orennoah

Joni- Having Quartermastered a course, I can assure you that: (a) None of the staff are making any money off of the course; (b) To the contrary, the staff pay for the opportunity to work their rear-ends off; and © The council doesn't make any money off of the course. The Course charges what it costs to put it on. Also, in my experience, corporate leadership courses, especially ones that intense and time-consuming, cost far more than Wood Badge. I really encourage you to take the course and, if money is an issue for you, seek a scholarship. It will be worth it.

Congratulations and thanks for sharing. There's no telling whom you are helping by sharing your challenges and triumphs. Keep it up!

Teach and tie away. Turk's Head woggles are routinely taught and used in Youth Leader Training for Boy Scouts. Why not for Cubs? I can't think of any reason.

Try Barkeeper's Friend. It does wonders with cooked-on crud. (But NEVER for use on cast iron.)

Is your wedding reception going to feature foilpack meals and Dutch oven cobblers? If not, you''re still sane. If so, can I get an invite?

For his AOL, I gave my godson an engraved titanium spork. Rather than looking back on his achievements as a Cub, I focused on the challenges he was taking on as a Boy Scout. BTW, he's now the SPL of his Troop and uses his spork on every outing. - Oren

This is awesome and quite overdue. Congratulations to Kinlichiinii Ashkii John and his family! (I feel a Scoutmaster Minute coming on. Not only is this young man showing his duty to God, he's providing a great example of citizenship.)(This message has been edited by orennoah)

I, along with 150 or so other Scouters and Scouts, recebtkt attended a funeral for a young Eagle and Army Sgt., killed in Iraq. We, at the family's request, attended in uniform and sat together. Scouts holding flags lined the entrances before the service. It was an impressive and inspiring sight, for both the general public and for us in Scouting. (In fact, as grizzled and hardened as I am -or would like to be, I'm starting to tear up at the memory of it.)

Doubt it was a reaction to any vaccine. Much more likely, a reaction to the extreme anziety created by that mom. Excessive worrying often brings about what is feared most.

My training? The only training that I've received from BSA that ACTUALLY taught me how to lead boys in the woods was earning my First Class when I was a lad. Truth be told, there's nothing I've learned in the BSA adult training that I already hadn't known from my Scouting days. I'm NOT knocking adult training. Many people didn't have the experience of being a Scout in an active backpack-oriented Troop. Plus, we all have to be working "off the same page." However, I don't think that you need to have certification cards spilling out of your wallet in order to lead Scouts on a backpack trip. Jeez. It's hard enough to find volunteers with enough free time to go on the trips, let alone attend lots of training sessions. YMMV.

Yes2Man: Please keep your personal politics out of this discussion. There are lots of us "on the left" who are life-long dedicated Scouters, just as there are those "on the right" and "in the middle" and "all over the map." It's not in Scouting's best interests to be pushed or pulled in ANYONE's political corner. We'll all suffer, especially the boys. Comments like yours tend to do both. Bob T: And the "new kid's" reaction was?

Three years ago, we were returning to Northern California from a summer camp in Southern California (Camp Cherry Valley on Catalina Island, THE best summer camp I've ever attended). We were in a school bus and had just left long, straight, boring Highway 5 to eat at roadside diner in the middle of nowhere. We saw a motorist and his passenger trying to push a disabled sedan to the gas station, which was on a rather significant rise. No way they were going to get the car up that. So, we pulled over and the Scouts ran from the bus, surrounded the car, pushed it up to the gas station and ran back onto the bus. We still laugh about that today. Just imagine the poor motorist and passenger. They know it's pretty hopeless trying to get their car up the hill to the gas station in the middle of nowhere and then, miraculously, their car is surrounded by Boy Scouts (if full Class A, I might add) who push their car to the station and then, just as quickly, disappear. We hope that they still tell their story.

You are a true Scouter, who grasps the Scout Spirit and the Brotherhood of Scouting.

1 out of 2.

Two ideas: (A) Dump the foil pack notion and go with "omelets in a bag." Easy to do, one pot, no clean-up. (B) Mountain man breakfast in foil packs. First, brown some sausage in the pack. Open and add potatoes. Cook for "a bit." Open and add eggs and cheese. Cook for "a bit longer."