The Bloggers
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Being a leader is tough. I've realized it at work, at play, and certainly in scouts. It is tough for many varied reasons. First, you have to have a vision of where your group or team needs to go. In some cases, that might be easy.
I had seen the book Four Percent several times at the local Scout Shop and had been wondering if it was a good read. After some good reviews on Amazon, I finally picked it up last summer. I found it to a capturing read and kept at it (which can sometimes be hard for non-fiction).
Like coming up with interesting scout patrol names, the Missile Defense Agency had come up with some interesting flight test mission names. The latest is Stellar Wyvern. That goes with previous ones like Stellar Beowulf and Stellar Minotaur, though my favorite might be Stellar Ninja.
For Throwback Thursday, here's Thing 1 with his Tiger Den visiting the local newspaper for one of their Go-See-Its. Of the 9 Tigers in the picture, 7 are still scouts. 4 of them are still together in the same troop.
We had a great turnout today from across the district for the county's annual Veterans Day ceremony. It's a great service project for the scouts. We get there early to set up chairs for the guests, then have about an hour break.
So Thing 2's den is working on the Webelos Citizen activity badge. It;s one of those that can be a little dull to go over, so I was trying to think of ways to make it exciting. I have seen a kickstarter project for a couple merit badge programs that put a theme behind a…
With Veteran's Day coming, and schools closed tomorrow, they did an assembly today. Thing 2 was asked by the Webelos 2 den leader to help in the ceremony, and he agreed. I hear they did great and had fun. Way to go!
So Thing 2 is in his first year as a Webelos. In the past years, I let the parents sign-off the scouts books, and I'd just log things in the database we use. But now we are moving toward Boys Scouts, and are in that Webelos transition phase.
So, I'm just about a year into my role as Scoutmaster in the troop. It's been quite a journey, and I must say, quite taxing. In my previous role on the committee, I was (briefly) the outdoor activities chair. I tried to take care of the background stuff like reservations for campsites (though I pushed…
I've seen this video mentioned on a couple of sites recently, so I figured I'd check it out. All I can say is beautifully done. I hope scouts in my troop want to go experience the magic of Philmont someday and have memories like this. Philmont: A Love Letter
So the troop was up at Yosemite earlier this month, unfortunately I was with the pack for their campout. But in planning for the trip, we had talked about hiking Half Dome. In speaking with a colleague at work about the hike, he relayed a story about a couple that had scaled the face rock-climbing.
Yeah, I know it's Friday...but I read about the Philmont Photo Archive on the Bryan on Scouting blog and had to check it out. I was hoping they've digitized back far enough to have my trek from when I was a youth.
I'm always on the hunt for interesting Scouting history articles. Here's a good one to about the history of the Order of the Arrow logo. I've seen many of the various handbook covers over the years, and have seen how the images have changed, but this article ties it all together.
It's not often I get to join in a skit. Usually we leave those things for the scouts. But for Cub Scout family camp, throwing in an adult skit can really top off the evening. We had our pack family camp this weekend, so the whole family went, Things 1, 2, & 3, along with my…
One activity we often don't spend enough time doing is observing nature. It is something I learned to do as a scout and a youth (it helped having a mother and grandparents that were bird watching enthusiasts). Many merit badges require hours of nature observation and study, and scouts are in the outdoors quite often…
Wow! 10,000 Arrowmen already signed up for next August. It'll be an event to remember. Let's see if Thing 1 and I can get into our council's contingent... https://www.facebook.com/oabsa
I was trying to find something write about today and tried to dig up some history on the internet related to my troop as a youth. And then I stumbled upon something interesting. It shows how just about any of us can find common connections in Scouting.
One of my favorite websites is Clarke Green's ScoutmasterCG (CG for Clarke Green). I'm borrowing the picture above from it (with permission). He's got tons of great information for scouts and scouters alike. It is a gret site for an enthusiastic patrol leader to get some quality ideas on hwo to run a patrol.
I happened to just be surfing the web last night, one of those days where you google your own name to see what comes up. I stumbled on this article from a local newspaper. Nothing amazing or earth-shattering but it was a fun little event. I've helped a couple years since as well. http://zoomfolsom.com/2012/04/21/cub-scout-pinewood-derby-championships/
The page below is a message I had written to my troop a while ago. We weren't really following the program, and the advice I had was to stick to the program as it is in the book (which I believe is the way a troop should run).
Thing 1 and I had the pleasure of joining 500 other Arrowmen at the Section W3N Conclave this weekend. Lodges Amangi Nacha (my lodge), Orca, Talako, Tannu, and Ut-in Selica make up Section W3N. One of the really fun parts was the size of this conclave, one of the biggest for our section yet.
Enjoying the patch trading class at Conclave!
In today's Cub Scouting, the ranks go Tiger, Wolf, Bear, & Webelos. Webelos is an 18-month (some say two year) program. Though when I was a scout my understand is that is was just one year (though my memory certainly isn't that good).
Did you know, 102 year ago today (September 2, 1912) Arthur Eldred was presented Eagle Scout, becoming the first Scout to achieve Scouting's highest rank. Image from this source. Find out more by reading this great pamphlet: http://www.nesa.org/PDF/58-435.pdf And for the really ambitious readers, try the book Four Percent by Michael Malone, a Bay Area…
The countdown is on for NOAC 2015
I'm quite the novice at social media (blame my age). I'm trying out new tools to make updates easier and cohesive across several platforms. I've yet to find the magical all-in-one tool. I'm trying to connect Google's Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest at the moment.
Conclave for Section W3N is coming next weekend. Sign up now at http://www.sectionw3n.org/
It's fundraising time of year as Cub Scout units kick-off their year, and Boy Scouts start thinking about next year's summer camps. So it's time for some shameless promotions (Scouting isn't all free unfortunately). Thing 1 is selling tickets to his troop's "Pork Out" fundraiser.
The question came up at the committee meeting what training each leader should have (den leaders and committee) to be considered "trained" and be able to wear the little "trained" patch. There are 4 parts, all available at myscouting.org or the leader-specific class can be taken in person.
Here are a couple of snapshots for Throwback Thursday. The year was 1989. Times were different then, though maybe not much. Cameras shot pictures on film. Scouts had red epaulets. And George Bush was president. The first Pres. George Bush, the one with the extra H.
I'm often amazed at the generosity of people. You'd think, being a Scouter, that it wouldn't surprise me, since we are almost all volunteers. But every so often you come across that person who goes the extra mile. I came across two such people this weekend.
As my son goes through his journey in Scouting, I see the fun he is having and the good friends he is making. The excitement he has is contagious, and brings me joy to share some of those experiences with him.
Yesterday was another big achievement for Thing 1 - he was awarded his Star scout rank. Sorry for the blurry picture. Way to go! And congratulations to all the other scouts in the troop receiving awards. There were numerous rank advancements, and probably 100 merit badges given out (it's that Court of Honor right after summer…
It's another one of those mega-scouting weeks in our household: Sat. Morning - (BSA) District Popcorn Training Sat. Evening - Scout Night at the River Cats baseball game Sun. - (BSA) Troop Leader Training (youth training) & campout planning meeting Mon. - (BSA) Troop Court of Honor (& committee meeting & PLC before hand) Tues.
This weekend had a good, old-fashioned, fun event. "Scout Night" at the local AAA Minor League team, the Sacramento River Cats. And not only was it Scout Night, it was also Star Wars Night. What kind of self-respecting child of the 70's or 80's could pass up that opportunity.
So Thing 2 is a Webelos now as I may have mentioned. His den meeting was tonight, and one task I wanted to wrap up was having them pick a patrol name. I had previously sent links to the parents to the various patch companies so the scouts could browse them for ideas.
Always look on the bright side of life" I had a bad day yesterday after a troop meeting. I won't go into specifics, but a young, not-yet-Tenderfoot Scout left in tears. I wasn't made aware of it immediately, but after the fact.
This is still one of my favorite images in all of Cub Scouting. I came across in on Pinterest one day, I think it is an edit of one of the official promo pictures from the BSA. But the tagline moves me. As they say, the children are our future. Mine are my heroes.
I had the great pleasure earlier this year of leading an overnight excursion with Thing 2 and his Cub Pack to visit the USS Pampanito . Our pack tries to do some kind of fun getaway overnighter like this each year or so (a couple year ago Thing 1 and I stayed on the nearby Balclutha…
As a new Scoutmaster, I find some there are some questions that I don't have a good answer too, at least not yet. One of the challenges I face is what is the borderline to be considered an "active" scout, in particular for the rank advancement requirements at the higher ranks.
Well, it's that time of year again when thousands of scouts will be out selling Popcorn to fund their unit programs or earn credit for camp. Somehow I've inadvertently become one of my units "kernal". Hopefully I can find an enthusiastic volunteer to help plan the sales days and help with the inevitable data entry…
As you may have heard, the Cub Scout program is under going a major revamp for the 2015-2016 year. It is downstream far enough that my Webelos den will not be affected (they'll be in the grandfathered group that can finish the old program).
Here's some other Jamborees that would be awesome to go to. If only I were independently wealthy... It would be warm at the 15th Caribbean Jamboree . Probably cooler at the International Jamboree in Iceland which just concluded. Of course you can always plan for the World Scout Moot in Icleand in 2017 And of course…
Day 4 was supposed to just be the day to pack up, have a quick continental breakfast, and head out. But because of the rain on Monday afternoon (Day 2) which delayed the afternoon program, the opened up the program areas for about an hour in the morning.
Day 3 was our second and final day. It was jam-packed with more good stuff, including time at the waterfront (much water-fighting ensued between boats), a visit to the nature lodge, archery practice, and BB-gun shooting. In the middle of the day I got to spend sometime on an ATV ride for the adult leaders.
This would be fun for a trip or even a day visit Central European Jamboree
Day 2 was the first day with program activities. The theme this year was "Superheroes Unite" and the pack had custom t-shirts made for everyone that looked kind of like Spiderman's costume. Today was the "red? shirt day (a black version would follow the next day).
Day 1 of our trip to Camp Lassen started out well. I was a little hesitant about how camp would go; they had a new camp director and new program director this year. For years the same duo ran camp and is was fun, but they moved on to other things in life and last…
It seems as soon as you unpack from one trip, you're packing again for the next. We're packing again today, as Thing 2 and I head off to Camp Lassen tomorrow for 3 nights of Cub Scout Resident Camp. This is my fifth year going, so I get to be the tour leader.
Next year marks the 100th Anniversary of the Order of the Arrow (OA), scouting's honor society. I expect the National OA Conference (NOAC) will be huge. Thing 1 was just inducted into the OA this year, he's already talking about wanting to go (he needs to start saving his money...).
