theysawyoucomin'

If you sleep in a fully enclosed heated building and are exposed to the elements only during waking hours, is this really winter camping? Or really just playing outside? We call it a "freezeout" to give the kids "braggin' rights", but I know we had better shelter than some full time occupied American homes. At no time did a ranger or any full time Scouting personnel tell me I couldn't rent the heated lodge for the Cubs and stay there. At the bear level each kid had a parent. What do you think?

one thing I forgot. NEVER,NEVER,NEVER tell a Webelos Scout to suck it up on a camping trip. Make sure he has the right gear, mittens,warm boots, dry socks and a belly full of hot coccoa. You could turn a kid off to this type of camping by one bad campout.You can turn a kid off to all camping by one bad trip. Keep it simple make it fun. I've been above the Arctic Circle twice in Norway and froze in December in Minnesota. Proper gear fends off a lot of misery. In the Marines we were taught to look out for our people. I'm sure the Air Force teaches the same thing.

As a Den leader I had two winter campouts. We call them "freeze outs" in upstate NY. The first while the boys were bears. We ice fished, went sleigh riding and had a ball. We stayed at Camp rotary in a heated lodge. The place had an outdoor fireplace so a campfire was "required". We read the "Cremation of Sam Mcgee" by Robert W. Service. More "required" reading. The Scouts turned in and we dad's hung out at the fire. when I checked on my son he was laying atop his sleeping bag because the lodge was about 75 dgrees. It was about 3 degrees outside. Second time we went as webelos, as the last trip before cross over. It was 55 degrees. no safe ice to fish through. no snow to sleigh ride on. We cooked in dutch ovens. made a dump cake and some buscuit type apple dumplings. Good eats. Still had an outdoor fire. No "Cremation of Sam Mcgee" as it was so warm. Require Dad's or uncles to go and sleep inside a heated lodge and you should be OK. Take Baloo. Do a search on "hague maple apple dumplings" and give them a try. This can be an intro to patrol type cooking. Try a dump cake. Make the boys do the work. borrow some ovens from the local Scout troop. Ask a couple of Boy Scouts to come and help the boys cook and sleep over. You got some sleigh riding hills in S. Ohio. I've been to Columbus it is so flat there those kids don't know what a sled is. Keep it simple make it fun. Good luck.

Congrats Cody!! I remember when you signed up for the course. It will feel good to get those beads!!!!

My WEEBS just crossed in February but I'll relate my experience. This year at the B&G we did skits. The WEEBSII sang the "if I weren't a webelos a ____________ I would be." They had a great time. Some others asked trivia. Tigers and Bears told jokes from the back of boys life. Other tigers sat around a pretend fire and counted to sixty and said , "there, we just wasted a minute of your time" A good time was had by all. One committee member complained that his boy did not want to do it out of fear. The same boy performed in a lip sync comp only a week before. I can't figure that out. Nobody was going to force the boy to do anything. I recently saw pictures of a skit by Scott's men as he tried to grab the South Pole. He failed. Skits are good.

I got my beads about two years ago. I wear the beads always but seldom wear the necker. Last night we had a Troop dinner so I wore the necker, well it needs to be cleaned. nothing is on it it just needs to be washed. Is this thing wool. does it need to be dry cleaned, or just gentle regular washing? Thank you in advance for any replies.

Having spent my after high school years with the USMC,some of it in the Paris of the Med. (Beirut) I have burned more than my fair share of human waste. It is not fun. It does not readily burn, even after it has soaked all day in diesel fuel. By weight it is easily half water. The fire would have more impact than a nugget or two. Bury it in a shallow grave and combine it with some organic matter. The average Canada Goose poops as much as a man in a day. When flocks of 500 geese are in a field I can't help but see three companies of Marine riflemen and how much poop those Geese are leaving. Geese do not have pooper scoopers and the world does not end because of them. Leave no trace can be carried WAAAAAY to far. Clean up the area, bury your poop, you'll be OK The authors of LNT books have not burned half the poop I have.

The Twin Rivers Council 2006 Pow Wow was yesterday and what a great day. Four years ago I went without a uniform as a Tiger Parent that wanted to be a Den Leader. This year I gave a double session class where each participant made a cystal Radio and a single session class on soda bottle water rockets. My first year I was inspired by all the older folks, whose sons' were well beyond scouting age passing it all on to the next two generations of Scouters. This year there was a record amount of attendees, last # I heard was 286- add instructors that gets you 300 easy. This year I saw many next faces and most were Cub leaders, many Tiger Den Leaders with the patch to prove it. Kudos to all who attended, because they decided learning to be a better Scout leader was more important than that other thing that always comes up. Kudos to organizers and staff for all their hard work. Ladies and gentlemen do all you can to make your Pow Wow great! Does anybody have any great ideas besides the run of the mill classes that we could incorporate next year?

BIS, First of all thank you for your actions to make our Country a better place. Thank you for making a difference in the life of a boy. Now would be a good time to register for Wood Badge this coming summer. One of the the biggest things you learn there is that you are not alone. The world is full of people that can become resources for you to teach the WEEBS. EMT's, Engineers, Geologists, music teachers you name it. Everybody likes to teach people about what they know. Imagine being a school teacher where every kid wants to hear what is being said. Holy cow they're in hog heaven! Look around, ask around see who you can get to help. The net is also full of resorces. Don't forget about Wood Badge --as it says on the sneaker box, JUST DO IT!!!! PS While they are still bears would you like to do the crystal radio??? I have a powerpoint that I could send you along with resources for parts. Introduce them to early electrical engineering and carry on a tradition that is as old as the Cub program. PM me if interested.

In the words of Bob Fagan my course director, "Remember, You're a Wood Badger now, much will be expected of you" One of them is setting a uniforming example to those adult leaders that are watching what you will do. Congrats on getting your beads in the near future.

Hillis, You and your parents and your fellow Scouts are spending thousands of dollars to go to the premiere Scouting experience. Please don't give me the too expensive story. You have received good advice here. As a former Marine infantry platoon sergeant I think I know first hand a lot about walking. I have observed men in utter misery due to poor(poor fit,unserviceable, wet) footwear. I've even observed a young lad who in the middle of the night hurriedly put his boots on the wrong feet and walked 10 miles before noticing. I would not have believed it if I did not see it first hand. If you're not in shape , get tough now! Your feet will reward you with good performance. Do some ankle strengthening excercises. Walk in the boots you are going to wear!!!! Go to the drug store and buy something called moleskin. Bring three packages, you will surely give some away. Good luck. Be prepared.

Hillis, You and your parents and your fellow Scouts are spending thousands of dollars to go to the premiere Scouting experience. Please don't give me the too expensive story. You have received good advice here. As a former Marine infantry platoon sergeant I think I know first hand a lot about walking. I have observed men in utter misery due to poor(poor fit,unserviceable, wet) footwear. I've even observed a young lad who in the middle of the night hurriedly put his boots on the wrong feet and walked 10 miles before noticing. I would not have believed it if I did not see it first hand. If you're not in shape , get tough now! Your feet will reward you with good performance. Do some ankle strengthening excercises. Walk in the boots you are going to wear!!!! Go to the drug store and buy something called moleskin. Bring three packages, you will surely give some away. Good luck. Be prepared.

Hillis, You and your parents and your fellow Scouts are spending thousands of dollars to go to the premiere Scouting experience. Please don't give me the too expensive story. You have received good advice here. As a former Marine infantry platoon sergeant I think I know first hand a lot about walking. I have observed men in utter misery due to poor(poor fit,unserviceable, wet) footwear. I've even observed a young lad who in the middle of the night hurriedly put his boots on the wrong feet and walked 10 miles before noticing. I would not have believed it if I did not see it first hand. If you're not in shape , get tough now! Your feet will reward you with good performance. Do some ankle strengthening excercises. Walk in the boots you are going to wear!!!! Go to the drug store and buy something called moleskin. Bring three packages, you will surely give some away. Good luck. Be prepared.

Last summer at Webelos camp(4 days) they cancelled the polar bear. They said it was unsaafe to have that many kids in the water at one time. It was a well loved event. They also said BSA was getting away from it. One solution would be to have all youth participants wear a pfd, just as wet, just as cold. The waterfront came right off a trout stream water seemed like it was 56 degrees.

Eamonn, I know you no longer have Pow wow in your council but bear with me. As a Tiger Dad I went to my first Pow wow. I didn't own a uniform but I knew that I wanted to be a Wolf den leader so I figured I better know how to deal with the cherubs dressed in blue. I was very impressed with the amount of leaders there that just by looking at the ages of these folks you could tell that their own kids had long ago cleared the program. They believed in the program so much that they stayed on to make sure that somebody would be there to teach the new crop of parents. It was inspiring.

As the father of a fairly well behaved young Scout, I'm a Wood badger that is an active committee member: If my kid was the victim in this case the Troop would be making a choice between my kid and the youthful offender. If this kid wasn't gone instantly I'd vote with my feet and find a new home. Nothing that was going on in this boy's life short of a brain tumor that was pushing on all the wrong parts of his brain can excuse his behavior. This goes waaaaaaay beyond the "benefit of the doubt". Can him and make sure the DE and Scoutmasters in the general vicinity know what they could be signing up. P.S. I am very pro-gun, pro second ammendment. The only civil right that guarantees all the rest.

Let me first say I voted for the present administration twice. I like both gentlemen and I support their handling of the war that nobody seems to know we're fighting. I don't think we scrap a program that shows kids how to safely hunt just because a leading figure was unsafe with a firearm. Mr. Cheney was supposed to know where all the people in his party were at all times. Do we can driver ed. because Princess Diana was killed in a car wreck? That is the same as disarming the whole populace just because two spoiled rich kids from Colorado killed a bunch of kids in school. Did anybody mention the prescription drugs all these kids are taking? Or Scotland outlawing firearms because of Dunblane. A 1960's radical drugged up trust fund baby said, "Why is it every time somebody holds up a bank with a gun they want to take guns away from people who didn't do it?" The guy who said it was a real jerk, don't recall his name, but the statement has merit. Congressman Sonny Bono and some Kennedy kid got killed skiing and we still have merit badges and even Cub Scout belt loops for skiing. A cub Scout can't shoot a BB gun except at Camp. I'll match the supervised skiing accident rate with the supervised BB gun injury rate up any day. There is no outcry to ban skiing. There are enough people trying to insure the end of hunting, they are doing a great job at it too. If anything this incident should be highlighted or maybe even used as a bullet point for knowing where everyone in the party is. Especially prior to taking a shot at a flying quail. He broke the safety rules, somebody paid with blod. He is paying by being ridiculed by the whole informed world.

Thank you to all who replied, there is some good advice here.

CONGRATS TO YOU! What billet do you hold and where will you have your beading?

more! more!! please more!!!! This is very accurate!

I am a former Den Leader that had "his" boys cross over on Saturday night. Thinking ahead to summer camp what ways do you have for keeping the youngest Scouts from getting homesick? This will be the first time many of these boys are away for a whole week. All were at Cub Camp for three days at a time, but I am concerned and thinking ahead about the whole week. They don't "belong" to me anymore they belong to their Patrol leaders but I will be there and I'm wondering what you all do. One good thing is that they are joining their Patrols now in prep for late July.

Everybody has 24 hours in their day. EVERYBODY. The "I don't have time" excuse is pure bovine soil. My kid deserves a trained leader and so does yours. My lawn doesn't get mowed rugular but I got time for training. My children are driving me nuts! I'm driving them everwhere. I had time for Wood Badge. In seven years they'll both be gone. Then I'll have the nicest lawn in town.

Speaking only for my little world: We have the WEEB II scouts move up at the B&G so they may begin Boy Scouts and have some time working with their patrols prior to summer camp. A year and a half is more than enough time to complete most all you want in Webelos. That being said I had to personally bring two last minute boys to a Troop meeting this Monday(for AOL req'mnts) for B&G on Saturday. So I also agree with, "the(some) boys and their parents would never acheive anything without a deadline" Or words to that effect.

When I was in the Marines we had a commanding Officer whose first order of business was to have a mug shot of each Marine (on polaroid instant film, my goodness do they even make it anymore?)taken by the company First Sergeant's flunkie and it was placed in an album for the CO. I swear the skipper studied it because he learned everybody's name very quickly It would be a very nice gift for a book to be made up of a simple snapshot of each cub and his immediate family. Have this book presented to each new cubmaster as he "takes command". I live in a small town with the schools as a focus of activity. It is great to know even who the tigers are and say hi! I am the WEEB II den leader for two more days. I have been the activities chair and lead some portions of the pack meeting, I think some of the tigers think I'm the boss, or at least one of them.

Eamonn, What didn't you like about Colemans Hot water on Demand? We have that at a hunting shack. I have only used it once but I thought it worked well. Can you expand? Did I buy junk and I still don't know it?