Tampa Turtle

This is Mickey Mouse. The boy earned it, period. A little too late for poor quality control, if that is what it was. Being sent home from a campout? That makes the boy a PITA. Is this the French Foreign Legion? I am surprised he didn't rip his badges off at the campsite and make him walk home with only 1/2 a bottle of water.

We used the Cyber Chip to liberalize the policy Smart Phone's on campouts and after one year the PLC wants to ban them again. The boys claim they cause too much trouble. A couple boys quit but they were never very avid scouts.

This what we do. I am a card carrying Liberal and if my boys wanted to do it I would have said Hell Yea without bothering to ask permission. I'd probably OK almost any business unless it was a strip club, bar, or neo-nazi church (yea we had one of those). Obviously if we were being used for political purposes I'd bow out.

We had a scout that burned Ramen...

We use waxed dental floss for whipping rope.

You can make good contacts and get new ideas. Go for it!

This (touchy) election cycle we had some scouts running around the meeting with campaign signs and generally provoking arguments. I was not sure if BSA had a policy on that...

Whenever we have a UC attending we always ask them for a bunch of BSA policy clarifications just to see if they will come back with answers. We have had some good, some bad.

Yes it can be worked into E-Prep but it is a sad and sorry state of the world we live in. But they already cover this schools so why not?

We started using this lantern starting last year to great affect. We grew tired of carrying the propane lanterns, trees, and Rhino tanks...and half the time each patrol forgot something. Also replacing the mantles and constantly breaking glass domes. So far so good. We invested in rechargeable 'C' batteries. The new lanterns are much lighter and easier to find a place to put them. The Troop QM does check them in and out to each patrol and they all get packed in a special case to keep the from damage.

We had 5 or 6 themes. 1-2-3 trophies for Tigers, Wolfs/Bears, and Webelos, (We used judges...usually boy scouts or adults with no boys competing) Some were every year '*' and the others changed: Most Scout Spirit* Most Patriotic* Best Military Theme* Best Nautical Best Paint Job Funniest Cartoon Theme Animal Theme Movie/TV Theme Superhero Theme Food Theme We occasionally had a 'most spectacular crash award'...parts had to fly off to qualify. Finally the biggest award was 'The Best Sportsmanship" award for the (secretly observed) boy who cheered the most for everyone, was gracious, and fun. We also did double elimination so everyone raced at least twice. Yes it was a lot of awards (and took forever we sometimes had 100+ cars) but then we sold a lot of popcorn. We had some dads bring some tools, glues, and weights for a 'pit area' in case last minute adjustments/repairs were needed. We eventually had to move to more design awards as so many dads (especially engineer types) started to ruin the speed races. We tried doing 'build nights' with a band saw and all that to try to make sure boys were doing enough themselves. And 'Outlaw' races as well. (and to help the less handy and at the request of some single mom's) In addition the boy scouts sold hot dogs and set up both the racing track and the 'play track'. The play track was our older warped wooden track. We found the younger boys and their siblings still wanted to race and play with their cars after racing. That way they kept the track clear. Opps, I think I over shared again.

Ordeal...without spoiling any surprises...more of a temporary inconvenience...requiring one to reflect on what once is doing with a positive attitude.

I would miss the loss of the term 'Ordeal' to 'Service Weekend' would scare some other boys who were nominated away as well. The vast, vast majority of OA service projects I have seen have been for the Council, either cleaning up the various camps or the main Summer Camp as cheap labor. And the OA members are tapped a lot to work Camporees and other events. In return our Lodge gets to use the camps fee free so it does not always seem like true 'service'. I see little service that does not benefit the world of Scouting...

I was trying to reconstruct our list of Scoutmasters for our Troop (to at least put on a list or something) and was asking around the old goats like me of my unit. One of them asked if I had asked Council. Do they keep track of those things?

*sigh* sometimes there is not enough duct tape in all of scouting for my head...

Oh we had barbecued chicken, mashed potato, corn on the cob, green beans, cheddar biscuits, and tea. For desert we had strawberry shortcake with ice cream. I heard it came to $3.17 a head. A few hours later the cracker barrel for the late night party started and they had home made pizzas, fresh baked cookies, and large pretzels. The pizza's did not all get eaten so they were served with the breakfast biscuits in the morning. You can get fat in that lodge.

When I did a few years ago we wrapped up our service by late afternoon, got a little juice and some peanut butter crackers and silently changed into our class A's for the ceremony. Did all the cool stuff in the woods, got the sash, etc. By then it was getting dusk and we marched back to the dining hall to what, it seemed at the time, one the best appreciated meals in a long time. (Our Lodge having a number of current and former cafeteria directors does excellent and economical meals...we are quite spoiled)

Congratulations!

I agree the tipping point should be 3 or more.

The musings of Mr Mike are not Holy Writ for BSA or otherwise. I recommend folks register and by all means get educated on the candidates and issues. But his comments seem to focus mostly on the un-likability of the presidential candidates and overlooks the many other races and lssues at the state and local level that will be decided.

We have a sibling discount but it turned out it was just one Boys Life subscription per household. We did just start a 'Eagles Camp Free' policy for youth to encourage guys to come back. Apparently it extends to boys who just aged out and are Eagles and come back to help as adults.

We just had our SM (nice guy) do his beading at the end of the COH. Please, please, please keep it short and sweet. No one outside of WB really wants to hear of the year WB21 started, revisions, any of that stuff. Bear and mind that while folks want to share the joy of the WB accomplishment if it seems more important that the boys COH than it is inappropriate. I have seen good WB ceremonies and bad...a few my folks who obviously are really into man-scouting. And please no singing

At the boys request we compromised and run some Merit Badge sessions an hour before the Troop meeting for convenience. But boys are responsible for doing a lot on their own. We have had to do some 're-education' to some Webelos-3 well-meaning new adults.

I like it.

My Eagle had his first idea collapse on him due to no funds and support and had to 'punt' to a more canned and achievable project. A lot of 'wasted' meetings and preparation but I think he learned a lot.