moxieman

Trevorum wrote in a different thread:

So, um... Moxie ... got any patches you want to trade? (a collector never lets an opportunity like this slip by!) I'm light on Maine ...

I don't know. You tell me.

http://home.gwi.net/~moxieman/patches/index.htm

I'm hoping to have some updated pictures of all FIVE blankets soon. People keep taking pictures and promising to send me copies and I never see them. The committee chair of my brother's troop just took pictures for me a little over a week ago, so maybe I'll get those soon without having to prod her.

The blankets have been as far west as Philmont (and I went to grad school in west hell...er Texas in South Plains Council) and as far east as eastern New Brunswick, Canada. There are roughly 2,000 patches on the 5 blankets (and increasing) representing scouting on five continents and at least 12 different nations (USA, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, China-Hong Kong, UK, Finland, Switzerland, Israel, and South Africa--I might have missed one or two there).

More seriously, I've cut back on the CSP stuff, but I'm still willing to go one-to-one with you even if it's already in my collection. I could just add it to my trade pile.

I prefer "junk" patches as many CSP/OA flap collectors I've met over the years call them--AKA EVENT PATCHES. My top three preferred types of event patches are: squirrels, multi-piece patches (multiple patches that fit together to form a larger patch), and cartoon characters.

Drop me an email at moxieman (at) GEEdouble-UEye (dot) net (pronounce it out loud and convert to those three letters) with what you would like and have to offer in trade.

Trevorum: I am an avid patch collector, but I don't take it as seriously as the 'baseball card types', for I 'desecrate' mine by sewing them onto patch blankets. Yes, I have been chewed out for this in the past by a few who take it way too seriously. My collection of roughly 2,000 patches and growing (from around the world) is worth over $10K as is and would probably be worth a lot more if I had kept them in sleeves and never 'raped' them with thread and needle. But what would be the point then? I wouldn't be able to easily display and share my collection with others if I hid them in plastic sleeves rather then sew'em on blankets...but that's another topic for another time in a different area within these forums.

eagle90, this past SE was the first one we've had in the past decade that last more then a year. SE's like the ones you'd like to send us don't last very long up here. We're a LARGE, RURAL, SPARSELY populated council. People don't realize how big Maine is. Maps of Maine are depicted on a smaller scale in most travel atlas then other similar-size states. Why? 'Cause there's hardly anything up here--why waste all that paper. We're probably one of the few states east of the Mississippi River where distances are still measured in hours rather than miles. (chuckle)

Yet, we're the smaller of the two councils in Maine. Pine Tree Council only occupies the southwestern third of the state. My district alone (three counties in size) occupies an area larger then two of the other five New England states (CT & RI--provided just my county is larger then RI and it's the smallest of the three counties in the district).

So, if you want to send us some of those SE's, we'll gladly chew them up, spit them out and take another...and another, provided they don't go running and screaming in the other direction the moment they hear they're being 'exiled' to Maine.

Trevorum: Capitol...capital...it's all the same when there are politicians involved.

I did not know him that well. We have met a few times. He's not a sit-behind the desk kind of guy. He's out and about. He was one of the first SE's we've had in a while who was willing to travel to our neck of the woods a good 2 hours north of the service center, though I don't think he ever made it up to the north end of our district on the Canadian border another 2 hours north of where I'm at (completely by back roads). When I see our DE next weekend, I'll see if there is any 'skinny' on JT I can pass on.

JT Dabbs has served Pine Tree Council for several years and has accepted the SE position with Capital Area Council in Austin, TX effective July 1.

He's been one of the better execs we've had in a while. Good luck to him. They've already got an "Ask JT" section on the CAC website, so I had to rub it into him. We'll see if he responds. My Q's:

So, where the Maine Winters too much for you? (He's originally from Alabama and had not been through a "real" winter until he moved here to the Maine Wilderness.)

Since you won't need it in Austin, can I have your snowblower?

Of course, I proceeded to wish him luck in his new position and told him he only needs to drive to Dallas if he craves that "Maine Experience" known as Moxie, as there is one shop in Dallas that sells it.

Search hasn't started for his replacement up here in the Maine Wilderness, but the council board hopes to have a new exec in place before fall.

We'll see.

MarkS, I'm sure you'll get it back in time and a little food 'bribery' in thanks doesn't hurt.

Once you get your permit back make enough copies so that every driver has one.

Provided, you aren't crossing any international borders as my old unit did regularly (into Canada), but it doesn't hurt to have a copy in each car. In our case, we had gone on the same trip every year into New Brunswick from Maine. One year, the border guard actually asked to see our tour permit from each driver in our group. Fortunately, we had made copies for each driver along with our invitation letter from the local Scouts Canada District folks.

I am currently the Boy Scout Roundtable Commissioner in my district. I have been through all training offered for scout leaders other than Woodbadge (long story-short, job is such that I can't take two Fridays off in the fall when local council(s) offer it and have been in scouting continuously since joining as a Cub Scout some 28 or so years ago) and I am an Eagle Scout. Prior to RTC, I was a Scoutmaster for 5 years. I once had to cancel a trip due to no second leader. My scouting resume (for those who care):

http://home.gwi.net/~moxieman/scoutresume.pdf

Since moving onto the district level, I have made it known throughout the district that I am a trained leader who is available to your unit if needed for outings, provided I have some advance warning (if possible--I'm not going to drop my commitment to someone else at the last minute) so as to not double-book.

Usually, my offer is taken up at camporees and there are a couple of units (especially our troop in the town up on the Canadian border) who invite me regularly on their trips whether or not they need me as the 2nd leader. I tried to rescheduled a vacation this summer as a unit was having trouble finding a 2nd leader for summer camp. They have since found one, fortunately, as I couldn't reschedule.

Some smaller troops in our district team up on joint outings to share resources/leadership/friendship. That troop I mentioned up on the border? They're an hour-and-a-half to two hours away from most of the rest of the district. But they have become fast friends with a troop near the state capital. They are planning a joint trip late next month up there on the border (and I'm invited up).

Back when I was in college, my college town troop and my home troop did a joint canoe trip to meet each other as they shared a leader (me) in common.

There's nothing wrong with a joint trip if you know what you're getting into.

So, though I'm a bit long winded in my response, Lisabob, as others have said. Go for it.

In response to #2:

Your chartered organization owns your pack. They own the equipment, the checkbook, the savings account, even your pack number. You can 'switch' CO's, but don't expect any physical part of your current pack to come with you to the new pack, not even the unit number.

I learned this the hard way many years ago when I unit I was helping basically folded due to a lack of leadership. As the last leader, I found another unit for our youth to join. I approached our CO Representative to see if they would be willing to spare three tents (out of 50!) to help the unit the boys joined. No way, they weren't willing to part with three of their tents.

As our district exec explains it to folks:

Scouting is like a franchise like McDonald's. The National Office franchises out (charters) units to local sponsors/owners (chartered organizations) through the council office.

Good luck. The others who have responded have given you some great advice.

Scouter&Mom: That's the 'fun' thing about Maine: Don't like the weathah, wait a minute.

For the last week of April and the first two weeks of May, we were under a "Red Flag Warning" for tinderbox dry conditions--complete open burn bans. Some towns even banned the use of wood stoves. We were worried we wouldn't be able to do a proper cooking competition due to the tinderbox conditions. Then it rained all this past week (some areas got snow). In addition, some parts of the state have seen SNOW for the past two days and we're under a frost/freeze advisory for the next two days.

Spring in Maine--a roller coaster thrill a minute!

MarkS: we always try to have a back-up plan for soggy weathah since that nearly seems the only weather we ever hold an event in. This time around since we were at one of our council's camp properties, we moved the closing into the dining hall (we got lucky and weather broke long enough Saturday afternoon/evening to hold campfire outdoors. At other locations we've been fortunate in that the state National Guard has loaned us some of their huge tents for our events as back-up shelter.

How wet can it get at a Maine Camporee? I've done the research and posted the results on my website (I probably have posted this link before):

http://home.gwi.net/~moxieman/scoutweather.pdf

We're seriously talking about banning the term 'camporee' and going with rainoree instead. Only had 6 inches of mud in my campsite. Theme was Junior Leader Training and cooking.

My brother and I put on a utensil-less demonstration in the morning and despite the reactions of some on this forum, the boys loved the ideas we passed on including such things as the Tarzan Roast (dump roast directly in the coals), cooking on slate (bacon/eggs, steak, home fries and english muffin pizzas), bacon in a bag, etc.

My brother (SM of his hometown troop) then went on to win the afternoon adult cooking competition with rainbow trout with greens/veggies he foraged from the camp we were at. He also cooked this on slate/utensil-less and started his fire with flint and steel (scoring bonus points). His scouts also won in the scout cooking competition.

Despite the rain, raw (upper 40'sF) temps, and mud, the scouts had a good time up here in the Maine Wilderness and that's what counts, right?

AS I'm only active at the district level, I can't answer this directly. However, some units in our LARGE (area-wise) district are going back to 'basics/traditional' scouting. They are backpacking (or bicycling) the 8 to 10 miles from their meeting place to their troop campsite (along town roads in uniform).

Some units are also putting off longer distance trips until they can do enough fund raising to cover the cost of the trip.

At the same time, there is one unit that will be traveling from here in the Maine Wilderness to the Alaskan Wilderness this summer, but they've been fund raising for that trip for a couple years now.

Talking to old timers and reading some of the older scout camp fliers I've picked-up over the years, it was not unusual back in the late 40's and throughout the 50's for scouts to hike from home to summer camp (some traveled over 80 miles each way in this area to do so!). I guess back then either they didn't need 2-deep leadership to do this, or leaders could take 3 weeks off or more from work. Then again, many scouts spent two or more weeks at camp back then.

Oh...probably a few.

Eagle Scout Class of '88

AntelopeDud, have a good time. Have you considered looking through Santa Fe's official tourism website?

http://www.santafe.org/

For the surrounding area try:

http://www.newmexiconorth.com/home.html

Also, did you arrange your trip through South Plains Council? If so, beware while at the base camp at Camp Tres Ritos! The hummingbirds tend to mistake the fleur-de-lis on the official scout hat for real flowers.

No, seriously!

For others wondering what I'm talking about, SPC offers backpacking high adventure trips in the Pecos Wilderness.

http://southplainscouncil.org/CampTresRitos.htm

If your troop does not already own them, it should have "Troop Program Resources" (which covers, games, ceremonies and SM minutes) and "Troop Program Features". Both of these combined use to be called "Woods Wisdom".

Usscouts.org also has a section on ceremonies at:

http://usscouts.org/usscouts/ceremony.asp

What I have seen several local packs do is involve younger siblings in the crossover ceremony (up this way they're usually held in February/March).

First the 2nd year Webelos cross to the Boy Scouts.

First Year Webelos move to where the 2nd year ones were.

Bears move to where the First Year Webelos were

Wolves move to the Bears.

Tigers to the Wolves.

Then Akela calls out to those families present who have boys who will be old enough to become Tigers and ask them to step forward and take their place.

Many times those new Tigers will talk about what happened at crossover to their friends in school and some of those friends will then join.

In summary--the packs recruit the young siblings of current cubs. Those siblings then get friends excited about the prospect to be a cubby.

Modern nylon-type tents come pre-waterproofed these days.

If you're looking for advice on how to re-waterproof older tents, my advice to you is DON'T! If the waterproofing of your tent is worn-out, your tents are probably ready to be replaced.

When I was SM (6 years back), we made the mistake of trying to re-waterproof our (then) 15 year old Timberline-like tents (Eureka Vista/LL Bean Summerbreeze). We bought liquid waterproof recoating liquid similar to this at Campmor:

http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=12390&memberId=12500226

We painted it on the surfaces of the tents in question and allowed it to dry in accordance with the directions on the package. Problem was that it never really dried. oh, it felt and looked dry when we put them away after leaving them out to dry for days. But they weren't dry as we learned the hard way the next time we tried to pitch the tents and found the floors and flies had fused together. The tents were ruined. We couldn't pull the fused fabric apart.

So, our attempt to get a few more years of life out of those old tents was a waste of our time and money and we had to replace them anyway.

Sometimes "A Scout is Thrifty" doesn't work and you have to bite the bullet.

I'd love to give it a shot, but you didn't state which council you're from.

I'm surprised it's not on their website (or maybe it's hidden/not on the main page).

Do you have any recent official mail from the council office, like a council newsletter? You might find it in the council's address.

Just to be fair, in addition to disasters, here are some successes:

One of the patrols in the troop I use to be SM in took 2nd place at district cooking camporee with a multi-course meal with dessert and live music: beef noodle soup appetizer, main course with salad, homemade ice cream on top of baked apples for dessert. One of the scouts played guitar for the judges as they dined.

Showing off to the scouts I and one of my ASM's ate for a whole weekend and ate well without the need to do any dishes. We did this to open the boys' eyes to other possibilities for their menus after hearing them complain too often about hating to do dishes. So we went utensiless for the whole weekend by preparing some stuff in advance--for example, precooking our bacon at home and then just reheating it over a stick over the fire. Stick toast method. Paper cups filled with water to boil eggs in, etc.

Lunch was Tarzan Roast, Roast Potatoes, Roast Corn and stick bisquits.

For the roast, take a half-gallon ziplock bag, toss roast and a jar of Dijon mustard in it. Seal and let sit in your cooler overnight marinading. Get a good hot bed of coals. Open bag and "Ungabunga" put meat in fire and bury. Forget for an hour. Take big sharp stick. Stab meat "ungabunga" cut off outer burnt crust. Eat rest.

For the potatoes, cover them in wet mud and place'em in the coals.

For the corn, peel back the husks, remove the hairs. Butter (optional) pull husks back over the cob. SOAK in water for a while. Then place them near the coals and rotate every once in a while.

For stick biscuits look in an older scout handbook--use bisquick-type mix. Make a thick dough and wrap around a stick and toast over a fire 'til done.

We had also tossed onions in the fire. The outer few layers burned, but the inner layers were nicely baked.

The boys were impressed. Yet, on future campouts, the decided they preferred to do dishes. Oh, well.

Reading the other thread "If we joined your troop, we'd starve..." brought back memories of cooking disasters I've experienced as a scout or observed as a leader.

As a scout: Carbonloaf. Not Meatloaf, but carbonloaf. Our patrol planned meatloaf on a campout. Great plan, but somehow we forgot the cover to the dutch oven. No problem! Our SM at the time had an old No Parking sign in his trunk. We improvised. Except a thin piece of steel doesn't distribute heat like a cast iron lid. We burned our meal. How bad? The APL bent his steel fork trying to stab into the carbonloaf. Suffice it that we ate other stuff that meal.

As a leader: Macaroni and Glue. One of the patrols decided they were going to make mac n' cheese from scratch. Alas, when they got ready to do so, they discovered that they forgot the cheese. So they added lots of butter to their pasta and it stuck together like glue.

I have a pop-up blocker installed on my web browser, so, nope, don't see any annoying pop-ups.

As for the camper-type, no, but we do see a lot of those "Insta-Garage" type shelters and huge gear trailers that seem to double as campers at district events.

Back when I was an SM, the district tried recruiting me for several positions. I had an easy answer for them: Sure...as soon as you find someone to take over as SM.

Suffice it to say, I remained SM until I decided to get done as SM.

Now I'm active at the District level. I do three things: Boy Scout Roundtable Commish, District Co-webmaster and District email newsletter editor.

Apparently, that wasn't enough. They've tried to get me to take on other positions in the district (and one in the council). I've given them a very similar answer as before: I'll gladly take the new responsibility when you find someone to take all my current ones and not before. I can't give the quality effort you need in these positions plus the new responsibility. So far, they haven't found anyone to replace me.

I heard it this morning. Good story, and a rare thing. I haven't heard of a scout doing this in a few years and from my understanding there have been less then 100 scouts to ever earn all available MBs. OF course, National doesn't track this, though this scout may garner an article in Boys' Life. I recall such an article when I was a scout about two brothers who had earned all the MBs of that time period.

I'm surprised your local scout shop isn't willing to order them for you. Here's a source for one patch. I think that's all he has at the moment.

http://www.boyscoutstore.com/store/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=12455'>http://www.boyscoutstore.com/store/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=12455

If that link doesn't work then go to:

http://www.boyscoutstore.com/

Click on Miscellaneous and go to page 9.

emb021 responded:

"Also im a Eagle Scout. Is there any patch that I can wear on my Jac shirt."

There is nothing to wear on the jac-shirt to indicate you are an Eagle Scout.

The rules are:

* ONE jacket patch on the back (OA, Jamboree, High Adventure Base, etc) (rest deleted)

Actually, he could indicate he's an Eagle Scout and you have answered it for him. But he needs to be a member of the National Eagle Scout Association. There is a NESA Jacket patch he could then wear on the back of the JacShirt.

Our EBOR and projects are overseen by a group of volunteers organized by the district advancement chairperson, who is also a volunteer. EBOR's are scheduled monthly. It is up to the candidate to make an appointment in advance.

I'm sure Jim McGregor will forgive you as he probably also ripped it off. I've seen variations of this all my life involving camels, elephants, mammoths (caveman version), etc.