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Summer's over, scouts are back in school, sports have started up, and families are getting back into the routine of work and school. Scout meetings are taking place regularly - life is good. But, do you remember those few guys that aren't here this year?
Intro to Outdoor Leadership Skills (IOLS) training will be held in conjunction with the district camporee next weekend. I've cajoled a handful of scouters to present the sessions and now just hope it fits the schedules of enough untrained scouters to make it work.
A couple years ago, I built the North Country National Scenic Trail . Oh, it wasn't all me - I had some help. Actually, I helped build about 600 feet of the 4600 mile trail. Many sections of the trail still don't exist - but they will some day.
Click this picture to see the whole thing. It is a sign describing what happens when someone drops litter - how long it takes to decompose. Someone designed and made that sign and it effects the decisions made by the people that visit the park where it is located.
The requirements for the chess merit badge are available on scouting.org and HERE . Scouts get to use EDGE to teach other scouts Chess skills. I especially like requirement #5c where the board is set up and the scout needs to demonstrate how to force checkmate.
The sumac is changing colors. The last few chilly mornings have convinced them it's time to start the show. The maples and oaks take a little more convincing, but they'll come around soon. It's been below freezing up North, but just 50 here.
Met two scouts for a 10 mile hike this morning and pounded it out in 2 hours 50 minutes - that's 17 minute miles. It was a great hike and I didn't notice the pace or the time. The scout leading the hike kept us on route and moving along.
Lion Cubs are alive in Northern Star Council! Lion Cubs are kindergarten boys just starting on the Boy Scout Trail. A boy and his adult partner get to do fun, age-appropriate activities - sounding much like the original Tiger program. By adding this program, the BSA provides a K-12 experience, dropping the entry age a bit…
Just a quick reminder that today's the last chance to enter to win the monthly prizes - $25 Scout Shop gift card or $50 Class B coupon. Tomorrow morning, two random winners will be selected, maybe it will be you. In other exciting news, I got three volunteers to help with next month's Intro to Outdoor…
If you go to the Northern Tier homepage at ntier.org you are redirected to http://www.scouting.org/northerntier.aspx Now, Northern Tier, Philmont, and Sea Base all have similar sites - but I bet Sea Base will be redone soon to match the other two more closely.
On my hike this morning, I saw my first goose formation practicing for migration. It's still early, but I guess the cool morning got them thinking it's time to start preparing. They know that they don't just take off one day and head South.
In 2005, Northern Star council was created by merging Indianhead council and Viking council. There have been many other council mergers over the past decade and the trend to restructure due to economics, member levels, and demographics continues. Knowing what your neighbors are doing is usually a good way to be prepared for change.
Did you get your Sept/Oct Scouting magazine yet? Take a look at page 24! We don't always stop at Dairy Queen on our hikes, but we do use gmap-pedometer.com a lot and it works pretty slick. That page is a good indication of what I plan to do for the next few years now that…
Next week will be my first free Monday night in over six years - no PLC meeting, no troop meeting, no committee meeting, no merit badges or patrols to visit. Now that the new Scoutmaster is trained and guiding the troop, I'm on my own.
Every day is a transition. Scouting volunteers are rewarded with seeing an ongoing transition in the scouts over months and years as they learn skills, push their leadership skills, and outgrow pants. Sometimes these transitions are gradual and sometimes instantaneous.
We finished the 20 mile hike at 3:45 after starting at 8:40 this morning. Two scouts set the pace and I just had to keep up. It was a great hike, exploring a few new places around the community, and the weather was terrific.
I love it when a scout figures out that he needs to take responsibility for completing merit badges and rank requirements. Sometimes, scouts can have a path of badges required to advance through Star, Life, and Eagle laid out for them by the troop, offering badges in a cycle.
Troop 198 scouts put out a small brush fire in Oregon. Great to see them have the SPL do most of the interview! It would be interesting to hear who started the fire. A faulty camping stove doesn't just start a fire - it must have been lit by someone.
The regional path was very busy today. I passed about 12 joggers, 9 bikers, and 4 or 5 walkers as I put in my 8 miles and I waved to each one of them. After all, the path is only about 8 feet wide and it's just polite to say "Howdy".
Another week of summer camp is in the history books. Eleven scouts and three adults had a terrific time in the great north woods. Few mosquitos, lots of sun, low humidity, great program, and a super staff made for many memories.
Leaving in a few minutes for the second week at Many Point Scout Camp. The troop is large enough that we have a dozen guys in soccer and baseball that could not go with the troop a couple weeks ago - enough for a second week!
Scouts are interesting creatures. I think of three kinds of scouts. First off are the Over Achievers. Probably destined for middle management in corporate America, they organize everything, plan to the minute detail, take their roles seriously, and love directing others.
Our Alps Mountaineering tents have nice vestibules and do a great job of keeping out rain, but only when properly set up and when gear is stowed. As you can see, that's not the case every time. How does a scout leave his uniform shirt laying in the mud out in the rain?
The Little Brown Box I mentioned in an earlier post has become common knowledge now. There are a few scouts that dip into it nearly every meeting, but many are still missing out. The SPL and ASPL now take care of the uniform inspecting and management of the box now that they are trained in…
Summer camp can really wear you out. The fresh air, exercise swatting at insects, hard ground to sleep on, and no air conditioning means you need to get your vitamin R (Rest) whenever you can. The first three days of camp set heat index records and it wiped out some scouts and adults.
We all got home safely yesterday from a terrific week at Many Poing Scout Camp. Here's some numbers from camp: 37 - scouts at camp 111 - completed merit badges 11 - incomplete merit badges 2 - embedded ticks removed 1 - weather evacuations 3 - record-setting heat index days 20 - NRA shooting certificates earned 1 - BSA Snorkeling awards I'll post…
Off to summer camp this morning. Taking 39 scouts for a tropical week at Camp Many Point in the great north woods. Forecast is for 90s all week so it's a good thing that most of them are signed up for Swimming, Sailing, or Lifesaving merit badges - plenty of waterfront time.
The two crews returned from Philmont just two weeks ago. The pictures look great. The stories are funny. The blisters are healing. OK, guys, time to sign up for Philmont, 2013. WHAT, we just got home!!!!! Troops can attend a BSA high adventure base every two years, at most.
Many of the requirements to advance from Scout to First Class can be done any place at any time. A few work much better during the summer than winter. Repeating the Scout Oath or describing a cyberbully can be done at a troop meeting in December, but identifying 10 native plants is much more difficult…
There are quite a few menus and food lists available online, and they are helpful for thinking of meals for backpacking treks. But, I didn't find a way to create a menu on-the-fly. This sounds like a useful tool for scouts to use in planning high adventure outings for their troops.
The troop heads for summer camp in 19 days for a new experience - We'll be sharing a campsite with another troop for the first time ever. For another troop's experience on campsite sharing, check out this entertaining post . We've got 39 scouts going and the other troop has only 3 so it will be a…
E 2 Xtreme Challenge Racing is a new program for Boy Scouts. Rather than gravity, the cars are powered by CO2 canisters for high-octane speed. It's kind of a Pinewood Derby for big boys. The BSA needs 100 scouts to sign up and design cars to help promote this new racing program.
I presented Wilderness First Aid and CPR/AED again last weekend - one more time this coming weekend and I'll be done until the fall. I've presented to over 100 people this year, so I'm ready for a break. To make the first aid scenarios a bit more fun, I've created fake wounds that are reusable.
Have you every taken a trail and followed it to the end? Man-made and maintained trails are usually loops or have specific destinations. But, wild trails will often meander and finally fade out at some point. Then, you either go on your own, forging your way through the wild or turn back.
At the Scouting magazine blog , Bryan asked about the uniform policy in troops. You can read the dozens of responses to see the multitude of rules, regulations, guidelines, policies, and requirements folks have made around this one issue. It seems similar to the 'Electronics' policies and 'Active' policies that get created.
It's been a few weeks away from the blogdesk for me and I'm ready to peck away at the keys again. Just took a break to do some 'real work'. A big chunk of my time this past month has been spent in preparing the new Scoutmaster to take over next month.
Northern Star Council had a facebook app created where you can take an image and recreate it with merit badges. See the promo video at YouTube . Make your own image at Badgetize Yourself on Facebook. I tried a few pictures, but didn't have much luck - please holler back here if you try it and like…
On this last day of the 100 Days of Scouting, I learned we have a new Eagle in the troop I learned a terrific scout is moving away I hiked 10 miles I gave advice to a scout planning next month's campout I finished carving an Eagle gift I helped the next scoutmaster with Troopmaster…
Patrol meetings and boards of review this evening. Waiting outside with a scout's father, he came out of his board of review and said, "I'm a Tenderfoot!" with a huge grin on his face. It will be quite awhile before I forget that smile and the hug his dad gave him.
Dutch ovens are cleaned and oiled, tensts put away, ropes dried and stored, and its back to normal life. Mondays can be a real downer after a fun weekend of camping. The patrol that planned the outing laid out a day of competitive games.
An ASM stopped by this afternoon and grabbed the adult patrol box, tents, dutch ovens, ropes, and other gear from my garage for this weekend's campout. Since I'm presenting Scoutmaster Specific training tomorrow, I can't be two places at once so I'm missing camp tonight and tomorrow.
Stopped in to help with an Eagle Service Project for just a little while. The scout is running the show just fine and in fact ahead of schedule. It wraps up on Saturday. This guy worked with the local library to redesign how they collect, categorize, store, and sell used books for their bi-annual book…
Here's what we had falling from the sky this evening! 1 3/4 inch hail, that's the biggest I've personally collected. Luckily, there wasn't much of it, around here anyway. But, they did let the sirens wail for awhile. I was inside having a scoutmaster conference at the time.
Getting the scouts outside sure makes for a more energetic troop meeting! The SPL had his plan all laid out with skills, patrol time, and troop game all outsite. The weather cooperated, and there was a lot of noisy activity so I'd say it was a success.
This past week really got away from me and time to post was lost. Hopefully, it was a burp and not a lingering situation. This past week, I ... had 4 scoutmaster conferences attended a PLC meeting participated in the district Roundtable meeting got presenters for Scoutmaster Specific training presented CPR presented Wilderness First Aid helped…
This was a VERY Scouty day for me. Got summer camp info together for the patrol leaders so each patrol can figure out their merit badges and activities at the PLC tomorrow. Attended the Court of Honor for three Eagle Scouts.
Here's what I've been doing this week. :-) I just finished these three fire pistons for the Eagle court of honor this weekend. I carve the scout's initials and "479" and then make some design on the rest. After the knifework, I sand with 150, 200, 320, 400, 600 paper, then 0000 steel wool.
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday was rain and sleet, but this evening we had a wonderful 5-mile hike for guys preparing for Philmont. I went along just for fun - hiking around town is a great time to chat with scouts about how they're doing.
On Sunday, we'll recognize three Eagles from the same patrol at a court of honor. My fingers are a bit sore from whittling their gifts the last few days, but I'm almost done. Spent a couple hours checking out the summer camp documents and making sure our electronic copies are in sync with any changes.
If you'd like your troop, pack, or crew listed on my directory, here's your chance. I just added a Add Site page so you can do it yourself. It might get you a little bit more exposure to people looking for a unit in your town, especially if you have a link back to BoyScoutTrail.com…
