Scoutmaster Musings

Anyone camping this first weekend in November? If you are, remember that you gain an extra hour of sleep on Saturday night with Daylight Savings ending at 2:00am Sunday morning.

Last night, we sat out front with our little screened in fire burning and handed out candy to the goblins, witches, and other urchins that ran past. I noticed it got dark around 6:00pm and the trick-or-treaters were complete by about 8:00. Oh, for the days of summer with light until 9:30 and blinking the sun out of my eyes before 6:00 in the morning.

I call the upcoming 4 months 'mushroom time' because we so seldom see any daylight when we drive to work in the dark, work inside all day, and then drive home in the dark. It also makes it a bit more challenging for scouting.

When winter camping, it's important to keep the short daylight hours in mind when scheduling a day's activities. In the cold, food is more difficult to cook and there is less light to work with. Maybe dinner should be moved to 4:30 from 6:00. Moving Lights Out an hour or so earlier also seems to work pretty well since it's been dark for 4 hours already.

Scout On