oldisnewagain1

Congrats nolesrule!! I use to be a Bear...

I am reminded of something BP said "I don't care a fig whether a Scout wears uniform or not so long as his heart is in his work and he carries out the Scout Law."

>Not true there is a guide to wearing a kilt on the Wood Badge site. Obi...do you have that link? Tapadh leibh airson 'ur casoimhneis

1969 (?) VW Bug

Yes, as charter rep of a crew (Maybe I'll get another for troop.)(This message has been edited by oldisnewagain1)

Might I suggest the boys and, to a lesser extent, troops are consumers of Scouting? My thought behind this is if a scout is unhappy with a troop he could switch troops. Just like an unhappy customer at one McDonalds might have a better experience at another McDonalds or in the worst case switch to Burger King. If enough customers switch they might change management or just close that McDonalds. (Is a troop in trouble so different?) What if a troop is unhappy with their district or council events and do their own campouts, events, and training instead? Maybe the troop dislikes the summer camp run by the council and have chosen another camp out of council. Another example, Leaders (both youth and adults) going out of council for training because the training is not offered or they do not like the training offered locally. (This message has been edited by oldisnewagain1)

When I first got out of college, I worked for a short time at Radio Shack and this is what happened to my manager one afternoon. A young fellow came in to rob the store and Larry (the manager) began to open the cash draw asking the fellow why he was doing this. The fellow responded, "So I can buy one of those!" pointing to a boom box. Larry, not missing a beat, hands the guy the biggest boom box in the store and says "Like this one?". (It was the late 80's and these things were huge!) The guy is so excited wanted to hold the box, puts his gun on the counter. Larry cranks the sound up with one hand and takes the gun with the other hand to hide it under the counter. Being the kind of sales guy he was, he spends the next couple minutes explaining all the features of the boom box and convinces the guy he doesn't need any money just good credit. He got the crook to fill out a credit application and to go home to receive a call from "insta-credit" in about an hour. Police found the crook at home waiting next to the phone.

Strangely enough, one of the things that I cherish from a course I took was something handmade out of cheap cord (like parachute cord) Each patrol received a "monkey fist" in their patrol colors on a simple key ring. I still have the monkey fist attached to my current pack Other thoughts: How about a (cheap)branded flash drive with the course materials on it? (Reducing the cost of printed materials for each participant.) A mini led flashlight (This message has been edited by oldisnewagain1)

Dehydrated or free-dried water

Based on my experiences... Let you son establish himself in the troop without you for a year. Now I not saying to give up Scouting but maybe do something on a District level for a year then after that year come back to the troop as an ASM. This keeps you involved and (hopefully) won't be as hectic as CM. Also consider this time tested saying Happy Wife...Happy Life

How about "Binary" Of course there would only be 10 kinds of people Those who understood and those who didn't(This message has been edited by oldisnewagain1)

> Would somebody give the turn table a thump, the record seems to be stuck again. What's a turn table? ... a record?

"Who makes the best hot chocolate? " My wife

cephalopods (but I seem to remember him calling them polliwogs?) As far as the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus goes I think the introduction of the North Eastern Snow Snake to the area caused the extinction (This message has been edited by oldisnewagain1)

I agree with Eagle92, you don't have to lose your number and veteran status. Our troop recently had to change CO because of the closing of the church we were in and had no problem with council switching to a new CO. If I was in your shoes I would quietly make some inquires about other locations. When you have something in line, approach the church explaining that the pack does not want to be a finical burden on the church and you can move the pack to a new CO if that would help ease the burden. Now my guess is the church will not want to lose the pack and there will be no more talk of "usage fees". Otherwise, you have already lined up a new location.

In discussing some possible upcoming training courses to be held in our district, our council wants us to charge leaders 30% above our cost for the course. Is this normal? I thought the idea was to break even.

>( ok 1 person didn't get the message and was a "red shirt,") Good thing it wasn't a Star Trek theme

Have the 7th, 8th (shudder), 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th editions. ... perhaps what I should have wished for was a missing supplement to the current Handbook. (more along the lines of the 7th or 9th)

...the missing Scout Handbook You know the one with the Scout skills that use to be taught (i.e. fire building, pioneering, etc...)

(Based on a true event) For easy removal of carbon, apply a thin layer of liquid soap to the outside of a pot used before putting it over a wood fire. Liquid soap applied as a thin layer to the inside of the pot before cooking the meal makes the patrol angry during dinner.

Once you have talked to your troop, I recommend http://www.scoutdirect.com/ The equipment they offer is from alps mountaineering, is made really well, and it is heavily discounted for scouts.

Interesting idea,what if several troops wanted to camp the same week with no "official" summer camp program. Hmmm... several of us are also merit badge councilors...

If you planning a Massachusetts Summer Camp trip in 2011, you can cross off Western MA. as of today... Horace A. Moses Scout Reservation- closed for resident camping Chesterfield Scout Reservation - closed for resident camping

Just a quick OPM story, At summer camp, day 4, at 1 AM I get a text message to call a mom because she wants to make sure her son is alright. I guess, since there is signal at camp now, I going to have to bring an battery powered alarm clock to camp next year and stop depending on the alarm feature on the phone. (Because that's the last year I bring the cell phone!)

Kamakamelian: "As to training, so far as I know there's not a scrap of YPT with the problem dads." I have to agree with WAKWIB, your problem might be solved simply by the fact they don't have a valid YPT you can't register them. The dession is out of yours and the council's hands. You can always check this ahead of time using the validation tool or with your council office before the deadline for re-registering. My guess is they won't do the training before your have to turn in your paperwork. Now I am no expert in these kind of things, but I would think the Dads, not being re-registered, would have to reapply as new adult members. But before you could even accept their applications, they would need to take YPT and have proof of taking the course. (Once again I would check using the validation tool or with the council office.) Should they do this, I would also set some ground rules on paper and make them sign that they agree to follow the rules.