SSScout

I would POLITELY inquire as to the venue of the earning, encourage the parent/Akela to realize that part of Cubbing is the group experience. If the Cub is to earn the bowling BL, why not organize a Den outing? Many BL and pins MUST be earned at Council/District events, notably archery and BBs. Clarification can be a good thing. If you want a fun time, ask the Cub about the earning....

W-E-E-E-L-L.... Should be a a huge affair, for sure. I'll be in the welcoming contigent, Wave as you go by. I'll be the one with the beard in the Scout uniform ;-)> Welcome to our Nation's Capital, in advance!

It all seemed so simple, once upon a time... Walt Disney and Werner Von Braun, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRCQ2Cu3bSE&feature=related

You are right in that there are many important problems here on our Big Blue Marble to solve. I'll not list all of my choices here. But Humans have always sought new places to go and see. True, Francis Drake and Eric the Red were not merely tourists out for a "new" experience, but the inherent desire is there: to "Go and See". (where did I hear that?) It is not enough to send robots to send back pretty pictures. As I get older, I like the idea of knowing that someONE has been there. Many moon ago, as I led my then young son thru our park, I noticed the NEED in him to go and climb and look under things and ask questions. True, most of the places he wants to go now, some other human ( a whole lot of humans) has been there first, but the desire to go new places is still there. I would much rather my grandson go to Mars than to a battle front in a unsettled corner of our world. Can we not help bring calm and peace where there is now death and strife so our wealth can be used to explore and "go and see" ? You want to see a "moneyhole"? I'll point you to my brother-in-law's sailboat!

Had to go check out my memory, and yep, it's still there... "Scout Field Book" c.1948, 1959 printing... pg. 83, bare chested "indian" Scouts. pg.129, canoeing and swimming Scouts, sans shirts. pg.149, "construct a shower bath (and) a good wash basin stand". Scouts washing up, shirtless. pg. 150, Shirtless Scout hard at it, chopping down a tree. pg. 175, Scout cooking "planked fish", smoking himself, too, it would appear. pg. 202, "Fun in the Water", etc. WoW!Birling at Scout camp??? pg.216, "indian Scouts" (?OA ? )and pg225, demoing breechclout wear. pg. 231 A pirate skit, bare chest with skull &crossbones painted on. pg. 235' "The indian camp is the place for advanced Scout camping." And there are many more. So what is the problem now? When "FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN!" was called out, we knew to dress up, 'get more decent' as my old SM would say. It's not your Father's Field Book.....

"Why would any patrol be using three pots at once, let alone two frying pans at once? I can't recall once when my old patrol used the cocoa pot. (And why does the kit only include four plates and four cups? Has the ideal patrol since been halved recently?) " Waaay back when, we used the Patrol Cook kit. Either divied it up for carrying, or one boy schlepped the whole kit and one or two carried the tents and grub. Big pot was for boiling water for washing and coffee/tea/cocoa. Keep it full and hot until time to pack up. Coffee pot was always for Tang(!)or powdered milk. Small pot was for cocoa mixing, and then dish washing. The plates were augmented with more plates, and the cups were discarded in favor of personal cups. The inside of the teapot was filled with a roll of "AP"paper. One frying pan for cooking, the other for serving, usually. Everyone had their own utensils, but the Chef's Kit was used as is. Aluminum plate served as cutting board, not that many "precooked" meals in the stores, but we learned to premeasure and prepack the raw stuff to simplify things. Our Troop had a "property" that someone's uncle's brother-in-law owned, and we went there very often. Natural spring water, creek thru the camp for foot dipping. It was filthy with downed American Chestnut and we used that almost exclusively for cooking. Unmatched coals. Every other wood for other purposes. I agree the plastic wrapper for the Chef's Kit is a problem, our original kit was housed in cloth, made drying easy. ! Don't forget to "soap" the bottoms/outside of your cookpots. Campfire black comes right off. Check out the Thrift Shops in your area. Tell the staff there what you want, they usually have stuff in the back.

"Oh, you can't get to heaven (oh you can't get to heaven) "In a red canoe... (in a red canoe) "Cause the darn Girl Scouts/Moose Patrol/Aquatics Staff/Scoutmaster ((pick one)), (cause the darn Girl Scouts...) "Will follow you... (will follow you) "Oh, you can't get to heaven in a red canoe , 'cause the darn Girl Scouts will follow you, "I ain't gonna grieve, my Lord, no more..." usw.

In my experience, the FoS gimme is done by anyone who is concerned about supporting Scouting. I have seen it done by the local DE, an unlocal DE, a Committee Chair, a DC, the Cubmaster, lots of folks. I am among the crowd who is put off by some of our "pros", however. When I approached one DE about a problem, he asked me why I would want to bring such attention to myself by asking about it? Another time, another was heard speaking to a Cub Parent who had asked him to come to their Pack and speak about the Scout program and he replied that (quote)" I don't do that kind of thing. I have people that do. I'll get'em to call you". Cub Parent told me he no one ever did (call them). I can readily understand how some Scout folks are not welcoming to someone who asks for mo'money, after camp fees, dues, popcorn purchases, and such. But then, it is like alot of publicly visible things , very often the "visible" charges don't near cover all the expenses. We just hope that the PTB don't try and sell off the Council Camps to cover 5 or 6 figure salaries.

Look at the following. Lots of good ideas about Webelos and Readyman in particular. http://www.boyscouttrail.com/webelos/webelos-scouts.asp

In as much as the 13th point of the Scout Law ("A Scout is Hungry") is by far the easiest for a Scout to follow, I think a Patrol cooking award is a fine idea. A consideration might be how far the Patrol has to schlep it's gear. A beef wellington that is produced 50 feet from the Troop trailer needs to be weighted against the peach cobbler cooked from raw peaches 5 miles up the AT. And proper sanitation and camp gadgetry taken into the formula. Judging: Are you just pleasing the SM or is there a vote among the PLC? I remember a "Salamagundi" I attended as an OA staffer( I was one of the fire marshals). There was a Troop that had, I think, 3 Patrols, and each had set up a camp kitchen and lashed up tables. The Scouts had camp stools they carried in. The Patrol cooks actually COOKED, and all had good meals, I forget the details, but I remember baked potatoes and one patrol, something smelled of fish. I remember this, because one of the Patrols had a really big fire and I had to ask them to knock it down, as we were in a drought condition. They were making coals, but too much! Perhaps a cooking contest in a "neutral" spot, a public park and a "impartial" judge, and definite rules and limitations (no steel stoves, only wood and/or charcoal, "only what you can carry in a backpack", whatever is appropriate...). If it is a big enough affair, call in the local press! Bon appetite!

Local Baptist church chartered a successful Cub Pack. Well known in District, at Roundtable. I knew CM. (he later became UC). New Pastor. Story from my friend the CM, at next RT: "he doesn't want a CubPack, he wants to do Awana." So be it. Cub Pack given 3 months notice to NOT MEET IN THE CHURCH ANYMORE!. Pack leadership goes "CO shopping", personal contacts, RT announcements, Commish phone tag, DEs burn up the email. Local Lions club becomes new CO, with proviso that the Pack may move again if they find a new home "with amenities" (Lions Club is admittedly a "CO of convenience", so CP meets in the VFD hall that the Lions Club meets in. Result: Boys remain Cub Scouts.

I heard that in order to free up "future new Merit Badge slots", the BSA is going to combine some Merit Badges... Frinstance, Pets and Cooking... Wood Carving and Forestry... Motorboating and Waterskiing... Might be more...

Thank you, skeptic, I always wondered about that. Wonder if it was "market value". Naw, I guess that's not really a concern. The USArmy is a publicly supported (!) organization and might view helping the BSA as part of it's possible purview. I do like the idea of BSA having it's own site, area politics not withstanding. Now, the USArmy can use it's training site for all of it's time, without worrying about Jamboree time.

Most excellent, o nascent Fearless Leader! Let's narrow this down a little for us advisers/counselors/Old Goats/critics-from-afar... Hike in? How far? Unload the car within sight of camp? Back yard of the CO? You speak of a Patrol Box. Is thisthe storage back at the CO or a carry-it-with-us box? We can talk about splitting up the Patrol supplies among the Scouts or doing it pallaquin style, a "BOX" carried by two or more Scouts. A good breakfast and a lesson in quick co-operative clean up is a real step in the right direction.

I wonder how much rent BSA paid to the USArmy for use of Fort APHill?

Okay, so if "past is prologue", as the philosopher said, put your leetle gray cells to work. We all know where scouting has been.... where is it going? What might we see in the future of Scouting? Here? Abroad, around the world? Out of the world? New activities? New gear? More of the same, only different?

If you pay attention ("Ahm so poor Ah cain't even pay attention"), you'll notice more than a few Scouterdotcommers from the Old Line State. Welcome to the eeelectronic campfire. Pull up some bytes and set a spell. "...helping out a little (in MD?) until we can sell the house (in Michigan?)" Whoa, some commute...

Talk about digression...

Ipad installation? Coleman microwave? Breadcrumb distributer (retro hiking director)? AP paper dispenser? Peterson Guide holder? Wet clothing holder (bottom drain)? Water bottle holder?

Walt Kelly, call home...

Lots of possibilities to help remember the leetle dots and dashes... http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Morse_Code_Mnemonics But practice makes it permanent. Wig Wag: Directions: Patrol patch is DOT, Troop patch is DASH, wave the flag to pass the message. Vertical up is between letters, vertical down is between words, up and down is "end".

If you do Scouty things, and you have a modicum of Scout experience, WB can only help. The course applies to Scout stuff, work stuff, family stuff (keep an open mind!) and personal stuff. The WB is held in high esteem by corporate America, some colleges will give course credit for it. If finances are a concern, some unions will give scholarships (how I went!), some companies will too, Scout Council will have "WBerships". Ask around. What better way to learn than by having fun doing what you love and seeing how you might do it better? At the worst, you can always come back to Scouterdotcom and chastise us for being wrong, or stupid or oblivious to the obvious shortcomings that the WB course promotes or something... Either way, you're out in the woods and not in the office. I'm sorry, what was your question again?

Absolutely. Teach the Turk's Head. Make each Patrol a different color. If they go to a special event, create a small "coin" or "button" and glue it on the front of a particular color T/H. A new Troop, new traditions... and come to think of it, why is it called a Turk's HEAD? Ain't no head look like that... More properly a Turk's HAT, I say. YiS

Eamon, most excellent. Back in college, we had freshman chem labs starting at 7:00am and officially lasting 3 hours (really!). In December, we literally got to lab in the dark. Sometimes, not on time...The dorm dining room even had coffee and donuts up for us at 6am. Some of us got together and decided one of our dorm floor mates needed an "initiation". So, the pigeon's roomie set his clock BACK three hours, set to go off (in reality) at 3am. The pigeon got up,looked at his clock, saw he was late for lab, threw on his clothes, went out in the hall to find the usual suspects up and getting ready for the day. He rushed out, across campus to find NO ONE at the lab. Coming home, he heard the campus clock striking 4:00. When he got back to the dorm, he found all doors locked and everyone back in bed. Beavah: Didst thou receivest mine PM?

Scoutfish speaks my mind. If Scouting IS the uniform, then there will be no Scouting as we know it. The Uniform SUPPORTS Scouting, it does not define it. I say again, it is unfortunate that it appears National seems to REQUIRE the uniform in order to be a Scout. Going back to Scouting's origins, it was recognized that the Uniform certainly represents Scouting, much like a flag represents the organization(nation, state, VFD, school, Troop). If the Pack or Troop makes Scouting the goal, the boys will want to be Uniformed. But to absolutely require, or you are not a Scout, no, that is not right, not the intent of the founder, not a realization of the ideals. Help the boys be uniformed, but require it or else? Not right.