packsaddle

It has been an eventful year and promises to continue to be. I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving....and a warm and safe one for all your families.

I have had the experience of finding incorrect ages and birthdates in the council records. The solution was simple but took a while. I notified them of the error and one-by-one the parents produced the evidence needed to prove the correct birthdates. It is possible to make those changes.

"Maybe it is just me...", lol. The moms of whom I write would be mortified either way. I suspect they were hoping for a stall, a flush and a light. I gave them a lot of credit for putting up with the family campout in reasonably good spirits. They tried really hard and managed to make it for two nights with the knowledge that in just a few short hours would be a hot bath....and a real toilet. Edit: Oops, did I say "short" hours?

I actually enjoyed the Cub Scout family campouts immensely. Yes, they were messy, noisy, children all over the place, no way to deny any of that. And it had no resemblance to what I do backpacking. But these were families trying out something new or else doing something they already do fairly often and are there now to have fun with their children...and that's what we did. My favorite moments: 1) sending a pack of cubs over the hill to wake up the Boy Scout troop, 2) watching the boys learn how to catch snakes and frogs at the lake, 3) watching them terrorize their moms and sisters with snakes and frogs, 3) Watching women vainly trying to apply makeup on a campout!, 4) listening to the mom ask where the bathroom is...and the look of shock and horror when I point to the woods. "Holler if you need help." Yes, it's the simple things that bring the most pleasure.

The Presbyterian church I attended growing up didn't allow the American flag or troop flag inside the church at all. Period. There was some serious discussion about this policy but the church was adamant. My Eagle ceremony consisted of about 5 minutes of recognition during a regular church service. Nothing more.

I'm with JoeBob on this. But our council doesn't require letters, only names of persons who would be willing if asked.

TwoCub, just shrug it off and remind them more often about personal responsibility. I like the paper handbook too. They refer to my old one as the 'yellow pages'.

I really miss Vicki.

I noticed this on LinkedIn and thought it might be of interest as another viewpoint on the topic of popcorn sales: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140922202359-5457712-thanks-for-not-buying-popcorn-from-my-son

That option, it turns out, was supposed to be open to me too. They neglected to mention that. I learned about it later.

They don't want the likes of me to vote. I mentioned this to my students and one told me later that if he had known, he could have put me in touch with someone who could have sold me a very realistic but fake DL for $10, same day service, lol (evidently these are typically used to fool bartenders). I'll keep that in mind just in case.

I had left my DL at a relative's house by accident and the FedEx hadn't arrived in time so I presented my concealed weapon permit. It uses the exact same photo as the DL and was issued by the State Law Enforcement Division. They wouldn't accept it. Had to be a DL "....or some other government issued ID". I responded, "What about 'State Law Enforcement Division' do you not understand?". They responded: "The law is the law."

Well I guess I might as well admit that I was turned away from the polls due to not having an 'acceptable' ID. Edit: not that it made any difference in the outcome....

I agree if you're talking about a science class. If it's comparative religions, then I'd say it's ok to teach ABOUT this so-called religion in a comparative religions class.

So.....if the concept is THAT wishy-washy, why again are we having this discussion? Oh yeah,...I can use this if I go to prison, I remember now.

I admit that I'm glad to interrupt this kerfuffle, but to respond to TAHAWK, I do have a couple of questions. I tried for my entire youth to be a good Presbyterian but there were aspects of that flavor of Protestantism that I could never understand, mainly predestination. Like I've mentioned before, I admit that I sucked as a Presbyterian. And as I've wandered through the other flavors and met similar lack of understanding I have at least managed to understand, albeit in simplistic terms, what atheism is as well as agnosticism (sensu Huxley). But this concept of 'humanism' is right up there with transubstantiation, predestination, and so many others. [Here I also mention that I've been told that regardless of what I do, I could never become a real 'Jew'....and that actually hurts some, more than sucking at Presbyterianism actually] I've read numerous opinions on what a 'humanist' is but it seems that every one of them is an authority and they don't agree. So...who IS the ultimate authority for the defining characteristics of 'humanism'? What IS that set of defining characteristics? What or who made THEM the authority on 'humanism'? Moreover, regardless of legal precedents (which are almost as much 'gobbledegook' to me as all those religious things I've mentioned already), what is it about 'humanism' that either qualifies it as a religion or alternatively, disqualifies it as a religion. From what little I think I understand about it, I think it might be possible for me to become a 'humanist' but I'm just not all that certain. Maybe all I need to do is TELL people I'm a humanist and that will make me one? Kind of like how so many members of those Protestant flavors do. Help me understand this stuff. H'mm....maybe Hinduism? Nah....way, WAY too complicated.

Sometimes it's best to take the easy way. Some banks will allow you to open an account without an EIN or a SSN. I've done it when organizing professional meetings and our Cub Scout Pack had a checking account that way as well. The key is not to make a profit and don't expect to be paid interest. But the troop, now, basically uses the CO account and the CO business office just has a sub-feature to their system that keeps account of our funds. I don't see the need to make things so complicated.

Free? A paper notebook and a some pencils are fairly inexpensive. Plus it still works when the power is off..

Yeah, thanks for that quote. At first I thought that maybe you had to sift through a pile of speeches by nutters and then I thought, no, he had to make up that stuff. BUT, that stuff from Morris is beyond description. Like Cambridgeskip noted, it's little comfort to learn that my state isn't the only one that seems to prefer nutters.

Wow, in that last paragraph are those are actual quotes from someplace? If so I'd like to get the references because those are some great quotes. Alternatively, did you just make those up and put "quotation marks" around them for emphasis?

I agree. None of my business. I know of an instance in which the Eagle candidate was grilled by the district eagle person about the boy's religious faith. The boy had responded to a question about his church and the district guy evidently had an adverse personal opinion about that faith so he attempted to 'fail' the boy. The rest of the committee prevailed. The boy was an outstanding scout and did not deserve that kind of treatment.

Been there, done that. Voted for Tricky Dicky. And it worked, sort of. I just wish he'd been successful at his attempt to push socialized medicine through but I guess that 'other thing' got in the way.

If 'supernatural' isn't required to be part of it, a supreme being could just be mom in some families. Or maybe Diana Ross.....

I'll just grade papers. I could have cleaned a septic tank and still had a better evening than watching the returns.

Based on the people who are IN office as well as the ones who are running, we seem to have decided to have our government run by stupid people. I will vote but there is not one single candidate that I like, even the ones I used to like...I don't even like them anymore. I wish there was some way to punish all of them, all of the politicians, all the parties. I can't think of a way though. I'm just angry with no way to hurt the object of my anger.