mk9750

Some examples I have seen: Individual project: -Bulit brick patio -Painted shed -Cleaned and organized basement _Cleaned, sharpened, labeled and created storage for garden tools -Built step path for where dad gets out of truck (this was really appreciated by the mom, who had to mop the floor about 1/3 less often!) -Replaced smoke detectors with smoke / co2 detectors -Tear out old deck to make way for new sun porch -Chopped and split wood from a tree that fell in the yard Some family projects: -Family cleaned their church together -Inventoried and photgraphed

Wheeler, You appear to have an agenda. I seem to be not smart enough to figure it out. Can you fill me in? And, would these posts not be more appropriate in the issues and politics section? Mark

I sure have a knack for ending a thread, don't I? Mark

After posting the previous message, I used the link Bob provided. I'm working from memory here, but: New Req. #1 is new completely. New Req 2a is new. 2b is a rewording of on old req. New Req. 3 is an old req. New Req 4 is mostly new. It does contain components of an old req (how to introduce a speaker). New Reqs 5, 6, and 7 are carry overs from the old reqs. New Req. 8 is brought back from the reqs of about 5 years ago. New req. 9 is basically the same as the old req. The only significant changes then are the addition of new Req. #1, 2a and adding back # 8, and the addit

Bob, I'll take a look, as you suggest. But the requirements to which I have always asked the Scouts to work come from the Requirements book, and I had been using the 2002 edition until I just got 2004. I've been reading the new booklets, but I started with Personal Management, so I haven't really studied the new Communications booklet yet. But, as I've displayed so many time is in the past, I could be wrong. So tonight I'll take a look and make a more thorough comparison. Mark

Are you hinting about potential summer employment, OT? I think there should be no problem at all. As much as I can understand the arguement some have against female SMs (I don't agreee, but I do understand), I don't see the same arguement being valid for camp staff. I bet it would be great. Mark

MWMom, Welcome! Nice to have a new face! I hope you enjoy your time here! You're always qualified to offer opinions, so don't let that stop you. Let everyone know it's how you feel. If you're a little off base, most people won't attck, they'll guide. I just recounted my experience in another thread last week. The short version is my mom made me quit because I got frostbite at a winter campout. Sure wish I had continued. Some of the things my sons have learned in their Scout careers I envy! If I could get a boy to hear what I say on the topic, I think I'd make sure they unde

MWMom, Welcome! Nice to have a new face! I hope you enjoy your time here! You're always qualified to offer opinions, so don't let that stop you. Let everyone know it's how you feel. If you're a little off base, most people won't attck, they'll guide. I just recounted my experience in another thread last week. The short version is my mom made me quit because I got frostbite at a winter campout. Sure wish I had continued. Some of the things my sons have learned in their Scout careers I envy! If I could get a boy to hear what I say on the topic, I think I'd make sure they unde

This thread was spun from another thread.I just got the 2004 Requirments book. I looked for the changes made to the Merit Badges I counsel: Communications and Personal Management. The changes to Communications are quite minor. They added back a requirement to plan a COH or campfire. But other than that, the requirements have been massaged, not really changed. Personal Managment has quite a few changes, and, I'm happy to say, they are mostly good ones. The badge is certainly not any easier, which has been the case with a number of othe badges that have changed over the last few years. They

If I were searching for a speaker to talk to the youth in my Troop, I would get Old Grey Eagle. If I were looking for a speaker for the adults in my Troop, I would get Eagledad. If I were looking for a speaker for both, I might pass them both up and ask for KoreaScouter. Then again, I might ask hopscout or OutdoorThinker. There are more of you on these forums that I hold in high regard, so please don't feel slighted if I didn't mention you. But I have gotten to the point where I scan threads for answers from these folks. Thanks to each of you for allowing me a glimpse into

In our Troop, Scouts sign off all most all of the rank requirments, so this isn't a problem for us. As for Merit Badges, we've talked among the adults about this over the years, and we all are convinced that all of the adults in our Troop who are MB Counselors handle this situation without any favoritism. Our SM does the Citizenship badges. He does an UNBELIEVALBE job. I think it would be ashame to prevent his son from having the same learning experience all of the other Scouts get just because he's the Counselor's son. Same with me doing Personal Management, or one of our ASMs doing Pion

SA, Congratulations! We just had our Klondike this weekend, and had a similiar experience. After two or three years of very poorly run Klondikes, our Troop volunteered to organize this year's event. Our SM recruited one of our boys to be SPL for the event, and the SPL recruited an ASPL and much of the youth staff that developed the stations and ran the event. With few exceptions, adults had very little to do with the outcome of the event, which I believe most of the participants would rate a 9.1 to a 9.3 if we had asked. Of course, there were some things that didn't come off wel

OutdoorThinker- OGE has broken out in song again. You must be so proud! (lol!) Mark

We had a boy who moved out of the area, about 25 miles away. He continued with our Troop for about 6 months, then started becoming more scarce. We did everything we could think of to hook him up with a Scoutmaster in his new area, but eventually he faded away and did not transfer to a closer Troop. It was very sad. This kid was doing great in Scouting, and it was a big value to him. Other than this boy, our longest commute is about 10 miles. Mark

Laura, My hope is that I'm not embarassed by sticking my neck out here, but I am doing so from memory, so please excuse me if I'm wrong. I looked up the requirements for Communications MB at Meritbadge.com and what they are showing look like the same requirements with which have worked as a counselor for this badge since 2002. What has changed? Mark

Well, Monday after Klondike, and the reports are in: A HUGE success! Temperatures Friday night went to +4. Daytime temp on Saturday was @ 22, but it was -2 Saturday night. 450 registered Scouts and Scouters, of whom only 6 Cub Scouts and 1 Troop of 6 did not come. We had the following issues: 1 accidentally self inflicted knife wound (cutting frozen pepperoni is tougher for a 12 year old than you'd think!) 1 2nd degree burn (a Cub was running in his cabin, tripped, and caught himself on the pot belly stove in the cabin 1 boy who has a clostomy bag and didn't bring his ma

Hey It's Me! Welcome! I have to commend you on your ambition! I think I did a pretty good job as a Den Leader and as a Cubmaster, but I never did as much outdoor stuff as it seems like you guys do. Nice going! Now that I'm involved with Boy Scouts, can I offer a suggestion? If you feel you need a specific piece of equipment for an outing that you can't afford on your own, or don't want the Pack to invest in, why don't you try to borrow it from one of the Troops in your area? If your Pack has a good relationship with a Troop or two, they should be thrilled to provide you a piece of eq

It looks like it's official now, so I think I can say... Dave landed a DE job in the Greater Cleveland Council on the east side of Cleveland. He's not in my Council (Or I'm not in his???), but we've made some plans to get together when he moves here. For a number of reasons, most of which have nothing to do with the forums themselves, Dave has decided not to post any longer. He still lurks on occassion though, he tells me, so any well wishes I'm certain he will see sooner or later. I've enjoyed talking with him here, and feel fortunate that I will be able to continue to talk to

Please understand that I participate in this discussion for entertainment purposes only... Truncate means to abreviate or shorten. The proper way to shorten "United States of America" would be simply "United States". Your stance seems to indicate that to truncate means to shorten by elimination of the first part(s). as to the "my" issue, I have (very respectfully, I think) expressed my disagreement with Bob on this issue, and will continue to refer to a Troop with which I am associated by using "my" or "ours". Mark

I always thought that truncating "United States of America" left you with "United States", not "America" "America" would be the truncated version of either "North America" or "South America". However, using it as such could leave confusion in the mind of the receiver of the message. Of course, common usage has evolved so that "America" does in fact mean the United States of America. And this is viewed by the rest of the continent much the same way as using "my Troop." Just my humble view. Mark

Excellent! Now I stand a chance of at least looking intellegent! Terry, I'm betting the last reason in the world you do this is accolades, but you've done great things with this forum. You should be extremely proud. Congratulations! Mark

OK, bring on the pointing fingers and the laughing, but I can't figure out what this is in reference to. Can anyone fill me in? Mark

I can't recall if I've ever bored you all with my own youth Scouting story, but here's an appropriate place to do so. Back when I was a Cub, the tradition was to cross over to Boy Scouts at the Pack meeting after your 11th BD. My BD being Feb 10, I crossed to a Troop (actually, the Troop I'm with now) a week before the Klondike. Despite my parents very animated protests, nothing was going to stop me from going on my first campout. I remember having a blast. I was in charge of cooking a pancake on the bottom of a coffee can without any utensils, and we got the most nuggets! Everyone i

OGE, Back in '95, when the NFL allowed the Browns to move to Baltimore, me and 3,000,000 other Browns fans vowed we would never watch another NFL game. I think we're down to 12 of us, but I've stuck to my guns. so I wouldn't usually know how anyone did. But my son is an Eagle's fan, and I've been hearing for four days now how the fix must have been in (where does a fourteen year old hear phrases like that? I've never know him to have watched "The Sting"). On the other hand, is there any chance Rush Limbaugh was right about McNabb? As to OutdoorThinker, glad to hear she's home.

ScoutingAgain, I've been wrong before, so don't be suprised if I'm wrong on this one, too. but I believe your 6 - 8 person tent with mixed adults and boys wouldn't fly if put to the test. I think the rule saying a boy cannot stay in the same tent as an adult not his parent or legal gaurdian precludes a boy staying in the same tent as his parent AND a person who is not his parent or legal gaurdian. I would like someone with a real basis of knowledge to respond to the relative, sibling question. It is possible that my nephew will be spending the summer with us this year, and he is a Cu