Leaderboard

Jack Haskel works for the Pacific Crest Trail. He's part of a growing number of hikers who prefer to have fruitcakes as a seasonal break from protein and granola bars. "It's not the energy bar, it's not some goop. It's real food, not hiking food," he said. "You've got a perfect food for a hiker that's trying to go the distance," said Brenda Braaten, a nutritionist who discovered that fruitcake could be more than just a doorstop. "You're close to the same calories per gram in a fruitcake compared to a Snickers bar or a trail bar, but you're miles ahead on iron, magnesium, calcium," sh

As it is, I carry many of fruitcake ingredients - dried fruits, nuts,. I usually stay away from breads, cakes...bloat-food for me .

I always wondered if OA should run a youth troop leader training program at round table. Essentially, a district level program for youth to teach youth leadership and how to run their troop. Very similar to the Boy Scout breakouts at round table ... maybe with some suggested structure. Like twice a year have patrol leader training. Twice a year have SPL training. Twice a year quarter master training. Patrol method training. Other topics I'm sure are out there.

God bless us, every one!

May whatever religious, cultural and/or societal activities or observances you and your families celebrate this season be happy ones! Now how is that for inclusive!

All things being equal in terms of patrol method and relative resources, competition/inspiration is a multi-patrol troop's key advantage. GBB and others talk about using occasional inter-patrol competitions to drive both patrol identity and excellence. Even more important, for me, is the role of inspiration. Seeing another patrol eating an excellent meal, dealing with the weather, pulling off a cool activity should give you something to aspire to. If your patrols are balanced, each patrol should be able to regularly find inspiration from the others.

Many moon ago, Scoutson joined Cubscouts. I and LovelyWife became active Cub Leaders. LW became active, followed Scoutson to CSDC, and was woefully unimpressed., as was I, with the program and arrangements. She became the next CSDC Director. This meant she had to attend Camp School, and with great trepidation, she signed up. With her experience with other Scout Leaders, she decided she would be more comfortable with a uniform (up to then, she did not wear one), so when she bought one and put on the proper badges (Den Leader, etc.) she decided that to "fit in", she needed some more

Our Future's So Bright... I study camping and hiking, And all my Wood Badge classes, I got a crazy Scoutmaster, he wears dark glasses. Patrols are doing GREAT, and they’re going Back to Gilwell . . Scout future’s so BRIGHT, I gotta wear shades…. I gotta wear shades. I gotta work my tickets, beads and thong are waitin’. Benefit the Scouts, they're not a lot of louts. Tickets going great, and they’re only getting better. Antelopes and Bears, Owls , my friends are made. The future’s so bright, I g

So, our final count hit 73, with 17 girls. We had two girls drop, one due to sports and Irish dancing and the other as the girl who dropped was her only friend in the pack. We had 22 boys drop.... one moved and most due to sports. Looking at years past, the only major attrition increase was our Lion to Tiger Scouts. I do think we lost a lot of scouts due to a nice but poor den leader.... that was a lesson to watch new den leaders more closely in the future. Recruiting was a bit tougher this year as the school prevented us from emailing all parents. We have done that in the

I think we, as Scouters, are generally a fairly humble bunch. We don't do it for the recognition, and when things are going well we tend to just privately be happy about things going well and try to maintain the positives in our programs. When things go badly, that's when we turn to others for help, and on an Internet forum looking for help means shining a big old spotlight on the negatives. I think we do mention the positives, but we often don't start new threads about them. I'm pretty sure I mentioned our wildly successful recruiting effort in my Pack this year, doubling the Pack size

@Sentinel947, you definitely have a lot to look forward to. Graduate school is it's own kind of troop; and your class, it's own kind of patrol. Then, there's a family, or if you are so led, the ministry. And as you visit your troop, you can explain what's the same, different, etc.

Last night we held our final troop meeting for 2018. Ours is an LDS troop that will go out of existence one year from now. We used last night's troop meeting to motivate by highlighting the Scouting journey that lies ahead in 2019, both in terms of rank advancement and outdoor adventures. We anticipate up to 14 new Eagle Scouts in 2019 (in a normal year, it's just 3 or 4). We compared our 2019 troop activity calendar to a rock band's farewell tour schedule. We will be revisiting many favorite camping destinations from past years. As we moved month-to-month through the calendar, their excitemen

@MattR bottom of the opening slide showed it as copyright BSA 1978. I have seen many real life versions of that SM over the years, all of whom were sure that they were doing things the right way. It takes a lot of effort to step back and let Scouts make mistakes. I have told them more than a few times when they forget to pack something or don't set up the way I would, if it is not life threatening, I not going to step in and fix it for you; hopefully you will remember next time. I did have a little bit of a flashback when hearing that first little beep, and remembering how often I

On the one hand, that was the campiest little number I've watched in months. Yet on the other hand ... It is charming (I vaguely remember slideshows from when I was only about knee-high to a grasshopper; they were already considered obsolete by the time I was in elementary school), but I gotta say - I agree wholeheartedly with most everything it teaches. As primitive as the presentation is, I find that it successfully conveys the entire point of the patrol method in a clear, easy-to-understand and mildly (MILDLY) amusing context. The quotes are right on, it addresses a scenario that