ScoutNerd

Two goldfish were in their tank, and one said to the other, "Okay, I'll drive, you man the guns" Two sausages were in a frying pan, one says to the other "ya know, it's getting pretty hot in here" and the other said "HOLY COW A TALKING SAUSAGE" Two cows were in a field, and one asks the other "what do you think about that Mad Cow Disease?" the other says "don't ask me I'm a helicopter" Enjoy :-D -Curtis

Wow, you PLC has a lot of cool ideas, don't they. Well, the water safety rules are more my area of expertise than hobo railway campouts :-D. For starters, I don't think you an assume cardboard boats to be anything besides something like pool toys. For example, canoes (like you asked) keep themselves afloat even when completely swamped, and cardboard can barely make such a claim, epsecially when soggy :-D. I'd say the best way to make sure you're within the rules is find some still water (lake or pool - though I doubt a pool would let cardboard in) and form an extra large swimming area, followi

Hi Semper, Personally, I have no idea, but that sounds like an awesome trip idea. I bet some at the nearest railway station could tell you about safety, and companies that might do such a trip, or at least a better place to start looking... let us know how it turns out :-D -Curtis

I'll work on writing them up, but it'll take a while, I wouldn't rely on it if you were trying for this weekend. Maybe by tomm morning. (I'm a busy college student, sorry :-D) Is there an email address I can send them to rather than filling up this forum? :-D Also, 4 sons? only sons? daugters too? if only sons, tell your wife she's in my prayers :-D :-P -Curtis :-D

and by the way, as it applies to keeping cubs entertained... If you're really good at storie telling I know a few that are good stories with extremely corny endings (and therefore funny for the yung'uns) :-D If you're good at telling them they can get wrapped up in them (when I tell them at the lunch table at camp, they forget to eat their lunch) :-D -Curtis

SO Fullquiver, Am I right in guessing what your name signifies? Psalm 127:4-5 "As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." I think biblically a full quiver is 6 kids, right? -Curtis :-D

Well, Eamonn, BW, thanks, that is the kind of talk I was really hoping to hear. (hoping its just out there at all, sadly enough) I've spent about 7 yrs thinking about this subject whenever it would come up, and now it's time to sit and think some more. Perhaps, I'll call up my old scoutmaster and ask to talk with him over lunch this summer. Especially if it's done politely, it could be very interesting to hear his reasons behind running things the way he did. Incidently, the scrap book story was me at my scoutmasters conf for Eagle about 2-3 days before my 18th bday, and I was told to sp

I've seen this subject come up a few times, and it tended to be glossed over, so I'll ask it directly here? How much should a troop be able to have its own way of working under the same set of rules? What's the limit between Contextualism and individualism as it applies to troops? I'll give some examples (not so much to be specifically answered, but to spark discussion). 1.) A troop requires their scouts to be in uniform for every meeting. For Courts of Honor, this includes scout pants/shorts (and scout socks, if showing), scout belt, class A shirt, neckerchief and MB Sash. For regular me

As it applies to observation during the high adventure trip I really don't have any ideas... and as it applies to the Grandfather, I hate to be the one to suggest weeding out, but... In my troop, when we'd prepare to go on a Philmont Trek or another 50 miler, we'd have Prep Hikes. These would be every few saturdays to slowly work up the scouts (and adults) to the required load and exertion, as well as bind them together a bit. I'm not sure how long you have till you go on your trek, but I'd suggest having everyone do prep hikes... make everyone realize what they're getting themselves into (you

Hi Eric, I'll work on getting that to you, but it may or may not need to wait till I can go home this weekend. The link is good, though :-D -Curtis

I LOVE that song, trouble is, it's tune is not a usual one. It's in the boy scout song book (red one) or if you'd like I can email you a scanned version (theoretically at least, I can try). And thanks by the way(*joking sarcasm), now I'm gonna have it stuck in my head all day!! :-P :-D well I guess there are are worse (worser? less nice? I was never very good at grammar) fates :-D -Curtis

I'd definitly say it's more about quality than quantity. As a youth my troop was considerably large (about 100 boys at it's prime) but once the adults started focusing more on drawing people in, rather than keeping the quality and reputation up, about half the boys lost interest, or finished getting Eagle, then didn't come back. Keep the quality there, and the program will advertise itself. :-D -Curtis

The question you asked about the relationship between troop policy and BSA policy is very interesting... I'd like to know that as well. The troop I grew up in, had a few things I didn't like the idea of too much (for instance, requiring photo albums for boards of review, their reasons were beacause the troop has a reputation of such things to keep up). After I worked at scout camp for a summer or two, I started realizing how much was different from the way troops were supposed to be run, but I was never sure of how much was still ok to be run that way. Any of the more experienced members of

Not really, but I wish I could... that's all my camp director knew off the top of his head. He said he'd look up the rest. :-D I'll be going for the BSA Aqua Inst. certification. does that help? -Curtis

I know this is thread is a bit on the old side, but my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE thing to do as camp staff for special adult activities is Water Polo (or at least the scout camp version). We would hype it up at about 3 meals over the course of the week, and then fri afternoon after all is done (merit badges, paper work, etc), we would play water polo in the deep end of the pool, Leaders vs Staff, where each team could have as many substitute players as they wanted. I'm proud to admit we've been undefeated for 2 summers now (and no I don't mention it often, since we're young and in our prime -so to spe

JohnKC, I like your idea of camperships for the underage junior 'soon to be staff', but there's a slight problem I've run into about once a year, that the program might have to deal with pretty regularly. Even as 14 yr olds, there's usually 1 Councilor in Training (CIT) (under paying age staff) every summer that has had... lets call it difficulty realizing that being on staff is more than being a summer long camper with power. I'm not sure how CS Day camps need to work thing (frankly I've never been to one, or worked one), but if camp staff has a record of such problems from scouts who are b

Hi all, My boss for summer camp gave me the dates and general place for the NCS session I'm supposed to go to, but he couldn't give me anything more then, and hasn't gotten back to me now (the bum! :-P). Does anyone know important details about the NCS session from May 21 until sometime, in Texas somewhere? How bout info like when it ends, and which camp it's at, what towns it near? I like to start figuring out a way to get there, but my boss evidently checks his email as often as if he were at camp :-D Thanks -Curtis :-D

Well, thinking more about that question from Eagledad... (wow, that was a good question... have I mentioned that lately? :-D) I don't think I would be any different had I not become an Eagle Scout... had I barely not made it. (Don't yell at me quite yet) Talking with an Eagle brother of mine here at school helped me pin point it. having the award of Eagle scout did not make me the young man I am today. The experiences leading up to it, did, of course. But had I stopped right before my project when I was 17 1/2, I think I would turned out just about the same. I would have the same work ethic,

Well, Eagledad, after much deep thought this is what I can tell you. As senior in college, life often feels like it's been put on hold, so I haven't really run into extremely excellent examples of how being an Eagle changes things on the visible level. The only job I've officially had that required a resume was (and still is) scout camp staff. The only benefit that probably got me was a pay raise of a few dollars a week, but I really am not sure. (Any other Eagles reading this, feel free to add stuff in on this, because my experience is rather limited.) Truthfully, sometimes I have to let th

Wow... good question... one that I don't feel I can answer immediately... let me think some about that, and I'll get back to you :-D -Curtis :-)

Then again there's the issue of "now you know" so what if something bad in the future happens and you knew mr. z was a possible threat to the boys?

In response to the original questions... I'm gonna agree with Ed on the basics... except for I would talk to Mr. Z. As some other people hinted, maybe he has a very clean good explanation... and maybe he is a closet porn reader... that's not really something you should bring up in public until the truth is well understood. perhaps thru talking to Mr. Z, you could make him realize the difficult situation it puts the troop in and he'll reconsider his... viewing habits... -Curtis

in the troop I grew up in, many of the people my age were forced through advancement all the way til Eagle. I really didn't like it back then, but I do think that good has (now that we've finished growing up) it's been good in the long run. A lot of the guys who got Eagle young because their families were forceing them, most everyone I'm still in contact with has grown into being what they got before they may have been ready, so keep in mind that it's not all bad. Of course I do think that they should be Eagle caliber before they get it, but I'm glad the guys I grew up with have at least becom

In that old movie, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", I seem to remember he was a boy scout leader, or at least wanted to start a program for boys (sounds familiar) :-D -Curtis :-D

That is a good point, at least in NM, there is actually a car insurance benefit for Eagle scouts :-D but anyway, I digress. back to the topic at hand...