raisinemright

No duffel bags or backpacks in tents.

We tried this at summer camp and it worked great. No tent damage and nobody lost all theri stuff cause it was strewn all around the tent and mixed in with the tentmates stuff.

Bring a trash bag and cover the duffel at night or use the tent vestibule.

I haven't seen this but on I-96 west of Grand Rapids, MI is a full size billboard commemoratin the 100th Anniversary of Scouting.

Cool!

First, Congratulations and thanks for stepping up.

Rule one-Have fun and make it fun.

Dues are minumum $15 for registration and $12 for Boys Life. Since you're new and have no money for operations, i would add a few bucks to that to get you off the ground.

My pack is self chartered, but I think if you have a charter organization, you can use their tax ID number.

Our checks just say Friends of Pack ####

Get yourself and your DL's and other leaders trained ASAP. Maybe visit another local pack and see how they do stuff. Ask other local scouts, even boy scout leaders, most of whom were cub leaders in the past. Some of us lead both because of our kids.

Expect a few hiccups and roll with 'em.

Our program cost last year was $160 per scout. That included day camp completely covered for boys who met their popcorn goal or paid the balance between sales and cost. Most of our boys attended camp.

We're generally able to cover all other pack expenses from popcorn sales so there is little to no out of pocket costs beyond registration.

Go for it.

One den meeting should be enough to quickly assemble and decorate the boats maybe along with some fishish up work at home.

Suggestions: Use vinyl gutters and make sure your base is ral stable and level.

Take a shop vac along for cleanup if you're doing it indoors.

Be sure the rules are clear that all boats must have traditional sail and mast

Glue the sail to the mast and the hull, otherwise it will spin.

McDonald's straws are great for blowing. THey are larger in diameter and very strong.

Check the water depth to make sure keels don't drag.

Have fun!

Thank you.

I should probably copyright it.

Actually, I stole the basic wording form something Rush Limbaugh said and modified it for Scouts.

We have developed our own recruiting materials. This year's theme is "Developing Leaders in a World of Followers." and that is how we plan to pursue our scouting year. We just had elections and finally have a mature SPL and I think a very good ASPL (my son). I'm looking forward to it.

Last week, a couple scouts came over to do the 2C swim test in my neighbors built in pool. It's just big enough to do the test and is ten feet deep.

One of them needed to do the water rescue stuff, so I sent my son into the pool to be the victim, then told the scout to find stuff to reach and throw to him.

The boy was looking around and walking slowly to stuff with no concern for speed or the victim.

I looked at him and said "you failed and the boy drowned."

After he got over his shock and looked like tears were coming. I said "try again."

Wow, he got it and moved like tome was really a factor.

How about Nothin but DDT.

That would be a better solution and would easily and safely save millions of lives.

I can attest to that. About 25 years ago, I was kicking around in the woods on a friends property and got myself serioulsy misplaced. At some point, I noticed that I had dropped the lens cap from my camera. I kept on walking and trying to get my bearings. About an hour later, I stopped, looked down, picked up my lens cap and continued on my way.

Last winter, the Webelo's went to the Winter Experience (Klondike Derby) where they brought a sled.

They modified my old Flexible Flyer sled to look like a dog sled with sides, grips and a leader rope for the Dog Scouts to pull. For our next pack meeting, I decided that we would have a Scoutitarod sled race.

I cable tied the sled to a mechanics creeper with rubber tires, set up a check point using a real Iditarod drop bag (It's a canvas bag Sled Dog racers use to pre-stage food and supplies at check points), broke the souct s up into teams and they had to negotiate the course. The check point had a bag of crackers which the musher had to feed his dogs before feeding himself. It was all for time.

We raised the bar too high and it became hard for future pack meetings.

Brent,

I have two ThermaRests and two Big Agnes Air Cores-uninsulated. One of our other leaders has the insulated BA

Thermarest goes for some car camping trips or winter camp-with a foam pad too just for convenience.

BA goes along on anything backcountry-light weight-takes about 5 minutes to inflate.

BA also makes a stuff sack that you can open up, trap air and roll it up, pushing the air into the pad.

BA is slighly more comfortable than the TR pad.

TR doesn't really self inflate when it is real cold out.

We bought a few Taurus 4's this spring. Excellent tents. Several were up in a windstorm with 70-90mph winds and no guy lines. One pole cracked but that was all. Alps sells pole replacement by the section, not the whole pole.

Used 'em for a week at summer camp with zero issues.

We have it clearly in our rules that the mast and standard sail must be used. There is an easy trick to RGR to cup the sial at the rear of the boat that virtually guarantees a win. We figured the easiest thing to do was eliminate the possibility.

We also give the kids drinking straws to help them direct their wind. McDonald's straws are best. They are a larger diameter and have a heavy wall. Just go to a Mac's and ask for 100 straws for a Scout project.

Also, the plastic gutters work OK, but they may need some reinforcing. Be sure the ground is level otherwise the keel may drag on the bottom. If you're indoors, have a shop vac ready for cleanup and to drain the gutter. I've though about installing a drainplug in our, but haven't gotten around to it.

I just spent two days teaching flag skills at Cub Scout day camp. I think I folded, raised, lowered and burned more flags in one day than anyone in history

There are no specific rules for flags and it is good to shake it up and change stuff once in a while. That said, our troop usually says the pledge, oath law and the outdoor coed, followed by a prayer.

I'm trying to get them to quit saying "please join me in the ..." before they say the pledge, oath etc. They did that last night and it was far more seamless and sounded good.

Thread hijack time.

Sorry, but the discussion raised a question regarding POR's

My son is nearing Star rank but hit a snag with POR.

The requirement is to have a POR while First Class and it gives off a long list. The list does not include Asst. Patrol Leader.

He's been PL and APL his entire time as a scout. Was also acting SPL for summer camp two weeks ago. Right now, he's APL.

Does Asst. Patrol Leader count for Star rank and it's just an ommission in the book?

I know in his particular case, he's a very active APL.

Along with several of our scouts, I live about 20 miles from our SM and we're actually out of our district. He has this habit of assigning MBC's that are near him, not the scout. I finally got ahold of the list for thedistrict we live in. Now, when my son asks for his blue card, he goes in with the name of the counselor he'd like to meet with.

SM carries both lists with him now.

We just got back a week ago. Sure, there were a few first week jitters. There was only one thing that was above and beyond though. The speedboat was broken and in the shop. They still ran the waterskiing and motorboating MB's but had no boat. Every scout wasted time and money and were not able to complete their badge.

I would assume that the money was to be refunded.

Beyond that, camp was very good.

We got ours at All American Screen Printing in Sterling Heights. Mound near 18 Mile Rd. They were about $12.00 each.

The scouts really like them, they hold up well and seem to wash well. The cheap wicking T's are not nearly the quality of Under Armour, but they look good.

A bell? C'mon, everyone knows a well placed kick is better.

Actually, as a pretty active cyclist, I'm gonna throw my 2 cents in.

Helmet- absolutey. In all instances.

Headlight- yes. Preferably a LED with a strobe function. Headlights are more to be seen than to see. The eye is attracted to light and the blinking LED headlight can be see for up to a mile.

Rear tailight-absolutely. I sometimes use multiple blinkies.

Reflectors-maybe. I have none on my roadbike. The wheel mounted ones throw off the balance. Redundant if there is proper lighting.

Bell-No way. I sometimes carry a whistle when I'm a ride leader. A well placed callout or yell is more effective.

Mirror-only if the rider is a good experienced one. Some riders tend to look more in the rearview that in front. I use one that clips to my sunglasses

Wraparound sunglasses-yes. Keeps bugs and dust out. Mine have multiple lenses to change for the conditions.

Water bottle or Camelback-absolutely. I prefer bottles. Easier to drink and you can pour water into your helmet vent holes on really hot days.

Lastly, I recommend obnoxiously bringht colors for what I call "obnoxious visibility."

I just signed mine and I signed off on allowing any scout professionals or volunteers see the information.

In my perfect world, each leader would have access to this information so that he would know if there was a potential problem, allergy, condition etc. There would be multiple copies etc.

The problem we had was htat the guy who had the med forms left the troop and the files were lost. Some boys needed to get re-checked to bring their files up to speed. We now ask parents to keep a copy of the form for the future.

I agree.

Especially when in uniform its important to look for opportunities to help.

Two examples.

Last year a stray dog wandered into our yard. I dont remember all the details, but apparently a neighbor down the road who we do not know was taking care of it when it escaped. My wife was trying to find the owner form the collar when my son, who was getting ready for a Scout meeting saw the neighbor out searching. In full Scout uniform, he walks up to her and asks if she is missing a dog.

Last winter, he, I and another scout were driving home, all in uniform and saw a Jeep stuck, and I mean stuck in the snow. We got out, took a shovel from the trunk and proceeded to extricate the Jeep. The driver never had to even get out of the car. There was a police car back in the parking lot. It turned out his wife was driving the Jeep and after she got stuck, the police rolled up and tagged her for DUI. The officer wouldnt impound the car if her husband could get it unstuck. I was kind of tempted to stop helping then, but figured it wasnt his fault so we continued and got the truck out. I think we probably scored more points with the police then the driver.

Good things happen when we make the time to help people

I had my annual physical yesterday. The doc stood there looking at the guideleines silently for about two minutes. I'm about 5 lb over the optimum and in the allowable exception category. He looked at it and kind of laughed.

I'm not the total picture of health but am a pretty competent distance cyclist. Last week, on my first bike ride of the year, I rode 42 miles.

Roll up some duct tape tightly amd make the roll uneven so it is long and tapered. Makes a decent if somewhat smoky emergency candle.

From personal experience, a dollar bill to reinforce a torn tire works well too. The bike shop guy told me he'd heard of it but never seen one until I came in. I can change my own tires, but it blew out big time 15 miles from home so I needed the new tire now.

A friend of mine's daughter made her entire prom dress from duct tape. It was amazing how good it turned out.

wahooker, I agree on low cost child care. One day I came home after my daughter was watching the younger ones. My son was completely immobilized after being duct taped to a chair at the kitchen table. His hands were taped to the table, his mouth was taped shut and he had a water glass with a long straw taped to the table for sustenance. The kids spent a couple good hours setting up that gag for us and then had to wait until we got home to share a great laugh and some photographs.

Our Boy scout camp is about $230 for a week. I also send my kids to a Christian camp in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a week. The cost for that is $140 per week. They are both rustic camps with cabins in the UP and tenst at Scout camp, which is more apropriate for scouts anyway. The food in the UP is far better but that is due only to the dedicated kitchen staff.

The main difference is the staff. Scout camp pays all their staff, the Bible camp is all volunteer. They do have about 15 summer staff college kids who get a small stipend...really small but that is it. Most of those who volunteer are there year after year. Some for a week or two, some for all summer, some of us just for a few hours at a time. I drive busloads of kids from the Lower Peninsula and drop them off. Boots on the ground time for me is often measured in minutes before we turn around and go home.