OwntheNight

I know a couple people like that and I still like them. They're good scouters and their heart is in the right spot. But, I get where you're coming from. You don't need everybody's resume on the signature line of the email or letter they sent. If I send something out, I use the title that I'm sending it under that pretense. i.e. Cubmaster Pack XXX or Asst Scoutmaster Troop XXX.

Because of the rethread on this post, I set this up for our pack meeting tonight. With Blue and Gold on Saturday, we weren't going to do much advancement, so this seemed perfect. Over the last few den meetings, the boys have been wrapping boxes for our B/G centerpieces. We have parents bring supplies from a preset list..Hand sanitizer, hairbrush, toothbrush, shampoo, toothpaste, hot wheels cars, deck of cards, drawing tablet, crayons, etc. The boys then fill these boxes with the items and after B/G, we donate them to a local homeless shelter or women's shelter for the children that don't have

For those that winter camp in buildings. learn to make Igloo's or quinze's or even Ice block shelters. The boys have a blast making them and sleeping in them. NLD, Igloo's are cooler's right? I'm sure the boys would love to make shelter's out of Frozen Oklahoma Red clay during our winter camp. They're not riding in my car on the way back though

Way to go 'Fish! I'm finishing up my first year as CM. Our CO has said they want the CM to only serve 2 years and then hand the reigns over to somebody else. I thought I had my replacement lined up with our Tiger DL...former Boy Scout, great with the kids, really excited about Cub Scouts. Well real life got in the way, more of his time is being devoted to work in a new position. His wife has stepped up and been running the last month of den meetings and Go See It's. I'm now hearing through the leadership grapevine that he's probably going to step down as DL and move to ADL next year. With

We only cabin camp once a year, and that's for Winter Camp. Everything else is tent camping only. We use to do a lot of plop camping, but over the past year we've been changing the culture to backpacking in and setting up camp. The boys have started seeing a difference in the program and enjoying it more. We've even encouraged boys to buy their own backpacking tents. Certainly beats hauling in and out the 4 man Timberlines. So if they let the outgoing PLC plan the following year's agenda, are they OK with this or do they even want to change it? What's to say they can't change the plans no

Well we made it back to the Lone Star State! A little tired, (Okay, alot TIRED, that was a lot of walking and hiking )in need of a shower, felt bad for the people on the flight, they got to share the plane with us and and an under 16 club hockey team from Dallas who just finished up a tournament that day ( they finished 4-0 in their tourney!) So all around good representation from the city of Dallas, and the state of Texas. Have to say, this trip moved to the top of the list of any trip I've taken as a Boy Scout or Scouter. It was a fantastic trip all around. Our boys had a great time.

That my friend is what you call faith, karma, etc. at work. When it seems like the world is closing in on you and nothing makes sense, a small glimmer of light gives you a break and lets you hold on through the darkness. I'm glad to hear that Scouting was there for you and your son when you needed it. I feel your pain, last year at this time, I found myself in that dark place dealing with emotions and feelings I hadn't dealt with in over 30 years yet at the same time trying to take over a pack that was on the verge of being ripped apart for all the wrong reasons. It was my friends in Scou

Awesome job Base! Shows how much your DE knows! Sounds like an adult beverage and a nice cigar are in order and some well deserved R & R before jumping in with the Troop.

Base, Yes, the boys are off for President's Day, and some are taking a half day off from school on Friday. I'm pulling my son out of school all day Friday since we have an earlier flight than the the Troop flight. Cost: The Trip cost is 200.00 per person, this does not include the flight. This covers all our fees, and our food. Our CC actually used his company to ship all the gear, so that saved us some expense, but we have to rent 2 vans and a bobtail to transport gear and the troop. A friend of our COR is letting us keep the gear in his shop until we get there. We did manage

I got distracted after the Yoo Hoo, what was the question?

So, our Gear is loaded on a truck and will be heading from Texas to Philadelphia in a few days. Less than 2 weeks from now, myself and 37 other members of our beloved Troop will be heading to the airport to catch a flight to Philly for the 100th Boy Scout pilgrimage to Valley Forge, PA. We're getting excited about the trip. Lot's of history to see, oh yeah, and the cold! I got to let our Pack know I wouldn't be around for Scouting for Food that weekend. Couple of the boys were jealous I might get to camp in the snow and they wanted to know if they could go!...Maybe in a few years! So

Glad to hear you at least have a meeting scheduled, and that your SM has your back. So of course, if your tickets are approved and you get your beads, can we expect the same snarky attitude about WB on this forum? Because that's what good debate is about, right? I joke because I do appreciate your candor and perspective you bring to us in your responses. You are involved in scouting for all the right reasons, THE BOYS! Good Luck, and I raise my Nalgene to you and give a hearty "How,How"

Right now our pack is right around 31 boys on the Charter. The reality is we have 12 WEB II's crossing over in Feb. So we're down to 18 active boys. 13 Bears, 2 Wolves, and 3 Tigers, and even the wolves are questionable right now. It's tough because we have another pack who uses our CO's space and a lot of the boys from both packs go to the same schools and are friends with each other. But that's for another thread... As far as the troop, we're at around 100 boys. Normally we get about 20-25 boys a year, this year we're probably going to be at 10 boys. We only lose about 2-4 boys a year f

If you want to come in with the attitude of having your son win at all costs, be my guest. I won't DQ your son's car, unless it is just blatantly obvious, then I'll let you rectify it before it goes through inspection. Let it race and see how it does against the other boys' cars. If you win, great. I'll raise your son's hand in victory, until.......I then step up to the microphone and announce that the official races are over and now the challenge heats begin. Boys are allowed to challenge ANY other car they want to a race and the BOYS get to set up the cars and run the race however they want,

That's what us ASM's are there for! To support the SM however he needs it, wether he's here or away. Our SM is an upper level Director for his day job, and is frequently out of town on business. Now, he has learned the art of the flight schedules and works around those to be at Scouting events as much as possible. If he is out of town, us ASM's can reach out to the SPL if we need to address anything during troop meetings or the SPL will reach out to us to handle a SM minute if he knows the SM won't be there. We are also required to be the lead ASM on at least one campout per year. We wor

"The Commish held up the JTE form and said "this is what you need to be looking at when you're looking for a troop!". When I told our committee how district was promoting JTE as THE way to measure the quality of a unit they understood how important it was.I wouldn't be surprised to see all unit JTE ratings on the district website in the future. Why bother visiting several troops when Webs and parents can just join the nearest Gold unit? " When JTE came out, I went over the metrics and realized this immediately. District will use this as a marketing tool for the better performing units. In

And from the great state of Texas https://rts.texasonline.state.tx.us/NASApp/txdotrts/SpecialPlateOrderServlet?grpid=60&pltid=76 sorry twomorrows, didn't see you added the Texas link(This message has been edited by OwnTheNight)

No Ink.....Yet. Have had my ears pierced,but those holes have probably closed up since I haven't worn the studs or loops for a couple of years. I'd like to get some ink, but haven't come up with the right design yet, since it is a permanent thing, and I want to do it right. I also haven't done it yet because I wouldn't be able to be a blood donor for at least a year. Giving that up just seems a little selfish on my part, just for some ink. I appreciate the art of the tattoo. Both my younger sister and brother have artwork done on them that is tastefully done, but still shows their persona

Well the boys know when I'm finally done when I say, "Everybody grab their chair and put it on the rack!" My CM minutes are really whatever I feel like at the time. At our Nov pack meeting, I talked about the things I was thankful for, but I also mentioned that in addition to Thanksgiving, we celebrate Veterans day, and that the USMC birthday is the day before Veteran's Day. I then asked if we had any families who served our country, and asked those 2 gentlemen if they would be our honorary color guard and remove the colors for us. I've also done songs, and the ever popular "See you

SP, I feel your pain! This is my first full year as CM. So I've got my first recruiting class in Sept, I called every parent of the boys who had signed up, talked to them about their boys,and themselves. All the while trying to take mental notes for the parents I was going to approach about DL positions. Made my callbacks after the first den meeting (which I led, to try and give everybody an idea of what a meeting should look like) and pitched/offered the DL position to my first choices. None of my first choices have panned out so far, I'm actually down to my 3rd choices as DL's. It took som

At winter camp a couple of years ago, our Troop worked on this. We ended up doing a lost scout scenario. All scouts were supposed to meet at the flags before lunch. SPL and ASPL's always did troop counts to verify all patrols were present and accounted for. This time, one of the ASPL's was not present and accounted for. He had set up the premise for this, by telling a couple of boys he was going off for a hike after breakfast. All Patrol's were organized and branched off by groups, and then headed out in each direction calling for him. After about 20 minutes, we hear one group call out t

Got to thinking about this from the other thread about moosetracker's dilemma with the Scout that was trying to skirt the intent of the MB. How do you deal with a boy who is taking classes in school and wants to use those requirements for either advancement or MB completion? First off, we do not have a boy in our troop trying to do this right now. This is all a hypothetical situation I'm creating. Myself and the other TTFC ASM sent out a note to the boys and their parents, stating that if they participated in Red Ribbon Week activities and/or went through the Bullying seminars a

Cubmaster!!!! But seriously, As I'm going through my second go round with Bearson, here are my impressions. 1. Webelos- There is a lot more flexibility with the program and you still get accomplished what you want, instead of fighting the clock trying to finish up by B/G. Yes, we've become one of those packs, and I'm trying to change that. (reminds me of the old joke, Have you ever tried to push a rope?) Also watching the boys maturity level rise from the end of 3rd grade to the end of 4th grade is phenomenal. 2. Tigers- The joy and excitement I see on those boys' faces could li

Nothing like walking around with your sleeping bag draped around you. Those would be the perfect hats for "Capture the Flag" What is it with those wacky Brits?

Seattle, We do have a receipt book that has 2 copies in it. So the person gets a copy and we have one on file. When the cash comes in, we actually have 2 people count it, the Treasurer and usually a committee member or myself or the CC to verify the numbers. We also encourage checks or using the credit/debit card reader we have tied to the account. Our COR does stipulate having two signatures on the checks, so we can't get around that. The treasurer does have to report at the monthly committee meeting all the activities, which usually means pulling the report from Quicken for