zippy

I have not seen any indications that there were Scouts in or on the water. So I was a bit confused by that phrase.

"out of the water"? What?

My fanny pack (which I use like a small day pack) is a two-Nalgene bottle pack with a pouch in between. One of the two bottles is my survival kit. It contains an orange whistle thing (as previously described, with matches and lint), a small knife, twist ties, an orange bag, parachute cord, a small flashlight, flint and steel, a couple of feet of duct tape on a pencil, some paper, and a couple of ziploc baggies (to hold the gear if the bottle needs to be used as a bottle). There's a lot of room left over, because I no longer put one of those silvery survival bags in the bottle (it's in the fanny pack pouch). I've been meaning to put some First Aid-y stuff in there, but I'm not sure what'll fit.... zippy

Troop 1403 from Omaha has the Warriors, Buccaneers, Beatles, and W.O.I. patrols. (Working On It)

Thanks for the quick responses! As I reconsider, my knees probably wouldn't qualify as "really" bad knees. To Bob's point, I'm familiar with the camp, and can navigate most of the hills (just not very quickly!). Knowing that the course is As long as we don't have tight deadlines on the uphill climbs, I should be okay. Also the course isn't until next April/May... "the waiting is the hardest part" (tom petty). Zippy (Fuzzy, I'm a Mid-America guy, sorry if the colloquialisms made you think otherwise.)

I have not been there personally, but my sister-in-law and her son went there last summer (2003). There were two issues that came up: (1) the program was not well-defined, and (2) the camp was not handicapped accessible, which contradicts their leader's guide. I'm betting that the second point probably doesn't apply to you, and there's a chance that my relative's opinion was brought down by that bad experience. Not very helpful, I know... zippy

Wood Badge sounds like a heckuva good experience, and a great boon to any Scouts who would derive benefit from having a better-trained leader. That being said, is there room in the program for a decidedly large fellow with knee problems and asthma? Is there a great deal of extended hiking/climbing/exertion? Or should I leave the training to the young whippersnappers? Zippy the ASM

Early last year (2002), I was looking for something similar, and came across a newsgroup posting as follows: ========begin quoted stuff=========== There is a program (Total Recorder v2.0) doing exactly what are you looking for. You can download it from http://www.HighCriteria.com. It can record sound being played by other sound players, either from a file or from the Internet (even online broadcast). It can record conventional audio from CD's, microphone and other lines on a sound card. Also it can convert different sound formats to WAVE format. ========end quoted stuff=========== I myself have not used this tool, as I found another version of the sounds I wanted. It looks like it costs about $12. Hope this helps... Thom in Omaha

My older son was in Tigers with 2 very enthusiastic coaches (as they were called then). Our first 2 meetings went very well, and then nothing happened. No November meeting. At the December Pack meeting, which neither coach attended, I asked the other parents what was going on... It was a job transfer for one coach, and a pending divorce for the other. Since I had asked about the den situation, I got nominated to "take over just for the rest of this year. We'll get a new leader next year." 4 1/2 years later "my" boys crossed over. I'm glad I stepped up. Thom

We made mice at christmas time from a chocolate kiss, a chocolate covered cherry, an oreo cookie half (for the base) and some frosting/nuts/etc for ears, nose, eyes, etc.... They were adorable, and easy to make (they look complicated). Here is a link to a similar project, and a link to its picture. http://recipestoday.com/recipes/desserts/doormice.htm http://huntsville.about.com/library/blxmasmice.htm Thom in Omaha

About a year ago, my son crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. Most of our new Scouts had been Webelos from two different dens in the same Pack, but there were enough boys for only one new-Scout patrol. So the Lightning patrol merged with the Eagle patrol to form the Thunderbird patrol. Their patrol patch is the Eagle patch with a small lightning bolt clutched in his talons. This year, it looks like the same type of thing will happen again. There aren't enough boys from the Bison patrol and the Flaming Arrow patrol to make two new-Scout patrols, so they'll be merging (along with whatever other new Scouts we scare up). The current joke is that they'll be the "Flaming Bison" patrol. Can't wait to see that patrol patch! Anybody else have any interesting (i.e. non-traditional) patrol names to share? Thom

First Class requirement 4e: "On one campout, serve as your patrol's cook. Supervise your assistant(s) in using a stove or building a cooking fire. Prepare the breakfast, lunch, and dinner planned in requirement 4a. Lead your patrol in saying grace at the meals and supervise cleanup." Abraiu: "We go camping every month... this process will take a year and a half..." My take: What am I missing here? Campout #1, scout #1 leads. Campout #2, scout #2... etc. 4 scouts, 4 campouts, 4 months. Not a "year and a half". I'm sure I'm missing some important detail?

We camp every month. That's the boys' favorite part of the program, and we won't short them on that. Until this year, we have always done 2-nighters for our typical monthly campouts (other than High Adventure and Summer Camp). We meet at the church at 5:00pm on Friday and leave from there, returning Sunday by about noon. Dinner Friday is bring-your-own, the other 4 meals are planned at the Patrol level. This year, we have decided to change two of our three winter campouts to 1-nighters, to allow us to set up camp on Saturday morning, in the daylight, rather than in the dark of night. It should also be much easier to keep 40+ boys (and accompanying adults) warm and dry on a single night.

We had a recent experience at our Cub Scout summer campout (two night event) with a (seemingly) lost Scout that would have been very difficult to resolve if we had limited adult involvement. There would not have been enough supervision of the search area, the campsite, and the last-known-position of the boy. We ended up leaving one dad and his son where we last saw the Scout. We also had two dads and a mom walking with assorted Scouts from there towards our campsite, and a small group already back at camp. Turns out that the "lost" Scout (my younger son) just walked 3/4 miles in the dark thru meadow/woods with no buddy and no flashlight to get back to the campsite. Once we found him, we had to retrieve the other searchers. He got a little talking to.... concerning the buddy system and scaring Dad. thom in omaha

smaster101, thanks for your story. I just let my first-year-scout son read it, and it made an impression on him. See, our troop has an annual Canoe trip down Nebraska's Niobrara river each July, but the boys can't go unless they're "blue" swimmers with the Canoeing MB. Well, his first summer camp came, and he did not get blue swimmer until Thursday morning, on his 5th try. It made him quite thoughtful to learn that he is not the only Scout that can swim, but not pass the test right away. I think that trying again and again made him even more determined, strengthened his resolve. Its great to find opportunities like that to tell our children (and "our" Scouts) how proud we are of them. Thom in Omaha