SSScout

""How to Shit in the Woods"" by Kathleen Meyer..... Go to the expert, this is the authority as to hygiene, sanitation, packing in/out, NPS Back Country requirements, all that stuff. Order on Amazon, if not available at your outfitters.... http://www.amazon.com/How-Shit-Woods-Edition-Environmentally/dp/1580083633

Contact the local Military District and ask the Corps of Engineers to come out and work a station on building things. Our CSDC had them out, they did a pavilion for a whole week, and cost us zero. Ask NASA for help . Call the local Jr, College, they might have a Physics lab that likes going "Boom" for people. Natural science: Dept of Agriculture Extension Agent will help with soil conservation, erosion, plant genetics, killer bugs, bees disappearing,,,, Fishing can be very scientific. Aviation was our theme some years back, we did fabulous things with that. And don't let them kid you, your camp is YOUR camp, adapt it as the spirit leads you. One year, the Council announced our theme was "Wild and Wooly West" We chewed on that a while, and decided to do the Lewis and Clark Expedition! It was really popular! (dare I say educational) Each day was another 500 miles toward the Pacific Ocean... If you think "Science " is too broad a spectrum (!), adjust your theme....Do it all in Aviation, or Space Exploration. Or Agricultural Science. The local Extension Agent will love to help . The Scouty stuff will fit easily, you'll see. ... ""I study nuclear science, I love my classes I got a crazy teacher who wears dark glasses Things are going great, and they're only getting better I'm doing all right, getting good grades The future's so bright I gotta wear shades......"

Oooops.... "Assembly" is NOT what you hear before a horse race. That is called "First Call". "Assembly" is a whole lot different. But 2cubdad has the right idea, Bugle is a POR of a different holler. And that reminds me of a story about an undertaker's vehicle and a bakery sweet, but no matter. It is time to be off to play (if I were in camp) "Tatoo" and then "Taps". G'nite Gracie....

Farm Mechanics Merit Badge? And do they know Eric Sloane? Any possible connection to the local County Parks Department? Our County Park & Recreation has a "Agricultural History Farm Park" that is very popular. It is used by local Scout Troops for hikes, Blue Grass festivals, threshing festivals, birding clubs, it is the headquarters for the County Extension Agent and the 4H too. They have an "old timers" club that built a big barn to store equipment in, work with the county fair. I would say there is some public event there at least once a month thruout the year. http://www.montgomeryparks.org/facilities/ag_farm.shtm Kids, both young and not so, love to watch the saw mill cut big maple logs , powered by a belt driving Case tractor engine.... The only thing we haven't seen there is Cub Scout Day Camp, because of we have a superior site on which to hold it, and therefore haven't seen fit to ask! Camporees are out, there is a policy against overnight stays on the property, so the manager says.

About a year after my first wife and I parted company (A Scout is Courteous) I met a young lady who was also recently divorced. I had a 5 year old daughter, she had a 6 year old son, both of us had "custody". I thought we got along fairly well in our first few dates. I was not ready, and neither was she, to introduce our kids to each other, but they had each met the other adult, and had it explained that even mommies and daddies had "friends". The problem came when I suggested, after some observation, that her son needed a mother more than his mother needed a "friend" of 8 years old....

“â€We have taken many paths we would not have chosen, and we have done many jobs we did not want to do. We have carried burdens we did not want to carry and dealt with impossible people we did not like. “â€It is strange that the road we did not want to take is the one that brought us more quickly to the place we wanted to be. At times, the way was hostile, but when we needed a hand there was one. When we needed courage, it was there. What we call problems and unjust circumstances have a way of teaching us integrity and how to be peaceful. ҠIt makes us wonder how many other rewards we have missed because we resisted something that looked like too much responsibility. Ҡ= Joyce Sequichie Hifler = from "A Cherokee Feast of Days"

Transformers?

The "USE" of a bugler is , as has been noted, dependent on (1) the intention of the event or Unit Leadership (do they want a bugler, do they want the time keeping notice affect or the ceremonial affect or the tradition affect or...) and (2) the skill and attention of the bugler and (3) the recognition of the participants of what that noise means, (if anything). If the leaders see a need and utility of the bugle, then they will work (1) to make it's playing a serious matter to the participants (3) and make sure they know what to expect. Similarly, the leaders will work to make sure the Bugler (2) knows his skill is appreciated and not just tolerated. Encouragement is a good thing. Is the Bugler part of the PLC? Does the SPL remind/tell/instruct the Bugler to "make the call"? Is the Bugler really trying to achieve virtuosity or just "putting in time"? If it's close to 6am, and they hear "the noise", it should be Reveille and it's time to get moving. If it's coming up 7am, and you hear "the noise" (best if it can really be considered "music", yes?) , probably it's "assembly" and time to gather at the flag pole, or at the fire ring so we can walk up to the "parade ground" as a Patrol and/or Troop. Eventually, the calls will be recognized (tin ears not withstanding), and the communicative utility of the bugle will be achieved. But it takes consistency and insistence. It takes awhile for all this to happen. The Bugler needs a bugle , a reliable time piece (!) and Leaders that want him to do a good job and rely on him to do a good job.

We have a local RCChurch that charters a Pack and Troop. One must profess the Catholic faith to be a Scout in their units. Small, but active and well supported.

I suggest this thread be shifted to the "Faith and Chaplaincy " thread.... when it gets created.... Meanwhile, ""Father forgive us for what we must do You forgive us we'll forgive you We'll forgive each other till we both turn blue Then we'll whistle and go fishing in heaven."" Thank you, John Prine.

Toten Chip on Wii. Virtual Rock climbing (holodeck?) Swim Safety Defense in Youtube?

"" it is good, bad, or otherwise"". Wallll, it ain't the way I seen it. Each Newsletter reflects the editor's desire and spirit and ... resources. Yours is very good, but includes more "instruction" than I would include. I like the pics of local Scouts doing their thing, but my email will not support that. I have been told I can be TOO interesting. A neighboring District has a "Newsletter app" that I have been invited to try, but haven't got around to yet. The previous enews flash was a listing of "stuff". I try to encourage folks to go and find things on their own in googleland. If they are reading my enews, online, they can easily be referred to the Orienteering Championship Games website for the details and reminders about declination, etc. I try to refer folks back to the "official" District webpage for Training dates, schedule, official stuff. The training and references are good to have and I will suggest that to my colleagues.

Waaaay back when, our Council had four Council camps. I remember each had a reputation, each had a "specialty" of sorts. Roosevelt was on the Chesapeake Bay (boating, swimming, mosquitoes, sea nettles), Wilson was in some Pine woods, (cooler, Patrol camping only, hiking and compass stuff), and two more whose names I forget. One of those was on a mudflat lake, you had to "hike" your boat to get to deep water, as I remember. And many of the local Troops also did their own Summer Camp thing. My Troop built up one on some private property ( I wrote about that on another thread), a friend's did a long trail camp on the AT, with supplies coming to meet them along the way. Going "out of Council" was rather exotic, unless you went to Philmont or Katahdin, Seabase hadn't been invented yet. Mid 70's, Council sold all the camps, and bought one 4000 acre plot waaaay down in Virginia. This was after I left Scouting, and I had no say in it . It has been well developed by now, they built a dam , the lake now needs dredging they say, lots of corporate sponsors and corporate names. No one recognizes some of them now, they are no longer in business but "Camp PMI" is still there...

Heat4212: Give them all a subscription to "BALOO's Bugle" : http://usscouts.org/bbugle.asp and be sure to DRAG them (use your two half hitches) to your District RRRRRoundtable!

Use the necker to denote "I am a Scout". Wear it around your neck. Formal occasions, make a neat woggle to hold it neatly, wear it UNDER or OVER the shirt collar, as your Troop decides, so there is some "uniformity" among the uniforms. Do not wear it "informally" on formal occasions. . Informal occasions, tie a "friendship knot" and wrap it around your neck. Trips to the zoo or the museum or the USS Whatever, wear your ScoutTshirt with the Troop necker so we can see the Troop at a distance among all the regular tourists. Take several with you to the Jamboree, trade them with your new Scout friends. Wear several as you collect more friends. Years later, Use them to jog your memory and think about them. Learn to use the necker as a bandage, sling, emergency lashing, horse halter (old manual!), sun shade, signal flag, etc. Mine from 40 years ago has holes in it from first aid practice, but it is clean and ironed and resides in the ziplock bag in the shoe box in my closet with the other 15 or so neckers from various places and persons. Good Scouting to you!

Voulez vou eclaireur francaise?

Toten' Chip: Get rid of all factory made tent poles and pegs. Scouts make'm on the spot. Ropes and lashings: Get rid of all "umbrella" tents. No elastic tie offs, no little plastic string lock thingies. Guy tents to hand made pegs and available trees. Tautline hitch , bowline, etc. Make tentpoles longer with parallel lashing. Cooking: No more gas stoves. Dig fire pits and set rocks to hold pots and pans. Well, maybe there is a middle ground then going all the way back to tarps and groundcloths.... Give prizes and awards for most inventive campground arrangements. I went to a "Salamagundi" sponsored by the OA and saw a natural forest transformed into streets (nameplates! lashed sign posts!) , built up lashed tables and benches, Patrol gateways, laundry lines, campfire kitchens (off the ground!) , fire bucket stations, it was impressive. Medals were awarded, ribbons for the Patrol flag. At the end, when the camp was broke down, everything was untied, sticks stacked for "next time", ropes coiled neatly and the place swept back into "forest" again. It was hard to see where the tentsites had been. If they have no NEED, no COMPETITION, no REASON to use the skills, they become one more thing to file away under "so what".

The Knights of Columbus Squires? Nascent Knights Templar? (no, wrong establishment) Junior Jesuits? Saint Francis' Friends?

*(( The true author of this article is unknown. It is here copied from the COME HOSTELING newsletter, Sept. 1980, of the Potomac Area Council of the American Youth Hostels, who received it from Dick Schwanke, Senior PAC Staff Trainer, who read it in the APPALACHIAN HIKER by Ed Garvey, who got it from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Conference Bulletin, which quoted it from THE RAMBLER of the Wasatch Mountain Club of Salt Lake City, which reportedly cribbed it from the I.A.C. News of Idaho Falls, which reported it from the 1966 PEAKS & TRAILS. I offer it here for your enjoyment and inspiration. Note that some of the ingredients are a bit dated. Adjust as necessary. Enjoy!)) "Courageous Cookery" by John Echo* Once the convert backpacker or cycle camper has accepted the subtle gustatory nuances associated with sustained operations beyond the chrome, he should try the advantages of ultra fringe living so that he will realize what he is paying for his nested pots and pretty pans carried so diligently and brought home so dirty after every "wilderness experience". The following system works. It is dependable and functional. It works on the big rock. It even works when the weather has gone to hell, you are wet and cold and the wind is blowing down the back of your hairy neck. It is not for the timid. It consists of a stove, a six inch sauce pan, a plastic cup and a soup spoon. If you insist on a metal cup, you must never fail to mutter "I'm having fun, I'm having fun", every time you spill the soup on your sleeping bag. Breakfast: Instant wheat cereal-- sugar and powdered milk added-- ready two minutes after water boils. Eat from pot. Do not wash pot. Add water, boil, and add powdered eggs and ham. You'll never taste the cereal anyway. In three minutes, eat eggs. Do not wash pot. Add water or snow and boil for tea. Do not wash pot. Most of the residue eggs will come off in the tea water. Make it strong and add sugar. Tastes like tea. Do not wash pot. With reasonable technique, it should be clean. Pack pot in rucksack and enjoy last cup of tea while others are dirtying entire series of nested cookware. Lunch: Boil pot of tea. Have snack of rye bread, cheese and dried beef Continue journey in 10 minutes if necessary. Dinner: Boil pot of water, add Wylers dried vegetable soup and beef bar. Eat from pot. Do not wash pot. Add water and potatoes from dry potatoe powder. Add gravy mix to taste. Eat potatoes from pot. Do not wash pot. Add water and boil for tea. Fortuitous fish or meat can be cooked easily. You do not need oil or fat. Put half inch of water in pot. Add cleaned and salted fish. Do not let water boil away. Eat from pot when done. Process can be done rapidly. Fish can even be browned somewhat by a masterful hand. Do not change menu. Variation only recedes from the optimum. Beginners may be allowed to wash pot once a day for three consecutive days only. It is obvious that burning or sticking food destroys the beauty of the technique. If you insist on carrying a heavier pack, make up the weight you save with extra food. Stay three days longer.

As the BS RT Commish, I do an email newsletter , I try to make it weekly. In the "title block" I include a quote from someone , The Title, a schedule of RT topics coming up, a reminder of where the RT is and when, and a link to our Council/District website (which our new webmaster just finished updating and neatening up ). I then mention training and events coming up, interesting Scouting things I find online and elsewhere, {"STEM in Camp Snyder...") . People send me notice of activities. If timely and of Scout interest, I include them. The "30" is a list of our District leadership and their emails and numbers. I also stick in a "bullet" or two. My latest are: "Sco_t _o_ndtable... What's missing? RU?" and "3/5 of SCOUT is OUT" stuff like that. Since this is only an "email" and not a "newsletter" , I try to keep it fairly simple and straightforward. I have found I can even include some fancier posters and brochures if I am careful to "attach" a small file. Verizon has a limit to sending attachments. Golly gee, I've even been known to lower my standards enough to include dreck from a website named "scouterdotcom".

Since this really does involve Scouting History (YOUR history!), I put it here. I hope a lot of you avail yourself of this opportunity to talk about some memories.... Back when you earned your Stegosaurus Husbandry Merit Badge... To all adults who were Boy Scouts: I am an Eagle Scout from Capitol Hill Troop 500 in Washington, DC. I am making a video of adults talking about how Boy Scouts impacted their life in positive ways. I'm trying to get video clips of as many people as I can before September 1, 2015. I will be making a compilation of the clips to post on YouTube. If you'd like to participate, send me a 5-minute (at most) video of you answering this question: How did Scouting impact your life? When you email me your video, please send me a signed release form as well. You can send your video and form to me at [email protected]. Because of the BSA's youth protection rules, please cc: my mom at [email protected], and include the release form below. Thanks so much for your help. Please share this post with your friends! Thanks - I really appreciate it. Greyson Acquaviva and his mom, Kim Acquaviva. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/marketing/doc/talent.doc (note: Greyson is already an Eagle. This is a "personal" project).

Congrats to your Scout. Rules are rules and some seem more draconian than others. I would be interested in learning about the project. I must ask, WasE61, what exactly does that mean, "your Life rank was one week too late"? Not enough time between Life and earning Eagle?

What they said. We had a Pack of 12 Cubs at the time, a "Hands Off" CO, and at the last recruitment we had 14(!) Tiger Cub wannabes show up with their parents. After showing them all the neat stuff, leading the boys thru a Den meeting, not one parent signed up. Not one. "Too much time". "He has better things to do." "I was never a Scout, I wouldn't know what to do". "Yes, I see he's having fun, and the material is good, but he can get the same in school and soccer/Karate/ChurchGroup/my uncle takes us camping" etc. etc. My wife and I were Den Leaders, Cub Master, Committee Chair, saw our boy blossom and grow in Scouting. The other remaining families felt the same. But when it came time for us to "cross over", no one would step up, The CO was not interested, they sign the paper, have a good day. The DE was trying with suggestions and such but he was not "HERE". I sent out a letter three months before the end of the year announcing our imminent departure. Again at two months. We had a final fling, spent the Pack treasury on a nice picnic and some award sweaters for all the remaining parent leaders, and told the CO we would not be rechartering that year. Their response: "okay". The remaining families (6) transferred to other local Packs and we nodded and smiled as we saw them again at camporees and Eagle CoHs . Life goes on. Pack 775 did not.

What gets sold? What got sold?

Post this to your email Pack buddies: ""The Work is Done by Whoever Shows Up" Then ask: Can you answer the following questions: 1) Does your boy have fun in Cub Scouts? 2) Do you want to have some say in how your boy grows up? Or will you let the TV, Internet, only the School do his growing up for you? 3) Do you want a connection with your boy when he is 16? If you do not have that connection by the time he is 12, you will not have any at 16.... 4) Do you see Scouting as a worthy activity for your boy, REGARDLESS of who his Leaders are? 5) If you answered "YES" to the above questions, then we will be glad to see you at the planning meeting on xx-xx-xxxx in the yyyyyyy Hall. We have a great year ahead and we need YOUR light and energy to help give YOUR boy the future he deserves! As Red Green observed, "we're all in this together". "But I wasn't a Scout " Don't have to be. You only have to want your boy to be a Scout and help him have fun doing it. See you then! Call if you have questions? Please! "Course, sometimes no amount of reason, guilt tripping or cajoling will avail. In that case, write your farewell letter (on paper! Makes a bigger impact!), send it to the other parents (it will be worth the postage to your soul, trust me), and transfer to a Pack that cares.. You will find one.... They are out there. Good Scouting to your boy and to you! Then, when no one shows up at the next Pack meeting, you take YOUR boy and transfer to a Pack that cares.....