The Bloggers
Original site: houstonscouts.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab) ↗
A Houston troop leader on recruiting, campfire stories and the patrol method.
Showing 1–23 of 23. Each title opens the post in a new tab.
WE FIGHT, WE FIGHT, WE FIGHT AND FIGHT AND FIGHT… BECAUSE WE ARE FRIENDS! The two Scouts in this photo were both stubborn. They argued about everything. If one said the sky was blue, the other one would claim it was azure, and azure was not blue.
KUDOS TO PACK 266 Since we don’t have a “feeder” pack, recruiting has always been a challenge for us. In our 27 years of existence, only a handful of Webelos have ever visited our troop, even though we have invited them to every type of event conceivable.
MY CAMPFIRE STORIES ARE PUBLIC NOW! Today ten of the stories I’ve been telling around the campfire are published in the new book, HAUNTED CAMPS: The Campfire Stories of Scoutmaster B.C. Justice. The details are on the book’s website, http://www.hauntedcamps.com/ .
DOES OUR PATROL METHOD PASS THE SMELL TEST? Recently, as we are now between the birth of Scouting and the birth of the B.S.A., Scouters have been harking back to the beginnings a la Baden-Powell. In one of his 1909 writings, B.P.
REMEMBERING THE PONDEROSA I wish I could turn back time and visit the Ponderosa again. Yes, the Ponderosa that was the stage set for the television series “Bonanza,” in the town of Incline Village along the shores of Lake Tahoe.
SCOUTS “WUSSY”? Last week, a youth leader told me that they had failed to start a Scouting group because the parents thought Scouting was “wussy.” The parents preferred to put their sons in sports. The strongest, bravest people I have ever known in my life were once in our Boy Scout troop.
THE TRUE MEANING OF CONSERVATION This cedar tree used to grace the summit of Sentinel Peak at Sam Houston Area Council’s El Rancho Cima. It was a welcome spot of shade; a place to rest on hot, sunny days, and a place to gather for stargazing in the Texas hill country evenings.
EXPANDING WHICH TENT, EXACTLY? An article about Scouting “expanding the tent” to include immigrant youths prompted discussion on the Boy-Scout-Talk list yesterday. In the article, they state that the Boy Scout council in Framingham has 150 immigrants in their soccer program.
YOU CAN’T EARN THE RANK OF EAGLE! Scoutmaster Steve of Troop 68 in Melrose, Minnesota, posed a question about Eagle conferences on his Scoutmaster’s Blog today. Some of the replies spoke of Eagle Scouts “aging out” after their Eagle Court of Honor.
I WISH I WAS IN THE TETONS The mercury reached 97 today in the Bayou City. In spite of global warming, this summer has been cooler than any I can remember. Yet every time August or September rolls around, I wonder why I am still living here!
THE KILLER JOKE Arturo is the boy on the left. This was his very first campout, a backpacking trip to Lost Maples Natural Area in the Texas hill country. The year was 1985. You see, Arturo was special because he was the first Scout who joined our troop who did not speak English.
IT PAYS TO BE A GOOD SCOUT… At least in Troop 1197 it does. It begins with Patrol Leader Training, where we give each patrol leader a set amount of this “Funny Munny.” We get most of it back by auctioning off the food items that leader can use to cook with on PL training…
BTSR: THEN AND NOW This picture is not some tropical paradise. It’s in Buffalo Trail Scout Ranch in southwest Texas! When the topic of Texas camps comes up, Buffalo Trails gets more than it’s share of attention. It’s even advertised occasionally in Scouting magazine.
HORRIBLE CAMPS, PART ONE What’s worse than a Haunted Camp ? How about a Horrible Camp? See if you can top this one: Although we paid a site reservation deposit a year in advance, we arrived to find another troop in our site.
DISCOVERING CAMP DON: A GREAT SUMMER CAMP By the year 1990, we were weary of our own council camp and nearby councils’ summer camps. I don’t remember how we found out about Camp Don (Golden Spread Council), or even why the boys chose that camp to try.
GOD BLESS THE SIMPSONS: ANECDOTE TO NICHIFICATION When I was a Boy Scout, back in the days of 8-tracks and lava lamps, we used to spend our idle hours on the bus or around the campsite sharing bits of pop culture.
THE CASE OF THE POWER RINGS It’s so often that bit of silliness that makes a high-adventure trip so memorable. On our way to the Weminuche Wilderness in Colorado, we made a stop at Alabaster Caverns in Oklahoma. The caverns were closed at that time while a new lighting system was being installed, so the…
A Boy Scout Adventure: Solving the mystery of the Marfa Lights Folks shopping for young adult literature without lewd content may want to give THE GHOST OF MOUNT CHINATI a try. This short, innocent novel reads like a Saturday Afternoon Special on PBS.
Here’s one of those situations where the boys temporarily bypass the literal interpretation of the 11th point of the Scout Law. But that’s okay. WHEN SCOUTS ARE ANYTHING BUT “CLEAN” There was a surprise waiting for us at Camp Urland (Three Rivers Council, Woodville, TX).
FRIGHTENING LIGHTNING Although, basically, the Boy Scout program has a great safety record, there remain those situations that make us Scoutmasters nervous. When I was a new leader, I found that the first time any boy tried to use an axe was unsettling.
EL RANCHO CIMA’S BATHTUB Once every so often I find myself having to sort through pictures looking for something, and stumble across places I miss. Sam Houston Area Council’s flagship camp is El Rancho Cima, a Texas Hill Country camp along the Blanco River between Wimberley and Blanco.
MERIT BADGES CAN LEAD TO BIGGER DREAMS Our second Eagle Scout, Max, took Computers Merit Badge at Camp Post in 1996. Computers weren’t as commonplace then as they are now, but the ranger there had it set up so every Scout could have hands-on experience.
PROMOTING SCOUTING: MY NEW MISSION BEGINS Some time ago, I made a decision to feature Boy Scout characters in my first novel, VIOLENT NIGHT. Now that I’m about to release my second book, HAUNTED CAMPS: The Campfire Stories of Scoutmaster B.C.
