JeffD

thanks for the info on the scout shop - ours is a national shop too and i am going to talk to them later today. the only thing is i had them raid my leader shirt for buttons since i would rather my son be taken care of. fortunately - the dry cleaner worked extra on his shirt to get it cleaned as the melted buttons stained the shirt. there are still a couple minor stains on my shirt - but they aren't too noticeable.

So my son has moved from a pack to a troop andwanted a few patches moved around to his troop shirt. we had used badge magic to put the patches on and never had an issue. like the website stated, i went to a dry cleaner that used 'perc' in hopes of dissolving all of the stuff off. when i picked the shirt up this morning, it was missing some buttons. i talked to the owner and he told me when the shirt was in the solution every single one of the buttons "melted" off. it even left a stain on the shirt that looked like he spilled chocolate milk or coffe down the front of the shirt. the place had sewn on generic brown buttons - but missed the pockets and shoulder loops on my sons shirt. the other 2 leader shirts of mine came out with no button issues. i had him remove buttons from one of my shirts (they didnt look bad - i would rather his shirt be perfect than mine to tell the truth). and for those wondering - there is a slight discoloration after the badges removed - though the area will be sewn over with new patches. when i originally put the patches on, we ironed the patches and badge magic on - and i saw that this is not recommended. but hey - the patches always stayed on and we never had an issue with them peeing up on the edges. so my questions are - have any of you ever had this happen? where can i get replacement buttons that look right?

Our school year kicks off in September we get our show/sell popcorn October 10th this year and the popcorn sale pretty much goes through December. unlike other areas of the country, this is a very active time for our Pack as its not so bloody hot outside December is when we will see our profits in the bank. If popcorn is to pay for this year of scouting do you just hold over money from last year? Or how do you handle that? In the past we have done okay with popcorn but I never want to go spending money that we hope to have in a few months (maybe its the Thrifty part of me ) I have always tried to carry over a little seed money to cover costs for the next year but wanted everyone elses opinions

the only thing i have gone by is the guide to safe scouting - http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/ageguides.pdf

Tonight our pack was given a flag from US Central Command and it was used in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. it was flown in the war and includes a transport form from camp Eggers, Kabul to Bagran Airfield on March 16th 2009 (or 16 Mar 2009 for all you military folks) where it was last flown over there. A big thanks to 3 Marines and 1 USAF Col. whom i may never get to meet but will be forever grateful. Thanks to GySgt Brian G Busch, James Davis and David Rossheim -USMC and Col. David Denning - USAF. Now i know they make the display cases for flags - but does anyone know if a case is made that can also display certificates (2 8x10 certs)?

yes- the company's foundation will only give payments to those groups they recognize in the community. unfortunately - our pack is not one of the groups, but the council is. we are now looking to see if our CO (American Legion) is. we may run in to a similar situation since they may recognize the national legion but not the local post

there is a leader who can get a $750 grant from his work for every so-many hours of volunteering (up to 2x per year). this money has to go to a registered non-profit org. because the pack is not recognized in this manner, the check went to council last spring. herein lies an issue. the leader would obviously like the pack to benefit from this more than we did this past time. $1500/year would be a great help to our program and allow us to build some programs like a uniform closet etc.. for those scout families in need. i think he was rubbed the wrong way when a family friend of theirs wanted to bring their kids to scouts but couldnt afford the uniforms and books to get started. The DE was not too willing to help us out with an uniform and book for this scout saying that they **might** be able to help out. some would say to just have the pack pick up the costs however, we simply dont have the funds. his problem was that they had no problems taking the $750 check, but only might be able to help him out with a shirt. in an ideal world our CO would give us a blank check to run a program, all parents would fight over volunteering for positions, and all that other stuff we dream of in our units last spring, the check was sent to council and we had it applied to our FOS. he is obviously not obligated to fill out the paperwork for the grant and it doesnt sound like he wants to do this is we (as a pack) will not benefit from the money. i realize that the money is going somewhere in council and that can be considered us benefiting, but this does not help us pay any of the pack expenses. i know he doesnt want 100% of the money to go to our pack (though it would be nice) but it would be nice for us to even be able to benefit some as a direct result. im afraid he will simply not fill out the paperwork and just let the money go elsewhere. either that or he fills it out so our CO would get a check and give it right back to us - with council cut completely out of the picture. a few uniform shirts and books each semester would be nice so we can recruit some scouts that may not have the ~$100 to spend to get started. thoughts??

harbor freight had some scales that would easily weigh the cars for about $10 on sale (reg $20) they worked great for us

no - the pictures would only be of scouts and their families in the regular activities - meetings, awards and recognition, campouts, derby etc... the pictures would be taken by any of the members. i usually bring a camera, and a few other parents always have a camera handy. our pack tries to do regular outdoor activities every month and we always have great pics. last year a parent made a slideshow and set it to music. it would have been nice to post that so people could download and burn to a cd/dvd and view at home or send to relatives the purpose is simply to show interested parties what the pack does and even let the scouts see themselves online if they would like. (IE - hey grandpa - go to our website and see me - i just earned my bobcat) the scouts would be identified by their first name and last initial only. (IE Jeff D wins the pinewood derby)

FWIW - our unit is a cub scout pack.

our unit website hasnt published pictures of scouts yet. we want to share pictures taken by the many shutter-bugs and I have looked for a sort of release to cover us. the BSA site has the following - http://www.scouting.org/webmasters/webstandards/appendix-a.aspx it looks like this is set up for a single event - and we would like to do one for an entire year. yeah - i may be a little cautious, but i would err on the safe side. what have you used? YIS, jeff

some days it feel like guns-n-roses - welcome to the jungle

When my son was a tiger (last year) his book fell apart within the first few weeks. fortunately as the tiger leader - i had a spiral bound book for me. we solved that the next year by buying his wolf book spiral bound. at the scout shop they have said they have had issues with tigers - but not so much the books for older scouts - so what is everyone else experiencing? im just debating between the following 3 options since the pack is buying books for all of our returning scouts 1. buy the non-spiral bound book for 6.99 because it doesnt fall apart like the tiger ones - and hope the tiger ones work better 2. buy the spiral book for 12.99 3. get the non-spiral bound book and go to kinkos for (hopefully) cheaper spiral binding? thanks in advance

when you're 18 and an adult - i could care less - but a 2nd grade boy with earrings. geez. sorry - had to vent.

i think we all agree that an experienced leader is great for helping. can i remind those who may have skipped a couple posts that... she is NOT interested in being a leader she is NOT interested in playing a role in the pack (heck - when she was running campouts it was like pulling teeth to even get a our permit as she didnt see the need for them) like someone stated - she wants to be in the "monthly social camping and outfdoor activities club" when she talked to me last she was complaining at how much boy scouts costs - and how much they have to sell for summer camp. makes me wonder now if she wants to be in a scouting-lite program for her older son. all the values at half the cost