AnneinMpls

This is a reading we use for Girl Scout Sunday. I apologize for not recording what website I found it on. I changed up the introductory remarks. Girl Scout Sunday, March 12, 2006 Brownie GS Troop 811 & Junior GS Troop 1021 of St. Olaf Lutheran Church Minneapolis, Minnesota Girl Scout: When Girl Scouts across the country agree to live by the Girl Scout Law, they are learning basic principles to live by all their lives that are not new but have existed for centuries. We invite all Girl Scout alumni who are with us today to come forward and join us for this reading: I will d

If I may have your permission, I can post your request at wagggs-l where they are really keen on GS inspirational readings etc. and might be able to come up with something appropo. Something the girl wrote would be pretty cool to have read - Gold Award generally requires some write-up and there might hbe something to use from that, or maybe thak you letters from the organization she helped? I'll keep thinking, Anne in Mpls

Good morning, Firecrafter I'm starting off with a smile because I'm afraid I may have some harsh things to say. Please take it with a grain of salt, because I only have your posts here to go on, ok? I just finished reading through your posts to date and a couple things jump out at me right away. 1. Your position is Committee Member, yes? I'm glad you are supportive of your SM - he definitely needs folks in his corner supporting him as it sounds like he's doing a super job under difficult circumstances. But, unless/until your position title changes, you might need to rein back a bit o

Hello again Campcrafter ) Goodness, thank you for the lovely compliment - I'll remember your words every time I'm feeling incredibly foolish - which is pretty often! You said they organized the new scouts into a New Scout Patrol. Who's the ASM assigned to the NSP? How bout...you? ) Then you don't have to worry over trying to change "the whole troop" "right away" - just make the NSP the very best NSP it can be (put the rest of the troop to shame - interpatrol competition? Have the NSP instigate it themselves - send the older boy patrol a letter in a bottle challenging them to whatever p

Hmmm....that's going to vary from person to person of course... I was a BSA volunteer years back - started off becoming a troop committee chair in order to get my then husband active in something He came along as an ASM so we were a package deal for a troop that was trying to get back on its feet. From there we moved our volunteering a little closer to home when we started a Cub Scout pack - this time he was Cubmaster and I was Pack CC and we also were the Bear and Webelos den leaders when volunteers were in short supply. Now as a single mom I'm back to being a very active GSUSA voluntee

Hmmm... You don't mention any particular behavior issues, so it might just be that it's not meeting his interests right now. How boy-led is your troop? Does he have an opportunity for input into what his patrol does? This game of scouting ought to provide young people with what truly feeds them, so if interest is flagging, I'd sooner look to the programming... Is there too much emphasis on Adavancement rather than on achieving? Is he wanting to define himself apart from dad? Does he want you over on the *other* side of the room more, but maybe doesn't want to come right out and *say

Just keep hittin the back button a few more times and you'll be right back up there Anne in Mpls Anne in Mpls Anne in Mpls

I would caution against restricting fluids at bedtime, as the more concentrated urine can act as an irritant and may make wetting more likely. (Besides, less concentrated urine does't smell nearly as bad as dark, concentrated urine!) Drinking *plenty* of water, and peeing frequently keeps the bladder much happier and obedient Anne in Mpls

ScoutNut, what's a VISTA?? Havn't heard a thihng about it... It's my understanding that the council realignment process is on the range of 3-5 years, with final map due this October. Our council has held 3 meetings for volunteers to get the information that was presented in Orlando. Anne in Mpls

I think getting buy-in from the youth is a lot easier than getting it from the adults. It's inportant to help them both see that things are progressing. (Reminder - we are GSUSA, ot BSA...) I dug up a old resource from the 50's, back when GSUSA still published a PL handbook. It's a fabulous cartoon-illustrated piece, and it has a page titled "What Troop Leaders Do During Patrol Meetings" "They may be talking with a guest...Or just looking out the window or gazing at the sky..." The girls get a superb kick out of me doing a dramatic reading of this page, and we use the catch phrase th

This is a scripted piece I wrote for unit volunteers to use at day camp to introduce the buddy system. Use as is, or your comments are appreciated too to make it better It includes a couple very simple ice-breaker games to reinforce the buddy system. Peace, Anne in Mpls Orientation for girls on how to be a good buddy! Whats your name? Whats your buddys name? Having a buddy is an important part of staying safe and having fun here at day camp! A buddy is a person for you to be with. The buddy system is everything we do with our buddies to keep each other safe.

Good morning, Bob! Yha, you've definitely got your work cut out for you, but you've also got some "comrades in arms" who will be on board with getting things back on track. Have you been to Woodbadge yet? Or is it still coming up for you this spring? You'll be able to craft your ticket items to exactly what your troop needs most. You might also put a bug in the SM's ear to attend woodbadge with you too. Actually...since the SM serves at the Troop Committee's pleasure, you could suggest that the CC let Mr SM kow that his continued appt. as SM is dependent upon his attending woodbadge

Oren, thanks~! What are the dimensions of the 4-man tents you use? Is 8x8 or 9x7 about "right" for overflowing 3 scouts (or 4 littler ones?) or do you go bigger? LongHaul, thanks to you too! Now you've got me taking a tape measure to my sleeping bags. Oh well. The neighbors already think I'm weird All of our sleeping bags are 28" wide. My Thermarests are 21" wide. My fullsize (I think?) Airbed fit nicely (wall to wall) in the smaller one of my teeny tiny cheap 2-man dome tents (you know the kind with the doily rainfly on top!). (And yes, resulting in condensation along the sides,

LongHaul - thanks for your very astute observations on the Osage 4 - I guess you're right that 4 would be pushing them right up to the sides. The Osage 2 is for some reason a lot roomier for the 2... Our weather here is a lot rainier than I generally acknowledge I'm now leaning more towards some 2-person tents as we already own a couple larger tents, but the total cost is anxiety-provoking. We want to be sure we're spending our money on something that's a high enough quality to justify it. (Scoutnut, you and I have gone around the merry-go-round before - I don't want to have to keep re

Some more number-crunching: The Osage 2 allows 30" of width per person. The Osage 4 allows 25.5" per person. The Osage 6 seems to allow 24" for 2 of the 6, and 30" for the other 4...

G'mornin good people Alright, so I'm browsing tents moire seriously this year because of the info on ALPS mountaineering, and trying to figure out how many tents we'd need to buy. We're now up to 4 patrols: 2 with 4, 1 with 6, and 1 with 8 girls. Many here advocate 2 to a tent: I like this because it reinforces the buddy system. On the other hand, our funds are very limited and bigger tents are cheaper to buy per square foot from what I can tell from my browsing. Currently I'm runing comparisons on several brands offering 4-person dome tents either 8x8 or 9x7 approximately. If we p

I am in the process of writing a compilation of information on vagabond stoves and buddy burners. It's up to 20 pages now and not finished yet )) I'll put word in here when it's complete. Could use a place to post it online so it's easily accessible for folks too... Peace! Anne in Mpls

Hi Eamonn I know Patrol Method is not a Venturing method, but could you do kinda the same thing with squads? Have three or four squads, and each meeting, one of the squads is in charge of training new recruits (drill? how the Venture crew operates? orientation?), the other squads work on whatever is underway at the time...? you do still have to solve the lack of adult leadership issue of course - sounds like right now you're needing someone with a particular skill set. What are those needed skills? Where do you find those sorts of people? You know how to do this of course Peace!

No no no, the proper earrings to wear with the uniform are, naturally, fish hooks. To augment your survival gear of course Anne in Mpls

Wow - thank you )) I'd hunted the web like crazy but didn't come across it again. Thanks again! Anne

Hi folks - I barely remember coming across an annual event held in Wisconsin or Michigan I think? involving Sea Scouts, Boy Scout troops, Cadette/Senior/Studio2B troops, Venturers....does this ring a bell for anyone? I'm pretty sure they had a website and seemed the event took over the entire town for a weekend. Not sure why I'm thinking Bayfield. Anne scratching head in Mpls

Yes, we *are* that weird. 5:02 am central time. Gotta head off to work (driving schoolbus) Peace out Anne in Mpls

lol....tell us how you really feel Scoutnut ) A. Umm, yha, $6 a pop? I have 17 girls in our troop. That's over a hundred dollars that I *know* the girls would rather spend on a camping trip or horseback riding. B. By Girls For Girls? Are they kidding? What girl would have *ever* come up with these requirements. I can't tell that they had any input from any girl any where for this new scheme. C. Girl Scouts 11-17 - after all of the hullabaloo over how teen girls are *really* subdivided into three age groups, they come up with one truly awful set of requirements that are ove

G'mornin folks Would love to hear opinions on the new challenge awards that national put out. You can read about them here: http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_central/challenge/default.asp I've looked into the Challenge 2 for our Juniors and am thinking it's a hard-sell - very paper and pencil. What do you think? Anne in Mpls

Got another tip for taking younger folk winter camping. So many of these 11 year olds are pretty short. A fullsize bag is too much space for them to warm up. Either use "childsize" cold-rated bags (but only if they'll be used often enough to make it worth the investment) or tuck the extra length of a fullsize bag under the feet. Less space for small bodies to have to warm up. Peace, Anne in Mpls