April 2004 Volume 30 Issue 4  

Around Camp
Girl Scout camps are the best place to be year-round

by GSSJC Facilities Director
Bob Spaeth

Girl Scout Camps
Agnes Arnold, Aranna,
Camwood, Casa Mare,
Misty Meadows, Robinwood,
Silver Springs, Whispering Pines

Readers can contact the Facilities Department by calling Director Bob Spaeth at 713-292-0208 or
e-mail bspaeth@sjgs.org.

Grandpa Bob’s Brain Teasers

If the rivers drain into the oceans, why don’t the oceans fill up and overflow? Big rivers dump stadiums full of water into the oceans. The greatest runoff occurs in areas of the world with the most precipitation, such as the rainy tropics with their torrential monsoons. Some rivers in the tropics can pour out 700,000 cubic feet of water each second.

To understand why the oceans don’t simply overflow, it helps to think of an ocean as a fountain in a public square. In a fountain, water sprays into a basin. But the basin doesn’t overflow, because water is pulled up from the basin to spurt out of the top of the fountain once again. The water continuously recycles. It’s the same with oceans and earth. Water rains down on the land and flows into the oceans. But on the surface of the oceans, water continuously escapes into the sky–a process known as “evaporation.” Molecule by molecule, water breaks free from the oceans, saturating the air and forming clouds. Clouds drop rain and snow, causing runoff on the land. And water from the land makes its way back to the oceans in pouring rivers. And the cycle continues.

Next question:
Does air weigh anything?

Fishing village update

All the cabins are in place and are now being connected by the walkways. It’s impressive to see the different colored roofs in the bright sun and that each building is different from the one next to it.
The lighthouse is going up and the village is looking just like it’s supposed to, a village on the hillside. Folks will be able to take a break from the climb up the hill and sit on benches inside the lighthouse and catch their breath as they walk up to the cabins or down to the lake. I can’t wait to see the lights from the lodge across the lake at night.

Nitro and Gem join the herd

Two new horses joined the herd at Camp Misty Meadows just in time to get ready for resident camp this summer. Nitro, a 12-year-old gelding and Gem, a 21-year-old mare will be ready for riding by the time girls arrive for the summer sessions.

Chiggers-itch

With springtime just about here it seems appropriate to address an issue we discussed last August – chiggers.

Wouldn’t it be great to skip through fields of wildflowers and roll around in cool patches of grass like the people in allergy medicine commercials? In Texas, anyone that reckless doesn’t get out much or is too young to know about “CHIGGERS.”

Scientists describe some 3,000 species of chiggers worldwide. They aren’t technically insects but arachnids, like spiders and mites. They go through four life stages–egg, larva, nymph, and adult. It’s only as larvae that they cause problems.

Like their parasitic tick cousins, chigger larvae attach themselves to hosts. But contrary to popular belief, they don’t suck blood or burrow under the skin. Instead, they inject a tissue-dissolving

enzyme when they bite us. The chigger sucks up the resulting goo through straw-like tubes, or stylostomes, formed by a reaction from our autoimmune system. The feeding continues until the chigger is either scratched off or becomes engorged and drops off. There lies the rub and the scratch. By the time you realize you’re infested, it’s too late–you’re destined to itch for several days.

If you can’t avoid areas where chiggers hang out, grassy spots or damp, shady areas, experts recommend some precautions. You can wear long sleeves and stuff your pants in your socks. Applying a sulphur powder works when applied to clothing, but its pungent aroma isn’t pleasant. Insect repellent containing DEET is good but follow label directions closely. Permethrin may be sprayed on clothing the day before going into the woods but certainly not on your hat.

If you are bitten by chiggers, shower and wash your clothes immediately. The bugs may crawl across your body for hours before chowing down, usually under waistbands or socks and in armpits. You can’t kill chiggers with fingernail polish as one home remedy suggests, although Dr. Jean McAtee, a pediatrician at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, admitted it does slightly relieve the itching for some inexplicable reason. McAtee recommends antihistamines, hydrocortisone, and cool compresses as better bets to get some relief.

Although humans unavoidably hold chiggers in low esteem, Mother Nature must have her reasons for making them. Maybe she’s just trying to keep bigger pests like us in our place.