Dave,
Reference below. With regards to style, besides the pinkies, hold the other eight fingers out while dunking the dish and spoon in the hot water least the dish run away with the spoon!
Now my side is bursting with laughter.
I've seen that and a lot more when dealing with Scouts over the past 50+ years. As time goes on, they simply get more creative, but "try anything" comes to mind quite readily.
Just this past weekend, I attended a very good Cub Family Weekend campout at Camp George Strake near Conroe, Texas. The camp has a really nice facility just for Cubs. When I say nice, I mean there were sufficient campsites AND restrooms AND showers for the 500 Cubs and their families that were there so that tthere were no waiting lines for restrooms or showers. That's the definition of nice at any large gathering. And push button hot water to boot.
So on Sat evening after supper a nice lady was passing out marshmallows for the Cubs to roast. First she passed out the marshmallows and I'm sure in a well thought out safe idea, waited to pass out the hundreds of coat hangers she had straightened to roast the marshmallow on.
Well, being inventive as eight year olds are, some just couldn't stand the wait so they grabbed the first stick they saw which happened to be well encrusted with dirt and plunged it into the marshmallow without even a hint of wiping it off much less properly cleaning it and they beat everyone to the fire, burned their marshmallow properly which only a kid can relish and feasted on the sweet desert. As Dave states below, to each his own and I nearly fell over laughing as the mothers made a mad dash to prevent their child from engesting dirt, dog pooh or racoon turds. It was really kind of funny to watch.
Thank goodness most improve on their sanitation technique by the time they reach a trek at Philont but not all do.
OK, fast forward a few years to a PhilTrek.
Gear list.
You tell everyone to bring a bowl, cup and spoon. You recommend a Lexan bowl and spoon but what you get is a conglomeration of all sorts. Some of which break on the second or third day as two did on my last trek in 2002 and then the Scout says "Mr. LeBlanc, look my bowl just broke". Then you give your bowl to him and make do with yoru cup.
Well, he was in the proverbial pickle because he listened to the well meaning ranger when she said "you don't need both a bowl and a cup, leave one behind so he left his metal cup behind."
Quite frankly if I had to choose, I'd left the plastic bowl, I NEVER am without my metal cup as previously stated a few days ago.
Anyway, when it comes to sterilizing the dishes time, you have to use the large pot because SOMEONE brought a wide, I mean WIDE bowl or much worse, a plate!
So EVERYONE crowds around or lines up or both to sterilize their eating tools. It's mass confusion at the place where you DO NOT WANT ANY confusion, the large pot of boiling water sitting atop a blazing gasoline or propane stove. Not a good idea.
As Jim would say "a better idea" is needed.
Furnish identical Lexan bowls and spoons for the entire crew.
You can buy them cheaper but the REI Internet price today is $3.95 for a bowl and $1.25 for two spoons. That works out to be $4.57 per Scout or about $0.38 per evening meal. That's pretty cheap.
You keep all the bowls and spoons together and treat them as creew/patrol gear throughout the trek. When the trek is over, distribute the bowls and spoons as a lasting momento if you wish.
Technique.
Drill a 3/16" hole in the rin of each bowl in the same place. Ditto for the handle of the spoon.
Take a three foot length of light nylon cord ( right now I'm looking at a spool of #18 tan braided nylon from Walmart wihch is ideal. Tie the cord into a loop. Thread the loop onto one bowl. String the rest of the bowls opn the string and secure them. No lost or missing or left behind hanging on the buch to dry bowls. Do the same thing for the spoons.
When it comes sterilizing time, place the first bowl into thepot of boiling water and slide subsequent bowls down the string into the water. Let then set for a minute or two. Lift the string out and air dry/cool to desired temperature to use. Do the same thign with the spoons
The only disadvantage is that the Scout doesn't keep up with their bowl and spoon as personal gear, it's crew or patrol gear.
The advantage is that they all get the same treatment and it is a lot quicker and more efficient than each person doing their own. Efficiency is the name of the game at Philmont to get the most bang for the buck. Every crew has the same amount of time to do it in.
Another advantage is the all cooking and eating gear is CREW gear. A little more attention will be paid by the dish washer if they know that each bowl and spoon may just be the very one they get next, a point which you make several times so it will soak into their brain.
You can do the same thing with a cup, but I'll leave it to you to decide.
I showed this trick to Mark, the California Blankie Kid at AA and he liked it so much that he sat right down on the porch at Miranda and drilled a hole in his spoon with his Scout knife and attached a string to it.
Your mileage may vary, but there will be a lot less burned fingers for those having trouble determining the level of the boiling water in the pot.
And that's a safety issue.
John LeBlanc
*********************************************************************************
OK.. OK... my sides are hurting. The image of a
staffer swishing hydrating oatmeal from to cheek to cheek is just too
much... must get up off the floor...
If you are after class and style, be sure to hold your
pinkies out while the cook pours water in your oatmeal package.
This also reminds me of the scouts who crush up a
Ramen bag and eat the contents dry. Then they take a drink, and I shudder at
the thought of that stuff expanding in their guts...
To each, their own...
Dave
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
-------------------------------------------------------
Scouting E-mail Discussion Lists @ usscouts.org
Listserv Commands at http://usscouts.org/lists/lc.asp
-------------------------------------------------------
Send listserv commands to: listserv@troop47.com
Send postings to: philmont@troop47.com
List FAQ found at: http://usscouts.org/lists/faq.asp
List Administrator: philmont_owner@troop47.com
-------------------------------------------------------
To Unsubscribe send text email to:
To: listserv@troop47.com
Subject: unsubscribe
Body: unsubscribe philmont@troop47.com
-------------------------------------------------------
As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
-------------------------------------------------------
Received on Wed Oct 24 15:24:49 2007
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Tue Dec 02 2008 - 08:55:59 CST