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gcnphkr

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Everything posted by gcnphkr

  1. I've a question. I'm a UC for a troop with a charter date of May 1983. But tenure is only 329. That is a 27 month difference. Any ideas why this would be? The Registrar has no idea.
  2. Our PLC has their planning weekend coming up in 2 weeks. Here's how that weekend works for us. The 2 Troop Meetings prior to the weekend, the patrols make wish lists for activities, changes, etc. that their PL will bring to the weekend. The adults do the cooking so the PLC can focus on planning. Friday night: Upon arrival we get a few things set up, but within 30 minutes the PLC starts planning The first thing they do is determine what our High Adventure trip will be, when it will be held, training and advancement requirements. While they do this, at least one adult is on
  3. Now and then we serve things like crayfish, rattle snake, octopus, silk worm pupae (very nasty indeed), grass jelly. Once a boy eats a grasshopper they get over being picky. Regarding real restrictions. Each patrol works it out. If one scout can't have something the patrol either does something else or the scout provides an alternative for that meal. We've one scout that carries an epi-pen, but has never had to use it.
  4. Scout run. But there is nothing wrong with adult labor. The challenge is preventing the adults from taking over.
  5. They also appeared to not have a map. That might have solved everything.
  6. Some people are jerks and no rules will ever change that. Seems like they already made a decision to ignore Helpful, Friendly, Courteous and Kind. They would also ignore your three rules. As for your rules. Ten is generally a good maximum size, it may even be on the large size. There have been times that we will exceed that, especially on a day hike. I would be reluctant to tell scout number 11 that he could not go unless there was a hard limit on a permit. Even then we tend to break up into smaller groups. Unless there is a way to reserve a site or shelter then a person should
  7. "Each of your troops have potentially dozens of parents who are relegated to the sidelines for every outing, summer camp and activity that your troop does" I must admit that I have no idea what this means.
  8. Make sure you register your unit with Google Places http://www.google.com/places/ Get your contact information current on BeAScout.org Registration is free and puts you on Google Maps. That will often put you near the top of searches in your area. If you want even better placements then be willing to pay for adds. Bidding for placement is not that expensive on a low volume search term like "boy scouts City, ST" I suspect that a couple of bucks a month would give you all the traffic you want. We use Scoutlander. Overall it works but it is slow.
  9. In the past there was no requirement that the scout involve any other scouts or scouters. If they wanted to just recruit help from the benefiting organization they could, including adults. If they wanted to use no adults at all, that was acceptable as long as the safety requirements where met. This is no longer the case. Now at least two adults will be required and at least one must be registered. Now in 99.9% of the projects out there this is moot. But there are exceptions and it is a shame that they are no longer possible.
  10. Thanks for the work. I do have a few issues to grumble about. I can see that this provides the scout a great deal more structure that then old, I assume to prevent the excessive planning that can be required to just get the approval. But I don't see how this is less project planning that the old version. If anything it makes much of the planning more formalized and places far too much emphasis on fundraising. Now, I will grant that fundraising can be am major part of a project and certain aspects needed to be clarified, but did we need to add 2.5 pages on the subject including the fundrai
  11. All I get are solar power and vacation ads. You guys have all the fun.
  12. It was interesting. Although, I could not keep from think if Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks sketch.
  13. Reminds me of the time Sam Walton wore a grass skirt and did the hula on Wall Street in 1984. And yes, it did motivate us to make 8% pre-tax profit. I did something similar a few years ago. I agreed to dye my hair pink for a week for every $1000 in popcorn sales the troop had.
  14. For our troop it would be a Magic: The Gathering MB. If they have 20 free minutes the decks are out and they are playing. Chess is a good choice, although maybe a more generalized table game merit badge that included chess, Go, checkers, oware or other mancala variant. They should be two player games in public domain that require strategic planning.
  15. gcnphkr

    Patches

    We have a "troop hoodie" that I put mine on. It includes patches from my youth and today. I do have to be a bit selective as there is not enough room for all the patches I've gathered in 20 years.
  16. I always know where I am, I just have no idea where I am going. I'm glad the scout is safe.
  17. We have a separate staff for the ribbons. Much nicer as they do not get as tangled, plus it looks cool.
  18. The zinc on the surface of the pan oxidizes quickly. This ZnO has a decomposition point of 1975C which you are very unlikely to get to with a campfire. Carbon does reduce this so it might be possible to melt it using it as a fire pan. ZnO is relatively insoluble in water and has a low toxicity when consumed, you would need to eat large quantities to have any risk. You expose yourself much more with ZnO based sunblocks. Breathing it could be an issue, which is why your should wear a respirator when working where dust is potential. Getting zinc poisoning from cooking a turkey in a garbage c
  19. Hard to make a circle with 3 patrols, but a triangle works. The new scout patrol was only about 100 ft. out, not unreasonable for their skills. But the older scouts where a little over 300 ft away for the first couple of days. They got tired of carrying food out to their patrol site so about mid-week they moved in to about 150 ft. from the center (and 400 ft. closer to the rifle range). Still, it was far enough that they were as autonomous as they had been. Before Memorial Day my son came in and told me he and his friends (who all happen to be in the same patrol) were going camping.
  20. There are times with dispersed camping with a large number creates issues. Mostly sanitation-the idea of scores of cat-holes is unappealing at best, and fires. But they can be dealt with. Not so much for an overnight, but longer camps. I'm finding that the easiest solution for camps over 48 hours is to use council camp facilities. Relatively cheap, everything you need for infrastructure and lots of room.
  21. Chances are it is moot. In my experience scouts working on a merit badge like you describe will not do anything until an adult initiates with the scout about finishing the requirements. They will not care who that adult is. If they still have the blue card and if it has the counselor's contact information on it they might call her to finish. But it has been almost three months for a merit badge that, other than catching the fish, takes 2-3 hours to compete. In other words, if they haven't completed it by now they will not be competing it until you have another fishing campout with another
  22. "What is wrong with the traditional plaque in the scout hut or church lobby?" We rent a school so we don't have a place to put the plaque. So yes, we put the names on the trailer. What is the problem with putting them on the trailer? We may have a lot of Eagles, but we don't gear the program around making Eagles. "Has anyone seen the growing emphasis on Eagle Palms in their Troop?" We have had more in the last few years as those that have earned their Eagle prior to being 18 (about half) have stuck around and picked up the palms along the way. We don't emphasize them, they just
  23. "Volunteer led, professionally advised" Now I have to clean my keyboard and display.
  24. I put them in the washing machine and drier with everything else. Never need to iron the pants, occasional touch-up on the shirts. It is true that the synthetic fabric does not like heat. I guess like most laundry, the key is not letting them sit in the washer for a long time before drying. Collar stays should be removed for ironing. Shirts with non-removable collar stays are the work of Satan.
  25. I've been following the lightning incident since last week. It is interesting as the family works through the grief. This weekend they were blaming the Boy Scouts but they seem to have backed off some on that. From http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52213673-78/david-sean-rayborn-connie.html.csp David was among a group of Scouts returning to shelter when the storm moved in. He and fellow Scout friend and neighbor Sean Smith, also 12, were at the back of the group when the lightning struck. Sean told his parents that he and David were standing and looking at the lighting and started running
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