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peewee

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Posts posted by peewee

  1. My last story on camp fires, other wise you may think I'm a firebug. On another week long summer camp while the boys were swimming, I went looking for fire wood and came across a log 6ft long with a 14in diaimeter, hollow from top to bottom with a short branch to one side also hollow. The troop calls this type of log a dragon log, normally the boys would find a short 2ft. long trunk to use, then build a log cabin stack of wood about a foot tall and place the hollow log vertically, start a small fire under it. When it gets dark,and once the fire grows, the sparks and flames peak out of the top-- To the boys it looks like a dragon breathing fire. Cool stuff right. Well with the help of an older scout, we setup this dragon log to surprise the boys when they got back. After dinner everone could not wait to set fire to the log. When I was not looking one of the boys packed the hollow area with cat-tail fuzz and to add a little extra flare--some type of accelerant(coleman fuel)to the fuzz. After about 3hrs standing looking impressive we let the boys start the kindling, to get the log looking like a dragon it takes about 15 min or so. As the fire grew through the log cabin part, everyone was relaxing -- then when the heat and flames started the fuzz and accelerant vapors WELL BANG just like a shotgun, shooting the burning fuzz into the air. Nothing landed on the ground and no injuries. The boys tell the story year after year to the new scouts at camp -- that was 5yrs ago. A good lesson learned -- LOCK UP THE COLEMAM FUEL. RM

  2. My story happened at a week long camp-- intering the camp site (from an adult leader meeting) I noticed all of the boys setting around the campfire about 6:30 pm everyone was real quiet as I walked by-- I knew something was wrong-- I asked where the other leader was, I heared a few giggles as I looked at the camp fire, all eyes were focused on a very large unopened can of baked beans in the middle of the fire, you can hear the boiling noise and see the can shaking in the fire all bulgded,it was to late to remove the can it was ready to blow up. I moved everyone away to a safe distance , about 5min. later the can blew up like a shootgun shooting steaming beans everywhere. Shouts of COOL, FAR-OUT, WOW and let's do it again, but instead a bean cleanup crew was hformed and a safety meeting called for.

  3. I'm looking for some first hand information you can share about trailers ie. good things or bad things about trailer ownership, mech. problems,maintenance,storage, accidents, theft and insurance -- how did your troop solve the issues -- It's a round table topic for next month, I'm hoping to learn from other troops experiences.

  4. Does your troop plan for the calander year? When do you start ? I'm looking for info on troop planning, I will be presenting this topic at round table and would like some background from other scouters -- what worked or didn't work for you.

  5. Well lets see-- for the unit/troop meetings we have a large over stuffed briefcase that has all the info that you need and even more stuff-- (has not been cleaned out for years), it has tour permits, rosters, phone #'s, requirements book, cards ect. -- Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I will bring this topic up next meeting , we should clean it out ( it might close after)-- For camp outs it's the briefcase in the trunk(it stays in the trunk till we need something in it) and a cloth case that contains my cell phone, phone #'s, cards merit badge books that the boys should be working on for that outing,map of the area,compass, spare batteries,flashlight-- the typical stuff-- and my personal first aid kit separate from brief case-- its not like the case in the trunk of steves car-- but we have a smaller troop -- RM

  6. I'm in favor to remove the noevety and mystery from fire. I'm a member of a fire dept. for 27yrs. Most deptartments have some type of fire trainning/demos that offer basic use of exstinguishers -- we have a safety camp in july that the fire and police depts.put on for two days that cover these isuses.-- I use actual trainning photos of burns rec'd by people that mishandled fire.( I got their attention now) Our fire dept. has the county burn unit come to talk with us that cover treatment and long term care-- it works -- My first aid class we cover not only the basic burn info./treatment but we get into the responsibilties of (1)working with things they use at camp or at home and (2) what happens to their parants or home after accidental fire occures------ RM

     

  7. Venture scout -- I am a current merit badge counselor for several badges, I use my years of personal hands on experience and education to help my scouts understand and meet the requirements set by the BSA.Some boys need more time and help than others to complete their goal.I have also visited many summer camp MB classes where the counselors do their best for that week.Many MB can easly be completed in this time -- if a MB req'd a set # of days for camping or weeks to bike so many miles this needed to be completed before long term camp. So to answer your question I believe the boys will say at camp- but I know they can get much more from a counselor -- RM

  8. Is it ax or axe? I wish that some of my scouts would read your great replies-- If anyone knows where I could get some injury photos from either tool I would use them in the toten chip class. To answer the question "can a axe be used safely" I will say -- yes -- anything else just axe me. RM

  9. All the scouts live near by approx. 10 miles round trip-- but two adult leaders travel 35 miles round trip every troop meeting and outing --rain or snow storm even use their vacation time to go to long term camp -- dedication a strong sense of gratification and a good time.PS- neither one had a boy in the troop, but were scouts as a boy. RM

  10. My family went 6-14-03 my wife two sons 17&14 and my daughter of12-- we drove from Mpls. left early to visit freinds in Peblo Co. for three days to get use to alt. Once we arrived things ran real smooth -- you sign up for activities for your wife and kids -- food is great my family had a great time they still keep in touch with the members in their groups by e-mail.Advice -- dress for temps from 80's in the day and cool in the PM about 50's F -- lots of water good shoes and a hat-- if your sons go on a trek they need to pack using Philmonts requirements -- every day your family spends the day traveling or doing things together in their group-- except Wed, thats a free day that you spend with your family site seeing ect. Our week was not vary common it rained every day ( a small amount in the AM or at night just enough to make your trek muddy this was a rare week)-- You will have a great time -- my family asking to go this year. Staff is well prepared RM

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