SSScout

"Shoes? You had shoes?" Can't remember why I joined Cubs, but I did. My mom and neighbor mom were Den moms. I think my dad had the unfinished basement done out in knotty pine just so we'd have a good place for Den meetings. He cut out the cork for the Thunder Bird key holders, the plywood for the glued on magazine picture mom's day presents, drove us for the Den and Pack trips (mom didn't get her license until she was, gee, mid fortys?). Taught me how to care for paintbrushes properly, nice lettering and poster making (spelling! Penmanship! Composition!). No font finding back then! Of course we had the whole uniform, pants too long and hemmed up, let down as I grew. Yellow piped pockets, buttoned down on one side and up on the other (Why??). Brown "Buster Brown" O.I. BSA Shoes from the (Trivia: what was BB's dogs's name?) Hecht Co. Big ol' boat of a Buick Roadmaster with 6 or 7 Cubs (no seatbelts) on our way (in full uni) to visit the Zoo, or County Fair. Scout-a-rama at the County Fair grounds, our Pack sold ready made popcorn (not Scout type yet). Only popcorn at the Scoutarama! We sold out early, as I recall. My dad went to the local movie theater, they told him where to go to get HUGE bags of the freshly already popped corn, and as I remember, they DONATED all of it! Filled up the whole Buick R/M, barely room for him and me. Boy, that was along time ago...

The problem with being from Delaware appears to be a lack of opportunity. Opportunity of title proliferation. 'Round here, near our Nations Capitol, along with all the worthy folks you mention, we also boast of Deputy District Executives, Regional Directors (overseeing multiple Districts), various Assistant Scout Executives and, altho I can't remember the men's titles, a few Pros that hold sway over multi State Areas (Central Atlantic?). Then I know a fellow who is a "Water Front Manager Trainer", travels around to various camps and training... WFMs! We could talk about us non-pros, too...

Oh, one more thing occurs to me. Patriotic sentiments aside, a really impressive sight can be a "massed" flag group in a parade. Get together with some more Cub Packs (and Scout Troops?), work to get many US and State and Troop and Pack flags together, make them Scout size appropriate, and work to get a sizable contingent together. Think of the possibilities, yes?

Did the presenter have any QSL cards to hand out? Neat souvenirs. Ask him/her about QSL cards... Lookee http://www.qslman.com/

A B C D Can I bring my friend to tea?

Think twice about the size of Cub Scout Parade flags. The same pole/flag that is carriable by a Star Scout will be a little tall for a Bear or even an average Webelos Scout. The pole and flag that the Cub can carry in "at drag" to open the Pack meeting and post in the stand at the front of the room will generally be too big to safely carry, even with a harness, in parade. Plan on a pole no more than twice the hieght of the Cub, and a flag of like proportions, maybe 1/3 the hieght of the pole. We're talking about weight and hieght and balance and wind here. Good Scouting to you! MiF KiS !

Lisa and John and Firecat have the answers (1) The council CANNOT ask for donations for anything else but the Council. Don't expect the 'trickledown'. (2) You can make the request to the Town Council on behalf of your Pack for whatever use (camperships, new equipment, whatever) but make sure it is accepted by your CO on your Pack's behalf. (3) Make sure it is clear to all in your presentation that your pack is open to all, without distinction of faith or other allegiance (some Scout units do make such distinctions). This will give you more credence in the eyes of the politicos. (4) Be sure, whether you receive the 'grant' or not, that you do a "good turn" some how for City Hall. Flower bed maintenance, color guard duty for Council Meeting, bird house construction, something. Keep your Pack out there in the public eye. The PR can't hurt. Good Scouting to you and thank you for the stuff you do for our kids. Story: As FAEE for the CSDC, I was approached by a Souter BoD member of a local business. He said they were lining up their charitable donations for the year. He had heard we had problems with the fee charged by the Park Dept. for our use of the Park for the CSDC. Could they take care of that for us? I said SURE! We went thru the Council bureacracy about the company covering the Park Fee (about $3000.). The Council said they would gladly accept a FoS donation and then earmark that for our CSDC. Ultimately, I was told the company decided they could not foot the whole of the bill and made a smaller donation, noted "for XYZ District CSDC Park Rental Fee". We never saw mention of it on our balance sheet. CSDC still came out in the black, tho.

As I said before, I could not attend the info meeting, but I did attend '05 Jambo.I think the idea of "saving trees" is a noble one, but I will ask, where do you put 50,000 Scouts? In tents? In Troop sites? Compare that to the attendance and arrangement/dispersal of the normal summer camps at GSR. The clearing will happen and the tromping of 100,000 feet in 10 days time will take it's toll. The second growth and remaining first growth will suffer, no matter what.

Oh My... http://comics.com/the_buckets/2009-03-25/

Hal: By gar, I thought that must of been you I saw going down the Bay Trail that year! 64,65,66. I musta used a gallon of Vaseline for seanettle protection for the Mile Swim! Pohick Bay Camp, eh?

Whenever the old fellow was asked to lead a prayer he always began with "Lord, prop us up on our leanin' side". After hearing him pray so fervently thus, he was asked the story behind it, because we knew there must be one... He answered, "Well sir, I got an old barn out back. It's been there a long time, been thru alot of bad weather and it's served it's purpose well thru many a storm. It's still standing, but one day I noticed it was leanin' off to one side a bit. So I went and got some Pine poles and propped it up on it's leanin' side so's it wouldn't fall. "Then I got to thinking about that and how much I was like that old barn. I've been around a long time. I've withstood a lot of bad weather and hard times in my life and I hope to say I've met my purpose more than not. But I come to realize that I find myself leaning to one side from time to time. Maybe we get to leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness or hatred, leaning toward alot of things that we shouldn't. "So we need to pray, "Lord, Please prop us up on our leanin' side, help us to stand straight like you wants us to. Help us to make our purpose your purpose. AH-men."

Please do me a favor... Send this in to "SCOUTING" magazine. This is what it's all about. This is a successful Scout Leader. Pass this on to us all.

Mebbe it's the new uniform thing... no more red stuff? Only green? Mebbe Corbi didn't want to do pesto pizza! Only tomatoe sauce?? Naw...

Hal: Someday we gotta meet. I wasn't able to attend the 'Town Meeting', I opted to attend a new Cub Pack's organizing meeting. Decisions, decisions. 20-20 hindsight. NCAC, back in my Scoutday, had three and maybe four camps. I'm a little hazy there, Roosevelt, Thunderbird and Wilson and a fourth that slips my mind. All were sold to purchase Goshen. We also now, thanks to a private individual's largess and the excellent forethought of our SE, (correct me if I'm wrong there, Hal) have Camp Snyder, near Manassas/Haymarket VA, 350 acres of Cub Camp, but BSs use it alot too. It boasts a new training/conference center, admin building, rebuilt wetland/lake, big pool, ACed dining hall, four Cub theme areas, 100plus acres of wooded campsites with hot showers, high COPE course, RC airplane runway, etc. Lessee... this Saturday, Scoutson hikes/camps the AT, TSO takes Scoutson's 4H rabbits to a rabbit show/competition in Richmond, I help with a BSLST course. Time for bed. Goodnight all.

"There are two kinds of people in the world::: Those that think there are two kinds of people and those that don't."

Yep, yep, that's Delaware. Not enough sleep, I guess. Next thing, I'll be talking about needing a passport to go to NEW mexico. (:-)>

"Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle" see http://www.mugwumps.com/whammy.htm

"Scout campouts for Scouts" I like SMT222 that mentions the PLC has "power". Let them decide, and the adult Scouters back them up. Our Troop plans a "family" camp in September to kick off the season. We go someplace special (Cape Henlopen State Park, NJ. is favorite), take the Troop Trailer, set up on Friday night and leave late Sunday. Everyone is invited, it is definitely not "roughing it". Babies and sibs, non camping spouses and grannies. Lots of planning. Camp stoves, bakers, surf and sun (hopefully), history and hiking and biking. Astronomy, campfire stories, marshmalows and BBQ ribs. The rest of the year is SCOUT Scout stuff.

Haw.

Jblake: Sorry I didn't get back to your request to "hire out" the bugler. I was speaking of the Troop I grew up in, not the one I ASM. Would that I could speak thus of my son's Troop. I would mention that a fair bugler CAN earn a little. As has been mentioned in other places here, the American Legion, and other vet orgs will pay an honorarium for someone to play a real bugle at ceremonies (burials, flag, etc.), and can refer such a player to others that are seeking a real bugler. It matters not the age of the player, just the willingness and skill. So many times, a CD or tape player must stand in for the real thing. YiS

"Emma's Weight Loss program" (popup) I have always thuht the reason for all safety training is to get folks to think "WHAT IF" and learn from OTHER peoples mistakes. The guidelines in G2SS are full of the results of other people's accidents and lots of 'what if' exercises. It's the Scouters job to make the Scout think about the 'what ifs'. Camporee camp fire set up by the OA. Someone thought that (because it was a BIG camporee), two campfires would be good, lots of light, lots of space, big stage space. Lots of acts on the ticket. Several Scouters finally convinced the OA MC that ONE fire would be sufficient. Then someone noticed, NO WATER BUCKETS OR SHOVELS. Mucho running around to collect the necessary requisites. As it happened, the fire was quite impressive, built with many oak pallets. It also provided some of it's tenders with first degree burns as they attempted to limit it's spread in the grass that the OA planners also neglected to clear from the site. Many of the skits were entertaining. There was a long debriefing afterward.

Icongratulate you on your new adventure. As a newly minted DDC whose "specialty" is officially new units, let me second all that has preceded. And add one suggestion. If the nascent Troop is, as you say, sponsored by "interested parents", this implies a seperate incorporation. This can be well and good, but if you search these forums, you will discover some threads that discuss the pros and cons of such a self-sponsored unit. It almost always turns out easier and better if the overall charter org is a seperate self sufficient institution. As you no doubt know, Scout units are successfully chartered to many types of institutions: churches, volunteer fire departments, granges, Lions Clubs, American Legion Posts, schoolPTAs, even hardware stores. Yes, a CO need not be a non-profit. I would suggest as you build your Troop's program, also seek out a sympathetic CO. Good uck and Godspeed, Scouter.

LlamaLlamaLlama Patrol

"Sheriff George Wilcox says he has found strange debris on the ranch where he works".

mmmmmmmmmm.... Yep, caught on that one... shorthand will trip ya up..."(funding hospitals that treat burn victims, etc.)" English as a language is word order sensitive. Just ask Yoda!