eagle90

Congrats Trev! What a great compliment to you and your troop's leadership, as well as the scouts involved. The most I've ever done was 4 at once. Dale

I've seen the hand sanitzer thing too! WOW! You have to be especially careful with hand sanitizer as it burns with an almost clear flame. You cannot see the flasmes, but is burning extremely hot!

Thanks for the information. I will call tomorrow and order them. We have 12 crossovers coming aboard next month!

Does anyone know if the Troop Numerals with the "built in" Anniversary bar (25 yrs, 50 yrs, etc.) are available in the new green numerals? They were always a special order in the red numerals. We have new crossover scouts coming newt month and are wondering. Thanks! Dale

We have heard nothing from our council yet, but that is not surprising. We will probably get an annoncement in November of 2010 of an event a week later. Timeliness and early publicity is not the hallmark of our council.

Barry - Thanks for some of the most well thought out, profound posts I have seen on this forum. Well done! Dale

Our local suburban papers are poor. In the past they have not run photos and articles at all, run them AFTER the event, their reporter/photographer failed to show up for an appointment, and for our recent Pancake Breakfast they ran our picture with the copy from another troop's unrelated event! They also usually get names wrong or misspelled. We keep trying, but it seems like a useless battle.

A question came to mind after reading the above. Does any unit who owns a trailer and equipment have any type of insurance to cover theft of same? Is it available? Costly? Any insurance professionals out there, can you help? Dale

I finally retired my old Vasque boots after 27 years of heavy usage. They served me well. Of course I replaced them with another pair of Vasques. A fair price and good quality. Dale

Chief - I may still have maps from our many trips to the Region 7 Base. After I get back from this weekend's campout, I will venture into the attic and see if I can locate them. Dale

Another "creepy one" here. I went all thru the program, earned Eagle at 14, and for the most part, ran the troop while in high school, as the SM was very ineffective. After four years in college, I returned and the troop was on the verge of folding, since none of the parents would volunteer to be SM. So I said I would do it for a while. This was in 1973. Still doing it! And if I must say so, the troop has thrived ever since. Perhaps the creepy ones are people who think like Scoutmom SD, and see the bogeyman in every closet. I guess in her world there should also be no single teachers, police officers, youth center workers, orphange workers, Park Rangers, and all other professions and avocations that work with youth. She had better lock her son up in the house and never let him go out. Then he would be truly safe fromn all the creepy people. Dale

What every camp staff member, from the Director on down, must remember is that we, the units attending camp, are their customers. And whether you are selling shoes, computers, cars, or a week at camp, you, the proprietor, wants that customer to come back again, and the customer has the right to go elsewhere if the service is not adequate. Years ago a unit wouldn't think of deserting their council's camp for another camp, but nowadays this is quite frequent. We have not attended our council's camp for the last ten summers due to poor program, poor staff, and poor camp leadership. We have found a camp that caters to the units and unit leaders and makes them feel welcome. You WANT to come back. The camp is a seven hour drive from home, and the best thing I hear on the way home from our scouts is "Next year I'm gonna do.........." That tells me the camp and staff has done their job.

Eamonn - If I remember my catechism correctly, it is venial and MORTAL sin. Can't figure out what a moral sin would be. LOL!

We have a troop of 43 boys, and a large committee of 27 people. 12 have no scouts in the troop (either aged out or no sons at all in the program); 3 are former scouts; and 3 are college age former scouts. We keep them busy and they have a good time. It's a combination of devotion to scouting and the boys and a good social group.

Congratulations, OGE. Welcome to the club! Dale

Previously there was a post about our fine governor closing 11 state parks and numerous historical sites in Illinois. The Lt. Governor Pat Quinn has started a campaign to rescind this program. There is an on line petition to help the cause: www.saveourstateparks.org Sign the petition if you will, and help keep some fine parks that are frequented by many scout groups open. Thanks! Dale

Yes, we have had periodic zipper problems with the Eureka tents. However, to be fair to Eureka, most of them were caused by the scouts not opening both zippers when they crawl out of the tent. That's my pet peeve and my scouts often hear me bellowing on a campout "OPEN BOTH ZIPPERS!!!".

Have you checked the price of fuel lately? I had to buy a couple of gallons last week - $8.99 a gallon!! WOW! Talk about inflation. I remember not too long ago when it was about $2.50!

Must we micro manage every aspect of Scouting? Let the kids ride with who they want.

What a great device for the helicopter parents! No thanks!

As SM, I give each of our new eagle scouts a membership in the NESA and the NESA neckerchief. The troop itself does not give a gift.

As SM, I give each of our new eagle scouts a membership in the NESA and the NESA neckerchief. The troop itself does not give a gift.

Glad to hear you are recovering well. Ike made it all the way to the Chicago area last weekend with 8" - 10" of rain and lots of flooding.

I just received my copy this week, and am very impressed. Now I can't wait to begin trying out all of the luscious sounding dishes! Dale

At Camp Lefeber in Laona, Wisconsin, there is the Super Troop Award, which has a number of items a troop must do during the week, including a camp service project (this year we painted a large propane tank), passing a campsite inspection twice during the week, participating in camp wide activities, etc. We have won the award every year but one in our ten years of attendance. We won't go into the one year we didn's win....... Dale