Eagle1982
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Posts posted by Eagle1982
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I suppose on an A-frame tent it can make more of a difference. Whether the wind is hitting a broad side or an inclined side.
Many dome style tents, the wind goes around them pretty well. Now, around here,the wind doesn't go North/South, but usually more East/West.
Personally I believe the ground is never perfectly flat. I'd rather sleep straight uphill. Down hill is uncomfortable, and perpendicular to the incline means you and your tent mate will be rolling into each other.
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In all reality the 20th amendment kind of trumps some other stuff.
it states:
1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.
Which means that Barak Obama became President at 12:00 noon, January 20th. This was a few minutes before he gave his oath of office, and obviously a day before the redo, but he was POTUS as of 12:00 noon on Jan 20th, 2009.
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This is a great question. Scouts often place a higher importance on the other activities because the Parents do. Any activity that is from the school usually is the one given precedence over the others, especially from a parents point of view.
Now with my own son, band concerts are two times a year. It's part of his grade. For two nights a year, he can miss that Scout meeting if there is a conflict.
Sports practice, usually is before school (swimming) or right after. Practice rarely affects attendance at a Scout meeting, unless the Scout had a lot of homework to do that night. The actual sports games may conflict with the scout meeting.
My personal opinion is that Scouting is an outdoor program. I'd rather a Scout miss a few meetings if they have to, but really try and make it to the outdoor activities. When I was a Scout, we had Track or Football on Friday nights. We just went to the campout either late on Friday or early on Saturday morning. My Scoutmaster encouraged us to do our best in our sport, give it our all, then show up a little late, and do our best at the outdoor event.
This is one reason I don't like year long POR. I never thought of this before, but I wonder if POR voting should in some way coincide with school sports calendars? Being in these other activities allows the Scout to be more rounded and more challenged as an individual.
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Snickers, pop the small bite sized ones occasionally. GORP is still king, even in winter.
Pre slice or pre assemble as much stuff as possible before hand. I like the idea of vacuum sealed stews. Soup in a pot is good. Warm apple cider is good.
With the pot, don't forget the lid, heats things up faster. Also, a wind shield can help with heating the pot.
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A lot of camping in the cold is about gaining experience in the cold.
Starting fires is more difficult in the snow and cold. It is good experience to start one in winter. Cooking may require different menus, and preparations, plus you may need more calories. Gain that experience. Traveling is typically slower, and you are carrying a heavier load, again you gain more experience.
Scouts that can efficiently camp in the cold and snow typically have higher skills and are more efficient in the summer. Plus they then gain a measure of self confidence that will stick with them always. It is one thing to talk about what to do in the cold, but it's an experience to actually do it.
Activities they can do:
Cross country skiing
Downhill skiing
Animal tracks in the snow
Build shelters
Birding
Astronomy (clearer skies)
plus many more.
Plus, you get the bragging rights
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When you can't be prepared for the weather, then it is too cold. If you are prepared, there should be few problems.
There are alternatives to tents, as already mentioned. Many 3 season tents can not handle the weight of a lot of snow on them, or the fiberglass poles break easier in the cold. Often White Gas stoves work better than propane. It's about having the right gear to be prepared.
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When I did a Philmont trek, it turned out that for maybe 1/2 of the other Scouts, it was their first time outside of their own state. We drove in a couple vans. Made stops along the way at historic places, even a pony express station.
Flying and the train are faster, but I'd drive again if it were offered. Plus, by driving, we worked the extra day into the schedule to help get acclimated to the altitude. (Have the boys hike up Pikes Peak, one day, then drive to Philmont from there
You definitely need practice hikes and backpack trips. You don't need a boy 3 days into a 10 day expedition saying, "I don't like this, can I go home now?"
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We would do this one evening during a week long summer camp. Break up with people from other troops and do some agility contests or such. It was a good way to meet other kids and have a good time. However, once that evening was finished, it was back to regular patrols and our patrol which patrol was the best one
I can't imagine doing this for a klondike or weekend camping event. I'm also surprised it came as a surprise, wasn't there a prep meeting or roundtable where the klondike was discussed?
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Other people said great things, I just want to add a few more.
That is why we continue to practice. I think too many Scouts fulfill the cooking requirement for rank, then hardly do any more cooking. While technically they did the requirement, they are not getting much needed practice to become decently proficient. Then on the next campout, you have a new group of boys doing their rank cooking requirement, and the previous group is not getting experience.
I blame a lot of this on summer camp. When I was a youth, we didn't work on 5 and 6 merit badges at summer camp. We worked on one or maybe two, because we still had to do a lot of camp chores like cooking. That is how we got better at it, by doing it.
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You did not say whether the older boy(s) are involved in Scouting still or not, and whether the outgoing CM is involved in their troop if they are.
If he is involved in Boy Scouts too, and is involved with the outdoor activities, perhaps a piece of really nice camping gear he does not already have? You may be able to get a good tent or backpack or something on sale and come in around budget. Or even a luxury piece of equipment, a hammock or luxury/fancy camp chair (rocking chair ha ha).
If his older boys are not in scouting, I like the scrapbook idea from Eagle92. You could also purchase one of those electronic picture frames, and get all the pictures you can and copy them to it.
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AGain, the ABC story has some more info: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=6498405&page=2
(1) It is claimed that the injured person was able to get their seat belt off themselves, showing a state of non paralysis at that time.
(2) The rescuer did not pull the other people out
(3) Alcohol was involved
(4) If the rescuer was afraid of the car exploding, why did she "drop" the person by the car and leave her there?
While I don't like the precedent that can be set, I think a case can be made that this is not emergency care. I thought everyone learned in drivers ed not to move a body in an accident unless there is no other choice.
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There is lots of good advice on this topic posted.
What temperature are you expecting down to? Lots of people are mentioning lots of different temperature ranges in sleeping bags, the important thing is to be prepared for the weather. If you are not backpacking, you can get by with a higher temp sleeping bag by adding fleece. There are dirt cheap fleece sleeping bags for indoors, add that to a 32 degree bag and suddenly you have a 20 degree bag. Not everyone can afford 0 degree bags and also 32 degree bags...
Keep moisture out of the bags, don't breath in the sleeping bags. Dpn't put wet clothes in the sleeping bag.
closed cell foam sleeping pads do well against moisture, but really are not the best insulators. Open cell foam absorbs moisture, but insulate better. I know people that used the closed cell under the open cell. Course you can use a thermarest or similar sleeping pad. If it's real cold, I've bought that reflective ducting (with the bubbles in the middle) insulation from Lowes and placed it on the floor of the tent as well as making it into a reflective ceiling.
Duct tape does not stick well in really cold weather, don't plan on using it.
In really cold weather, propane stoves will take forever to boil water. White gas is better in the cold if you have them. If using white gas in the very cold, pre-heat the generators with that fire ribbon paste.
thin nylon rope, that gets wet and freezes, is a pain in the #&%* to untie at the end of camp. Use corded (not braided) rope if using rope for a lot of stuff.
Have a nice warm snack (try fondue) before going to bed, don't have a ton of hot-cocoa just before bed. Not much worse than being snug as a bug and needing to go outside to pee at 2:30 am in 10 degree weather.
Hot chocolate mugs that are set down and left on a picnic table with snow/ice on it will be frozen to the table in the morning.
Whoever said don't have a fire, I disagree, have a fire. It lifts spirits, plus provides a place to warm the hands.
Have thin gloves when you need finger dexterity, and large mittens that can go over them to stay warm and dry in between.
Good boots are a necessity.
Oh - and no cotton
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While I can appreciate Mitch Albom's comments, he hardly speaks for Michigan, and there are a lot of Michiganders that would rather read the Motor City Madman (Ted Nugent) over Mitch Albom.
There is precedent for the U.S. allowing so many complete industries to leave the U.S. - hardly any electronics are manufactured here. The U.S. once made some of the best milling machines for manufacturing, now Japan and China own that market. Steel Industry, textile industry, so many others are not here any more. It might lead one to think perhaps we can manage without a domestic auto industry.
However, right now today, I believe we need to keep a domestic auto industry. Too many jobs are dependent on it, and if we give it up, we would lose more jobs in a auto sale recession. The question is really whether a govt bailout is the right solution or letting them go restructure under chapter 11.
One thing, if the govt bails them out, there should be some serious strings. GM outsourced all 3.4 liter V6 engines to China. If we taxpayers foot the bill to help them out, they better keep more and bring more manufacturing here.
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One other link for paracord stuff for sale:
http://www.survivalstraps.com/
Makes you wonder about selling some of that at the popcorn stands and whatnot.
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This one is a toughie. One thing is clear, the Detroit 3 gave up more than they should have years ago. However it's not so easy to just turn a battleship on a dime.
The Detroit 3 have been renegotiating contracts. They have been reducing dealerships. They have now a two tiered pay structure, new hires get paid less, and they are doing buyouts on the older ones. Their quality has gone up.
Although Toyota and Honda assemble cars in the U.S. - the latest data I saw, 2006 shows that for every Detroit 3 job, there are between 11 and 12 jobs that rely on it (people that don't work directly for the automakers, yet do work for them, like die shops, mold shops...) For the Transplants, the number is between 4 and 5.
Now, Japan is a very nationalist country. Let's say the global auto economy goes bad, and it is. If you think for one second that Japanese companies like Toyota will sacrifice Japanese workers to keep more U.S. workers employed, think again.
The Detroit 3 have to survive, I just don't know if a bailout is better than bankruptcy or not.
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I can see it, Scout campout 2028
SPL, "Timmy can your patrol set up the Axe Yard?"
PL, "What's an axe?"
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Is Lem dead? You mean the guy who volunteered to be Scoutmaster to impress the girl?
There are still tons of guys like that. What you need are single girls that would be impressed by Lem.
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Quote, "Mountains usually look the same, and magnetic north doesn't shift".
Actually, magnetic north does shift. Declination in my area has "officially" changed by more than a degree since I was a kid. The history of the Earth shows that the poles have actually flipped more than once.
For fun with your scouts, go to the web page below. You can put in your zip code and a date and it will tell you the map declination.
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomagmodels/struts/calcDeclination
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Some bugles have pretty small (diameter) mouthpieces, which makes it harder for the boy. A trumpet sized mouthpiece is better than too small of a piece.
http://www.usregulationbugle.com
http://www.instrumentalsavings.com - try this for an inexpensive bugle
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Some National parks have bear vault requirements. Not just in their use but in which models are approved. Seems in some parks, the bears have figured out how to open certain brands up. Always check before going. You might check now and purchase the one approved in most places.
You put your food in them, seal them up, and lay them some 100 yards from camp or so. Hopefully, in the morning, it's still around there somewhere.
Attaching stuff to trees gives bears leverage to bash things open.
Regarding the tasty morsels in the tents, backpacking in bear country is why scouts absolutely must adhere to the "no food in tent" rule. Just as important as the no flame in tent.... If they stay in numbers, that helps keep bears away also.
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Which is why I don't get my knives from Walmart or Cabelas.
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I'm a food snob and prefer to eat well while car camping, backpacking or at home (my belly shows I eat well
- to that end, for backpacking, I will often dehydrate good leftovers to make into a fine stew or other meal. Dehydrated taco meat, pulled pork or shredded chicken can be used in a ton of recipes, and provide real meat instead of small meat like chunks of whatever.Eggs last longer than many people realize. Lots of countries don't refrigerate eggs. You can coat eggs with vasoline to make them last longer. I've carried cream cheese, hummus, regular cheese for long weekends, in July and August, without any spoilage.
I think though, that people go the super simple route for a few reasons.
(1) Boil and go is faster, and uses less fuel than needing to simmer a pot for a long time.
(2) Often, fancier meals require way more cleanup, forcing the use of more fuel.
(3) Using LNT principles, what do you do with your wash water and the food bits? If you pack out, some people are squeemish on that.
Can Scouts Mutiny?
in Working with Kids
Posted
I sometimes wish the boys in our troop would mutiny. Our Troop's current system of "lifetime if you want it" positions and a non involved SM and a CC that doesn't actually do the CC job just isn't working as well as it could. I'm ready to jump ship, that's for sure.