raisinemright

Our Pack has an annual "battle" about Blue and Gold. Me (ACM), CM and many families like it to be an event that the kids and families look forward to with lots of action, awards, a good meal and some kid type entertainment, along with AOL and crossover. A few people want it to be very austere, quick with few awards, knock out AOL and crossover and get home by 8. So, it gets pretty interesting. A couple years ago, we published guidelines for the B&G committee (Usually WII parents) that has helped a little bit. After this years "battle" we're going to revise the guidelines a little and change it to having WI families do most of the legwork because B&G is kind of a reward for WII parents for getting thier kids successfully through Cubs. BTW, for the most part, it's a friendly battle. The key is to make it over the top and fun.

Hunt, You had a pretty good overview of the candidates. I have some disagreement with you on Huckabee. I hang out in some evangelical circles and see little support for Huckabee. I'm a Thompson guy myself and voted for him in Michigan this morning. He's not really coming forward in the polls as I hoped he would but I can still hope. Clinton and Obama is an interesting race. I could see them tearing each other to shreds and have Edwards sneak past them both. I was kind of disappointed to see Richardson drop so early as he was the most qualified candidate the dem's had this year.

Follow me Boys is a great film starring Fred McMurray as a Scout Leader. I'm sure many of you have seen it but there's something special about showing it at a campout.

Hillary is effectively the only D running in Michigan. The Democrat party told the states that no one could have a primary earlier than NH. Michigan wanted to go early and ignored it so the Democrats said that they would not accept the Michigan delegates. Obama, Edwards etc. said that they didn't want to be on the ballott. re: Ron Paul, he's pretty scary. Yesterday on the radio, someone asked him if as President he knew of a shipment of nuclear missiles en route from North Korea to Iran, what would he do. He flat out answered "Nothing."

Historically, Iowa has only once predicted the eventual winner (Carter), so I'm not real sure how vitally important it was in the big picture. That said, it did do a little bit to winnow out the crowd. Watching the audiences, it was almost a given that Mrs. Clinton would fare poorly. It almost appeared as if her audiences were there under duress with little enthusiasm, unlike the Obama crowds. Given Clinton's propensity to lash out at others (See Emmett Tyrell's book "the Clinton Crack-up") Obama better hire additional security and some food tasters. Her campaign manager promised last night that they were going supremely negative on Obama. If it goes according to my plan, Hillary takes both Obama and herself down leaving it to a fight between silky pony and Richardson. On the Republican side, I'm leaning heavily toward Fred Thompson as the only true and tried conservative in the bunch although Romney or McCain would be acceptable, but with great reservation.

We recently had a patrol cracker barrel competition. My son's patrol made monkey bread in dutch ovens but it took lots of prep that had to actually start several hours beforehand. The other guys made nacho's in dutch ovens. They just took chips and spread em in the oven, sprinkled cheese and peppers around and heated 'em up for about 10-15 minutes over the coals. Quick, easy and good.

Actually, the trip went great. I showed up saturday at dinnertime to find that the firepit, which was far larger than I had anticipated was a long narrow bed of coals with a bunch of foil dinners beginning to cook. The scouts and webelo's got it together very quickly with no problems. In other words, my concerns were all for naught. It was easier cause one of the dad's made pulled pork and onion casserole for the dad's and a few scouts bailed out on the trip due to illness and other things, so only about 25-30 dinners were being cooked. My son's patrol and another were responsible for the cracker barrel. Our guys made monkey bread in three dutch ovens. The other patrol made dutch oven nacho's. It looked pretty cool seeing a bunch of ovens stacked up on the coals. Mmm...Mmm..good. Now, what is Polish Trainwreck?

Having some written guidelines is a very good idea. Our pack had an issue 2-3 years ago wherein the leaders made a decision that was right for the boy involved but took some flack for keeping it somewhat secret. (it had to do with a private family issue and should not have been made public anyway) After that, we decided it was necessary to have our guiding principles in writing so that we could refer people to them if there was a problem. While no parent has ever requested a copy, it's good to have on hand if anything comes up. I'm now leading a team to write up troop guidelines as well. We're in teh final editing stages.

Kudu, Thanks for the advice. That's actually close to what we're doing. My thing about not flying in to the rescue was the flying part. We're going to plant the seed that this is going to be a logistic challenge and see where they go toward fixing it. When the time is right, we'll make some suggestions to guide the solution. What my real goal to teach this time is that on a trip of this size, trying to sleep, feed and keep 45 people busy is that every step of it needs to be planned and even somewhat scripted. Me and another dad have been scrambling all week to get supplies like cooking utensils, firewood etc. Most of the leaders and the boys think this stuff just happens but without a little advance work, nothing just happens. You're right though, we need to train the scouts. This will be a very good step. The SPL has done a pretty good job with the duty roster so everyone will know what's expected of them and when. As far as cool stuff, our new patrol of 8 Tenderfoot Scouts who've been together since Tigers decided to make Monkey Bread in dutch ovens for a Cracker Barrel Saturday night. We got together and planned out the prep which actually begins 6 hours before the stuff gets cooked. These guys are gonna have fun making that snack, and sharing it with everyone. And, for the future, our plan is to separate by patrols.

Nope, we won't let 'em fail, but we will use it as an opportunity to encourage better planning next time. All Webelo's will have parents there and most of them already have scouts in the troop. Most of us have known each other for years. The idea of a long cooking area is really good and I'll pass that on to the other leaders. However, what we cannot do is fly in to their rescue every time. The boys need to have a problem and use their skills to solve the problem, and there are many solutions. The rest of their meal plans are good and this one will eventually work but it'll be a challenge for them.

I told our guys to use charcoal but never thought of multiple cooking stations. Great idea.

The troop has ballooned in size in the past 6 months. We're also a new troop withthe oldest scout being 14. Most are 11-13. Also the SM, IMHO is too hands off when it comes to teaching the boys how to do this kind of stuff. He's a great guy, but not real good at teaching and forcing things like patrol method. I'm one of the newer leaders and trying not to take over but am pretty good at logistics. Our first years scouts are more organized than the older Because the boys didn't plan the trip at all until the last few days, I do fear that it's not going to go real well. I'm not going on this one but am helping with some of the logistics. We've got a bunch of Webelo's going and lots of parents attending too. One thing we are blessed with is great parental participation. I'll take your advice and let them learn the hard way.

So, the troop is going on a troopwide cabin campout this weekend. Scouts, Webelo's and parents total about 45 warm bodies. Our troop is fairly new and young. The concept of planning ahead is still kind of foreign to them. We just got the menu from them along with a food list so one of the scouts can go shopping. Most of the meals are decent and simple. Oatmeal, hot dogs etc. However, the plan for Saturday dinner is foil meals. Great idea and very tasty, but I'm wondering about the logistics of trying to cook this on an open fire for 45 people. Should we suggest a different meal or let them go at it with the hopes that next time they'll plan better? If you think we should suggest an alternate, please give me some ideas.

After using Scoutrax for several years, I switched over to Packmaster last year. They have a setup called dotnet that is internet based and allows multiple leaders to access, although only one can be on at a time. I don't go through each book, instead, I tell parents to give me a list of achievements and electives which I input into Packmaster. Sometimes they bring a sheet to the meeting, or they e-mail me. On occasion, i will print each scouts personal record off Packmaster and give it to the parents for crosscheck. I encourage my scouts to do as much of the book as they can at home and also to look through the elvetives and requirements to see which things they do as part of school or as a matter of course. Our kids are all homeschooled, so their parents often incorporate scout stuff into curriculum as well.

Hey Goldwinger, After sumping and trying to choke down warm water with chunks of semi liquid leftovers, what is the leave no trace rule for cleaning up several piles of vomit from the campsite? Sorry, but that just sounds nasty.

An idea we picked up was when one kid starts lagging behind, make him the hike leader. He'll pick up the pace. Be sure to tell parents that no griping by them is allowed. Make it exciting and they'll move along well and not even realize how far they've gone. A two mile pre-hike is a good idea too.

My son and several other boys are working on the backpacking MB. We've done two treks so far. Here's their meals. Breakfast-oatmeal, hot chocolate, dried fruit lunch-tuna packets, cheese, party rye bread, jerky etc. Dinner-Bear Creek "darn good Chili" The chili is dehydrated and very easy to prepare. We add macaroni noodles and cut up beef or sausage. On our next trek, we're going to break them up into groups of three and each group will plan and make their meals. Especially if your scouts are going for the MB, they should be making some meals, not just opening packs and eating them. Use of ovens, prepping water, safe, LNT cleanup and stuff like that is part of the badge. Plus that, at the end of the trail, you can't beat a good hot meal. Burning the calories that they do on the trail, your boys will need far more protein than they get from Ramen Noodles. Maybe a refresher on proper eating habits might be in order too. Good luck

That's a great idea. I'll ask our popcorn chair to just make up a bunch of addresses and fill them out. BTW, we've got lots, and I do mean LOTS of popcorn left over. Did I mention LOTS and LOTS of it. The popcorn chair made a tremendous clerical blunder and overordered LOTS of popcorn. If any of y'all need to fill in some orders of Trails End PM me and we'll see if we can work something out.

We had a few boys fill thier forms up but Council rejected them. They said the forms were incomplete because they didn't have addresses and phone numbers on them. That's insane. Addresses are for the scouts with orders so they can be sure to deliver it correctly. They don't need Grandma's address.

We just took a bunch of scouts backpacking and faced similar issues. Here are some of the tricks we came up with. Needs: Acrylic, wool or polypropylene socks. I bought some for myself at Walmart 2 for $6.00 Stocking cap. 2-3 pairs of gloves (in case it rains) Long underwear (polypropylene is best but is expensive. You should be able to find that at thrift shops) Nylon camp pants are great. The new switchback pants are perfect for camping. If they don't have them, go to the thrift store and get a couple pair of warm up pants. They are usually acrylic and wick moisture fairly well. A swim suit with a liner is great instead of cotton underwear. Wal-mart has polypropylene shirts for about $9.00 ea. Teach them to dress in layers with a light shell on top. Boots would be recommended but they can get away with tennis shoes. They might want to bring a spare pair. Of all these, the most critical is the socks. Teach them to protect their feet above all else. I tell my scouts the story of an American pilot shot down in Bosnia in 1995. He said that removed food form his survival kit to put extra socks in it. He changed out his wet socks several times a day while he was evading capture for six days. He'd dry his spare socks so they'd be ready to use. If your feet are cold, you body will be miserable.

I saw something at University of Scouting that might be helpful to you couse of the large group. There's an organization in Detroit called Arts and Scraps (artsandscraps.org). They take industrial castoffs and put oddball stuff together to make projects out if them. It sounds kind of wierd and it is, but, they have an entire year of craft projects for cubs that are tied into the monthly theme. Here's the direct link. http://artsandscraps.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AS&Product_Code=BSK&Category_Code=BS Bears are pretty cool too. They're a perfect age cause they can do more than the little kids and have an overabundance of energy. I've got ten in my den and it's the second time around for me.

I was a Cub for 3-4 years. I think I got AOL but never crossed into Boy Scouts. It was weird, I never remember any conversation in the pack about moving onto Boy Scouts at all. Fast forward 30 some years. I'm now the dad to four kids. Two girls who did the cookie thing for many years then it was the boys turn. One of my buddy's got his kid into Tiger cubs and it seemed pretty cool. The next year, mine was old enough so we joined Tigers and had a blast. He's now a new Tenderfoot. Six of those original Tigers are still together in the Patrol. Son #2 is a Bear. I'm completely sucked into the program. Bear DL, ACM, ASM with the troop and helping a bunch of boys earn their backpacking MB. Newsflash, I ain't doing this just for the kids.

A friend of mine gave me his Army issue M1950 stove. It's made by Coleman and is similar to yours. On a recent trip, one of the other leaders had a newer ultralight stove that used white gas. It took him forever to get it lit while my M1950 was happily heating dinner. However, his boils water far faster than mine does. I'd love to figure out a way to make it burn hotter. The point is, there is an online manual for the M1950 that is very detailed, but I can't find it right now.

Wow, I guess we just lucked out. My son and seven of his friends all crossed over together. Our home school pack mostly feeds into our affiliated home school troop so these guys stayed together. Most have been together since Tigers. We made them their own patrol with the intention of assimilating them into the other patrols after camp. Nothing doing! These guys are all active, with active parents, earning rank and merit badges. Everyone in the troop is proud of these new guys and admits that they are the best organized and most active patrol. I was their den leader for Wolf and Bear but gave the den over to a friend when my youngest joined Tigers so I could lead his den. Now he's a Bear so I get to be a Webelo leader next year. Hopefully we'll be able to repeat that success. I do agree though that parents make the program. We've got University of Scouting this weekend and have a ton of people going, including several dad's who are not in uniform but want to learn how to help out the troop and pack run better, be MB counselors etc. I love the idea of a parents only campout. That would be a blast and get the point across.

Longhaul, I have to disagree with your comment that Cubs are not allowed to cook or even roast marshmallows. Take a look at Bear requirement #9 WHAT'S COOKING? (Bear Handbook - Page 80) Do four requirements. With an adult, bake cookies. With an adult, make snacks for the next den meeting. With an adult, prepare one part of your breakfast, one part of your lunch, and one part of your supper. Make a list of the "junk foods" you eat. Discuss "junk food" with a parent or teacher. Make some trail food for a hike. With an adult, make a dessert for your family. With an adult, cook something outdoors. Here's Wolf Requirement 8 COOKING AND EATING (Wolf Handbook, Page 78) Study the Food Guide Pyramid. Name some foods from each of the food groups shown in the pyramid. Plan the meals you and your family should have for one day. List things your family should have from the food groups shown in the Food Group Pyramid. At each meal, you should have foods from at least three food groups. Help fix at least one meal for your family. Help set the table, cook the food, and wash the dishes. Fix your own breakfast. Wash and put away the dishes. With an adult, help to plan, prepare, and cook an outdoor meal. Yes, it needs adult supervision, but it certainly allows for cooking and does not have any significant limitations. If weather permits, my Bear den will be sitting around the campfire tomorrow night cooking something on a stick. I haven't yet decided what. Thanks for the links too. I'm going to put them to good use.