prairie

Every time I hear of this happening it's like getting slugged in the stomach, again.

I have a tough time keeping a stocking cap on when I sleep so I wear an Army surplus pile cap, its a green hood like thing made for wearing under the helmet, has large velcro tabs to keep fastened to your head and is warm too. I have pulled the stocking had down over my eyes and that does seem to help rentention some.

If the bag feels cold take a hot water bottle to bed with you, a quart of hot water has a lot of heat to offer, pick one you know WILL NOT LEAK! Test sleep it at home first. If it feels too hot wrap it up in some clothing, it will provide less heat then, but for a longer time.

I fact my basic recomondation is what ever you choose try it out for a night in the back yard first in similar weather conditions.

I will second: 1) My Side of the Mountain - story of a Scout-age boy that heads into the mountains of NY to live on his own

2:The Adventures of Tom Sawyer & Adventures of Huck Finn by Samuel Langhorne Clemens aka Mark Twain. Also a great oppertunity to talk about how some words that used to be common are now considdered hate speech.

Just look at the size of that cat!

What I left out of my last post was the fact none of the boys who showed up were Webelos and it was a short turnout, when they didn't show up for the den meeting Monday night I called one mother who said he had to many things to do. Couldn't get the other to answer the phone, drove over there last night with his Rocket Derby kit only to find out from his mother he had lost intrest too.(This message has been edited by prairie)

Just how much does it cost to run a Pack per Cub per year?

Figure camping, trips and such are extra cost.

Just the sorta thing I wanted to avoid last year, county park has no real reservation system so at lunch time Friday I drove the 5 miles and pitched a cheap tent on the site we wanted (dead end corner lot 400 feet away from the pit toilet), payed the camp fee and went back to work. Funny thing was when I got back there later another troop from another council had the next spot to us, not so nice cause the latrine is only 50 feet away and the door always banged.

Didn't I just read here in the last week or so that by one long term scouters memory it was always the taller boy who won?

Success at eh Pack meeting, who knew trying to bounce a pair of racket balls into a box could be so much fun! Just told them the point of the game and let them go, quite proud when they reliased they needed to take turns.

Already thinking up the next fum game for October.

On the pilling of the Switchbacks, mine still have not, maybe it's because they have always been line dried. In winter they dry in the house quite quickly. Anybody else not using a clothes dryer and having thi9s result?

The boonie hat, have seen one but it was too small, and even floppier than the beret.

Like every other year I worked here on the farm Monday, just like every Mon,Tues,Wed,Thurs,Fri,Sat. and chores on Sunday. Haven't had a three day weekend since I got outa the Army.(This message has been edited by prairie)

Great ideas!

With some slight mods I know have these posibilitys.

Go see a minor league baseball game, three parks with in nintey miles.

Kite day, enjoyed that as a cub.

Hikeing, we have a nice rails to trails path for starters.

Catapult

Intro to snorkeling/scuba only 45 miles away.

Got my eye on a Den Chief, we will see how that works out.

I plan to keep the crafting to a minium, meet outside when possible, avoid acting like a school teacher, utilize local tallents and never underestemate what they can do.

Background, I've been on the troop committee for several years now, back in July the Cubmaster approached myself and a ASM I get along with very well, to head up the Webelos den in the fall, thought we would have 5 boys. Last time I had anything to do with Webelos was when I was one in 1970, the ASM when his boy went through bout ten years ago. We said yes and for my part I had hoped to prep the boys better for if/when they joined the troop. This week I found out there will only be 2 boys and one of them is new to scouting.

What I need is some activitys that could bring those lost Bears back on board. They seem immune to what adults have said so I figure the only way is to have them hear about all their missing from those still in the program.

So far they will help out with flag raising at the highschool football game, in October the Pack has the Rocket Derby, and a five block walk and visit to a recreation of a railroad depot in a long time train engineer's backyard, and I don't mean the toy/hobby stuff. I saw the pumpkin throwing in Scouter, could make table top ones to throw ping pong balls or practice golf balls.

These are Web1 boys so I would be very thankfull for ideas that have worked well for you, ones that they talk about years later.

My goal is to have 6 boys in the den by the new year, either new or returns. Neither of us is a natural leader so we have less leeway for mistakes. We do have a wide range of techinical skills to offer, including astronomy, electronics and Ham radio, metal working, fieldcraft, aquatics and boating. Plus we both know experts localy to cover topics we are weak in like art.

TIA

(This message has been edited by prairie)

Called it in, she said it was the first she had heard off,

they also last spring had not heard of any of the

Centennil shirts loosing their flags or BSA strips.

I plan to sew the World Crest onto the ring and then the ring to the shirt,

the crest thats on it is not well positioned anyway.

That shirt measures 19" across the shoulder seams and 23" from under the armpits to 23" at the belt line.

It is a lightly used poly-cotton shirt, I got it with a batch of ebay stuff I wanted, Boy Scouts of America strip and flag patch look good faint sign of other patches sewn on. Twenty bucks shipped.

I have a used XXL blue Cub shirt, if it will help I can post some measurments.

Mug Update:::::::::::::

Opened up the 2nd cup and inspected the spotwelds,

they look good to me and I have a background in metal work,

the first mugs welds didn't look like much but I figgered there was

a way of doing the spot weld that looked nicer than what I was used to.

I really hope I got the only defective mug made,

but I wouldn't take that bet.

I'dd say go ahead and buy them, but inspect each one,

would feel worse giving one as a gift

and having it fail than losing my own.

Will call ScoutShop today and let them know about the proablem.

"""""""""""""Cool item alert!

#24280, 100 Anniversary Stainless Steel Carabiner Mug $9.99

built in clip so it saves weight on your belt, wish the inside was better polished and its a bit smaller at 10oz than the cups I normaly use. Bought two and would still be thrilled if somebody gave me another."""""""""

Well not so cool after all, took it to the first scout meeting of the fall last night, pulled it outa the bag and it looked wrong, seems the spot welds that held the carabiner/handel on

had failed, now I have a pencil holder, nutz. You can barely see where the spot welds were, not good quality control! Dread looking at the other one still new in box.

I just checked on e-bay and there is a pair of BSA Leggings for sale!

Already have a set but my large ankles rule out my wearing them. Since ebay want paypal only that option is still closed to me.

I too am "banned" from going on a high adventure trip because of my weight, wondering if/when they will have an upper limit on the memebership application for SM and ASM. I may never get down to that point again but any weight lost would be a help. Good luck to all those who take up this challange.

Got mine...

Even at almost 36 on a side it looks a little small on me,

19 inch neck will do that.

I you look carefully at the catalog pic not only is the dog

wearing one but so is one of the boys and it reaches his belt,

mines four inches short of my belly button,

wish the Webelos Den Leader necker was this size.

The ribbon is grosgrain, prolly nylon and stitched to the top

only not wrapped around like bias tape.

It rolls up easy and is a heaver fabric than the std necker,

all in all I would rate it up there with the carabiner cup

for being cool usefull gear.

Well I have my 2001 Leader Guide and somewhere the CubMaster gave me an older helps book, wish I could find a helps book geared to the 9 and 10 year olds, much of it seemed right for a 7 year old, and way too much arts and crafts. Our school system still has an art program so I will avoid duplacating that.

Saw the vid, why do I have this gnawing in my gut this may be the equilvent for Cubs that 1972 was for Boy Scouts?

At least it's far enough off I can use the current books for the Webelos for the next year, maybe two.

We also went with Mr. LastName, cept when Mr. Dxxxx started acting like a kid again, then we used his given first name which he hated, he went by his middle one.