Hey, Ya Blouse-Wearing Poodle-Walkers - It's the Highland Games - Ach!

The Highland Games - a whole weekend of Groundskeeper Willie imitations, Braveheart yells of "Freedom!", haggis jokes, some Scottish games of skill and - wait for it - catapults!  About every 2 -3 years, our council holds a camporee at one of it's scout reservations to promote the age-old traditions of the Scottish clans - throwing stuff.  This was a weekend camp from Friday night to Sunday morning, with the actual games held all day Saturday. 

The day started with a 6:00AM revelry.  We needed to be up and the troop fed by 7:00AM.  We had hot and cold cereal, fruit and granola bars.  We had 3 patrols entered (the Flaming Eagles, the Phoenix and the Raging Ravens - the boys like fire and anger), each with 5 - 6 scouts.  To even out the skill levels and prevent troops from stacking patrols, the events had 2 classification - heavy weight and light weight.  Boys in high school or above the rank of First Class were considered heavy weight.  We're a young troop and we only had one scout in the heavy weight class.  There were about 18 troops, 35 patrols and over 200 scouts participating.  One troop actually showed up in kilts, which was pretty cool.

Get your Haggis right here! Chopped heart and lungs boiled in a wee sheep's stomach! Tastes as good as it sounds! ~ Groundskeeper Willie

All nice and quiet just before we got the boys up.  It was a balmy 32 degrees!

"It won't last. Brothers and sisters are natural enemies. Like Englishmen and Scots! Or Welshmen and Scots! Or Japanese and Scots! Or Scots and other Scots! Damn Scots! They ruined Scotland!" ~ Groundskeeper Willie

The games consist of 15 skill stations that each patrol must negotiate.  Most of the skills required throwing something - rocks, stones, cabers, spears, etc. The remaining stations were feats of strength like the tug-of-war or log drag.  And each troop had to host a station and have it set up, ready to go at 7:30AM. Our station was the Hammer Throw. Our scoutmaster made light and heavy "hammers" out of free weights, 1" pipe and clamps. They worked great and I think we had one of the better stations at the event.

We only had 3 adult leaders on this trip, so the scoutmaster and other leader set up and ran our station while I followed the three patrols and hustled them around to make sure they got to the correct station at the right time. A monumental task made more difficult by a bunch of un-prepared troops. When the games officially started at 8:30AM, about a 1/3 of the stations weren't ready or even identified. It was slow going at first.

Here's our station - the Hammer Throw.

The Pudge doing the log throw.  He used a windmill technique that got him the 3rd best distance of the day.

After all of the stations were completed and lunch was eaten (the council's Order of the Arrow group at the camp had a hoagie sale - yea, no cooking!), it was time for the much anticipated Catapult Siege.  The troop actually prepared for this 3 Saturdays in advance of the games by constructing our catapult and trailering it to the camp (allowed by rule).  Also, the catapult had to be constructed of timbers (no dimensional lumber) and lashed together with rope (no mechanical fasteners). 

“"Bonjoooouuuuurrrrrrr yer cheese eatin' surrender monkeys"” ~ Groundskeeper Willie on the French (or other troops in the competition).

The power for the catapult could come from the boys (boys pulling a rope), springs, bungees or counterweights.  We chose to use counterweights and two garage door springs.  The catapult had to throw a full, 2-liter soda bottle as far as possible.

Here we are on the "line" preparing our catapult to lay siege.

Another view of the catapult with ammunition.

“Now we're wasting more energy than Ricky Martin's girlfriend.” ~ Groundskeeper Willie

There were nine catapults in all.  I don't have pictures of them (for the public).  It was an interesting group of engineering marvels.  All different in varying degrees, most not really functional.  After the order was given to commence firing, you could fire as many times as you wanted, tweak the catapult for maximum distance and you would be measured on your longest shot. 

Mid-shot.

The catapult that ended up winning didn't look like much, but it clearly out-distanced the 2nd place winners by a good 30 - 40 feet.  And those 2nd place winners - would be our troop.  We narrowly edged out the 3rd place winners (and a rival cross-town troop at that) with an unofficial distance of about 50 feet.  Doesn't sound like much, but it was good enough that day.  

"Come on ya pansies, I've seen fiercer fights in parliament." ~ Groundskeeper Willie

The camp provided a dinner of chicken, pulled pork, ham and ziti (guid Scottish fare), so no cooking again.   Unfortunately, we couldn't have a camp fire because of drought and fire restrictions, so we had a camp-wide meeting under the large pavilion for the awards.  Out of a possible 45 ribbons in the lightweight class (15 games, 1st, 2nd and 3rd places), our patrols took home 15 ribbons.  Most by the Flaming Eagles (9, I think), the rest by the Phoenixes (Phoenii? - we always have this discussion) with the Raging Ravens getting skunked.  But the one that really mattered to us, the catapult siege 2nd place ribbon, was truly a troop effort and currently hangs from the troop flag pole.  Not bad for our first time in the Highlands. 

The boys after a very long competition and guid dey (good day).

Groundskeeper Willie: I'll bring those kids back dead or alive!
Skinner: Not DEAD!
Groundskeeper Willie: Aw, you never let Willie be Willie!

Winter Camping with the Boys

Ohhh, son-of-a...another scouting story?  Scouts has been taking a lot of my time lately, so it's only fitting that I torment all of you with my miserable life.  And you know it won't end here.
Our troop's winter camp was the 3rd weekend of January at one of our local state parks. We were really on the fence about going because the weather forecast was not good.  But, because of schedules, postponing the trip most likely meant cancelling and we would have lost our deposit for the site.  So off we went.

A view of the lake.

The temperature never really got above freezing, we had about an inch of snow Friday night (fortunately it was after we got set up) and we had freezing rain most of the day Saturday.

A very large pavilion with the lake just beyond.

Rather than tent-camping, we had "Lean-tos".  These were wooden houses with 4 walls, floor, roof, door, windows and a wood-burning stove.  The weekend before, The Pudge, The Scoutmaster, Simple J, Birch and I went to a church that needed some downed trees cut up and taken away.  This was perfect for the firewood we would need for the stoves and I ended up taking down about half a chord of wood - and it helped the church out too.  This was to be an advancement weekend. We would work on a bunch of the outdoor-type rank advancements that the boys needed. That didn't work out as good as we had hoped but we did get some done. 

A typical Lean-to.



Inside the Lean-to.  These stoves could throw some heat, but they had to be fed wood on a regular basis.  Getting someone to do it in the middle of the night was tough.

One of the main things the boys do on these trips is cook. We had 15 boys (whittled down to 13 because of illness) and broke them into 3 patrols for the purpose of patrol cooking.  The troop has organized patrols for meetings, but because you never know who will be going camping, we form temporary patrols on camping trips with temporary patrol leaders.  We also selected "Grub Masters" for each patrol.  Grub Master develops the menu (with input from the patrol), develops a shopping list, checks the troop gear locker for leftover non-perishables (like hot chocolate), does the food shopping and serves as the main cook during the trip.  He also assigns duties to the rest of the patrol members during the meal, such as food prep, table setting and cleanup. 


Our kitchen area.

 Demonstration of the Grub Master duties during a camping trip is also a requirement for the rank of 1st Class. The Pudge and 2 other 2nd Class scouts took on the challenge.  The adult leaders have the option of tagging along with a patrol for meals, individual cooking or adult leader patrol cooking.  We all chose the latter with more on that in a minute.

The adult leaders have been noticing a trend in the patrol cooking of - not really cooking.  Instant oatmeal, sandwiches and Dinty Moore stew keep showing up on menus with increased regularity.  I have taken an initiative to come up with a collection of standard meal recipes that would have instructions, utensil requirements and fill-in-the-blank quantity calculators that would make it easier for  patrols to cook with fresh ingredients.  I will do this after the Neckerchief Craft Night is history.  We also decided not to rock the boat on this trip because of the extreme weather element in this cooking challenge. 

The Pudge cooking up spaghetti and meatballs for his patrol's dinner.

The adults decided that each of us would take a meal (there were 5 adults). I got dinner because I'm really the only one who cooks on his own. The others all apparently have talented wives to cook for them (I wonder what that's like?).  So while the other guys made meals of a western omelet, homemade chili, campfire brandies (the adult "snack" portion of the trip) and raisin bread french toast with turkey bacon (this was good), I decided to get fancy.  I made Penne and Shrimp with Camp Fire Green Beans and Bananas Foster for dessert (I love Allrecipes.com).  The toughest part is that I only have 2 propane burners and limited cooking utensils.  Trying to boil water in a 10 MPH wind with no lid is challenging (I used tin foil) too.

This is how the men cooked.

I made the beans at home and brought them in a ziplock. After I heated them on the burners, I had one of the men put the pot on a lean-to stove to keep it warm (a scout uses his resources).  The beans turned out good and may be one of the packaged recipes I develop for the scouts.  I will use fresh beans over canned next time.  The rest of the meal was pretty straight forward and I got it all in the mess kit - hot.

Penne and Shrimp with Camp Fire Green Beans (Almondine).

The dessert was a thing to behold. The boys gathered around to watch the flaming spectacle. Actually, a lot of the boys were watching me cook in between their cooking duties, and that was what I was hoping for.  I wanted them to see that with the proper planning, cooking is not that difficult and there are many choices other than stew. 





It's hard to cook when you have to keep putting your gloves on.



I think because of the cold air, the flambe didn't flame that much. But man was this good. I almost made a 2nd batch for the boys but thought better of it because of the rum. I told The Pudge we would make this at home.


Dessert - Bananas Foster.  This is flambe-ing but it's hard to  see in this picture.

 All-in-all a challenging trip for the boys. On Saturday, we gave the scouts the choice of staying in their lean-tos to play games that they brought with them or do advancements. The majority chose the games - and who could blame them? But the others that made some progress on advancements made the trip worth while. I led a handful of scouts on a short hike around the lake (after the rain finally stopped) and that was worth the trip for me. We broke camp late Sunday morning and everyone was glad to get home. The ski trip is next month...of course, I won't be going, but The Pudge will.

Dam at the end of the lake.

Some very dirty snowmen.  I think it was some kind of Calvin and Hobbes tribute.

Boy Scouts - Swinging From The Trees

Editors Note: Sorry about the paragraph spacing. I don't have the time or patience to figure it out.

A couple of weekends ago, the troop got together for a weekend camping trip to a Boy scouts of America Scout Reservation in eastern Pennsylvania. The purpose of the trip was to participate in the camps Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience project or COPE. It consists of different challenges for groups of scouts that involve teamwork and problem solving (Low COPE), and for individual scouts that test agility and individual skills (High COPE). The underlying purpose is to develop leadership.

The project varies from one reservation to another, but this one is suppose to be one of the best on the east coast. I personally had no idea what to expect but some of the older scouts knew what the course looked like from previous summer camps. The troop has been doing week-long summer camps here for the past several years and will be coming back again this year in August.

We set up camp Friday night. It was a beautiful night with the temperature in the upper 50s. The camp site had both 2-man tents and 3-sided wooden lean-tos called Adirondacks or Ads. They sleep 6 (3 sets of wooden bunk beds) and the boys used them instead of the tents. The site had a small pavilion and we draped one of our tarps over it to make a bigger dining and cooking area. The weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday was rain, so we wanted to take advantage of the dry night to get everything set for the rain.

Here's the pavilion and one of the 2-man tents (in the background) that we used for a supply tent.





Here's the pavilion and an Ad (in the background) and the fire pit in the foreground.



Saturday morning, after a cold breakfast of cereal, OJ and fruit, we headed over to the COPE course. The morning program was on the Low COPE course.

Here half of the boys are blind-folded and the other half have to guide them along a puddle laced dirt road with voice commands only. That's The Pudge with the red bandanna.

The boys have to balance on a beam while singing "Happy birthday". The COPE counselors were a sick and twisted bunch.

The boys had to get the patrol from one platform to the other using 2 short boards. It involved planning and counter-balancing.

This was a balance seesaw that the patrol had to balance on while singing "I'm a Little Tea Pot".

This is the Leap of Faith. The scout on the platform (The Pudge) has to fall backwards into the waiting arms of the rest of the patrol. This was a trust exercise and was great fun.

Here the boys had just finished the wall climb where you had to lift or push the whole patrol over the wall. They're just photo opping - and resting.

Lunch was ham and cheese sandwiches, juice, fruit, chips and cookies. There were 3 other troops participating and each troop brought their own food. The COPE counselors were suppose to have water jugs but didn't bring them. So yours truly had to hike back to camp and bring 2 - 3 gallon jerry cans of water (that's like 50 pounds) and it was about a mile. I was sweating pretty good when I got to the picnic area. The rain has held off so far to one little 5 minute shower.

The boys eating lunch under the soon-to-be-completed new pavilion.

After lunch the boys donned their safety harnesses and helmets in preparation for the afternoon High COPE course.

The Pudge all suited up.

The first thing they did was go over safety and "belay" training. The belay lines are attached to steel cables along the course with the other end looping through an overhead pulley and is then attached to the scout. Two boys man the belay line and walk along with the scout that is up in the trees.

Belay training.

The Pudge up on a platform (with a counselor) after having climbed the Giant Ladder. He's on a platform and is tethered to the tree - waiting his turn.

The Pudge walking one of the rope bridges.

Once again my photography skills are not very good. These bridges are about 30 feet off the ground and the belay line and boys manning the line are out of sight. This course is very safe and, other than some scratches and rope burns, no one was hurt. There is also a 300 foot long zip line at the end - a reward for completing the course that the boys really look forward to.

We got back to camp around 6:00PM and had a quick dinner of stew, rolls and devil dogs. We had a very mellow camp fire and got the boys in their racks by 10:00PM. They were so tired we didn't even have to tell them. By 10:30PM the rains came and it rained all night, clearing in the morning in time for breakfast. We had a big breakfast of French toast, sausage, OJ and fruit. We broke camp at around 10:00AM and were home by noon.

The boys had a great time and a number of them want to do the Endurance COPE during summer camp. That consists of High COPE, Belay Training, rock climbing and rappelling. They do it over the course of 5 days and can earn the rock climbing merit badge for their efforts. That should be fun.