Gutterbird

It is that time of year when we take all the equipment out of the troop trailer and clean and look for damaged gear. One thing we do is set up every tent, clean them and look for damaged poles, zippers, etc. so we can make these repairs over the winter months. We just completed a camping trip this last weekend and noticed a few of our Coleman dome tents had a musty smell and even a few spots of mold. After each campout we do dry out our tents to prevent this, but moisture may have snuck in during storage, who knows. So, what is the best way to clean these tents to rid them of the mold withou

What does everybody use to whip rope ends? I have tried a few different types of string and nothing really lasts. Any Ideas? Thanks

I have mixed feelings about the Friday Night Family Night at summer camp. My first year at camp, family night was Wednesday and we did not lose any boys, however, camp is a two hour drive from our city and very few parents made it. Those that did come, had to leave early because they had to work the next morning. The council then switched to a Friday night Family night and we had more families make it. However, we lost 5 boys that night. Three were planned and two got homesick when they saw mom and dad. This past year we had 100% turnout of families for our troop and we only lost two boys. On

He did not make the next campout. Our next one is in three weeks and I will let you all know how it went. In the mean time, I pulled him aside on one of our last day trips, (and yes, he wanted to leave early on this daytrip to a favorite nearby fishing pond) and had a scoutmaster conf. discussing his leaving early. We discussed sharing the workload and setting good examples for the younger scouts, among other issues. I will report back to you all early October after the campout.

Thanks for all the input and the boys will be discussing the issue at their next PLC. In the meantime, one of our committee members is a school psychologist (every troop should have one of these on their board, lol) and I discussed this issue with her. She has seen how he acts on campouts and believes he may have some mental issues. She also notices that when he does chores, (cooks, cleans camp, set-up, etc.) that the father is there helping him if not doing the work for him. She suggests that I talk with the father again and find out if in fact there may be some mental disabilities. If so,

There are times a boy may have to leave a campout early because of other family or school commitments which I have no problem with; however, we have a boy in our troop that always leaves after the first night of a two night, weekend campout. His father is a committee member and attends these campouts with his son. The problem I have with him always leaving before the end is he gets out of the cleanup and other boys are now catching on and asking why this boy leaves. This is not just one or two campouts, but every campout. I discussed this with the father and the fathers reply is that once all

Does anybody know hwere I can find information on the Knotmaster Program?

No, his SPL POR was in previous ranks, he has no POR as Life.

"One thing to keep in mind is creating a SM leadership position is fine for Star and Life, but Eagle requires one from the National approved list. The SM cannot create a leadership position for Eagle." According to our Scout Executive, to whom I inquired about the Lone Scout option, I could create a leadership position. I did look it up on eaglescout.org and you are right, so I do not know. It does not really matter anyway due to the fact he did not want it. My next step is to talk to parents and just take it from there. Thanks for all the input. (This message has been edited by G

"Please share with us your last Scoutmaster Conference with him... " Last SMC was back in May, the last time he was at a meeting. We discussed his Eagle rank and what he needed to achieve this goal. I tried to find out from him if there were any issues that he thought was slowing him down? Girls, cars, etc. He told me no issues. He was not very talkative and I got the impression he just did not want to participate any more, he just wants his Eagle. "Please share with us the Committee's last non-advancing BOR with him... " Have not had one. When we hold BOR's he does not come, even wh

He never accepted the POR position I created for him. The position I created was Scout Service Project Coordinator. I told him he would help set up and run various troop service projects. Something he could do during his down time when not at school or work. When I presented this to him, he just told me he did not have the time for it, therefore, never held a POR. Looking at my records, he attended only 4 meetings this year and his last outing with the troop was July 2007. Since I have been SM (FEB 07), he has not participated in any service projects, 1 fundraiser, and 1 campout. My next

I have situation, a particular scout has not been coming to meetings, when he does show up (maybe 3 meetings this year) he sits in the back and gets up and leaves when he wants. He will not participate in troop or patrol activities. I have even made in effort and gone out of my way to get him involved. I will give him tasks but meet resistance; I will not force him to do anything. He has not been on a troop campout or outing since July 06. He has no POR time and will not take a leadership position. I have even created a position just for him to accommodate his schedule but he did not want

I got the password issue worked out. I ended up calling the National Council in Irving TX, talked with a very nice and helpfull lady. She reset my password and a few minutes later, I was in!

Is anybody else having trouble accessing "MyScouting"? It seems my password stopped working and it will not let me reset a new password. Apperently passwords have to have numbers and letters now, mine was just numbers which is why I guess it won't let me in. I emailed their tech people at the address provided but no reply yet.

Just got back from a weekend campout and I lost my cool and barked at a scout in front of all the parents. Let me back up a bit. I have the philosophy of talking across to the scouts rather than to talk down at them. I try to show them the same respect that I expect them to show others. Very seldom do I ever yell at a scout, however, there is one scout in particular that has really been pushing our (the leaders) patients on this campout. He is somewhat hyper active, does not respect others belongings, is loud, and did something in front of a group of people that I will not repeat. Anyhow

Well, we just made that campout that I talked about in the original post. The campout went as expected. Temps ranged from mid twenties during the day to single digits at night, we had snow and even wind. All boys came well prepared, and everybody made it through the night. A nature walk through the woods was done and several early rank advancements completed. The boys did a nice job lashing together a 7 foot lean-to that we used as a wind break. Cooking was kept simple, dutch oven or single pot meals. Lots of hot cocoa and a nice warm fire. The only difficult time was in the morning, the ki

Bamboo is a great idea, but unfortunitly, bamboo is not to readily available in the midwest. The tower was just a thought that may not happen. Monkey bridges are coomon, what do you use for monkey bridges?

Just curious what type of poles people are using for pioneering projects? Our boys want to move up and assemble larger and more sophisticated pioneering projects such as monkey bridges, larger gateways, towers, etc. What we have been using for smaller projects are 2x2 with the corners ripped creating an octagonal pole which works great. I am afraid that these may not be strong enough for larger project. Finding straight, long, tree limbs has been challenging. So, what does everybody else use?

I have tried several differant fad diets in the past, some worked, some did not. I have joined a weight loss program at the YMCA, work out when I can at the Y and I am eating smarter now. I am counting calories, I am keeping my calorie intake 1000/day or less, lots of salads, Veggies, staying away from breads, (which is hard for me). Seems to be working, down about 7 lbs in 2 weeks. Gotta get fit for Summer camp, can't let the boys show me up when I go huffing up those hills!!

Thank you all for the great tips. We are planning our trip towards the end of Feb. and will be in central Illinois. The winter can get rough but not Upper Wisconsin or Michigan U.P. tough. And by the end of February the weather should start to mellow out(at least in theory). Our troop has done several outdoor winter activities so the cold is not new to us. We just have not done any camping. As far as training, I have no intentions taking on this endeavor blindly. The safety of the boys is of the up most importance. I not only plan on getting further training for this but I have recruited an A

Thanks for all the responses, I appreciate it.

I have been a SM for about a year. Our troop has never done a winter campout and the boys want to do it, so we are going to give it a go. It will be done locally at a nearby campground and will be a first for all leaders and boys. I have done some research on the subject and have consulted the BS Fieldbook. I am now looking for any tips that are not in the books that you may want to share. Our tents are just the standard Coleman type dome tents. Thanx

"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?" Yes, you can insure the trailer and the contents. Our troop carries insurance for this through Allstate,

We have many new scouts in our troop and we will attempt to build a monkey bridge at our next campout. Never having built one myself, does anybody know of any resources out there that will explain the ins-n-outs of biulding a monkey bridge?

I am just curious how troops are transitioning to the new uniform. Are the asking the boys to go out and by new ones so everybody will match or are you making it an option which would result in a mix of old vs new?