resqman

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10965522/site/newsweek/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10965127/site/newsweek/ Here are two articles in newsweek that indicate that boys need to be treated like boys and not girls. Bringing Female leaders into the mix brings the female view of how boys should act and behave. Females may be technically competent in all the merit badge skills and know the book backwards and forwards but they are still women. Boys are being treated like bad girls, when they are really acting like good boys. Boys spend much of their time in a predominatly female run organization called school. They are lead by women 8 hours a day 5 days a week. What they need is a chance to be treated like boys by men at least occasionally. Females in the program changes the program. Some see the change as good. I am not convinced.

In other posts about rules and regs with units, some people say to write every possible thing down and others say use common sense. The idea I liked the most was use the Scout Law as a guide line. Certainly you need a document listing how the unit is chartered and governed. Things like how and how often unit leaders are elected, chosen, withdraw the sword from the stone, or whatever. PDA is one of those areas where people know when it has gone too far when they see it but vary when they write down the rules. Those involved in the PDA are often too involved in their PDA to be aware of others around. I believe that giving a heads up to the couple that you would like them to respect the feelings of others in the unit and to limit PDA to be a reasonable course of action. If other members start making comments, then you would need to remind the couple of your agreement to limit PDA. At this age, the kids need some wiggle room to be able to set their own limits. Let the unit set the standard unoffically by thier reactions, not by some list of rules.

In Georgia, try Yucca Mtn near Dalonega Ga. It is where the U.S. Rangers train. There is a wonderful boulder about 60-80 tall. Several trees on top of the boulder to tie off. The rappell is easy for the first half as you walk down the side, bound down the middle, and free rappell the lower half. Up the side of the boulder are rocks and tree roots that almost make a set of stairs back to the top. The boulder is a 5 minute walk from the parking. We usually get there around 9am, secure our ropes and rappel until around noon. We break for lunch and them move to the rock face another 5 minutes further along. The rock face is about a 150'-180' high, clear of vegetation but with a nice enough slope you can Austrailian rappel at a run. The face is probably 60-80 feet wide so many people can use the rock at once. Usually climbers to one side and rappellers to the other. The face can be climbed without protection to get back to the top to rappell again but is tiring. We usually only got 3-4 rappells in on the face and called it a day. In North Carolina, Blowing Rock is the recognized climbing area. Blowing Rock is in the center to western part of the state.

Reflective tape is what I use. I put a 1" stripe of reflective orange tape around as many items of gear as possible. The orange color is easy to spot, easily recognizable as My gear, and the reflective quality makes it easier to find in low light situations. Shine a flashlight around and it pops out visually. I also use a Sharpie marker to write my last name on items. The combination of orange tape and my name seems to help items get returned to me. I buy my reflective tape at www.galls.com. They offer 8 different colors in four different widths in two lengths. I purchased 150' roll. All my gear has a stripe. I occasionally get heckled about it but I don't lose much gear. I still have some of my gear from 30 years ago where I used fingernail polish to write my name. Much easier are the paint pens available from craft stores. Paint in a marker type dispenser. Durable paint finish in an easy method of writing letters.

I took the Webelos Outdoor Leader Training 2 months ago. When filling out the course evaluation form, there was a box to check if you had an interest in teaching next time. I checked the box. I went out of concil to take the course and was impressed with how much material they were able to cover in the limited amount of time. I felt that I knew at least as much about the topics as some of the presenters, and more in other areas. I will wait and see if I get the call next year. If not, then I will follow up to pass along my skill set.

Primitive Skills? It is hard enough to get someone to teach what I consider basic woods skills. How to lay a proper fire and light it using matches, lighter or other modern fire making device. Now that everyone cooks on stoves, no one seems to know how to lay a fire and light it. Knots? With bungee cords and fiberglass tent poles, no one ties their tent, strings a line for a tarp, or can cut timber to make a lashing project. I remember spending a day or two at summer camp as a boy 30 years ago lighting a fire with a bow and drill as part of wilderness surival merit badge. Somewhere in the garage is my dad's old flint and steel kit. My son and I practice lighting fires NOT using matches. As a Cub Scout he has gotten pretty good with the Gerber Strike Force and has done it successfully with the BSA Hot Spark. The batteries and steel wool have worked well. My son and I harvested "lighter wood" or Fatwood from an old pine stump in the woods behind our house. It took a couple hours to dig up the stump. Add a few more hours to split into finger sized bits. Add a few hours practicing lighting with vaseline soaked cotton balls, dryer lint, cat tails or river birch bark collected from the local pond. Now every time we wander through the woods, he can identify pine stumps by sight and smell. Last Pack campout, I taught a session on matchless fire starting. Getting boys to play with fire was not a difficult task. I had half a dozen BSA Hot Sparks and a couple of Gerber Strike Force, batteries, steel wool, sisal rope disassembled into bird nests, cotton balls and vaseline, dryer lint, and several cat tails. Each den got several methods and tinder and were allowed to practice under the watchful eye of the den leader on a gravel surface. I say start introducing the idea that things can be done and let them try. Teach them the basics and they will yearn for more information. I applaude those who bring the basic woods skills to the boys and encourage the more primitive skills. Put the outing back into Scouting.

I did not intentionally indicate my comfort level in the material in my original post. I am an Eagle scout who had the opportuntity to experience Philmont and Seabase. I was Order of the Arrow and multi year BSA camp counsler. I started as a Cub, through Webelos, Boy Scouting and Explorers(Venturing). Over the years since I was a boy I have followed outdoor skills and have studied a variety of sources in a search for new methods and techniques. I have been a member of a SAR team as well as technical rescue team (High/Low Rope Rescue, Confined Space, Trench, Building Collapse, Hazardous Materials, and Swiftwater rescue) for over a decade. I was an active volunteer Firefighter and EMT in two states. I regularly collect natural materials and practice matchless firestarting as a hobby. My family practices dutch oven cooking in the backyard just for kicks. My sister visited with her kids from 3 states away for a weekend where I presented her with a Patrol box I made for her Girl Scout troop and all the cousins made ice cream in ziplock bags in the backyard. I attended the training to make sure I was spouting the correct current BSA mantra to my boys. I was looking for tips to make the material more interesting to the the boys. I was attending the training to ensure that my Pack would be able to meet the training requirement for quality unit and I would be able to qualify for a knot. I publized the training within my unit, arranged carpooling, and was able to entice 4 other leaders to give up a 16 hour day to complete the training. The instructors did a marvelous job of presenting the material in the time alloted. They took a 2 day course and compacted it into a 12 hour day, included 2 meals and a campfire while covering all 20 of the Webelos activity pins. They presented as much material as they could within the time constraint. The other training was also presented in an excellent manner by those instructors GIVEN THE TIME CONSTRAINT of 5 hours. In both cases the instructors presented as much information as possible within the VERY limited time alloted to them for the topics. Kudos to the instructors for all their efforts before and during class time. My complaint is that the TIME alloted to each topic is so short that every training is only a brief overview. While parents, BSA, and the community at large expect the leaders to be shinning examples of knowledge and leadership, the training that is so often suggested as the cure to all that lacks in BSA is cursory at best. I see that classes I have been attending as a good introductory training for those unfamiliar the material. They also serve to standardize the BSA message and delivery to the boys. The general thoughts on the ride home from training amongst a group of leaders with either years of outdoor experience and/or years of BSA leadership experience was we were all left wanting for more. Maybe the inital classes are what I have been experiencing, introductions to topics. What I would like is a series of additional classes that are offered as 200, 300, or 400 levels of classes in a specific topic. Something for those who have a desire to expand their outdoor cooking beyond a foil dinner. Not a Woodbadge leadership class but a skills oriented class. Merit Badge Counsler Bacholors, Masters, or PHD type classes. I would even welcome an Associate in topics. I know growing up in scouts that newbies were taught by older scouts who learned it at the feet of older scouts. I was fortunate to have leaders who made the time to bring outdoor skills challenges to our attention. The younger ones marveled at the older boys who had only learned it last week from an adult who had read about it in a book the week before. Each showing their mastery of a skill to the uninitated. Each learning by teaching to another. I yearn for easier ways, more interesting ways, more enticing ways to teach often mundane tasks like knot tieing to the boys.

This past weekend I attend Webelos Outdoor Leader Training. The instructors were very knowledgeable, the facilities clean and adequate size for the group, the schedule was well posted and kept to religiously. Those who organized the training and conducted the training were wonderful. The only problem I had was it seemed to treat all topics very superfically. I attended some other training roughly 6 months ago. Safe Swim defense, Climb on Safely and several others. 5 classes in a single Saturday. In all cases the instructors were knowledgeable and well prepared. It was obvious they had been there and done it. They had the equipment, location, and students. What they did not seem to have was time. In all cases the instructors were only allowed at most an hour to present a topic. In that time, they could only begin to introduce the highlights, cover the mandatory BSA rules and offer a tip or two. I could only feel that if you were not familiar with the topic, you would be left with a feeling of incomplete knowledge. If you knew the topic, it was a quick review to get your card punched until it had to be taken again in a year or two. On the ride home from this weekend's training, we were all glad we had taken the training and got a few small tidbits to take away. We commented that we wanted more. More information and more depth to each topic. All of us had been Cub Leaders for at least 3 years but two had significantly more years. We all agreed we wanted training where we could dive into more depth into a topic. Not just 45 minutes of scape the area clean around the fire ring, collect more wood than you think you will need, have water buckets, and preparation is the key to good firemaking. We wanted real tips and tricks to building a fire. We wanted to actually build a fire, to try using different matchless techiques, compare a teepee vs. an A frame, learn by doing. I can understand that with everyone having busy lifes that there may be a problem getting a enough adults to give up half a day just on firebuilding or some other topic. But on the other hand, I am coming away from training with the feeling that we are only scratching the surface. Are others having similar experiences?

I have seen numerous sports jerseys mounted in a shadowbox frame. You would just need a large box to place the entire shirt. You may have to pull the front down a bit more than the back to get the sleeves to roll over to display the patches on the sleeves. The sash only fits one way across the shoulder once the badges are sewn on so that should be easy to figure out. Medals are worn on the pocket flaps. The Philmont items could be attached to the back of the box in the corners to help fill the empty space around the shirt. Or alternately you could have a small box of just Philmont items. Just remember, once you make this shadowbox, he may want to hang it somewhere. A frame of the entire shirt may be very large. For my cub scout, I used his old shirt as the backing of the shadowbox. That way we are using his old shirt but are able to display the patches in a smaller frame. I removed the pocket from the front of the shirt and sewed it to the back of the shirt. I used spray adhesive to attach the back of the shirt to the back of the shadowbox. I then used hot glue to attach the patchs in a pleasing design. He is only a Webelos I so he still has a few more items to add to the Cub Scout shadowbox. Our Webelos decided to wear the tan shirts. He is excited and wanted to show it to his den. I mounted my old patches in the standard frame from the scout store. I did not have my old scout shirt. I removed the merit badges and mounted them in the frame as well. I was an explorer and did the similar thing because I did have that shirt.

"I can not figure out why they are not selling though. they really are cool." I can see where these would be useful models for summer camps and merit badge counslers. I have not reviewed the requirments for Pioneering merit badge, but would these meet any requirements? With the current ideas about cutting timber and making enough logs to build full size towers and the like, these may be an alternative. For marketing, you may need to determine who is your target audience and them market to them. It is boys or parents? Is camps or individuals? I noticed you mentioned as fund raisers but who would I sell these to and what would be my profit margin? I cannot imagine selling these door to door. Maybe as a merit badge counseler I would make the applicants aware of this opportunity. Maybe your local scout store would be willing to carry them.

Pack dues are $45 a year including Boy's Life. $35 or $38 (I don't) remember without Boy's Life. Pack payes for B&G, AOL, 2 camping trips with one catered meal, all badges and rank, leader training, and Pinewood Derby. Scouts get a new handbook at bridging. Popcorn sales supply most of money. We have 45-60 boys in the pack and we spend about $5000-$7000 a year. Den dues vary but usually about $1 per meeting.

There are numerouse BSA awards and publications to use. Emergency Preparedness merit badge First Aid - presented in a variety of awards. Wilderness Survival merit badge and of course the Emergency Preparedenss BSA http://www.scouting.org/pubs/emergency/ Don't overlook Cooking and Camping merit badges FEMA and American Red Cross both have webpages on designing and assembling a family 72 hour kit. Check these web pages. http://www.ready.gov/america/index.html http://www.redcross.org/services/prepare/0,1082,0_77_,00.html Don't forget the FEMA CERT program. This may be something that you may want to look into as a form of troop training. This is a good lead in or refresher for many of the merit badges including First Aid, Fire Safety, and Emergency Preparedness http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/CERT/ There are a number of websites that promote personal preparedness. http://www.equipped.org/ "Equipped To Survive will help you determine the best choices to prepare for anything from a hike in the park to a life threatening emergency or disaster." Numerous awards for family and kid friendly information. Excellent equipment reviews and pages and pages of How To information. http://theepicenter.com/information.html "We not only sell high quality emergency preparedness equipment, but we also provide free disaster planning guides and information." Primarily a vendor but lots of good information around planning. View the Tip'o Week http://www.survival-center.com/ "We've got loads of free preparedness tips covering specific disaster types, surviving nuclear disasters, evacuation planning, bioterrorism protection, SARS self defense, food and water preservation and storage, weapons procurement, caching, first aid and survival medicine, plus reviews of survival books and products." Check out the 'For Beginners' and the 'Bug Out Bag Links' Check out a paperback book from Tom Brown: Tom Brown's Field Guide to City and Suburban Survival (Tom Brown's Field Guides) ISBN: 0425091724 $11.20 new, $9.07 for used copies from Amazon.com Tom has written a number of survival books but this one is for those who are not camping. It offers many examples to use while staying in a typical american home during an emergency without purchasing additional equipment. There are many other websites and forums that offer preparedness information. The above should be generally accepted as pro-family, pro personal responsibility, and do not have what may be considered extreme militaristic or rambo mentalitity type information. I believe it is attributed to Daniel Boone that said " I have never been lost but I have been a bit confused once and awhile" SAR personel are taught when they get lost, to treat it as an impromptu camping trip. You are not lost, you are just camping. The same can be applied to a 72 power outage in your family home. Treat it as a camping trip in your home. Close off parts of you home to maintain heat in a few keep areas. Pitch a tent indoors to provide an even smaller area to maintain heat while sleeping. Backyard grills and camping stoves do a fine job of cooking food. Candles can be lite and provide alternate lighting. Be sure to remind families to ensure the smoke detectors have charged batteries and they have fire extingishers on hand if using open flames like candles and kerosene lanterns or heaters indoors. CO detectors are also very important if using any open flame applicances like portable heaters, stoves, fireplaces, etc. Remind them to crack a window even during cold times to provide a continual source of fresh air. If filling liquid fuel appliances like Coleman stoves and lanterns or kerosene heaters and lanterns, perform that task out of doors when the appliance is cool and have a fire extinguisher on hand. Dutch oven cooking makes tasty food in the back yard just as well as they do on a campout.

I have been on a SAR team for the past decade. We are a ground search team. We use both dog teams and Man Trackers. We also have 4 sets of military night vision goggles and two handheld thermal imaging units for primarily night work. As mentioned in the previous post, urban, wilderness, and air search all differ. We deal in urban and wilderness search. Most victims are located within 1.5 miles of their PLS, Point Last Seen. Most are located near water, be it a puddle, creek, stream, river, lake, pond, drainage ditch, swamp, etc. There is only one victim, but they leave lots of clues. We do not search for the victim, we search for the clues left by the victim. When people move they leave behind disturbances, scuff marks, bent and crushed vegetation, broken branches, overturned pebbles, indentations in soft ground, etc. Not to mention the items they drop or leave behind like food wrappers, smoking materials, clothing, gear, and items from their pockets. From our point of view, the color of the clothing does not really make any difference other than it is a means of identifing the victim once located. If the dogs are tracking, they are following scent trails and/or ground disturbances. If the mantrackers are tracking, they are following ground and vegetation disturbances. We also implement periodic calls to the victim using their names or whistle blows and then listen for responses. The thermal imaging depicts the scene in a black and white scale based on heat. Cool is black and white is Hot. Greys are varying shades between the two extremes. If scanning the area with the thermal imager, we are looking for human shapes. The same is true with the night vision, we are looking for human shapes, not colors. Seaching in the fall and winter are easier since there are less leaves and we can use the devices at longer distances. Spring and summer makes these devices less effective. We find that most victims slow or stop travel at night. With the night vision, thermal imaging, and hand held lights, we can usually catch up to the victim. During the day, the victims often continue to move so we may have to chase them for a while. Our uniforms are grey and black because we also do other rescue work besides SAR. We carry two way radios and are never out of sight of fellow team members. I find that when on campouts with the scouts, those that wear bright colors are easier to find around the edges of the camp than those that wear natural colors in the green, tan, brown, black range. Implement the buddy system. Discuss and teach the Hug-A-Tree program. Teach Wilderness Survival, Emergency Prepardedness, and First Aid merit badges to the troop often. Invite the local SAR team to make a presentation to the troop. Encourage all scouts to carry a whistle on them when on outings. Stress the whistle is for emergencies and not to blow for fun. I would much rather search for a victim wearing all camo but that stays still once they have identified to themselves they are lost vs. a victim wearing blaze orange that keeps moving.

I have used Wearguard in the past and have recieved very good quality garments and amazing quick delivery times. www.wearguard.com They sell a variety of work grade garments. They also do custom embroidery and screen printing. I just called their toll free number, 1.800.388.3300, and spoke with the helpdesk. They already have the BSA flur-de-lie logo with the eagle in stock. They sell turtlenecks, mock turtle, and long sleeve T-shirts. All are available in green, red and a variety of other colors. The logo is too large to put on the neck of a shirt but would easily fit on the breast. Cost varies depending on how many shirts you order at a time. If this is a problem that keeps you awake at night, why not have a screen print designed with your troop number and the BSA logo and have it printed on long sleeve T-shirts or mock turtle necks. It could be declared a class B or activity uniform. Then it would be an offical troop uniform and would help promote a uniform appearance for those wearing long sleeve shirts under their short sleeved uniform shirts. You may feel more comfortable dealing with a local screen print or embroidery shop.

Someone sent me email asking for more information about which track, software, timer we purchased. I posted that information last year in a topic title PINEWOOD DERBY BLUES. http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=86284&p=2 It is in the last reply.

Our Pack explains the rules at the two previous Pack meetings before the race. We post the rules on the Pack website. We post 3 dozen car plans as well as speed building tips on the Pack website. We hold 2 or 3 car building sessions where the Pack provides power tools and experienced tool users to help the boys. Many of our Dens also hold car building sessions, either as a den activity or seperate session. Cars are submitted the night before the race. We allow a 2 hour window to turn in cars. We weigh and measure each car. Cars that are under/over weight are returned and allowed to be modified repeatedly until it meets weight or we close Check In. The car is checked for non-BSA wheels and axles. Unoffical wheels and axles can be replaced with BSA wheels and be resubmitted before Check In closes. The Pack normally has a hot glue gun, a chisel, a handful of weights, and a few wheels and axles we share with those who need last minute parts. The cars are then stored overnight with only the "race officals" having access. Basically we put them in a cardboard box and lock them in a room at the church. Last year the Pack invested in a new track, timer, and software. The software builds the brackets based on input from the race offical. Things like number of cars, number of times the cars should race, etc. We have the Tigers race against themselves, Wolfs against the Bears, and Webelos I and II against themselves. The fastest car in each of the three divisions race for overall fastest. We set it up so that each car gets to race at least once on each lane of our 4 lane track. That eliminated the fast lane, slow lane complaint. The software built brackets so that in each race, every car raced against 3 cars it had not already raced there by eliminating the I did not get a chance to race against enough cars complaint. Also by running 4 races for each car regardless of ranking, each boy got ample chance to see his car compete. The software displays the time of each car in the race to 1000th of a second. The software recieves feed from the track release gate and the laser eye at the end of the track. The software records the times for every car on every race. You can either declare a winner based on total combined time for all races run or fastest average of all races run. Last year we choose combined total. We use a projector and display the race results immediately on the wall 8 feet wide and 6 feet tall. Everyone in the hall sees everyones times immediately. The software also displays fastest time to date as a constant so everyone knows who has the fastest run of the day. We have the boys place the car on the track and then an adult centers each car on the lane to ensure all are as straight as possible. The boys must shake hands with the other competitors before the race starts to show sportsmanship. It is apparent to all competitors and spectators that we have removed as much human error as possible. Last year was a rousing success. Our Pack also ran the District derby a month or two later. The complaint we recieved from parents at the District Derby was that each car ran too many times and they had to spend 2 hours at the mall watching the Derby. I did not hear a single boy complain that his car ran too many times. The track, software, and timer cost about $1400. The Pack has around 50 members and has been around almost 50 years. We had a surplus in the savings account and felt it was time for a new track since the old wooden track definitely had a fast lane, slow lane, and broken lane. The old timer worked intermittently and we relied on the eye of an adult for final declaration of winner. The brackets were posted on a poster board. We had a number of complaints. Even with two or three people inspecting cars at turn in, we still missed a car that had non-BSA wheels and axles, and another car that had shaved wheels. We try to be as through as possible but we are human and miss items. The shaved wheels were very evident after running a few times because the graphite stuck to the wheels in a pattern that showed where they touched the track and where they did not. We had one boy that missed turn in the night before and wanted to turn in the day of the race. The den leader was consulted and he had made a point of mentioning turn in rules in den meetings, had sent email to the parents that week, as well as being mentioned in the Pack meetings and on the website. We allowed the boy to run in the Derby but was ineligible for any awards. He got to see his car run which we felt was important. The leaders veiwed this as a problem with the parent meeting deadlines more than the boy unaware of the deadlines based on the circumstances and knowing the family. We award 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trophies for speed in bracket, craftsmanship in bracket, creativity in bracket, as well as overall fastest. Last year we had a parent who was able to get donations from auto parts dealers and distributors of Nascar posters, hats, model cars, etc. and these were awarded via a random drawing. Craftsmanship is a tricky award. Some cars obviously had lots of adult help. Some cars are obviously made mostly by the boy. Some cars are just shinning examples of paint and/or design. Even so with 50 odd boys, 9 trophies per bracket, 3 brackets, almost half the boys get a trophy. Some may have won the random drawing for prizes. All recieve a patch. I think it is important for the boys to learn about trying to Do Your Best and see that your are not guarented to be a winner. Competition has been removed from so many childhood events, they have developed a feeling that they are owed everything in life.

Link to a different color certificate http://cubroundtable.com/assets/pdf-documents/Last-Frontier-Council-Heavy-Shoulder-Award-for-Webe...pdf

We cook hotdogs for a Pack meeting. We used propane fryers. The type where you fry a whole chicken or turkey in a 28-35 qt pot. We just filled it with water instead of oil. 10 minutes later the water is boiling. We thru in 50 dogs at a time and 10 more minutes and we were ready to serve.

Maybe I am missing something but isn't this the reason there are tailors? It would seem to me that you would order female pants from the BSA catalog and then take them to a tailor to have them fine tuned.

For arguement sake, lets say the Eagle scout does not have a pair of uniform pants. He would then be out of uniform wearing blue jeans or any other leg coverings. The kilt would be no more or less out of uniform. If the choice is between blue jeans and a kilt, I would encourage the kilt. Of course I attend the highland games on a regular basis and love wearing a kilt. Is the issue the boy is wearing a "skirt" or is the issue the boy is not wearing a uniform. If it is a skirt issue, get over it. If it is a uniform issue, then the only proper answer is uniform slacks. He needs a pair to be a proper Eagle and show that the uniform is an important part of BSA.

While the idea of lots neckerchiefs as a display sounds intriguing, I am not sure just where you are going with it. Are you saying for each slide, I buy/make another neckerchief? Ok, so I do but how to I display the neckerchief slide combos? The idea of two or three dozen wig stands with neckerchiefs would make a interesting wall of shelves. I am not sure I want to have that many blank stares in one room. I did follow through on my inital plan. I purchased a shadow box with a hinged glass lid. I picked up a piece of foam, had it cut to fit the interior of the shadow box, purchased some black velvet, and asssembled them all. I made cuts 3.5 inches apart about 1 inch deep into 1.5 inch thick foam. I just laid the velvet over the foam and then tucked it into the slots. The slides fit nicely. The shadow box is 14x18 interior size and with 4 rows of slots I can fit between 4 and 6 slides per row depending on their orientation. Some tend to be short and wide like a racing car while others tend to be tall like the tomahawk. Roughly 20-30 slides at one time. I have not yet determined how to display the other style. At this point I see more of my slides being made of 1/2 inch basswood with a ring on the back vs. starting from a 1.5 inch square block with a hole through the center. The dowels on a board idea is not quite what I want. If I install the dowels at a angle, they will tend to look at the ground. I looked at the hardware section and there were a few coat hooks that were more U shaped so more of the slide would be visible while displayed. They may need to be in more of a typesetter storage type box. Only have 3 of this style so far so I will mull it over and see if I start carving more of this style. The dino egg was pretty easy to make. I found the most difficult part was drilling the hole thru the egg. The eggs from the craft store were made of a hardwood. The egg is difficult to hold or grip in a vise while drilling. I only had a spade bit which tended to grab the wood and want to spin it out of my hand or vise. I was not willing to pay the xtra money for a fortsner bit which might work better. Once I had the hole started, the bit did OK until it started to exit the other end. Again it grabbed and spun the egg. I stopped and tried drilling from the other end of the hole with limited success. The exit hole did chip a bit. I sketched the eye hole and cracks first. Then I used an xacto knife to cut the cracks. Then back to deepen the eye hole and carve the eye. I spray painted the egg the base color. I used a dark brown and toothbrush to speckle the egg next. I think next time I would use two or three shades or colors when making the speckles to add depth. I purchased a very small paint brush at the hobby store for several dollars. It makes a big difference in being able to paint in the cracks and other details on the slides. Seemed expensive at the time but many of the slides don't truely come to life until painted. The ability to paint details makes a huge difference. I have only worn the egg once or twice. I try to wear a different slide every time. This gives me a reason to keep carving. I also hope that by seeing their leader wear a neckercheif, I lead by example and have less resistance from the boys in wearing theirs. My son complains halfway thru every meeting that it is too hot to wear a neckerchief. That is yet a different battle.

I started carving neckercheif slides about a year ago. I remember as a boy not being pleased with my carving skill so I thought I would give it a try 30 years later. I have happy with the items I have carved so far. I have been using the supplied kits from the scout store so far and have a dozen or so. This week I bought some basswood and will start designing my own. Does anyone have a method of storing or displaying neckerchief slides? Right now they are all just dropped into a plastic bag but I am not happy with that method. I was thinking I could get a piece of foam about 2 inches thick and cut rows of slots about half the depth. Then lay a piece of cloth over the foam and tuck the cloth into each slot. This would allow me to slip the back of the neckerchief slide into the slot. I am thinking I have seen similar displays for rings in jewelery stores. The foam could be sized to fit in a hinged shadowbox so it could be hung on the wall and display my handicraft. Each time I wore my uniform, I could open the shadowbox and select one for the occasion. I have a few that are more of a tube so the above method will not work. For example, I carved my own version of this dinosaur egg that gets a lot of attention when I where it. http://hometown.aol.com/gfire/myhomepage/page11.html I

"My son just became a Webelos I and I will be taking his old blue cub scout uniform and making a shadowbox display for him." I got started on this project yesterday. Removed all the badges from his blue cub shirt. Removed the pocket and BSA strip over the pocket. Removed the back of the shirt and measured the max size it would cover. Michael's craft store was having a 40% off shadow box frames this week. Was able to get a 14x18 frame for $25, regularly $40. The frame is plenty deep, has hinges so the lid can be opened, and the lid is held shut via magnets. Removed the back of the frame, draped the shirt back over the back of the frame, centered the pocket, and began laying out the badges. Determined that the pocket needed to be below center to fit the CSP and pack number above the pocket when I included the BSA strip. Pinned the pocket and strip in place. Since we don't have a sewing machine, I dropped it off at the tailors across the street. It will be ready Tuesday for $8. Yeah, yeah $8 is a lot to sewn on a pocket but it is cheaper than buying a sewing machine. The offical one from the store is $51. It is only 11x14. I bought the frame and paid for sewing for a total of $33. I have some spray adhesive left over but if I didn't add $5 for a total of $38. I save $13, have a larger area to display more badges, and best of all it is the actual shirt he wore. A Scout is thrify.

I got the Cheaper Than Dirt.com catalog this week. They have 12 pocket knifes with the the scout logo for $12. These are swiss army knife look-a-likes of the executive model. These seemed to be a cheap way to purchase some items as awards or give aways for leaders meetings or enticements to award boys for doing something. I have no affiliation with cheaperthandirt.com other than an occaisional customer. http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ctd/product.asp?dept%5Fid=1509&sku=ZBB%2D541&imgid=&mscssid=WFGEM4WA74EW8N6WL0B11PA0822WBWA9 If the above link does not work, go to www.cheaperthandirt.com and search for Catalog Item #: ZBB-541 Click on description for a photo.

Our pack just raised our fees from $35 to $45. We ask the boys to sell popcorn. Last year we asked explained that if every boy sold $285, all Pack activities would be paid. This year we are shooting for a goal of $390 sales per boy. While many people complain about the high cost of a scout uniform, compare the cost to a typical sports team uniform. Often the uniform is worn for 3 years. Most of the badges can be reused as they move up thru cubs, webelos, and boy scouts. My sons soccer uniform cost more than a scout uniform. Your fees are reasonable.