Tampa Turtle

This is what we do: (1)No form, no ride to camp. This includes campouts. (2)We will make as much of the form business easy on the parents. We will help you fill it out. Lots of announcements, email reminders, extra forms at meetings, notaries at meetings, list of local drug stores, etc and their physical costs. We also will accept scans, will ride to a person's house to pick it up, etc. So it aint like we try. (3) We scan everything and encourage parents to keep the original. (4) We have two hard copy notebook of everyone's forms. One goes with the SM or a ASM. The other s

I work in (now) local government reviewing (sometimes)site plans. Now we got all sorts of codes and regulations and I think many of them are based on good reasoning and are pretty good. But we sometimes have conflicts, and we staff need to balance serving the customer (the individual) with making sure the property is developed to function well for the future owners and neighbors. Even though there are lots of very specific rules there are a lot of judgement calls. It seems Scouts is a lot like that.

Maybe a color guard in class "A", followed by a group of boys dressed as Hikers, climbers, kayakers, etc. Kinda hit both worlds. The adventure theme for the boys and the uniform for the parents.

I just wanted a quiet day but really had to butter up the wife--she is getting a little stir crazy with the boys at home this summer. So I was cooking a lot and we went out and saw some fireworks from the waterfront last night. The highlight was filling up the wading pool and watching the German Sheppard go crazy splashing around. I eat a lot of meat but not many carbs--diabetes and all. Protein is expensive. Did chicken too.

I think the parade is a good thing but it indirectly affects recruiting. Plants the seeds in some boys that scouts might be cool. They pester their parents and sometime later might make a move. Make sure your unit number is visible in the media--we used to have a parent push out press releases on a regular basis. Get your Troop put in the news enough you get perceived as a "good unit".

Oh we get screamers all the time. Yes my son was tarp camping on the edge of 1n 80 foot bluff when it was pitch black. I guess I should have planned better. No sleep-runners, thank goodness.

This is what the Turtles did: Scout son #1 was ready for a flag ceremony at the drop of the house. Scout son #2 cooked part of lunch over a fire and we made a dutch oven cobbler for dinner (both firsts at the house)to show mama Turtle how it was done. Hung my brother's casket flag (He died in '79 in the Army.) across the front of the house; I like to let it out of the case for holidays on occasion. I don't think he would mind. Found my great grandfathers 98 year old casket flag and hung that one also. That was kinda cool as it had 48 stars--must have been the "new 48 star one" w

The Council Store hands you one and says you have to have it when you buy a uniform shirt. Now I am all for scout global solidarity but why not just pre-sew the dang thing on the shirt. As for BSA24--I hate my standard Council design but where it anyway.

Seattle, Can you cite an actual case where a " kid making a high school commencement speech "was hauled before a Federal judge for including a prayer in his speech?" Or is that just hyperbole?

I am surprised this happened as well. I have heard of large camps occasionally running a group of girls and younger kids in a variety of activities but never having cubbies or "scout buddies" away with a Troop. It is not like there is a shortage of non-scout summer camps available these days--at least around here. I do not think this was a good idea at all. If the family brought 'em up there it is their responsibility.

My son has done it on a backpacking trip, walked over to where the Scoutmaster was sleeping under a tarp, hunched down and stared at him for a long, long time with dead eyes. Freaked him out a little. Seems like it is more of a problem on the first night than the second. Maybe because it he was more tired on Saturday night?

My son has done this. Usually if someone tells him to :go back to bed" he will shamble off and do so. We have: (1) Make sure he is not near the entrance of a tent. If he steps over somebody he will wake them up. He needs a buddy to go with him. (2) Make sure his tent is not perched on the edge of a bluff or other dangerous spot. (3) I have bedded down outside his tent entrance if I was really worried. Now he is 13 he has mostly out grown it.

Out Troop went through this. An ugly part of the switch is that you have to be willing to let some scouts and parents walk. Some are pretty invested in the old system and will not be happy. In our experience more threatened to leave than actually did but some adults backed off for a year until they saw things were starting to work out.

Well if the saying "hike your hike" is true then so is "hang your hang". I like my Hennessy but if you like yours more power to you!

I agree about doing it at summer camp. The swimming instructors I saw were great with the struggling swimmers--doing whatever it would take to get them pass the swim test. Saw them work with one boy for 4 hours one-on-one. When he finally passed I never saw a bigger smile.

If it can staple the Tiger dongle bead thingie to the Tigers chest I am in!

My almost-14 year old was asking lots of questions about Venturing and Sea Scouts after seeing their fairer-sex representatives at Summer Camp.

The majority of the most spoiled boys in my Troop have the most conservative parents--I do not think it is a right/left issue; it is it's own axis. My boys: How many of you had your own bathroom growing up? Boys share a bath. Until they were 10 all 4 of us share 1. No biggie. How many had your own color tv witha video game conected to it: Well there is one (1) set with a videogame console. Lots of negotiating on what to watch--just like the good old days. 1 family computer too. No cable just rabbit ears. No Netflix--just the public library DVD's. How many of you had your own

If we change the name what will the newbies snicker at?

My wife commented at the COH that me and the boys with the worn shirts "looked like we were active campers and knew what we were doing". She is pretty fastidious so I take that as a compliment. At Summer Camp I noticed that "uniform cultures" vary within Councils. I saw one very large council where the adults all looked like the proverbial south american generals.

Welcome to the "Hangers Club". Yeah it takes some getting used to and it is not for everyone. I think once you get really into it the costs and weight is pretty close to a good two man tent. I think to beat it trap camping is the way to go. But you can't beat the more areas you can set up vs. a tent and the quick take down. I have gotten mine done in 3 minutes. Nice not to have a damp ground cloth. I like your idea of a ground pad. Yeah I think it can be a little warmer in humid weather. And cooler with a breeze. I find a lot of sleeping issues is not getting the rig right, if my head is

I enjoyed this discussion. My Troop sometimes does a campfire with a scout trivia game or some sort of ice-breaking game (Origin of your name and one unusual fact about you). Skits and jokes on occasion but quality control is poor (we have rules like "skits should have an end and jokes should have a punch line"). I continue to stump boys with "what was the Siege of Mafeking". Three years and know one has got it yet. By the way the other night I overheard the punch line of an elaborate joke a first-year was telling during a card game. It ended with "The Aristocrats!" Then I hear "I liked t

The teacher should pick up a chair...oops GSS will say "no chairs". I have to go in and out of government buildings all the time and have had a lot of pocket knives, even a P38 opener, confiscated in the post 9-11 world. I LOVE my Leatherman Micra but I am sure that the 1-1/2" blade is considered a deadly weapon. In the "Shoot Me", er "Sunshine" State" I hesitate to wield one in public for fear of someone feeling they need to stand their ground and shoot me.

Our boys enjoy doing signalling with mirrors and semaphore on occasion; so I do not think keeping these old school things around are a bad thing. It is not a requirement to learn Morse. Back in the 60's my brother and I had morse sets. We were on opposite sides of the house so the wire went out the windows and over the roof. Boy did we get in trouble if Mom heard the clickity-clack too long. Still have the "Learn Morse Code the East Way" LP record somewhere. Never could get pass 45 rpm. So maybe it is nostalgia.

Can it package and mail the beads to me?