King Ding Dong

I am RC lifeguard and certified Y instructor. I have offer my services to the troop and been met with crickets. They got their BC and that is all they care about it seems. Scary.

Hang out at Victorias Secret often Stout ?

COR can be CC, but not MC or CM or DL. If a CO has a pack and troop the COR has to be the same person. Gives me a headache.

Arthur 'Big Guy' Carlson: As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!

Perhaps you could help develop her musical abilities. Do Girl Scouts use Bugals ? How about some snow camping gear ? I do like Pack18Alex's idea of those lanterns that put out a lot "night". Those sure come in handy when we do daytime stargazing.

Yep, teaching families how to camp is a messy business. Had an Eagle Scout, seminary student Tiger DL running the boys around at 11:30. The CM had a talk with him and he was very apologetic. He forgot his training. The CM has to take charge, set the agenda and keep to a schedule. Insist the DL have a plan and follow it. I think Den backyard campouts are best for tigers. The host parent doesn't want to anger his neighbors and fencing in tigers is a good thing.

Will have to look at the Bear book again soon, I suppose the intent is to slowly build up to to Eagle required MBs. The Traveler Pin depends on your perspective. These suburban boys have likely never been on public transportation and don't have a clue how a bus schedule works or how to transfer. I had the boys help plan a route to an old style soda fountain in the city. We missed a transfer (busses do not run on time), experienced noxious fumes, crazy drunks and bag ladies. They learned something outside their bubble. Of course we had to drive to a mall to catch the first bus. When it comes to Cubs I go rouge and try and make the requirement something meaningful to the situation. I really try not to just check off meaningless boxes just to get through it. Used fitness to discuss challenges to the food pyramid. Asked the boys if their parents all followed the high carb recommendations. Several explained no, and why not. We talked about the different nutrition standards each household had. Read the ingredient lists of some packaged foods and looked up what some of those chemicals are.

Sounds like a lot of fun. Scouts throwing things at each other? GTSS surely has something to say about that. I pity the poor soul who had to match 150 pairs of socks from a dozen different brands.

They had the guards but only one instructor and the pen was not big enough to accommodate them all. It was only 4 sessions of 50 minutes and had several late starts. There is just to much there to get it all done, and it didn't get all done. But BCs were signed. One session was spent timing the boys on removing their clothes on dry land, they never got wet. How fast they can do it is not even a requirement. This was an out of council camp. I already have a rant on that one in the new to forum section.

"Never do anything a boy can do." Who said that? I really tried to pitch the committee on TWH, but the advancement chair didn't want to learn new way. I really like the communication tools also. Built in ISA's as well. Deliciously controversial. Bigger battles to fight for now.

Don't worry I have no intention of going unless I decide I need a few days off from family life.

I think as IH I can be CM just not the COR, if that makes sense. I could be wrong, it all gets confusing. We will work it out, the other PTO co-president could be designated IH if need be. He is a former District EBOR Chairman so he supports a strong program. Control of program yes, but can't be a dictator. Volunteers do not have to listen to dictators.

How does that policy mesh with the official BSA policy that no boy will be denied the benefits of scouting because of a uniform ? I am not suggesting I disagree with the policy, I just don't get the duplicity.

NJ, I completely agree on the background checks. Having just gone through the process of renting my house it is amazing the BS you hear. They want the house but the moment you hand them an application with authorization for a credit check they get very belligerent. I had 4 military families insist that it was not needed because they were in the military. Huh? One threw a fit over providing his checking account number and address to his bank. huh? What was he planning on paying his rent with (chickens ?). I wrote him a nice letter explaining I did not understand his objection because every single check he has ever written to any person or business or charity has his account number AND routing number printed on it. The address to his bank is in the phone book. I wasn't asking for his PIN. Never heard from him again.

BSA keeps hammering KISS keep it simple, keep it fun. Or something like that. But what they don't tell you is HOW to do that. They put out a lot of requirements that are not fun and expect you to figure out how to make them fun. How about you just telling me how to make it fun and publish some simple den meeting plans for me that do not require 4 hours of sourcing the materials.

In that case I would suggest a the best and loudest whistle you can find. That or some bear spray.

Explain please.

That is hilarious. We have so many jokers in our bunch, I wonder if they'd go for that since we didn't have much ideas on encouragement of sales. Great threat Jasper, hope to see more responses! I've attended 9 pack meets so far, the best for us was the popcorn catapults into bins. They made the catapults as the gathering activity. The winners got samples of popcorn and Cubby to keep for a month. All you need is a few rolls of plastic sheeting, a few pie tins and a couple dozen cans of Barbasol. Don't use whipped cream, to expensive and sticky.

You don't need to crack the egg. Just spin it like a top. If it spins it is hardboiled, if it wobbles over it is uncooked.

I think the MB classes should have size limits. First come first serve pre registration. 20 scouts in swimming or cooking is nuts. The problem is parents expect 4 or 5 or more MBs for their money. I would rather my son get 2 and done right. The rest of the time just have fun.

I will encourage my boys to do it. We have a very active and committed advancement chair that does a lot of this already in TroopMaster. It theScout should be doing this as well. He should write a short journal entry about each activity as well. I think that's what all the charting requirements in cubs were meant to foster. I have sat on a few BOR already and it is sad to see the boys not logging camping nights and service hours.

BD, I completely agree about short distance rides not counting and I never claimed otherwise. I am talking about 10-15 mile and up rides. Not sure I would even consider counting a 5 mile ride, unless it was more a mountain biking trail. Climbing is something I have always wanted to do. My grandfather started when he retired at 65 and eventually climbed all 10 or 12 Teton peaks. Our council has a great program. All gear is provided by council, just make your reservation. One close camp (20 minutes) has a night lit tower for $40 a unit. A 90 mile away camp has open face rock for $75 a unit. The unit just has to provide the trained and qualified instructors. Training weekend for climbing is $25 and then if you take Challenge course it is only $5 for that weekend. We have two challenge courses in the area. The council also has a partnership with a state park with bluffs over the Mississippi, again just check out the gear from the council ($75). That park is also very popular for Eagle watching. Sounds like a great program weekend to me. At least 5 boys in our unit spent time at the tower at summer camp so there is some interest. I just need to recruit at least one other adult to take the training with me.

If there is one lesson to be learned from Boston, if the government wants to hunt you down, they will succeed, no matter how much firepower you have. The government will always have bigger guns and more ammo than you have.

Class II on a a scenic river is fun, mostly steering. Never understood the desire to portage. A cooler of beverages and a bikini in the front help also. Unfortunately no such amenities under the auspicies of the BSA. BTW former district EBOR Chairman told me tonight to be a strict constructionist when interpreting BSA requirements, if is not there, then it is not there. He also talked me into taking climbing and repelling instructor training along with challenge course. Sounds more fun than woodbadge. That might breath some life into the program. Have you done either one ?

If you can get one with yellow duckies on it all the better.