Stosh

I'm sure the States would welcome the feds getting out of their business. Anything not specifically mentioned in the Constitution is the responsibility of the States. Department of Education could disappear and it would be a good thing and save a ton of money. The IRS could disappear and it would be a good thing and save a ton of money. I could go on about a lot of other wasteful, duplicated federal agencies, but no one likes long posts. Stosh

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and National War Memorial in Ottawa are open to the public. It is located across the street to Parliament Hill right downtown and there are no fences, no ticket booths, no security. All one has to do is cross the street, sit down on one of the many benches and remember. If they ever shut down their government, no one at the memorial would even notice. Stosh

5 miles on Thursday, 10 on Friday, 10 on Saturday, and 5 on Sunday. 1860's equipment.... At 60 years of age I made it, but on some of the trek I had to go without shoes, they were more painful than walking barefoot. I cut my gear to the minimum, survived the whole trip on water and trail mix. About 75% didn't finish, but if it wasn't for a ton of "shakedown" hikes over the years, neither would I. No tent, only 1 wool blanket, 1 gum blanket, food sachel, canteen, and the 11# gun was all I carried. And yes it did rain, but my feet, out the bottom of my gum blanket, felt really good all night long being cooled off. Scouting is not just for the scouting program. There are a lot of other activities out there that I do outside the BSA program that are much more enjoyable because of what I learned in Scouting. Besides reenacting, there's hunting, camping, fishing, biking, kayaking/canoeing, just to mention a few things that my wife and I enjoy doing that has nothing to do with the BSA. We'll be heading out to Colorado to assist in the clean up this month and I'm not expecting to have a hotel available, but that won't slow us up a bit. Hikes should not be tune-ups or shakedowns. They should be a normal part of the program. Stosh

The insurance company take over doesn't bother me as much as the healthcare industry that bothers me the most. They have their hands in my birth issues, my retirement, my medicare, and now they decide on whether or not I live or die. Heck, they give me cell phones, a "paycheck" and even sell me cars. Why would anyone not want to come to America, everything's free. After 60+ years, it is now evident that conceal carry is the only freedom that they haven't taken totally away. Need to check it out quick before they do. I wonder with all these statistics floating around, how many of the colonists were pro-King George and now many were pro-revolution? (Like it made any real difference) Stosh

Let 56% have Obamacare, and leave the other 38% alone to do what they want. It's supposed to be a free country. Oh, yeah, the government isn't supposed to compete with private industry. Oh, that's what the Constitution says, and that's no longer relevant in today's political arena. We had one civil war to break the bondage of the plantation owners, another to break the bondage of big business, so why not yet another to break the bondage of the government? Oh, we did that back in 1776. Those that don't learn from history are destined to relive it. Stosh

When one visits Gettysburg, they couldn't find a park employee to save one's life, but now that it is closed, they are all over the place enforcing the barricades. This is only a political ploy that common sense Americans can see right through. Stosh

If all non-essential personal are furloughed, what are the congressmen still doing in the capital? It is not an issue of Dems and Reps, it's a issue of people and government. Government (both parties) are more worried about themselves than the people the are supposed to be representing. Like the WWII vets, the day's coming when the people will step in and totally ignore the governmental barriers. Stosh

If one has a problem with serving on an EBOR because of the issues described, the simple solution to the whole thing is... "No, thank you". One doesn't need to participate in issues they feel uncomfortable about. Stosh

All the state parks in Wisconsin are open and no government in the way of having a great time. They are really gorgeous this time of year, too. Stosh

Shhhh, you're not supposed to letting the cat out of the bag as to what National's up to. I'm a bit of a rebel, but the hypocrisy between Cubs and Boys has always irked me. Heck 95% of the Cubs are out there in partial uniforms anyway. If you want to have a pack hat and necker, go for it. Financial conformity is not as important and unit pride in my book. Remember, the uniform is not even required in the first place, as long as all the boys look "uniform" then it's a good thing. Stosh

I don't think that ad hoc patrols is the real reason for the problem of attendance. As a matter of fact they are simply a work around for a bigger problem that is basically ignored because it's easier to make up the rules along the way than it is to solve the problem. A) We have low attendance at our events. B) So we combine patrols to keep from dealing with A above. C) Boys that show up have fun, the rest miss out. But that's okay, those that showed up had fun. What's wrong with attacking the problem at the A level? Why is there low attendance in the first place. If one can solve that problem, then the issue of ad hoc patrols becomes moot... AND ALL the boys have fun. Stosh

I had someone looking closely at my civil war pup tent the other day and it peaked my curiosity so I asked him what was so interesting. There were 3 dozen other tents there that looked exactly the same as mine. He said he was admiring all the different knots I had used and then asked if I was a scout as a boy. I said I have been a scout for 50+ years. He smiled and said, "I thought so." and went his way. There are certain icons of scouting, the necker, the knots, helping old ladies, one match fire starting, and first aid. They all speak for themselves and are easily recognized by the general public. Stosh

Only the PL is necessary in this case. What's the SPL supposed to do? He can't run the troop, there's no troop, only a patrol and the PL is handling that. Stosh

You can't punish one kid because of the actions of another. I'm with BDD on this one. Stosh

Same with me, but not all my cast iron gets used daily/weekly. A lot of it gets stored from one camping season to the next. That's way too long of a storage. Most oils go rancid within 6-9 months and if you've ever opened up a summer camp DO right out of the storage barn, you'll know immediately what I mean. Stosh

Yep, it is a Dutch OVEN. No one sets anything in an oven without it being on a rack. Once the pie pan is off the bottom, then it won't burn food on the bottom. Most foods are baked at 350-degrees in an oven at home. They always figure the food sits on a rack in the oven to heat evenly with air movement around the food. If one has a #12 oven, put 9 briquettes under the oven and 15 on the top. That will give you 350-degrees for about 45 minutes, replace them out if you're going to bake longer than that. That will give you exactly the same as what you would have at home in the oven. It's called Dutch oven baking, not Dutch oven cooking. The #1 problem with dutch ovens is that the vast majority of people never use it as an oven. More often than not, it is a cook pot with the ability to top brown if desired. I have NEVER seen anyone do a cobbler using a dutch oven as an oven. With the liquid of the fruit they chance the cooking process to pot cooking rather than truly baking it. The boys in my troop would always slam-dunk the DO competitions with their chocolate chip cookie cheese cake recipe and NEVER have to clean the oven when they were done. Why? because they used the DO correctly. Stosh

If boiling water at 212 degrees kills the bugs, a DO at normal heat of 350 does a pretty good job, too.

Try 3 rocks and a pie plate. That is a more conservation minded approach. Pie pans wash up nicely, aluminum foil and parchment paper just add to the trash, and burning the bottom is really, really hard to do. Stosh

One of the nice things about the vintage uniforms is getting the insignia correct. Technically scouts should be putting the green numbers and epaulettes on the centennial uniform. Those tan shirts that are the 1970 - 2011 should still use the red. When I wear the 1950/1960 uniform it has the community strip instead of council strip on it to be correct. When I have a boy wanting to wear the historical uniform, I go so far as to get historical patches for rank and POR off Ebay. Makes it a challenge, but it's a lot of fun too. Stosh

BSA is an organization based on - a scout is morally straight. In today's society, moral norms vary from one person to another, but as a scout leader, my moral compass always read, when in doubt, don't do it if one wishes to lead by example. The only time I had a parent accompany each Webelos boy on an outing was when I took them canoeing on a lake to get to a primitive campsite. It really was no different than each parent driving their boy to the activity, except it was a canoe instead of a car. Otherwise, all Webelos activities were sans parents, except for one parent to provide 2-deep. I find that the more one gets away from the program, the more considerations one has to try and make exceptions for. Have I taken my girlfriend on a scout outing? Yep. I was doing whitewater canoeing/kayaking and needed a seasoned watercraft expert on the trip with me. She was well qualified for that position and yes, she had her own tent. Stosh

With 24 boys, they have two options to consider. My rule is 6-8 boys in a patrol. Now, with that being said, if they want 4 patrols of 6 or 3 patrols of 8, I don't care. 4 patrols of 6 allows for more POR opportunity and a bit of room for new boys coming into the troop to slip into a patrol. If 2 buddies join, they can still fit into a patrol together. If 6-8 new Webelos boys join up, they can form their own patrol of 6-8, or a couple of boys may wish to opt out and go with an existing patrol of 6. The one option that would cause a problem is 8 new Webelos and 3 patrols of 8. Now they have to form a new patrol, they will bond and want to stay together keeping it an age based patrol. If this is not something the troop decides is good, then it's going to be a total reorganization into 4-5 patrols come end of their first year. That way everyone gets disrupted, maybe not such a good idea. The longer patrols hang together, the stronger the bonds holding them together. I don't do well with math so I just say 6-8 members (I can handle those numbers) and let me know what you decide. A lot of options, but my only concern is 6-8 boys, select their own leadership and tell me what they have decided, and then move on. Stosh.

A cushion of $1500 in the bank means that $1500 was not spent on the boys. Every dollar taken in should be spent on the boys. There should be no excess profit in the pack that gets stored away for a rainy day. We are not in the business of having money "at hand". Squirreling away money from the boys for some discretionary slush fund is really not something I am even remotely comfortable with. Run a budget on what you have and zero out the bank every year. If an emergency comes up and funds are needed, hold a fundraiser. Stosh

Gee, I remember the day when my Driver's License had my name, address, DOB on it. Oh, and by the way, the DL number was my SS number. It was also my student ID number when I was in college in the 1970's and twenty years later in the 1990's. Oh, how things have changed over the years. I especially like the denial of bank account numbers to strangers. Like already said, it's on every check you have ever written! Every time you leave your card with a waitress/waiter to "take back to the cashier, you run the risk of a double swipe, or rubbing of numbers. Your smartphone can be hacked by a passerby and your credit cards swiped by the same hacker walking down the street. I am more leery of people walking down the street who have the potential of stealing my identity than the BSA. As far as the argument of "having to show your papers." Grocery stores ask for it all the time when you buy a 6-pack, liquor or tobacco, buy a gun, pay your taxes, get a loan, pulled over by the police, cash a check, withdraw funds from a bank, and a hundred other times, except when you vote, then it is unconstitutional and will keep old people from voting. If people want to steal your identity, there are a ton of easier ways of giving it away than filling out a BSA application. Stosh

I guess I don't adhere much to either the age-based or the mixed patrol concerns. As long as the boys are buddies, they are more apt to hang out together than patrols that are designed by adults. If the patrol happens to end up mixed, great, if age-based, great. Not a problem either way in my book. For me the patrol structure of who's in and who's not is based solely on friendships. If boys are looking for an excuse to hang out together, why not at a Scout activity of their choice? If all my buddies are going on an outing and I have a choice of hanging out with my pards or doing something else, I'm thinking the draw to hang out with friends holds a slight edge. It also resolves the issues of choosing between hanging out with friends who are not scouts vs. hanging out with some of the guys at Scouts that I hardly know and never come into contact with except at scouts. 6-8 boys, pick your own leadership however you want and let me know what your patrol name and yell is. We're done, move on to more important issues. Stosh

FYI If anything would go rancid on an extended storage it would be lard (animal fat). Olive oil (fruit) will take the longest to go rancid. I have never tried the exotic oils like almond so the jury is out on that. For my camping cast iron, it's always been bees wax. I never have a problem in the spring when I drag it out for another season. For those who like to line dutch ovens with foil, be prepared to toss out a lot of the really good browned "crust" on the bottom with the foil. If done right, dutch ovens clean faster than any of the other cookware in the chuck box. Just have to know how to do it. I always get "stuck" with cleaning the dutch ovens, and I love it because I'm done and had a cup of post-dinner coffee before the boys get done with the dishes. Stosh