resqman

I just took my sons sash to the local embroadry shop and had them put the First Initial and Last Name in the same color thread on the back of the sash near the seam at the bottom. Anyone who picks it up does not have to guess about whose it is.

Read the back of the cans for suggested serving sizes. Buying #10 cans of veggies at Sams/Costco/BJs may be a cost saving. Otherwise buy the store brand canned veggies. Figure one 16oz can of veggies per 4 people. 4oz of protien per person. Sliced raw onion per 4 people 1 raw yam/sweet potato per 3 or 4 people. Bell pepper per 3-4 people. Slices cook quicker than dicing. Try to keep all cut veggies same size to provide more even cooking. Large chunks of potatoe take longer to cook than small chunks of potato. Much of the slicing/dicing/chopping can be done at home p

Diced Ham chunks Pineapple chunks Diced Sweet Potato/Yams Sprinkle of cimmamon Spinkle of brown sugar Splash of canned yam/potato or pineapple juice or butter Chicken(fileted if too thick) Onion slices Green pepper slices Canned corn Canned new potates, diced Salt & Pepper Couple pats of butter,or splash of teriakyi sause, or couple spoons of cream of chicken soup Apple, cored Several shakes of cimmamon inside apple Several shakes of nutmeg inside apple Spoon or two of brown sugar inside apple Pat or 3 of butter

I don't know know how or what other units are doing regardless of their affilation or sponsor. I am concerned about my unit. Are we presenting the program the best we can for our lads? There are a number of ways we could change the way the program is run in my unit. For the most part I am happy with the way the program is run. I would like to see more involvement by the older scouts. I would like the boys to be more involved in annual planning. Don't know how or why the LDS units may do it differently. Oh well.

I am curious how you handle folks that rsvp they are attending and they either cancel or change the number attending at the last moment after you have started purchasing the food items. Do you issue refund and are they full or partial refunds? Does it matter what caused the change in attendance? (ie death in family, work conflict came up, etc) Does it matter when you get notified of the cancellation? We require payment prior to the event. We purchase food based on those that who have paid. If the food has not been bought, camp fee not paid, etc, then we may refund if special circumstan

Popular fashion trend is to wear a short sleeve shirt overtop a long sleeve shirt. They even sell shirts that long sleeves sewn to short sleeve shirts to emulate the two shirt look. I think it looks stupid but I am a grumpy old man who prefers silk neckties and gleaming shined leather shoes. But the scouts only see it as popular fashion and so wear long sleeve shirts under the short sleeve uniform shirt. I would prefer that if scouts are going to wear long sleeved shirts under their short sleeve uniform shirt that all members of the troop wear the same color. Not gonna happen. When

High adventure also foces a participant to "solider through". There always seems to be at least one point in every trip where the scout is tired, hungry and does not want to keep moving, carrying, or doing whatever the task is. Unfortunately there is no practical way to stop or reason to allow the scout to quit. The scout has to face his own fears and fatigue to make it happen. They learn that they have more reserve than they thought they did. They accomplish something over the week+ long adventure that most people in modern times seldom do. They went up against nature and hardship and c

Just got back last evening from a 7 day trek thru BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area). Wow! Much more physically demanding than Philmont. We covered 104 miles in 7 days. We were within 5 miles of base camp on the last day so we took a day trip so the interperter could complete a challange. He carried 3 canoes at one time on an 85 rod portage. Each canoe is about 75 lbs for a total of about 225 lbs. He tied two canoes to the third and carried them 1400 feet. He gets to tie a turks head around his canoe paddle to commerate the task. We had wonderful weather. Rained one morning for ab

While a Den leader, I heard from my son that he did not want to wear a neckerchief beccause it was hot. I decieded to turn the discussion a different direction. So I carved several wooden slides from the scout store. Then I found some web sites for ideas and carved some more. Then I got out my leatherworking tools and stamped some leather for slides. Then I had a den project where each cub stamped his own leather slide. The Pack had a pinewood derby so I bought a 6 pack of "matchbox" cars from the dollar store and glued pvc pipe to the back side and gave every den member their own cu

"Resqman, I mentioned an elderly eagle scout in an earlier post, he earned it in the '30s, served as an adult scouter till he passed away in the '80s. He wore his eagle patch as an adult. Would you give him the same speech?" Yes, if asked about wearing his Eagle patch as an adult I would. I am of the belief that the uniform is supposed to be worn correctly according to the current regulations. Anything less is not a uniform, it is polyform. Many good people and scouters justify not following the rules by saying it is only a little bit of not following the rules. As adults we

If adults can wear the Eagle patch, why not all the rank badges? The idea is this a program for BOYS. The BOYS are allowed to wear patches to display the rank they have earned. At age 18, you are no longer a boy in the program, you are a leader. Leaders are given a way to display the award they earned by way of the knot. The same is true of the AOL. Why not wear the AOL light patch on the adult uniform as well. If you don't like the rules, work to change the rules. The whole issue always boils down to a UNIform. UNI meaning one. People seem to chafe against the idea that th

Same old arguements, over and over. I grew up in a fully uniformed troop that had inspections at each troop meeting. Points were awarded. We wore the uniform to everything we did, meetings, camping, hiking, summer camp, etc. Current troop is a fully uniformed troop. The uniform works in the outdoors.

What do you mean by commando rope? If it is a uniform piece, then the answer would be the scout shop. The rope type uniform piece is the Den Chief shoulder loop. Cubs have similar should loops.

I have a small daypack with a hydration system I wear. Helps me to keep hydrated. I keep a hat, knife, first aid kit, bandana, pen, pencil, notepad, and rain gear in the pack. I have a few breakfast bars, peatnut butter cracker, jerky sticks in there as well. The first year scouts tend to crash mid afternoon due to heat, activity, lack of water, and strange food. A bit of snack and a drink of water and they perk up. I bring my xacto knife and carve neckerchief slides to fill the time. I bring a paperback to read after dark. Definitely bring a folding chair. From a le

3 hours of online traing for Youth Protection, Weather, Safety Afloat, Swim Safely. 1 day of SM/ASM specific training, 1 weekend for IOLS. That is 4 days over a 1 year time period. A single troop campout eats up almost that amount of time. So they skip one round of golf for position specific training. They don't watch an hour of TV a couple of nights. And they go camping with adults one weekend instead of the troop. If they are not willing to do that, than I am convinced they will be able to provide the amount of time it takes to be useful leadership to the troop.

Our unit encourages all adults to complete all the required training for their position within the first year. That being said, we have at least 4-5 uniformed adults that teach wood badge and IOLS classes for the council. As a result, adult leadership is often offering informal training to newly uniformed adults during campouts so they are able to come up to speed quickly. Just because the next offering of the required classes may not be for several months, there is no reason the scouts have to suffer with untrained adults. The informal training does not qualify towards satisfing any

$75 per scout per year. Fees also collected for each campout, average $35 per campout. Summer camp is avout $250. We use a different camp each year and prices vary along with travel costs. We have at least one fundraiser per year so scouts have opporutnity to raise money. Troop funds pay $25 fuel to each uniformed driver on campouts and provides $4 per adult per meal to the grubmaster during campouts. Uniformed adults pay $15-$25 per year in dues.

How about a man being involved with the care, feeding and upbringing of children? Almost exclusively most daycare and teachers are female. Women relate to men differently than men relate to men. Women do not share the same experiences in the same manner men share experiences. There is a male culture just as their is a female culture. Men have a different way of interacting. As an example, when men have differences they tend to yell at each other and them move on. Once confronted, the grudge and the events leading up to the grudge are completely erased. Women tend to hold on to pe

3 yrs ago we budgeted $115 per scout for everything book campouts awards PWD 3 summer outings COH Blue & Gold 2 campouts neckerchiefs

It depends on how often the troop uses the council factilities. My troop has only used the council summer camp once in 7 years. We rotate through 7-8 different summer camps within a 5 hour radius. We use the council camp for a weekend campout once a year for YLT. It is close by and we can use the COPE course and get a buiding opened for class room work. Otherwise we do not use council factilities. District camporees are typically only announced 6 months in advance. The troop plans out its calendar a year in advance. We often already have stuff planned and skip district

Our troop rotates through Philmont, Northern Tier, and Seabase. Each year at least one crew from the troop attends one of High Adventure Bases. Usually 2-4 uniformed leaders attend and most commonly they are usually the parents of the scouts going. The answer for us is $. If you pay, you go. The other limiting factor is the bases rules. Most only allow 2 adults per crew. The SM attends when he wants to but does not go every year. This year it is Northern Tier. Initally we had 5 adults interested. Once the costs were firmed up, two dropped out. A third adult backed out due to being

Troop policy is parents do not sign off on offspring MBs. Parents may counsel and teach MBs but not sign off. I have more leatherworking tools and stuff than some Summer camp programs. I tutored my son regarding leatherworking. I provided him supplies, tools, and tips. I arranged a field trip to the leather supply store and led the store tour. When it came to be signed off, he took his projects into a troop meeting and made a presentation for all requirements to the another couselor. There is no national rule that parents cannot sign off for their own children. If absolutel

We have at least 12 ASMs. We only have 1 SM. The SM attends almost everything. His sons are over 18 and away at college. Not every ASM attends every event. There are the usual core suspects which attend most every event. All are fully trained and have extensive outdoor skills. There are ASMs who are willing to participate and "help out" as it were but are often still working towards becoming full trained or have jobs that limit their ability to attend ever function. The lads don't know why leader X did not attend an event. I would guess they really don't care as long as they

About a month before pinewood derby, I went to the dollar store and bought a jumbo pack of matchbox size cars. 6-10 cars for a buck. Took them to the next den meeting with some goopy craft glue and some 1/2 inch pvc pipe couplings. The lads choose the car and glued a pvc coupling on. Now they had a theme based neckerchief slide to wear to the derby or next serval meetings. Years later, one the those cub scouts still wears his as a Star scout. Went to the local Tandy Leather shop and bought a multipack of leather neckerchief slide blanks. Went to the scout shop and bought the

http://www.yaworski.com/eagleknife/ Above is a link to a customized pocket knife for Eagle scouts. Maybe you could contact the Buck company at the link above and ask if they would be willing to do something similar for Girl Scouts. Girls tend to be less thrilled with pocket knifes but some programs are more outdoorsy than others. Maybe a custom leather bound scrap book. http://brucejohnsonleather.com/content/index.php/gallery_index/bible_covers_and_planners_organizer_gallery/