SSScout

"It's what we do" Yes. I like that.

Boy, these forums do bring jog the memory. (Theres a topic... forms of exercise... memory jogging, down alist running, but I digress) I remember when my folks and I were filling out the Eagle applications that there was a request for "letters of reference" from a number (3?) of non-Scout people that could vouch for the applicants "character, citizenship and worth" as I remember. This reference stuff was new to me. Perhaps it was only Council required, I don't know. But there was included a form letter to send to the requested referencers. Who to ask? School counselor? Teacher? Camp counse

"OOOH NO MR. BILL!" "Spoonerism: a transposition usually initial sounds of two or more words, thus: '...he quoted a white horse souse...' for 'white house source'. hoobert heever... ?sister mouse matter?

I think it great that you are working for your boy(s) to have the Scouting experience, whereever you might be. Waaay back when, my Scout Troop had a SM that had a cousin who had a brother in law who knew someone who owned some wooded property not too far away (something like that). The Troop fathers got together and organized our own summer camp. In the seasons before we held it, weekends were spent building a Quartermaster's cabin with telephone company donated poles. We cleared tent sites, dammed the creek for a swimmin' hole, dug and built a privy, cleared out and capped the spring on

Greetings, Ryan: Welcome to our electronic crackerbarrel and/or roundtable. (Trev: I've told you, microprocessors just don't get along well with CAMPFIRES. They tend to melt!) I've seen many Troops that conduct most if not all of the religious ceremony. When I earned my G&C way back when, my class arranged and led easily about 50 minutes of the whole UMC service. The CO pastor just sat back and smiled. We chose the hymns, the readings, we wrote the responsive reading(all about the Scout Law). I still have the program from it among my souvenirs. The Troop I belonged to atte

Where is there any disagreement here? For a boy or girl to take pride in being a Scout, how wonderful is that? At a friends wedding, another friends son wore his Cub Scout Uniform to the ceremony. The boy considered the uniform HIS formal wear. I would certainly wear my adult uniform to a Girl Scout Court of Honor. I would expect any brother of a Girl Scout being awarded the "Gold " would wear his full uniform in her honor. Of course its appropriate. At the funeral of a man who was the Cubmaster of my sons pack before I was Cubmaster, I went to work that morning and then changed ou

evmori: Mega congrats! I hope someone was awarded a "translator" strip for ASL?

What Beavah said AND... It may be more a 'you can't make me' thing developing with the parents. Any observation of the dynamics between boy and dad? The boy may not want to admit he'd like to be more Scoutish because that would be admitting that his dad is right about something... Make the opportunities available, keep your interest in him open, give him 'attaboys' when you can. He may be missing the dad factor somewhere. Praise him when you can IN FRONT OF THE PARENTS. Let them see the good you see and listen to and watch their reaction. YiS

Paranoia.... "The chances of being eaten by a tiger in the middle of Main St. may be a million to one, but once is enough." back to the topic... So it seems we have a LOSS of membership, both absolute and relative to the pool of possible members. And we seem to have an INCREASE in Eagle awards, both absolute and relative to possible award earners and relative to past years... Does this equate to an easing of the requirements and/or a greater desire on the part of the possible earners and/or a greasing of the ways (JohninKC: more E MBs for S & L)(MB mills), and/or more c

Now, as a 'temporarily able' person, I would guess that OGEs Scout was required to meet some "officially" adjusted requirements (which means they are "official program") from the "normal" requirements for otherwise "able" Scouts. ? I think such ideas are fascinating. When I see a FC badge on a Scout, I would expect that that Scout would have the same skills and basic knowledge as any other FC Scout. Now, tactilly, I would not expect a blind Scout to be required to identify Poison Ivy in HIS way (touch!), but how would he identify it MY way (visual description?) ? Does one just say "it c

"Aye, the Pirates Code...We been thinkin', it's more like 'guidelines' anyway... arrrgh!" So we install windows in all the church classroom doors... we hold SM conferences on the bench in the hallway and passerbyes just know to ignore them...we make it a point to never be in PRIVATE conversation with only ONE Scout... If the young Scout is having a nightmare in his tent, we make sure the tent flaps are wide open and we sit at the tent door to comfort him...most important, we show and discuss "It happened to me" and remind the parents to discuss the pamphlet that comes in the front of all

Perhaps 'cops' is too strong a term. Sounds like a punisher. I watched the show 'Cops' last night in between new years music shows and steamed shrimp with the family ( good new years eve party, small and intimate, ya know?). One of the 'cops' said he saw his job as keeping the streets open and safe, and reminding people what they ought to do. Catching and punishing bad guys was the last thing he WANTED to do. Perhaps 'Program Uncle'? I kinda remember my uncle Melvin as a fellow who was just sort of there when I needed to be reminded about what I 'ought' to do. Isn't that the promis

Update: I am a Scout Leader, hiker and work for the transit system. KOA in Harpers Ferry has a good rep. And Harpers Ferry is a National Park, and a neat historic place to visit. Ap Trail crosses the Potomac River there, the C&O Canal trail goes down to Washington DC (about 60 trail miles),there is an American Hosteling International Hostel nearby, too, in Sandy Hook MD. With a little planning, many "hiker-biker" campsites along the canal are available for use I Highly Recommend "184 Miles of Adventure - Hikers Guide to the C&O Canal" published by the Baltimore Area Cou

One learns a skill for one of three reasons: It is fun, I get rewarded when I am successful (or punished if I am not), or I see it is useful. Knowledge of ropes and knots can be fun, can make life easier, can even save lives. When you go camping or hiking, find (make) ways to use the knots. Lashings, setting up tents w/o "hardware", slings across creeks, packboards rather than big bag packframes, learn "turks head" necker slides,set up camp 'gizmos' and flagpoles. Speed games are good. Relays (one boy ties a knot, the next unties it on down the line), get some BIG caliper rope and t

If the carpet is red, Spare ribs. If the carpet is beige, greenbean casserole If the carpet is light blue, hold the CoH at the local BBQ place. If the carpet is dark blue, hold the CoH at the local seafood place. If the carpet is white or light grey, go to another church. How impractical for a high traffic area!!

We have an historic town nearby and on the anniversary of its founding ("Oldetown Days") part of the celebration is a "treasure" scavenger hunt type thing. Your family starts at the old train station, where a guide hands you a clue and town map. The clue leads you to the next spot (an historic house or other site. There are more than one trail.), where another guide gives you the next clue, and on you go. The each trail is about 2 hours or so to traverse, you get to see the town, the kids learn a little history and everyone gets a nice walk. This one is free.

Man, what Beaver said. And eagle019 and nldscout, I hope you boys know each other. It's like the realestate broker said when he was asked why invest in realestate: "because God ain't making any more land!" Don't those yoyos understand? Once a Camp is gone, it's gone. You cannot recreate a camp someplace else. The money gained thru the sale of a Camp will never replace what has been lost. As a boy, I spent summers in a private Camp in Maine(anyone recognize the name Stanwood Cobb?), a Private Camp in VA., a Scout Camp on the Chesapeake Bay and a Camp run by my Troop on pr

Brentallen: Wowsers. How can one obtain a copy of your Powerpoint , and perhaps a recording of your commentary to share with our District? It is certainly a selling point about the world wide brotherhood all Scouts belong to. BB: I look forward to hearing of the success you have when you finish refining the findings of your trip/ticket. Nothing is worth saving if it is not worth sharing. YiS everywhere...

I once had a supervisor (one of many. I work for a goverment agency) come to me and compliment me on a report I had just submitted. He said he always found my work complete, clear and such that unlike some others, he "never had to come back and ask more questions". I said thank you, and then in a fit of inspiration, I said "could you maybe put that in writing for me?" He was obviously taken aback by that request, but replied, "absolutely. You know, I should do that sort of thing more often. I'll address it to XYZ ( the department head). Let me know when you hear from him?" I thanked him again

Let me see now. What have I learned in this discussion. A racial epithet is considered offending if used by someone who is NOT a member of the racial group that the epithet defames. But if it is used by a member of the group towards another member of the group, it is okay (snicker snicker). Maybe. A joke is better if it is NOT an historical anecdote (ie, a transcriptionn of a real incident). A joke is better if it is totally fictional. Well, maybe if folks are honest about the origin of the story, then many iterations down the road (remember the game "telegraph"?) it can still be a j

COBOL< WITRAN< FORTRAN< BASIC< IF/THAN< GOTO< JACQUARD

See if this story rings a bell... This past four years, I have been the Archery Range Safety Officer (no shoulder patch, but plenty of recognition) for our District Cub Day Camp. Five days of alternating fun, panic and great satisfaction. Every Cub earns a bead a day for his Totem for being there and shooting the arrows( not to mention the belt loop). One of the things we do is award a Special Bead for the Cubs Totem if he makes a Bulls Eye. I make the award of the bead at the closing ceremony each day, calling the boy forward, and the Cub signs my Bull Book. When we are explaining

Howdy, Scouting EMT: If you are a "volunteered" ASM, how's the SM? What's your relationship with her/him? You're right to go slow, as the new ASM on the block, and feel out the history and the philosophy of the Troop. There's a thread about using positive reinforcement (behavior mod) in such situations. Talk to the Committee and the SM, both in and out of the room, about their feeling here. What you do is reward with a piece of candy ,quietly, the Scout who is uniformed. Pretty soon, it will get around, and you'll need more candy, at least that is what was reported. Perhaps the

Haven't we heard about similar things in... Florida? Chicago...? Oh Semper, you are good... V/O: (1)Make sure your brother saves all his documentation. Wrongful termination is a sue able offense. Does he have his Job Evaluations (assuming). Around here, in the DC area, I know a couple of union labor relation lawyers that would fairly salivate over such a case. 21 years and then let go like that? Not even a "Thank You BBQ Dinner?" If they even sort of kind of put another person in a similar position of similar responsibility after they have fired your brother... (2) Have your b

Oh My Goodness... Such a compliment... "All the other parents were in favor of it" That is compliment indeed. I would certainly say thank you to those Parents for their vote of confidence. Then... They must realize that being a successful DL is a full time job. Have you made the other parents aware that if you take on DL, one of them (?a couple of them?) need to take up the reins you put down? Oh, I did enjoy my Cub Leader years. What I did not enjoy was the number of parents that told me "wow, you're really good at that (DL, CM, WDL, Event planner, etc), I could never do t