frank10

Hope you will forgive me a non scouting post, I've posted over 800 Scouting post here and many have offered their support when I needed it so I wanted to share one more item... Bit of background, My brother-in-law passed away just about a year ago. He had taken me in when I my home burned down years ago and I shared a lot with him. Since his passing I've done what I could to help out my sister and her kids (20+ y.o. twins). It's not much, just what you do for family. Some free labor, forgetting to bill for stuff out of my stock room and lots of free advice. Yesterday at Easter diner my nieces boyfriend tracked me down. Figured he needed my help on his truck or was hoping to pick up some hours working for me. And to tell the truth, I don't have enough work to support myself lately. He looked a bit shy as he started but he looked me in the eye and said "Since Jens dad is gone and your her godfather, I'd like to have your blessing..." I like the kid and all, but dang, I'm to young for this kind of conversation. I gave him the blessing he asked for, gave him advice he didn't ask for and promised my support that he will need. Latter that day after she got her ring she called me over to ask if I would walk he down the aisle. I told her that she has my support and that I will be proud to do it. (and offered some more free advice that she hadn't asked for.) I cleared it with my 8 year old who said I could do it but that I was still "only hers" but since she loves Jen if would be OK. Now when my own daughter was born I knew what was in store for me (or at least I thought so). But way back in my student days when my BIL asked me to be godfather I had no idea where this would lead to. I'll do what I promised him I would do, but it's not going to be easy. I'll be proud to do it but wish I could have watched it from my seat in the second row.

Define right. And furthermore, that wasn't part of your challenge. All you asked us to do was keep em quiet for 15 minutes. Now you want us to keep them from eating Playdoh. No changing the rules.

When in doubt go with food. I've seldom seen a cub turn down a bowl of icecream. Hard to talk with your mouth full and frozen.

Our SM would expect to be dismissed for this. BUT - he knows that in advance.

Maybe it was a typo for scoutdirect.com ??

Why would I inflict that pain on my SPL. I don't want to attend a committee meeting and I'm the CC. The boys should run the program, It's my job to push the paper.

sailingpj: We used to have the same problem Until we started pitching our tents with the door facing down hill, now when it rained SCUBA gear is no longer required! All kiding aside, I like the Eureka Timberline Outfitter series.

I would not mistreat the election team for the lack of uniforms. I would however find it distasteful and disrespectful. They would not be invited back. And if I got the idea stuck in my head that this was the best the OA had to offer, I'd pass on sending them my best.

Thanks All for the kind words, don't know what I was looking for, but I found that I'm not alone, Glad to hear others have a "Mr. S." in their life too. Too all the Mr. S's out there, we raise a mug of camp coffee to you, thanks for everything. I hope we measure up to what you wanted for us.

I'm coming late to this topic, I read the first page and the current page skipping most of what is in between. So please forgive me if this point has been made... Speaking a foreign language in a group is comparable to sitting there using your cell phone. It is an exclusionary conversation that is just plain rude. I don't care what the topic is it is rude.

I'm always up for a tee shirt. Better yet if you have some one who can screen print them in the class. But, if you need something pre printed, I like Artscow ( http://www.artscow.com/?Ref=587076 ) . Watch their sales and you can bag some amazing deals. I like the playing cards myself but the watches are reasonable and the flipflops are just cool. Note: they are slow so order early.(This message has been edited by wingnut)

Never seen an FOS, but went to one that doubled as a food drive. Scout was into Scouting for Food and wanted it to be part of his day.

Way I look at it is that every time I look, there may be 1248 users but I'm always glad to know that who ever set this thing up knew that of them I was number 1. Good to have the respect I deserve. Heck, I'd be honored if I fell in the top 100 but number one every time I must be special!

My Boyhood SM passed this week. I learned a lot from him. Some of it was the basic hiking/camping type stuff but part of it was just watching him with his son gave me an idea of what kind of father and there for what type of scouter I wanted to be. He was my brothers Cub master back in 1960 and my SM until 1983. It's been almost 25 years since he retired from scouting but every scout I teach is to his credit. Now a few of my scouts have gone on to become scouters themselves. They may never have know Mr. S. but they are continuing his legacy. I wonder if he ever imagined how far it would go when he sign a BSA app the first time. I wonder if he ever really knew how important he was in the life of so many boys. Boys he never even met. Mr S, Thanks for every thing but rest easy now, you've done your "one hour", it's my turn for now and I promise to pass it to some one else when I'm done. I'll attend his service this week in my class A's. Don't know if his remaining family will know me but I want them to know he made a difference in my life that still maters after all these years. That the hour each week was worth it. I hope some day there is a uniform or two at my own.

I learned to drive in a mid 60's F350 6 wheel dump. Mostly backwards. My family owned a logging / tree service company and I used to drive it with the chipper attached backing up to the brush piles all day. My car was a Ford Maverick with a 302 V8 stuffed under the hood where an inline 6 should have been. Doors were one color, the hood another, the rear quaters were rebuilt using Centery21 signs (from an agent who went out of business). It was short on looks but it embarrassed many a Camaro and a few Mustangs. I had a "real" job by the time I had all the body work done and the whole thing one color (primer gray but one color just the same). I gave it to my sister and her new husband as a wedding gift. They ran it for a few years and sold it to a friend who ran it on the dirt track.

I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather not screaming in fear like the passengers on the bus he was driving.

Way back when... Late one night my self and an other ASM stayed up at the fire long after we should have been asleep. A lost female staffer shows up in our camp site and confesses she is lost. She tells us that she is looking for her father (a SM at camp that week) and her flash light died. We lend her a flash light and point her in the right direction. The next day we think it will be a bit of fun to give her a new flashlight of her own. In the dining hall I request a chance to present it to her. The program guy turns the floor over to me where and I begin to tell the story to the camp including who she was seeking and his site name. At that point she turns beat red and the staff, her fathers troop and one other troop fall over laughing. Turns out the young lady had lied to us. The site she was seeking did not belong to her fathers troop but to her boy friends troop. oops.

I was talking to another Scouter about the PWD and his pack has a 4 lane track with starting buttons for each lane, just like real drag racing, the racers watch the lights in the starters pole and hit there button when the light comes on. Too fast and the car doesn't go since the master power isn't on yet and you have to hit it again. Too slow and you trail the pack. Sounded like fun. They also use the track as a fund raiser at the local fair where folks pay to race. They get to choose from a selection of already made cars, put it on the track and grab the button. I'm told the public loves it.

Fake you say? It's been sighted more often than our unit commissioner!

Oh my head, I'm having flash backs of a SM trying to sign us all up to sell Amway... If I put my hands on the window I can feel the pane.

In the two Pack meeting I've been to I haven't heard a song yet, but at my tiger cub den meeting we did 5 verses of "Aint Gonna Rain No More No more". We're just about ready to take our show on the road, so If the pack didn't sing before, they better get used to it now. We may be out of tune but we are loud.

And makes sorting a file a whole lot easier too.

Life would be so much easier for every one if we all used YYYYMMDD format.

boy I feel for these boys. When I was 16 I could hang from the bar and that was about it. Did 138 sit ups the first night but no pull ups. All the trying in the world wasn't going to make a difference until nature kicked in. By the time I was 18, I could climb up 50 feet of rope with just my hands. Scoutmaster needs to learn about how boys develop.

Scoutfish, your right, some units/scouts/scouters will leave and new ones will take their places. Same camps, same name but a new group using them. By the numbers that works. If your family was driven out of you home but a new family moved in then it would all be the same in the end. same number of people just different ones. Tell the truth, I don't have a problem with gays in Scouting as long as they keep their sexuality as distant from the program as I do my own. (note that I did not say I would mind them bringing a spouse/partner to event just like me.) BUT: Dale V. BSA is much more important than gays in scouting. It is critical that any group be able to select it's own membership and leaders. Should the VFW have to allow me in even if I never served? Must a motorcycle club accept members who do not ride? With each new member the nature of any group changes. Add enough new members and the old members no longer have a group.