Porteiro

Our boys want to make snow shoes, so I'm trying to figure out how to do it myself so that I can then teach them. I know how to bend the frame, but I'm at a loss as to what kind of material I can use for the "webbing" or "decking" material, as seen in these two pictures: http://www.inquiry.net/images/pvc_pi1.jpg http://www.gec-bsa.org/fs/page/000734/snowshoes01.jpg I've seen hypalon rubber suggested, but what I can find online is way too expensive. Any ideas on a readily available, inexpensive material that we can use?

Thanks! Those PDFs were exactly what I was looking for. I'm also glad to hear that TroopMaster will do it as well. I need to learn how to use that program better.

By adequate, I mean that they know the material well enough know whether the boy has fulfilled the requirements or not, which should be the minimum standard. We had a boy who had fulfilled all of the requirements for an obscure merit badge. All he needed was a counselor to make sure that what he did was good enough. I personally spent many hours over a couple of weeks trying to find an "expert" merit badge counselor for him. (Yes, I tried contacting every single counselor for that merit badge in our district.) At a certain point, it makes a lot more sense to to find a MBC who's willing an available when you can't find an expert who's willing and available. There's no way I was going to tell the boy that he couldn't earn his MB because of my inability to find him an expert MBC. No, it's not ideal. But I'm forced do the best with the resources I have.

I've heard (second hand) that our district office is telling people that adults are no longer supposed to put an patches on the right pocket of their uniforms. Can anybody confirm or confound this claim?

Does anybody know of a form that will let me print out my own filled out blue cards? I found one pdf (http://www.troop137.com/pdf/bluecards.pdf that lets you print them out, but doesn't let you type in any of the information beforehand. I found a word document (http://www.usscouts.org/usscouts/advance/docs/Merit-Badge-Application-34124A.doc) that lets you type in the information, but isn't set up to print it on both sides of the card. Does anybody know of an electronic blue card form with the best of both worlds, so you can print out 3 filled out cards on a single sheet of card stock?

I believe that far and away the #1 most import qualification for a good MBC is that they've able and willing to work with the boys. Looking at the requirements, most intelligent and educated adults can adequately serve as counselors for the vast majority of merit badges after a few hours study and preparation. If you've got an expert around who's willing and able to serve as a MBC, that's fantastic. But don't let the lack of such experts keep you from providing MBCs for the boys.

On a recent camp out I ate a dehydrated meal that expired in 2006. Canned meat, on the other hand, I'd be more cautious with.

I've worked as and received training for most Cub Scout positions, and I honestly don't see the different Cub Scouting programs being more different from each other than Boy Scouts vs. Varsity Scouts vs. Sea Scouts vs. Ventures.

I have never owned uniform pants/shorts since I was 12 years old. Despite being active in Scouting for much of my life, I've never felt the lack, nor have I ever been in a situation where a sizable percentage of people wore the full uniform.

"If someone is going to go to all that trouble, why not just get an official uniform?" There could be many reasons, but the one that I was think of was that they just want to use a better quality shirt for their uniform.

What would your reaction be if somebody took a nice, high-quality tan shirt and used it as a Boy Scout uniform, applying patches, etc. to it? Also, what do you think other people's general reaction would be, if they noticed it? Would that opinion change at all if they went to the bother of salvaging the buttons and "Boy Scouts of America" patch from an old worn-out uniform shirt?

Any thoughts as to why there seem to be so many more knot device patches available for scouters that work with cub scouts than those that work with boy scouts, varsity scouts, and ventures? Do you think this was done intentionally by national, or did it just accidentally happen?

The difficult part with this award is that it requires that the unit be very active in such things. One of the things I liked about the National Camping Award was that all of the camping didn't have to be done with the Boy Scouts. With this award, it doesn't matter how active the boy is in, say, aquatics, if his *unit* doesn't do it, he can never get the award.(This message has been edited by Porteiro)

My local scout shop informed me that the BSA National Camping Award (100/500/1000 days/nights camping) has been discontinued. But I see some relatively recent threads about qualifying for this award. Can anybody confirm or refute this claim?