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baden

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Everything posted by baden

  1. In 1997 I had 4 boys in my Jamboree Troop that were 12 yrs. old. They did great!! I have stayed in touch with one of these guys, he just graduated from USMA (West Point) and is headed to Ranger school. He says he was inspired at the '97 Jambo. Directly answering your question, registering for Jamboree and staying off post with Mom is probably a bad idea on so many levels I scarcely know where to begin. Being a day visitor is an option, but will not be able to participate in much.
  2. We host a family dinner prepared by the boys in the evening on Scout Sunday. We do it in conjunction with a COH. We've done spaghetti some years and chili other years. We invite all family members and friends of the Troop. We always get a good response to our FOS presentation.
  3. Being a member of the Exec. Bd. is not always a question of $$$. I've been on our Councils Exec. Comm for 10 years and do contribute to FOS annually, but not at a high level. I was asked to serve by a former Council Chair that wanted some front line Scouters on the Board to talk to the heavy hitters about what was what. I have enjoyed my tenure on the board very much. I have learned a great deal about Council operations and problems in this time. I would tell our young Scouter, however, Council Policy is like sausage. You will enjoy the end product more if you don't see it being made.
  4. Out of the blue today, I received a card in the mail from Hy-Vee (a regional supermarket) giving me a 10% discount on all grocery items used for Scouting programs. It has my name, Troop # and Chartered Partner on it. Nice surprise.
  5. Thanks for the heads up!! I went to the site and filled out a Staff app. and fired it off into cyber-space. Now just sitting back waiting for the credit card bill and the offers of Jamboree employment to roll in. All in all pretty painless. I read a thread a few weeks ago protesting the National fee for Staff and my head was nodding up and down in agreement at the time. I remember thinking I'll be darned if I'm going to pay that kind of money to swelter in Virginia and work my tail off, but Jamboree must be sort of close to what childbirth is like. After a while you sort of forget the pai
  6. Out of the blue of the western sky comes...SKY KING!!! The plane was named Songbird, his niece was Penny, and his nephew was named, I believe, Skyler. Did he have a horse?
  7. In our Council the Silver Beaver is usually awarded to quite a mix of people every year. We typically award around 16 and they go to people that have given money and people that have given time. Sometimes a combination of both. Having served on the SB selection committee twice and chaired it once I can say that our selection process is apolitical. Every member of the committee receives the copies of the nominations with the names omitted. Then the electors vote on each nomination ranking them 1-5. When all responces are in we add up the scores and place them 1 thru whatever (121 one year) We s
  8. My answer to your question would be, No, the Troop policy cannot supersede BSA policy. Having said that, the policy of your Troop makes good sense. Unless you are an Atomic Physicist (sp?) counseling the Atomic Energy MB, what unique skills or knowledge do you bring to the party that cannot be found elsewhere in the Troop? This is the general policy of our Troop. Right now we have one of the Dad's counseling the American Business MB for 6 boys including his son. He asked if he could work on this with his son and I said in general we discourage this sort of MB work, but if he were willing to as
  9. I used to be a Fox, and a good old Fox too. Baden
  10. Do not stand up in the canoe. Do not lean over the gunwale. As the rodeo cowboys say, "Keep 'yer mind in the middle". When you swamp the canoe, laugh and get on with it. Have fun. Be safe. PFD's for everyone all the time.
  11. I like "cowboy" coffee. Just boil a pot of water and dump coffee in the boiling water. I let it boil 'til it looks about right and then pull it off the fire.I've settled the grounds with eggshells (not my favorite method), cold water, a cold rock, but my favorite method is to sling the pot. It is dramatic and the boys get a kick out of watching me do it. It also freaks out the newbie Dads.
  12. How many lawyers does it take to grease a threshing machine? One, if you feed him in real slow. My son the lawyer doesn't like all my jokes. Some, but not all.
  13. You make a valid point Goldwinger. It is easy for me to agree with you, but I'm not driving 130 miles (260 round trip) to attend Council functions or go to the Scout shop.
  14. OK. It's not that dramatic. I received a call from a Scouter pal a couple of days ago asking if I had heard anything about his District being absorbed by an adjacent District. I told him I hadn't heard anything about it, but I had a Council Exec. Bd. meeting in a couple of days and I would see what I could learn. When I got to the meeting, it was an agenda item. All that was said in the meeting was "We are looking at ways to re-align our Districts to improve Unit Service". I used to be in this District until the most recent re-alignment 3 years ago when I was traded to another District for a r
  15. I think you did the absolute right thing canceling for Webelos. They don't have the experience, training, and probably the gear to deal with adverse conditions. IMHO this would be the absolute wrong call for Boy Scouts. They should have the experience, training, and equipment to handle it. It has nothing to do with machismo, everything to do with preparedeness. Another thing, Boy Scouts often relish a challenge. A number of years ago our Troop went to our District's Winter Camporee. I don't really remember how cold it was, but it is still legendary in our Troop. We had a Leader's Mtg
  16. Eamon- I have to agree with what you said. I have trained most of the Scoutmasters in my district and there is a wide range in their levels of skill and also in commitment. Some are great and try to do things the right way. Some are not so great and sort of slide into doing things the way they have always done them. The one thing I always come back to in my thinking is "All Scouting is local". Unless you are willing to be the Unit Leader, all you can do is point the way.
  17. We get our spars the old fashioned way, we cut them on private property with permission of the owner. For lashings we use parachute cord. We have a couple of Troop Comm. members in the National Guard and they seem to have an inexhaustible supply. It works great.
  18. I like to think all of our campouts are fun. I like to teach "skills" by OJT. (On the Job Training) The best instructors are usually another Scout that knows the skill. It works best when I don't have a "class". Probably our best attended campout every year is the one after Christmas. It isn't really a campout, more of a lock-in. We try to hold it the weekend right after Christmas. We go to a cabin that belongs to a friend. It has heat and running water. I tell the boys it is just for fun. I let them bring their gameboy deals, xboxes, playstation gizmos, whatever they want. There is a TV
  19. I attended Wood Badge after 10 years as a Scoutmaster. Prior to Wood Badge I had been to Philmont as advisor on a trek and attended a class at the Philmont Training Center. I had also been to National Jamboree as a Scoutmaster. I must admit that my real motivation was to get a group of Scouters off my back. I really respected a large group of Wood Badgers in my council, but never really wanted to invest the time to go. After I attended the course, my real regret was waiting so long. I can't tell you something specific I got from the course. I might say in my case it was like a rededicatio
  20. Eamon- Your post brought a smile to my face. A number of years ago at Summer Camp I detected a low buzz centered around one tent. I thought, this is not good. I wandered over and the boys sort of scattered, so I let it go for then, but the next day when the boys were out of the campsite, I did a shakedown of this tent and found a pile of Playboy mags, some of which I hadn't read. I confiscated them and sat on them for a day waiting for my chance. I finally caught the owner privately and innocently asked if anything was missing. I got a paniced look, and then he asked what was I talking ab
  21. I have served on the Silver Beaver selection committee for our council several times. I don't know how this is done in other places, but our council sends out copies of the Silver Beaver nomination forms to all the members of the committee and asks with the names and districts blocked out. They then ask the committee members to rate each nomination on a scale of 1-10. Your "ballot" is due at the Council office by a certain date. When the "ballots" are received, the numbers are added up and the results are totaled in a column. Starting at the top they go down the list until the allowed number o
  22. I would say a wise Scoutmaster would work through his Troop Committee on something like this. I would also say if the Committee failed to support the Scoutmaster he would be wise to become the former Scoutmaster.
  23. We have a had a boy earn the radio MB last year. It is the first time in anyones memory. This boys Dad is a serious HAM radio operator and has offered to counsel anyone in the Troop for this MB. We are going to set up an amateur radio station next month on our campout and participate in the Jamboree on the Air (JOTA).
  24. Phone calls? E-mails? Announcements at meetings? The only thing that seems to work for us is a newsletter sent via USPS. It does little good to hand them out at meetings. It has to get into Mom''s hands and make it onto the refrigerator door or it does no good.
  25. Actually, OJ doesn't know for sure and probably won't know in 10 years. He'll really know when he becomes a parent himself. (I think you'll probably get a passing grade)
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