The Bloggers
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So, a scout leader in Illinois is on his way to the monthly Roundtable meeting, stops at Mickey D's to get a tea and wins $25K in their Monopoly game. See this news page . If he hadn't been volunteering with Scouts, he wouldn't have been there to win.
The land is purchased, development funding is ready, and the plans are started for The Summit - the official name for the new national BSA site on the New River Gorge in West Virginia. Pretty exciting times for the BSA. Development should start next year and the site be ready in three years.
Stephen Bechtel, Jr. received his Eagle Scout rank in 1940. Since then, he's received the Distinguished Eagle Scout award and the Silver Buffalo award. His uncle received the Silver Buffalo in 1950 and served as National President of the BSA from 1956–1959.
Does your troop go to summer camp? Is the Wood Carving merit badge offered there? How about Leatherwork or Basketry? If so, there's a real good chance your scouts have used materials and tools supplied by Whittler Bob from Pennsylvania.
We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does." That is the USAir Force Academy's honor code. The Naval Academy and Military Academy have similar codes. Since I was accepted to the USAFA eons ago (but didn't attend), I've always respected their honor code.
After many requests, I've finally added the ability to leave comments about these blog entries. Now, the two Den Moms in Florida and that one Scouter in California can drop me a note. If there's anyone else out there that wants to chime in, go right ahead.
At an Eagle Scout's court of honor, the scout is recognized for his accomplishments and presented with a nice Eagle Scout medal. As the Eagle Scout is created through a process of building smaller parts into a whole, the eagle medal goes through a similar process.
There are crew-cut and low-cut white activity socks available at ScoutStuff.org These socks are not for wear with the scout uniform, according to the information I received from the folks at ScoutStuff.org this week. Scout On
This evening, I got to sit in on my first Eagle Board of Review. As Scoutmaster, I don't do boards of review, so this was my first time. The advancement chair figured it would be good for me to see what one is like - besides, they needed someone to unlock and lock the church.
Have you seen the new Leave No Trace Trainer and Webmaster leadership position patches? I mean actually looked at the real patch? Here's an image for another look, along with a standard patch. These are to be worn by scouts in these positions of responsibility.
Here's the new Leave No Trace Trainer patch for the troop leadership position starting in January. I have not yet seen the requirements or expectations of holding that position, except for rumors that completing an official "Leave No Trace Trainer" course is required before wearing the patch.
I just received the 2011 Philmont registration packet. It looks like the nice folks at Philmont are making an effort to be a bit more flexible with their height/weight limits for youth, and maybe adults. From the packet: " For participants under 21 years of age who exceed the maximum acceptable weight for height, the Philmont…
Eagle Scout Suspended for having a tiny pocketknife in his car parked on school property. Cub Scout Suspended for eating lunch with his pocketknife-fork-spoon. Zero-tolerance policies are all the rage. The problem with "zero" is that there is no leeway and no way to use the brain God gave you with which to think.
District "Intro to Outdoor Leadership Skills" training all day tomorrow at camp. I'm driving another trainer up to camp at 6am. He teaches Ropes-n-Knots to start the day at 8am and I end the day with Leave No Trace and then First Aid.
Picked the September give-away winners yesterday. Darrel M. of Pack 915 in Deer Park, TX won a Fire Piston. Lisa C. of Pack 112 in Ocala, FL won a $25 ScoutStuff gift card. Jennifer R. of Troop 46 in Montgomery, NJ won a $50 coupon for ClassB.com Enter on BoyScoutTrail.com for the October give-away.
If you're just the right size, you can get BSA uniform shirt, pants, and even socks for under $20 total! ScoutStuff.org is really trying to get rid of their old inventory and have cut / hacked / slashed / obliterated prices on remaining quantities.
This past weekend, the PLC decided to add Philmont to the 2011 calendar so I was online checking for registration dates. If you want to receive a registration packet, you should send a request to [email protected] now. It's also not too early to gather interest from scouts so you can request the right number of…
Like many troops, ours has courts of honor every quarter - March, June, September, December. The September court is by far the busiest with summer camp merit badges, new scout advancements, and general end-of-summer finishing up of awards. The SPL and ASPL normally distribute merit badges and other awards, then, as scoutmaster, I'm up front talking…
Yet Another Eagle Leadership Service Project today. It was fixing up the playground at a local church. We've had a glut of projects this summer - actually 7 of them. The projects were at four different churches, a nature area, and two city parks.
Senior Patrol Leader elections were last week with an 8th grade Life scout taking the reins for the next 6 months. The troop elects a new SPL in Sept. and March - then a mad flurry of training occurs. It's pretty fun and the training of scouts is one of a Scoutmaster's main goals.
The troop took a week-long trip this summer, having a great time exploring the Pacific Northwest. We ran into lots of different people, some just wanting to exchange money for a campsite and that's all, others enjoying life and sharing their little part of the world with visitors.
The Scout Shop has another new item I'm compelled to mention. For just $.99, the BSA Green Bag gives you a handy recyclable carrier made of recycled materials. I can hardly wait to see if it sparks any conversations at the check-out buying groceries.
Last year, my wife got me the world's most useless Christmas present - a BSA Branding Iron (which, if you read the page, has a warning that it is not intended for children under 3 years due to choking hazard, but no mention of burn hazard ???)
Yesterday, I was asked by a nice fellow in Irving to let you know about ScoutCast - a series of podcasts for Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Commissioners. The 'Value of Scouting' ones are very inspirational and interesting. The 2,000,000th Eagle from Minnesota and the 2008 Conservation Hero from New York are my favorites.
Well, here's something that would sure be interesting. What if your troop got $5,200 worth of free groceries next year? Check out New World Pasta's contest . Of course, you could just keep it yourself, but wouldn't it be cool to see what the scouts would cook when the sky's the limit? Scout On
So, there's this school called Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering , or just Olin College, in Needham, MA. Ever hear of it? Me neither. But, it's a pretty cool place - actually really cool. It's just 70 acres with 5 buildings (including the two residence halls) and has 334 total students.
We're an awful lucky group when it comes to campfires. There's never a lack of enthusiasm for skits on Saturday night. Sometimes the enthusiasm isn't always accompanied by planned skits and a patrol will have a great time hitting and tackling each other in some sort of pantomime with no real storyline which leaves the…
I was gone most of the past week driving 3000 miles from MN to MA and back. We took our oldest son, the Eagle Scout, to college (I'll post more about the amazing school later). And, I got to see how life is a bit different after scouts.
In case you've been too busy scouting this summer to do much else, here's a little reminder that Scouts and Scouters can win some cool prizes. I just got my Scouting magazine and there's a Where Am I? contest. But, it looks like their website is not up to date with the contest yet.
Summer officially ends tomorrow. I pick up oldest son from his 3rd summer on staff at Many Point Scout Camp. He was a First Class Adventure Director this year and had a terrific time. That's a lot of responsibility and some managing of peers.
There was an episode of 'Happy Days' where Fonzie jumped over a shark. Now, ' Jumping the Shark ' means a show does absurd or over-the-top episodes to boost ratings. I guess we jumped the shark this summer on our Sea2Sky trip when we 'Glissaded the Volcano'.
Picked up the 12th edition this week. Here's some observations having skimmed through it. Negatives : The book is 1/2 inch shorter than the previous. This just means I've got a floppy black book cover on it now. The back cover used to have three words - Character, Citizenship, Fitness - and I'd often use that when talking…
When I was about 10 or 12, I built a solar food dehydrator - a white box with plastic lid and ventilation holes in the ends. The sun heated it up and the hot, moist air escaped. It worked great for slices of apple, pear, and banana that I strung on fishing line inside it.
At ScoutStuff.org you can purchase 100 merit badge blue cards for $7.00 - then you get to fill them out by hand. These work great for a scout or three requesting to start merit badges, but when summer camp comes around and 100 or more merit badge requests come up it gets painful.
Looks like the new National Scouting Center and Jamboree site will be in Fayetteville County, WV. Great news for us in Minnesota - it's just 16 hours away instead of 19 to Ft. AP Hill. :-) The new site is located on the west side of the New River and bordered by the communities of McCreery to…
Understanding the environment where you are headed, rather than where you are, is a key to planning. Being prepared is looking forward to the possibilities and ensuring you have gear, skills, and confidence to be successful. The more skills and confidence you have, the less gear you need - as long as you don't get over-confident…
My 30 nights of camping for summer 2009 have finished. Just got back from Wyoming yesterday and you can see our trek route and pictures here. I led a group of 9 from our church, but it included four boy scouts.
Interpretation of rank advancement requirements is often an entertaining endeavor. We interpret every word we read. Right now, you are reading and interpreting these words. I was reminded of something this weekend about the Star, Life, and Eagle merit badge requirements.
We're back from an awesome week out west! It was amazing how well everything worked out and we got to do every activity that the scouts had hoped for - even doing the Space Needle which I would have just as soon missed.
I've blogged a few times about the way cool SPOT Messenger that our troop uses when we go camping. It's a one-way communication device to let people know where you are and to call for help in emergencies. The unit costs around $150 and an annual subscription is $100 and up, depending on the services…
A broken wrist, two flu victims, three scratchy throats, and less than 36 hours to go. But, I think we'll hobble along and make it ok. We're finally ready for our cross-country, week-long adventure to the Pacific Northwest and now we're bombarded with small calamities.
I've been looking for some sort of fun memento for the troop. Something inexpensive that could be given away and might be held onto rather than tossed. I finally settled on creating a custom wooden nickel for the troop. My plan is to use these to promote the troop in a fun way: We hold…
We use SPOT Messenger when we go on campouts and high adventure treks. There is now an embeddable SPOT widget so you can publish and share your adventures. It's pretty cool and makes tying pictures to trips much easier. See my sample trip from this past week at Visit Wisconsin . Scout On
Visit Wisconsin...
Anthony Thomas of Troop 3471 here in Northern Star Council (I believe Burnsville, MN) has been recognized as the 2,000,000th Eagle Scout yesterday. How cool is that? Arthur Eldred of New York was the first Eagle Scout in 1912, so it's been a busy 96 years. Congratulations, Anthony! Scout On
Let's play Jeopardy... I'll take Scout Cooking for $200, Alex. And the answer is: Hotdogs BZZZZZ... "What is the simplest way to get Second Class requirement 2g signed off?" I'll take Scout Cooking for $400, Alex. And the answer is: Poptarts BZZZZZ...
The BSA has quite a broad scope of programming, from Scouts and Soccer to Law Enforcement Exploring with ages ranging from 6 to 21 years old. I'm just doing my best to keep up with the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts programs with which I am active, but there's a whole lot more than that…
I was asked what the knot is at the bottom of the 2nd Class and 1st Class scout rank badges that reminds scouts to do a good turn daily, and how to tie it. It is an overhand knot in a bight and it's pretty simple to tie but has few uses.
Our troop is using the new BSA medical form this year since it's available and makes life so much easier - same form for everyone, instead of Class 1, 2, and 3. The fact that most of it can be done online and saved by the parent is great - saves them lots of time each year.
Another opportunity to boost the overall uniforming of your unit. ScoutStuff.org has a Buy One Get One sale this month for Classic uniform items. It looks like they are clearing our the left-over switchbacks, shirts, socks, sashes, and such. I'm still happy with my switchbacks I got in August, 2006!
