temperatures more often than not. Today was in the low 40′s, it stayed dry most of the morning, but we stayed around just long enough to get poured on as we left. Oh well, it was still a good time!

The actors in these reenactments amaze me with their dedication, knowledge and desire to share. most of them had spent the night in their period tents and actually live the weekend as if it were 1861 (with porta-potties, some concessions to the modern world are necessary).

The day started with a march down Main street in downtown Bethlehem. The soldiers conducted a recruitment at the end of the march and convinced a number of locals to “sign up”. Three of our boys from the scout troop decided to join. They lied about their age so that they could fight for the cause, but it’s OK, the war is only expected to last 90 days or so. That is what President Lincoln said. He seemed like a nice fellow, if a little awkward. He didn’t seem too concerned about the rebels, even though they surprised our boys in a couple of battles.

We visited the blacksmith shop on the way to the camp and watched them forge basic tools. They had a fire, so at least it was warm!

The encampment had everything you would expect, a quartermaster, cooks, tents, an operating table (yikes!) and all the other “comforts” of home. Check out the gallery for my favorite photos from today.

Martin is a wonderful combination of technology and craftsmanship. Many modern, high tech machines are used yet the guitars are touched by human hands almost continuously from the preparation of the raw materials all the way through the final tuning before they leave the door. The workshop id clean, well laid out, and all in all it looks like a nice place to work as far as a factory environment goes.

Martin established their factory in Nazareth in 1859 and has operated continuously since then. They currently have about 500 employees in Nazareth (if I remember correctly) and they also produce guitars in Mexico. The guitars are very expensive and with customizations can easily reach into the tens of thousands of dollars! I guess I won’t be playing one any time soon but it was fun to watch them being made.

We ate good food, had a nice hike with the Webelos on Saturday, relaxed, and had fun. I took my telescope along this time, thinking the boys would get a charge out of it. Too much moonlight to see some of the more interesting sky objects, but they liked it anyway. Frankly the adults were a lot more interested, no surprise there I guess!

So much doing on that I just never got around to writing. Friends on Facebook have seen most of the happenings, but this is a brief summary. Also, check the Family gallery, the basketball gallery and the scout gallery for updates.

Early snow on the ground, and snow for Christmas, which was nice. We had a great time as usual with family and were happy that the season found everyone in good health and good spirits.

At the end of January William and I and the rest of his Scout troop went to the Klondike Derby at Camp Minsi. This is a fun event where the boys take a sled around to multiple stations where they need to demonstrate scouting skills from first aid to hatchet throwing (yeah, I don’t know how that is a scout skill either!). At the end of the day, our boys won the competition! They were thrilled as our troop has not placed well in this competition for many years.

Indoor soccer season came and went, not very eventful and not very fruitful, but the kids had fun. Basketball season is upon us now and the season is in the final weeks. William’s team has been on a real tear lately and won 5 of their last 6 games. Looks like they are headed to the playoffs!

Two weeks before LBI William and I spent a week at Boy Scout camp in what has become something of a tradition. I really enjoy this week since it gives me an opportunity to really decompress and disconnect. It is also good for my knot tying and wood carving skills

More pictures in the gallery

Camp Minsi winter tents

Originally uploaded by whiskeybravo

Went winter tent camping last weekend at Minsi. We had a nice snowstorm to set the mood! It was cold, but not as bad as this weekend.

William and I went on a hike at Valley Forge National Park with the scouts. It was a really great hike and a beautiful day! Valley forge is a wonderful park and represents an incredible time in American history. While a battle was never fought at the camp, it nevertheless was a turning point, and in the summer of 1778 the British went to battle with a very different continental army!

The Scout hike is 9 miles long and includes a lot of trails that you would never venture onto as a casual tourist. The terrain was fun and a little challenging, and the scenery in the autumn was magnificent! Lots of pictures in the gallery.

Ahhhhh. That pretty much describes how I felt after a week at Scout summer camp. There is nothing like being a kid for a week to relax the old brain cells. My biggest worry for 6 days was finding dry firewood!

Camp was terrific, the boys got along well, weather was cooperative for the most part, activities were fun and the food was acceptable at worst and excellent at best.

The troop did well. We won the clean campsite award for the week overall and we won the staff hunt. Personally I got a “Dime award” for putting five shots within the space of a dime, I got a “frigid froggie” patch and I got my scoutmaster merit badge. That kept me pretty busy.

Back to the real world. Pictures in the gallery

William and I went camping with Scouts this weekend at Mauch Chunk lake in Jim Thorpe PA. We had a fantastic weekend and the weather was wonderful. We took a 21 mile bike hike along the old railroad path in the Lehigh River Gorge. I put up some pictures here.