OneHour

Dan, We look for: 1) The BSA logo'ed wheels. These are dead give away. Pinecar and the likes do not have these wheels. 2) The axles are nails. Pinecar are rods. 3) Bodies are all precut the same way. We have done this for the past 10 years. We come to know these bodies quite well. Sometimes, we let them through if the have the BSA wheels. Take a look at the variety of bodies that PineCar has: http://www.a2zhobbies.com/PineCar/Car_Kits/ . It will be very obvious. 4) The distances between the axles. There is a pinewood derby ruler that will allow you to check. As I posted previously, it is harder to find and id these shortcuts because you can get the whole car pre-built out of BSA kit on the Internet, granted that you'll be paying for $50-$100 for them. As for precut bodies, we begin to care less about the precut bodies since we have a pinewood derby workshop day where we ... precut the bodies for the folks any way! ... for the powertool challenged folks. SKUDRV, If indeed Kmart sells BSA kits, then it will definitely make it easier to mess up at the last minute and still have time to put another car together. Hmmmm ... for some reasons, I always thought that Beta Crafts manufactured the kits. I usually buy the 18-wheeler kits from them for our Open Division race. The wheels are exactly the same, but without the BSA logo. They used to manufacture the 18-wheeler pinewood kits for BSA; as a matter of fact, just bought a dozen 18-wheelers kits for our upcoming pinewood derby race in January. Oh well, the Mackin Group may be someone new ... but something is interesting about them. The Mackin Group, LLC is a toy maker with anual income of $99,000 from the Illinois area. Assuming that they make BSA kits, then I would expect their anual income be in the neighborhood of about $500,000+ since there are boatload of cubs out there. Let's assume that there are 70,000 cubs participate in pwd. That means that there should be about $245k of revenue for them just in pinewood kit alone. That is interesting. 1Hour(This message has been edited by OneHour)

Welcome to the forums! I find it hard to believe that BSA would allow their logo'ed PWD kit to be sold outside of the BSA scoutshop. Now, the folks who make the kit can sell the kit to distributors who may sell it at Kmart but not as BSA logo'ed kit. I have seen the kits from Kmart, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, etc..., and they are usually kits made by Pinecar. These are not accepted by our Pack. So the bottom line is whether or not your pack will allow non-BSA kit to be run in the race. There are folks out there on the Internet selling precut BSA pwd cars and pre-grooved and polished BSA wheels and axles. So ... curiosity ... why would a birdhouse kit make it more convenient when the races start? Not unless the birdhouse has four wheels on it ... hhhmmmm ... that's not bad idea for a pwd car for this year! 1Hour

I like oak, pecan, and maple. They are harder wood than others. Maple and pecan is more so than oak. My walking stick is made out of a 5' oak branch that I found hiking through one of our fine State Parks (ssshhhhh ... don't tell anyone from the State Park). It was dried and I stripped off the barks quite easily. I lightly sanded with a palm sander. I applied a pre-stained coat to seal the dimples, then a light coat of cherry stain and then a coat of polyurethane. To decorate it, I put the rank medallions each time my sons get their ranks. 1Hour

bchan, I wouldn't. I bought the helicopter kit to use it on my pinewood derby 18-wheeler entry in our Pack's Open Division. The kit is small and so are the nails. The wood is thin and thus very easily broken. The nails are so small that all you need is your fingers to push them in! They do not last very long. Home Depot has great birdhouse kit and they do set up kids workshop to build these things on Saturdays. The kits are free to the boys and they get to work in Home Depot! By the way, Home Depot or Lowe's has scrap wood bucket that you can get your hands in! 1hour(This message has been edited by OneHour)

For me and the troop, it doesn't matter how you fold it ... as long as it goes into the bag dry! We use the tents every month so these tents get a regular work out! As for my personal tents (especially the Taj Mahal ... 3 rooms and then some), I threw away the bag because no matter how hard I tried, I can't get it back in there. I ended up buying an extra-large duffle to put it loosely in. From time to time (4-5 times a year in addition to the 2-3 Pack campouts), I'd assemble the poles and leave them for a week at a time to preserve the shock cords. Most people make the mistake of leaving the poles disassembled for long periods of time (months to years). The shock cords become brittle and they would wonder why the cords break on them! Once a year, I would reseal the seams! To date, none of my tents leak nor break. I have a 10-person, a 6-person, a 2-person, and (2) 1-person. Bottom line ... a dry tent is a happy tent! 1Hour

I got an Alps Denali. It has been great for 3 years, 6 backpack trips so far. Lots of space, but not enough pockets though (I like pockets!). I like the built-in cover underneath the backpack for those rainy days. Love the fanny pack. I'd keep my food in there and just detach it to hang the food supply on the tree. 5500 cu in is quite large but I managed to stuff it ... resulting in 55-60 lbs worth of backpack on my first outing. I learned to travel light after that. There isn't a really good place to attach tent or sleeping mat outside of the pack, but most internal backpacks are the same! I got the Denali for about $80 (if I remember it correctly) with the ScoutDirect deal from Alps Mountaineering. My oldest outgrew his Kelty external. So, I bought him an Alps Mountaineering Red Tail (4500 cu in). He loved it. I bought it at REI outlet with 30% discount on top of the sale price, resulting in $60 for the backpack. Not bad at all! Now, one of the ASM in our troop has both the Alps' Denali and the Kelty Red Cloud. He liked the Red Cloud better. It has more pockets for him, but he gave the Red Cloud to his son and kep the Denali. I think that the Red Cloud and the Denali are the same cu in and retail price $149 and they seem to have the same feature, including the removable fanny pack (although, I don't remember it on his pack). I took a look at both and for the price that I got the Denali ... I'm happy with it. The extra $ went to buy me the backpacking stove and the good mess kit. If I were you, I'd go and try them out to see which fits you better. That is the most important factor. REI, WholeEarth, etc. have Alps and Kelty. All else fails, ask Alps and Kelty to see if they same sample in the local stores. 1Hour

It seems that they don't listen, but they do. Our former SPL (a young 14.5 years old Life Scout) sent me an email. He said, "I remember what you taught me in JLT about leadership. Have I done a good job as an SPL? What else can I do to make me a better leader?" I fell off my chair! Another former SPL whispered to me during a PLC (He was asked to be a JASM and thus gets to sit in the back with the scoutmasters). He said, "Sitting back here, now I realized what you have said and taught us." So ... bottom line ... the four T's will work with them: talk, teach, tutor, and trust them! ... which you have been advising this forum for the past 4 years! ... in addition to the fore-mentioned traits and qualities. 1Hour

Great minds think a like ... we brought in SCA early. We got them in this past Pack meeting. They brought swords, chain-link armors, damsels in distress ... okay ...womem dressed in medieval garments, a knight in rusted armor, ect. They also showed the boys slides of the Renessaince Festival and talked to them about the medieval time period. Great stuffs!

Jeff, Congratulations. Enjoy it while you can. Once the hum-drum of cub scouting kicks in, once soccer, basketball, football, or whatever starts and these boys start to join the teams, then the attendance starts to drop off. Once the parents start to think that this is more work than was first advertised or they realize that cub scout is not boy scout that they were thinking of ... then the kids slowly stop coming. But ... on the other hand, if you keep up with the same energy and fun, you should have a grand time with the boys! Remember, kids at this age will attend if their parents have fun, too! Good luck ... it's really great to see if all 20 tigers at Webelos 2 cross over in 4.5 years! I saw my oldest son's Tiger den crossed over to boy scout with 8 of the orginal 11 and my second son's Tiger den with 8 of the original 12. 1Hour

mtm25653, check out this previous thread to get some ideas of what I did with our pack as a cubmaster once upon a time: http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=86452#id_86472

Ron, Best of luck to you and your son! Whatever that something else is, support him fully and he will excel! See you down the road somewhere, some place. YIS, 1Hour

Actually, ours goes something like this: (nursery rhyme ... stopping at an appropriate time) Chorus: (with your arms motioning the throwing of the ...) The window, the window, The second story window, With a heave and a ho and a mighty throw, We threw it out the window! (So, let's take Jack and Jill for example) Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pale of water Jack fell down and broke his crown and .... (pause for effect) Chorus: We threw it out the window. The window, the window, The second story window, With a heave and a ho and a mighty throw, We threw it out the window! Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty dumpty had a great fall and all the kings horses and all the kings men ... (pause for effect) Chorus: Threw him out, the window... The window, the window, The second story window, With a heave and a ho and a mighty throw, We threw it out the window! (and then one year the boys asked me for Barney! Well it goes something like this ...) Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination. (Come on everyone sings, you know the tune!) When he's tall, He's what we call A dinosaur sensation! Barney comes to play with us ... and Chorus: We threw him out the window! The window, the window, The second story window, With a heave and a ho And a mighty throw, We threw it out the window! They all burst out laughing, rolling all over the floor! Yes, my scouts who were my cubs still sing these silly songs with me ... and they love it! Their all time favorite? "God Bless My Underwear!" The most requested song during our campfires!

Here is the complete list of: Things I Learned From My Mother: 1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE. " If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning." 2. My mother taught me RELIGION. " You better pray that will come out of the carpet." 3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL. " If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!" 4. My mother taught me LOGIC. " Because I said so, that's why." 5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC. " If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me." 6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT. " Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident." 7. My mother taught me IRONY. " Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about." 8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS. " Shut your mouth and eat your supper." 9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM. " Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!" 10. My mother taught me about STAMINA. " You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone." 11. My mother taught me about WEATHER. " This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it." 12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY. " If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!" 13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE. " I brought you into this world, and I can take you out." 14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION. " Stop acting like your father!" 15. My mother taught me about ENVY. " There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do." 16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION. " Just wait until we get home." 17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING. " You are going to get it when you get home!" 18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE. " If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way." 19. My mother taught me ESP. " Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?" 20. My mother taught me HUMOR. " When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me." 21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT. " If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up." 22. My mother taught me GENETICS. " You're just like your father." 23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS. " Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?" 24. My mother taught me WISDOM. " When you get to be my age, you'll understand." 25. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE. " One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you"

I don't know SW ... I'd thought that my spiel appropriately dredges out the necessary hole in the conversations! Alright, one thing that I will have to apologize ... I forgot to call out for ... "high water pant!" Right, Semp? OGE, I think that SW's comment was every bit auger this topic; as a matter of fact, it even keeps us riveted! Play on words ... it's for for the faint of heart!

Aidan_MacAnBhaird ... sometimes you have to laugh to keep going. Semp and I and a couple others may make light of the situation, but we are here to contribute what little that we know about scouting. This is what we need to do more with the boys in our unit ... laugh and have fun. If each of us do our job right, the way it was meant to be, then there won't be this thread. As I indicated on another thread, I'm doing this for three reasons (and I'm very sure that the majority of the people here as well) and they have nothing to do with numbers, nothing to do with names, nothing to do with ranks, nothing to with requirements! They are the ones who said, (1) "Dad, when I grow up I want to be a Den Leader just like you!" (Tiger, 1999), (2) "Dad, that was great! I love you!"(Tiger, 2001), and finally, (3) "Dad, it was fun tonight! Thanks, Dad!" (Tiger, 2006)!

ScoutmasterRon, what is the weather like there at WSR? High's? Low's? Slightly north of the Bay Area, how is the swim in the lake? Water temp? Approximately how far apart are the programs areas? Thanks! We are looking to possibly go West as well. 1Hour

I don't know SWScouter. I dig this hole issue. It's great to pit Ed and Brian in this hole problem. They and everyone else seem to be mired in the thick of the hole thing. Semp, your sinking feeling probably started when the h and the r were dropped (humane reasoning) from the hole shrinking problem. What we need is to find the matter and fill it back its hole self again. If we stand back and take a look at the niche that this hole thing started out with, we will find that your (and our) depression that we are in is really started with a fissure of suggestions just to help undertake the hole shrinking problem. Now, we all can burrow and mire ourselves in this cavernous hole problem or we can puncture and fill the hole matter and gap with what we do best. Anything else would be a stop-gap! To a void, we should not sink to this level any more ... trying to answer whether it's a hole or half a hole. The hole thing should be left to the birds. We should worry about our unit and the hole that will be left behind when we do sink back into our daily grinds! ps: Semp ... no thesaurus was used ... just my emptied noggin that is filled with irrelevant matters! (This message has been edited by OneHour)

Ahhhhhh ... now I know why I like Cub Scout so much! They are the most innocent faces on this Earth! We had our first Tiger Den meeting last night. They laughed at everything that I said! (although, I'd like for them to laugh with me! ) Anyway, we went through the Bobcat requirements. We played old games. We cheered old cheers. We sang "The Second Story Window" with "Barney" is the start off song. We sang "God Bless My Underwear." They all left last night, each with a grin on his face (even the tiger partner). I do believe that I will see all 10 at their Eagle's COH! Best off? My youngest said to me as we were driving home, "Dad, that was fun! Thanks, Dad." This is why I spend 1 hour a week ....

In our troop, we use our patrols to compete; however, we take 1-2 volunteers from the older scouts' patrol to serve as troop guides to our NSPs. Our camporee usually occurs the month after our new scouts join the troop! They are green; as a result, most of their skills for the camporee are ojt (on the job training)! So far, our troop guides or elected troop guides are doing great teaching these skills on the fly. I do not subscribe to the mentality that one or two troops have ... to win at all costs, ie. put together the "A" team. 1Hour

I sit correct ... Astro Boy was in my native tongue at the time (the comic that was I was reading was not in Japanese). All other comics were in French eventhough all but Asterix and Obelix were Belgian's comic books. I'm very confident that they weren't in English! I didn't know how to speak English at that time ... not to say that I can today )! Yes, you can find some of them in English, Tintin, Asterix and Astro Boy ... and a good number of Lucky Luke strips were translated as well. Nevertheless, they just don't draw comics or write musics/songs as they used to.(This message has been edited by OneHour)

I can spend hours reading comic books such as: Asterix and Obelix Tintin Lucky Luc Nero Smurfs Gaston Astro Boy all in French of course, back whence ... As I grew older, my list is fairly comparable to that of Fuzzy's, adding the likes of Gordon Lightfoot, Terry Jacks, Lobo, etc. As for the tubes, icons would come from Leave It to Beaver, Courtship of Eddie's Father, My Three Sons, Gillian's, etc.

I can only speak for our Troop. So here it goes: I have talked to the boys who left the troop and here are the reasons: (age) and reason (best of my recollection) - (13,15,16, 16) "I want to concentrate on baseball, football, basketball, and track." - (15,15,16,16,) "I wish that the troop stayed the way it was ..." scoutmaster-run and twenty or so boys (another story for another day). Their parents did not like the new set of scoutmasters and the boy-lead program that we would like to have! - (11,11,12) "I don't like scouting and I never did." - (12,13) (from the parents) "My son needs to concentrate on his school. He is taking heavy load of honor classes and he is not doing well (something that I am considering for my oldest son right now)" - 6 of them moved (1) out of the neighborhood, (3) to another part of Houston (3) to another state. - 4 of the older scouts stayed dormant. Don't know the reason, but they show up from time to time. - About 3 scouts never show up again after the first few meetings. Again, currently, we have 72 boys and three new prospects showed up at our troop meeting, moved from another state. Yes, we have attrition as every troop has, but not one scout left for the reasons stated. Even our Advancement Chair who gave us his feedbacks on the BORs has not mentioned that the scouts are not happy with the "outdated" materials, styles, methods, uniforms, silly magazines, etc. What seems to be the one common request amongst the boys is more play time and the PLC obliged! Will we ever have a need to survive in the wilderness? May be ... may be not. Will we ever have a need to cook, be independent, and lead others, you bet ya! Take my job for example. I'm a networker. Why do I need to learn about 100 years old communication theories? Why do I need to learn 200 years old Calculus theories and practices? Why do I need to go through 200 years of US history and 2000 years of world history? Why do I need to go through College? Nowaday, I don't but what all of these old knowledge do is allow me to think and adapt to my future! Scouting teaches leadership through (granted) old method, techniques, and ideals, but these are fundamentals and the basis! After all, shedding the materialistic and concrete world, the boys will end up back to the basics of nature! Lastly, the old world scouting teaches them that there is still the outdoor and they can enjoy the outdoor whether they was in scouting for 1 campout or the entire time. I'm fairly sure that all fathers/mothers who got their sons into scouting have touched, been, heard about scouting before! As for the boys who got themselves into scouting without their parents suggesting which is the large portion of the cubs and transitioned webelos, then the old program has just sold itself! 1Hour

what they are doing is to plant the seeds and hoping that the program will sell itself and prospers. There will come a time when the pack/troop/crew will have the fortune to land a great set of adult leaders who care in enough to care it, feed it, and grow it. scoutldr is right, each district, council, or region has its own target number to grow. Each DE has objectives for his/her district. As in any corporation, you cannot measure growth, effectiveness, or wellness based on steady state.

Chippewa, I'll go one better. Our District held a "transition fair" for the packs in the District. Just like a college night for the high school seniors, our District would have all the troops in the district to have a booth to show off their best and invited all of the graduating webelos to come and "shop!" It was very well received. One thing that our District stresses is for Webelos leaders to shy away from feeding into a troop. They encourage troops and packs to encourage their cubs to shop around "individually." If a webelos comes to our troop, I try not to sell our troop, but I sell scouting and its ideals. This is exactly what I did last troop meeting to seven Webelos who came to visit us. Within 5 miles radius of my home, there are 3-5 troops. Within 10 miles radius of us, there are 5-10 troops. So there are many specialized troops that do great stuffs that these cubs don't know about. Have your District try it, hold a "Transition Night" and publicized it to all packs ... you'll be surprised. 1Hour

I don't get it. Why are we discussing glooms and dooms of scouting? (brianbuf) 30% decrease in Boy's Life spells doom? Why aren't we celebrating the great recruiting season that some here are having? Starwolfmom indicated that she had a great recruiting night increase her pack by 11 boys. Blazer63 has trouble with his troop doubling its size! A great problem to have nevertheless! WVCubdad indicated that his pack is getting 11 new tigers. Our troop got 21 new scouts this past transition that brought us to 72 boys strong. Our pack just got 48 new boys the other night that brough us to 110 strong. I'm fairly sure that other troops and packs are getting their fair share of recruiting. So ... what's with the gloom and doom? Why is Boys' Life down? Maybe parents like me are finally tired of paying for 3 of the same magazines! In our household, we have three scouts and all that we need is 1 Boys' Life. By the way, the number of scouts increased by 33% in our household eventhough Boys' Life subscription decreased by 66%! Come on ... celebrate the good stuffs instead of dwell on the negatives! What are the good stuffs? Scouting is the good stuffs! It has been for close to 100 years and will be despite others' attempts to do otherwise! 1Hour