skis off and walked down. Then, we got to a single black diamond on purpose, and I fell twice. However, even though it was only my 3rd time skiing, I made it down safely!

Basketry Merit Badge (Large Flat Basket)

To earn the Basketry Merit Badge, a scout needs to make three baskets. I already made 2, and this is my third. To make the basket, place reeds flat and make an over one, under one pattern. Then fold the walls up, and keep going.

In this picture I am about halfway done with the basket.

Making the baskets and stool were very fun, and now I have 8 completed merit badges! This was very difficult and confusing, but still fun. You can see the other two here and here.

Basketry Merit Badge (Camp Stool)

Back when I went to advance camp, a camp for Boy Scouts, I got a partial on the Basketry Merit Badge. That means I did some but not all of the requirements to get the Merit Badge. I still had to make two more things.

In the Basketry Merit Badge, one requirement is to make projects with different weaves. I made a twill weave camp stool. To make the weave, I wrapped reeds around poles, and then did a pattern of 4 rows. The first row is over two, under two, over two, the second over one, under two, over two, the third is under two, over two, under two, and the fourth under one, over two, under two.

Here is the completed stool.

Here I am in the process of making it. I had to soak the reeds in water to make sure they didn't break. I used a cooler.

The stool worked well, and it holds my weight! One more project to go, and then I will earn my Merit Badge!

My Boy Scout Cooking Competition

On Wednesday, October 25, 2017, we had a great Boy Scout Cook-Off. One patrol made Mexican food, and one made Italian. We got Mexican, so we decided to make nachos. The trick, however, was trying to incorporate the secret ingredient, pickles, into our dish. First, we started with lots of bags, lots of groceries, and lots of scouts.

Ben and I are grating the cheese.

I was in charge of making the salsa. Collin taught me how to cut green onions.

Here is the completed salsa. It was delicious! We put in pickles, tomatoes, cilantro, and green onions.

Here is our completed dish with the salsa on top.

The other patrol made stuffed pickles.

The cooking competition was very fun. The results were close, but the visiting Cub Scouts voted us the winners!

Advance Camp

Yesterday, Saturday, September 23, 2017, I had my first Advance Camp with the rest of my Boy Scout Troop. Advance Camp is a camp where you can earn merit badges. I took Indian Lore and Basketry.

This is Indian Lore:

This is Basketry:

Here is my troop:

(I am in the middle)

Unfortunately, there aren't any pictures of me in Indian Lore, but I got good pictures of what I made:

This is a medicine pouch and a soapstone rock:

This is a dream catcher:

My counselor has a Miwok grandson, and so she made lots of things to show us.

Here I am in Basketry:

I learned how to make a Continuous Ribbed Basket:

I am very glad I went to Advance Camp. I had a super fun time!

My Garden

For my Boy Scout gardening merit badge (and because I wanted a nice garden), I planted a vegetable garden.

It has corn, 3 types of tomatoes,

carrots, beets, zucchini, cucumber,

basil,

and pineapple sage.

Here is one of the beds.

The pineapple sage was very interesting. I chose it because it smelled very good. We thought it would go well in lots of dishes, but it didn't (luckily, our rabbit likes to eat it). Recently, it began to flower.

I really like my new garden! My favorite thing about it is that we get lots of tasty veggies to eat!