AROUND THE KAMPFIRE (TIPS ON LIVIN’ OUTSIDE)

SOMETHING I’VE LEARNED OVER MANY YEARS OF KAMPIN’
(One of the things anyway.)
When you do things enough times you learn where the short cuts are and how to incorporate them to make camp life easier and you’ll find that the way you are doing things doesn’t always go ‘by-the-book so to speak. Some of the go-by-the-book things are by-the-book because the person who wrote the current book copied it from the last person who wrote the book and he copied from the first person that wrote the book. One person does it wrong, records it and the rest of the readers think that is the only way to do a task. Ok, ok, it sounds like I’m spinning in circles doesn’t it?
Here’s a ‘for instance’; how many of you have learned to tie a bowline knot by starting with a loop and repeating the little saying, “Here’s the tree; here’s the hole in the tree; the little squirrel or rabbit runs around the tree and goes into the hole?” As a former (2-time) Scoutmaster and a semi-expert on knot tying I will have to say I discourage anyone from teaching or even learning to tie the bowline that way. Besides being difficult to remember how to start the loop (hole) and where the squirrel/rabbit is, most don’t understand that learning it the wrong way could cost you your life. Why do they still teach people to tie it that way? It’s the old go-by-the-book theory/attitude I’m sure.
There are at other/better ways of tying the bowline knot that are quicker, easier, and could save your life in an emergency situation believe it or knot (pun intended).
Let’s say you’ve fallen into the water and someone throws you a rope. What do you do with the rope? The bowline knot is the best knot that I’ve found to use to secure a rope around your waist. It’s no time for the squirrel-around-the-tree-and-in-the-hole time either. It’s time for fast action like being able to tie the knot automatically with one hand, fast and without thinking; it might/could just save your own life.
I hate to disappoint you now that I have your attention but I can’t ‘tell’ you how to tie the knot here. If you would like to learn how to tie the bowline knot the correct way that may save a life, attend a Boy Scout Troop meeting on any Tuesday night from 7PM to 8:30PM at Waynedale United Methodist Church at the corner of Church Street and Old Trail Road and let Troop #344 show you how – no charge.