A Scoutmaster's Blog

It is the fifth week of 100 Days of Scouting, 2011. Time to dig out that 1984 Boy Scout Handbook for another ten questions from the Scout Mania trivia book. Today’s subject is General Trivia. (Keep in mind that these questions were based on the 1984 edition of the Boy Scout Handbook. This is important to keep in mind as you take this quiz.) Good Luck!

1) Name three of the four common methods for cooking meat.

2) What do you call a rope with a toggle on one end and an eye splice on the other?

3) There are many ways to personally measure distance. Name five.

4) Name two common methods for preparing fish.

5) When talking about boating, what is a “PDF”?

6) Give three of the four common fair weather signs.

7) How many ability groups are there in the Safe Swim Defense? Name them.

8 ) In relation to fire building, what is “punk”?

9) What is the difference between the lines on your map and the direction the compass points?

10) How long must you hold your hand over the coals to know you have a moderate temperature for cooking?

That ends the ten questions for today.

Or would you like another ten?

I see some of you raising your hand.

Unfortunately, I do not have the time,

at the moment,

to post another ten questions,

so you will have to wait until next week.

Here are the answers for today’s quiz:

1) broiled, pan broiled, stewed, fried.
2) A Commando rope.
3) Handspan, finger, shoe, foot, arm span, arm length, height, arm reach, pace walk, pace run.
4) Frying, poaching.
5) Personal floatation device.
6) Red shy at night, sailor’s delight. Swallows flying way up high means there’s no rain in the sky. If smoke goes high, no rain comes by. When the dew is on the grass, rain will never come to pass.
7) Three. Nonswimmer, Beginner, Swimmer.
8 ) The flammable material needed to catch the spark from steel.
9) Declination.
10) Four to five seconds. (Will be about 350-400 degrees.)

Did you do well? Do you enjoy these trivia quizzes? Leave a comment.
100 Days of Scouting: Day 30.

There was very bad news reported tonight in Iowa. Here is the AP report found on Yahoo…

DES MOINES, Iowa – The National Weather Service has received reports of injuries and possibly fatalities from an apparent tornado that struck a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa. Meteorologist Jim Meyer says law enforcement officials had called the weather service Wednesday evening and reported injuries and damage at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch. Meyer said: “We believe there were some fatalities and injuries.” A dispatcher with the Harrison County sheriff’s department in Iowa says first responders are at the camp and more are en route. She isn’t confirming reports of injuries.

Since this first article was reported online, news has come in that four people were killed at the camp by a “rain wrapped” tornado. Here is the latest update:

DES MOINES, Iowa – A spokeswoman for Iowa Homeland Security says at least four people were killed and 40 injured when a tornado struck a western Iowa Boy Scout camp. Iowa Homeland Security spokeswoman Julie Tack says a search and rescue team has been deployed to the camp near Little Sioux in Harrison County. She says the camp is covered with debris and downed trees after the tornado hit about 7 p.m. Wednesday. Tack says there were 93 campers and 25 staff members at the camp. The campers were between 13 and 18 years old and were attending a leadership training camp. “They were considered some of the best in the area,” Tack said. At least 40 people who were injured in the storm were being taken to area hospitals.

Please keep these victims and families in your prayers.

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of heavy rain falling on the canvas tent. “Boy, it is raining pretty hard,” I thought as I rolled over on my cot and fell back to sleep.

I was with the Boy Scouts of Troop 68 for a week at Many Point Scout Camp. We were staying in the Tyler Campsite in Buckskin Camp. Tyler is located at the north end of the road that runs through Buckskin. It is the campsite that is furthest away from the dining hall and beach. Due to it’s location, it is also the most quiet campsite in Buckskin, which is one of the reasons we like it. The campsite is located on a hillside so it has wooden platforms for the tents.

When we woke up that morning we noticed everything around camp was soaked. A couple of the Scouts complained that they had some wet gear, but nothing too serious. We also noticed that there was water in the deep ditch along the campsite. Due to the sandy soil we had very seldom seen standing water in the ditch. We thought it must have rained a couple of inches during the night.

Little did we realize how wrong we were.

As we walked through Buckskin on our way to the dining hall for breakfast we began to realize how much it had actually rained overnight. The lower-lying campsites had been flooded. Dozens of campers has drenched gear and soaked sleeping bags.

The worst damage had been done to Ten Chiefs Camp, located south of Buckskin. The road through Ten Chiefs crossed streams on each end of the camp. Both of these creeks had overflowed their banks during the night and had washed out the road on both ends of camp. Ten Chiefs had, temporarily, become an island. Food had to be brought to the campers by boat on that day.

The camp had received seven inches of rain during the storm. The water level of the lake had risen two inches.

The Boy Scouts and adults of Troop 68 that were staying in Tyler were very grateful that we had slept on a sandy and hilly campsite that night.