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Planning for Winter Camp XLIV

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Winter Camp / History / XLIV / Planning for Winter Camp XLIV

Planning for Winter Camp XLIV

Leadership

PositionYouthAdviser
GeneralMatt GrimbleDouglas Wilson
ActivitiesTim PfeifferEthan Rein
KitchenVacantSteve Donohue

Required Forms

Winter Camp needs a medical form, including Part C (completed by physician) from all participants. This is your early warning.
Medical Form

Adult participants (those 18 and older) must complete Youth Protection Training

Planning

August 11 Meeting Agenda
Agenda for the August 11 planning meeting.
August 11 Meeting Minutes
Minutes from the August 11 planning meeting.
Covid 19 Contingency
Suggestions for alternative plans should Covid lockdown still be in place come Winter Camp
Initial Planning Meeting Minutes
Notes and action items from the first planning meeting which was held on zoom

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Planning Notes

Feel free to post your thoughts and comments on planning for Winter Camp XLIV!

Which is point 3 of the Scout Law

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Check out what everyone else is saying:

On Wednesday, 12-Aug-2020 11:40:58 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
Based on last night's meeting, I think some of things we're looking to do can come together to form a Winter Camp At Home participant guide. I imagine this would go out with the packets. It could look something like this:

Front Cover – Winter Camp At Home logo + Dates
Page 1 – Note from Matt Grimble
Page 2 – Winter Camp At Home Schedule (list each day it’s WCAH Meal, Independent / Family Activity, and Participatory Activity)
Page 3 – Shopping List for Winter Camp At Home Meals - this would note stuff to buy and list what came in the packet
Page 4 - Equipment List for Winter Camp At Home Meals - this would note stuff to find in your house and what came in the packet
Page 5 – 12/27/2020 Recipe (Probably bread baking)
Page 6 – 12/27/2020 Activity Description
Page 7 – 12/28/2020 Recipe
Page 8 – 12/28/2020 Activity Description
Page 9 – 12/29/2020 Recipe
Page 10 – 12/29/2020 Activity Description
Page 11 – 12/30/2020 Recipe
Page 12 – 12/30/2020 Activity Description
Page 13 – 12/31/2020 Recipe (Probably Grits)
Page 14 – 12/31/2020 Activity Description
Page 15 – Award Description and Requirements
Page 16 – History Test for Participation award
Page 17/18 – TBD (Possible ideas: 2 page History of Winter Camp?, OA High Adventure promotion?
Rear Cover

Based on the discussions we've had, I think the 5 mostly likely at home independent / family activities are Hiking, CC Golf, Service, 'Remote Control,' and Casino. There's also been about group gaming of some kind. Maybe that could be one of day's participatory activity (instead a chat?)

A book laid out like this could be made with 5 pages printed on both sides that is folded in half and stapled.

I think Timmy and I are responsible for pages 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14. Page 15-16 would just need to be copied from other publications. Steve seems to have ideas for pages 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13.

That leaves us needing a note from Matt, firming up the At Home Schedule, and coming up with something for pages 17-18
On Tuesday, 11-Aug-2020 16:57:24 EDT, Steve said
Some notes on the potential for meals in the At Home kit.

Bakery Snack -- mostly we'd focus on baking bread. I don't think we'd ask them to do pretzels or churn butter.

Casino Snack -- we could throw in a few dice so they could play craps or chuck-a-luck No real recipe, but buy snacks.

Jackpot Grits -- we could just include a blank chart, maybe a few things to get them started.

Sloppy Joes -- maybe as part of a home Hot Potato meal?

White Chili -- not everyone has had it and while we do ours in the roaster, they could do a crock pot.

Maybe we could add a pie recipe somewhere for a dessert.

I don't think caveman would work; I just don't see families eating with their hands.
On Sunday, 09-Aug-2020 16:13:53 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
Based on Mr Rand’s comments, it would seem we could modify the continental breakfast in GWD’s honor. Or build a snack around Pringles and Pepsi.
On Sunday, 09-Aug-2020 15:34:58 EDT, Jeff said
Pringles and Pepsi come to mind. Of course, I tricked him once to go to a Pizza Hut that served Coke. For breakfast you must mix three different cold cereals with sliced fruit. You will have orange juice with the most pulp. You must open the carton to get the last drop out.
On Sunday, 09-Aug-2020 14:46:08 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
Did Mr. Draper have any favorite foods (other than leftovers) that we could fit into a memorial meal?
On Sunday, 09-Aug-2020 13:38:34 EDT, Steve said
I think we should plan a memorial for Gordon at this year's Winter Camp even if it's just telling some stories about him after our Scout's Own.
On Wednesday, 05-Aug-2020 20:19:11 EDT, Steve said
It appears we can't hold a tailgate under the current Covid rules. The lodge (and chapters) are still forbidden from meeting in person.

Currently, units are only able to meet with approval of their chartered organization. Unfortunately, our charter comes from Council and they're not willing to approve any meetings yet.
On Wednesday, 05-Aug-2020 19:05:26 EDT, Matt Grimble said
It's about time for another planning meeting, here are the details!
Topic: Winter Camp Planning Meeting
Time: Aug 11, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88128504600?pwd=a1ZtME5kT1JDdHFYZGxmSGFaV004UT09

Meeting ID: 881 2850 4600
Passcode: RandRules
On Tuesday, 04-Aug-2020 18:09:01 EDT, Steve said
As often happens, I started to do something then ran into the Winter Camp store page with all its broken links. I fixed them. I don't think all our old merchandise is back but most of it is. If there's something you're looking for (either a missing logo or a different product for a logo), let me know.

Winter Camp makes a small profit on most of these things and it all gets invested in programs and equipment.
On Thursday, 30-Jul-2020 23:16:32 EDT, Steve said
I just saw a video where a guy made coca cola using the 1886 recipe minus the coca leaf. Might be a fun experiment for Winter Camp and Alan's carbonating gizmo.
On Thursday, 30-Jul-2020 21:56:56 EDT, Steve said
I've been plugging in old schedules. It makes me think it might be fun to do Hydrogen Ballooning as a contest. Most pantheons have some kind of Sun story or power.
On Wednesday, 29-Jul-2020 23:23:27 EDT, Steve said
I saw a thing today that let you play Giant Jenga but some blocks had a hole or two to put things in. They did jello shots, but we could do candy or something similar.
On Tuesday, 28-Jul-2020 12:19:38 EDT, Steve said
Maybe we take a trip to a bulk store and buy assorted candy for decorating then supplement it with an assortment of fruits. If we did it early in the week, we could snack on the monuments and have any leftover fruit for snacking.
On Tuesday, 28-Jul-2020 10:22:18 EDT, K2 said
Could combine that with some fruit art (i.e. edible arrangements style)
On Monday, 27-Jul-2020 19:08:06 EDT, Steve said
I was thinking about gingerbread houses today. It dawned on me that we should bake our own gingerbread and then make monuments for our culture out of it. Edible Monuments seems like fun.
On Thursday, 23-Jul-2020 23:04:19 EDT, Steve said
I think we've had them as part of other events. I seem to recall at the very least we had the one with a pulley. It was mostly a bust, but after the activity the rope was tied to a car and some people were lifted off the ground including at least me and the Beast.
On Thursday, 23-Jul-2020 21:37:12 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
I recently came into a nice piece of rope that I think could be good for a tug of war at Winter Camp. I see 3 tugs of war in the activity log (standard, "with pulley", and 4 way), but it looks like we've never had one. I suggest we have some kind of tug of war this year. I'll bring that nice piece of rope that initiated this idea.
On Monday, 20-Jul-2020 21:54:42 EDT, Jeff said
The separator between entries could be reduced by a point.
On Monday, 20-Jul-2020 03:21:34 EDT, Steve said
The new format and new pages have been out for a while.

Any suggestion?
On Sunday, 19-Jul-2020 22:18:12 EDT, Steve said
A new chapter of Zero Node has appeared.
On Friday, 17-Jul-2020 23:59:30 EDT, Steve said
I wrote After the Apocalypse but meant Zero Node. Not new chapters, but you can now link to it from the main page.

I reread most of Paradox Metaphor today when I reloaded it. Boy did that thing end abruptly.
On Friday, 17-Jul-2020 23:03:18 EDT, Doug wilson said
Did I see in the revisions a few days ago that there were new chapters added to After the Apocalypse? That would be something unexpected.
On Friday, 17-Jul-2020 16:57:39 EDT, Steve said
I took that advice out of fear of the next site redesign.
On Friday, 17-Jul-2020 15:08:41 EDT, K2 said
Database!
On Friday, 17-Jul-2020 00:37:00 EDT, Steve said
A question.

Right now, most of the novels are set up one chapter = one webpage. This leaves me with about 225 pages to convert.

Zeronode is different in that it's in the database and so there's only 2 pages - one for the index and then one for chapters.

If you were me, would you modify the 225 pages or convert all the novels to the database.

I guess if they were in the database, I could add a search function pretty easily. I think the timing would be similar because it's probably manual either way.

Any thoughts
On Thursday, 16-Jul-2020 20:20:42 EDT, Steve said
So it dawned on me today that my webhost makes backups of my data. I decided to see how hard it would be to restore a file.

Turns out it's stupidly easy; it took me longer to figure out how to do it than to have it done. Less then 10 minutes total.

I have no longer ruined Winter Camp.
On Wednesday, 15-Jul-2020 15:21:57 EDT, Steve said
I'm not sure about changing the front page. On the one hand, it looks old, on the other hand, the animated logo is traditional.

Thoughts?
On Wednesday, 15-Jul-2020 15:15:31 EDT, Steve said
I've made a lot of changes and I've fixed b a bunch of things. Are any of your favorite pages missing, screwed up, or still in the old style?

Is there content that should exist that doesn't?

The only big thing I want to do (that you'll be able to see) is change the way the library works to make it more modern and useful.

Should I consider the old Migisi right bubble? It would have pictures on some pages (from a random Winter Camp) or it would have a section menu for things like WCFS and maybe the history pages so could easily go from schedule to menu to photos).

Feedback is welcome either here or through email.
On Monday, 13-Jul-2020 19:19:09 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
*Lowercase Greek letters, that is
On Monday, 13-Jul-2020 10:38:59 EDT, Steve said
Well...

I fixed the issue with the phones (I had posted a really long link), but in the process I lost July's comments.

Yes, I suck. I think we had the Idiot's Delight conversation and Ethan suggested Chess. Hopefully, I didn't lose anything really good. I did manage to lose the whole conversation about greek letters. Sorry.
On Sunday, 12-Jul-2020 13:07:10 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
I think we should have a single (or double) elimination chess or checkers tournament at Winter Camp XLIV.
On Saturday, 11-Jul-2020 07:54:59 EDT, K2 said
Lower case
On Saturday, 11-Jul-2020 00:12:37 EDT, Steve said
Another "only at Winter Camp" moment brought to you by Mark-->
On Friday, 10-Jul-2020 21:08:37 EDT, Mark--> said
Upper-case or lower?
On Friday, 10-Jul-2020 20:02:30 EDT, Steve said
I think maybe. We'll potentially have a Greek pantheon so maybe we'll find a way to use them.
On Friday, 10-Jul-2020 17:40:35 EDT, K2 said
Would we have any use for a 3d printed greek alphabet? www.thingiverse.com/thing:3011433
On Friday, 10-Jul-2020 16:17:50 EDT, Steve said
So mixing the soup and sour cream pretty much yields French Onion chip dip. The sandwich is okay, but I'll bet the sodium content between the olives, ham and soup mix is off the charts.

I looked it up: ham 350, olives 500 (about 100 each), soup mix 550, rye bread 300. the butter and sour cream are negligible, but we're still at about 1700 for one sandwich. Guidelines suggest 2300 or less daily.

I think you'd be an idiot heading for hypertension and heart trouble if you ate this often.
On Friday, 10-Jul-2020 00:24:50 EDT, Doug wilson said
A few days ago, when the comment first came up, I looked up Idiot's Delight it was surprising how many foods there were with that name including some on restaurant menus. One of them was an open face sandwich - bread, peanut butter, mayonnaise, and pickles (sweet or dill?). Easy to make but odd. We could have a snack of all Idiot’s delight foods (think trays of hors d’oeuvres). Best served after a big meal.

Typically, I use very few condiments so that meal wouldn't make much difference for me.

Both would be preferable to licking (hmmm - I assume it should be "the sauce") off of noodles. Kind of like cave man dinner on steroids. What do you do with the noodles after? Guess you could re-coat them with chocolate pudding for dessert. Beyond Strange.

On Thursday, 09-Jul-2020 23:08:06 EDT, Steve said
I have the ingredients for the idiot's delight. I'll probably try it tomorrow.
On Tuesday, 07-Jul-2020 19:43:55 EDT, Kristie said
Pasta Cleaning Meal
We serve the pasta as normal but instead of eating it, the goal is to lick all she sauce off without eating the noodles.
On Tuesday, 07-Jul-2020 19:41:38 EDT, Kristie said
Inspired by the love of Parmesan cheese, I think we need a condiments first meal. First you put the condiments on your plate then you cover their beauty with the entree.’
On Tuesday, 07-Jul-2020 16:33:49 EDT, Steve said
I wonder if we could do some kind of Monument Building where we build a monument in the style of our culture.
On Monday, 06-Jul-2020 23:10:06 EDT, Steve said
I think we made kind of a fake rye with our usual recipe and rye flour.

I haven't tried it. I'd like too, but it'll have to be after we can shop again.
On Monday, 06-Jul-2020 22:57:02 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
Have you eaten this sandwich? Sounds like it could be great or not so great. I'd be willing to try it for sure. Have we ever made Rye bread? I made some at home once. It turned out ok.
On Sunday, 05-Jul-2020 03:50:14 EDT, Steve said
Idiot’s Delight Sandwich
Mix half package of onion soup mix with half cup sour cream. Stir well and let ait 15 minutes. Butter two slices of Rye bread. Layer sandwich with lettuce, cold ham coated in sour cream mixture, green olive slices and more lettuce. Serve with cellery sticks. Potato chips, and a favorite drink.
On Saturday, 04-Jul-2020 13:13:41 EDT, K2 said
Yes, I see the same thing (blue border on the right and text in black on blue) on my phone.
On Thursday, 02-Jul-2020 20:00:02 EDT, Steve said
Does anyone else see this page with a blue border on the right and some text in black on blue on their phone?
On Tuesday, 30-Jun-2020 23:27:03 EDT, Alan said
As promised, I added /thewall and /revisons to the Notifier. These are only checked daily, at about 7PM WCST (if I did my math right). Tune in tomorrow afternoon to see if it worked.
On Tuesday, 30-Jun-2020 12:45:06 EDT, Alan said
Pretty much. It's a bit cheaty, but probably as close as you can get. Even the text of just this page is more than 2x the TRS-80's entire system RAM.
On Tuesday, 30-Jun-2020 10:56:34 EDT, Steve said
So you're using the model I as kind of a dumb terminal?

Still cool.
On Tuesday, 30-Jun-2020 09:27:59 EDT, ALan said
An actual model I. Well - a model I connected to a Raspberry Pi with a serial cable. The Pi has the text mode web browser, the TRS-80 is just the screen and keyboard.
On Tuesday, 30-Jun-2020 01:52:27 EDT, Steve said
An actual model I or an emulator?
On Monday, 29-Jun-2020 23:51:37 EDT, Alan said
OK, I think I have repaired the checker script. If all goes well, I will add new checkers for /revisions and /thewall tomorrow. Like the new site design, but can't decide if it makes wintercamp.com more or less ancient. ON THE OTHER HAND, THIS COMMENT WAS POSTED FROM A TRS-80 MODEL I.
On Monday, 29-Jun-2020 14:30:21 EDT, Steve said
Okay, so after today we'll be closer to the next Winter Camp than the last one. Really I think after noon so it's already happened.
On Monday, 29-Jun-2020 01:26:22 EDT, Steve said
I managed to break this pretty good and I made Alan's checker go crazy, but I think it's working now.
On Sunday, 28-Jun-2020 22:40:42 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
I'm for a "table" meal. Speaking Arabic food, I'm going to be trying out a hummus recipe sometime soon. If it goes well, maybe we could put that in an Arabic meal.
On Saturday, 27-Jun-2020 17:25:24 EDT, Steve said
A couple of nacho related ideas. I posted one on the Facebook page.

Nacho Table -- there's a video of a family which covers a table in foil, then makes a plate of nachos which covers the whole table. People just help themselves; a little like the Boodle Fight.

Arabic Nachos -- one of Kristie's friends makes this. It's pita chips, Middle-Eastern spiced beef, garbanzos, pine nuts, and a sauce. No cheese, but very tasty. Might fit if we did Egyptian as a pantheon. We could also do an Arabic Nacho Table.
On Monday, 22-Jun-2020 18:50:30 EDT, Steve said
I'm on a call to discuss re-opening the Lodge. At this moment, the expectation is that everyone needs to have an A&B physical and anyone at risk from Covid-19 (more than 60 years old or some condition) there will need to be a waiver. Not sure if this will continue through Winter Camp. The waiver must be completed per event.

Right now, there's some debate about how long this will last.
On Monday, 22-Jun-2020 18:21:15 EDT, Steve said
All the themes have descriptions now. If you think any of them need more or better info, let me know. If you have a lot of suggestions, I'll send you the link to do it yourself.
On Monday, 22-Jun-2020 14:09:20 EDT, Steve said
I've been collecting themes, activities, and meals from a variety of sources (mostly the website). You can see the data at:
https://wintercamp.com/planning/
On Saturday, 20-Jun-2020 20:06:38 EDT, Steve said
Mark's new book is up on Amazon now.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0367348659/ref=nrn_hero_txt

Not due until October, but you can pre-order it now.
On Saturday, 20-Jun-2020 11:26:27 EDT, Steve said
Any time hamburgers get mixed up with Winter Camp things go poorly.
On Tuesday, 16-Jun-2020 19:56:22 EDT, Steve said
I was looking and a few years ago we had the idea for an event called "Cribs!" modeled after the MTV show. There was an alternate suggestion where people would give us a picture of a room in their house and we'd try to match rooms to people. This might make a decent Winter Camp at Home activity.
On Tuesday, 16-Jun-2020 10:43:58 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
Great tip, Keith. I think I'll try that. If nothing else, maybe we could make sure cocoa powder makes it into kitchen for the the Continental Breakfast
On Tuesday, 16-Jun-2020 09:57:39 EDT, K2 said
Just had some amazing pancakes this morning. Basically use pancake mix, add an egg, and 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. The exact measurements of the cocoa powder is not known... all I know is a bunch was put into it and the results were delicious.
On Monday, 15-Jun-2020 12:52:43 EDT, K2 said
I'm more of a "Tomato Soup" guy.
On Sunday, 14-Jun-2020 10:54:48 EDT, Mark--> said
"Variety Group" reads a lot better to me.
On Sunday, 14-Jun-2020 01:29:04 EDT, Steve said
Today's semi-weird question.

The Meals database currently has some things listed as "Group, Variety". Stuff like "Soup, Tomato", "Soup, Minestrone" or "Sandwich, Assorted" or "Sandwich, Smoked Turkey".

There are some other things where we have a lot of items like "some kind of Ice Cream" or "this kind of chicken".

The question I'm asking is: would it be better to convert things to all be "Group, Variety". or would it be better to have it be "Variety Group".

Opinions welcome. My thought is that we should be consistent. My other thought is that "Soup, Tomato" looks weird on the printed menu and I'd prefer "Tomato Soup".
On Saturday, 13-Jun-2020 09:04:06 EDT, K2 said
I've never heard of that meal

We serve things, or at least label / present as things, we think most of the attendees haven't heard of.
On Sunday, 07-Jun-2020 03:10:54 EDT, Steve said
Unconventional Meal

We serve things that are normally baked as fried or boiled. We don’t peel things. We frost the bottom of the cake. We don’t heat hot dogs
On Friday, 05-Jun-2020 15:43:31 EDT, Steve said
I've been going through some old boxes here trying to figure out what's valuable and what isn't. Yesterday I found a box of the accursed folf pencils. Today it was a box of the real pencils, the blue ones that say Winter Camp on them.
On Tuesday, 02-Jun-2020 21:48:10 EDT, Dave said
I can help with Mediterranean.
On Tuesday, 02-Jun-2020 21:05:58 EDT, Steve said
We had a seafood medley once. It was not a good experience, but a crab boil would probably be better.

I was thinking today that we should have a meal for each pantheon. Mostly it's an excuse to have Greek and Middle-Eastern food. I didn't know much about Norse food, but it turns out that it's mostly stews and fish. We could probably have smoked salmon as our Norse meal.

I don't think we've ever had Greek (other than coney dogs, sort of modern greek) or Middle-Eastern. It could be fun.
On Tuesday, 02-Jun-2020 20:50:42 EDT, Dave said
Have we ever considered a crab boil? Live blue crab is pretty easy to ship from the East Coast.
On Tuesday, 02-Jun-2020 20:37:43 EDT, said
Vikings ate eel!

Sure they ate other fish and many familiar meats, but I’ve never had eel!
On Monday, 01-Jun-2020 22:15:07 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
I'd like to have a Winter Camp trivia game early in camp, but after the manuals have been out for a bit. We could have trivia taken from the manual broken into difficulty groups. The idea would be that it would reward campers for reading the manual during free time. It could also tie into the participation award's history test.
On Monday, 01-Jun-2020 14:15:55 EDT, K2 said
What about the: "It's not what it looks like" meal

Basically a meal where it doesn't taste like what it looks like.

For example:
- Carbonated blue milk (I'm not recommending we do this one...)
- Cotton candy grapes
On Sunday, 31-May-2020 21:03:26 EDT, Steve said
So we've been using a Kroger shopper for the last few weeks. Today they decided that since they couldn't find pork tenderloin, they should give us pork ribs.

So that's the idea for Winter Camp: The Substitution meal. While shopping, the shoppers decide to buy something other than what is planned for the meal. Maybe they replace the meat or some veggies or something.
On Tuesday, 26-May-2020 19:13:04 EDT, Steve said
My hands are tied Meal

Just like any other meal except any adult who is part of the cooking crew has to have their hands tied behind their back and can't use them to help cook.
On Monday, 25-May-2020 00:06:17 EDT, Steve said
So we definitely need a third. Should it be Egyptian? It's probably the next most familiar.
On Sunday, 24-May-2020 14:13:40 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
I think the Greek (and not Roman) would be good for our use. Some light reading on the Roman pantheon makes me think it might be too complex. There's the "Greek with some differences" aspect, but the other pre-Greek influence pieces seems hard to work with, then there's maybe some other non-Greek stuff that was adopted later on.
On Saturday, 23-May-2020 19:09:13 EDT, Steve said
Found this recipe:
https://www.feastingathome.com/sourdough-starter/

Seems like this might work great for us. They want you to discard some each day but if we saved it as a new starter, we could create a lot of starters in a week or two.
On Saturday, 23-May-2020 19:07:50 EDT, Steve said
Not sure how practical this is, but could the at home kits include a sourdough starter so we'd all bake bread from the same starter?

Yes, I know we've never had sourdough bread at camp before.
On Friday, 22-May-2020 23:06:52 EDT, Steve said
I think it would be helpful if we picked them early if we want plastic tokens. If were cool with paper on a plain disc, we can probably wait.

I know we can probably do Norse, which you had mention. Greek or Roman probably works too, but not both.

What's our third pantheon?

Two other thing -- would we pick a fourth pantheon for Winter Camp at Home?

On Friday, 22-May-2020 11:02:10 EDT, Matt Grimble said
I think the team leader should be the leader of their pantheon, and members choosing roles would be fun.

I had an idea for each Pantheon, each team member would receive like a iconic token on a necklace string for their pantheon, so like Norse would get a Hammer, Greek maybe a trident, etc. I could 3-D print them, likely they would be now larger than 1 inch.

One event I thought of would be Bed-sheet Togas, the conclave last year we had a Greek theme and I learned to make Togas for that
On Friday, 22-May-2020 10:27:47 EDT, Steve said
Will the head of a pantheon be called after the head of the pantheon in mythology? Would the leader of the Norse be Odin?

Will the other memebers of the pantheon be able to pick names too or will we do something differently?
On Wednesday, 20-May-2020 12:17:35 EDT, Steve said
We definitely have service down as a shared activity. The wreaths would wok but I think our primary goal is something we could all do during camp even if it’s not the same thing kind of like multiple work sites.

If we don’t find something during camp, the wreaths seems like a winner
On Wednesday, 20-May-2020 11:07:13 EDT, Milon said
I thought about a WC@H service project, as we wouldn't want those not attending camp to miss out on the service portion of the weekette.

For instance, the weekend before WC (Dec 19, 2020) is Wreaths Across America day. Perhaps some of the WC@H campers could set themselves or a small group up to place wreaths over the weekend in lieu of burning down a barn, cabin, or other structure? Is that idea worth discussing?
On Tuesday, 19-May-2020 17:36:16 EDT, Steve said
Pastaferian doesn't really have a pantheon.
I guess referring to Christian and Muslim as mythologies might get us in trouble.
On Tuesday, 19-May-2020 15:50:41 EDT, Doug said
Haven’t we had Pastaferian at a few of the early caveman dinners?

We could do a different one each day or let each patrol pick their brand of mythology.
On Tuesday, 19-May-2020 14:45:10 EDT, Steve said
So has anyone thought about pantheons? I mean we could probably do Norse, Roman, and Greek without much effort (i.e., I think a lot of people have a basis in those) but what about other pantheons?

Should we maybe provide some list of pantheons and then have a wikipedia page?

What about fictional pantheons like Melnibone, Golarion, Lord of the Rings, and Lankhmar to name a few. Would we include those?

What about more modern ideas like Christian, Muslim, or Pastaferian?
On Monday, 18-May-2020 15:06:30 EDT, Steve said
Two years ago we had meals by factions. It was a shopping disaster from my standpoint as we did the shopping midweek of camp and so only two people where there to buy food for three meals.

What if we did two things differently this year?
First, we could create the factions soon and appoint a youth leader and adviser for each pantheon.
Secondly, those individuals could be asked to create an appropriate meal, activity, or both for their faction as part of the schedule.

That would give us some good thematic activities and meals without making shopping harder.
On Monday, 18-May-2020 15:02:36 EDT, Steve said
This morning I put on my Uncle Rob shirt. I was ordered to change before we picked up my mom's cremains. I'm not sure she'd have cared, but ok.

It did give me the thought that we should have a mythological event inspired by Rob: "And then, we fill it with Greek Fire".

It appears no one knows the formula of Greek Fire, but that just means more experimentation (or more flexibility).
On Sunday, 17-May-2020 15:36:13 EDT, Jeff said
A USB drive could be the standard to replace the binders. It has become difficult to get custom printed binders. We have distributed custom printed USB drives for various BSA functions, as well as gimmick items serving the same purpose.
On Sunday, 17-May-2020 13:44:07 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
I think part of the appeal to the USB drive is that it's a souvenir by itself. I was imagining a custom printed one with the logo or something like that. If that's too expensive, we could at least adorn them with a Winter Camp sticker.
On Sunday, 17-May-2020 13:28:29 EDT, Steve said
Both ideas have some merit. The cool part about the usb is it could just be plug and play, no internet ever required and you're given most of what you need right away. I kind of think we'll just lock down the shared content earlier. Honestly, we kind of know what it is already unless we start changing things.
On Sunday, 17-May-2020 12:16:34 EDT, K2 said
Also, just curious Jeff, regarding the blind caveman dinner you had yesterday, are you allowed to go back to the restaurant or did you get banned?
On Sunday, 17-May-2020 11:47:27 EDT, K2 said
Just another idea, instead of a USB drive we could provide a link to download a zip file with the data in it. This would allow us to update the content at any time in case we had some late additions to it.
On Sunday, 17-May-2020 11:09:16 EDT, Jeff said
I enjoyed a blind caveman dinner yesterday as a test. The fee should be $10.10 or $13.13.
On Saturday, 16-May-2020 19:28:18 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
I like a USB drive. A small fee seems reasonable.
On Saturday, 16-May-2020 19:27:31 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
Congrats to Jeff on 50 years of Cheerful Sevice!
On Saturday, 16-May-2020 16:40:21 EDT, Steve said
Jeff suggested a usb drive with some winter camp content on it for the kits including the winter camp manual, rules for games, etc.
On Saturday, 16-May-2020 16:37:05 EDT, Steve said
Minutes are posted.

Jeff suggested we should charge a nominal fee for the "Winter Camp At Home" (yeah, I named it, but there could be a different name) kit. We were thinking $5-10 so people who take the kit have some level of investment.

We also talked about adding spice packets for some of the meals in addition to maybe a puzzle or two, golf balls, and other souvenirs.

Any thoughts?

On Saturday, 16-May-2020 13:15:42 EDT, Steve said
Congratulations to Jeff Rand who celebrates his fiftieth anniversary as an arrowman today!
On Saturday, 16-May-2020 09:32:58 EDT, Steve said
A few sealed envelopes might be fun. Like open this at 11:00 pm. And then it’s some activity or puzzle. It might provide some extra excitement.

So are we going to call this “Remote Participation” or “The Home Game”?

It also occurred to me last night we might want to have a coordinator for this stuff who isn’t at camp. Primary thought is the could host Zoom meetings with a reliable connection and help families with questions.
On Saturday, 16-May-2020 08:46:07 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
Another puzzle idea is that we could come up with one or more logic puzzles and send them out in the package. If this seems worth exploring, I can work on them with Timmy and possibly try to get Mark involved.
On Friday, 15-May-2020 22:49:08 EDT, Steve said
Jigsaw puzzles may also kill us. Prices are based on number of pieces and they rise rapidly. $25 for 500 pieces is pretty common and 1000 pieces is way more. Even small ones (35-50 pieces) are $10-12 each.

I think we should look for some winterish puzzles that are produced commercially.
On Friday, 15-May-2020 22:46:49 EDT, Alan said
Regarding Winter Camp in Minecraft... I happen to have an accurate recreation of the BC subcamp terrain (because of course I do, right?) It's from an experiment I did a few years ago when I found out there were tools to import real map data into the game. Nowadays, it would probably be even easier to make an more accurate recreation.

I dumped the world download onto my google drive if anyone's interested:
drive.google.com/open?id=1lAdkoCvALfWJQ5SN6J_VTVbhD-8q6Tji
On Friday, 15-May-2020 22:45:41 EDT, Steve said
I think our best bet for affodrdable golf balls is to go with text only. It looks like we could get a dozen for about $15 each in some day-glo colors.

We probably couldn't get anything else -- my research shows that logo balls usually have a minimum order of a gross and go for about $25-30 per dozen (so we'd have to spend close to $300; that seems like a lot).
On Friday, 15-May-2020 22:02:34 EDT, Steve said
We are running low on the participant patch and may need to make more.

If we do that, should we consider a remote participant patch as a new option?
On Friday, 15-May-2020 19:32:11 EDT, Matthew said
If anyone has any issues with getting in to the Zoom Call, You can call me (313)-910-8856 and I can help you out
On Tuesday, 12-May-2020 19:26:48 EDT, Matt Grimble said
Just set up the meeting today, here are the details for it,

Topic: WinterCamp XLIIV Meeting
Time: May 15, 2020 08:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82766504131?pwd=WlVUZGkyOW1RNDgzTDdObEM5VTJnZz09

Meeting ID: 827 6650 4131
Password: 1977-Doom
On Tuesday, 12-May-2020 16:09:17 EDT, Steve said
I think Matt said he had a paid Zoom account we could use. He was planning to set things up today.
On Tuesday, 12-May-2020 11:08:31 EDT, K2 said
Friday @ 8pm works for me as well. I can provide a conferencing option if we need one.
On Monday, 11-May-2020 23:44:34 EDT, Doug Wilson said
Sounds good Matt. Count me in
On Monday, 11-May-2020 20:36:38 EDT, Steve said
I should be in.
On Monday, 11-May-2020 19:36:29 EDT, Uncle said
Count me in for an 8 pm EDT conference on 5/15.
On Monday, 11-May-2020 18:33:27 EDT, Jeff said
8:00 PM EDT (or 5:00 PM MST) will work for me.
On Monday, 11-May-2020 18:00:18 EDT, Matt Grimble said
Also how does the Friday the 15th at 8pm work for our Video Conference meeting? If we find that to be agreeable we an set up the call and send out the details.
On Monday, 11-May-2020 17:55:51 EDT, Matt Grimble said
In response to Steve's comment, the scheduled events were chose with the advising of the MCC, and were put in place with full knowledge that they may be cancelled. We wanted to make sure we put events scheduled as the youth thought it is better to plan ahead and end up cancelling an event then not have an event when we safely could have, we are hopeful that we can hold events by that time.
On Monday, 11-May-2020 14:17:02 EDT, Steve said
A new chapter has been posted.

Noquet Lodge went out an updated schedule which includes plans for events at camps in August and September. They may be overly optimistic but it seems like good news as the staff adviser was part of the team drafting the announcement.
On Sunday, 10-May-2020 19:02:37 EDT, Steve said
Some ideas for activities and foods from tonight's Noquet Trivia: White Truffle Croquets
On Saturday, 09-May-2020 22:34:36 EDT, Steve said
That's kind of the Brighton Lake plan I guess.
On Saturday, 09-May-2020 21:53:56 EDT, Milon said
We could always consider dispersed camping on state land.
On Saturday, 09-May-2020 21:08:46 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
Thanks for posting those contingency plans, Steve!
On Saturday, 09-May-2020 21:03:04 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
Activity idea: Overnight hike to Riverside campsite
Kitchen idea: Homemade Tortillas
On Saturday, 09-May-2020 20:39:56 EDT, Steve said
Soft serve seems like it would be fun. Of course, Kristie has just imposed a death sentence on you in all three subcamps.
On Saturday, 09-May-2020 20:38:41 EDT, Steve said
I posted a pdf with some contingency ideas in case camp remains closed or partially closed due to Covid 19.
On Saturday, 09-May-2020 20:04:42 EDT, Doug Wilson said
How about a soft serve ice cream machine (we could rent one for about $200).

The activity would be to launch a rocket or balloon and get pictures from space.
On Saturday, 09-May-2020 13:55:58 EDT, Steve said
So I got a note today from someone suggesting Winter Camp could use a big (about 4' diameter) inflatable dartboard. Later, they changed their mind and suggested a fryer for funnel cakes was the way to go.

If you were picking out two things to add to Winter Camp, what would that be? Let's say one should be something for program/activities and the other should be something for the kitchen/food prep. Both should be things, so no personal chefs.
On Saturday, 09-May-2020 00:07:24 EDT, Jeff said
I am sure we can have a Zoom meeting. Timing should not be a problem for me. I have done some work looking at options, which I can share.
On Friday, 08-May-2020 22:09:10 EDT, Steve said
I’d rather not do it on Wednesday but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if that turned out to be the best day.
On Friday, 08-May-2020 21:52:43 EDT, Doug wilson said
Good Idea. Assume you are considering something on-line.
Our troop has a zoom meeting on Mondays, but I could make it any time.
On Friday, 08-May-2020 20:49:42 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
Good suggestion, Matt! I'm free most evenings after 8 to join a meeting via phone / video chat. An in person meeting in the Detroit Area would be a big challenge for me.
On Friday, 08-May-2020 20:27:11 EDT, Matt Grimble said
We should have a meeting sometime in the coming weeks so we can discuss contingency plans for Winter camp in case D-A is not open in time for Winter Camp. Presuming we meet in the evening one day what day would not work for anyone?
On Monday, 04-May-2020 20:04:27 EDT, Steve said
A new chapter is posted.
On Monday, 04-May-2020 06:13:38 EDT, K2 said
Spaghetti with some fresh parsley would be an easy and cheap one!
On Sunday, 03-May-2020 23:51:22 EDT, Steve said
I think we need at least one meal where we garnish something.
On Tuesday, 28-Apr-2020 23:04:39 EDT, Steve said
We had squirrel. I was trying to remember; it was the Cajun lunch in 2002. We received a package from Kristie's dad in the mail which contained squirrel, raccoon, opossum, muskrat, and Canada goose jerky.

I remembered because it was the year of the plague and some blamed that meat, but Howey got sick and didn't eat any of the wild game.
On Tuesday, 28-Apr-2020 21:54:24 EDT, Doug wilson said
Hmmm - A Squirrelly meal
On Tuesday, 28-Apr-2020 20:56:32 EDT, K2 said
I couldn't help but notice that squirrel was not on the list...
On Tuesday, 28-Apr-2020 19:35:43 EDT, Steve said
It looks like mutton was one of the items in the 162 dish banquet. That's probably why no one really remembers it.

I'd rather not have lamb; it's kind of like veal. Yes, I know most things aren't treated that humanely.
On Tuesday, 28-Apr-2020 12:47:41 EDT, Milon said
Another interesting idea would be to have a crab boil with fresh (live) crabs. Certainly interesting and available by overnight from the East Coast. That's very easy...boil water, insert crustacean, eat.
On Tuesday, 28-Apr-2020 11:29:27 EDT, Doug wilson said
I like the pig roast idea. Have had a few at work and once for IOLS, all those were done in a barbeque style pig roaster. Cooking in the ground would be new. Wonder how much it would change due to winter conditions? Should be enough meat for a couple of meals.

I don't remember sheep other than mountain oysters which I guess could be considered meat. Don't think many tried them.
On Tuesday, 28-Apr-2020 10:47:38 EDT, Dave said
Mutton is >2 year old sheep. Lamb is <2 year old sheep (basically). Same protein, different age.
On Tuesday, 28-Apr-2020 10:12:15 EDT, Steve said
So I pulled all the meats from the ingredients in the Meals database, then identified more or less what's in them. There are probably some questions about things like Hot Dogs and Bologna, but this is probably a decent list of our meat, fish, and poultry choices.

Bass, Beef, Bison, Chicken, Clams, Cod, Cornish Game Hen, Crab, Duck, Goose, Lobster, Mahi Mahi, Mussels, Ostrich, Oysters, Perch, Pork, Rabbit, Salmon, Scallops, Sheep, Shrimp, Snails, Squid, Trout, Turkey, and Venison

I didn't remember mutton but it means we've had sheep which I think counts as lamb.
On Tuesday, 28-Apr-2020 09:53:16 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
If we have lamb, we can make mint jelly!
On Tuesday, 28-Apr-2020 08:55:09 EDT, Steve said
The hole might be tough to dig. But it wouldn’t be new. We’ve had lots of pork before.
On Tuesday, 28-Apr-2020 08:27:44 EDT, Milon said
Lamb isn't hard at all. I order it at least once a year (sometimes two or three times) to make city chicken.

Have we considered a pig roast? (Like in the ground with charcoal pig roast.) It's very easy, relatively inexpensive, and just a little time consuming to monitor the pit and flip the pig for 24 hours. We have manpower and staying up late isn't usually the problem.
On Tuesday, 28-Apr-2020 00:36:14 EDT, Steve said
I think we should try a new meat at Winter Campthis year. It’s been a while I think. I wonder what we’ve had so far and what could be new. I think we’ve had duck, turkey, and lots of chicken. I think we had goose but I’m less certain. We’ve had a few kinds of fish and shellfish. Weve had beef, pork, bison, emu, and bison. Maybe some others.

Have we had goat or lamb? Lamb might be out but what about goat? Is there another meat to consider? Oh! We’ve had venison too.
On Monday, 27-Apr-2020 20:41:09 EDT, Steve said
In Chapter 26, we learn that the "three shells" are not our future.
On Sunday, 26-Apr-2020 20:40:57 EDT, Steve said
I found the scarves we were talking about awhile ago Ethan.

I enjoyed the quiz Matt even if seemed like it could use more old guy questions :)
On Sunday, 26-Apr-2020 20:13:02 EDT, Matt said
Just made pasties tonight, turned out really good.
On Sunday, 26-Apr-2020 16:38:33 EDT, Steve said
I keep watching Beat Bobby Flay and we're cooking with some Home Chef stuff. I'm wondering if we should try some kind of gourmet thing at Winter Camp.

One of the things with Home Chef is we keep getting new vegetables to try. Yesterday was chayote and if you do home chef, you had better come to love shallots.
On Wednesday, 22-Apr-2020 14:13:33 EDT, Steve said
As we’re cleaning up at my mom’s we’ve come to an important life rule: if the Wilsons say pitch it, just toss it in the bin.
On Tuesday, 21-Apr-2020 09:09:15 EDT, Steve said
Some highlights by people of note

Chili Shrimp Dip by Larry Dumouchelle
Meatless Vegetable Soup by Bob “call me Bear” Cullen
New England Clam Chowder by Mrs Eakin
Potato Frosted Meat Loaf by Mrs Oatley
Noodles with Pesto by Tina Salute
Company Carrot casserole by Bernice Martin
Yucca Trail Beans by Al Hellar
Apple Walnut Bread by Karen George
Cherry Torte by Doris Wyckoff

Many of the recipes are by people I don’t know
On Tuesday, 21-Apr-2020 07:51:37 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
Did Mr Oatley contribute a recipe to this book?
On Monday, 20-Apr-2020 23:10:03 EDT, Steve said
Found another ancient cookbook. This one includes recipes by Scouters in Downriver District circa 1987. We could have Kim Terry Sweet .and Sour Pork for example
On Thursday, 16-Apr-2020 09:14:01 EDT, Steve said
That seems like a good precaution. Since only you are likely to understand the implications, I think you’ll have to man the 24 hour hotline. Please include your phone number in the next chapter.
On Wednesday, 15-Apr-2020 21:40:19 EDT, Jeff said
In "Zero Node" I am coming to the point where I might need to divulge the truth behind "The Infinite Wisdom." Yet I am concerned about our readers and the impact such revelation could have on their well-being. I recall when ABC aired the movie "The Day After," that the network established a hotline with counselors standing by. Should we do the same?
On Tuesday, 14-Apr-2020 12:54:51 EDT, Steve said
Conway’s recipe was what you’d expect. It included stuff like "Clean the lettuce and remove the tough parts (unless you’re an antelope)"
On Tuesday, 14-Apr-2020 11:19:18 EDT, Doug wilson said
Bob Keeshan! Can you say automated breakfast. For those under 50 Bob Keeshan was Captain Kangaroo.

Tim Conway would be a natural for Winter Camp.

Youtube should have a bunch of clips we could play during the meal.
On Monday, 13-Apr-2020 20:59:53 EDT, Steve said
Should there be a discussion area for Zero Node? Like the wall where you can talk about your thoughts?
On Monday, 13-Apr-2020 19:10:17 EDT, Steve said
"Every story needs a good hanging." I think we have an idea about something coming in Zero Node, but it's not in the chapter posted today (although it does have a lot of hanging).
On Monday, 13-Apr-2020 16:30:15 EDT, Steve said
So today at my mom's I found a weird cookbooks issued by some dog-related charity. It has a lot of recipes from celebrities. it's a little dated (1997) but some of them are still around like Betty and Vanna White. It seems like it might be fun to make Arizona Baked Beans using John McCann's recipe.

Maybe we could have an "Eat like a Celebrity" meal. There are a lot of recipes here including some by Bob Keeshan and Tim Conway.
On Sunday, 12-Apr-2020 23:33:46 EDT, Steve said
An email was sent today that mistakenly announced my passing

Sorry Jeff, I fully expect to remain number 1 on the Pecking Order
On Saturday, 11-Apr-2020 19:51:52 EDT, Steve said
Boxing gloves
On Saturday, 11-Apr-2020 19:36:47 EDT, K2 said
Gloves, or oven mitts?
On Thursday, 09-Apr-2020 21:34:05 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
I love it!!!!!!
On Thursday, 09-Apr-2020 20:26:35 EDT, Steve said
Teams of 4-6 have to eat family style at a good social distance. It's a timed event as they have to pass the food while wearing gloves.
On Thursday, 09-Apr-2020 19:34:03 EDT, K2 said
Is that a contest to see who can consume their meal the furtherest away from anyone else?
On Tuesday, 07-Apr-2020 20:40:33 EDT, Steve said
Someone just suggested we should have a "Social Distancing" meal.
On Tuesday, 07-Apr-2020 17:47:58 EDT, Mark--> said
Yep, 1058 did cook a lot of dutch oven pizza.
On Tuesday, 07-Apr-2020 17:07:11 EDT, Steve said
The most infamous 1373 meal was a breakfast of donuts and bananas. Maybe this could be something like the Oakes lunch. I think 1058 was fond of dutch oven pizza. When I was a kid, we had a lot of doughboys as a campfire snack but later that evolved to molly.
On Tuesday, 07-Apr-2020 14:16:31 EDT, Doug wilson said
842 never had Achatz spaghetti, we did have Hartman spaghetti, which was good and of course the infamous Hartman (weak) Koolaid. We often had foil dinner (also known as hobo stew, foil packs...)

T416 Saline with few exceptions has the same breakfasts - pancakes and bacon on Sat. Sunday is powdered sugar/chocolate donuts, pop-tarts and OJ.
On Monday, 06-Apr-2020 22:47:49 EDT, Steve said
Do other units have traditional meals we could possibly harvest for Winter camp?
On Monday, 06-Apr-2020 00:51:05 EDT, Jeff said
That is Achatz spaghetti.
On Sunday, 05-Apr-2020 21:20:26 EDT, Steve said
I think we should consider that but either have instant for lunch and homemade for dinner, or have a 50-50 where we split the portion to give half homemade and half instant at the same dinner.

Another thought I had was maybe a decades meal where we eat food that was common in the 70s but is out of fashion now.

Last one: Troop favorites. For many years, my troop had pancakes and smok-y-links at troop events on Saturday. In a later era, they always had chicken cordon bleu and wild rice for dinner. Theirs was frozen, but we could maybe make it from scratch.

I think 842 had one-pot spaghetti; Im sure other troops had their own favorites.
On Sunday, 05-Apr-2020 21:15:44 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
I think we should make Ramen for a meal at Winter Camp. It could be - simple approach, like making instant ramen for a lunch or something more complex for a dinner.
On Sunday, 29-Mar-2020 19:21:05 EDT, said
I intend it be an honor.
On Sunday, 29-Mar-2020 18:21:20 EDT, Michelle Matowski said
Quite randomly, I stumbled upon this page.

A Michelle Matowski Meal?

Should I be honored? I am not a regular to the world of Winter Camp!
On Sunday, 29-Mar-2020 14:48:37 EDT, Steve said
I think we should have a Michelle Matowski Meal.

Michelle loves to post "interesting" vintage recipes on Facebook like today's Pickle Juice and Hot Dog Jello Mold or Hamnanas (which actually appeared at a chapter meeting).

I think it would need to be a snack.
On Saturday, 28-Mar-2020 16:36:14 EDT, Steve said
I have a pretty good collection of scarves which might make it easier to learn. The downside is that it's not really the same motion as juggling balls.
On Friday, 27-Mar-2020 19:23:23 EDT, Steve said
`A new chapter has been posted.
On Thursday, 26-Mar-2020 18:14:31 EDT, Uncle Ethan said
I'd be willing to give Dodge Juggling a shot. Speaking of juggling, I've been thinking "everyone learns to juggle" is something I'd like to try. Not sure how many "instructors" we'd have, but I'm sure it's at least 2 (me and Daha). Learning to juggle 2 balls with one hand or 3 balls with two hands isn't out of the question. We could have the lesson early in the weekette and have practice balls out as a free time / meal's late activity. I'm sure the only cause of a late meal would be something totally out of our control, of course.
On Thursday, 26-Mar-2020 03:50:18 EDT, Steve said
Thursday’s chapter meeting will be held by phone and Internet. It starts at 730

+1-313-248-3668
+1-888-628-3668 US Toll Free Number
Meeting number (access code): 716 362 002

Join by internet
https://bit.ly/MigisiMarch2020
On Sunday, 22-Mar-2020 23:00:35 EDT, Steve said
Dodge Juggle seems like it could be fun for Winter Camp.

Video of Dodge Juggle
On Tuesday, 17-Mar-2020 22:50:29 EDT, Steve said
Okay, so it looks like May 11, which is Connor Johnson Day, is also the birthday of two Winter Campers: Ozzie and Craig Droste.
On Tuesday, 17-Mar-2020 22:19:25 EDT, Steve said
As you may recall, Melvindale declared a Connor Johnson day. Today I was looking and it turns out that Connor was born on Ron Donohue day in 2004. Seems an odd coincidence.
On Monday, 16-Mar-2020 11:50:43 EDT, Steve said
This year, Winter Camp will require Scout Medical forms (including Part C) from all participants.
On Friday, 06-Mar-2020 10:12:46 EST, Steve said
Okay, now the whole chapter is posted, so you should read it again if you thought you read it already.
On Thursday, 05-Mar-2020 08:40:07 EST, Steve said
A new chapter of Zero Node has been posted.
On Tuesday, 03-Mar-2020 20:31:56 EST, K2 said
Invades has a space connotation to it as well, so I think that works better.

Although I do like the acronym of Ranger Attacks Cabin.
On Tuesday, 03-Mar-2020 19:23:54 EST, Steve said
I think that's an improvement from "Ranger Attacks Cabin".
On Sunday, 01-Mar-2020 21:51:01 EST, Uncle Ethan said
I see even the catchphrase is updated for WC XLIII! "Catchphrase: Ranger Invades Cabin"

Congrats to Steve Bailey for being a part of the official Winter Camp lore.
On Thursday, 27-Feb-2020 22:22:38 EST, Steve said
I've updated the pages for Winter Camp XLII to be true history instead of the planning page. That means history and newsletters are there. I haven't done photos yet. Does anyone have more photos to add?

If there aren't any, I'll do it this weekend.

If you have some and need directions for uploading to our shutterfly account, just let me know.

Thanks.
On Thursday, 27-Feb-2020 19:14:25 EST, Steve said
I was thinking the other day that if we do Luchador, we should consider thumb wrestling, arm wrestling, leg wresting, and mas wrestling as possible activities.
On Monday, 24-Feb-2020 22:00:10 EST, Steve said
I could probably make it so you could post without javascript if it was important to you.
On Monday, 24-Feb-2020 20:21:36 EST, Alan said
I think it's Windows 95 OSR2. Only realized because I have my homepage set as wintercamp.com because it's one of the few websites that will actually display properly on them. So now I have to use a newer web browser (Retrozilla) - still actively developed, forked from an old version of Mozilla. I think it can be set it up for Windows 3.1, but you have to compile it yourself.

I think it's possible to use a Raspberry Pi as a proxy to get back HTTP for old computers, but I haven't figured it out yet. You can use text based browsers over a serial terminal though. I can read the Winter Camp site, but no javascript, so can't post.
On Sunday, 23-Feb-2020 21:25:34 EST, Steve said
I made the change for a couple of reasons. The biggest is that some browsers and anti-virus tools report non-secure sites as risky and may even block them.

The second is that we're second-class citizens on search engines these days.
On Sunday, 23-Feb-2020 09:49:04 EST, K2 said
Steve, first we need to ask the real questions here. Alan, which version of Windows 95?
On Sunday, 23-Feb-2020 00:53:16 EST, Steve said
Does that matter to anyone other than Jeff?
On Sunday, 23-Feb-2020 00:29:39 EST, Alan said
One thing I discovered recently: since wintercamp.com changed to HTTPS with TLS 1.2 instead of plain HTTP, it has broken compatibility with all known web browsers for Windows 3.11. This message posted from Windows 95.
On Sunday, 16-Feb-2020 22:08:05 EST, Steve said
Okay, a couple of thoughts I want to share

First, if you're not following wintercamp_fs on Instagram, you're missing out.

Second, I think we should decorate battling tops for the Luchador theme. My original thought was little plastic tops like the old board game. Now I'm wondering if we can't make something out of wood about a foot tall so decorating would be easier. We might have to have a test to see if we could get the wooden ones fired up enough.
On Saturday, 15-Feb-2020 20:29:38 EST, K2 said
I just saw Matt's post!

Honestly, I just use Tinkercad.com. It's free, doesn't require any installation, and automatically saves the files online so you can work with them anywhere. It's nowhere near as robust as all those things Alan mentioned, but it might be easier to get started depending on your experience with CAD software.

I'll also download files from thingiverse.com and either just print them, or I'll import them into tinkercad and edit them there.
On Friday, 14-Feb-2020 21:19:03 EST, Alan said
Meant to post this yesterday when I saw it.

I'm a mechanical engineer, so I use 3D parametric CAD programs that the engineers use. The parametric cads are good for drawing up mechanical components, which are usually made up of basic, but well defined geometry. All the stuff I made on my 3D printer was done using my copy of Autodesk Inventor from high school. In engineering school, Michigan Tech teaches Siemens NX (formerly Unigraphics). At work, we have Solidworks. These three have the same overall feel and workflow to them and are extremely powerful, but there's a decent learning curve. The programs in this category are also all super expensive, and it's pretty much impossible for a single person to afford them unless you can get your hands on a student version or pirate them.

There is one decent open source alternative, FreeCAD, which is similar to the above three (and is free). It's not as polished as the professional CADs and is more difficult to use, but still very powerful, though I haven't worked with it too much. One of my coworkers does all his home stuff in FreeCAD though, so it seems to be useable.

Another good one is Autodesk Fusion 360, which is another professional CAD, but there's a free edition for hobbyists, and seems to be pretty popular with them. It's a commercial program, and is very well polished. Supposed to be easier to learn than Inventor/Solidworks, but since I already know those that's what I use.

If you like programming, there's OpenSCAD (also free), where you can draw up 3D shapes using text-based design language scripts. I used OpenSCAD to make the cookie cutter stampers, and wrote a script to generate STLs for every Winter Camp 'till 100.

Then, there's Blender (also free), which is normally used for 3D animation. Instead of working directly with geometry, you get to work directly with meshes of points and lines that make them up. So it's much better for making a sculpture of someone's head than it is for doing mechanical components (it can be done, but it won't be easy). Blender is insanely powerful, but has an insanely difficult learning curve, so I've heard.

That reminds me, a few years ago Hackaday ran a series of tutorials where they modeled up the same object in a bunch of different CAD programs to show what it's like to use each one. The last one they did was this one: hackaday.com/2014/02/26/3d-printering-making-a-thing-with-solidworks-part-ii but it has links to all the other parts. It's probably a little out of date by now, but most CAD programs usually stay pretty similar between versions.
On Friday, 14-Feb-2020 19:53:39 EST, Steve said
I don't know much about 3D printing, but there is a giant list of things which can be printed for boardgames here:
https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/186909/3d-prints-board-games

if you read it, there are tools for finding things and probably quite a few things Andrew might like for RPGs.
On Thursday, 13-Feb-2020 12:05:49 EST, Matt Grimble said
My 3D printer is up and running. Alan/K2 what do you use to create designs for the custom stuff you make with the printer
On Wednesday, 12-Feb-2020 23:29:47 EST, Steve said
I want to have a non-newtonian fluid to wrestle in or at least fall into, like a trust fall fail :)
On Tuesday, 11-Feb-2020 21:17:22 EST, K2 said
We could make slime.
On Tuesday, 11-Feb-2020 20:11:04 EST, Steve said
I think we need to have a corn starch match if we do Luchador as a theme. I just really want to have a vat of water & corn starch.

I'm not sure how much it will take, but it seems like a fun thing to have at Winter Camp.
On Monday, 10-Feb-2020 13:11:56 EST, K2 said
It sounds like we would just make a bunch of dough and then store it in the refrigerator / freezer. I've done this plenty of times before as well and had the same experience that Doug outlined below. It works pretty good. You do need to make sure you leave enough room in whatever container we put the dough into for expansion, because the yeast does keep going. It does top out at some point but the initial rise can be pretty dramatic.
On Sunday, 09-Feb-2020 23:20:15 EST, Steve said
It would definitely be helpful to not start Winter Camp in a sleep deficit because we baked bread all night.
On Sunday, 09-Feb-2020 19:01:50 EST, Doug said
In answer to Steve's question. Think we cover the Sept stuff mostly on-line. As I'm not on Facebook can't say how well things from here or FB transfer to one another.
On Sunday, 09-Feb-2020 18:59:10 EST, Doug said
Shortly before camp last year Steve, Jeff, and I briefly discussed changing the bread making on the 27th essentially making all the dough for the week (as we have done for years) but refrigerating or freezing at least a portion to bake later as needed.

Last week I made a batch (2 loaves) of WC bread. Made the dough covered and put it in the fridge here’s what I found:
• After a couple hours needed to punch it down as it managed to rise while it was cooling down
• After 24 hours divided it in half, formed one onto a loaf, put in a bread pan and left on counter to rise. Other than being cold and perhaps a bit more elastic the dough didn’t handle much differently. (Returned the 2nd half to the fridge in a plastic bag for later)
• It took 3-1/2 hours to rise and another 30 min to bake. With only a few minutes work and very little mess in 4 hours had a fresh hot loaf of bread. It was at least as good if not better than what we had at WC XLIII.
• If serving it as warm bread with a meal it should cool 15-20 min because you can’t slice it right out of the oven. To use for sandwiches it should cool completely (about 2 hours).
• After four days (as long as we could keep bread dough at WC) the bag had long since expanded to maximum capacity (but it didn’t burst open). Dough was very elastic, somewhat difficult to get the large bubbles out and it seemed to tear when trying to form into a loaf (looked a bit cave-like). It did rise in the same 3-1/2 hours (still looked a bit lumpy) however during baking it smoothed out. Looked and tasted great just like the first loaf.
• May try freezing dough another time.

Think we should try this for WC XLIV. Think it would make the bakery snack much more doable in a reasonable time frame on the 27th. Also bread later in the week would be better than what has been setting on top of the fridge for 4 days.
On Thursday, 06-Feb-2020 22:01:32 EST, Steve said
A few times in the past, we had two planning meetings. One was in a September/October and the other was our traditional November meeting.

At the first meeting we picked a theme, costs, and talked about a major theme event. We also recruited some leaders for the event. We've had a sketchy history with this meeting -- we had it a few times, forgot about it and had it a few times again.

Do we think we cover this now with email/facebook/this page or do we want to go back to that earlier meeting? I"m trying to decide if it belongs on the backwards calendar in the leader book.
On Monday, 03-Feb-2020 21:32:03 EST, Steve said
So for those who follow such things, Winter Camp now has an instagram. The id is wintercamp_fs

We'd love a few more followers.
On Thursday, 30-Jan-2020 17:01:43 EST, Steve said
Jay Bottorff has been named this year's recipient of the Central Region's Alumnus of the Year award. Jay will receive his award in Washington DC this May. There is only one recipient of this award in each region so this is pretty prestigious.
On Wednesday, 29-Jan-2020 22:52:41 EST, Steve said
I've made considerable progress on this idea. I'll try to post a draft this weekend.

I started with about 60 unique tasks on my list and thus far I've added 15 more as I've tried to work through the list.

There are some other things I'll work on too. So far about 20 pages, but I think it will be more before I'm done. I want to be careful that it doesn't become so large that people can't be bothered to read it.
On Wednesday, 29-Jan-2020 10:45:38 EST, Steve said
Every month includes a reminder to promote at that month's events and online.

I suggest we have a theme by July which lets us promote with the theme at the Summer Ordeal and all our fall events; it also give us a chance to create and distribute a flyer.
On Wednesday, 29-Jan-2020 08:57:13 EST, K2 said
I'm sure you'll have this in there but I think advertising / informing people about wintercamp is critical to getting people to come, especially once we hit August / September because there's only a few more chapter meetings left. It's easy for wintercamp to get lost in the run-up to the holidays.

Picking a theme at some point in advance I think has been helpful if it isn't too far in advance.
On Tuesday, 28-Jan-2020 21:24:10 EST, Steve said
I started working on a Leader's Guide today. I'm not sure how long it will take, but I have an aggressive schedule in mind.

My plan is to worry less about roles and responsibilities and to instead focus on a backwards calendar and then an explanation of the various tasks on the calendar. I'm thinking there may be a partial draft by the weekend

Anyone have any suggestions before seeing the draft?
On Tuesday, 28-Jan-2020 19:47:45 EST, K2 said
Uncle Buck style!
On Tuesday, 28-Jan-2020 18:48:49 EST, Steve said
I was thinking today that maybe we should make some giant food at camp like a 2’ pancake or a huge cookie.
On Monday, 27-Jan-2020 21:49:11 EST, Uncle Ethan said
Great to have Doug as the Adviser. As I recall, his last round of advising at Winter Camp XXIX was a blast.
On Monday, 27-Jan-2020 16:26:41 EST, Steve said
Doug Wilson declared himself to be Adviser today. This will be his fifth time as adviser. With that role settle, I declared myself kitchen adviser.

We're still looking for a youth to help with the kitchen. YOu don't have to cook everything, just help ensure others get things going.
On Monday, 27-Jan-2020 12:45:51 EST, Steve said
I think most categories are correct now.
On Sunday, 26-Jan-2020 23:58:26 EST, Steve said
More stuff on the Encyclopedia. If you scroll to the bottom you can now search by category. Entries are being categorized according to a list and it's my goal to get things on the right list. The list is:
Article - recurring articles in the news
Book - A Winter Camp book
Newspaper - We've had more than you think
Person - I think these are all right
Short Story - A Short Story for Winter Camp.
Winter Camp - An event

I can get Person and Winter Camp on my own, but I need help to find the others.

If you spot one that's wrong, let me know so I can fix it. It's probably easier for me than anyone else to make the corrections.



https://wintercamp.com/rfrnc/theguide/
On Saturday, 25-Jan-2020 12:36:06 EST, Steve said
People are now updated and added. The entries are generated based on data in the Winter Camp roster program. I didn't include the pecking order this time as I'm not sure how I got it last time.

Are there any suggestions for changes or additions?
On Friday, 24-Jan-2020 23:02:13 EST, Steve said
Promotion of Winter Camp went pretty well last night. Most youth in attendance had been to camp.

I’ve been working on the EWC and e tries other than people are probably updated. If you find issues let me know.
On Thursday, 16-Jan-2020 09:09:02 EST, Uncle Ethan said
Congrats, Timmy! I declare myself to be Timmy's adviser. Timmy - if you've got someone else in mind, feel free to fire me.
On Tuesday, 14-Jan-2020 19:54:22 EST, Tim Pfeiffee said
I Timmy Pfeiffer claim myself activities chair
On Monday, 13-Jan-2020 22:48:26 EST, Steve said
Winter Camp has probably more than it's share of Arrowmen of the Year: Brian, Jeff, Gordon, Roger, Mr. Oatley, Steve Pejuan, Lee Gardy, Tim Dumas, Josh Davis, Sam Stocker, Ethan, Corey Curtiss, and me. If you're generous we could count Dave Morosky and Joe Retzbach.

It all goes to prove that Winter Camp is the trump card of awesomeness.
On Monday, 13-Jan-2020 20:23:19 EST, Bmann said
Thank you everyone. I still dont feel that I deserve it but some must think I do.
On Monday, 13-Jan-2020 19:07:43 EST, Steve said
This has inspired an idea.

What if we added a difficulty factor to our recipes based on how hard we think it is to make including unusual or labor intensive methods, lots of steps, and how forgiving the recipe is of errors.

We could then use that when creating a meal. For example, beef fizz would be more difficult than bug juice which is more difficult than pop. If a meal with beef fizz was too complex, we could consider replacing it with bug juice.

Obviously that's a very simple example. Imagine we had the hot potato lunch and it looked like a lot of work. We could, for example, decide to boot the sloppy joes and switch it to the easier hot dogs.

I don't think we'd blow out something thematic or traditional (so caveman dinner wouldn't get changed) but we might assign a special assistant or two if things looked tricky.

Bread is tough, so maybe whichever group gets it also gets Mr. Wilson for that meal since he knows bread. Bollmano's wouldn't be the same without Mark, that sort of thing -- basically we compensate for a tougher meal with some expert assistance or maybe just more hands.
On Sunday, 12-Jan-2020 13:54:07 EST, Uncle Ethan said
I can bring a tortilla press if we want to add some difficulty to the mexican meal.
On Sunday, 12-Jan-2020 13:52:26 EST, Uncle Ethan said
CONGRATS!
On Sunday, 12-Jan-2020 13:49:34 EST, K2 said
Huzzah!!!
On Sunday, 12-Jan-2020 13:21:38 EST, Steve said
Congratulations to Winter Camper Brian Mann who is Noquet Lodge’s 2019 Adult Arrowman of the Year!
On Friday, 10-Jan-2020 22:13:47 EST, Steve said
The chapter meeting is on Jan 23, 7:00 pm at First United Methodist Church in Dearborn (22124 Garrison).
On Friday, 10-Jan-2020 20:37:34 EST, Jeff said
Using a possible theme as the key element of promotion, may not have the widest appeal to potential participants. Winter Camp is much more: "Winter Camp is a universe unto itself. When you arrive at Winter Camp, you are entering another world, with its own time zone and culture. It is mixture of favorite traditional activities with new thematic experiences never done before. Besides great activities, food plays an important role, such as personal pizzas made from scratch."
On Friday, 10-Jan-2020 07:27:45 EST, said
Steve, how about making a small list of possible themes that are in contention and telling the youth that we need thier help in deciding what the theme will be. More may be inclined to attend WC if they help decide the theme.

As for Luchador, id love to see battle chess make a reappearance.
On Thursday, 09-Jan-2020 23:07:46 EST, Uncle Ethan said
I continue to support for Luchador. We could have an everyone learns Spanish activity and then a Spanish only meal of some kind. This thought came to me as I was thinking about the Blind Beggars Banquet.
On Thursday, 09-Jan-2020 21:28:34 EST, Steve said
We have a chapter meeting at the end of the month. It would probably be amazing if we could point to a couple of themes as the most likely for this year's Winter Camp.

Do you think if Matt and I suggested that our theme would probably be Luchador or "Why is THAT on fire?" we'd be able to deliver at Winter Camp XLIV or is there another theme that we think should get more attention right now?
On Tuesday, 07-Jan-2020 18:10:22 EST, Steve said
I don't think the good Luchador would raze a village.

They might, of course, destroy the base of an evil-doer which could look a lot like razing a village. They could also cleanse the place of evil through the power of fire I think.
On Tuesday, 07-Jan-2020 08:25:04 EST, Uncle Ethan said
I'm in for the Luchador theme! IF razing the village is a possibility, I'll start collecting cardboard.
On Monday, 06-Jan-2020 14:23:31 EST, Bmann said
Make it a "trucker" theme and every event could be a transport style. Many HDAs, MDAs, and overnights stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Once we all get fed up we can go on strike. We can get CB radios to communicate between cabins and crews.
On Monday, 06-Jan-2020 12:02:51 EST, K2 said
I disagree. Jeff's meal would consist of a hike, foraging for food along the way, building a stove to cook the food in once you've reached the unknown destination, and then building a shelter to stay the night. Which means we need a new term: HDM. Hike Disguised as a Meal.

Maybe the theme one year should be Rand Theme. The entire schedule would be broken down into HDAs, HDMs, and just plain H's.
On Monday, 06-Jan-2020 08:30:11 EST, Uncle Ethan said
Winter Camp XLIII evaluation here. Fill it out if you’d didn’t get a chance to do it at camp or have more to say:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YSMKL56

On Sunday, 05-Jan-2020 23:00:45 EST, Doug said
If I were selecting my own dinner meal it would be salad w/ Italian dressing, meatloaf (or roast beef & gravy), mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, dinner rolls w/ butter, and cherry pie.

In most cases think we should keep feature meals for dinner. (Allowing dinner prep time as free time for patrols not assigned to the evening meal.) Keep breakfast, lunch and snacks simple lighter and easy.

Agree with Kristie - we are overdue for baked Alaska.
On Sunday, 05-Jan-2020 20:30:31 EST, Kristie said
K2's could be smoked salmon of course! Maybe other smoked goodies... IDK.
On Sunday, 05-Jan-2020 20:27:21 EST, Kristie said
I was thinking Mark's--> meal could be all sorts of sweets. I'm not really sure how to incorporate protein in that one, so maybe it's more of a dessert meal than an actual meal.

I like Alan's idea. My original thought for Doug was pies, pasties, bread, and baked Alasa.
On Sunday, 05-Jan-2020 18:57:49 EST, Steve said
My meal is more a thematic thing than a specific item. Maybe it should be an international smorgasboard since I'm not a fussy eater and tacos, spaghetti, and sushi on the same plate would be fine for me.

The kicker is that the meal starts with seconds due to my poor portion control...
On Sunday, 05-Jan-2020 18:56:46 EST, Steve said
I think we tried that a few years ago; it wasn't bad.

A related idea was to collect recipe cards from Meijer or Kroger and use them. I don't know if they have those anymore; I'll check next time I'm in the store.
On Sunday, 05-Jan-2020 18:39:57 EST, Alan said
Meal Idea: Manufacturer's Suggestion - Each dish consists of a recipe found on the label of a can or the side of a box.
On Sunday, 05-Jan-2020 14:14:14 EST, Steve said
Kristie wants to have meals named after famous Winter Campers. For her meal she wants Grits and Coffee. Jeff’s meal will be bland and have tiny portions so there’s no waste.

Which campers would you suggest a meal for and what would we serve?
On Sunday, 05-Jan-2020 11:37:23 EST, Steve said
We've played cricket before. We even own a bat and a half-dozen balls. I seem to remember attempting croquet once but having issues with frozen ground. We'd just have to do more planning so we could deal with snow or frozen ground.
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 22:19:22 EST, K2 said
Could even try our hand at a tres leches cake or fried ice cream!
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 19:29:56 EST, Michelle said
Although I am only an old adult day visitor, I like the Luchador. Maybe even a bit of Dia de los Muertos thrown in. Mexican hot chocolate and some other yummy desserts. Tamales would be harder than pirogies- we generally take 2 days to make them! Traditional Mexican food and maybe even a chicken en mole with yellow rice, horchata de arroz to drink, and arroz con leche for dinner. And if you want to be really brave, authentic barbacoa - cow head! Maybe a pińata, and some other kid’s games too!
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 19:19:25 EST, Oak said
I like the wild west. Lots to do.
I also like a new games day, cricket or croquet.
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 18:51:09 EST, K2 said
We could build trebuchets. Could fit into some of the themes listed below.
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 18:48:37 EST, Steve said
Does anyone else have an opinion or suggestion?
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 18:46:44 EST, Steve said
Okay, so maybe Fiery Death isn't the right title, but I think if we don't do Luchador, this might be my favorite. We just kind of do a lot of things involving stuff being on fire or exploding.

Maybe we build a giant fire and then cook something on it or maybe we build a spit and roast turkeys or something (I think pigs would be too big for us).
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 18:42:31 EST, Steve said
Fiery Death - everything is on fire!
Activities: Model rockets, raze the village, viking funeral, electric bonfire, conflagration, flaming arrows, 2 liter bottle rockets, fireworks, ground flame, electric candle shapes.
Meals: marshmellow roast, weenie roast, spicy foods, barbecue, roast something on a spit, from the ashes (cook on a fire from raze the village or something similar)
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 18:38:55 EST, Steve said
Merit Badges -- we pick and complete a bunch of fun merit badge requirements
Activities: Rocket launch, programming, game design, firemanship (put things out)
Meals: cooking, firehouse dinner, stuff like that.
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 18:36:17 EST, Steve said
Circus -- we're all under the big top!
Activities: giant tent, clown skills, tight rope, trapeze, big show, clown car
Meals: fried badness, circus peanuts, elephant ears, elephant lunch, lion dinner
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 18:33:07 EST, Steve said
Dinosaur/Jurassic Park - we check out dinosaurs
Activities: Dino Safari (have to find species in the wild), Genius Night Dino building or tool building, Dino dig - they sell kits; maybe something chaos theory related, dinodinner where we try to avoid becoming dinnner for dinos
Meals: Brontoburgers, vegetarian, really big food, flintstony stuff, eating turkey or other avians.
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 11:14:36 EST, Ethan said
I'm thinking about Riverside campsite as a location for an overnight hike.

I made pierogies once. It was a lot of work, but a good experience. No problem if we think it's too much work.

My "long awaited" comment was in jest.

I'll add a pair of walkie talkies to my packing list for next year. I recently got some.
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 10:41:37 EST, Steve said
I am willing to lead an overnight hike at Winter Camp XLIV. Probably on a night with a CC breakfast the next day. Distance of the hike depends on a number of factors.
Where would the hike go? It might require a lot of extra gear (tents, sleeping pads, etc) depending on the overnight location.

Let's play a game in the James Hay Pavilion. Maybe 4 square?
Seems simple enough.

I think it's time for Jackpot Grits to make it's long waited return to the Winter Camp menu.
Long awaited? We missed it this year.

Can we bring the radios back to communicate between cabins?
Just need to find someone with radios or some other tool.

I'd be willing to be the adult in the kitchen for a perogi based meal that includes homemade applesauce
You just like using the food processor. I've heard perogi are a lot of work, like hours, do you have any experience?
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 10:38:55 EST, Steve said
Indiana Jones - we take on the role of pulp-era archaeologists
Activities: Tomb raiding, travel (hda), puzzle-solving, mook mashing, obstacle course, searching
Food: Gruesome dinner, exotic cuisine, speakeasy.
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 10:36:36 EST, Steve said
Noir Detectives - hard-boiled detectives from the 20s/30s
Activites: Mystery investigation, rum running
Meals: black & white, twenties food, soda stand.
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 10:33:53 EST, Steve said
Medieval - we dress up in armor.
Activities: sword fight, archery, horseback riding, chivalric contest
Meals: olde english feast, scotch eggs, mutton, tupenny struggles, meat pie.
On Saturday, 04-Jan-2020 10:30:57 EST, Steve said
Vikings - we adopt the persona of Norse conquerors
Activities: Raze the village, clout shooting, raiding, pillaging, boat walk, axe throwing, archery, kenning creation, poestry.
Food: many european cultures as we invade, norse food, seaboard meal (probably dried stuff), on the run meal, something alliterative ("Viking Vittles").
On Friday, 03-Jan-2020 22:34:49 EST, Steve said
Big Bro -- we spend the week talking in words of but one part and in plots to harm the Man.
Things to do - one part word games (like talkies, rhymes, and more). Spy games, week of one part words, Dad's bro crafts, and more.
Things to eat - meals with one part like meat loaf, bread, juice, eggs, and stuff, lies, truths, our words.
On Friday, 03-Jan-2020 11:10:23 EST, Steve said
Wild West - gun totin' rascals. No bankers, politicians or scum.
Activities: target shooting, bank robbery, rubber band gun fight, first class trial, cattle rustlin', warm bed
Meals: Beans, tex-mex, root beer, sarsparilla, glass of whiskey, saloon supper.
On Thursday, 02-Jan-2020 19:53:00 EST, Steve said
Pioneers -- throwback to Winter Camp I
Activities -- little planning, many hikes, some known to a few and not the rest
Meals -- burgers, youth only cooking, improvised tools.
On Thursday, 02-Jan-2020 19:47:40 EST, Steve said
Pirates --- seagoing swabbies.
Activity: Plank-walking (balance) contest, swashbuckling obstacle course, boarding contest (maybe like red rover or steal the bacon), treasure hunt -- maybe even burying one day and hunting by a different team. Crew and ship names, piratical flags, some kind of boating (or ice-boating), waxing poetical, shanty-singing, tall tale-telling. Avoiding the black dot. Movie watching
Meals: Jamaican and other carribean countries, teeter totter meal (for balance), oranges.
On Thursday, 02-Jan-2020 19:33:07 EST, Steve said
Some theme ideas:
Luchador -- masked Mexican wrestling.
Activity: Luchador Chess (like battle chess), Service Project = Luchador good deeds, watch a luchador movie, making luchador masks, developing a stable (team/clan) and personas for each wrestler. I think building a ring would be bad. There could be a luchador investigation (something more popular in the novels). We could write a luchador novella. A pinata (maybe several) seems like a good idea. There are a number of games with luchador themes and some we could easily retheme.
Meals: Mexican meals -- maybe juevos rancheros for breakfast and tacos for a lunch with flautas for dinner. There's a lot more to Mexican than burritos and tacos. We could also create our own psuedo-tequilla with lemonade and gummy worms. Luchadors also travel so other cuisines would be good. We could have a training table breakfast on service day to keep the wrestlers strong.
As a weeklong thing, the luchadors could score points in themed activities and become king of the ring. There could also be a search for some artifact that runs in the background; magic is not unheard of.
On Thursday, 02-Jan-2020 15:42:06 EST, Uncle Ethan said
12/27/2020 will be Jeff Rand's 162nd night at Winter Camp!
On Thursday, 02-Jan-2020 14:59:38 EST, Uncle Ethan said
A bunch of ideas that I have floating around my head today:

I am willing to lead an overnight hike at Winter Camp XLIV. Probably on a night with a CC breakfast the next day. Distance of the hike depends on a number of factors.

Let's play a game in the James Hay Pavilion. Maybe 4 square?

I think it's time for Jackpot Grits to make it's long waited return to the Winter Camp menu.

Can we bring the radios back to communicate between cabins?

Blind Volley ball was fun when we played it about 5 years ago. Let's bring it back. I can bring tarps.

I think Snow Soccer or Cricket would work well in the JL field.

As discussed at the WCFS meeting, we might want to use a different CC Golf Hole and 4 way volleyball rules

I'd be willing to be the adult in the kitchen for a perogi based meal that includes homemade applesauce
On Wednesday, 01-Jan-2020 20:46:37 EST, Steve said
I've updated the Winter Camp pecking order:

http://wintercamp.com/rfrnc/whoswho/peckingorder.php

Congrats to K2 who entered the top ten this year.
On Wednesday, 01-Jan-2020 00:21:42 EST, bmann said
Happy new year everyone!
On Wednesday, 11-Dec-2019 19:22:37 EST, Matt said
I hereby declare myself to be the youth leader of Winter Camp XLIV.