Bearlee Rising

[Bearlee]

 

Picture of Cub1 (leaning) and Cub2 (stroller) during our last pack meeting.

[The Most Loathed]

2 hours ago, Bearlee said:

they went into the history of Philmont and explained more about what goes on there. Never realized how much they had going on there like a historically accurate mining town with actors portraying people from that era, or the dozens of different stations that they have that you can participate in after you do your near daily hiking. They joked that the 56 miles in a week is the "short" version of camp.

I've been to that camp. The best thing was the hoot-a-nanny that night. Everyone who worked in the town played an instrument and they had a nice long sings along. You can probably still look up the itineraries but it used to be that 56 miles was the shortest trek, which is 11 days as I recall. We also aimed for the 100+ mile hikes. It's not as bad as it sounds. 

 

Are you starting to think about Philmont in several years?

[Bearlee]

On 5/19/2017 at 7:35 AM, The Most Loathed said:

I've been to that camp. The best thing was the hoot-a-nanny that night. Everyone who worked in the town played an instrument and they had a nice long sings along. You can probably still look up the itineraries but it used to be that 56 miles was the shortest trek, which is 11 days as I recall. We also aimed for the 100+ mile hikes. It's not as bad as it sounds. 

 

Are you starting to think about Philmont in several years?

 

I don't know if I'll ever go to Philmont but yes I would like to prepare for that possibility. Got my DVDs of Scouting for Adventure in the mail Thursday and have already watched several episodes. I've been watching them near Cub1 but not making him watch them and he'll look up every so often to ask a question. He's been impressed that I've gotten all the quiz questions right so far like "What degree of burns are sun burns typically?" or "Can you become dehydrated in cold weather?". The first season DVD was a little disappointing by not going too deep into any details but did learn the famous mountain at Philmont is call The Tooth of Time. There was an interesting episode called ROCS which stands for Roving Outdoor Conservation School where Scouts spend 21 days wondering Philmont doing conservation projects.

 

Now that I've declared my liking of Scouting I'm trying to figure out how to tie goals to it that are NF appropriate. Since I used to canoe the first ones I've thought of were being able to portage a canoe a certain distance and being able to get into a canoe from deep water (which I never was able to accomplish). I'm not sure what else to put on the list. I'm inspired by TML's achievement list and might find things I can put on there to check off. Perhaps hiking a certain distance or certain elevation. Just found out this week the highest elevation in Kansas is 4,000 ft and that is on the other side of the state near Colorado (which has 354 14,000 ft mountains). Since I'm working with Cubs it will probably be skills I can learn and pass on to them. Like this weekend I learned to tie an overhand knot and square knot that I can teach.

[Sloth the Enduring]

At the table next to me tonight were four old guys planning their boundary waters trip. I thought of your desire to go there.

[Bearlee]

On 5/21/2017 at 0:22 AM, Sloth the Enduring said:

At the table next to me tonight were four old guys planning their boundary waters trip. I thought of your desire to go there.

 

Maybe that is something I could do, rope unsuspecting adults into going with me. Though I don't know anybody locally that would like to go. Perhaps I'll have to see if I can talk the Sloth Clan, the TMLs (how do you pluralize loathed?), and Lord and Lady Shello with their royal court to take an excursion up North. Though still haven't officially met LadyShello yet, which is odd since she is the one closest to me.

[Bearlee]

Not going to sugar coat it (though everything I've eaten this week has) I've been having a horrible week food wise and exercise wise also while I'm at it. Don't know what happened but I've been shoveling sugar and carbs down my throat as fast as I can. Can't think of a day since my last post where I didn't have either ice cream or sugary iced coffee or both. And I've been eating fast food at least once a day also. Now I'm just hoping that it's the fact that I've got two sick Cubs at home that are frazzling my nerves or the new schedule that everyone is on, but somehow it doesn't feel like that. I think it's more the fact that I had a couple of bad days eating in a row and my body is giving me the hungry signal because I'm not getting my nutrients in that is sending me into panic and eating whatever I can get my hands on. And the more sugary and fat the better. I've got vegetables and other good food at the house that I haven't touched. Perhaps it's because Cub2 is still adapting to daycare and not eating and sleeping well there that he comes home cranky and needs all my attention that I don't spend time preparing food. Wednesday I actually got him to sleep for a good while and was able to get some cooking done for me and Cub1. Unfortunately Cub1 has a sore throat and cries whenever I try to make him eat (which he was never a good eater to begin with).

 

About the only good thing I can say is that I've been getting a good deal of walking in this week. I got some new Merrell boots and have been walking around in them to get them broken in before the Cub Scout day camp coming up in a few weeks. The planning seems to be a bit of a fuster cluck where we still don't have forms needed filled out and turned in and we don't have any transportation lined up either. Feeling proud that I got my task of lining up adult volunteers out of the way with an actual surplus of people on two days. Oh, and we are suppose to have a fund raiser before we go so we got two weekends to try to figure that out. I'm starting to realize that I'm going to have to push for better planning further out from our events (at least three months) because trying to plan and execute in the same month has been killing us lately.

 

Otherwise not much going on. Been delving deeper into Scouting and thinking Scouting is wasted on the youth, this should be a program for adults. Perhaps I'll have to form the MSA, Men Scouts of America for men experiencing mid-life crisis and want to relive their youth the way they wanted to. Oh, and I've been plotting on how to get NFers to go canoeing in the Boundry Waters of Northern Minnesota (tee hee).

[Bearlee]

Anybody know why when I post on a thread through Tapatalk that I unfollow that thread through the NF forums?

[Sloth the Enduring]

No idea.

 

Scouting for adults sounds fun. I'd be up for a BWCA meet up. I'd need lots of heads-up though.

[Shello]

On 5/25/2017 at 4:14 AM, Bearlee said:

 

Maybe that is something I could do, rope unsuspecting adults into going with me. Though I don't know anybody locally that would like to go. Perhaps I'll have to see if I can talk the Sloth Clan, the TMLs (how do you pluralize loathed?), and Lord and Lady Shello with their royal court to take an excursion up North. Though still haven't officially met LadyShello yet, which is odd since she is the one closest to me.

Qbert is going to Boundary Waters this summer with some other boys from his troop.  We could have gone along but I have a thing about going out of my comfort zone with other scouting grown ups.  I'd much rather do something like that with other rebels.  

 

15 minutes ago, Bearlee said:

Anybody know why when I post on a thread through Tapatalk that I unfollow that thread through the NF forums?

It's a glitch that's been around since the site was updated.  When I post using Tapatalk I usually scroll to the top, unsubscribe and resubscribe before navigating to another thread.  It is most annoying and I try to stay away from Tapatalk these days. 

[Sloth the Enduring]

I try to only use Tapatalk because it does a better job of keeping track of my participated list.

[The Most Loathed]

Frankly, there's a need for scouting for adults. Unfortunately, many of the adults who need to get get out of town for a quite weekend in the woods would never do it. 

 

I doubt Laura would go to the Boundary Waters because she doesn't do camping. I'd go along though. I never did much canoeing in scouts, it became more of a thing in my last couple years because that's when the adults who wanted to lead it joined the troop. 

 

I've always thought kayaking the shore line of Lake Superior would be cool. They have quite a few campsites that are only accessible by water and some that are either water or hiking trail.

[Bearlee]

I didn't work Monday night due to holiday and the way my hours work (did work Sunday night). Well I had Tuesday free and was trying to think what should I do. I thought about how adults should Scout more so decided that I was going to go to the local lake and climb the observation tower there and go fishing. When I got there I found out the park removed the first flight of stairs to the tower so no way to climb it. So went fishing instead and I got rewarded with this fella.

 

 

As far as I can remember it's the biggest catfish I've ever caught, guessing around 4-5 pounds and had to pull the line to get him in because the reel was letting out line. He also bent the hook I was using.

 

Beyond the fishing I was just enjoying nature today. Mowing the yard early in the morning I saw a snake and rabbit. And at the park I was appreciating the variety of birds and small mammals. Listening to frogs and other animals. And I walked along the shore to try to find a different fishing spot and saw a couple of catfish that had to be about 15-20 pounds. Plus just the plethora of smaller fish. Oh, and while I was fishing a kid came up to me and asked if a lure he found belonged to be, which it didn't, but I took it so people wouldn't accidentally get hooked from a lure laying around. So about 3 hours of fishing and listening to Podcasts made for a pleasant day. I did fail in Scouting a little by not putting on any sunscreen but fortunately I'm not burned too bad just reddish and warm skin.

[Bearlee]

On 5/26/2017 at 9:15 AM, Sloth the Enduring said:

No idea.

 

Scouting for adults sounds fun. I'd be up for a BWCA meet up. I'd need lots of heads-up though.

 

Is it sad that it took me several minutes to figure out what BWCA stood for? Thought you came up the acronym for the new adult Scouting program so was thinking Boys With Careless Adults or Caring Adults. But then duh, Boundry Water Canoe Area. How much heads up would you need? Would want to bring Cub1 along but don't think he would appreciate it for several years. Would 4-6 years work for you?

 

On 5/26/2017 at 9:19 AM, LadyShello said:

Qbert is going to Boundary Waters this summer with some other boys from his troop.  We could have gone along but I have a thing about going out of my comfort zone with other scouting grown ups.  I'd much rather do something like that with other rebels.  

 

It's a glitch that's been around since the site was updated.  When I post using Tapatalk I usually scroll to the top, unsubscribe and resubscribe before navigating to another thread.  It is most annoying and I try to stay away from Tapatalk these days. 

 

Hope he has as much fun as I did. Well during the moment I don't know how much fun I was having but it is definitely one of my stronger memories and I was very glad I did it. Let me know how it goes for him. You might be safer with scouters that actually know what they are doing but I'm with you about being around fellow rebels.

 

Oh yes, if I remember correctly the Tapatalk glitch and site update were part of the reasons that I took my extended hiatus. That and I was being a goof about my life. Nice to know that there is some kind of workaround, tried it a couple of times today and didn't lose my subscriptions on the forum. I generally don't like Tapatalk but it is the best way I've found to post pictures without having to save and resize pictures on a hosting site like Photobucket.

 

18 hours ago, The Most Loathed said:

Frankly, there's a need for scouting for adults. Unfortunately, many of the adults who need to get get out of town for a quite weekend in the woods would never do it. 

 

I doubt Laura would go to the Boundary Waters because she doesn't do camping. I'd go along though. I never did much canoeing in scouts, it became more of a thing in my last couple years because that's when the adults who wanted to lead it joined the troop. 

 

I've always thought kayaking the shore line of Lake Superior would be cool. They have quite a few campsites that are only accessible by water and some that are either water or hiking trail.

 

I've never thought much about camping until recently and the idea of it still doesn't appeal to me too much, but if there were rewards like badges to supplement me being outdoors I would be more inclined to do it. Does that say something about me growing up in a video game age where you get badges for every little thing you do?

 

Laura wouldn't want to go? I thought she was kind of an outdoorsy kind of person. You could tell her Cub1 is coming, they seemed to get along together well, or at least she left a favorable impression on him.

 

It's nice you some kind of leadership in even if it was towards the end of your Scouting career. Is that also when you went to Philmont? I don't think I have to worry about leadership for Cub1 for a while since we have some amazing adults stepping up, minus our current Cubmaster whom I think is in over his head and I'm trying to think of ways to assist him. But current Den Leader is fantastically organized and should be around for Cub1's Cub Scouting career. And when he goes to Boy Scouts we can reunite with former Cub Master that was super motivational.

 

I've never kayaked before. With never being able to get back into a canoe in open water I always worried about what would happen in a kayak. Or that if I got turned over would I be able to perform the barrel role to get myself righted again without over and/or under rotating and ending back upside down. Though I did see several people kayaking at the lake I was fishing at and it looked fun. And that would be an amazing trip boating up to a secluded camping spot like that. But still like the idea of BWCA more due to the fact that there are no powerboats of any kind allowed in there.

[The Most Loathed]

5 hours ago, Bearlee said:

I've never thought much about camping until recently and the idea of it still doesn't appeal to me too much, but if there were rewards like badges to supplement me being outdoors I would be more inclined to do it. Does that say something about me growing up in a video game age where you get badges for every little thing you do?

 

Laura wouldn't want to go? I thought she was kind of an outdoorsy kind of person. You could tell her Cub1 is coming, they seemed to get along together well, or at least she left a favorable impression on him.

 

It's nice you some kind of leadership in even if it was towards the end of your Scouting career. Is that also when you went to Philmont? I don't think I have to worry about leadership for Cub1 for a while since we have some amazing adults stepping up, minus our current Cubmaster whom I think is in over his head and I'm trying to think of ways to assist him. But current Den Leader is fantastically organized and should be around for Cub1's Cub Scouting career. And when he goes to Boy Scouts we can reunite with former Cub Master that was super motivational.

 

I've never kayaked before. With never being able to get back into a canoe in open water I always worried about what would happen in a kayak. Or that if I got turned over would I be able to perform the barrel role to get myself righted again without over and/or under rotating and ending back upside down. Though I did see several people kayaking at the lake I was fishing at and it looked fun. And that would be an amazing trip boating up to a secluded camping spot like that. But still like the idea of BWCA more due to the fact that there are no powerboats of any kind allowed in there.

Laura is outdoorsy to a point. She will hike and bike. She talks a lot about canoeing and kayaking but I don't think I've ever seen her in a watercraft. When we planned last years hiking trip it was unambiguous that she is not staying anywhere without private showering facilities and flushable toilets. So, she's more of a daytripper than an expedition kind of person. For me, I don't love camping, hence I haven't done it in years. It was just something I have done a lot of. I've probably slept out somewhere between 100 and 200 nights. It's not a big deal either way. 

 

She definitely would be excited to see Cub 1 again but she'd rather do it somewhere that has a legit roof and plumbing. 

 

My troop had amazing leaders. I got very lucky. Our Scoutmaster had been doing it since he was 17 or 18 and had built a large and fun organization. Des Moines in generally was  good place for scouting. I'm blanking on the name of the guy who lead Philmont expeditions but he was in his 60s when I went and he had been doing it back as far as when my dad was in scouts. Those kinds of legacies count for something.

 

I've only kayaked a couple times, once with the kind you sit in and once with what I would describe more as a hearty, inflatable craft with a seat. Both were fine but I obviously didn't fall in love with it. I never once did a barrel roll but rather than roll out I'd just swim out and right the craft. I'm not up to barrel rolling skill level. I've definitely canoed more than kayaked, it's just been longer since I last canoed.

[Sloth the Enduring]

I've seen people take little kids into the Boundary Waters. I guess there are a few shorter trips that are nice. Another trip that sounds fun is kayaking along the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior - but I've never actually kayaked, so maybe it isn't. A bucket list trip for me is to camp and hike in Isle Royale National Park, I should probably get on that before climate change ruins it for moose. It's been a real long time since I've done anything besides car camping though.

[Mazarine]

I've been discussing with some friends of mine a lot lately that there should be an adult scouting program created! I wish I could've been a boy scout. I was a girl scout for a few months, but all we did was plant geraniums and make camping pillows for the boy scouts =/ 

 

[Emma]

The. Boy Scouts went camping and did pinewood derby while the Girl Scouts sold cookies and made pillows for the boys to take to camp. Just about everything I wanted to do as a kid I was told "inappropriate for a girl". Grrr. These days I'm too rebellious to follow the orders in scouting.

[Bearlee]

A special treat for you all. I made a video explaining my specialization that I've been working on. So for your pleasure Bearlee "live".

 

[Bearlee]

Just a quick post to let you know I'm still alive. I've been eating like crap lately and have been doing little to no exercise. Stressing out about the Cub Scout Day Camp next week. Probably won't be posting next week, but if you don't hear from me in the week after I'm probably dead or in the hospital with a heat stroke induced coma. 4 days of 8+ hours in 90+ degree weather with no shade and 12 high energy screaming boys. What the hell was I thinking?

[Bearlee]

On 6/1/2017 at 3:48 PM, Estral said:

I've been discussing with some friends of mine a lot lately that there should be an adult scouting program created! I wish I could've been a boy scout. I was a girl scout for a few months, but all we did was plant geraniums and make camping pillows for the boy scouts =/ 

 

 

There seems to be a big movement about combining boys and girls in other countries. I've been following Facebook pages from the UK where their Scouts are co-ed and listening to a Canadian Podcast where they talk about their program being co-ed for the past 20 years along with Ireland and several other countries. Even in our group we've had discussions about how it would be nice for the Scouts to be co-ed and I don't see a reason why it couldn't be.

 

On 6/1/2017 at 6:00 PM, Emma said:

The. Boy Scouts went camping and did pinewood derby while the Girl Scouts sold cookies and made pillows for the boys to take to camp. Just about everything I wanted to do as a kid I was told "inappropriate for a girl". Grrr. These days I'm too rebellious to follow the orders in scouting.

 

I think you would have been a kick ass Scout. And I think you would have done well in Scouting because it's supposed to be youth lead with adult supervision, so you could have made the program the way you wanted (well that's how it's suppose to happen but I think the adults are probably too involved). If I get this adult scouting thing off the ground I'll make you the den leader of the Rebels.

[Bearlee]

 

 

I've survived three days of Cub Scout day camp so far. And surviving is what it feels like. High temps, high winds, and no shade. I'm surprised the boys are listening to me as much as they are but that only lasts for so long. The biggest problem we've had is 2 hours of dead time the first three days. Boys have been entertaining themselves with squirt bottles but they keep breaking the rules about shooting in the face. I'm trying to pick my battles and this one isn't that important to me.

 

 

Cub1 seems like he's not having fun when I ask him he talks about how much fun he's having.

 

 

Two more days and fortunately no free time either day. But don't know if I can handle any more vitamin D.

 

[Bearlee]

Ha previous post I put up a picture of what I thought was me but on closer inspection I realized that it was our Cubmaster. Was wondering why I was frowning but that is our Cubmaster's default look. Above is the only picture I have of myself so far.

[Bearlee]

 

Wow 99 degrees today! Survived the fourth and hottest day. Finally got a photo with me in it. And all the tough troopers from our pack. Ready for my vacation to be over so I can get back to work and relax.

[Sloth the Enduring]

That's pretty great. I hope you have an air-conditioned tent though.

[Bearlee]

I don't know what's happened to me. I got done with the day camp and I seemed to fall off the face of the Earth. I thought after the day camp everything would go back to normal but I've fallen off the wagon and fallen hard. It's actually nice to get back on here so I can start to sort through my thoughts and get myself realigned. So problems I'm dealing with now.

 

1. Portion Distortion. The amount of food I've been eating lately is rediculous. Think it started during day camp where I'd be walking 5+ miles in mid 90s heat and afterwards would pick up fast food before picking up Cub2 from day care because I didn't want to prepare food. One of the places I went to is Taco John's which I've mentioned in previous posts and went there and got a large combo but didn't think that was enough so got another small combo and nachos to go with it. And I think that is when the ludicrous amounts of food eating began (side note I didn't get my potato oles, went back a second time and got oles but not the dipping cheese I ordered; not a fan of that store).

 

2. Eating Out Way Too Much. Day camp is when I started picking up food for convince sake but it has just snow balled from there. I back to my old ways of eating 2 or sometimes more times per day at fast food restaurants. This coupled with portion distortion is very bad.

 

3. What's Water Again? Along with the fast food comes sugary drinks. So much so that I've barely touched a drop of water for the past three weeks.

 

4. Where's The Store? Since I'm eating fast food no need to make any at home. This past Sunday was the first day I'd been to the grocery store for weeks. Hard to make food at home if you have nothing to work with. I've started to combat this problem this week with a couple of home cooked meals. I was horrified when I realized how many chicken nuggets Cub1 had eaten in the past few weeks. Not the best healthy meals but as long as it's not chicken nuggets it's a win.

 

5. I've Done My Exercise For The Year At Day Camp. So I haven't done any exercise for most of the month of June. And actually haven't done any yoga for maybe 6 weeks (actually canceled my subscription to the app until I get my head straight). I thought it was understandable that I wasn't doing any exercise during day camp since I put a premium on sleep and prep. But I haven't done a dang single thing since camp. This week I've finally started at least walking some at work. Not the levels I was at before but at least it's some movement.

 

6. What's Next Stress. I really enjoyed the day camp but that feeling only lasted a day or two until I started panicking about what's next. Next is a super hero lock-in we have planned for late July and I seem to be stressing over this way more than I should. Seems fairly simple pizza, movies, and a few games but I can't seem to think it should be more. And also I'm stressing because we are suppose to be planning the next year of activities and the budget for it. Perhaps I'm worried about fund raisers and trying to get parents involved but I think it's more about the expectations I have for the kids to be able to enjoy themselves and I don't want to flub that up.

 

So nice to actually identify the problems I'm having. First on my correction list will probably be the liquid situation. Go back to my old way of getting a certain amount of water then I can drink whatever I want. Next will be logging of food. It tedious but this usually shocks me back to my senses and I plan to eat better afterwards. Continue with the walking and figure out what else I'm going to do to supplement that (stationary biking, kettle bells, yoga?). That's just my basic layout for now. Oh and I should get on here more often to keep myself accountable.