blw2

I'd venture a guess that a very high percentage of eagle scouts (and even lower ranks) are very well prepared for plop camping or tailgate camping....

Our pack dues are $80 per year, and a bit less for the 2nd year WEBELOS this was based on a history of a pack with around 40 boys Our $80 + our take from fundraising covers annual BSA dues boys life a T-shirt (theoretically, but most boys only get a new one when the outgrow or loose the old one... handbook awards (patches, pins, etc..) adult membership fees adult training expenses, den meeting supplies, etc... (although most leaders just pay their own) B&G food, decorations, entertainment Pinewood Derby trophies and decorations occasional expenses such as derby software updates pack trailer tag and maintenance etc... The only additional charges have been for trips. we collect the charge of admission for any overnight or event and when camping we'd estimate and charge a nominal fee per family for food.... like $15-$20 for the weekend. trying to keep it all even What we have tried to do is have enough reserve in the spring to cover our expenses till the dues and fundraising kicks in next fall show n sell popcorn order in the fall handbooks a few awards I think the magic number for our pack used to be approx $3000 in the bank. Seems like a lot but that was a comfortable number. When I was just a parent, I wondered where that $80 went. (well $70 before the dues change last year) Seems like a lot. Then as ACM a few years back... I think it was towards the end of son's Wolf year, I added up all his patches, pins loops, books, etc... and found that at his pace, $80 didn't quite cover it. Now I'm realizing that his pace with awards slowed drastically, so I think it's about right. With fewer boys now, and much less aggressive fundraising we'll certainly need to re-evaluate where we are now and likely need to be collecting a bit more. edit: a couple times when fundraising was good and we had an extra balance, we take the boys someplace fun for an end of year meeting. (minigolf, go-carts, video games, etc..)

can't say I "liked" the story... but I think i know what you meant. it is very tragic for sure.

http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2015/04/08/bsa-acquires-scoutbook/ might be a solution in the worx.....

maybe it wouldn't be so bad if the store was right around the corner for everyone.... at least you wouldn't have to add the major road trip to the equation. I'm only at around 40-50 minutes. I feel bad for the folks that are well more than an hour away.

One comment, Permethrin can be applied to skin too. It's the main ingredient in a lot of the head lice remedies you can buy over the counter..... we just recently had it go through my kids' school and they brought it home... my first ever dealings with the critters.... ugh! I have learned a lot about the little buggers.....and now know the trick to getting rid of them that doesn't involve spending money at walgreens.... but that's another story... and this is not to counter Stosh's ant-deet methods.... which i admire.... but my favorite is the Off product "Smooth and Dry" It doesn't have the sticky nasty feeling like most repellents....

my thought exactly! I was at the store the other day and picked up the Tiger badges for our Tiger Leader. Had to fill out a form. Seriously? It's Tiger!!!! Why does that need to be tracked???

Personally, i think it better to treat every campout as a backcountry trip, even knowing that most are really tailgate camping... ..... but why not use small tents, personal stoves, mess kits, etc....? Bring the cooler and maybe some chairs.... well sure. a bit more than you'd pack in, but still, no need for the huge and complex kitchens.... just my opinion....

It has a pretty sharp v cut in it. Just last weekend I used it to pull one of my son, the tick was roughly 1-2mm diameter and it worked well.... although I had to break out the magnifying glass to make sure I got under it in the right direction..... but that's just my old eyes... Not sure how well it work for any smaller than that.... Interesting, I thought it was considered bad to use alcohol or anything like that to make a tick release, since the tick might regurgitate back into the host before it releases....

side note: the best tick removal tool I have used, hands down. http://www.tickedoff.com/ I bought one a long time ago, but didn't have cause to use it till maybe 2 years ago. Tried tweezers, and the things slipped resulting in squeezing the tick.... exactly what I was trying so hard NOT to do! Then I remembered I had this thing.... wow, it worked great. So I went and ordered more from amazon and have several now... at home, one in each car, one in my RV, on in my pack, etc....

My opinion as an active CUB Scouter and interested parent of a WEBELOS boy... required MB's don't seem like such a big deal.... now getting into the weeds of them, I might find flaws to pick, but what's the big deal about requiring 13 out of the 21. Are any seriously that imposible to get, or are they seriously that boring or uninteresting? I might agree from the surface, 3 different citizenship badges seems silly.... but the rest seem not so far off base. I might buy reducing the qty of required ones, &/or grouping like you suggest... theres a lot of this in Cubs.... "Do all of these, and three of these...." But in the end a mix of required + enough electives to make it fun seems like a good way to go to me What do you mean by solid FC? Forgive me if that seems obvious.... I'm a Cubmaster and my socuting experience as a youth was brief and a long time ago.... I find this point interesting. I have have been involved with the troop on the periphery, mostly to facilitate communication and awareness between or CO's troop and pack. Recently, I was copied on an email about their looking for merit badge counselors, and they were planning an counselor's orientation. Sadly, it was an evening that i could not attend.... but i'm interested in helping. Just really don't know what is required of a counselor. Specifically, they were in need of a few specific badge counselors for some unfinished badges from summer camp. Some of them I have experience with..... but since I don't know what is required, I don't know the level of expertise needed. I've asked and researched, and it all seems a bit vague and open ended. I also have some old hobbies I used to be seriously involved with that I could likely be helpful with... for example... scuba.... I'm certified divemaster and asst instructor, also certified full trimix technical diver, among other things.... but I haven't dove in a number of years so I'm not about to take a boy diving.... would I be able to make a good counselor for that? I can't tell....??? similar situation for aviation MB, as an inactive but licensed private instrument rated pilot???

I'm a cubmaster, but I'll still comment for a data point of what others think.... I admire you for doing it, but there is a part of me that wonders why you would. speaking as solely a parent for a moment, I might even be suspicious depending on how I read you.... but unless there were other flags or concerns I wouldn't worry too much about it. I was CC for our CO's troop for a while, but with no skin in the game, my heart was only in it so far. Our troops SM is also the pack's CC currently. Ditto for him. But on the other hand, I have often thought on the Cub level, how nice it would be to have one or maybe two perpetual leaders in the pack to hold things together.... a permanent tiger leader for example would be like gold! I've always pictured a retired school teacher that just likes kids and has time on her hands in that role. It could be oh so valuable as a foundation for the pack. It's a fine line for sure.... but generally I admire you and others for doing it. I know first hand, that it takes a special person.

Can't figure out how to post that but i see it in the screen shots already in this thread too. maybe the text is grey instead of a black.... could that be????

I'm reminded of a recent thread where it was mentioned that learning or perfecting the skill isn't the goal.... So that being true, the scout may very well not have learned it well the 1st time.... so seems to me it wouldn't hurt to repeat a task for the sake of learning that task. Beneficial even. and if the goal is something else.... the journey of character building, or some such thing.... then what would it hurt to make that journey again in a different situation or from a different perspective? Beneficial again.... but if faced with a situation where say he was working on both requirements the same day and the requirement was to say make a Bologna sandwich. It would be.... well, silly.... to make second bologna sandwich 30 seconds later with the same already opened packages of meat and bread, just for the sake of "letter of the law". Just my opinion.... but I'm a cub scouter so what do I know...

It's the little blue dot or star to the left of the title that I was writing about. I see it know, using chrome browser on MS Windows. Maybe it's my Chrome OS machine I was using last night....

I remember reading an article years ago on knife steels.... maybe field and stream, or something like that. I thought I remember the SS blades were generally harder. I do know that I find it more difficult to put an edge on a SS blade as compared to a carbon steel one.... As an engineer that hasn't studied metallurgy in so long that I have forgotten most of it, i do know that there is a lot more to steel selection that just a measure of hardness..... there are other properties that make blades tougher, make them more or less brittle, etc... I did a quick search and found this, which i think is interesting http://www.knifeworksblog.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-stainless-vs-high-carbon-steel-knife-blades/ Regardless, i too prefer carbon steel blades, but they are hard to find in low end & low priced retail knives.

didn't I see a button by each thread yesterday that would jump you to the last unread post? or maybe it was the last post? I'm not seeing it now.....

it has been discussed that marshmallows should be banned form our pack camps. They always end up as torches, falling out of the pit and stuck to a shoe, or flinging through the air.....

but do you have to reapply every time? It doesn't seem like bees wax would turn to carbon.... or does it?

I only had time for a quick glance, but what I saw does look much better..... I don't use the old ones.... way too many words..... my eyes get sleepy when I look at them. These new ones seem to be better streamlined and with a good plan. Thanks for the link. i didn't know they were available yet....

I'm finding the text a bit blurry. maybe it's a contrast thing or color choice.... It's definitely not my monitor since I've not noticed it with many other sites and local applications.....

I think this vague language comes from the understanding that some folks have an especially keen aversion to anything written or rigid..... if you're familiar with the Myers Briggs personality profiling and subscribe to it's ideas, there are several personality types that just don't do well with hard and fast rules.... something about if it's written they feel constrained too much. So just my guess, but i think the soft language is an attempt to not push away those folks. but in my opinion, it does serve to irritate, or at least lessen the respect from folks like me....ISTJ and similar.... who are at one with the language of order and organization, and understand how to use common sense. I agree with you Stosh....

bummer... I was tracking a couple interesting topics...... Oh, well, you can only do what you can do..... I'm sure this will be a good change for the better!

My district is said to be the largest in the council by head count, but its actually very small geographically. So largest by headcount but we seem to struggle to get enough folks to fill positions, although a lot of the holes have been filled over the last year or two.... but the DE position that has been filled many times is vacant again.... and they are now talking of hiring 2 DE's for the district. All of this makes me wonder in a merger, how easy to fill roles with volunteers - well larger pool of folks so I'd think it might be easier then my other thought is district events such as cub-o-ree. Seems when it's time for that the camp is overflowing with our large district. Way too many folks. Would that become more of a problem if multiple districts combine.... I'd guess likely.