12-12-2011, 01:02 AM
I guess the worst about it is that this same sleeping bag kept me nice and warm during a Boy Scout 'winter freeze out' in the early 1970's... when I was a Scout. And it was 30 below zero that night. And we slept completely outside without tents or any cover. It was one of the first polyester fill mummy bags back then. Either I'm more of a freeze baby (probably) or it's lost some of its effectiveness (possible)... Well, in retrospect I probably slept in every piece of clothes I had worn that day, including my insulated boots and down parka...
Other than that the campout was great.. the boys had fun, we worked on the Astronomy merit badge, and the seeing was awesome, except for the full moon. Moons of Jupiter were seen, many constellations were spotted, and a visit to a local University planetarium was a lot of fun... the lady that runs the program stayed almost an hour later with us, pointing out constellations, showing us the Southern Cross (I was the only one who had ever seen it), and generally having a blast with a group of very interested and knowledgeable boys..
And the Green laser pointer is PERFECT for pointing out stars (just keep it warm).
We had the whole State Park to ourselves at night, and we saw lots of woodpeckers and chickadees and bluejays, as well as several flights of Canadian Geese and a few flocks of ducks on the lake, which had skim ice stretching about 100 feet out in the morning.
Saturday morning a Labrador Retriever Rescue group came through with perhaps 20 Labs... the camp is a popular dog walking place. We were smilingly offered to adopt dogs to camp with us Saturday night, and one gent made reference to 'Three Dog Night', which got a smile from the dads. The boys had just finished breakfast, and smelled like Boy and Sausage, so the dogs gave lots of sloppy kisses.
My youngest son, who is not the world's best camper, said "It was a really good campout". Possibly because he was defacto "Patrol Leader" for the campout... he enjoyed a little power over the other boys. I'm glad he enjoyed it, and he showed a lot of self-motivation and willingness to pitch in, which is what Scouting is all about.
At the end of the day, me being chilly and a bit asthmatic is a small price to pay for my son's development into a respectable young man.
Other than that the campout was great.. the boys had fun, we worked on the Astronomy merit badge, and the seeing was awesome, except for the full moon. Moons of Jupiter were seen, many constellations were spotted, and a visit to a local University planetarium was a lot of fun... the lady that runs the program stayed almost an hour later with us, pointing out constellations, showing us the Southern Cross (I was the only one who had ever seen it), and generally having a blast with a group of very interested and knowledgeable boys..
And the Green laser pointer is PERFECT for pointing out stars (just keep it warm).
We had the whole State Park to ourselves at night, and we saw lots of woodpeckers and chickadees and bluejays, as well as several flights of Canadian Geese and a few flocks of ducks on the lake, which had skim ice stretching about 100 feet out in the morning.
Saturday morning a Labrador Retriever Rescue group came through with perhaps 20 Labs... the camp is a popular dog walking place. We were smilingly offered to adopt dogs to camp with us Saturday night, and one gent made reference to 'Three Dog Night', which got a smile from the dads. The boys had just finished breakfast, and smelled like Boy and Sausage, so the dogs gave lots of sloppy kisses.
My youngest son, who is not the world's best camper, said "It was a really good campout". Possibly because he was defacto "Patrol Leader" for the campout... he enjoyed a little power over the other boys. I'm glad he enjoyed it, and he showed a lot of self-motivation and willingness to pitch in, which is what Scouting is all about.
At the end of the day, me being chilly and a bit asthmatic is a small price to pay for my son's development into a respectable young man.