{"id":2023,"date":"2013-08-01T18:39:50","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T18:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=2023"},"modified":"2013-08-01T18:39:50","modified_gmt":"2013-08-01T18:39:50","slug":"venturing-week-tuesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/2013\/08\/01\/venturing-week-tuesday\/","title":{"rendered":"Venturing Week: Tuesday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The condensation evaporating off the tents in the morning<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tuesday began with an early wakeup and reveille formation. \u00a0As we were getting ready, we thought these tents were on fire, but then we realized that it was just the condensation re-evaporating in the morning sun.<\/p>\n

\"Pancakes<\/a>
Pancakes and sausage -- or a reasonable facsimile thereof<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

People like to complain about prepared food. \u00a0We live in a society of critics who have never done anything themselves but like to complain about the deeds of others. \u00a0(Google the “Man in the Arena” by Teddy Roosevelt to wind your way to it on the politics and humor area off my main Web page.) \u00a0I thought all the food was good. \u00a0It was generally tasty, and there were almost always extras for seconds. \u00a0In addition, they always had out the ingredients for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the most finicky eaters. \u00a0My philosophy is that if you complain about hot meals three times a day, you just have never been hungry enough. \u00a0In any event, I thought Broad Creek did a good job with the meals each day.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The post-breakfast song<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tommy, Candy, and Michela “getting down” with the post-breakfast sing-along.<\/p>\n

\"Ninja!\"<\/a>
Ninja!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tuesday morning we returned to COPE for what is almost always my favorite event of these COPE weeks: \u00a0low COPE. \u00a0Low COPE doesn’t have the drama of climbing the “giant’s ladder” or walking a two-rope bridge 40 feet in the air, but I think it is a much more interesting and fun experience. \u00a0Much like the leadership reaction courses used by the Army for decades, low COPE involves a series of problem solving events that stretch the creativity and teamwork of the group. \u00a0On Tuesday the Boy Scouts working on a merit badge were separated from the dozen or so Venturers from several crews. \u00a0The combined Venture crew, calling themselves “The Super Velociraptors” after 15 seconds to come up with a name, went through the events together all morning.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The super velociraptors planning to get across the acid lava spikey pit of doom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The now-sentient Super Velociraptors trying to escape from the evil mad scientists lair so that they could eat all humans. \u00a0The first challenge was to get across a acid lava spikey pit of doom, but only the plastic disks could touch the lava. \u00a0Also, if the disk was in the lava without also touching a velociraptor, it would be incinerated and lost. \u00a0After a few minutes of planning — and even a rehearsal or two — they set out on their journey.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The super velociraptors working to get across the acid lava spikey pit of doom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This involved the lighter scouts riding on the backs of the heavier scouts as they slid and inched their way across the acid lava. \u00a0There were 14 or 15 kids and only 6 of the protective, floating, acid-lava-resistent disks.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The super velociraptors working to get across the acid lava spikey pit of doom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Throughout the exercise the kids demonstrated good communication and problem solving skills. \u00a0I was quite proud of our kids.<\/p>\n

\"Getting<\/a>
Getting the tire off the pole<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another event involved getting a tire off of a pole without the tire touching the pole or any of the scouts touching the pole.<\/p>\n

\"Pulling<\/a>
Pulling Erin over the wall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A physically strenuous event involved getting all the kids up and over a wall. \u00a0In the picture above the staff in the black shirts were not helping get people over the way, but were merely spotting for safety.<\/p>\n

\"Pushing<\/a>
Pushing and pulling Maddie up the wall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The scouts quickly realized that the heaviest kids needed to go over the wall in the middle of the pack, while the lighter kids needed to go toward the beginning or end. \u00a0Here Maddie is pulled and pushed over the wall. \u00a0Scott was so impressed with this group that he gave them another challenge: to get him over the wall, but he would be a limp body and not help at all. \u00a0This involved a fair amount of risk — and no small amount of pain — on his part, but the kids came through with flying colors.<\/p>\n

\"Erin's<\/a>
Erin's solution to "All Aboard"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This event, called All Aboard, had an obvious solution. \u00a0The rules were that in order for the teleportation pad to teleport the super velociraptors to their next challenge, each person needed to get one foot on the pad, one foot in the air, and no feet on the ground. \u00a0The obvious solution involved slowly adding people in a balanced way around the pad; however, Erin came up with this unique solution, which solved the problem quickly and with little effort. \u00a0Scott, the instructor, seemed pleased with the unique solution.<\/p>\n

\"Working<\/a>
Working to get through the time vortex tunnel and to safety<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The final group even of the day involved passing the entire group though the tire, representing a hole in the wall. \u00a0The rules to this event changed several times during execution. \u00a0At first they had a pair of glasses that they could pass back and forth that enabled the wearer to touch the tire without being incinerated. \u00a0After one or two people made it through, the glasses were stuck on one person’s head and could no longer be transferred. \u00a0Then later, they could only talk in velociraptor language.<\/p>\n

\"Working<\/a>
Working to get through the time vortex tunnel and to safety<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Again the kids did very well during this and all the other events.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The team of Venturers who worked together during "low COPE"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Tuesday the kids decided not to go to climbing in the afternoon again, but instead relax for a couple of hours and then head down to the waterfront to ride the big float being pulled behind a speedboat.<\/p>\n

\"More<\/a>
More volleyball after lunch!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the siesta, we again played some volleyball. \u00a0The boys seemed oblivious to the fact that we were playing with three, pretty, teenage triplets. \u00a0They were more interested in the game. \u00a0Sigh.<\/p>\n

\"Being<\/a>
Being a cool dad is hard work!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zzzzzzzz.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The girls on the pull-behind raft<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We linked up with transportation to the waterfront about 1600. \u00a0The direct route to the waterfront is not fully paved yet, and so we took a circuitous route to a public peer and then took a speedboat to the waterfront. \u00a0The goal of this journey was to ride the float being pulled behind the speedboat. \u00a0Unfortunately, only six people were allowed on the boat at any one time, so all the adults had to sit on the shore. \u00a0The water, heated by the Peach Point nuclear power plant, was like bath water. \u00a0Even if we couldn’t ride with the kids, it was relaxing to just float in the water.<\/p>\n

\"All<\/a>
All aboard!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sammy<\/a>
Sammy on the knee board<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eventually both of the floats broke, coming back to shore as wilted pancakes. \u00a0The aquatics director took a few of us out on the boat with a knee \u00a0board. \u00a0I didn’t quite get the hang of it, but he said that Sammy was the best knee board rider all Summer.<\/p>\n

\"Maddie<\/a>
Maddie on the knee board<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maddie managed to get up on the knee board, but like me, she never quite got her knees fully into the divots in the board and so didn’t have a smooth or long ride.<\/p>\n

We missed dinner because of the late events at the shore; however, they set aside plenty of turkey, mashed potatoes, and corn for the 20 or so of us who came back late. \u00a0 We watched the pistol range safety class while eating, because the kids were interested in shooting on Wednesday evening. \u00a0Then we took some late showers and played a game of Kung Fu Fighting (a card-based game) before hitting the sack.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday began with an early wakeup and reveille formation. \u00a0As we were getting ready, we thought these tents were on fire, but then we realized that it was just the condensation re-evaporating in the morning sun. People like to complain about prepared food. \u00a0We live in a society of critics who have never done anything … Continue reading Venturing Week: Tuesday<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}