eagle90

After spending last week in the Dallas area in the 100 degree heat with no rain, I didn't think of "God's Country", rather thought I was near the little guy dressed in red with the horns! I did see my first Armadillo last week. By the way, they are said to have been spotted in southern Illinois also. Dale

Having just come back from a week on the CHisholm Trail Adventure, and a week of sitting on logs, stumps, rocks, etc. PLEASE! Bring me a chair! This old body and back ain't what it used to be!

Leaving the heat of Illinois for the heat of Texas tomorrow morning and the Chisholm Trail Adventure. Will report on the Adventure when we return. Have a good Scouting week everyone! Dale

Beaver, I agree. Years ago when we told our CO about the responsibilities of recruiting leadership for the troop, they said,"We can't even get our own leadership positions filled, much less yours." They do give us a place to meet. I think it depends on who your CO is. Churches and civic organizations are much more amenable to helping compared to PTO's, PTA's schools, etc. If it was up to our CO recruiting leaders for us, we would be defunct. Almost all are parents or parents of former scouts.

If you like mysteries, check out John Sanford, Mary Higgins Clark, Harlan Coben, Jonathan Kellerman, Paul White, Diane Mott Davidson, William Lascher, Kathy Reichs, Sara Paretsky, Patricia Cornwell, etc. You can tell what my second favorite hobby is after Scouting!

I, too, went to a wedding this weekend of a former scout. He was a shy, quiet kid who wouldn't go to summer camp the first few years because he couldn't swim. We got him to a scout swim class one winter, he learned enough to get by, went to camp and eventually earned his Eagle, as did his two younger brothers. All are still active and dad is one of my ASM's. We had a whole "Scout table" at the reception. Isn't it funny how the kids get older, but we don't?

We also must remember that the boys are here voluntarily. They are not indentured servants or military recruits who, once they sign up, have no choice in being there. I can see a lot of boys saying "Who needs this?"

For us Summer Camp promotion is a 12 month process. We emphasize it all year long - it is the culmination of the year. We start actively promoting and taking deposits in January. Balance of fees is due in April. The deadline for signing up is usually May 1. Merit Badge selections are due by mid May. We have a Shakedown Training day in June (tomorrow, by the way!) and then have a scouts and parents meeting two weeks before camp. Dale

.......BUT HAVE FUN!

Eamonn - While sometimes (like today after coming home from a weekend campout) I feel like a 90 year old Eagle, 90 is in fact our unit number! Dale

I don't understand why so many leaders are adverse to filling out a tour permit. It takes 5 minutes and covers your tail. We use one whenever we are going anywhere other than our normal meeting place. On the ball game situations, we just note "Families to provide own transportation".

Isn't that what we are here for? THE BOYS! I would never turn a boy away if at all possible. There's normally nothing I'm doing on a campout that is more important than helping and teaching a boy.

I recommend good old fashioned canvas tennis shoes. They dry fairly quickly, and supply enough support for the short distances you are portaging. Make sure you don't have shoes with too much leather ont hem, as the constant drying and wetting causes the leather to shrink up. BRING BUG SPRAY!! And if you're lucky, sun screen! Dale

We go to amusement/water parks quite a bit, especially after our High Adventure trips. We usually stop on the way home and use it as a day to unwind and reacclimate ourselves to civilization! We have been to parks in the Wisconsin Dells, Schlitterbahn on South Padre Island (A not to be missed park!), Kings Island, Atlantis in Ft. lauderdale. We let the kids go out in groups, but make everyone get together at a meeting place every 2 hours or so just to check in and see that everything is going OK.

This weekend I was doing some research for a newsletter article I was writing and came upon the following quote which is quite appropriate to a few of the topics we have been discussing: "Many a Scoutmaster would probably desire I should give him all particulars in detail. But this would in reality be an impossibility, because what suits one particular Troop or one kind of boy, in one kind of place, will not suit another within a mile of it, much less those scattered over the world and existing under totally different conditions." Baden Powell So I guess even the founder gives units some leeway in doing what is best for their individual unit!

We normally do not have guest speakers at regular COH's, but rather only at Eagle COH's. At those we give the Eagle candidate first choice on who he would like to have speak. If he has no preference, I usually invite a Committee member who is an Eagle, a teacher, a veteran Scouter from another unit, Commissioner, or even our DE or SE to speak.

Does the fact that I set my cruise control on 70 instead of 65 mphon the way to lst weekend's campout mean I cannot teach good citizenship or am not a "morally straight" person? I guess that 5 mph indiscretion in some minds overrides 40+ years experience along with being an Eagle Scout and Silver Beaver recipient. Come on - again, a little common sense here.

Barry - I do hope you mean "BUMP into someone you don't know" instead of PUMP!! Whole different connotation!!

We had a similar problem years ago in getting parents to attend troop meetings. What we did was at the beginning of the Scouting year we passed out a calendar with all of our Troop meetings listed. We then randomly assigned two parents to attend each meeting. We said it was for two reasons: To let parents become acquainted with what we do at troop meetings and to help chaperone and assist the leaders. We also said if they couldn't make their assigned night it was their responsibility to arrange a substitute with another scout family. It came out to each parent attending about 3 meetings a year. Either moms or dads were welcomed. It worked well, and now we get more than enough adults present. We still follow the same procedure even though it's probably not necessary any more.

We meet in a gymnasium, so it's easy to sit in the bleachers in one corner and do the SM conferences during our troop meetings. We set the conferences for the last week of the month, and BOR's for the first week of the month.

We have never cancelled an outing due to rain, but we had an outing shortened by the park we were camping in a few years ago. At the Lincoln Pligrimage New Salem State Park threw us out Sat. afternoon after a monsoon was making a quagmire out of the park. They were expecting continued rain and dangerous winds developing. Our scouts are getting better about the quality of raingear. I tell new parents two things you shouldn't scrimp on are sleeping bags and rain gear. Now if they actually USE it -- we still have to remind them - PUT IT ON! We have three canvas dining flys which go up prety quick and give us a good size area to work under, especially if we put them end to end. We use Eureka Timerline Outfitters which are very rain friendly.

We have never cancelled an outing due to rain, but we had an outing shortened by the park we were camping in a few years ago. At the Lincoln Pligrimage New Salem State Park threw us out Sat. afternoon after a monsoon was making a quagmire out of the park. They were expecting continued rain and dangerous winds developing. Our scouts are getting better about the quality of raingear. I tell new parents two things you shouldn't scrimp on are sleeping bags and rain gear. Now if they actually USE it -- we still have to remind them - PUT IT ON! We have three canvas dining flys which go up prety quick and give us a good size area to work under, especially if we put them end to end. We use Eureka Timerline Outfitters which are very rain friendly.

A few years ago our troop had a big problem with overpacking for summer camp. Scouts would bring numerous bags and enormous sleeping bags. We solved the problem by purchasing a number of army style duffle bags and numbered them. Each scout is given a duffle bag at our pre-camp meeting and told that EVERYTHING he brings to camp MUST fit in the duffle, including his sleeping bag. At our Shakedown training day, I bring all of my gear packed in the duffle and tell them "My clothes are a LOT bigger than yours at it all fits.!" This really has cut down on the extra clothing and non essentials.

Let's not get nuts here. If one on many were not allowed, how would 99% of most units drive their scouts anywhere? Not many units are blessed with being able to have 2 adult drivers in every car when going on a campout. And if we pull into a rest area and the public restroom has 15 urinals and 10 stalls, I certainly am not going to wait till every one of my 29 scouts finish doing their business and exits the washroom. YP is needed but common sense also must apply.

I would contact my DE and SE directly and camp on their doorstep until I received a satisfactory answer. Then I would make sure that useless Unit Commissioner is sent to more training in what his job is. It isn't to act as a shield for the professionals. This seems to be much too much for a volunteer to be expected to handle.