BMinsker

We always schedule two events each month so boys have a chance to attend one, go on vacation with their family, and still earn the summertime award. We use the council camps (family camp, day camp, resident camp) as some of those events and pack activities (mini golf & pizza, bowling, swimming party, a pack hike further afield than our usual bimonthly ones, etc.). We usually have about 1/3 of the pack earn the summertime award and about 3/4 participate in at least some of the summer events.

I think the best part of the new program is that it improves the program provided by the weakest den leaders. Almost every Cubmaster has had the experience of two dens in one rank, one with a great DL and one with a weak DL. It's the boys with the weaker DL that drop out of the program. By providing DLs with a consistent program and schedule (which is what our pack went to years ago on out own), you get a lot of benefits: boys advance more consistently, all den leaders know what they need to do and by when, and recruiting new leaders is easier because they don't have to work out a schedule but just present the program.

My son picked up a t-shirt at Bryce Canyon this summer. On the back it says, "Bring a compass. It's awkward when you have to eat your friends."

A long-time scouter in our district once told me that he used to skip wearing the knots that he had earned because he didn't want to be thought of as showing off. He said he changed his mind and began wearing all of them when he spoke with an armed services member who said that you should wear the awards and recognitions you have earned to honor and respect those who have presented them to you. Made sense to me.

As a CM who served 7 years with a pack (as CC or CM) who's youngest just crossed over, I know what you're going through. The new CM asked me about how I would feel about several not inexpensive ideas for recognizing me at the B&G Banquet. After thinking about it for a couple of days, I suggested that rather than something for me, I would like to see the pack create a scholarship either for a Scout to go to Day Camp/Resident Camp (I've been a Day Camp Director for 4 years and I'm the Council's Cub Camping coordinator as well) or for a leader to go to Wood Badge every third year when our Council hosts it. He liked the idea and was going to take it to the committee to work out the details, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they've run with it in a couple of weeks.

We've also done the chestnut hiking staff ($32) for den leaders who have done a couple of cycles through as den leaders with two sons, rather than the basic $5 hiking staff.

Other than that, I like the scrapbook idea a lot.

We had two Cub Scouts selling only one year, but what we did was take them each down one side of the street. Of course, my older son complained that he was outsold by his little brother because Tiger Cubs are too cute to say no to.

First off, I'd dispute whether a radio story really has a "headline". Going to the npr.org site and looking at the Morning Edition program for 9/4, I see the following "headers" for the radio stories:

"Palin Takes Aim At Obama, Revs Up Republicans"

"Delegates In St. Paul Say Palin Made Her Case"

"Palin's Nomination Stirs Hometown Fans, Detractors"

"Palin Casts Herself As Reformist, Outsider"

Not a thing about earmarks as the lead in any of those stories. In fact, you could argue that those four are all pretty much without opinion in them. So, I'm not sure where the "facts" that were stated in the original post came from, but it clearly wasn't from NPR itself since anyone can go and listen to the programs (even from as far back as 1996).

If ever there was a time to support your local public radio station, it's now. NPR is the only media outlet around where when you have two people of opposite parties discussing a political issue, you get a polite and thoughtful discussion and not two people shouting and interrupting each other like you do with all the talking head shows on TV.

Put me in with the cynics as well. The image of George Bush addressing a bunch of partying Republican delegates at the convention while a hurricane hits New Orleans almost exactly three years after Katrina was clearly one the RNC wished to avoid.

That said, it's clear that all of the government bodies and most of the population of New Orleans have realized there's nothing to be learned from the second kick of a mule. The question is if Gustav weakens (like it seems to be) and NO comes through relatively unscathed, what happens the next time a hurricane bears down on them?

Here's a story mentioning the Scout color guard, complete with a quote from the Council Commissioner who clearly doesn't know the rules.

(This message has been edited by BMinsker)

My son's SM (and former CM) still has his AKELA plate.

Perhaps word hasn't filtered out to all the camp schools. I attended Camp School for Day Camp Administration in February 2007, and my certification card says it's good through December 31, 2011.

Having the boys take Show & Sell popcorn with them when going door-to-door is definitely a key thing to do.

We also make sure that the parents know what our expectations are in terms of sales. We spend about $100/boy each year as a pack, which translates into $300 in popcorn, and we tell them if they're not selling that much in popcorn, they're expecting someone else to carry their weight in the pack.

Finally, while there may be more efficient ways to raise funds, it's important to remember that a portion of the popcorn sales go to fund the Council as well, which benefits us all in the long run.

We also rent the county fairgrounds for Day Camp, but we're away from the barns. We are, however, next to the grandstand for the track (fortunately fenced off and locked). Two years ago we showed up for setup on Sunday afternoon to discover some workers with a high-lift crane replacing the roof of the grandstand that had blown off in a high wind back in April.

We talked with the workers and decided to tape off the entire length along the area and everything went fine. As an added bonus, our theme was "Cubstuction" that year, and they were the only construction equipment we managed to have at camp since all the construction companies had all their equipment out working at job sites.

I'm in my third year as a day camp director, and we did Cubs in Shining Armor as a theme last year. Here are things that worked well for us:

A Knight's Tournament: We had tilt-board jousting (see How To Book); a game where two Scouts grasp a stave and try to touch an end to the ground (one end for each Scout) (also in How To Book, I think); and took baseball helmets with face cages, stuck some velcro on top and attached a plastic ball with velcro to it, then gave them swim noodles for a sword fight (knock off the ball to win).

Our craft director found some medieval designs like fish, eagles, lions, etc. and had them create banners by tracing with markers on fabric with a dowel along the top. She also recycled the designs and had them trace them on to blank white kites as well.

Check out the monthly themes that have used knights in the past. scoutingthenet.com has a great listing along with cross-references. Baloo's Bugle is another good place to look. We used a lot of those resources to have a themed-game station.

Outside entertainment that's been a big hit included the fire department bringing in a junked car (not wrecked) and having them do a jaws of life demonstration (rip off doors, peel off roof), the local SWAT team (today's knights!) dressing the camp director up in all their armor and talking about their work, and a storyteller from the local storytelling guild who had a couple of stories that fit in with the theme.

Eagle, still working my ticket.

C-28-07

For neckerchief slides, I always use this website as my first resource:

http://www.e-scoutcraft.com/