CA_Scouter

..and I thought the subject line meant Eamonn was going to give it up... Puff lived in Hanalei... I've been there, its on the island if Kauai and its fantastically gorgeous... my son and I want to go back someday and backpack the Napali coast...

We are doing nothing. We are a small troop, backpacking oriented, and thus far have not had any overweight or significantly out of shape youth. We also have mostly 14-17 yr olds at this time and all the guys are pretty active. We've scaled down the length of our Oct trip a little to accomodate the our 3 11 yr olds, but 2 of them have already been on a trip and did ok. If we were to have several out of shape crossovers next year, we'd probably work with them diligently on their fitness requirements in the Tenderfoot rank and put on some skillbases on diet, exercise, etc.. Mebbe do s

Boy Scout turns 'mud pit' into a $60K playground Alex Griffith, 16, was adopted as a sickly baby from a Russian hospital To give back to his birthplace, he raised $60,000 to build a new playground The project was part of Griffith's quest to become an Eagle Scout The top 10 CNN Heroes will be announced on October 1 http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/09/10/cnnheroes.alex.griffith/index.html

I agree that there is a problem and that its primary an issue in how the ___________ ( democrats, republicans, liberals, conservatives, illegals, atheists, gays, vulcans, wookies ) and their politics have brought this country to its knees. If only the ___________ ( democrats, republicans, liberals, conservatives, illegals, atheists, gays, vulcans, wookies ) would get their act together, we could solve this problem and make this country great again. Please fill in the blank by pointing a finger at your favorite 'blame' group. Be sure not to point the finger at yourself because doing s

I make a general proclamation that we do not permit parents to attend troop campouts. I then state that if an adult would like to attend as an observer in the adult patrol, then that's ok. Emphasis on 'observer'. No interference in patrol activities permitted. If you set the boundries beforehand, you tend to avoid issues at the campout.

Can I go next time?

...and after my rant, I check my email last night and my ASPL has emailed the entire troop, tasking specific scouts with meal responsibilities for our family campout at the end of the month. Asks for recipes, detailed ingredients lists and costs to be reported back to him at the next troop meeting... and without any prompting by an adult leader... so there is hope......... ;-)

LISA, LISA, LISA! Wow!.. That is SPOT ON! Your analysis is exactly what I've been experiencing. Been trying to change the dynamic, printed out some of Kudu's stuff, handed it out at the PLC, oooh, looks cool Mr. CA_Scouter... so I ask next week if they want implement some of these things.... Hey guys, let's plan a big backpack trip next year ( we went to Yellowstone last year ), any ideas? My personal un-pc view is that our public school system discourages independance, out of box thinking and initiative, so that's reflected in their scouting activities.

Painting with a wide brush aren't we Codg? You a Painting MB Counselor? ;-)

Mr. Cloonan Mr. Molver Mr. Melius I tried to get the scouts to address me as 'Your Majesty', or 'His Holiness' but I got nowhere with it... ;-(

Today's lesson: Went on a short overnighter ( 7mi each way ) with a another adult and three scouts. We only need one filter, we say, its only one night. We only need one bottle of fuel, we say, its only one night. Get to the campsite and I want to clean the MSR filter because its dirty. Unscrew the housing and... well you know they retain a little air pressure.. and POP! out comes the ceramic filter, I fumble it with my mitts and CRASH! it falls to my feet and splits into a dozen pieces. You shoulda seen the look on my face. We haven't cooked dinner yet, we are in an area wh

I noticed that too. Dem boys have big bones, eh? Was thinking the same thing about the Biggest Loser idea...

We have a saying in the software business - you can have it good, cheap, or fast, pick any two. Similiar saying in backpacking equipment - you can have it afforable, durable, or lightweight, pick any two. if its durable and lightweight, then you lose 'affordable'. if its lightweight and affordable, then you lose 'durable'. if its affordable and durable, then you lose 'lightweight'. Stoves we use are the Coleman Xpedition/powermax. These are relatively inexpensive but you can't manhandle these as I've seen one where the tab that seats the bottle broke off. Ours have las

Agree with Narriticong, very pleased it was a positive article, not like Outside ragazine, which takes every opportunity to slam the BSA but will make Mike Rowe its coverboy to get more sales yet not mention his strong support of Scouting and the fact that he is an Eagle scout. It was nicely handled. I think a couple of the tests that used time as the determining factor were not very useful, I mean it took the adults 3 minutes to setup a tent and the scouts 5 - so what? Maybe more first aid/outdoor knowledge type stuff... but overall a good read! Love Backpacker, its a great magaz

My goodness, in this day and age you're gonna try to pull this off? Ewwww.. I need to take a shower. If I may cynically postulate... I think this is a bit of a smoke screen, some lady is upsetting the males in this troop and they want to make sure she doesn't end up as SM. I don't think institutionalizing gender discrimination in your organization makes for a positive male role model. $0.02

I've had a jetski for over a dozen years. They are a nuisance to some people and an absolute kick in the pants to many more. Seems a bit shortsighted to ban the craft due to misuse by a few idiots. You can extend that thinking to the bunch of drinking boat owners out there, or to cars, motorcycles, etc. Its like most computer problems, the issue is between the keyboard and the chair, not the computer.

I had one Eagle Dad write everyone he could find and I just couldn't see the point. The kid was an early eagle (14) and he was soliciting letters from the Coast Guard, Army, Navy, Pope, Bozo the Clown (who knows??), etc... the kid I'm sure had no clue about these. I took a different route with my Eagle. I wrote the Guvinator, a couple of local politictions, National Park service ( we spend a lot of time in the parks ), some of his favorite bands ( no responses unfortunately ), Justice Souter ( cause he's an Eagle ) and Mike Rowe ( same ). The best one though was from a friend of min

I was talking to the scouts one time about 'no electronics on campouts' and one of my scouts pointed out that my GPS was an electronic device. Hard to enforce a rule that you yourself are breaking. I don't like the 'do as I say, not as I do' concept. That being said, I'm not going to tell 'em its ok to start bringing cell phones, I'll wait for the PLC to bring it up and we'll discuss it then...

desertrat, That's Camp Pollock you are talking about. Though it doesn't have a regular camping program, you can still do overnights there. Its right next to the American River bike trail so we've camped overnight, rode all day and then come back for a great meal. Its in a sketchy area of town though, so unfortunatly Council recommends you have someone stand watch overnight to oversee your gear. Back on subject, I see camp names mentioned on maps of the Sierras but can't tell if they are still in operation or not. Camp Cody near Lake Tahoe, some other camp whose name escapes me nea

Wow, lots of great idea here. Ditto on the hot sauce. You'll never look at pancakes in the same way again. Woohoo. We've taken to bringing a Brita water filter 'cause the camp has galvanized pipes and the water has that 'metal' taste to it. I usually bring a couple of bags of Jolly Ranchers ( hard candy ) and toss those out to scouts as I walk thru camp during the day. Needless to say I'm a pretty popular guy. ;-)

continuing thread hijack.... I dare say, that if any teacher hit my kid with a paddle, I'd be at their door the next morning with my own paddle and return the favor. Nobody touches my kid. That's MY responsibility. I never needed to hit my kids. I had a more powerful tool - a lecture. A 10-15 minute lecture followed up by loss of a privilege did more for discipline in my clan than any physical punishment. My daughter was about 6ish one time and halfway thru my speech she just asked 'Dad why don't you just spank me please and get this over?'. Ahhh. I love the smell of success in t

Last weekend we did a short backpack trip, three days, 10 mile loop. We had 2 of our new scouts out on their first trip with us and we wanted a light duty hike for them. Though we strive for the Patrol Method at all times, our hikes usually turn into a cooperative effort between the SPL and adults. This time however, I informed the SPL that he would have the map and the adults would stay in the back with their mouths shut. Thirty minutes into the hike there was a fork in the trail. Trails were not marked well in this area, so the spl asks me which way to go. Silence. So

Wahooker, I think there is enough sniping going on between Ed and Merlyn, so no need for any snipe hunt. I submit that if you start calling people names, you should automatically lose. Its a corollary to the 'nazi' rule.

What Hal said. Similar situation with us.. the adults try to set the example but we have limited success with the scouts. Several wear their Class A shirts all the time, some only part of the time. Nobody in the troop ( aside from myself and asm's ) own the shorts or pants. We do a uni inspection once a month and give some extra privs to the winning patrol but that's as strict as we get. All the guys show up in uniform for all COH's though, no problem there... go figure. IMHO, I got bigger fish to fry...

(tried to spinoff from the 'something in the water topic' but no luck) ---------------- OK, OGE, you asked for it! ;-) This month's Backpacker asked readers their opinions of nudity in the backcountry. Most respondants didn't think it a big deal, about 20% thought it an annoyance. Last year we were backpacking in Yellowstone and the other adult and I wanted to rinse the dust off but not get our shorts wet as the sun was setting and it was gettin' a bit chilly. We moved down the beach a couple of hundred yards from the scouts and did a quick skinny dip. Did the scouts k