cheffy

WE just got back from PTC. Some things to bring. Small rug for floor. Long extension cord with multi plug end. 75 watt light bulb.(the tents have 40 watt and it's hard to read if your eyes are old like mine) Fans may be a help. when we were there it was unseasonably cool so we took the fans back to Wal mart in Taos. Check the weather before you go. If you find it too cold and you have under packed the tent city office has extra blankets.

For your husband. Fishing is a short drive away. The PTC ofice has some equipment but if he has or can justify a travel rod I would take one. Get a permit from the PTC office when you check in on Sunday. License is available in Cimarron and I think at the tradeing post. He could also hike, horseback riding and see "Doc" in handi land for help making a belt.

The food is good and there is always PB & J and cereal for picky eaters.

The kids will have a riot and you may not see them for the most part some days.

Take water bottles. It's Dry.

Anything else. email me. I'd be glad to help.

Enjoy the trip

On the money FOG. There is no such thing as a knife being too sharp. In my profession I deal with this everyday. The first thing we teach new and and also new Scouts is how to sharpen that knife. Some of it has to do with the steel makeup and the quality of manufacture. Those knifes the boys get from popcorn sales and FOS are basiclly pure C$%*. Invest in something like Victorniox, Case, Gerber, Henkle. It will cost more up front but you will have it forever.

Good knives aren't cheap and cheap knives aren't good!

Has anyone set up or run a geo cache event as part of a troop program. Links to resources or other info would be great.

Thanks

We have had a parent show the boys how to sew on patches and then had them do it. Her way worked great. Lay the shirt flat and position the patch where it should be. Next grab some masking tape and tape the patch in place using only two strips. She then showed the boys how to I think it's called whip stich the patches in place right through the tape. when all is done pull off the tape. What little remains in the stiches comes out in the first wash.

I havn't had a problem since.

what asm59 said is what is ticking everyone off.

Other parents that paid to go to camp and took time off work, worked their share. All this slacker did was sleep eat and complain. Yes he has been around enough to know the program but just doesn't want to accept the program. I thinking that the tent Jr took home will come back in the same shape it left.

Let me set up the situation first then we will ask for comments.

New scout crosses over into troop in March. We start to book summer camp and all first years want to go except this one says he can't. We find out that dads been off work for awhile. Committee decides to pay for dad and son to go to camp.

We notice on other campouts that dad and sson are sort of lazy and not really with the program. Son is always the last to show up for formation and is the first to complain.

So summer camp comes around and while other adults are helping out dad is reading a book.

We gave dad a job and it became too much for him to walk the 100 yards to the program center and drop off paperwork.

Friday when double checking MB cards we notice Jr. has several partials. All the requirments that were missing were written ones. Dad wants to know why a partial? we explain "no work, no badge." Basiclly says son shouldn't have to do homework at camp. "fine, do it late r and finish badge or not. Jr.s choice"

Time to leave quartermaster assigns equipmet to scouts to take home and clean. Jr get the tent he slept in. Dad says why? and that the Quartermaster is picking on his son. Time for intervention. Explain to dad that everybody takes someting home to clean and bring back to

Quartermaster for checkin and storage.

I've ramble on too long here.

How Would you deal with this guy and kid. I've got a few ideas to get the kid more involved and think the dada will either follow or stop bugging us.

Gettting ready to go myself. We checked on car rental. There is only one place to rent a car in Raton and that's the local Chevy dealer. I think you can get a car in Santa Fe. If you take the train it does not stop in santa Fe but in a small town close to there and then it's a bus ride in. I've heard the stories about the train schedule and most are true.

Check the internet for plane fares. We found them less than the train and it's not a 36 hour ride back.

The battle lines have been drawn and the planning for our annual cooking campout are underway.

I previewed some of the menus this week and here's what's on.

Cajun smoked turkey breast. Turn a tall box into a smoker/cooker. Plans are on food tv .com Good eats. and modified to use live coal instead of hot plate.

Carribian pork salad

Jamacian roast beef

spiced carrots

mashed yucca

Spoon bread with roast pears and peachs

Here's my thoughts. Corrigated cardboard is a great insulator and the foil is just a protective layer so the box doesn't go up in flames. With all the variables present in most regular over not just cardboard, the foil side would not matter. Not that I've tried but I would guess that the difference in degrees would be very slight. If I have time in the next few weeks I would be curious enouge to try the heatlamp with the IR thermometer experiment. Could be a great science fair project for some young Scout.

thanks for all the help. I think I can now build the ultimate box oven. What with the racks, door, stand, coal pan, and thermometer this thing has more bells and whistles than my car.

If only I could pack in some sheet metal and a welder I could have a really nice oven.

Interesting to note that Steven Spielberg and Harrisson Ford are on on the list. In the third Indiana Jones film, Young Indy is a life rank Scout just like

Harrison Fords real rank. You think that was planned?

Ok I'm going to try it. Here's my plan.I've got a stand that is about ten inches tall that will fit a tray.

Line box with foil and I'm going to try the door in side of box method as we need to produce multipule items. Start the fire on the ground using 12 coals. place stand over fire top with box and let the whole thing get hot. Open door, insert product cook till done and repeat.

Question to KoreaScouter what do yuo mean by box looks ugly? As in burned up and nasty!

Thanks

I'll admit I'm stumped here. I've seen the plans and understand how a cardboard box oven works but. How hot can you get one of these things before it goes Hoooossssh. The boys want to try it but I'm a little nervous. They want to push it to at least 400F. Think it will work?

Ther is a magazine out called "camping life"that I bought when one of the boys wwas raiseing cash for a school trip. Every month there are great articles on camp cooking. They sort of theme them like all things cobbler, or chicken,Mexican etc. The magazine is also covers both RV and backpack camping. About a year ago they had an excellent article on map and compass use. Almost better than the handbook, especially the part on find your way without a compass.

OK you asked for it.

This is the latest one going around and not totally perfected yet.

DO Taco bake

Works best in a 10" DO

You need 10" flour tortillas about 10

gound beef 2#

Taco seasoning

refried beans 1 Lg can

cheese Cheddar jack combo is good about 1#

salsa 2 jars

cook and season grd beef

Line the Do with foil

lay in 1 tortilla

top with beef and a little salsa

top this with beans and cheese

Repeat until you use up everything and top the whole thing with more cheese

Kind of like a lasagne

Put on low fire until everything is hot and melted

Let cook for about 5 min until things "set"

Cut into wedges and serve. Goes good with chips.

My council recommended me and we are going for the June 27 session. Both Scout sons 12 and 14 are signed up for the activities. It looks like a great program.

BTW Acco: We are going to fly out and right now Southwest Airlines has some great deals on airfare.

Usually I can glean some knowledge fom the posters to this site. While I don't agree with all the posts I do find the opinions interesting. The forum is set to share experiences and learn from each other not to rant on for two pages on a subject no one really cares about.

If you have the time to sit down at the computer and rattle on you should have time to find employment so you don't have to complain to everyone about your poverty level.

After that you could take some Basic leader training to get updated on the new BSA goals. Maybe then we will all be on the same page.

Until then I'm not reading any more of your posts.

Here's a sticky situation that I need some help on.

We have a scout who just recieved first class a few weeks ago. During his scout master conference we reviewed the requirements, all of which were signed by either an ASM of troop instructor. Being the new SM I thought everything look fine and his conference went well.

Last night I find out that many of the requirements signed were not met and both those signing off and the scout basiclly lied.

What to do?

Stuff from Orvis can get pricey. there are other companies out there that make youth sized fishing vests for a fraction of the cost.

Find a good fly fishing store or catalog and ask about inexpensive youth vests. I know they are out there since I bought one for my nephew last year at a fly fishing show.

For those of you who have been to PTC i have a question.

In the brochure it says that a car is handy for your off time. Is this really necessary?

We are planing to get a car for a later trip after PTC but it would help to know if we need it earlier.

Thanks

example of a great hoax e mail making the rounds.

Check out scambusters.com for updates on these things.

or http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-target-veterans.htm

(This message has been edited by cheffy)(This message has been edited by cheffy)

we have a standard check list for winter camping that we work from. We hand them out right after Thanksgiving and explain this is what we are looking for. We also mention that it make a good Christmas list for those item that the boys don't have but want/need. You would be surprised at the number of parents that thank us for that list.

I should explain that the inspection team is mdae up of both adult and scouts.

One of the other things we do is to do a packing demo weeks before. This years was a fun one with one scout packed wrong and one having the right equipment. The right equipmentis then discussed right down to the plastic flatware.

Our winter campout is always at the end of January. We start winter training in late November. Two weeks before the campout we start pack inspections. After the packs are approved by the adult inspection team they are tagged a with a card on a twist tie. If the boys take anything out of the pack they are to write it on the card as a reminder to replace it. If they show up at departure time and there are things lsited on the card they are double checked and made sure they are there.

If the scout doesn't have a tag he doesn't go. Yes ther have ben soe last minute calls to adults by boys asking or an inspection but the 2 or 3 calls sure beats frostbite.

As Scoutmaster Rod stated I usually ask this casually during a SM conference. However I ask for more than just one example. You almost always get the "I went to church yesterday so I was reverant". The best comeback for that one is "Were you?" We once had a Scout who was cheating in school. His dad asked us to ask the Scout if he was Trustworthy. The kid must have thought I was Karnac.