One hundred days of doing something for Scouting, and writing about each one. Scouters took the challenge for the centennial in 2010 and came back for second and third rounds.
Today I: Purchased three 21" bow saws so that each patrol will have one for their backpacking and camping use. Small, lightweight, and perfect for younger (and smaller) hands. They were on sale for $2.97 each. Yep, that was it for Scouting today.
Hit the three-quarters mark today! That means that many of you have been reading along for over 2 months now---and I appreciate it. Scouting takes a lot of effort, and reading other people's ideas feeds the fire More days: Day 71 Day 72 Day 73 Day 74 Day 75 From field trips to thinking, Scouting…
Today I: Managed to tweet about St. George's Feast Day (today). St. George is the patron saint of Scouting, and important to my Scout units. Prepared and alert a Scout follows the lead Of our Patron Saint George and his spirited steed."
Today I: Helped a young Boy Scout work out his family logistics so that he can go camping with us in May. Good kid. Got to let a parent know how exemplary their son was on our Cub Scout field trip last night.
Today I: Distributed 7 copies of the Parvuli Dei religious emblem book and 2 copies of Light of Christ . Escorted the Tiger Den and the Webelos Scout den to the fire station. Confirmed the Tiger Go See It at the newspaper on Monday.
Monday was a catch up day as I spend the past 5 days in Wood Badge mode... - stopped by Scout Shop to turn in Scout App - picked up Star Rank patch for newest Star Scout - experimented with new website server - updated official Troop Calendar Tuesday: the busiest Scout night of the week!
Today I: Helped a Scout with Citizenship in the Nation merit badge (as counselor). Helped a Scout with Camping merit badge (as counselor). Tweeted a link to a Cub Scout friendly booklet of the Academics and Sports requirements. Received both of the BSA dollars in the mail...as a gift from my uncle.
I really like the Centennial rank badges. Whether for Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts, having that "2010" on it signifies something special. This whole season of Scouting is something special. The Scouts we have in our pack, troops and crews now will be in their 50s and late 60s when the sesquicentennial rolls around--older than…
Today I: Swapped messages with a new Scouter in my area via Twitter. So now we can meet in "real" life. Updated council and camp Facebook pages. Looked an Kelty 3-man tents at Costco...hmmmm....$57 each. How are you doing with Scouting this spring?
What an incredible week of Scouting: Wednesday: arrived at Camp Belzer in to help finish up set up for Wood Badge C-33-10 - attended Wood Badge Staff dinner - received my 3rd Bead, then the Course Director gave us all a gift of Wood Badge Beads from Gilwell Park!
Today I: Attended the Patrol Leader's Conference. Two hours of Scouting where lots was planned--including election cycle, Scout-o-Rama, and weekend service project with campout. Two hours is enough Scouting for today--lots of work to be done to make May a success. SPL has a lot on his plate this month.
Today I: Helped a Tiger build a project at Lowe's (free kits twice a month!). Confirmed plans for PLC tomorrow night. Encouraged a Scout beginning on the Painting merit badge. Yes, scraping the old border off the walls first is important!
Today I: Uploaded a couple of hundred pictures from recent camp-outs with the Scouts. Helped a parent understand that I'm not going to watch her Boy Scout until they get there 30 minutes after the meeting ends. Sigh. Planned a family outing with my Cub Scout, Boy Scout and Venturer to a National Park tomorrow--all…
The countdown to the 2010 National Scout Jamboree is about to drop into double digits. Just 100 days remain until the jamboree begins at Fort A.P. Hill, Va. This summer's jamboree isn't just any jamboree. It's "The best, most exciting, fun-filled, safest jamboree ever!"
Today I: Finished cleaning up from the camping trip this weekend. Yuck. Mailed in the check for the crew's fundraiser...as they get ready to launch another one. Busy crew! Very motivated. Started fielding questions from new Boy Scout parents...;-) Researched sleeping bag options suggested on yesterday's post .
Today I: Updated a previous 100 Days of Scouting , to reflect a Scoutmaster Conference successfully had on our campout Saturday. Continued my quest for a fairly inexpensive, 15 degree-ish, mummy-style sleeping bag. I'm a big guy and not having much luck.
Another several days without posting but been very busy: Since Sunday I have: - finished my Troop Presentation for Wood Badge - organized my desk and contacted 2 Eagle Scouts about their Eagle Books coming back from National - stopped by Scout Shop and purchased 35 new 2010 Scout Badges for my new Scouts - worked on Scoutmaster's Agenda…
More Scouters keep commenting on 100 Days , and some are even joining in. It is great to be a part of something that is helping to keep Scouting a part of daily life. Kind of like going to church on Sunday versus living like every day was a church day!
Today I: Helped a Scout pull together a merit badge notebook to help track all of his work and documents for the 8 different badges he is working on. Purchased several new merit badge books. Completed my backlog of reading Scout blogs!
Today I: Helped a Scout finish his Camping merit badge (I'm a counselor). Discussed how to pay vendor share of crew's fundraiser. Light work on Scouting today, but managed to help a young man get one step closer to Eagle Scout...so it was a GREAT day for Scouting!
Today I: Cleaned up my gear from the campout. Participated in a spirited debate on the value of "boy-led" troops, and to what extent they should be "boy-led". Remembered: last night, helped an injured Scout at the Crossover. What a busy weekend! Webelos Crossover, troop campout, and drove 200 miles for Scouting. You?
Today I: Hiked a few miles with the troop. Wrapped up a camping trip, and drove some of the Boy Scouts out for the Webelos Crossover tonight. Received six brand new Boy Scouts into the troop. They have decided to be the Flaming Arrow patrol.
WOW oh WOW...here we are at 60! Big Scouting Day: - finished up Wood Badge Troop Guide Presentations - emailed complete roster to entire Troop - created Adult Resource Form for the website - built Welcome Pack to my new Buffalo Patrol for Wood Badge this week - emailed fellow Scouters: progress report for entire Patrol, sent Outing Info to…
The end of a turbulent week: Day 58: - chatted it up with several internet Scouters - designed a new online Adult Resource form for the Troop Day 59: - built HipsterPDAs for my Wood Badge patrol - listened to True North Podcast and Skyped the podcaster - chatted with an Irish Scouter Permalink | Leave a comment »
Today I: Drove out early to secure 3 free campsites in our National Forest. Nice impromptu field trip for my Tiger. Nice hike tomorrow with the troop. Stopped by WalMart to facilitate "oh, I have to buy food for the patrol this weekend".
100 Days is well past the halfway mark now. This is a busy time of the year. Webelos Scouts moving to the troop. Summer camp questions almost every day. And pack meetings...never forget the energy and stress that go into making a good pack meeting.
Today I: Paid for my peanut order. They look really good, too. Contacted Bears that missed the pack meeting last night--and getting their Bear rank. Lots of illness going around. Found out if a dad could still get in on the Webelos Crossover weekend his son is participating in.
Wednesdays are recovery days from the Meeting but with the lack of attendance last night I have less recovering to do :) - picked up Eagle Book from National of Scout who had his BoR on Feb 8th - picked up 2010 Centennial Rank Patches - picked up Patrol patches for the 3 new patrols - got some uniform socks…
Today I: Drove to the Scout store to pick up all of my awards for tonight--last minute trip! Filled out approximately 75 award cards by hand. Cub Scout Academics and Sports awards are the best! My guys love earning them, and apparently trying to see which is the weirdest one they can earn.
Tuesday is meeting night, always a great time. Tonight however was a little different as it is also Spring Break here. So we had a fraction of the number of Scouts we usually have. The 1st Year Scouts worked on a little project while the older Scouts hung out.
Today I: Planned out a series of posts for Scoutsigns on the new Historic Merit Badges. I'm as excited about these as my Scouts are. Put together my order for the pack meeting tomorrow night. Our Webelos Scouts are crossing over to the troop this weekend, so we have a big crossover event planned.
Got two projects in mind, one specific to my Troop, one I will need Internet community help with...details to follow. Getting nervous about Wood Badge, need to make sure I have everything ready to go! Today I: - wrote a reference letter for an Eagle Scout - spoke with an old friend about her almost- Eagle Scout…
Today I: Confirmed my appointment to discuss basic backpacking with the Crew. Planned my backpacking talk! Ordered my 2010 rank advancement badges for the pack--they are FINALLY in! Woo! Wrote out my pack meeting plan. Printed out reminders to get the camp physicals in sooner than later for summer camp.
Well it only took 52 days to come to a weekend were I have NO Scout business to discuss. Being a Scoutmaster is a full time job. I have had something to write about every day for the past 52 days.
Despite the picture, Scouting isn't all fun and games. But it is a lot of fun. The 100 Days of Scouting is humming right along, cruising into the last few weeks. We have so much planned that is going to make it into the list!
Today I: Practiced being reverent. Happy Easter! Today, the closest I'm going to come to Scouting is spending time with my family. I'll get a phone call or two--like I do every Sunday when my Scouts think of something!
Today I: Worked on organizing my Scout paperwork some more. I'm definitely paying for letting it go so long. Helped a Scout with information on the Painting merit badge. Easter is almost here, and I have a lot of non-Scout responsibilities. How do you work in a little Scouting around a hectic holiday?
Today I: Helped yet another Scout with decisions about his summer camp merit badges. I'm detecting a trend! Aided a certain young Tiger Scout in the selection of his first baseball glove. I'm sure the Baseball and Softball belt loops will be in his future.
Yesterday was a slow Scout day. - talked with a new Eagle about his paperwork - chatted with an Internet Scouting Friend about all things Today was the same, things might be slowing down OR I am busy getting ready for Baseball's Opening Day!
Today I: Helped a(nother) Scout with his merit badge selection for summer camp. Sent out a lot of information (all I could find) on Twitter about the new Historic Merit Badges: Carpentry , Signaling , Pathfinding , and Tracking . There are pdf files of the old merit badge manuals for these, too.
Yes, I just needed an excuse to put up the picture of this awesome locomotive. The mid-point of the 100 Days have come and gone, and I was too busy to make sure it got posted properly on Scoutsigns. More days: Day 46 Day 47 Day 48 Day 49 Day 50 Share your thoughts--have you…
Today I: Helped my SPL with questions about merit badge scheduling at camp this summer. Bit my tongue at just the right time. Trust me. Posted the summary of Days 46-50 on Scoutsigns. So nice out, it is hard to focus on Scouting.
Here it is the halfway point! - posted on several boards about Program and about Eagle procedures - discussed an Eagle Project with a Life Scout - attended the PLC Meeting. It went very well, started Thorns and Roses for the month, talked about how the new Scouts were feeling welcome and how the older Scouts were really…
Today I: Started on the back half of the 100 Days of Scouting challenge! Woo-hoo! Helped a Scout, my son, get his camping stuff out of his room and back where it belongs...;-) Worked out the details for getting Scouts to our weekend camping trip next Friday.
Monday's after campouts are always a little busy as I gear up for the PLC meeting and recover from the weekend. - answered about 15 emails for new parents about the campout. Each one said what a great time their Scout had.
Today I: Finished hauling stuff to the Scout closet in one building where the Cub Scouts meet. Finished hauling stuff to the new Scout area in the next building where the Boy Scouts meet. Delivered my hardcopy Webelos Crossover Weekend paperwork to the office.
Left for Camp Cullom on Day 46 (Friday) at 5pm. We had 83 Scouts in tow with about 25 Adults to drive and some stayed. We got there with no problems and set up camp. What a great surprise it was when the 1st Year patrols (3 of them) set up their sites with the…
Today I: Cleaned all of the Scout boxes and stuff on shelves in the garage, and moved them to the workshop, shed and Scout storage area at church. Gutted the Scout storage area at church, and tried to organize. Way too small a space for a pack, troop and crew to share.
Today I: Found a box of Scout t-shirts that I've not gotten around to getting into use yet. Pulled the tags and got them into the washing machine. Pleh! What a busy weekend day! Just family time today...knowing what is coming tomorrow. Help me feel better about doing so little today--what did you do?
It happened again, I forgot to post last night! Day 45: - listened to The Leaders Campfire Podcast. I miss those guys! Keep up the great work! - Finalized Campout Schedule after time discussions with PL and some PL Advisors on time needed for Skills Demo - talked to last new parent about what to bring to campout.