anarchist

Can I play? forgive the long post but this subject is near and dear to my heart! Webelos to Scouts -What to do?....Retention will always be an issue...lots of reasons for dropping out- but we need to remember to beat ourselves up only over those issues we can change... that said: ALL WEBELOS LEADERS SHOULD HAVE OUTDOOR LEADER TRAINING! As I have said before old "W-LOT" training was some of the most useful I have seen come out of BSA...While most was not new to me I only had to look around to see "brains" clicking and ideas forming...Most of the Adult leaders were getting a usefu

In the old days coleman had numerous authourized repair locations..sadly is seem repair is not what the want...its replacement.... That said Coleman has a fairly extensive (if some what slow) web site with lots of parts...Try there first. If you contact them with a question...be prepared to be answered by a brain dead "dwebe" who's answer to everything is ..."Well maybe its time to think about a new______". Sometimes you have to call two or three times to get someone who really wants to help you. I have been keeping four stoves and five old (very old) white gas lanterns working for 2

Aw geeze Eammonn, ya had to go and ruin a good introspective narrative by hoping OJ learns to hate hunting! Most of my Southern forebearers and I think all of my Native American forefathers would heartily disagree with that sentiment (as would every PA truck driver that has whiped out a deer and a truck in a collision). Hunting is noble and necessary endeavor(as well as an enjoyable past-time). Killing or harvesting, if you prefer, of wildlife is particularly necessary unless you are willing to re-introduce cougars, wolves and bears into suburbia. We have taken out the pedator

Narrator: "Don't need no sewing merit badge! Its all "modern moms" fault!" (script notes :duck for cover...for appropriate number of years)! Back in the dark ages "Mom" sat me down with my Cub Scout uniform and MADE ME watch her sew on my pack numbers and council patch. She then tacked on my den number and MADE ME sew it the rest of the way...then came my rank patches Wolf Bear and Lion and arrow points..she tacked them on and I sewed the rest... As a cub some of our activities were sewing very pprimative stuffed animals, bean bags and finally small leather "Native American medicine pouc

Boy led instructionals can be and often are disasters...why?...Poor training, sometimes! Poor leadership? sometimes! Poor instruction technique...nearly always! IMHO, mainly 'cause most boys are just (like the rest of us) basically lazy! As "boy led" program adult mentors, too often we "allow" programs to be "planned" and assigned and then go on auto pilot(as do the PLs and SPLs) expecting scout instructors to be natural teachers. I have sat through "thorns and roses" (post mortems) of failed classes and heard (hundreds of times now): "too much lecture and not enough hands on work".

Eagles...love them all...wouldn't care if we grew another Eagle -ever...IF we could keep all our boys in the program til they aged out... That said, some boys and FAMILIES need the rank advancement part of the program to have a measuring stick...others are in the program purely to get their son's "Eagle Ticket" punched for his resume...what ever the reason, every campout and service project we can keep a boy active on gives us another small chance to mentor, teach, guide, correct, touch the boys heart (is that too much?)and THAT is what WE are about... Every boy who gets into the pro

GaHillBilly, Fun...what I think of as fun (like dropping a deer hair bug next to a log hoping for a small mouth) many scouts find boring so thats why we encourage THEM to build and maintain the program...and then we support it! If THEY find it FUN then there is a chance they stick around longer and absorb more "scouting stuff". Which is not a bad goal?! "Gangs", even todays boy form gaggles of interest and friendship...One of our past SMs remarked as he was about to leave that one of the "coolest" things he found with our program was when he asked a bunch of 17 year olds - boys who h

while I feel the pain of the "term limit" crowd, it is just way too individual a problem to hang on term limits...I have seen a 20 year SM who reguarded as a saint by his scouts and the community and only poor health forced him out. Boys in his early years and boys in his later years all loved his program... I have also a four year SM step down and leave such a power vacume that the troop really foundered...this guy was a fantastic boy led advocate but his follow up SM had a heck of a time directing the program... I have seen a two year SM leave to prevent a whole sale mutiny and a s

Amen, Hunt and Venividi... the whole story...we rarely get anything approaching two sides and we seem to take pleasure in judging others which is perhaps the worst part of this... This last week I have been dragged into a minor troop crisis over what appears to be a difference of perceptions of what went on in a BoR... Being the oldest active troop committee member, I seem to be viewed as everyones father confessor, referee or bartender (I am not sure which or even why...my people skills are severely lacking). In this case; lad's dad (an ASM) heard from his boy that he "fai

After 12 years working with a troop, 16 with a pack and having taken hand in a slow take over of the troop program I can say it is hard work that is not done over night. And if the program has any portion of "boy led" operating; the boys can be the greatest hurdle to overcome...Strange as it may seem; the boys themselves can be the single largest barrier to change..."we have always do it this way" means a lot to boys...Change can be seen by boys as very unsettling. Of course, Adults can be real pains too! But over the years I have seen a lot of newbie "suggestors" -who when asked to take

Lisabob, If he can not use a D.O. for the corn bread...(and BTW D.O. corn bread can be heavenly...) the corn bread can be cooked in a heavy Iron skillet just as you would a bannock (portage trail bread)and without a reflector oven with some before hand practice... I am sure if he checked the net for "bannock" he would get "the picture" -But basically, you cook the bottom of bread over low heat (coals) and after a while you build a dare I say "roaring" fire wall"- a "wall of fire" made of large-kindling sized wood (splits)'standing nearly straight up' (leaned on a spit of wood or me

t'was a slow weekend for us... we had 15 boys helping with an Elementary School Festival and 13 boys helping a local church with its fall harvest festival (homecoming)...couple of D.O. demonstrations, good community relations...etc. Getting ready (next week)for a Caving/Hike campout (climbing and crawling under the mountain for the older scouts and Hiking on the mountain for the younger boys)

nothing wrong with old aluminium D.O.s wish I could find a few of the old sruare and rectangle ones! newer Aluminium D.O.s tend to be thinner and smaller... if you have worn your fingers to the bone and still want to get it "even cleaner"...and do not want to use chemicals...which can be problematic. Put lots of hot water in it and boil the heck out of it...then while still hotter than blazes...hold steady with D.O. glove and "scrub" with a paste made of baking soda using a cheap electric tooth brush (and if you have one- a dental water pick)...if nothing more you will have sterilize

Ah, it's fall and the "everyones a twit" birds are out again... so let me get this straight...troop doesn't trust merit badge mills??? wants to make sure boys actually qualified and were not simply "signed off" for having a pulse and finding the merit badge class??? gosh, sign me up! Of course the tried and true "its the book and the book is law" types..reguardless of the real "on the ground" will brand the troop and SM a rogue organization, but that just makes me want to love the guys even more! Guess Fscouter still believes that no scout program is better than one that has its own

First.... repeat after me..."No kid ever starved on a weekend". Fact is most folks in extreme situations can go several WEEKS without food... If a scout does not want to partake...why not let him bring his own food...outside of "no food in tents", we allow scouts to provide their own eats if they want..But they still pay a food share, just in case they forget their own "special" grub. Then the patrol does not have to "suffer" on shared short rations and the grub master knows everyone is provided for. Usually after a few camps it dies out...We do have a "soda and candy" tradition..if yo

as one long time growing, small town troop to another...food sales and drinks are great small town fund raisers... pasta and salad dinners have raised $1,000 per supper in profits, pancake breakfasts $7-800...pop corn and sodas/ water/ cocoa/ coffee at local parades, civic events and flea markets clear two -three hundred...We took on the job of setting out American flags for the local ruritans because their membership was no longer able to do it and they reward our boys with $200-$300 per year for equipment....we also have been paid by local clubs to direct "field parking" at carnivals an

All, been thinking about this thread a lot...been thinking about all the less than "good" training I have taken to be a troop helper person...and truthfully most of it stank to some degree or another...but in the end I can not see it changing in any great or real way. As they used to say a few years ago time for a Reality check... (and I hate to defend BSA on any issue) The Facts: Most of us pay peanuts for training (Woodbadge being the exception perhaps). Most of us pay peanuts to "belong" to the organization. Most of us complain loudly when BSA sends around the FO

Think Gunny2862 has it about right. Our troop has timberline XT 2''s and 4''s (fours are definitely less than perfect back packers but the two-mans, split between two scouts results in each scout having about 4 pounds or less to carry in the way of tentage) Damage occurrs, these are KIDs after all, but most is horse play or bags tearing...not willful misuse. We loose the occasional stake or tarp line but it is now a rare occurance. We instituted troop dues a few years back and one of the componants of those dues was repairs and replacement costs of equipment. Its just good planning.

First to John-in-KC Horse feathers to your horse hockey...;>) You are playing at semantics ...(and loosing I might add) "To Volunteer" only means you have taken a JOB without pay, perhaps for some private motive (you get to choose here) but you have still taken a job...yes a J O B. By volunteerism one does not become a minor saint nor does one have claim to any golden throne but as a volunteer you do make a committment to do the necessary work...and you also get the worms with the apple...and since this is not a perfect world you should expect lots of worms... And of course,

I love the idea... In our Troop ALL ASMs and of course the SM have all taken the basics Youth protection, SM fundamentals, Outdoors Safety afloat/ safe swim defense trainng or they are not given a patch...Troop not council policy. Many also have CPR certs, and back counrty First Aid classes. Almost all of our committee folks are also district trained, and many are cross-trained as SM/ASMs with outdoor leader training. Gonna wear the uniform? Then you''re gonna know what it is about... As far as the "push back"...that''s where you really find out who is "with you" or who just wants to

Don''t you know that its always the scouters fault for not nursing a scout through at the last minute to Eagle...never the scouts fault...:>) That said, If the young man still desires to join I would have a full blown BoR outside of a normal troop meeting night...complete with your CC and the SM on the side. I would make it a real job interview...If he can not answer questions such as "Why should the troop expend energy and assets on him?"... (after all he was the one who said he was "done with Scouting"), Or "What (efforts, energy and time) will he bring to the "table" (troop)" if yo

Slouchhat, Public transport in the U.S. is primarily a "city" thing. Outside of the cities, trains are mostly set up for freight (US policy makers deciding decades ago that we (citizens) couldn''t afford a top-notch passenger train service. When I was a scout in the days of the wooly mammoth, our church supplied an old school bus which could carry the whole troop to events...it was great and we could even drop scouts off at their front doors on Sunday Afternoon...NOw days with Federal and state passenger vehicle drivers licenses, multiple insurance policies and disengaged Charter Or

CA_Scouter, I''m with Hunt on this one...almost any project can be written up to make it sound like another group (COR in this case) is benefitting, but in the end the "smell test" for me would be that this work will be for the troop to use primarily and the F.D. should they want to...I have no issue with Eagle Projects benefitting the COR...but this seems like a "troop first" project...worthy for that purpose but "iffy" for an eagle project! my two cents Anarchist

to me it sounds like packsaddle wins the prize, though at 1 and 1/2 inches he sounds like he needs more grasshoppers and horse flys...underfed, don''t cha know...Would guess you have an average speciman of "Lycosa tarentula"...a wolf spider to most of us...BIG HARRY Tarantulas from the south west and South America are often kept as pets and are actually quite fragile...easily injured. Spiders are cool, and beneficial... pick up a few books at the local library...Like snakes, most folks'' "fear" is totally unjustified...healthy respect, perhaps, but not fear...Spiders just want to eat bugs

Slouchhat, (thought ouly us southerners wore slouch hats?) Adult participation varies from troop to troop. In ours we have 47 registered scouts (''bout 42 really considered active) we alo have 12 registered and trained ASMs and 12 registered and trained Committee members-several of whom are also cross-trained as SM/ASMs. Most Camps we have 5-10 Adults. They are generally the transport for our scouts. On any given "troop trip" (we have several patrol only weekends in our program)...we may be traveling two to three hours from home (one way). We need car/truck seats for 30-40 boys