Fuzzy Bear

There does not appear to be an intelligent and/or a practical answer in any direction on this issue. We can argue for, against, or not at all but there will not be an answer. The Greeks found war to be the elixir to their question and the Romans followed suit; different names but same gods. All countries since have drank deeply of the same sovereign remedy. World War 1 was the war to end all wars and so was WW 2, yet, we could only do this by changing the name to Police Actions. We have built bombs that can destroy the world multiple times and yet there is only one small world to target. There are enough chemical weapons to destroy all life, except cockroaches but people endlessly cook. We can build a high wall between us but they will find a way over or under, long live the Khan. Their God, our God, or no god all reveals the same answer. It is our nature to eliminate our enemies until we are all gone. We are a barely a speck lost somewhere in this gigantic cosmos and we fight each other with ruthless abandon, as if we were issued the Holiest of decrees to do so. We crown our selfhood with the highest of import and swagger like drunken lords, yet we are the smallest of vapors in the fabric of space and time. We can beg for peace and there will be no peace with certainty. We can call for war and it is sure to arrive at our doorstep with Fedex speed. The use of weapons and hatred are inbred and people will never willingly let either go and neither will go away on their own. Yet, I hold to the tiniest thread of hope that we will still find an answer. FB

This guy walks into a bar and is carrying a chicken. The bartender tells the guy with the chicken that he doesn't serve chickens in his bar. The chicken responds by saying that she doesn't serve bartenders eggs in her coop either. The bartender is taken aback by a chicken that not only talks but responds intelligently. He says, "Tell me more". The chicken begins to tell the bartender about her life in the coop, hatching eggs for a living, and being courted by the local rooster. The chicken and the bartender hit it off really well that evening. He serves her drinks and she throws in an egg or two. The bartender asks her out on a date and one thing leads to another and after a few months they get married. Don't cackle because this really happened. I thought I would try my hand at a little humor. FB

Sadman really showed us what he was all about. Laying in a hole in the ground with a box full of money day after day. He was cowering with his fear, fleas and filth. He has found his eternal resting palace in life. They should have built a small strip of road over him that starts and stop right there in the desert and call it the king's highway. FB

Official retraction: Sorry Dan, I didn't mean to pull you in to this mess. I meant Dave. Since you were the main subject, then that should have been easy but it wasn't. Outrage can lead one down a short road to the dumpster. Lately, the road seems to be getting shorter. After considering commandopro's statements, I am spending too much time here myself. Just in case anybody asks, I wouldn't touch any site that wasn't work related during work or even after work hours on the company's computers. I know that if the boss wants to track one of us, he can do it pretty easily. I find plenty of other ways of being unproductive. I love my work but there are those days that I get in the way of it. They make the smokers go outside at our building. I think that they should build a small room for them. They could then recycle the smoke from the Smoking lounge area and pump it directly to the desks of all of the smokers with two little hoses. Then any time during the day, a smoker could draw a few breathes of rich smoke filled air and blow it back into the room area for anybody else to breath in again. It would decrease the high price paid for tobacco and increase the number of hours at their desks. Instead, I have to walk through a smoke cloud each time I enter or exit. I dont mind so much because I know that second hand smoke is probably good for you. Fuzzy B.

In coming!!! Wow, welcome to the place you wouldn't send your own Mother or sister. This site is known as "Little Nam" and could be hazardous to your self esteem. Tread carefully or get your pride booted so far down your neck hole that you won't mumble a word for weeks. Retreat while you still can. We let people off the first time when going in-country but from then on, they are on their own. Dan has high speed service and has been a writer for years. He can write more in ten minutes than you can with two secretaries strapped to your lap, plus he has a brain, something you may want to know more about. FB

FOG, you are correct about it being wrong to cast stones at each other. I understand that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory we seek. I want to believe that Scouting is like the church where it brings together all of those in need and serves to bind their wounds. Then we can minister one to the other. Ministers need as much help as any ordinary person. Reflect on the priests that have broken their vows and hurt so many. This may be the worst kind of damage because it came wrapped in robes bearing a cross. Are we to conclude that the Church is no longer appropriate for Scouting? If we look hard enough for those that transgress, there won't be anyone left that is appropriate. Forgiveness must be the weapon of choice or we all perish in our anger. FB (This message has been edited by Fuzzy Bear)

Did you know that Paul was a Scout? The Beatles by comparison with most of the Rap music of today would be considered boy scouts. So does that give them a higher morality? The Oneida religious community believed in free love long before the Beatles, so The Boys should have been worse off because of the rule of social entropy. Maybe we have yet to hit the bottom of the moral garbage can. It is just a slow spiral, much like a flush. One of their songs was about a long and winding road. They may have been thinking about Scouting or hiking or The Ring Trilogy, who knows? Some of their songs were considered to be a part of the moral conscious of a new generation. If it was a new morality, then would it be acceptable to listen? Elvis could only shake half of his body on TV and he proclaimed to be religious but he was not a Boy Scout. Are religious people more moral than Scouts? If they are, then Elvis was more moral than everyone and they should have put the rest of him on the tube. Elvis died a death by overdoing it and he is considered a saint by many. Let's ban him too for good measure but do it quietly. Now, I am really shook up. Remember, John saying that the Beatles were greater than Jesus? He later said that he was only kidding or trying to make some late night comparison by shooting off his mouth. We can now have a Beatle album burning, especially since so few of us have turntables. Sorry, for some reason, I can't seem to find my outrage. Please try again tomorrow. I'm sure I will be up to it. FB

I thought that Foods, Menu, and Recipes might be of interest. Here is how it works: 1. Post your top four favorite foods. 2. Post one favorite menu. In other words, foods that are to be eaten during the course of one meal and that appear to you to compliment one another and that you would serve guests. 3. Post one favorite recipe. I thought that we should limit it to items that can be cooked in camp over a wood fire. You are welcome to use an ice chest for storage because the meal may be any of the top three usually eaten during the day. I am going to think about this for a little while before I reply, so that I may reflect on some of the top foods and meals that I have eaten in camp. I want to thank any of you in advance for participating. I will most likely use these answers in the near future to share with other Scouters. Thank you, Fuzzy Bear

I have enjoyed the time together on this site during the time I have been here this year. In 2004, I will: 1. Begin walking one mile every other day. I have new walking shoes and have ordered inserts to support my flat feet. 2. Devote no more than one hour every day to the internet. This will be a difficult diet. 3. Continue to paint the inside of the house until every room has been completed. 4. Request a post for Unit Commissioner. One hour per week will be allotted. If I have three units, I will rotate the visits to accomplish the goal. 5. Find a new job. I am presently completing my resume and cover letter, cleaning out my computers and organizing the files, and quietly taking home my personal notebooks. 6. Build my workshop and unpack my tools. I have requested a survey and I am drawing the preliminary plans. 7. Raise our two-year old and our soon to be born in a house of joy. This one has been easy so far. The soon to be seems to be very active also. 8. Be a better husband by communicating effectively and taking quality notes on important issues. 9. Contact three of my lost Scouting friends to catch up and to let them know I think about them and miss them. 10. Make three new replacement friends. They will be called friends. All of you are my witnesses. You will get a follow-up report in 12 months. Happy New Year, Fuzzy Bear

I am sitting here thinking about how much I appreciate him. He was a quiet, sensitive man. He was not an overly involved Scouter. He kept his family, church, hobbies, and business in balance. He liked camping. He made opportunities for us whenever we made the requests. Those opportunities grew in proportion with our knowledge. He encouraged us and we grew into leaders. I worked for his company for a period of time. He was a good boss, a fair man, and was direct. I am sure that I could have remained with his business but I moved on. I want him to know that he left a good mark with one part of his life. FB

The article could have been entitled... Boee fluw thruw the fur two th resque Other possible articles... Soccer boy rescues brother from falling rock by using a header technique. The brother is fine. Soccer Mom rescues son from a Patrol hike. Sources say that she drove straight to the game and then to McDonalds afterwards. The Patrol hike went off without incident because of good planning and leadership. FB

At Philmont, a few years ago, I visited with one of the employees. He pointed out to me that sometimes they had to chase people off the land. Apparently, there are Scouts and Scouters, past and present that believe that they have ownership by association and circumvent proper registration. Most of us love Philmont and take ownership of our experiences. Most, and I mean hundreds of thousands, do not cross the "three mile limit" of personal ownership of the land, irrespective of language usage. I suppose if we did, then the staff would have a larger problem. It is true that proper wording can help change behavior. Before we change the behavior in question, it should be noted as being a behavior that needs changing. It is also polite and important to ask the person if they wish to change their behavior first. Aberrant behavior is not considered the norm and a person's language is not always indicative of their acts. More data should be collected prior to making that decision. Fuzzy Bear

Don and I used to stand in the parking lot after meetings and kick the dirt while discussing such issues. We were volunteers. The people that were paid to do their job did not always do it the way or to the standards we thought it ought to be done. We got mad, angry and hostile about their failures. Yes, we witnessed the wholesale signing up of kids in the schools just to make numbers. We pointed out to each other how wrong this was and how poor a program the council had to be able to get into such sad shape. We didnt recognize that allot of our program in our district was done by both of us. We failed to point out that we didn't plan very well, so we flew by the seats of our pants. We failed to reach out and train others to do what we were doing. We failed to recruit others, and then to properly train and mentor them. We failed to point out that we liked being the "go to people" to gather the praise which should have gone to others. In short, we failed to do the things that we were supposed to be doing and holding to the standards we wanted of others. I am not proud of my failures in Scouting or anywhere else. I have learned from some of my failures and am regrettably sorry for not understanding how my failures affected others. The last year before leaving, Don and I quit meeting to discuss the problems of others. I started reaching out to recruit, train, and mentor. I saw some of the best programs ever during that year. They were done by some of the newest folks in the district. They did programs that were far beyond anything that Don and I ever did. Being in the background and giving assistance was a difficult job but I received a kind of personal pride in doing that work. I can honestly say that I now believe in good program and how it is achieved. As for the numbers, hopefully there will be a good response to good programs or it will become easier to recruit and train others because of it. Nonetheless, I learned something important from my experience. Fuzzy Bear

Hope you bring back a couple of good photographs. It sounds great. What a way to bring in the New Year. Where is the Enchanted Forest? Since I have been off for a couple of weeks, we have been cleaning the carpets, moving the furniture and painting besides all of the Christmas doings. We'll just watch the ball drop, if we can stay awake long enough. F. Bear

DS, I will purchase a mirror this next Garage Sale year and putt it in the bag with all of the other stuff. Great tip though. I first golfed about four years ago. I borrowed a set of clubs from one of my office mates, a woman that was left handed. I found that her clubs worked best from the shorter tees. I was later told that everything in golf works in reverse. You don't hit the ball like an idiot. You don't try to drive the ball above the clouds, on and on. So I tried doing things in reverse and that didn't do it either. I attribute my failures to being left handed because that puts a reverse on the reverse. Being slightly learning disabled must put another reverse on it also. The game is a horrible mess. I get mad thinking about it. I may go out and break the clubs that I have yet to use. Golf must be life's little Gordian knot. Forgive me. I am new to the game. I am sure things will get better. Fuzzy B.

I am having one of those feelings that I have been here before. I can't remember exactly if it was pleasant or not but I must have gotten out alright. Let's see, I agree with Chip for allowing the Scouts to participate in choosing their fate. I agree with Fat Ole on the PL's Representing the Group. It is a basic leadership skill, one that the leaders will learn from by doing. I agree with Many on using a questionnaire based on past events but allowing for some creativity. I would temper it with a different use of the Evaluation. Our Scouts evaluate each event before they leave the parking lot. The input is recorded for future use in Planning. I have a personal preference against Purce's annual planning night but I am sure that it is a great event for him and his Troop, one that works. We use some other steps. We start by getting the District and the Council calendars. We use one of the big wall charts with each month and theme posted. I like to use Boys' Life, Program Helps or other program aids to enhance the planning process. We dont input the program specifics until later but use only the general program elements for the yearly planning. Involvement from the committee and other adults is important for preplanning. We want to know what the possibilities are before we jump. We don't want to tread on sacred ground, such as marital annual reviews, Bowl games, home games of import, annual pilgrimages and vital religious events. Similar data is collected from the Scouts. We are armed with a list of camps that are potential places of fun within a ten, twenty, fifty, and one hundred mile radius of our Scout Hut. Since the committee and other adult leaders are in a support role, we define the percentage of events that are workable distances that they are capable of assisting in during the year. We then know when and at what distances activity support is optimal. Then, we have the annual Leadership Campout. We have done it several ways. Basically, we have several events for the PLC and intertwine the planning conference. We might have some training by both Scouts and adults. We have some planned events, contests, and general fun. We review last years evaluations for any other insights. We have a campfire and applaud our efforts. We are then ready to take home the new schedule, type it up and send it out to every Scout and family. We generally take the entire troop but run two programs during the Planning campout. We want the Boy Leaders to be free of doing the Planning for a year's worth of activities. If it is done poorly or well, they are blamed or commended. We support their opportunity to make the choices. Can this work in a group of 16 Scouts? Sure, if some are Scouts and some are leaders. FB

It would be a closer fit to consider hacking down the Willam T. Hornaday award to replace it with the conservationist Fred Burnham, since he and Teddy Roosevelt started the Natioanl Consevation Movement. They could call it the FB award. Just maybe... Since B.P. spent "forty years sucking FB's brain", to come up with all of those ideas that is the least they could do for a friend of Scouting or scouting, I think. FB

BP didn't live on an island, well. I mean he was part of the rest of the world. Maybe they should also give some credit to Seton and Beard. There were really a bunch of people around at that time that helped Scouting. It was a world wide movement and somehow Burnham got stuck in an apple crate until some scholar unearthed the real person behind the curtain. What will tomorrow bring? FB

During an interview for a manager's position, you are asked about what it takes to be a leader and you recite the skills of leadership and get the job. FB

I am going to build an addition on to my hobby list after reading Laura's. I decided that I would learn to play golf. I started collecting golf clubs. I am left handed, so it took awhile to find them. I later found golf balls, lots of them. I sorted them into what I considered the best to the worst. I then found some Golf Digest magazines and cut out all of the parts that pertained to how to play the game and assembled them into a notebook. I found some tees. I even found a couple of good handbooks for teaching it and several videos from the real pros of the game. I found socks for the clubs, a good bag for the clubs, a smaller version for quick games, a putting mat, and a golf rag for wiping the sweat and mud from my forehead and the clubs or visa-versa. This feat of garage sale expertise was accomplished for less than $100.00 and two years later, I have yet to swing a club. In retrospect, my wife's concern is understandable. Still, she should consider that golf is a game of wit, talent, and above, all skill. It is a game for the ages. At the very least, it is a difficult game to master. I believe that I have sufficiently demonstrated these things to her, so, enough said. Fuzzy Bear (This message has been edited by Fuzzy Bear)

After reading the last message, I must be posting after the horse has ran. So, I will do what I do so well, blow hot air. Enter the Scout Slogan, Do a Good Turn Daily. It is kind of the nougat of Scout Spirit. An old Scout cartoon that is part of my Scout collection shows a young Scout telling a girl that he is going to hit her if she did not let him carry her groceries. He states that he must do a Good Turn Daily and it is her turn to help out. It lightly demonstrates a misunderstanding. The Good Turn is Scouting's "moral imperative" that takes understanding, counseling, training, and examples to learn. Since morals are not taught in school and generally not on TV, then it is left up to the church to carry that burden during the few hour(s) that they have the young person and if they can gain his/her attention by talk. The Scout's family may or may not be able to deal with morals effectively. So, it may be that the experience the Scout has in the troop setting is one of the few places to learn these lessons. Changing directions is never easy but the Scouting program is full of opportunities. I want to suggest three ways that I have found to be effective: 1. The Scoutmaster's Minute. When done well, you can gain attention and deliver a message in the amount of time a young person will accord such things, a minute. (Note: A few extra seconds may be given to a leader out of kindness. Make sure to have one or two Minutes intermittently about kindness. It will give you the upper hand.) 2. Periodically speak about Good Turns that you have knowledge of and you have the Scout's permission to share. Use of the Scout(er's) name is questionable. Some feel that it cancels the Good Turn when credit is given. Giving credit may also instill the wrong kind of pride and/or a one sided view of the person, such as guilt by association. We are not always guilty of an act based on one example. 3. Counseling Scouts is a full time job for a SM. Of course, this type of counseling is based on the Scouting ideals. If counseling is done only before the BOR, then we are not spending enough time doing it. A few questions are: Explain to me what is a Good Turn? What was your Good Turn for this day? Can you summarize your Good Turns for the past year by giving me the top three? The listener can pick up good information from these sessions. Plans can then be made for effective interventions. One important Leadership skill is "setting the example". It is generally done quietly. It may be wearing the proper uniform, showing up on time at the correct meeting, showing patience when confronted, or doing a Good Turn. Several years ago a Den Chief impressed the Cubs in his den by being polite. They discussed this behavior with the Den Mother after one meeting. These Scouts decided that being polite was something that they wanted to do. The Den Mother complimented the Den Chief on his good behavior. The Den Chief was perplexed that the Cubs had not learned this behavior elsewhere because it was a behavior that he had learned from his parents and reinforced through Scouting, so these Cubs should have already learned it. It just so happened that those changes that the Cubs choose from that one example were significant and lead to several other changes that would make this column too long but it happened. It was a Good Turn that was unintended and the Scout did not know he was doing it. It didn't make any difference about the intent or the present knowledge of the act because the Scout was busy being a Scout. He was guilty by constant association. It was also one of his top three Good Turns for that year. Fuzzy Bear

Bob White, Thanks for sharing a very entertaining story. and Mark, Thanks for yours. It is nice to hear these experiences retold. Fuzzy B.

I have enjoyed collecting Scout fiction over the years. I started with buying Scout books and then focused on the Percy K. Fitzhugh collection, Pee Wee Harris, etc. I loved Boys Life as a Scout and Pee Wee was the first character I read each month. So, I have collected some BL and other BL related items. I also collect neckerchief slides and have a few from Whittlin Jim and I even try making one every so often. I grew up working with tools and later taught woodworking in a Junior High school for a time. Most of the students were much better woodworkers than I will be, a fact I have accepted. I was trained as a counselor and the students I taught had various problems. I believe I was able to help some of them redirect their efforts in life through working with wood. I enjoy writing and thinking and writing. I honed some of my skills writing Haiku. I love to read about cowboys and have read most of Louis Lamoure. I saved a few to just sit in the coffee house with my back to the wall and read. I gave up regular for decaf, so some of the books may have to wait. I collected a few albums from my era of the 60s. I enjoy going to garage sales and finding treasures. My wife inserts the letter 'b' in the middle of the type of sales I like so much. I enjoy live auctions but have frequented ebay. As a rehabilitation counselor, I have been writing in my spare time about test interpretation, application of the results and collecting related data to assist in program planning. I am also writing about the transition from high school to the world of work. Lastly, I am writing about my experiences as a Scout. My two year old son rode my back the other day while I was hammering nails into molding in the bathroom. He appears to be my real hobby and I am not sure what I am teaching him. Fuzzy Bear

When I was a Scout, we went to our local Scout camp. It had a history, a good swimming pool, good outhouses, a good program, and many of the extras. I never recommended it to the Scouts I worked with as an adult for several good reasons. We were in a different Council that just happened to have three good Summer camps at the time. The Scouts asked and got to choose their camp each year. They had attended all three camps and favored one in particular. So, my first reason had to do with acceptance of the choices of the Scouts. One summer, we had a Scout transfer in from another council just north of us. He recommended his old camp, the Scouts voted on it and off we went. On our return, they evaluated their experience. The camp was poorly run without many of the features of their own camps. The Scout that recommended it fell from favor because of his lack of judgment. The second reason is that my own early experience may have been as clouded as that Scout's, so I was happy to learn from his mistake. My third reason has to do with my own sentiments for the things of my youth. I realize that they are personal and experiences cannot be recreated for others. I don't want to impose something that probably does not exist anymore and would not translate into the same experiences today. I found that we were able to make plenty of our own memories that were independent of my own and I am sure they are equally cherished. As a Scout, I attended a couple of other camps. I disliked both of them, so that made my initial camp experience even more special. I didn't believe that anyone else could do it better. I later saved $60.00 of my own money and went to Philmont. I reversed my earlier conclusion. Fuzzy B.

I like this site or just the idea of it. I haven't been able to be around Scouting for sometime. I am glad to have a way to interact with others that enjoy the same thing. I understand that there has been some difficulties, as with any group of individuals. Probably, some have had their feelings hurt. It may be that it is too difficult to express in words what we generally express to each other face to face. I am not sure that being quiet is what I wish from anyone this year. If we are requesting gifts, I am asking that everyone will give themselves courage. Courage to speak their minds as Americans and as Scouts(ers). People have given their lives because it is so important. There will always be those that disagree with us or dislike us. There will be those that are empty of spirit and enjoy sharing what little they have. Sometimes, we are wrong in what we do share, so there is always a risk in sending our best out for others to read and possibly to take aim. I ask for us all to share in the peace that comes from expressing our truth as we understand it and have come to know it from our experiences. Happy Holidays, Fuzzy Bear and family (This message has been edited by Fuzzy Bear)