AnneinMpls

Explain how you did that please?

Here's the Green Bar Website: http://www.greenbar.ws/4scouts/index.cfm Anne in Mpls

It is I, Sister Katana of Enlightenment! Hear these words of wisdom! T'is better to be standing in the short line of the watch list, than to stand for hours among the masses. Yes, I am on the Watch List. Or one of em. I guess something good came of my union organizing days I tell ya, you feel absolutely catered to when you get to bypass the regular security line at the airport! Such personal attention! Such service! Actually, I dont think we in the short line even had to take off our shoes...they just looked deeply into our eyes while asking the same standard questions... Sister Katana of enlightenment in Mpls

people, this isn't even a challenge. Here's a challenge. Invent a cobbler recipe for foraged ingredients in the habitats found where you camp. On your mark, Get set, GO

Easy folks, There are many many faiths that specify a fairly precise time of day, and or day of the week for their observances. More information is needed. Anne in Mpls

Sigh. This is so similar to what is happening in our local Girl Scout council. In order for a troop leader to take her girls anywhere overnight, she now has to complete: online orientation, 1.5 hours fast start coaching session 1.5 hours Leadership Essentials (which teaches essentially nothing about leadership)3 hours THEN, Field Trips and Tours 1.5 hours (in order to go anywhere) Girls Cook In (I am not kidding.)1.5 hours (in order to make a freaking sandwich.) Girls Sleep In 2 hours (in order to fall asleep. Indoors.) THEN, if they want to sleep in a tent and cook outside: Girls Cook Out 3.5 hours (apparently required even to make a sandwich outdoors.) Girls Sleep Out 4 hours (in order to fall asleep, outside of 4 walls and a roof.) I can hardly wait for the day when leaders will be required to take a three hour training called Girls Sit In Chairs before being allowed to take the Girls Sit and/or Lay upon the Ground. To be followed by Girls Move About Slowly Indoors before taking Girls Move About Slowly Out of Doors. I'm spending an hour at council today to have the new training plan explained to me. I wish them luck. There's got to be a point at which folks will wake up and say enough is enough. Anne, who cooks and sleeps and has her being, indoors and out, (and trains others to do likewise) in Mpls

So sorry! How to correct this gaff? CalicoPenn - thank you! Yer awesome! Packsaddle, you are nothing to me! That better? Anne, always trying to be the tactful one, in Mpls Nah, I appreciate Packsaddle too! Hugs!

Hey, thanks so much for mentioning this! I'll be at council today - but oh how cool it's all available online! So much better than another book to carry around ) Anne in Mpls

Packsaddle, you are amazing! I had tried hunting online to identify it myself and got no where. Yes, I'm pretty sure you've identfied it correctly. The range and habitat fit, as do all the descriptions, including the grass-like leaves. I'll have to look more carefully this year and see if I can identify it in flower. No idea it was an edible plant as well...very cool! Anne in Mpls

ROTFLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like I can't identify a cattail No, these are on a somewhat tall stalk (thin and half the height of a cattail!!) and the seeds form a 3-4 inch diameter round ball that looks almost exactly like a dandelion puffball. They grow in dryish sandy poor soil, with mixed prairie-type grasses. Anne in Mpls

Matches? We don need no steenking matches. Late summer/fall there's a weed that makes these giant puff balls, like a dried dandelion puff ball on steroids. They are quite tall compared to the grasses the grow among. The stalk under the puff ball is also nicely dried out, and thick, almost woody. I don't know what it is, just know that it holds a flame nicely. I gather 3-5 of these, and can get a nice fire going with a hotspark. Anne in Mpls

Nor did their government abandon them in their time of need. (My cousin Stephanie was sandbagging last week - her boss paid everybody who went to sandbagging instead of to work. She was torn trying to decide whether to evacuate her preschool-age daughter down here to the cities.) Anne in Mpls

Sigh, I am thinking you are well-intentioned, but perhaps not putting your talents to work in the right environment. I am reminded of a person I had a hard time dealing with who is now in a different volunteer position and doing ok with it. She would, quite frankly, meddle. Nothing was good enough for her, she always had ideas, lots and lots of ideas, of how to do things better. Never mind, she would bring them up at the most inopportune times, announce competing events right on top of already-planned events, and generally only had her own kids' best interests in mind - rather than a broader perspective of what was really best for the group as a whole. A lot of it was due to inexperience...she would say things like, we should do *service projects* for the *community*. As if...never before in the history of mankind had anyone thought of such a thing. Umm, and we did tons of service! Then she would pick up on the current tagline of the organization, and pass the phrase off as if it were her very own unique discovery, and we should be dazzled by her brilliant perception of what the program could truly be if only... This person was *hard to take*. A real pain in the patootie. and, she was brilliant at fundraisers. So that's where we put her - higher up, so she's only pestering adults, rather than doing her goofiness in front of youth. Now, this person may or may not resemble the person you see in the mirror. Keep things very basic - focus on a well-run and well-staffed troop committee. Focus on supporting the program that the Scoutmaster brings you from the boy leadership. Approach your position with the spirit of servant leadership. Help make your Scoutmaster's job *easier* - don't ever let it be said that you made his job *harder*. That would be a sure sign you are not doing the job you signed up to do. Keep this in mind: It's boy scouting, not grownup scouting! All the cool opportunities you see dont mean sqwat if it's not developing the boys' leadership. Another thing, dont ever do a sneak attack via the agenda thing either. Ive seen this person do it, and I've seen others employ this tactic also. It's a sure sign of a lack of confidence- be forthright. If you want ot have a meeting about a particular issue, name the issue so others can be as well-prepared as you for the meeting. Don't pull any "gotcha's", no mean surprises, no going behind someone's back to get the answer you want, and pulling it out when you want to score points. Check any and all of that kind of attitude at the door. Be kind to your scoutmaster - he's probably doing a much better job than you imagine Anne in Mpls

Ok, so who do I put in the chair for the advancement committee? I got like, 3 eagle scouts, a US judge, a former mayor as the chair... I cut the dead weight when I could find it... Help! Anne in Mpls week 54 and counting (What are these months y'all are talking about??)

Thanks Eagle! I guess I'm a little taken aback by the invite: In my first year as a UC, I oversaw the demise of both units I was assigned. A nearby unit wanted to get to know me, I helped get their charter renewed in the nick of time, they started inviting me to their committee meetings, etc. so I asked if I could take them on too, then that morphed into being named ADC - my area now has three viable units, and no UCs but me. I'm now into my second cycle of rechartering. So not sure I can top my first year's performance So you can see my confusion over a letter addressed to "top volunteers"! I was kinda thinking of woodbadge this summer...roadtripping out to New Mexico sounds like a blast too, but Woodbadge is certainly more affordable, especially considering I wouldn't have to take as much time off work to do it. (Important as a single mom..)