February 2005 Volume 31 Issue 2  

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

Answers to Grandpa Bob’s Brain Teaser Review from the November/December issue.

Which mammal is the smallest? (The bumblebee bat is one inch long and weighs 1/20 of an ounce.)

Which animal is the tallest? (The giraffe measures more than 19’ tall.)

Which animal lives the longest? (The giant tortoise of the Galapagos Islands can live more than 150 years.)

Which animal has the largest eye? (The giant squid eye is 15” across. Larger than a dinner plate.)

Which animal is the largest? (The blue whale can grow to more than 100’ long.)

Which animal is the fastest runner? (The cheetah can run up to 65 miles per hour for short distances.)

Grandpa Bob’s Brainteasers:

Here’s another question for you: How do lakes form?
Bird Blind at Camp Camwood
     In April of 2000 Amelia (Amy) R. collected money from a recycling project as her Silver Award. She presented it to the Council to help offset the cost of building a bird blind at Camp Camwood in Hockley. The project was recently completed and is now available for troops and groups who use Camwood to enjoy.
     An interesting thing happened while the builder and I were standing behind the blind choosing where the best location of the observation holes would be. When the first hole was sawed through and was removed guess what we saw? One very curious duck floating in the water looking up at us as if it was wondering where all the commotion was coming from. It was a great site and I’ve observed water fowl from the vantage point of the blind several times since it was built.
     Thanks Amy for the hard work and we’re glad it is finally in place and available for use.

Bluebird Houses paying off!

Troop #2208 presented the Council, as part of their Bronze Award project, seven bluebird houses last February. They were installed at the Treelake Complex in Conroe in Camps Agnes Arnold, Misty Meadows, and Silver Springs. Since then bluebirds have been seen flying to and from the new additions to camp. We’re thrilled with the results and are glad to be able to help this timid but beautiful bird with living quarters designed just for them.
Thank you Jena A., Christina B., Greta C., Johnisha J., Allison K., Jenny R., and Taylor R..

Brainteaser catch up

     We have two brain teasers to catch up on in this issue. Due to an oversight the question of How is Earth Like a Magnet was not published in the January issue.
     How is earth like a magnet? The earth’s core is made mostly of iron. The very center of the core is solid; around the solid iron ball is hot liquid iron. As the earth rotates, the core rotates too and electrical currents are set up in the liquid metal. These electrical currents generate magnetic fields, turning our planet into one big magnet. This is basically how a bar magnet works.
     Most of us have performed the experiment with iron shavings and a bar magnet where we sprinkle the shavings at each end of the bar and observed that they form an arc around the magnet with the arcs ending at the magnet’s poles. The earth acts as if it has a bar magnet lodged in its center. The earth’s magnetic field is too weak to make iron nails stick to the ground but it is strong enough to change the course of charged particles in space. The evidence of this is that we can see the dazzling natural light show called an “aurora.”