The Blancmange

Take it back to the scout store. They're guaranteed for life.

Funny? Creative? Bring presents? Show slides? ANYTHING! All excellent ideas! I think your district has a volunteer to chair next year's FOS campaign. :-)

Both our Troop and Pack are fairly small, and no one else volunteered when offered to the whole troop, so the position is his if he wants. There was no DC this year. Thanks for the input.

Next year, my younger son will be a first year Webelos, and my older one will be in 7th grade and 1st class. Older son has expressed interest in serving as Den Chief for them. Just looking for input about whether anyone has done this and whether it worked out well. They generally get along well, but I guess my concern is that others might feel excluded.

You're all wrong! He's not Kenyan, not Muslim, not even Hawiian. He's the reincarnation of the Mayan god Quatzequatel http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-april-7-2011/barack-obamayan

Again, I don't disagree with any of those broad statements about how one should guide their everyday decision making. The problem I have is that we have a document which, on its face, appears to provide fairly comprehensive guidance about how to conduct yourself in various scouting scenarios, but when you do what it actually says in some limited, but not unrealistic scenarios, you end up with an absurd result. There needs to be some of the flexiblity that Beavah infers, but just is not there. No different for a unit scouter. With all due respect, it is. In your lab hypothetical, they haven't given me a "Guide to Safe Lab Practices" that appears to cover most of what I need. I know that I need to rely on outside resources. A better analogy is when I go fishing and pick up a copy of the DNR's fishing booklet. Usually on the first page or two, it says something to the effect that while they have tried to accurately summarize the laws and regulations, if there is any difference, then the law or regulation controls. If I want to, I can go to the state code or regulations and check for myself. As was previously noted, BSA put a similar statement in the G2SS: "The Guide to Safe Scouting provides an overview of Scouting policies and procedures rather than comprehensive, standalone documentation. For some items, the policy statements are complete. Unit leaders are expected to review the additional reference material cited prior to conducting such activities." Therein lies the problem. When it comes to fishing, there are almost no circumstances that would not be covered by some regulation or another. But when it comes to some of the YP scenarios that lead to this discussion (not just the specific one in this thread), there is a need for individualized judgment and flexiblity. As others noted, the G2SS is a mix of "musts" (policies) and "should's, unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise" (guidelines). But by using the word "any" in the reporting requirement, they are mandating reporting to the SA of deviation from the "should's," even if there is a compelling reason for doing so. I hope everyone realizes that I don't run around making hourly reports to my SE and that I do my best to exercise good judgement. But in doing so, I shouldn't have to feel like I'm breaking what are, in fact, some very important rules. Am I going to tell two parents who have slept in the same bed every night for the last 10 years, but don't happen to be married, that they need separate tents for the Pack campout? Heck no. Am I going to tell Grandpa, is helping out his single parent daughter, that he can't take his grandson on the Webelos campout? No. Am I really going to call the SE when I get done drying my hands in the restroom? Not unless I want to be the butt of some good jokes at roundtable. But am I breaking what sure sounds like a mandatory rule when I do so? Yup.

One question that I would have for the birthers is: If Barack Obama were not born in Hawaii, how did the grandparents have the bizarre foresight to run a fake birth announcement in the Honolulu newspaper when he was six days old? That, for me, is the most compelling piece of evidence as well. Other than making sure he was someday eligible for the office of President, I can't concive of another reason to have fabricated the announcement at the time. And if they were indeed trying to groom him for President, they chose a very strange path to do so.

That's funny about the body bag. But seriously, don't you wake up damp or clammy, since it doesn't breathe at all, like the shell of the sleeping bag does?

I hate to belabor a point, but there was a question I was hoping Beavah would share his thoughts on: If the G2SS is not an official policy document, where are the official policy documents? In all seriousness, I would like to read those.

Beavah wrote: Shortridge, it's not enough to quote da document, eh? Yeh have to understand the document. I don't see anything in this thread that suggests anyone doesn't understand the document. The document is quite explicit when it calls for report of "any" violation. It doesn't say "any violation believed to be significant after a careful and reasoned evaluation of the circumstances," it says "any." I don't disagree that Beavah's version it quite reasonable and workable, but unfortuantely for us, he doesn't work in Irving. I say, give them what they asked for. Next time you come out of the stall in a restroom in the dining hall at camp, and find yourself washing your hands next to a seventeen year old, with no one else around, call your SE and turn yourself in. Maybe if enough people do this, we will get a document (a policy, actually) that is realistic.

An Eagle scout from our council made an attempt in 2003. He made it to camp 4 around 25,000 feet, I believe, but altitude sickness prevented him from summiting. He is now a world-renowned kiteboarder (I realize that sounds like an oxymoron since many of us may have never heard of the sport) http://www.troyhenkels.com/page_biography.htm

You might try a tall mummy bag even if you are not all that tall. They generally offer a couple extra inches of girth as well. That measurement is used included in the specs. with decent quality bags, and it does vary. I'm 6'0" and 225, so I feel constricted in smaller mummy bags also. If you don't need the extra space at the foot end, put your clothes for the next day there and they will be warm in the morning. Another idea might be a Big Agnes bag where the pad is integrated into the bag. They offer quite a few options for shapes & sizes as well.

He may say that he has the parent's agreement. Who knows? Does that matter? It's like dropping a frog in a pot of boiling water, he'll jump out. But put the frog in cold water and slowly heat it to a boil and he'll remain in until his demise. How & why do you know this? :-)

Your duty is clear: From into to YP section of G2SS: Notify your Scout executive of this report, or of any violation of BSAs Youth Protection policies, so that he or she may take appropriate action for the safety of our Scouts, make appropriate notifications, and follow-up with investigating agencies. [Emphasis added]. There is no question that this was a policy violation: Again from G2SS, transportation section: If you cannot provide two adults for each vehicle, the minimum required is one adult and two or more youth membersnever one on one. . (This message has been edited by the blancmange)

he put in requirements that ANYONE WHO HAD ANY CONTACT WITH THE YOUTH OF THE PARISH HAD TO GO THRU THE SCREENING PROCESS! This has come up before, and I asked the question, what do churches or dioceses that have a rule like this do about summer camp, district events, MBC's or other events that have no ties to the parish and/or diocese? There is no way they ask council camp staff, who have already been screened by the coucil, to subject themselves to this. What about sending a scout to a MBC who is on the council list, but is not Catholic? This just seems so impractical and unworkable. (BTW, I am Catholic, but the units I belong to are chartered to a civic organization.)

Our local fire dept. has someone who is an AHA instructor. He ran a course specifially for our troop.

Ditto what ScoutNut said. It's not the CM's job. It should be the CC working in concert with the COR. You need to work with your COR to settle this issue down. The CM should be trained on how leadership selection is supposed to work. I don't know how the CM plans on effectuating this change, other than by bullying people into thinking they are or are not in a particular position, because the only signatures called for before an adult app. is turned in are the CC and COR or IH. No place for the CM to sign.

There's nothing wrong with registering in more than one unit, or a unit and a district, etc. The only restriction is multiple registrations in the same unit (except COR/CC). It's done all the time. I'm currently registered as WDL in a pack and CC in a Troop.

Resqman, great pictures. Looks like a fantastic trip. Sometimes I forget how spoiled I am living within a single day's drive of Ely.

the reason we dont wear the waist straps is because when you portage a canoe there is no waist strap Huh? While a low-tech canoe might weigh 85 pounds, when one is carrying it with a properly positioned yoke (so it is balanced front to back), all of the weight is directly over your spine and you can stand up straight easily. In fact, as long as you don't have a bunch of extra stuff strapped into the canoe, you should almost be able to balance it without your hands. On the other hand, a heavy pack without a hip belt, is quite awkward to carry. It tends to pull you over backward, forcing you to hunch forward. The hip belt ameliorates this somewhat by transferring some of the load directly to the hips. This is why it's also important to pay attention to how the pack is loaded. Heavy items should go toward the body and higher up in the pack. Older Duluth packs addressed this differently, using something called a "tump strap." This was a strap that was attached to the sides of the pack and went accross the wearer's forhead, transferring some of the load to the spine, but less comfortably that a hip belt. IMO carrying heavy loads without the hip belt is just asking for a back injury, rather than preventing it as was the OP's goal. Resqman also gives good advice as far as practicing on the water as well. You will spend much more time on your trip paddling than portaging (hopefully). I may not qualify as an old geezer (my kids might say different), but I do have more than 10 trips to the BW/Q.

The BSA copyright police might not like that unless you use a BSA-licensed shirt company.

Many times, posters include what should be hyperlinks in posts. I do this in mine quite often. Sometimes, the URL is automatically converted to a hyperlink, other times it just appears as plain text that someone must copy and past into their browser. If I try to use the "Format this Post" function, on occasion it is turned into a real mess with the address repeated several times and none of them being functional. Any ideas for the best way to have this work consistently?

I just came across this strip. It seems appropriate to some of this discussion. http://blog.photoshelter.com/2010/07/26/what-the-duck.gif

The picture to which you are referring is a food pack. You can tell because it has the rigid box liner to minimize crushing your food. These will obviously start out as your heaviest packs and get lighter thoughout the week. For a full crew, you will probably start out with 2 of these and may be able to consolidate them as the week goes on. These have hip belts, and from the other pictures, I am guessing their other packs do as well. If everone packs within reason, you should be able to keep the weight of the personal packs, even with 3 people within reason. Give it a try on one of the shakedown hikes. Have everyone bring in what they plan on bringing and weigh it. Compression stuff sacks, for clothing as well as sleeping bags, are great for getting everything in the pack. I don't know if NT provides liners, but if not "contractor" trash bags from your local home improvement center. Ask around at a roundtable or elsewhere to see if anyone has a portage pack you can borrow to try out.

I just bought a replacement 2" side release buckle for my hip belt at a local sewing/craft store. You could probably find some of the other things you are looking for there as well. If you need heavy duty sewing done, I have had luck with shoe repair businesses. I once had a leather strap on a duluth-type pack replaced by one. I would imagine they could also sew the multiple layers of webbing that are too heavy for a home sewing machine.