red feather

Thanks Pack, if nothing else I may pm you and give you an address. Around here I have been gardening and digging post holes, planting trees and bushes and have hit one, repeat one, rock in 15 years. thanks again and will keep you in mind. yis

Good stuff you all sent. Some of it I already do and some of it was new methods. Most of the chert or flint here is N Missouri seems to be soft rock. Guess I live too close to the Missouri River, not many rocks. Will be looking in S. Missouri next time I am down that way. Have had the most success around here finding hard jasper to generate a good sparking. I use an old metal Altoid tin with an 1/8 in hole in the top of it to make my char cloth. Place 8-10 squares of flannel in it, place on fire and when it stops smoking it is done. Works well and the tin is used to store the char

Looking for a source of good flint for fire starting. In the area I live in flint is difficult to find and is often of a soft variety. I have tried a couple of commercial sources and have found their flint to be soft and crumbly also. While it is usable it gets used very quickly and not suitable for training scouts. Any ideas and help will be greatly appreciated. yis

Do a search for the 'Ol Geezers Cook Book' lots of good stuff there. yis

Welcome to the campfire also. Eagle scout here also with two sons both Eagles. Not OA but member of local Honor Camoing society Mic-O -Say. Pull up a log and have fun. yis

Now to sort the wheat from the chaff. Who cuts their PB sandwich side to side so it can be properly stuffed into pockets or into the backpack? Or cuts the bread corner to corner to... lets see..... show proper upbringing? Personally I prefer the side to side. Fits coat pockets better and holds up better to abuse. yis

Congrats MR. OGE!!! Got a song for the occasion? yis (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

Congrats Hops!! Very good choice for moderator. yis

Smooth PB on Celery. Chunky in cookies. Chunky with honey all swirled together and eaten as a dip with crackers. And sometimes just a spoonful as a quick pick me up. yis

Oh how to say it... Hops, there is and always will be those who will want everyone to be just like themselves. 'If we can only level the playing field' sort of thing. when someone is showing or doing special activities that places them somewhere over that 'level playing field' a lot of people get nervous on where they are and that makes them want to drag those back down to where they are to make them feel better. As a scout you may not see the smiles of approval when you wear your uniform in public, most scouts are not attuned to recoginizing this. But as a Scouter I do see the

While there are discussions on what is an appropriate scout uniform and also with the fact that National does not recognize 'Class A and Class B' nomenclature, teaching Scouts to respect the flag and what it stands for is important. I would much rather have a scout salute with pride and have the personal recognition that he is saluting because he is a Scout, no matter what is a correct uniform, than have one ignore the responsibility or stand there unsure about their clothing. Some years back at a parade where our Scouts were in some sort of uniform (at least close enough). We were

As a cub, going to Den Meetings, those were lots of fun. Wearing my Cub uniform to school and seeing all my friends wearing theirs. As a scout, one overnight where I for whatever reason spent time with one of the 'younger' scouts with their First Aid. I was maybe a year or two older and just a 3rd year scout myself. One of those things that just seemed the thing to do. Afterwards several of the leaders came up to me and told me how impressed they were that I had taken that time to help the other scout. One of the leaders was my Dad. true returns yis

Bump to all the good advice. Wujauwe-- as BW said "spot on" One of the best memories I have as a young scout many moons ago is learning to work with a Troop that only had scouts that had disabilities of some sort. Taught me probably more that I was able to teach them. Hang in there yis

Nah, I enjoy the give and take of a good ol fashioned 'wierd' campfire. Don't have to agree with all but will listen (mostly) to what all have to say. Takes a lot to cause me to take that persons chair from around the fire. yis

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like a great project. like the others have said keep track of your time and remember you are organizing this not doing it all by yourself. Just a thought.... maybe contact a landscaper or outdoor contractor and ask them for input into how to do this. I feel sure most would be willing to help you figure out how to do this properly. yis

no problem here BW. Keep a posting and keep fighting the good fight. You have my respect. yis

NEIN, NYET, VERBOTEN, AND NO!!!! Kool Aid with steak is just wrong, wrong, wrong! Whew, I feel better. yis

Sorry, but actually neither. Basic tool is a Buck knife and any other need is handled by the proper tool. Each with their own back up tool. Have always hesitated to have all my 'eggs in one basket' as it were. Lose one, then all is not a good idea to me. yis

Like I said (posted) just a good ol' campfire (virtual of course). Wait, is this meaningless tripe? sure is, all in fun yis

Not read any of your posts Wojauwe but I treat this forum as I would any 'campfire' and take what I read in that context. Jump in and have a good time expressing your opinions and just go with the give and take. Really nothing here to get all in a bother about. Ideas and all that are what we can learn from and with a discussion we can not learn. Keep posting and have fun. yis

Do I know everthing? Heck no!!!! Most of the time I am not sure I know much of anything. But that does not stop me from forging ahead and try to do the best I can. Been working so far. yis

Ditto to RobK. Camping, hiking, cooking, the outdoors is the bait and hook that scouting utilizes to get the boys into scouting so that they can be taught, lessoned, exposed to what scouting can give them. Are we to bubble wrap the boys so much that they can not learn what may be proper, safe, correct, or the way it oughta be done? The school of hard knocks is a method of learning. If the scouts are not allowed to make mistakes (packing a backpack too heavy, as an example, and then carrying it) then the scout does not truly LEARN from that school. Yes, discretion, experience,

Our Eagles plan their COH. They are given examples of past COH and either modify them as they wish or go with a 'standard' troop COH. It is their ceremony and the last 15 or so that I have been to have been varied and all very good. My youngest just had his (finally) and comments about the ceremony were all positive. ( it was done at the same time as another Eagle, his best friend of 16+ years) yis

Go for it!! yis

I help with wilderness survival and emergency situations in our troop. I recommend that the scouts and scouters have 3 methods of lighting a fire. Usually matches, "bic" lighter and steel wool and battery. Matches are the first choice to try, but you probalby can't carry the number of matchs that a lighter represents. The steel wool and battery will get a fire started in most damp situations. Proper tender is important also, once again the recommendation is to carry 3 kinds. The most common is pine or wood shavings, next is cotton ball and vaseline mix, then the old standby char cl