raisinemright

Lot's of scouters from SE Michigan on the board. Have fun.

We just bought a few Alps Taurus 4 tents. They make a 2 man as well. Only used 'em once so far but are pretty happy. A whopper of a storm rolled in quickly and we did not have the storm lines up on the tents. Sustained 70+ mph winds had the tents laying flat under the wind. We broke one pole and sustained no other damage.

Although since htey were brand new, I probablly could have pressed for warranty, I didn't ask when I ordered the new pole. The cool thing is that they sell individual pole sections and they are pretty reasonable at $2.50 per section.

As a point of reference, a few years ago, divers found the Hunley, a Confederate submarine. The bodies of the crew were still intact. A few years later, as the sub was being researched and restored, they held a funeral for the crew. They were given a confederate funeral with full military honors.

Also, the stars and bars was not the flag of the confederacy, it was their battle flag, not the flag of slavery and oppression.

I'm a Yankee but if it were me, I would hold a brief explanation of the war of the rebellion (sorry, had to say it) and that Americans dies under these colors and wehile not our national colors, it is a flag of our history and should be given some respect as it is retired. Then burn it.

If US flags are being burned also, it might be wise to be certain that the American flags are completely burned up before the Confederate Battle flag is put to the fire.

I'm a newby cacher with only about 20 finds but have already intorduced 6 Webelos and 20 scouts to the sport. Two weeks ago, me and another leader set up a cache challenge at a local park where our scouts were to camp. Each patrol got a GPS and a sheet of paper that told them which order they were to follow. We gave them a quick overview of how to use GPS and a couple adults went with each patrol just to provide light guidance. (the GPS's that we used to set the caches were going crazy and losing signals the week before, so we showed the leaders the cache sites just in case we were way off)

For our challenges, we had a first aid emergency (broken arm to splint), a sheet where they had to list the ten essentials and points for which ones they had on their persons and one where they had to prepare (but not light) a campfire and make a fuzzy stick.

Except for the massive thunderstorm that came rumbling through in the middle of the game, the kids had a great time and got to use their skills, of beging to learn the skills for our crossovers.

The scouts should realy love it. Some scouters near me have a series of caches in the area on geocaching.com called Trail to Eagle. I'm looking forward to having my son's patrol doing those.

Here's my take on this.

Scouts should leave their phones at home. Adults can have them but should be judicious in their use.

Our summer camp has no power at the campsites, so any phones their are off most of the time to save the batteries. It's a one mile walk to the cars to charge them up. However, last year, after I had left, my son had a medical problem that needed a trip to the clinic in town. Instant access to the SM was very helpful. I made the minor mistake of talking to my son on the phone. He is 12, loves scouting, camping and has probably spent a collective 4-6 months away from home with scouts, Bible camp, sleepovers etc. He doesn't get homesick. As soon as I got on the phone, I could tell he was having a little bout of homesickness. He got over it quickly, but with other kids it would be worse.

This past weekend, we had a pretty heavy duty storm pop up with strong sustained winds. A couple dad's were calling home and checking the weather constantly. Unfortunately, some of the scouts overheard the forecast of 70 mph winds, it quickly escalated to 90 mph winds and the rumors flew. One of our kids has a pathological fear of storms. I took a crowbar into the block bathroom and got him out of the fetal position and back outside.

The stormns never really returned and he was OK. I flat out told him that I called his dad and told him not to come to the campfire that night as he was planning to do.

But, to make a short story long, I'll be bringing up at our next meeting that if leaders are calling about weather, conversations must be out of earshot of scouts and only general announcements are to be made to prevent out of control bad weather rumors.

It was a really cool storm too! And, i do believe the troop can have electronics rules for all. They can be amended for adults though.

The ratio is way off. On a recent backpack trek, me and the other leader put the hammer down and hiked well ahead of the boys the last day, beating them to the car by 30 minutes or so. That's they way it should be.

We tend to have too many dads come to some campouts. What I've started doing at campouts I'm overseeing is to state the amount of parents who are invited. I keep the number relatively low.

This weekend, I'm skipping my first campout in over a year and it's killing me. I do pretty good at letting the scouts do their thing, but I really enjoy camping too.

The camp is only a few miles north of us. I'll be popping in this afternoon to see how th eboys do with one of their activities. Me and another leader set up three geocache challenges for them and marked the coordinates.

If the kid can control it, suggest using a "dedicated and well marked" Nalgene bottle at night. If not, Depends is a good option.

My Webelo still soaks the bed every night. He's had maybe 25 dry night is his life. 20 in the last few months though. None of the home remedies work. The alarm wakes up everyone in the house except him.

I'm not normally a fan of watering trees in an active campsite, but I'd make an exception for him.

See if an older scout would take him under his wing and take on the challenge.

Above all though, be very clear that next time, the outing is over at the scheduled time and he cannot call his mom.

Unless it was a triple axe murder or something, bringing up events from 9th grade to a kid who's almost eighteen seems extremely petty.

Is it possible to transfer to another troop at this point?

Are any other scouts coming to his side as character witnesses, perhaps the scout who was taunting him with the walking stick could come by and fess up to instigating it.

It is possible to earn AOL and Outdoorsman without the overnight campout, but it's not nearly as much fun. We just had twin boys earn AOL without the campout. No one in their family had ever spent the night in a tent and we didn't realize it until last winter. There is no way in the world to ever consider a first time campout in a Michigan winter. Our troop did a recent campout that was 5 below. My Webelo son was mad that he couldn't go.

I would suggest that you pair this kid up with a scoutmaster or better, an experience Boy Scout to discuss how to stay warm and comfortable when camping. Thermal socks, all cotton stuff left at home, change clothes before bed, a good sleeping mat and maybe an extra blanket will do wonders.

If he's pushing for Arrow of Light, that means he has committed to joining a troop, which means he is going to go camping. The more you do it, the easier and more fun it is, so start the fun now.

Seeing a pattern? Use the word "fun" as often as possible and encourage him along.

Regarding the parents, gently advise them that just because they don't like it doesn't mean he doesn't have to do something. My dad slept in his last tent in the army years before I came along. I now have more tents than people in my family and I have four kids.

Good luck, we're all counting on you.

Sorry, I haven't seen much evidence that he has hired any.

SR540 Beaver,

Sorry, I forgot to hit the SARCASM button.

But, how in the world does a guy who's never run a business where they have to worry about pesky little things like profit and loss think he can possibly run something as complex as a car company.

Thread hijack over.

I think part of the problem is that people watch the news on TV, which has devolved from a two minute newscast to the weather/Storm Team/Storm Tracker/Disaster Central which involves three entire segments in a 22 minute newscast. I live near Detroit where it's not unusual to broadcast weather before the real news that the US Government has been involved in a hostile takeover of the Automotive industry. People are conditioned to be afraid of a little rain and some thunder.

A few years ago at summer camp, an absolutely wicked storm came rolling in. One of our first year scouts, whom I've known since he was born was deathly afraid of thunder. I mean run to the basement and curl up in the corner type of afraid. He toughed it out in the tent. After he was home, a storm came rolling in and he barely blinked.

PS to Sheldonsmom. Add me to the list of scouters who are deeply proud of your son and the others who showed the best of scouting values when their world is turned upside down in an instant.

Instead of wannabe's, try making smores with roasted Peeps. If the peeps are opened and allowed to "age" for a few weeks, they roast perfectly. The sugar caramelizes to a hard crust and makes the perfect Peepsmore.

Use care though. The sugar is quite hot when it first comes off the fire and must cool for a minute or so. 2nd degree caramelized sugar burns on the lips is not fun. Don't ask.

Remember my personal slogan:

"It's not an adventure till something goes wrong."

That's ironic, I was just talking to another leader the other night and I told him that Scouts should introduce a MB for Robotics. My sons (W1 and 1C (as of yesterday)) just took a lego robotics class and are looking at small hobby robots to purchase.

My other thought was to have a Geocaching MB, but that could be a large module of a general GPS MB, which would probably be better.

4-6 inches of rain and Cub Scouts? I thought I was the only one stupid enough to try something like that. Good luck.

With that much liquid sunshine, I assume that you'll be in a cabin. If so, have plenty of indoor plans as well. A laptop and a video projector liberated from someone's office, along with some extra speakers makes for a great indoor theatre. Have a marbles tournament with beltloops.

For outdoors, be certain that everyone brings multiple changes of clothing, boots, lot o' socks, gloves and a real raincoat.

Advise parents before hand that any complaints by them will make it worse for the kids.

Little log boat races down a swollen creek sounds like a cool idea, just be real careful to keep the guys away from the riverbanks. Watching from a bridge would be better. Have a large fishnet at the end to catch the boats.

You could check with the camp managers and see if they have any projects for the scouts.

Hill climbing in the mud would be really fun. Have the boys bring clothes that don't really need to go back home with them.

This could be a disaster, or it could be one of the most memorable camouts you've ever had

If anyone has a GPS, set up a few geocaches along the route and have them try to find them.

My son is doing this badge with a fellow scout. He called a local organization and set up for four hours of work for both scouts. His buddy is trying to call another organization to set up four hours as well. This arrangement was approved by the MBC.

We just bought a Taurus 4FG to try out for the troop. It seems to be a very impressive tent. Two doors, full vestibule, not all mesh like some tents and seems substantial and well built. Well be buying several more in the next few weeks based upon a successful field trial.

I also have a Halfdome 2 for my personal use, 2 doors, full vestibule etc. Also a very good tent.

Cant tell if they are the same although I think they do share one component that I noticed. Its a stiffened piece of Velcro to hold the vent open. The halfdome is about 1.5 lbs lighter than the Taurus. Probably due tot eh poles. Taurus fiberglass poles are pretty hefty.

As I understand, there are only a few tent pole makers in the world, so it stands to reason that there are not many tent makers either.

rdcrisco,

Thanks for posting this. It gave me the plan to produce a welcome kit for the six crossovers we have coming in two weeks. We had a couple kids slip through the cracks last year, partially because we didn't get them engaged quickly enough, so this welcome kit will be very useful.

There's a pretty good website, www.freezerbagcooking.com. It contains many recipes for backpacking. The author is a regular poster on the backpacker.com forums, which also has some good info.

Lip Smackin' Backpackin' is a cookbook written by a couple that is chock full o' good ideas.

They just published a new book full of Scout tested and submitted recipes. I have it at home but I think it's called The Scout Cookbook.

Local grocery stores carry some dried soups from Bear Creek. They make one called "Darn Good Chili." It's a troop favorite. Add some dried beef, noodles and cheese and you got a feast.

Here's a trick I picked up for noodles. Cook them at home and dehydrate them. Then, at the campsite, just drop them into a pot of boiling water, or pour the water on the noodles in a freezer bag and seal the bag wrapped in a stocking cap for about five minutes. Noodles are hot and rehydrated. Takes far less time and cooking fuel.

Thanks Hal.

I appreciate the kind words.

I also saw your post about Taking Chance. I saw the last half of the movie last week while traveling for work. It was incredible.

Thank you for the service your father rendered to our Republic.

Tent Report:

Scouters,

Thanks for the great advice.

We purchased a Alps Mountaineering Taurus 4 and had our first campout using it. The three guys who used it thought it was great. Full rainfly, vestibules and two doors made it pretty good.

Temps ranged between low teens to mid 30's and it performed well. It is a very full featured tent at a reasonable price so I think we're going to get a few more.

My father in law passed away last month. Several people asked about memorial donations. Since he was a scout for a few years and highly supported my sons endeavors, we recommended a donation to the troop. We will be able to purchase a few tents in his name.

I think we will also build a new patrol box this summer with a small dedication plaque.

Eagle,

We're in Michigan, so we do some cold weather camping but a 3-season tent is sufficient for what we need. These will be mostly for car type camping. When we backpack, we can come up with enough personal tents to use.

I like the advice about the inner and outer poles. The ones we have now does have a thin pole to hold up the window. More often than not, the boys don't even bother with it.

I've always though fiberglass is a little more resistant to accidental "abuse" from bending than aluminum is. In my personal tents, I have FG, steel and aluminum. Each has pluses and minuses but I treat them pretty well.

Fuul rainfly is a must. Anything less is not a consideration. Vestibule is a big plus. The tarp floors are definetely a concern. They tend to melt when lighting the campstove in the tent (just kidding).

I just bought my kid a sleeping bag from APLS and am jealous of the quality that he got so we are taking a very good look at their tents. I use my halfdome 2 on most trips and love the thing, but it's out of our price range for buying 10-12 of them.

Having an emphasis on time management is critical. Our SPL one year didn't bring a watch and didn't take any of the dozens of hints that one of us would get him a watch if he asked. He didn't even ask us when we said "Ask us and we'll try to get you a watch."

Consequently, his troop was often late or running to evey station.

Developing a couple of troop whistle codes would also be helpful as well as the need to carry and use a notebook so he knows where the troop, patrols or individual scouts should be at any given time.

I like the shadow idea from the Buckeye Council.