New record...

for the longest time without posting. Sorry everybody. I keep forgetting to do anything with the blog. I'll give you the rundown for the last, ummm, three weeks.

Alrighty. We went to summer camp at Camp Birch, about an hour and a quarter south of Belle Center. Another troop from here in the county stayed in the same campsite with us, and for most of the time we functioned as one troop. A couple guys from our troop and about all of the other troop got down to Birch on the Lord's Day, July 15, while Dad, Nathaniel, Sean, Matt, and I all got there Monday. Boy, was it a blast. We had a great time. Except for a few minor things, our two troops got along really well. I completed only two merit badges, Archery and Weather, but I also completed COPE, the teambuilding thing that also has the high ropes course.

One highlight or downlight of the week, depending on your perspective (highlight sorta for me), was early Thursday morning. We had a doozy of a storm roll in. The lighting was more there than not, almost constant at times. In around 45 minutes of rain, we had just under two inches, which was annoying, because I ended up being out in the storm for much of it. Gore-Tex works almost all the time, but not totally in that amount of rain. Bumpas and I shared a tent, and I accidentally managed to get it pretty wet, so we spent about 0300-0700 in a couple other guys' tent. We stuffed four people in a two-person tent, but these aren't dome tents. They're what are called wall tents, nice big ones that can fit four guys. Also, there are cots, so there's space under them on the ground (no floor) for your gear. Anyway, the wind was the big thing with this storm. There were several gusts that really were strong, all of them being past 60 MPH. The last one was the only time I was really scared. It blew like I've never seen before. Dad and I agreed that it was easily 75 or more, and we've gotten National Weather Service training, so we sorta know how to judge the wind speed! :) I ended up leaning about 20º into it and almost walking forward to keep in the same spot. However, the worst part was that a few trees were rotating for a few seconds. That had me scared. Since I was the main junior leader, I was about to start yelling for evacuation, but the gust died down and the trees stopped swirling. Soon after that, the whole thing quieted down, and Bumpas and I finally got to bed. Phew.

We pulled out Saturday morning, even though a bunch of guys left Friday evening. Overall, the week was great. It was encouraging to meet a bunch of new friends, several of which are solid Christians. Also, Bumpas and I spent a couple hours witnessing to a guy from another troop--please be praying that he would come to see that what Christ says is true and that he must submit to the King.

OK. That's it for summer camp. We got back, and I collapsed. Almost literally. Sleep deprivation. It was fun. Really.

The week after wasn't much. No more flying lessons, just mowing and working on my Eagle Court of Honor, which is Saturday the 11th. Not much more.

Oh yeah. There was one little thing. I got to go to the Dayton Airshow with Dad and a bunch of guys from church. It was great. We got to see some really incredible performances, get in a bunch of nice aircraft, both planes and helos, and also several of us older guys got to get in the Virtual Army Experience, a shooter activity where we're in life-size Humvee models. Basically, each guy gets on a light machine gun position on the Humvee, and we use the LMG to take out (using lasers) enemies on the screen in front of the Humvee. The really cool thing was the model was able to move a bit, and had a great sound system, so we could tell when a close shot went by, and we really knew when an IED blew close to us because the whole thing would shake. Anyway, I came home with a neat mahogany Blackhawk model. This thing is pretty big--about 20" long.

The big highlight of the show was to be the USAF Thunderbirds. Unfortunately, we didn't get to watch them perform. The pilot right before them was in a maneuver that he didn't pull out of in time. He died within a few seconds of hitting the ground. Please also be in prayer for his wife, and also his 4-year-old son.

Lord's Day was edifying and enjoyable. We had about average attendance at church. The sermons were quite good. As well, we had dinner after the two services, and plenty of time to socialize, which is always nice. :)

After dinner, Mom and Dad left on a vacation! They're going with my Uncle Charlie and Aunt Debbie, who're having their 25 anniversary in a few weeks here, so since Mom and Dad had theirs a few weeks ago, they're having a mutual 25th vacation in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Nathaniel and I have been "baching/batching" it together. We've done well, keeping the house mostly clean, remembering to get the mail, washing the dishes, getting the yards mown, etc. Mom and Dad are supposed to get home tomorrow, and it'll be great to see them. It's nice (in a way) having them away, mostly because of staying up a little bit later, and partly because we proved we can get along without having them here. However, it's nicer having them back here. I've missed both of them this week, but at least I know they're coming back soon. Wonder how I'll do with leaving for college? :)

Alrighty. Tonight was special. I had a lesson for the first time in about three weeks, and it was a blast. I got in a total of seven landings, most of them touch-and-go, one at Urbana Airport, the next county south. Visibility wasn't the best, but it was still beautiful up there. Also, I handled almost all of the radio communications, which is a first. I only slightly goofed once with the radio, but it wasn't any big deal. Oh well. It was wonderful. My instructor, who by the way is new for me, since my old one's gone into Air National Guard OCS, was surprised that I don't quite have 5 hours yet--he said I handled the plane like I have 30-40 hours! That was nice to hear. It was great. Did I say that before? :)

Well, that's that. Hopefully it won't be so long next time. I've gotta go do the dishes now. Seeya later!