Tampa Turtle

Mrs Turtle reminded me Son#1 declined inversion and in fact would not go up on stage; he got his pin down below. Son#2, the little monkey, not only was flipped for his but asked for a repeat and was dipped and swung about.

"But, calling the Bobcat Ceremony an act of hazing was my first Red Flag of their callus unprofessionalism toward the organization's members." - Turtles startles, looking up from his workbench where he was filling the water pistols with Kool Aid.

Stosh, you are insensitive.."Shaken Bobcat Syndrome" is a thing. I guess we should be glad BP said "Do a Good Turn everyday" rather then "Give it a Good Poke now and then".

See if you talk about this stuff long enough the Fun Police come out. Next you are gonna tell me that there is no Klingon Interpreter Strip.

My son did NYLT and they had a Harry Potter theme so they were 'houses' instead of patrols. Cute. Had a custom NYLT Council patch with a Hogwarts on it. He liked enough to swap out our old Council patch. I dislike the cords and what-not they seem a little too Wood Badgey for my taste. YMMV

Old Buzzard, that sure is a cute picture of those tots on the Monkey Bridge of Death.

It's Brian is preparing an article a safety article: 'Hammocks of Happiness or Scouting Shrouds of Sorrow: 68 steps for a BSA approved hammock setup'. English is my 2nd language after Dyslexia.

All too common....

I'd be surprised if the Scout Store is a successful financial model. Seems like a modest trickle of folks most times I have been there; even with 1 to 2 people if feels overstaffed. So I get that a retailer might look at how much revenue it will get per square foot and stay away. I do use mine as it is next to the Council HQ and it is convenient for the occasional field trip...ironically as Council does more and more communication electronically it must drive down foot traffic and impulse buys by Scouters.

Amen brother, amen.

You gotta sleep at an angle to centerline to get the back straighter. I prefer it to the ground but I find fighting the thermal loss a hassle sometimes. I have had some excellent sleeps in them.

I have to agree with Flagg. A couple years ago I found more useful articles that I might hang on to for later reference. The last two years I quickly scan it for official pronouncements and trash it. I probably look at the ads more than the articles. I really do read the magazines in that I have plenty of waiting around time as the family chauffeur and prefer the printed page to smart phone. It is a shame as campouts are a good time for an ASM to catch up on some reading...

Thanks, I thought it was just me. I get that they have to aim at a span of audiences and skill levels. I appreciate that they now include some cheaper gear...for a while BL only had $$$ in their reviews. I don't think any of this is part of some grand BSA National conspiracy but just some questionable editorial direction.

Old fat middle aged men struggling to get our of a hammock look remarkably like a turtle trapped on his back....anything for the enjoyment of the lads.

Last two Scouter issues have been very...blah. They used to have the occasional 'easy exercises for the fat middle aged scouter', rule explanations, tips on recruiting, starting some event. Not much info. The issue begged for a 'Girls in Scouting' FAQ. I agree Boys Life was pretty much the same. I suppose I should be reading the masthead a little more closely. I suppose the future will not be a paper product anyway. I suspect Scouter will get the e-magazine treatment before Boys Life. Maybe it will be a section in Boys Life first. (Maybe we can opt for different versions: Boy Only vs Co-ed, Boy led vs Adult led, etc LOL) To be fair some things online like 'Bryan on Scouting' is much better than it was 5 years ago. Boys Life still has some value as a paper based recruiting tool so I see that sticking around longer.

We can agree on that. I suspect we have had several sets of Gay scouts tenting together and I have never heard of any hanky panky going on. I am not advocating mixed gender tenting but I think we can trust them, within reason.

I see boy-girl hugging (usually initiated by the girls as a friendly gesture) all the time at a number of in-school and after school activities: Marching Band, Ecology Club, Junior ROTC. I do not consider it as a loss of self control but as a different style of greeting. Naturally some boys seem a little happy when a especially pretty girl gives them 'you are such a good friend' hug even though the dreaded 'friend' word is uttered. My wife has a theory that with all the virtual screen time going on their is a craving for a little more physical contact.

Well that simplifies things. Yeah that no hugging rule gonna be real hard for Troops when teenage girls arrive in force IMHO. Of course as a well-middle aged man I have perfected my cloak of invisibility among teenage girls. I suspect that is better than being on the 'icky radar'.

I have hammocked (is that a word) between two trees by the water's edge (very restful) only to find when I awake that the tide has come in and I am over water.

(I started this in Issues in case it goes down hill) I was wondering what the others on here have noticed the editorial changes in Scouter Magazine. Just got the latest issue Saturday and I was startled by the difference in it and Boys Life (my sons read both and we usually comment on them). All non-snark aside. Is it just me? What I noticed was: (1) Scouter's cover article was on the benefits of a man who took his son and daughter camping. Other than mentioning he was a Scouter it was mostly just talking about solo camping trips. Did not seem that related to scouting at all. Was not even that good a camping article...could have been in Good Hosuekeeping or something. This is the second time I have seen these kind of vague 'non-scout camping is fun' articles. Nice but is this aimed for the new leader who never does it? Is this just a new editor? The issues seem unfocused. (2) Several articles about the Jamboree which is fair enough. Seems like the the band that some folks had an issue with got a picture but the President's speech did not. I here he is isn't much of a reader so maybe BSA is safe from a Twitter feed on that one. (3) A health(?) article on keeping one's mind sharp which could have been in any free drug store adver-zine. (4) A long article about a (I am sure very nice and generous) LDS donor who seemed to have a very, very tenuous relationship to scouting (he heard it was really great, and had a nephew who had, I think, with two eagle scouts). (5) An article on ideas for gifts to give Scouters for under $40 (maybe that should be in Boys Life, hint hint) ' (On the contrary my Son noticed Boy Life doubled down on Guns, ropes, and jerky in the latest issue. He wondered if the NRA bought out the issue.)

Well at least they didn't say we couldn't use them! (I have been using a Hennessy for years). I am surprised they didn't say something about: (1) Hanging a hammock to a too small tree where you can damage it. (2) Using Straps or Tree Savers around trees to lesson damage to the bark of trees. (3) Hanging a hammock (especially on Friday nights in the dark!) under a dead limb (look up and use your flashlight). (4) Another danger of small boy 'hammock stacking' is the fart in the face.

Please share your blocking technique when they move in for the hug? Is the crossed arm block, the straight out arms, or the shouted "NO!"?

Well BSA gear is not made in the USA; what peasant is working for the shirt I just got? Vietnam?

I find this a totally bizarre topic, yea a few kids might think the overly formal hand shaking in our Troop is a bit archaic but I doubt (kids on the spectrum aside) that there is any thoughts of weirdness about it. Sounds like a straw man argument. To the contrary my experience with american teens this last decade is they are, at least with each other, the most huggiest generation ever. They see each other after a long weekend, big hug. Bad test, big hug. Dropped touch down, big hug. Once you get in their inner circle you may too get the occasional big hug. I don't think it is always sincere as it is a thing that started with the girls and spread to the guys. Now since I am very uncomfortable hugging a teen I think my body language is sufficient to discourage repeats.

I should say we used BSA approved bungee harnesses and high impact crash helmets. Optional for boys playing pee-wee football. And double stick tape after some ugly pin incidents. We tried leaving the boys standing up and having the leaders standing up but we are all getting too old. I guess I should bring up the magic kerchief flame trick at the cross over ceremony...I always wondered how we got away with live flames in a public school building. This all circa 2007 to present day BTW.