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IOLS Cooking
![Woody dutch oven](http://boyscouttrail.com/i/blog/woody.jpg)
This time, for the Cooking portion, I'm excited to try out my new Woody Dutch Oven. This is made in America (actually in Michigan) and is very cool. It is aluminum so it's pretty light and easy to clean. As you can see, it's square rather than round and that makes some foods fit nicely - such as my enchiladas which I made last week. I'm making monkey bread for dessert tonight by using the Woody dutch oven inside our conventional oven.
It also has removable legs that are just metal screws. You can put in legs as long or short as you want, and the four dimples on the lid are specifically for positioning the feet if you stack them - I thought that was excellent thinking.
Finally, the lid and bottom are about the same height. This means you can flip the lid and have two deep rectangular pans if you want to do some stewing or frying or making pancakes.
We try to cover a bunch of different ways to cook in IOLS - open fire, dutch oven, tinfoil, backpacking, even solar one time. It's a fun time to see the options for food on an outing and will hopefully get back to the scouts through modeling and training.
Scout On
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Posted: 10:28 09-15-2011 671
Act Local
![Scout On Locally](http://boyscouttrail.com/i/blog/local.jpg)
I acted. I did something. I put in some effort in my local community. And, I did it with the thought that it is a very small part of a much greater whole. Someone in New York and someone else in North Dakota also built a bit of trail. Their bits and pieces combine with mine to create something amazing. Now, one of my goals is to hike the entire trail in a couple years.
When we "Do a Good Turn Daily", we are making the world a bit more connected and a bit better. We are acting locally while we think globally. Good Turns are not heroic deeds. They are small things that, over time and repeated by many, can make a huge difference.
It's easy to think about what's wrong in the world and not do anything about the problems. The problems are so big, a single person can't change them. That is why each person needs to change his local world in whatever small way he can, while keeping in mind the good of the whole.
Walking or biking to work or the store, participating in a charity hike or run, volunteering for a CERT position, picking up trash along a trail - it doesn't matter so much what you do, as long as you do something.
Check this out about Making a Difference around you.
Scout On
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Posted: 7:34 09-10-2011 669
Think Global
![Scout On Globally](http://www.boyscouttrail.com/i/blog/lntlil.jpg)
How much impact does a single person really have on the world?
A few people become famous through athletic ability, acting, politics, or terrible acts of violence. But, the vast, vast majority of us are unknowns in a global sense. We exist, live, and die being known by a miniscule number of people. If there are 7 billion people on the planet and you interact with 7,000 of them, you've reached 1 out of a million. Even if you count all your Facebook friends, you probably don't really know or care about 7,000 people.
Since we have such small spheres of relationships, it can be difficult to think our actions have a global impact. But, every decision you make does ripple out to some extent, effecting people you don't even know and that have never heard of you. We DO need to think on a global scale when we live our lives.
Here's an example. I'm deciding if I should take an alcohol stove or a isobutane stove on the Arizona Trail next spring. The alcohol stove is just a couple pop cans, uses easy-to-find alcohol, but doesn't put out as much fast heat as the other. The isobutane uses canisters, took a lot of resources to manufacture, and does an excellent job.
Whichever I choose will consume resources and fuel and provide heat for my cooking. By choosing the alcohol stove, my environmental impact is much less because I'm recycling and creating less waste. By choosing the isobutane stove, I'm spreading my wealth to the companies that make the stove and the canisters and the stores that sell them in towns along the trail.
If we choose to walk or drive, leave the laptop on or turn it off, mow the yard every day or every week, keep the air conditioning at 72 or 78, we change our impact on the world. If we think globally, we try to minimize our negative impacts and maximize our positives. It's easy to convince ourselves that the decisions don't matter, but they do.
Ants are a good demonstration. In my yard, there is a little ant hill. If you look closely, an ant brings up one grain of sand at a time. One grain of sand is trivial, it doesn't make a difference. But over the course of a day or two, with everyone doing a small amount, there's a big pile of grains and a new community underground.
Thinking on a global scale helps me make better choices. A large group thinking globally and making their individual decisions with the good of others in mind, even people they don't know or possibly aren't even born yet, are bound to increase the overall good. I think that's what we should be about - trusting that others will do good and doing our best to do good and show others how it's done.
Scout On
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Posted: 14:20 09-09-2011 668
Chess Merit Badge
![Chess merit badge](http://boyscouttrail.com/i/boyscout/meritbadges/chess.gif)
Scouts get to use EDGE to teach other scouts Chess skills. I especially like requirement #5c where the board is set up and the scout needs to demonstrate how to force checkmate.
There's not a lot of 'doing' in the requirements, just play three games or a tournament, but understanding strategy, rules, and terminology is prominent.
Great timing for the release, I think. How many of you are going to have winter Chess tournaments in your troops this year? :-)
Now, who moves first? Black or White?
Scout On
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Posted: 12:42 09-07-2011 667
Fall Already?
![Boy Scout Hiking](http://boyscouttrail.com/i/blog/sumac.jpg)
A lot changes this time of year. School just started back up, the air is cooling off, the mosquitos have vanished, and it's the perfect time to hike and camp. It's also the perfect time to remind your scouts to look around their classroom and see who might want to join their Pack or Troop.
It's 11 miles to the end of the trail and back from my house. I'm doing that route each morning this week so I can see how my legs feel after 5 days in a row. So far, no problem.
Scout On
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Posted: 9:45 09-07-2011 666
Twofers
![Hiking merit badge](http://boyscouttrail.com/i/boyscout/meritbadges/hiking.gif)
Both these guys are doing the Hiking merit badge and just started First Aid with me as counselor. Since there is a lot of ovelap in the first aid requirements of Hiking and some 'explain' requirements in First Aid, we just talked about those for about 90 minutes.
We also discussed Leave No Trace and hiking safety, finishing off the Hiking discussion requirements.
Doesn't make sense to me to have them repeat everything again, so they got twofers. It makes sense to me if a scout looks over requirements and notices that there is overlap and plans to cover requirements for two badges at the same time. I think that's different than coming up to a counselor and saying, "Hey, I did this requirement a few months ago for that other merit badge."
Tomorrow, they've corraled me into a First Aid session around noon, so I've got to clean off the CPR manikins and fake wounds and see what they can do.
Scout On
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Posted: 12:43 09-01-2011 664
Lion Cub Program Kickoff
![Lion Cubs](http://boyscouttrail.com/i/blog/lioncub.png)
Lion Cubs are kindergarten boys just starting on the Boy Scout Trail. A boy and his adult partner get to do fun, age-appropriate activities - sounding much like the original Tiger program. By adding this program, the BSA provides a K-12 experience, dropping the entry age a bit more.
You can read more about the new program at this council page. There is information for Pack Lion Cub Coordinator and a Program Kickoff Flyer.
I look forward to this program expanding nationally since I often receive emails asking about getting kindergarten boys signed up. Then, I won't have to say, "Wait a year or move to Minnesota."
![Lion Cub Scouts](http://boyscouttrail.com/i/blog/lioncubpage.jpg)
Read the Flyer
Scout On
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Posted: 22:24 08-31-2011 663
Last Chance
![boy scout contest](http://boyscouttrail.com/i/blog/contest.jpg)
Tomorrow morning, two random winners will be selected, maybe it will be you.
In other exciting news, I got three volunteers to help with next month's Intro to Outdoor Leader Skills training.
Scout On
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Posted: 17:33 08-31-2011 662
New Northern Tier Site
![northern tier](http://boyscouttrail.com/i/blog/ntier.jpg)
Now, Northern Tier, Philmont, and Sea Base all have similar sites - but I bet Sea Base will be redone soon to match the other two more closely.
Summer, Fall, or dead of Winter, the north woods of Minnesota are a place of adventure. Canoe treks or Okpik winter camping, it's up to you.
Scout On
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Posted: 20:35 08-30-2011 660
Prepare Like a Goose
![goose minute skit](http://boyscouttrail.com/i/blog/geese.jpg)
Being able to look ahead and prepare now for a future challenge is a great skill for scouts and one that tends to be lacking in guys their age. If a Philmont trek is scheduled for 2012, making a gear list now in time for Christmas :-) is a good idea. Planning out a few merit badges to do over the winter, figuring when to tackle First Class cooking, camping enough nights for OA are all examples of looking past today and planning. There are many such opportunities in Scouting.
Just like geese and other animals plan ahead for winter, we need to prepare now for adventures later. Here's a few scoutmaster minutes, games, and skits that have to do with geese (at least a little):
- Goose Sense minute
- Drafting minute
- Duck Duck Goose game
- Feather Toss game
- Oh What a Goose skit
Scout On
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Posted: 15:39 08-29-2011 659
Restructuring
![BSA council merging](http://boyscouttrail.com/i/blog/areaproject.png)
Knowing what your neighbors are doing is usually a good way to be prepared for change. In Michigan, the 11 councils in Area 2 are on the brink of a complete overhaul which I find interesting to read about at their Area Project website. They've posted tons of information and data that should certainly be useful for any other councils facing restructuring in the future.
I appreciate their volunteers for putting in the extra effort to share their process with the rest of us and wish them the best of luck with implementing their changes to improve Scouting in Michigan.
Scout On
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Posted: 10:53 08-28-2011 658
Hike On
![Boy Scout Hiking](http://boyscouttrail.com/i/blog/nstmap.jpg)
Take a look at page 24! We don't always stop at Dairy Queen on our hikes, but we do use gmap-pedometer.com a lot and it works pretty slick. That page is a good indication of what I plan to do for the next few years now that I'm not wearing the Scoutmaster patch.
I'm going to tackle the National Scenic Trails system - click the image for a larger map view. There are eleven of them:
- Arizona NST - 800 miles
- Ice Age NST - 1200 miles
- Appalachian NST - 2200 miles
- Pacific Crest NST - 2600 miles
- Continental Divide NST - 3100 miles
- Pacific Northwest NST - 1200 miles
- North Country NST - 4600 miles
- Florida NST - 1400 miles
- Natchez Trace NST - 700 miles
- Potomac Heritage NST - 700 miles
- New England NST - 220 miles
From the initial research I've done, there's no camping nor connecting routes for the last three and thru-hiking them isn't really a probability. I plan to hike the first 8 in the order listed, starting in Spring, 2012. If I'm wrong about the others, I'll add them.
The AZT is shorter and requires hiking early in the season since water is scarce and heat is intense as summer approaches. It will give me a great opportunity to test out my equipment, abilities, endurance, and processes. If it goes well, then I'll do the IAT in late summer, 2012. This lets me be home for my last son's high school graduation and shipping off to college.
After that, it'll be a trail a year. As an initial plan, I'll do the Appalachian Trail in 2013, hopefully working it so I can drop in at the Jamboree at the Summit - it's only 50 miles off the AT in West Virginia. But, at this point, I'm not set on the order of the trails.
I do have some goals for doing this, not just to burn through a few pairs of shoes. I'm hoping to:
- Connect with scouts - I'll invite scout troops along my treks to come out and hike with me for a couple hours or days. I'll have a tracking device so folks can see where I am.
- Promote lighter-weight trekking. When we try to "Be Prepared" I think we overpack and make life more difficult than needed on the trail. I'll be an example of how to be light and safe.
- Promote Scouting - I'd like to represent the BSA on the hikes and talk it up to folks I meet.
- Record the Fun - through blogs, reports, stories, and journals I'll track and share the experience, hopefully providing a resource to help others.
I've gotten the Atlas and Guide for the Ice Age Trail and have developed an itinerary. The Arizona Trail books are in the mail so I'm really excited to start planning that one out. I'm walking about 8 or 10 miles each morning to keep the joints moving. My next part of the project is acquiring and testing gear.
Scout On
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Posted: 11:14 08-25-2011 657
Previous PostsComments:
Feb 25, 2023 - Joe Patterson
Just out of curiosity, are the Rockwell paintings on exhibit anywhere
Mar 16, 2023 - Adam John
Great question Joe! Have you checked out the Norman Rockwell Museum in
Stockbridge MA? (nrm.org) There is also the Rockwell Museum in Corning
NY. (rockwellmuseum.org) I believe the latter has more art. Hope this
helps!
Jan 21, 2024 - Johnna Downing
The Scouting museum at Philmont, Cimmaron, NM hopefully has the ones that
used to hang at the museum in Irving, TX. Good luck. Johnna
Scouting 2024 - Ask a Question - Add Content
Just for Fun: Socializing merit badge
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