Wilderness Survival

Back in June, when Brandt went to scout camp, he did all of the requirements for his wilderness survival merit badge except one.  He needed to "Improvise a natural shelter. For the purpose of this demonstration, use techniques that have little negative impact on the environment. Spend a night in your shelter."  The whole summer has passed, we're nearly at the end of September, the weather has turned, the nights are cool, and I realized we needed to get this requirement finished.  So last night I helped Brandt "improvise a natural shelter" in the "wilderness."  We were in the backyard, but it was outdoors, so it counted.  We took our six patio chairs, tied a tarp over them, and called it good.  It's improvised, right? We went over to see if Jarom Oyler wanted to sleep with Brandt is his shelter, but he wasn't available, so I became the next best option.  Brandt might have preferred Kent, but Kent preferred me, so there it was.  

We slept under the tarp.  Well, Brandt slept.  I sort of tossed and turned and passed a rougher night as the blow-up mattress I was sleeping on deflated, and I was left on the ground.  I suppose it could have been worse--there were no rocks digging into me, nothing alive ran across my face, it didn't rain--but it wasn't great.  However, that one more merit badge finished, bringing Brandt one step closer to eagle rank.