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swilliams

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Everything posted by swilliams

  1. Okay, I can't help myself. What a poorly written article in the first link. It says the boy was injured, but then says that the bear scratched the tent. Which is it? Both? How/where/to what extent was the boy injured? Ugh. Now that I got that out of my system... we have black bear all around our place in PA, as we're in the middle of the woods. It doesn't take much for a black bear to acclimate to humans. When we first built the house, we used to have a dumpster that was picked up every-other week. We couldn't keep the bear out of it. One of them even broke the top. One evening, we started down the driveway to go into town, and I found a bear on top of the dumpster. I was so angry/annoyed at the thought of having to pick two week old trash out of the woods again, that I got out of the car and screamed at him, waving my arms. I got the kind of look from that bear that I get from my teenage son sometimes. Honked the horn, nothing. Slammed the car door, nothing. It wasn't until I turned out of the driveway and headed for the dumpster in the car that he finally moved. Even then, he only wandered about 30 feet further into the trees. That was the end of the dumpster. I bought a rack that attached to the trailer hitch and we haul the trash to the transfer station. Even with the trash gone, we still get bear that wander around the house. They usually keep just far enough away that they don't set the dogs off (they're usually inside the house), but if you go more than a few yards into the woods you'll see the scat. I can't decide how worried to be. We've have a lot of single-track in the woods around the house, and the kids ride their mountain bikes through. Cutting a new track a couple weekends ago, I was in a thicket of hemlock, cutting away dead branches, and was seeing more droppings than usual in this area. We have a black lab, and he unexpectedly came up on me. He growled, probably because he's not used to seeing a human in that part of the woods, and I screamed because in my peripheral vision and with the growling, I thought it was a bear. I don't know which of us was more freaked out. The kids mostly ride during the day, but with the weather getting hotter the temptation to head out after dinner is hard to ignore.
  2. Our Troop and Pack are both 368. I've never seen a leading number, but like others have said, you wouldn't necessarily see it anywhere. We also have a Troop 68 in town, and we used to have Packs 268 and 468. For the Venture Crew, which is in a different town (was the only active one in the area), we're Crew 28, and one of the two Troops in that town is also 28. The other is Troop 8. They use a single digit on their uniforms. It almost looks strange to me, lol. When the town started their girls' troop, they could've used 18 or 38, I suppose, but they chose to go with 280. Does your CO also charter other Troops/Packs/Crews? Maybe go with something similar if they do?
  3. Looks like we record our attendance a lot differently. None of our scouts keeps a log, and as much as it drives me crazy, the troop doesn't record any advancement in the scout handbooks. The scribe takes attendance, then gives it to a committee member who enters it into Troopmaster. To mark progress, the ASPL of advancement has access to Troopmaster, so he prints out sheets that show which requirements scouts still need. He marks any completed requirements on the sheets, then I review it and enter the info. The one exception was for my younger son, who crossed over from a different pack over a month earlier than our pack in town. It took a while to get him entered, so most of his Scout requirements are recorded in his book. I'm not sure why we do it that way. When I was shown what my predecessor did, I never thought to question it, being somewhat new to Boy Scouts (vs. Cub Scouts). It sure makes a lot more sense to have a scout keep a log. We've had a few errors in attendance; my older son wasn't credited with summer camp last year, for example. It would be nice if the scout had his own record to check against that in the software.
  4. Thanks. The question came up because we have one scout who is very anxious to rank up (which is a separate issue the SM will tackle). When he was talking to me about advancing, I let him know that he still needed a bunch of troop activities. Everything he's done lately has been a service project, which is awesome in that he's doing a lot of service, but he hasn't been on a single camping trip since last year's summer camp. Of course, this means he hasn't fulfilled the camping/tenting portion - unless he's counting every night as an activity, haha. But it raised questions for me, the SM and the CC as to what other things we might consider. We'll bring it up at our next committee meeting. I thought I'd put this out there and see what others do; maybe be able to present some new ideas or reinforce what we're currently doing. Strangers on the internet, yes, but at least scouts. To that point, your mention of a class reminds me that we did a flight simulator day at a local airport in February, and that event isn't showing up on any of the scouts' records. That, imho, should definitely be a troop activity. Secondarily, I'll need to check and see how the person who enters attendance is marking things in Troopmaster. Since the software automatically generates completion of this requirement, there's got to be some distinction that must be made so that the software isn't counting regular meetings.
  5. I'm sure this has been asked before, but a quick search didn't turn up quite what I was looking for. Does BSA have any guidelines as for what constitutes "Troop Activity"? Obviously they spell out the requirement that the activity can't be a regular troop and patrol meetings. If there aren't any real rules, what does your troop consider an activity? In the thread about girls advancing quickly, one forum member posted a list of activities his troop as done since the beginning of the year, so that's helpful. It included some service projects. Our troop does service where the project is arranged by the service chair. Individual scouts who need help with their Eagle projects set up their own times and hours. Does your troop include Eagle project service as an activity? Any help is appreciated.
  6. Our pack meetings had about the same number each meeting - which was probably about 2/3 of the total membership. By having the crossing over at the same time as the Blue and Gold, it's the one time that we had near-total attendance because it was a special occasion. Parents (and scouts) tend to be so busy that having a single afternoon makes it a little easier on the schedule. One big difference between meetings and the crossing over/B&G - and this will vary with each pack as well - is that a lot of our parents let the younger Cubs run wild during the meetings, and our CubMaster pretty much lets it happen. The only time I've ever seen them fairly attentive, as a group, was when we did the mystery-solving skits. (Adults dress up as different characters and present a scenario where a crime has been committed, and the scouts have to try and figure out 'who done it'.) At a specific, more formal ceremony, the parents do a better job of keeping the Lions and Tigers in check, so it automatically feels more special; more reverent.
  7. Thanks. That would be the CC. LOL, so much for not bothering him. At least by now he should be somewhat rested.
  8. No problem with these directions up until the "Add New" part. There's no tab on the right - or either side, for that matter.
  9. Our Committee Chair is our Troopmaster guru, and while I'm sure he could answer my question, our troop just came back from hiking the AT in less-than-perfect weather and with a 5:00am wake up time this morning. I don't want to bother him. What I need to do is probably very, very simple, but I can't figure it out, and I can't even find an answer with Google (or DuckDuckGo). All I need to do is add a new scout. His application has been processed by council, and I've updated our roster in the council's Internet Advancement, which gives me his BSA number. I don't see anything in either Troopmaster or the council site that would allow me to sync, and nothing in Troopmaster that allows me to manually input a new scout. If any of you out there knows how to do this, or if you have a good online resource for Troopmaster, it would be much appreciated. Would love to get this done in my very limited free minutes this morning.
  10. I missed the part about trying to get to Tenderfoot before camp when I first read this. This is the one thing that troubles me about the new girl troops. Understandably, there's a desire to be in that first Eagle group, but rushing through shortchanges the experience. I'm not saying your troop is doing that, mind you. My comment is coming from my own shortcomings. It's tempting to want to see my own sons make rank quickly, and I'm a little too focused on advancement sometimes, since that's my job with the troop. Many times, as I watch the scouts in our group, I have to remember that a huge part of what they're doing when they seem to be aimlessly wandering around or horsing around and not paying attention, is enjoying themselves and learning about each other in the process. After all, if they're not having fun while scouting, they're not going to keep doing it. Plus, the older scouts who stick around for meetings and activities even after they've reached Eagle (or are really close) seem to enjoy the outings even more than some of the younger ones do. I'm sure I'll look back on my boys' experience and wonder how time flew by so quickly.
  11. Human nature, I suppose, but it's frustrating. The schools in our district have a "Friday Folder": an email blast sent out to all parents with information about upcoming school and community events. I wanted to put a flyer for our town's Troop, plus the Venture Crew and girls' Troop - which are in a different town - in one of the Friday Folders to let parents know about the opportunities that are out there. The school district said yes, but our DE said no. The reason given was because the DE wanted to explore the possibility of adding a girls' Troop in our town. Well, that's nice, but that doesn't help the girls who are looking for a troop right now. Word of mouth has spread, though, and four girls from our town have already joined the troop in the neighboring town. I think it will be a while before the whole 'girls in scouting' becomes a regular topic. I told one of the dads in my youngest son's den about the girls troop, and he said, "We don't go for that kind of thing around here." I guess I should say 'former den'. He's crossed over and gets to join his brother in the troop!!
  12. Well, this thread has put a bit of a damper on my feelings about having posted a link to a girls' troop taking 2nd place at Klondike. I'm hoping it was a true win. I do know the older scouts were practicing for the event even before the troop was fully formed. I think they were worried about having a poor showing, and that can be quite a motivator. They were competing in the 11-13 year old group, so it's not like they were up against senior scouts and still came away with a second-place win. I see how there is certainly a lot of hype right now, and see how it can be viewed in a slightly negative light, but it should also be seen as the positive tool that it is for creating interest for girls who may be on the fence about joining. One can only guess that this will all have died down in another year.
  13. This is our nearest troop. Our Venture Crew (all girl) shares a CO and meeting location, so on the one night a month the crew meets and the scouts are there, we tend to peek our heads in and see what's up. The troop is continuing to have girls sign up, with a reported two additional in March. I think they're over 20 now, but would have to double-check on that. In any case, they sure put 100% effort into the Klondike, with a few of the older scouts training ahead of time, even though the charter wasn't official yet. https://rennamedia.com/new-bsa-troop-280-places-high-in-regional-race/
  14. Similar matter here. I had a scout contact me because his MB counselor hasn't been getting back to him. We just found out the MB counselor is sick - terminally ill. The counselor has the blue card, and none of us is comfortable with attempting to get the counselor to return it, given the circumstances. I figured I'd just issue a new blue card to the scout and have him contact a new counselor. I'm sure the scout would rather get the original back, but sometimes things happen, so maybe a good lesson in being flexible? I would hope that the new MB counselor would take the scout's word as to what he'd already done, but do you think a head's up to the new counselor would be appropriate? Wait for the scout to contact him and see what transpires? I took over advancement for the troop a while back, but am new to this part, having only issued a single blue card so far.
  15. I'm glad you posted this. The bolded is that part that bothered me. To be fair, perhaps it's how the article presented the information.
  16. I should probably say that I didn't peel bark from the standing trees, but took it from downed ones. Unlike pine and some other trees where the bark crumbles as the tree decomposes, these left nice little tubes that were easily separated from the rest of the trunk. Maybe the oils preserve the bark? Which leads me to also wonder whether any species you find where the trunk is decomposing but the bark is relatively intact, would be good fire-starters with similar properties. (My daughter says I'm spending way too much time thinking about bark.)
  17. I'm not sure if I'd use "unfriendly", but totally see what you mean. It's almost like the church leaders are trying to tell non-LDS people what to do with their own troops. Of course, when it concerns church buildings, membership data, etc. it's understandable, but this seems to cross that line a bit, and I'm having a hard time articulating why, exactly, it's bothering me. It's encouraging to see, from those comments in the original link, that there are a number of families who've joined community troops and have found the programs to be engaging for their scouts. It's understandably a hard thing to admit that when Scoutmasters are called, rather than being volunteers, that scouting can suffer as a result. Getting ward members to step out of their comfort zones can lead to great personal growth, but it can also let down a significant number of youth. I have no idea what the answer is, but wish LDS the best of luck with their new program. (Not being sarcastic or flippant here.)
  18. Our Crew Advisor has two daughters in Venturing, and has a son who is an Eagle, so he's full of wisdom. In addition to typical scouting things, I picked up the following from him. If you're wanting some coffee in the morning (yes, please) and take it with milk and sugar, yet have none available, you can add a packet of hot chocolate. Makes it both sweet, and more creamy. Doesn't taste the same, but makes the coffee palatable (even enjoyable) for those of us who are too weak to drink it black. I also had a great opportunity this weekend to try out something one of our ASMs had told me about at our last Troop meeting. He was talking about fire-building, and mentioned that birch bark has oils in it that makes it burn nicely even when things are damp. He claimed that you can dunk white birch bark in water for a bit, shake it off, and still get it to burn. So... we were hiking with our girls' Venture Crew yesterday, and our navigator got us "lost" not once, but twice. On our first detour, I'd noticed a downed black birch. The ground was soaked from both snow-melt and a heavy rain Friday night, so the bark was damp. The girls were starting to grumble a little, and there was some dispute over whether to turn back and retrace our path, or continue on and try to loop around the lake. Luckily, the majority of girls voted to try and push forward, and around a bend in the lake I found a small stand of four white birch. They're not easy to find in north-central NJ, so I was pretty excited. By this point, they were all curious as to what I was doing, so I repeated what the ASM had told me. We were all a little skeptical, lol. I have to say, it worked exactly like he'd said. Some of the girls were less than impressed because our Crew Advisor has spoiled them by keeping some dry pieces of pine in his car. (He's in some kind of construction or maintenance field.) The don't have enough of an appreciation for how hard it can be to light a fire without dry kindling. I'm going to suggest that for our next campout he "forget" to bring the dry bits, lol. We'll see if that makes them a bit happier to scour the woods for birch bark. Have any tips of your own to share?
  19. I (electronically) asked my family and friends who have scout-aged kids whether they'd be considering continuing in scouting/BSA, regardless of what the church comes up with in terms of a program. The only two people who replied were my sister and my dad, neither of whom have sons in scouting anymore, lol. If what they said is any indication, there are still some families who want their sons to earn Eagle. Unfortunately, I think a lot of LDS troops looked at scouting ONLY as a path to Eagle, and know for a fact that more than a few troops never followed the patrol method well and did very few outdoor activities. I had really been hoping my brother (with two young sons) would chime in. I guess I'll have to pick up the phone. As for Venturing, too many don't even know what that is. We didn't, until I started searching for alternatives to Girl Scouts, which my daughter hated. My husband had met a group of Polish Girl Scouts, who lived in NYC, and was impressed by them. We looked into it, but she's have had to speak Polish - like that was going to happen! Eventually, we stumbled across Venturing. Last night, we were at a Board of Ed meeting for my daughter's swim team to receive an award, and I told two people - separately - that we had to leave early for a Crew meeting. I didn't really thing about it, but both assumed I meant rowing, and one of them is even our Committee Chair for our Troop. Our Crew was started by two or three dads who had boys in scouts, and they wanted something for their daughters. It's all-girl, and it's mainly camping and high adventure, so that's our draw. Even with Girl Troops starting, we're still drawing new girls. Perhaps because they're slightly older (14 v. 11), they like that we have one meeting and one trip per month, leaving them plenty of time for other things. We have two girls who are focused on advancing in the program, but none of the other 20-ish girls care at all. Goes along with what some of you have said.
  20. I was thinking the session described wouldn't only be about safety, but also going over the rifle/shotgun and learning about function as well, and maybe a little bit about ammunition, sights, etc. For a lot of these scouts, this will be the first time they'll have ever laid a hand on a gun. Many may not even know how the firearm functions.
  21. Sounds like you're in a very tough spot. As much as I can appreciate the desire to start a linked girls' troop, if the current troop only has seven scouts and is on its last legs, will there be any benefit to having the girls' troop linked? It sounds like there's not really a functioning troop for the boys at all, and while that doesn't automatically mean the girls' troop can't work, it might be tough to get the troop to flourish when the other isn't. Also, only you and your own kids can decide, but think about what they hope to get out of scouting. If the best way to keep your son interested enough that you aren't dragging him through the program is to join another troop, then that might be the best choice. It's tough because in a way the other cubs who are crossing over appear to be reliant on you, but without some serious help and reorganization, it wouldn't be surprising if those who do cross over can't be retained. In your same situation, I might chose to look into a nearby girls troop that already exists for your daughter who has two years left for Cub Scouts, and put your efforts into making the existing boys' troop function for those scouts whom you've already recruited and been working with, and for your son who will cross over now.
  22. Well, we didn't cook in mess kits. We made scrambled eggs in a pot of boiling water with Ziplocs.  LOL.

  23. So, I just gave an 'I love it' rep to a post from 2010, lol. We still have three metal mess kits, but I can't remember the last time anything was cooked in them. For me, personally, I cook a fair amount over the fire, but not in the mess kit since it's usually for my family of five. My daughter does take a metal cup along with her plastic mess kit, so she can heat water for hot chocolate over the backpacking stove. Our crew and troop does a lot of cooking in the Dutch oven, but again, not the same. Now I'm going to have to throw this out there as a challenge for some of the older scouts who are starting to think they know it all.
  24. My daughter's Venture Crew (all girl) is led by three dads who started the crew for their daughters. There are three women on the committee now (we're called 'Associate Advisors' ), but the main leaders are still men.
  25. Ask a few scout shops as well. Sometimes they get old uniforms, and occasionally some of the less sentimental patches are left on.
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