ozemu

Would those little bum bags work? Maybe not get tangled and with space to stash treasures. Most have room for a water bottle too which around here is essential, along with wide brimmed hat.

I think that LNT (and other min impact policies) are ideals and like our oath / promise it is something to strive for in understanding as much as in practice. As our understanding of impact develops we understand more about the planet and about our being on it. As we water it down then our quest for knowledge and understanding is retarded. Just because the grass won't stand up is no reason to give up on trying to figure out why. Or marvelling that it can. There will always be people who lack empathy for the environment (social as well as other aspects) and I suspect that educa

Kudu, no our sixth law is not being a friend to animals. It was a good law in my opinion but not vague enough to have a wide effect. Still, young people may have understood it more that way. We have a Scout is friendly,...considerate....respectful...cares for the environment. Rooster7, hello. Nice to hear from you again. And honestly I understand your position. I thought that an alternative might bring your beliefs into focus and that would reinforce your own views but with a deeper understanding of why you believe these things. I can't tell by your post but I suspect tha

I don't think that it is possible to have a totaly trained unit. We all join for different reasons and then our situations tend to change. We have lives and volunteering must go along with that. Further I was in the Army for ten years and was never fully trained. There is always more. So get the volunteers into the Scouting job that suits them and allow for that plan to change. Keep them excited about what they are doing. And provide training that is relevant to that. Keep the basics strong. Hope this helps with the survey. I suspect that the aim was to get

I have changed my ISP and cannot get the wizard for Edit your Profile to accept my new email. I cannot get past the first page 'create your profile'. So here I sit with millions of emails from forum mates and it all goes speeding past. I tried personal messaging Scouter Terry but he seems to be on holiday. The gaul! (did I spell that right or did I just call Terry an ancient frenchman?) Is my windows xp the problemm maybe?

If they are young then maybe aim at slap stick level of interest. Make meetings snappy. Nothing over 15 minutes and lot of tests and adults obviously having fun doing Scout things. For a wide game camp that my Troop planned but looked to be about to fall flat I gave Warning and Patrol orders straight from my old Army notes and wore a stylised uniform that looked a little holiwoodish. During the weekend the rules changed several times and there were neutral 'peace keeping' times to allow Scouts to stop hiding and to swim etc. And they loved finding me. All cammed up and sitting

Hi SWScouter, the semantics of animal rights and animals right to life are not really important to me. I suppose PETA doesn't have much impact on me either. So. The Scout law/oath and my personal view I believe line up pretty well. These things define right and wrong. What the civil law says is grey and even dark to me. The emu on the road would get much the same reaction out of me as a Scout. I would say a prayer for both. I would remember with horror both images for the rest of my life. If starving I would eat the emu and protect the scout. I have killed a

"I concluded that these PETA nuts see no difference between Human and Animal and hence cannot ever grasp the common sense that us scouters have" I don't see a difference between human and animal either. And it is part of my spiritual philosophy. It works with Scouting like this (for me - other deep ecologists would be more like PETA. Humans and animals have equal rights to life. Humans - being another animal, need to eat. We have incisor teeth. We were designed to eat meat. Other animals with incisors eat meat. I separate this entirely from the sanctity of (human) lif

Try damper twists; basically bread on a stick. An Australian favourite(for kids). Make a dough. Self raising flour, pinch salt, and water. If you want to be flash knead butter/margarine through the flour first and use milk rather than water. When the dough is not sticky (half the fun) make a long sausage and wrap it around a stick and put some effort into sealing the ends. If you get the seal wrong the dough straightens out and drops off into the fire. Oh- the fire. Get it going when you start and put the wood side by side. That keeps the air out and the fire burns c

Quite right Eamonn, basics is best. I train adults and youths at work and always tend toward achievement of recordable results. We always have fun but the tendancy does limit my brainstorming. Which is why I ask the forum members for help. Flying a bit solo here so keep the ideas coming pls. Birds in mud, large scale orienteering and pioneering with rubber bands and gum tree sticks are now on the list.

Hi Kudu, we don't use PLC or Court of Honour at all. We have a Troop Council and that is it. I was trying to use your terms as previously Aussie terms have just gotten the topic off track. Seems I missed (again). Patrol comp is good. We do this already. Some differences but I think the prize could be up'd as you suggest. Patrol comp needs attention. See my new years resolution.

What's wrong with shorts?

I promise to put more effort into training and supporting the PLC.

My Troop needs some hooks to keep the Scouts involved and committed. Ordinarily this would come from their enthusiasm for advancement but the next generation of Troop leaders is not at present very advancement oriented. They love the adventure but really don't want to prepare for or organise it. We have had some success with weekend camps and some evening programs but I need some more ideas for the PLC to ponder So what activities have worked to keep your Troop focussed and active over a two-three month period? Not major events but achievable, fun and exciting activities?

Can you imagine the phone call to mum and dad? What would you say? Definately going to be shown on the next troop meeting.

Glad to hear that all is well. I hope it stays that way for him. Enjoy his time at home Eisely.

Nothing this year for the kids. I over did it last year and they begged off outdoor gear. I got a pocket PC. I will load all of those rules and regs on it. Also the contact info for all Scouts and maybe some other stuff. We are also now on cable for www. No more dial up. I might be on here more in 2006.

Semper the first thing that I thought when you said there was something other than spare time on your finger was a wedding ring. Probably the wrong finger. I don't wear one. But the answer seemed appropriate.

Showing respect varies depending on culture. Here all adults are called by their Scout or Woodbadge name. I have been Emu since 1985 at the age of 18 when I started as a Scouter. It is not formal (Mr))and is not too familiar (Graham). But I am not from the USA and I believe that Mr/Mrs is pretty standard. According to tv so is Coach Lastname when at sport. Now that would get you laughed off the field here. It just depends on the culture. I would think that not all segments of US society would use Mr/Mrs when talking youth to adult. If your Troop is seeking Scouts from soci

The difficulty with getting the young bloke to pay for the window is that I caught him an hour later. So we cannot link him to the window. Maybe they will accuse each other when the Police talk to them but we dont hold much hope. So we will foot the bill. No-one was hurt. But the ASM in the car had her brother die a couple of weeks before and has had a rotten year in her job. This weekend was for her to unwind!! The beach we were at was Brunswick Heads. Just north of Byron Bay in the NSW north coast. A long way from Bermagui. And to my way of thinking the south coast is cooo

Good job!

On Sat night we were camping in the front yard of a scout hall at the beach. Lovely spot. Then our girls said that someone was throwing things at their tent. We looked around. Nothing. After a while it hapened again. And again. We adults were sleeping around the girls tent. Boys tents were not bing touched. I could see nothing but could hear things hit the tent. Thought it might be beetles dazed by nearby streetlight. Other two adults were sleeping in their cars. I was under a fly with sides up so that I could see 360. Then one car window smashed. We looked around. No

Patrol adult free camps are, in my mind, the pinnacle of Scouting. When alone Scouts have no adult safety net but being adult free seems to make the Scouts cautious. They make sensible and safe calls. So it is not just the parents who are worried. Done in stages there is no reason why Scouts at all ages should not run Patrol camps. Stage 1 for us has been back yards (big ones - lots of farmers in our Troop), having a copuple of parents following well back, having me camping 1/2 mile away down a rainforest track. Stage 2 is overnight hikes for us mostly. We see them at

I will not allow patrols to camp with less than four members present unless it is a backpacking type activity with lightweight gear and stoves etc. I see this as a mandatory aspect of care. This is my interpretation only and I will sometimes be convinced otherwise and can be approached by Scouts with solutions of their own. My reasons are that the camping experience becomes a chore of cooking, cleaning, sorting and fixing instead of playing and learning. There is therefore significant pressure on less reluctant Scouts to not let the Patrol down. Ordinarily a disolved Patrol would spli

Now that's pretty funny. That is a bible I could read.