One fellow hit on a good idea on our last trip. At night he prepared his tinder, kindling, and firewood in three neat piles inside his tent. When morning came, he extended one arm, in went the kindling, a match, and it’s lighted, with him still in bed. A stick or two of wood and things began to warm up. By the time he had to get up, he didn’t miss his warm blankets ... well, not much.
We carry two pairs of long underwear. The one worn during the day is taken off and dried at night when going to bed and when it is warm. The next morning clothes are put on over the set of underwear worn during the night, eliminating too much exposure of bare skin—an important point, especially when you are inside that bare skin.
First aid precautions in cold weather differ from regular summer first aid; shock is greatly intensified in cold weather. Blankets and canteen hot water bottle are handy. How to treat for frostbite is required knowledge. Make preparations against snow blindness in northern regions. Temporary sunglasses may be made with cardboard, cloth, or wood with slits cut through, fastened in place with adhesive tape. Watch out for your feet. Wear several layers of light wool socks with large sized waterproof shoes, shoe packs, or ski boots. Tight-fitting ski boots will cause you trouble. Lay down boughs or branches around your fire; you can walk on them and thus keep your feet out of wet snow or mud caused by the fire’s heat.
You’ll pick up other ideas as you go along. It’s not difficult, and you don’t need special equipment or skill. All you need is the spirit of adventure—the spirit your Scouts have—and the desire to try something different. It’s fun.
THE EARLY SCOUT GETS THE BIRD
⚜ Killing two birds with one stone may have been satisfactory in the old days, but in these days of inflation we figured we should be able to knock off at least six birds, figuratively speaking of course.
It all started at a Committee meeting when we were looking around for a Scout Week window display idea. A mass display of bluebird houses made by the Scouts was suggested. But just making birdhouses as a craft project did not seem too practical, unless we could put the houses to use and get birds to nest in them. But why couldn’t we do that? We could. We did. And this is how it worked:
Boards were cut and kits were assembled in the basement workshops of Committeemen and friends.
Wolf Photo