Happy Feet

Got happy feet? Then you’ll never notice them during rugged outdoor travels, and that’s good. A couple of blisters, though, and the sad state of your heels and toes can suck the joy right out of your day. Preventing blisters is easy with a little planning ahead of time and some common sense while you’re on the move. Here’s how. Before a hike, get: Footwear That Fits – Boots and shoes for hiking need to be the right size. Wearing new footwear around home breaks them in before you’re on the trail.    Socks That Absorb – Expert hikers wear heavy socks over thin liner socks. Made of material that wicks away moisture, the liner socks protect your skin if your feet slide a little inside the heavier socks. Carry spare socks, too, so you can change out of those that become damp with sweat or rainwater, or soaked as you splash through puddles and streams.    Armor That Protects – Have a history of blisters? Use moleskin before a hike to shield tender places on your feet. Some hikers have good luck protecting healthy skin with duct tape, too. The slippery face of the tape slides against boots and reduces friction.   While you’re on the trail, follow:
Three “No Blister” Rules These simple rules guarantee almost no blisters: 1. Check for hot spots! 2. Check for hot spots! 3. Check for hot spots! Stop often, take off your shoes and socks, and examine your feet for redness or tenderness.  Those can be warning signs that a blister is starting to form. Reinforce hot spots with moleskin and you’ll have a good chance of stopping blisters before they can stop you. Patching the Damage Despite your best efforts, a shoe can rub you the wrong way until a hot spot turns into a blister. Take action the moment you notice it. The classic treatment is to cut moleskin into the shape of a donut and fit the bandage around the blister. That takes pressure off of the injury so that you can continue hiking. Gel bandage pads such as Spenco® 2nd Skin® can be placed directly over a blister. Used alone or with moleskin donuts, gel bandages offer sterile protection and relief from friction. If you need thicker padding to protect a serious blister, stack additional moleskin donuts on top of the first one. Or cut a corner from a closed-cell foam sleeping pad, shape that into a donut, and fit it around the injury. via: Scoutstuff.org

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SHAC Scout Fair is April 18th!!

It’s almost time for Scout Fair.  In case you aren’t in SHAC, every year, the scouts sell scout fair coupons in order to add money to their unit, or as it is in our troop, to their individual scout accounts.  One of our scouts earned enough last year to pay for his entire summer camp.  That’s pretty impressive in my book.  In return for supporting the scouting program, the purchaser spends a mere $10 and receives over $250 in coupon value.  There’s $40 in Kroger coupons alone!! Find a scout near  you and purchase that coupon pack.  There’s always a chance to win a vehicle.

That said, GO to the Scout Fair.  Don’t just by the coupons.  Inside the Reliant, you’ll find gobs of cub scouts all around you, both running booths and partaking in the fun.  Outside, where I’ll be, is where you find the boy scouts.  There will be rope bridges, skills being taught, and food. Lots, and lots, of food.  Don’t eat before you go, and come early because you will feast on dutch oven delicasies while drinking homemade rootbear before eating ice cream made in a ziploc bag.

I’ll see you there!

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Presidents Day

Back in Seventeen ninety-six
Is when this Holiday began
For the birthday of ol’ George
At least that was the plan.
It was his last full year
Of his Presidency
Born February twenty-second
Or the Eleventh, ‘cause you see
The old calendarwas different
Than the one we use today
And some celebrated one
Some people on the other day.
By the early Nineteenth Century
Celebrated every year
Birthnight Ballswere held
Taverns reveled in good cheer.
Public figures gave their speeches
And Receptions given by a few
Then along came ol’ Abe Lincoln
His Birthday in February too.
In Eighteen and sixty-five
The year after Booth’s fatal shot
Both House’s of Congress gathered
For a Memorial and solemn thought.
Not a Federal Holiday like George’s
But legal in more than one State
And then a Resolution was enacted
Back in Nineteen sixty-eight.
They made the third Monday of the month
To make for a three day weekend
To honor Washington and Lincoln
And this story comes to it’s end.

 

 

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Principles of Leave No trace

 

The principles of Leave No Trace might seem unimportant until you consider the combined effects of millions of outdoor visitors. One poorly located campsite or campfire may have little significance, but thousands of such instances seriously degrade the outdoor experience for all. Leaving no trace is everyone’s responsibility.

1. Plan Ahead and Prepare

Proper trip planning and preparation helps hikers and campers accomplish trip goals safely and enjoyably while minimizing damage to natural and cultural resources. Campers who plan ahead can avoid unexpected situations, and minimize their impact by complying with area regulations such as observing limitations on group size. Schedule your trek to avoid times of high use. Obtain permits or permission to use the area for your trek.

Proper planning ensures

• Low-risk adventures because campers obtained information concerning geography and weather and prepared accordingly
• Properly located campsites because campers allotted enough time to reach their destination
• Appropriate campfires and minimal trash because of careful meal planning and food repackaging and proper equipment
• Comfortable and fun camping and hiking experiences because the outing matches the skill level of the participants

2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces

Damage to land occurs when visitors trample vegetation or communities of organisms beyond recovery. The resulting barren areas develop into undesirable trails, campsites, and soil erosion.

Concentrate Activity, or Spread Out?

• In high-use areas, campers should concentrate their activities where vegetation is already absent. Minimize resource damage by using existing trails and selecting designated or existing campsites. Keep campsites small by arranging tents in close proximity.
• In more remote, less-traveled areas, campers should generally spread out. When hiking, take different paths to avoid creating new trails that cause erosion. When camping, disperse tents and cooking activities—and move camp daily to avoid creating permanent-looking campsites. Avoid places where impacts are just beginning to show. Always choose the most durable surfaces available: rock, gravel, sand, compacted soil, dry grasses, or snow.

These guidelines apply to most alpine settings and may be different for other areas, such as deserts. Learn the Leave No Trace techniques for your crew’s specific activity or destination. Check with land managers to be sure of the proper technique.

3. Dispose of Waste Properly (Pack It In, Pack It Out)

This simple yet effective saying motivates backcountry visitors to take their trash home with them. It makes sense to carry out of the backcountry the extra materials taken there by your group or others. Inspect your campsite for trash or spilled foods. Accept the challenge of packing out all trash, leftover food, and litter.

Sanitation

Backcountry users create body waste and wastewater that require proper disposal.

Wastewater. Help prevent contamination of natural water sources: After straining food particles, properly dispose of dishwater by dispersing at least 200 feet (about 80 to 100 strides for a youth) from springs, streams, and lakes. Use biodegradable soap 200 feet or more from any water source.

Human Waste. Proper human waste disposal helps prevent the spread of disease and exposure to others. Catholes 6 to 8 inches deep in humus and 200 feet from water, trails, and campsites are often the easiest and most practical way to dispose of feces.

4. Leave What You Find

Allow others a sense of discovery, and preserve the past. Leave rocks, plants, animals, archaeological artifacts, and other objects as you find them. Examine but do not touch cultural or historical structures and artifacts. It may be illegal to remove artifacts.

Minimize Site Alterations

Do not dig tent trenches or build lean-tos, tables, or chairs. Never hammer nails into trees, hack at trees with hatchets or saws, or damage bark and roots by tying horses to trees for extended periods. Replace surface rocks or twigs that you cleared from the campsite. On high-impact sites, clean the area and dismantle inappropriate user-built facilities such as multiple fire rings and log seats or tables.

Good campsites are found, not made. Avoid altering a site, digging trenches, or building structures.

5. Minimize Campfire Impacts

Some people would not think of camping without a campfire. Yet the naturalness of many areas has been degraded by overuse of fires and increasing demand for firewood.

Lightweight camp stoves make low-impact camping possible by encouraging a shift away from fires. Stoves are fast, eliminate the need for firewood, and make cleanup after meals easier. After dinner, enjoy a candle lantern instead of a fire.

If you build a fire, the most important consideration is the potential for resource damage. Whenever possible, use an existing campfire ring in a well-placed campsite. Choose not to have a fire in areas where wood is scarce—at higher elevations, in heavily used areas with a limited wood supply, or in desert settings.

True Leave No Trace fires are small. Use dead and downed wood that can be broken easily by hand. When possible, burn all wood to ash and remove all unburned trash and food from the fire ring. If a site has two or more fire rings, you may dismantle all but one and scatter the materials in the surrounding area. Be certain all wood and campfire debris is cold out.

6. Respect Wildlife

Quick movements and loud noises are stressful to animals. Considerate campers practice these safety methods:

• Observe wildlife from afar to avoid disturbing them.
• Give animals a wide berth, especially during breeding, nesting, and birthing seasons.
• Store food securely and keep garbage and food scraps away from animals so they will not acquire bad habits. Never feed wildlife. Help keep wildlife wild.

You are too close if an animal alters its normal activities.

7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors

Thoughtful campers respect other visitors and protect the quality of their experience.

• Travel and camp in small groups (no more than the group size prescribed by land managers).
• Let nature’s sounds prevail. Keep the noise down and leave radios, tape players, and pets at home.
• Select campsites away from other groups to help preserve their solitude.
• Always travel and camp quietly to avoid disturbing other visitors.
• Make sure the colors of clothing and gear blend with the environment.
• Respect private property and leave gates (open or closed) as found.

Be considerate of other campers and respect their privacy.

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Neutralizing “Bad Apple” Behavior

I’m sure as leaders we all deal with this at one time or another, so I thought I would share what Scoutmaster had to say on this topic.

Almost all of us have either had the personal experience of working with someone
who displayed bad apple behaviors … When this process starts to unfold at work, it consumes inordinate amounts of time, psychological resources, and emotional energy. … such  circumstances underlie many people’s reluctance to fully commit to teams…  they offend us, reduce our enthusiasm, change our mood and may ultimately lead us to personally de-identify or leave the group, with a high likelihood that the group itself will perform poorly, fail, or disband.

Will Felps – How, when, and why bad apples spoil the barrel: Negative group members and dysfunctional groups. PDF LINK

Professor Will Felps was interviewed on a the December 19, 2008  episode of ‘This American Life‘ (Ruining It for the Rest of Us). He relates the results of a study in group dynamics where an actor put into a group of unwitting students and told to model one of three ‘bad apple’ behaviors: the slacker, the depressive pessimist and the jerk.

Read full post at Scoutmaster

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Tying It All Up In Knots

Looking back, looking forward, looking in…

A normal program year in a Scouting unit provides plenty of opportunities for evaluation, review, and reflecting. We, as Scouters, should take full advantage of these opportunities to ensure we are doing the best we can for our Scouts. We also need to encourage our Scouts to evaluate, review, and reflect on not only their advancement goals, but also their jobs as leaders, and their life “outside” Scouting.

Teach your Scouts that complaining about a problem doesn’t make it go away. We should evaluate the situation to figure out why the problem occurred. We should review the situation to see how the problem affected our goals. And, we should reflect on the situation to see what can be learned from the problem. But, remind them that problems are not the only things that should be evaluated, reviewed, and reflected. The things we do that are successful, or go off without a hitch, can also teach us a thing or two.

via: Green Bar

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Looking Back

Looking back, looking forward, looking in…

At every opportunity, a Scouter needs to evaluate what he or she is doing. The Scoutmaster needs to evaluate how effective his Scoutmaster Conferences and Scoutmaster Minutes are. The Committee Chair needs to evaluate how good a job the unit committee is doing. Evaluation is the only way we can see where we are, compared to where we’ve been and where we want to go. Like a Scout, we set a goal for ourselves, work toward that goal, and occasionally look back to see how much progress we’ve made.

If you’ve ever tried hiking in deep snow, you’ll have a pretty good idea how important evaluating our progress can be. You see, if we just start hiking through the snow, pretty soon we start thinking about how far we’ve gone, and how far we have to go. If we don’t look back, chances are we’ll think we’ve progressed farther than we have. The longer we go without looking back at our progress, the more discouraged we’ll be when we finally do.

That doesn’t mean we need to look back at our progress every couple steps. That can be equally discouraging because we won’t be able to see much progress. The trick is to look back just often enough to reassure ourselves that we’re making progress, and that our progress is in the right direction. The rest of the time, we need to keep one eye on where we’re going, and one eye on where we want to be.

So, when we evaluate the job we’re doing, we’re basically making sure we’re going in the right direction, looking at what adjustments need to be made, and estimating how far we have traveled. Our evaluation helps us review and reflect on what we’re doing, just like evaluation helps a Scout understand what he’s learned, and figure out what he needs to do.

To be continued:

via: Green Bar

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Weekly FAQs for Troop 483

CROSSING OVER

How many troops should cub scouts visit before making a choice? All troops are not the same and this is a great thing.  Scouts are not the same either.  What is a good fit for one boy in a den might be a horrible fit for another.  A den should not aim to cross as a collected group unless it just works out that they all have identical interests; which is rare.  Scouts should always visit at least 4 or 5 troops, making notes on each visit immediately after.  Once they finish visiting, they can pick their favorites and visit a second (or third) time to make sure they are sure which one they want to join.  If after they join, it turns out they aren’t happy there, go and revisit the other favorites.  It’s more important that they stay in scouting than staying with their first choice for a troop.

What does the troop do for the Crossing Over Ceremony? It is considered an honor for us to be chosen as a troop.  Once invited, we come with leaders and scouts, a book, neckerchief, and slide for the new boy scout(s) at the pack’s Crossing Over Ceremony.  For any cub scouts crossing over into Troop 483, we ask that the family let us know as soon as possible so that we can schedule to be there.  We always make it to the event, but we want to be sure that if there is more than one in an evening, we have adequate representation at each.

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Patrol Method Made Simple

Thanks goes out to Scoutmaster for this post I found on his site when trying to decide how to best describe the patrol method.

Scout troops are built on the principle that “(the) unit is the natural gang of the boy, led by its own boy leader.” Baden Powell, Aids to Scoutmastership.

We have categorized and complicated this simple principle with overlays of military discipline, management science, job descriptions and flow charts that put the Scoutmaster at the top and the boys on the bottom; opposite of the order intended.

Turning the chart upside down better represents the roles of leadership;

The Scoutmaster is the base of a pyramid of shared responsibility and service to the apex of the pyramid; the Scouts. This responsibility (and the attendant authority) flows upward to serve the goal of advancing the aim of scouting.

From a practical standpoint is is helpful to remember that a patrol is a little troop, and a troop is a big patrol.

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Important Questions

When visiting troops, Webelos parents come with a lot of questions; but they don’t always know everything to ask.  The old philosophy still applies.  There are no stupid questions.  Ask away!!!

Over the years, there is a common set of questions that need to be answered whether they are asked or not.  Here is a sampling of questions that Webelos parents should always ask and the troops should be prepared to answer.

• The troop:  Who runs it?  The boys or leaders?  What if there is a problem?  What is the patrol method?  How do they get into a position?  Who teaches the new scouts how to be a patrol leader?  Is someone assigned to helping the new scouts through the first year?
• Fundraising: What means of fund raising do you utilize?  What percent goes to the scouts?
• Scout Accounts:  Do each of the scouts have their own scout account?  What does that money go toward?  What is done with money that is still in the account when they age out or earn their Eagle rank?
• Camping Attendance:  Can the whole family camp?  Do you have a family campout?  Does a parent have to go?  Do the scouts have to camp to meet rank requirements?
• Camping Gear:  What do they need?  What do they REALLY need?  What is too much?
• Camping Meals:  What is a grub master?  Will a scout be allowed to go hungry?  Who cooks for the scouts?
• Camping Facilities:  What type of activities does the troop do?  Where does the troop go?  How do they shower?  What about clean clothes?  What about a child that needs medication?  What if a child is injured?  What if a scout doesn’t want to participate in part of a campout such as climbing or rappelling?  Does the troop exercise Challenge by Choice?
• Camping – Long Term Campouts:  What is a long term campout?  What long term campouts does the troop participate in?  Do they always go to the same camps, rotate between a few, or do they pick something new every year?  What is the average budget for long term campouts?  Why should a scout go to a long term campout?
• Leadership:  Who can be a leader?  Does the troop allow females to be assistant scout masters and camp?  Do new parents have to wait to become a leader?  What training is needed before becoming an ASM (Assistant Scout Master)?
• Committee:  What kinds of committee positions are open?  Do new leaders have to start in the committee before becoming an ASM?
• Rank Advancements:  What does the troop do if a scout falls behind?  What if a scout is an over achiever?  How old does the troop like to see a scout be before becoming an Eagle?  Why?
• Merit Badges:  Where does the troop stand on new scouts earning merit badges?  How do they start a merit badge?  Who signs off on the merit badge completion?  Does all merit badge work have to be done at a scout meeting?  Can they earn all the Eagle required badges before the non-required?  Who are merit badge counselors for the troop?
• Training:  Where can a new parent get training?  Is there any available online?  Does the troop have leaders trained or available for things such as climbing, canoeing, and COPE?

That should be a good starting set.  If any of the other leaders can think of things I missed, send it in.  I’m sure there’s many things I’ve forgotten.

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