SSScout

It is starting to sound lie our kids have developed a new trend/trail/system/gradient/ ?? First is mother's breast. Then the "blankie" Then the "teddy" or "BunBun". Then then "pillow" and/or "good night moon". And then... they grow up to..... the KINDLE! The SCHMART PHONE! The MINECRAFT! (or worse....) How to wean them off the new electronic "blankie"? How to say "no" to their umbilical cord to the internet? Tweeting : Here at camp dark bugs can't sleep ((haven't tried)).... Here's a bit of doggerel for you: A Scout on his iphone would tweet, "my vcmpfr s neet! I ck my #browns & @ cmpree sit down & hike on my virtual 2 feet!"

That and Barbecue. And home made coleslaw...

Unless you are at an LDS camp... Yes, I remember some camps that specifically ask adult leaders NOT sit with their units. The camp staff rotates around to the various tables, or a staffer sits with the table the whole week, with "guests" on occasion. Maybe another staffer or another adult from a different part of the country. Or from a different country! Now, this requires sufficient planning so there is enough sitting space at each table for , say, 8 Scouts and a staffer and a guest. Maybe 6 Scouts is enough. Depends on the geometry of the dining hall. I like that idea. Even if the unit camps and cooks "in camp" (Patrol cooking?) , it should be expected they might have a staff guest each night. They do this at the Jamboree, I know.

Anti Bullying Policy: "Do unto others that which you would have done unto you".

Once upon a time, I took some art classes with the Architecture department at school. They offered a "practical" week at a restoration project in Cape May NJ. It was the historic hotel Chalfonte (look it up, nice old place). I went up with about a dozen archy students. I never met so many unhandy kids up to that point in my life. Some needed instruction (!) in how to use a hammer. Clean the paint brush after it was used? We bought so many new brushes I couldn't believe it. There were some that did take the building trades seriously, but many , seriously, looked on the "practical" week as a free trip to the beach. Some one else will clean up, some one else will put the tools away, someone else will cover that hole..... Thinking about it, I wish I could remember those names so I could avoid their buildings (!). And the water was cold in the fall up there. But the Physick House was very nice, and the Chalfonte is still there....

SBMom: Here is a specific example. Look for the County Cable video toward the bottom of the Home Page: http://www.montgomeryplanning.org/environment/tree_canopy.shtm Get those shovels out!

Check with local Arbor Day Chapter about PLANTING the trees to prune! Many county agencies (parks, road maintenance, "Street Beautiful", etc.) would support a tree or bush or flower bulb planting. Get those hands dirty! https://www.arborday.org/programs/ County Extension agent: http://www.pickyourown.org/countyextensionagentoffices.htm USDA Soil conservation agency: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/national/home/ Does recycling count? Check with the county Solid Waste Department. Good Scouting to you!

Yep, time investment is significant. Family has to "take up the slack". Time is taken from work. From family stuff. Family is important. But so is one's self satisfaction and respect. Woodbadge? Why not Lions? Or Kiwanis? Or Church Choir? Or Local Activity Of Your Choice? You can stay in the bosom of the family or convince the rest of the family (!) that you will come back a happier camper. Does wife have "outside interests"? Good wife has painting classes, and they take a significant amount of time. Do I complain? No, I do the laundry. Her "time away" helps her decompress from work and gives her much satisfaction, especially when I can say (honestly!) that she has developed her latent talent considerably. She painted me a Barn Owl! And then there is the time in our various Meeting (church to you) committees. Tonight I will be driving a bus for our camping program. I could say "no", I have to stay home and clean the kitchen, but that dirt and grease will be there when I get back, and hey, son may clean it up. It is his turn, come to think of it.... When I go off for IOLS or RoundTable, good wife understands. My talent and experience needs to be shared with others than my son and wife. I earned WB and then staffed WB (QM corps). It was fun, rewarding and I met many good folks. Some of whom I still work with in Scouting. I know they took away some of me, and I gained some of them. Cross fertilization? Now, one must realize that if you DON"T participate, you will have NO effect on those folks. If you DO participate, you will leave a wake (to be nautical in my metaphor) and more will benefit from your life experience. Therefore, if they go ahead with WB without you, "it ain't your fault". If you DO participate, you will have at least some say in making sure the WBers go away smiling, not thinking "what a waste!". "All feedback is a gift". See you on the trail!

Adaption is the epitome of intellect.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8ffkDf0ol4 While hiking along with the Boy Scouts, to being " PREPARED " we commit... Like BP said, "why, for any old thing", so we take along big bags of SHHHH.....

Wow, there is a lot of stuff about this online.... Google Roy Powers, Eagle Scout and have fun.

Now, That is something up with which I can put. Did anyone ever collect and publish a book of the strips? Well, sort of. Not on Paper , it seems: http://www.kenpiercebooks.com/powers.htm

It just occurred to me: At the last Jamboree, AT&T sought initially to get every Scout to have an included Smart Phone. Am I remembering that right? The whole site was to be WiFi wired. Each Camp had a tower. They were still wiring ours (Camp A) when I arrived. The idea of giving each Scout their own Smart phone was abandoned, but they tried to service all the folks that had such already. The Daily Notes were not reliable, the recharging stations (solar powered!) became hangouts for the bored ("Hey! Mines up to 35%! Now it's 38%!"), and had to be rewired by cable to make'm work reliably. And the octopus connectors were collected as souvenirs by some (!). I even remember that the shower house (Ambient!) plugs were placed off limits to phone charging out of fears of electrocution. Would this mean we might get a "BSA SUMMIT JAMBOREE" branded Ipad? Ooops....

"It Depends". One of our Church camps ( three resident camps, one traveling camp), was required by the county to rebuild all the simple lean-to cabins into "bear resistant" cabins. This meant double screened windows (open to the weather), one screening being heavy " hardware cloth", and the other being regular window screen. The doors(double screened), (at least two on opposite sides) must have a self closing mechanism and open onto a porch (with strong railings) sufficiently large to allow the door (must open out) to swing all the way open and allow the person to walk down any steps unimpeded. Our camps are blessed with a carpenter that likes doing mortise and tenon construction. Camp #2 has not been so required as of yet, just keep the mosquitoes out and the rain off (different state). Camp #3 is by definition an "arts" camp, so "real" cabins are expected. All three camps have a hiking, camp out session, maybe one half of the week is out of camp. The traveling camp "Teen Adventure", uses tents and tarps. Bicycle or canoe, they alternate each year. Scoutson , who went to Philmont twice (once as a Trek Leader), said he had more "roughing it" at our Teen Adventure, but learned more at his Scout Camps.

Rain forest country! Welcome to the Forums!

Sounds like three deep to me. One look out and two nappers.

The consensus around these here parts (4 people?) seems to be the PTB want FA to be instructed by some "professional "type medico person (Who? Doctor? Paramedic? EMT? Red Cross instructor? ) . We have used the same flip chart FA course from the Red Cross Certification course, but not with a RC person reviewing it. Worked for some years.. Personal story: During the County Fair, I help out at the Rabbit Barn. My son and wife raised rabbits for many years, won some ribbons. But I am allergic to the little gems, so I usually sit at the entrance to the Rabbit Barn where the air is coming in and "cleaner". One afternoon, a fellow walks up to me and stops and looks. I recognize him as an IOLS Scouter from a few months back. We shake hands and reintroduce ourselves. He says, " I've been meaning to call you up or email you about your training. It saved my life." Here I began paying more attention. "The possible signs of heart attack? After the IOLS, I went home and when I went to work the next week, I remembered them and went to the ER after work and talked to a doctor there. I went in for tests, and they said it was a good thing I did." The rest of his story went as you might expect. He came in and toured the Barn, and we parted friends, again.

The original post asked about a particular CO and the requirements they had set for their Scout Units. They are within their rights to do that. I have known at least one CO that famously refused (politely) a Scout applicant because they were not of "their" faith, and referred them to the Assistant District Commissioner who had assisted in their chartering (me). I referred the boy to another local Troop, everyone is happy.

"Follow the money" "Publicity. Get a local news writer interested." "Communication" "CORs are the voting members" "Who REALLY owns the camps? Research the land titles" "Publicity. Facebook, tweet, blah, blah." "It's for the kids" "Confront the Council Leaders with the Scout Law. Are they Trustworthy? etc. " "Good Luck"

We interpreted the new syllabus as a guide for the "Troop". We do things by "Patrol", regardless. Instruction depends on how big our crowd is, sometimes the whole Troop in a class, sometimes we divvy it up per Patrol, rotate thru the class areas. We had 4 full Patrols once last year, only 10 people this past April. We also, quite honestly, view the syllabus as the "minimum" we need to do. We include more instruction as the experience of our Scouter Staff allows and permits. It is almost always closer to 2 days , Set up early Saturday morn, go home sunday afternoon around 4 or 5! No one has ever complained. We also try to schedule a "Sabbath Friendly" IOLS when possible. The goal , as always, is to get the newbie SMs to "pass" the FC requirements. Exampling the Patrol Method, the Boy (Scouter?) Led Unit, the "Never do anything yourself that a boy can do" sort of Scouting. Yes, we try to have individual Experts in Woods Tools, Cooking/Sanitation, Animal/plant ID, Compass/map, First Aid (discussion about whether we need an actual Paramedic sort of person here), we look at the introduction of experienced Scouters to the newbies as a form of networking, and "hey, we been there, it ain't that hard" kind of thing. Hope that answers your question. See you on the trail!

** Mary's going too?** :-)

**Talk to the orthopedist. *** Talk to the Scout. Talk to the other Scouts. I bet they'd like to help. **** TALK TO THE DAD... Golfcart? Perhaps overkill. Dad at camp? Would he have gone otherwise? Is he a registered ASM? Crutches? Wheelchair? I have seen some clever accommodations. Wheeled casts for whole leg. Some things will have to be avoided/eliminated, for sure, but if the Scout can adapt, let him go. As was said before, camp might well be more relaxing than home. I was at the 2013 Jamboree, and watched a Scout get places on a pair of crutches . He had broken an ankle four days before the opening day! . He took it easy, but managed to have a good time, despite the distances involved. He got an occasional lift from staffers "going his way". He even worked on his Episcopal religious award with one of the Chaplains. If he can't "fit in", your Scout can always go home early, and say "he tried".

Experience in Boy Led: Life Scout (SM's son) is presenting his proposed project to the Troop Committee for comment/approval. It is a good project, to convert a courtyard in the church into a meditation garden. It would convert a concrete gravel path into a low maintenance, bench lined , natural setting . SM (dad) is sitting in the background. Scout has nice pictures, list of materials, everything is in good shape. Committee asks questions , seems pleased. I ask, " whose project is this again? "... hesitation.... Scout: " I guess it's mine ?" "And when there is a problem, who makes the decision about what to do?" Scout looks over to his dad. "I will?" (To the SM, who is usually a get in there and make things happen sort of guy) "Steve? You good with that?" He smiles, says " absolutely". Project goes off well. Eagle awarded last month.

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/l/t1.0-9/13322056_10153360665401191_7029914768053834169_n.jpg?oh=56fac4358e9002f47bc601af4a6183ef&oe=57C6671E

Y'all gotta do your time... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kWiaMw2Ynw

What ever happened to Campfire? Too all-inclusive?