AnneinMpls

Here's the Green Bar Website:

http://www.greenbar.ws/4scouts/index.cfm

Anne in Mpls

It is I, Sister Katana of Enlightenment!

Hear these words of wisdom!

T'is better to be standing in the short line of the watch list, than to stand for hours among the masses.

Yes, I am on the Watch List. Or one of em. I guess something good came of my union organizing days I tell ya, you feel absolutely catered to when you get to bypass the regular security line at the airport! Such personal attention! Such service! Actually, I dont think we in the short line even had to take off our shoes...they just looked deeply into our eyes while asking the same standard questions...

Sister Katana of enlightenment in Mpls

people, this isn't even a challenge.

Here's a challenge.

Invent a cobbler recipe for foraged ingredients in the habitats found where you camp.

On your mark,

Get set,

GO

Easy folks,

There are many many faiths that specify a fairly precise time of day, and or day of the week for their observances. More information is needed.

Anne in Mpls

Sigh. This is so similar to what is happening in our local Girl Scout council.

In order for a troop leader to take her girls anywhere overnight, she now has to complete:

online orientation, 1.5 hours

fast start coaching session 1.5 hours

Leadership Essentials (which teaches essentially nothing about leadership)3 hours

THEN,

Field Trips and Tours 1.5 hours (in order to go anywhere)

Girls Cook In (I am not kidding.)1.5 hours (in order to make a freaking sandwich.)

Girls Sleep In 2 hours (in order to fall asleep. Indoors.)

THEN, if they want to sleep in a tent and cook outside:

Girls Cook Out 3.5 hours (apparently required even to make a sandwich outdoors.)

Girls Sleep Out 4 hours (in order to fall asleep, outside of 4 walls and a roof.)

I can hardly wait for the day when leaders will be required to take a three hour training called Girls Sit In Chairs before being allowed to take the Girls Sit and/or Lay upon the Ground. To be followed by Girls Move About Slowly Indoors before taking Girls Move About Slowly Out of Doors.

I'm spending an hour at council today to have the new training plan explained to me. I wish them luck.

There's got to be a point at which folks will wake up and say enough is enough.

Anne, who cooks and sleeps and has her being, indoors and out, (and trains others to do likewise) in Mpls

So sorry!

How to correct this gaff?

CalicoPenn - thank you! Yer awesome!

Packsaddle, you are nothing to me!

That better?

Anne, always trying to be the tactful one, in Mpls

Nah, I appreciate Packsaddle too! Hugs!

Hey, thanks so much for mentioning this! I'll be at council today - but oh how cool it's all available online! So much better than another book to carry around )

Anne in Mpls

Packsaddle, you are amazing! I had tried hunting online to identify it myself and got no where. Yes, I'm pretty sure you've identfied it correctly. The range and habitat fit, as do all the descriptions, including the grass-like leaves. I'll have to look more carefully this year and see if I can identify it in flower.

No idea it was an edible plant as well...very cool!

Anne in Mpls

ROTFLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like I can't identify a cattail

No, these are on a somewhat tall stalk (thin and half the height of a cattail!!) and the seeds form a 3-4 inch diameter round ball that looks almost exactly like a dandelion puffball. They grow in dryish sandy poor soil, with mixed prairie-type grasses.

Anne in Mpls

Matches? We don need no steenking matches.

Late summer/fall there's a weed that makes these giant puff balls, like a dried dandelion puff ball on steroids. They are quite tall compared to the grasses the grow among. The stalk under the puff ball is also nicely dried out, and thick, almost woody. I don't know what it is, just know that it holds a flame nicely.

I gather 3-5 of these, and can get a nice fire going with a hotspark.

Anne in Mpls

Nor did their government abandon them in their time of need.

(My cousin Stephanie was sandbagging last week - her boss paid everybody who went to sandbagging instead of to work. She was torn trying to decide whether to evacuate her preschool-age daughter down here to the cities.)

Anne in Mpls

Sigh,

I am thinking you are well-intentioned, but perhaps not putting your talents to work in the right environment.

I am reminded of a person I had a hard time dealing with who is now in a different volunteer position and doing ok with it.

She would, quite frankly, meddle. Nothing was good enough for her, she always had ideas, lots and lots of ideas, of how to do things better. Never mind, she would bring them up at the most inopportune times, announce competing events right on top of already-planned events, and generally only had her own kids' best interests in mind - rather than a broader perspective of what was really best for the group as a whole.

A lot of it was due to inexperience...she would say things like, we should do *service projects* for the *community*. As if...never before in the history of mankind had anyone thought of such a thing. Umm, and we did tons of service! Then she would pick up on the current tagline of the organization, and pass the phrase off as if it were her very own unique discovery, and we should be dazzled by her brilliant perception of what the program could truly be if only...

This person was *hard to take*. A real pain in the patootie. and, she was brilliant at fundraisers. So that's where we put her - higher up, so she's only pestering adults, rather than doing her goofiness in front of youth.

Now, this person may or may not resemble the person you see in the mirror.

Keep things very basic - focus on a well-run and well-staffed troop committee. Focus on supporting the program that the Scoutmaster brings you from the boy leadership. Approach your position with the spirit of servant leadership. Help make your Scoutmaster's job *easier* - don't ever let it be said that you made his job *harder*. That would be a sure sign you are not doing the job you signed up to do.

Keep this in mind: It's boy scouting, not grownup scouting! All the cool opportunities you see dont mean sqwat if it's not developing the boys' leadership.

Another thing, dont ever do a sneak attack via the agenda thing either. Ive seen this person do it, and I've seen others employ this tactic also. It's a sure sign of a lack of confidence- be forthright. If you want ot have a meeting about a particular issue, name the issue so others can be as well-prepared as you for the meeting. Don't pull any "gotcha's", no mean surprises, no going behind someone's back to get the answer you want, and pulling it out when you want to score points. Check any and all of that kind of attitude at the door.

Be kind to your scoutmaster - he's probably doing a much better job than you imagine

Anne in Mpls

Ok, so who do I put in the chair for the advancement committee? I got like, 3 eagle scouts, a US judge, a former mayor as the chair... I cut the dead weight when I could find it...

Help!

Anne in Mpls

week 54 and counting (What are these months y'all are talking about??)

Thanks Eagle!

I guess I'm a little taken aback by the invite:

In my first year as a UC, I oversaw the demise of both units I was assigned. A nearby unit wanted to get to know me, I helped get their charter renewed in the nick of time, they started inviting me to their committee meetings, etc. so I asked if I could take them on too, then that morphed into being named ADC - my area now has three viable units, and no UCs but me.

I'm now into my second cycle of rechartering. So not sure I can top my first year's performance

So you can see my confusion over a letter addressed to "top volunteers"!

I was kinda thinking of woodbadge this summer...roadtripping out to New Mexico sounds like a blast too, but Woodbadge is certainly more affordable, especially considering I wouldn't have to take as much time off work to do it. (Important as a single mom..)

Hmm, so,

got this letter in the mail today:

"Upon the recommendation of the Northern Star Council, it is my pleasure to invite you..." followed by lots of glowing praise and flattery.

I'm assuming this is a form letter/marketing piece to fill the conference sessions, yes? I'm given a password and council approval id.

Does this go to every registered scouter, assuming they didn't kill anyone in 08-09?

Anne in Mpls

SSScout's post brings to mind a really important point: You have to clearly define the responsibilities on the duty roster.

A generic listing of Cooks, and Cleanup or whatever you call them doesn't help unless you define those specific jobs.

Who starts the wash water heating up? The fire crew? The cooks? The cleanup crew? Time will be wasted while everybody argues it's not their job, or efforts are duplicated, or people can't be found to do it when the hot water is needed.

On our duty roster (kaper chart in Girl Scout land!) I specify what the job means (younger group so I scaffold the steps for them a bit more - Webelos-age)

We will also separate out hot food prep and cold food prep, and host jobs: The host sets the table, selects a grace and preps beverages, and escorts any special guests at the meal (adults). If you have a full patrol of 8, then they work as buddies: 2 fire crew, 2 clean up, 2 cooks (one hot, one cold), 2 hosts. Fewer than 8, each job may be covered by only one person, fewer than 4, someone's doubling up on jobs - arrange this so that they don't have to do two things simultaneously.

Remember to always *use* a duty roster even if it's a meal that is prepared individually - with foil meals, you still have ingredients to set out, leftovers (maybe!) to put away, the fire to tend, dishes to wash,...

The point about motivation is a good one too - it just sounded on this end that organization and skills were what was needed.

Anne in Mpls

Cooking over a wood fire or coals will take much longer than cooking on a campstove.

Wood fire - you need to plan in time for gathering firewood if you're not bringing your own (still will take time to gather tinder), laying the fire, stoking it up, or waiting to burn down to coals. Charcoal too - you'll have some wait time for thr coals to be ready. A charcoal chimney will speed things along some.

Make sure water gets started heating as *soon* as a stove burner is free or there is room in the firepit. Otherwise, cleanup is waiting on hot water.

Teach "clean as you go" - food prep areas should be cleaned immediately after use - once a utensil is used drop it into soapy water to soak - throw away trash as it's produced. All these small steps during meal prep will make the final clean-up go much faster.

A messy pot can wash itself - after the food is out, pour in water, add some dishsoap, and put it on the fire or burner.

For washing up, with the 3 dishpans method, start by having each patrol member clean up their dishes *before* they go into the wash water - properly thoroughly scraping clean, or wiping out with a papertowel or napkin. Dirty wash water is inefficient - water will need changing before everything's done - waiting for *more* water to heat..

So, then cookware is happily boiling away on the fire, bubbling up soap bubbles while each scout takes their turn down the row of dishpans, washing their dishes, silverware and cup, then the serving and cooking utensils go down the line, then the final scrub of the pots.

Warm water will clean faster than cold water and is more comfortable for washing up - water does not need to be brought to a boil - just warm it up. If you are sterilizing with bleach, use cold water - warm water will inactivate the bleach.

Recap: Don't delay getting water heating up, get an assembly line going, get the small stuff out of the way early on.

Hope this helps,

Anne in Mpls

Adults on campouts should be required to sleep with adults they most dislike. That'll punish them for wanting to come along

There once was a girl from Mpls,

Where seemed Scouting was just for the few of us,

de dum deedee dum

de dum deedee dum

(Something along the lines of she learned so much in the course that when she got home she was able to recruit a gazillion new unit commissioners, resurrect 8 dead units, and fill them all to capacity, start a new Sea Scout Ship on the Mississippi, get a donated gorgeous boat, and donated space to store it off the river in the winter months, and have potential new chartering orgs tracking her down wanting to start more new units)

Now Scouting's for many many more of us!

De dum deedee dum deedee dum,

De DUM deedee dum deedee DUM,

De dum deedee dum,

de dum deedee dum,

Should I take Woodbadge course or just skip it?

Ok, yes, I can certainly see it working for Webelos den camping. I was approaching this thinking this was a question about a pack campout, with food provided (Baloo trained for this situation.) So, do you have ideas about incorporating cubs' ideas into a menu for a pack campout?

Anne in Mpls

Bobwhite, I don't think I've ever said this to you before,

You'd make the perfect Girl Scout leader! (Hope you know that's high praise!)

In my not-vast experience, I've seen Cub Packs tend to be very adult-led, making the transition to Boy Scouts a little trickier than if they utilized a transitioning of what we in GS call the Girl/Adult Partnership, with girls taking increasing responsibility as they age in the program.

Because Cub Packs tend ot be very large, I think from a practical standpoint it's tricky to get Cub input - do you do the brainstorming at a pack meeting, or do dens tend to cook for themselves - if this is the case, then it all works out about the same as patrol cooking. But in my not-vast experience, meals tend to be done up for the pack as a whole - not sure how to do boy-designed menus if you've got a pack of 40 or 50 - do you have some tips to share on how to do that practically?

Anne in Mpls

Now you've got me remembering the wonderful breakfast at Olave House - back in the 80s when it was still Olave House and 3 of us from our GS troop visited for a long weekend.

I've never again had thick-sliced bacon like they served - I'm smelling and tasting it as I type! But we were most blown away by the graciousness and hospitality - handing cups of tea while asking about our day, if we needed extra blankets? I hope I carry some of that with me (but I know I fail by a long way).

Eamonn, thanks for the memories!!

Anne in Mpls

LOL!

Most of the girls in our troop do a lot of cooking for their families (inner city, mostly single moms, lots of younger siblings).

BUT, this year I have a girl in the troop whose mom has never let her do anything in the kitchen - she's also the type to jump in with both feet. This resulted in her attempting to layer a lasagna on a papertowel laid on the picnic table, instead of in the dutch oven Where was I? Helping the younger patrol at the campstove )

When we're cooking indoors, we tend to have each patrol responsible for cooking a meal for the whole troop because the cooking space is limited. But outdoors, if you can separate patrols in their own areas, you can effectively triple the amount of cooking experience each girl will get on an overnight.

(Really sorry - just realized I totally hijacked this thread!)

Ok, back on topic...

I think an easy way to get some Cub input into the menu would be to list "doable meals" (meals the pack leadership will be happy enough with), then have cubs vote for their top 2 or 3 or whatever you need for the overnight. Pancakes tend to always win for breakfast - maybe offer choice of juices or milk, and bacon or sausages.

Anne, cold and snowy in Mpls

Hi Hobcaw!

Our Junior GS very successfully made fried chicken in a dutch oven - the only problem was to make sure they fried all of the chicken - they made enough to start eating, and then thought they could sit down and eat Nope - made them get up and get the rest of it cooked up!

When we're camping by patrols (which is most of the time) I have each patrol use a different cooking method, based on that patrol's experience with outdoor cooking and what they want to do. That way I'm not stretched thin supervising dutch ovens all over camp - the varied cooking methods means that two patrols won't be needing me at the same time. For example, while I'm working with girls at the dutch oven, the other patrol was making camp lasagna using the campstoves that they are very familiar with so needing very little supervision. If we had had a third patrol at that camp, they would likely be a group of fairly new girls so would keep their meal prep very simple.

(I was quite wary of doing fried chicken in the dutch oven, but then realized most of the girls in that patrol regularly made fried chicken for their families on the stove top at home, so were already familiar with being safe around hot oil, so it was only the specifics of working with the dutch oven that were totally new.)

Have fun!

Anne in Mpls