69RoadRunner

31 minutes ago, walk in the woods said:

Nothing wrong with the idea of tort reform.  But let's be clear, the lawyers in these cases are operating inside the system created by politicians.  

I wasn't saying otherwise. I just would like the politicians to see the mess that is their responsibility. And it's bipartisan.

95,000 claims? If BSA's insurance challenged all of them, neither side could afford the process, I assume. If there's a settlement, I assume it would be distributed to all the claimants without much examination of the validity of each claim.

If that's the case, no pun intended, how can anyone not think we need to massively change our tort system.

It wasn't because it seemed political. They yielded to the progressive rage mobs. They have other posts still up supporting the women who served on the SC before ACB. If they didn't want to appear political, they'd delete those, too.

Apparently they only support women with the "proper" views today.

2 hours ago, Navybone said:

most of our focus is on how to work on cooking.  With the advancement and Cooking MBs requirements, have not totally broken the code on group cooking. 

 

I'm thinking a scout can cook a meal but not have other scouts eat it. We were talking about this for some requirements tonight.

What are some activity ideas your troops like to do while camping and make sense during Covid?

We'll be car camping soon at a place where we can drop some stuff off, but have to park a mile away. We won't be bringing our trailer, so we need to keep things relatively compact.

Manhunt and capture the flag are 2 they like. We'll do some hiking, but I want to give some new ideas to the PLC for them to consider.

Thanks!

57 minutes ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

7.  Don't hike alone in cougar / bear country.

8.  After the encounter, wipe.

This is an extremely rare encounter. Cougars avoid humans. You could frequently hike that area and not see one in 10 years. The presence of the kittens is the only reason he saw the cougar. People safely hike alone in bear/cougar territory all the time. Look at the people who thru-hike the AT, PCT and CDT. Most go solo.

Might want to wait for the hands to stop shaking before wiping or you'll just create a bigger mess.😲

1. Don't approach the murder kitten like this guy did.
2. Note that her kittens were nearby which puts her in defensive mode.
3. Get big, get loud, don't run away. You can't out run it and running away puts the cougar in predator mode.
4. DO NOT BEND DOWN! Note when this guy bends down the cougar charges. It makes you look small.
5. Find a branch or something you can grab and throw without bending down. He eventually threw rocks and the cougar ran off. If you have trekking poles, water bottles, etc. throw them.
6. Put the damn phone away so you have both hands free.

We did the big sailboat with Sea Base a few years ago with 20 people. I was seasick for 2 days. Several others were, too. to varying degrees and the sea wasn't that choppy. If you have motion sickness issues, don't go.

Next summer we're doing the out island adventure with Sea Base in large part because of that.

Our captain was a bit of an obnoxious drill sergeant type. 

The snorkeling was a lot of fun. The day in Key West was nice.

It rained every night, so we couldn't sleep on deck. 20 people crammed down below was hot and stinky. One night the captain ran the generator and a/c.

If everyone in your crew enjoys sailing, go for it. Just understand what you're getting into.

I'm so old, I can remember when this was about adult family members being one to one with child family members.

57 minutes ago, scoutldr said:

As one who spent a career writing and interpreting safety and health laws and regulations, these BSA rules clearly smack of "CYA" on the part of the BSA.  They are there in case anything happens, then the BSA can say, "well, we told them not to do it."  The BSA has NO authority over me and my interactions with my own family.

I agree. Ambiguous rules or not, BSA cannot tell immediate family members that they can't be one to one. 

I hope the article was educational and people will at least consider their options in the wilderness. The points Skurka makes are valid in my limited experience. Options vary based on location and most people are bad at hanging bear bags.

We rented a cabin in Lost River State Park (family, not scouting). They had trash cans for the cabin that were supposed to be bearproof. They were heavy duty plastic and the lid screwed on.

One evening, we heard a noise. We looked out the back door and watched a black bear unscrew the lid to get himself a meal (and make a mess for us).

They now have metal bearproof storage containers that actually work.

On 9/11/2020 at 6:48 PM, DuctTape said:

True. I have seen some terrible hangs.

My ursack has been attacked, still has the teeth marks. 

When hanging with our 2-tree method, we are significantly higher and farther than the recommended.

Skurka when sleeping with his food also hasn't had that method tested by his own metric.

True, but he explains the circumstances are specific for when he sleeps with his food.

29 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

Yes, but when in Rome.....

Barry

I don't worry about Roman bears.

This isn't directed at Eagledad or DuctTape, but just a general comment. As Skurka points out, just because your bear bags were safe in the morning does not mean your hang was a good one.  Unless a bear actually attempts to get the bags, you don't know.

13 minutes ago, DuctTape said:

In the Quetico (Canadian side of BWCA) a good single tree is also hard to come by. We use a 2-tree method which does not require that "one perfect branch". Using two trees allows one to attach a 'biner to the center of a rope between the two trees, then hoist to that center well away from branches, trunks etc...

Like all outdoors skills, one needs to know how to deal with changing conditions. What works in one area might not work in another.

In the article, Skurka does a good job explaining different techniques for different circumstances.

While at Northern Tier, most of our campsites did not have any tree that allowed for a proper bear bag hang. At our 1 trip to Philmont, since we weren't in Valle Vidal, they of course have cables set up so you can do it right.

Quite often, either the right tree doesn't exist or people do it wrong. Luck prevents a bear from getting an easy meal, but could lead to the bear having to be killed.

Here's a good article by a backpacking expert on the subject. We probably should reconsider hanging bear bags unless we're certain there is a proper bear bag hanging tree available.

One of the biggest hurdles is scouters tend to be the people most resistant to change that I encounter. 

https://andrewskurka.com/argument-against-hanging-bear-bag/

14 hours ago, MikeS72 said:

I guess that means my younger brother was also a sister when he was one of my niece's GS leaders.🤣

To help out my wife and daughter, I just had to pledge to be a sister to all Girl Scouts.

30 minutes ago, TMSM said:

Our trip last year to Sea Base was also filled with "activities". We went to Munson Island and the scouts enjoyed most of the program - fishing, kayaking and snorkleling were great but almost every night we had a campfire and sang cub scouts songs and 3 or 4 repeat after me songs. These campfire programs were fun the first night but grew tiresome and the scouts wished we could just hang out or go night fishing.

I am sure there is a purpose for these over the top programs but I also think they are overrated.

 

That's what we have planned for next year. I hope you mentioned that in the review at the end.

I've long hated the singing and we never do it as a troop unless we're somewhere where they make it part of the program. The scouts never seemed to enjoy it.  

I think part of it is people being stuck in traditions that scouts don't really enjoy.  And some adult leaders look down on you if you're blunt and say these traditions are not enjoyed by very many scouts today.

I know part of it is being in lockdown mode for so long, but we all, scouts and adults just loved being at Northern Tier and and almost everything was done at the pace we wanted. 

7 minutes ago, David CO said:

I'm fine with other scouters contributing their 2 cents to the forum.  But if your troop can afford all 3 trips (Philmont, Northern Tier, and the Summit), maybe you should kick in a few more pennies.   

One per year and we work hard for the money.🤑

We had an adult leader meeting last night to discuss this. We've got about 30 scouts and we're going with 4 patrols. We'll start by having 2 patrols at one house and 2 at another, meeting outside. 

Meetings might be shorter. To get our big group of new scouts up to Scout rank, over the summer, we met like this with some doing it over Zoom.

Next week, we're going to have the PLC plan the scout year through December. Normally we'd have the full year outlined, but there's just too much uncertainty to do that. We'll revisit the planning when it seems appropriate.

We plan to schedule some camping activities. We've had a place booked in Nov. for our annual Iron Chef campout. We will follow guidance for cooking including disposable plates, forks, etc. and no buffet style serving. Gloves will be worn and we are still looking at the safest way to do cooking. Scouts will tent solo or with siblings. Parents will have to drive their scouts to the activity or arrange their own carpools.

We don't meet during the summer. We've found attendance is sparse. We did have a VERY successful summer camp at Summit and a very successful Northern Tier trip this summer.

This is our plan as of today. Semper Gumby applies. Any part of this could change at any time. 

After safety, our primary goal is keeping these kids interested in scouting. If it means doing less, we will. If it means doing a movie outside as an activity, that's fine. If it's just a day hike, that's good.

These are the cards we're dealt. It won't be ideal, but if it's safe and the kids stay interested, I'll call it a success.

You shouldn't need straps. Guylines work just fine. There are many, many ways to set up a tarp from using trekking poles, sticks, trees or some combination. You'll need one or more of these depending on how you're setting up your tarp. Half pyramid can use just one. A frame needs two and so on.

Unless you have some giant, heavy tarp, there's no need for straps.

I can't believe some of you think it's OK for scouts to sell stolen goods.

And whoever voted to ban laser tag should be permanently banned from all scout events. 

2 hours ago, Canoeon said:

That's kind of like backpacking the Valle Vidal unit of Carson National Forest on your own and saying you've gone to Philmont. Many of us have been to the Boundary Waters through an outfitter and taken units through Northern Tier. It's definitely not a similar experience, both are different. 

I kidded about taking the water taxi to start, but while our interpreter was great, I don't think using an outfitter results in a significantly different experience. This is particularly true this year when there is no program at NT base camp. You just get your gear, eat a few meals and stay in a cabin with just your crew.