drmbear

I've seen pictures of all the cars with modified wheel locations, lengthening the wheel base, shaping the wheels, etc. Even on the national level, these cars compete in an Open Division, a kinda no rules kind of competition. To compete with all the boys in the pack, we use the same rules that are required to compete at the district or council level. No moving axle locations, parts from the box, only wheel modification removing seams or burrs, 5oz., etc. That's the way it should be, something any of the boys in the pack can do, puts everyone on the same playing field. Of course run an open division - it is where all the leaders, parents, siblings, etc. compete, and the no rules thing applies. We had one guy that had built a bus weighing about 25oz last year - it was so heavy the nails wouldn't stay in the block and it drug on the center rail all the way down. I built mine legal weight, and nearly beat the cubmaster who had a car twice as heavy as mine. And I didn't even do that much except to work the axles.

For everything that really needs to be maintained at the pack level, why not just use the Online Advancement, which is the way they are going for reporting to councils and national. The link is at MyScouting.org. If you can get it updated and correct, it will go a long way toward helping keep your boy's records straight.

I have the supplex nylon shirt, and I think it is great. I still have some of my original normal cotton/polyester blend shirts from years ago, and I definitely prefer the Supplex for durrability and use regardless of the activity. A few of our leaders purchased other versions of the shirts, and I don't even think they look right. For me, the supplex switchbacks are a great pants, again regardless of the activity. I can wear these things on the trail or at meetings. I can wear them as shorts or long pants. My brother has been complaining a lot about the most recent versions because the length to the zipper is too long (making the shorts too long for his comfort). I managed to get plenty of the previous version switchbacks that are several inches shorter to the zipper (great short length), and they still have the zipper at the bottom to ease removing the lower leg without removing your shoes (great on the trail). I suppose the canvas versions could be nice, but since I'll be using these camping and backpacking, the supplex is lighter and can easily be washed out and dried in a hurry, for me I'll stick with the supplex.

Our elementary school has boys all the way through fifth grade - why would we think we have to separate them? Cub Scouts is run as a den program anyway. Tigers actually DO Cub Scouting with other Tigers. Bears DO Cub Scouts with Bears. Webelos DO Cub Scouts with other Webelos. We just get together as a pack for ONE monthly meeting for recognition, craziness and fun. I'm usually using the Webelos to support pack activities, since they should have a little more experience, to help kick off anything new or different. Doesn't a Scout troop also count on the older boys, who actually know stuff, to actually plan and teach things? I know I did that when I was a kid. But even troops are supposed to be a patrol based programs, so Cub Scouts really isn't all that different. Yes, we also occasionally have pack events, that bring everyone together, but even at those events the den leaders work with their dens, and anything I do a s Cubmaster for the whole pack is meant not only to entertain and engage 1st graders, or 5th graders, but also parents and siblings, and grandparents, and everyone else that's there. So since you are wanting to pull 4th and 5th graders out of the pack, do you also want to eliminate all the parents, since they are really way past 5th grade? The program is set up as a family program, and I know I consider that when I am planning pack meetings and other events. On the other hand, except for the Tigers, the den programs can really be focused on the boys, and they should be.

At the end of the school year, we alway do a "bridging" in the woods behind the school where we meet for ALL the boys in the pack to move into their new rank. They get their new neckerchiefs and slides, if there are still advancements made they are awarded at that time. On occasion we've also had flag retirements (burning) at this ceremony as well. It is a really special time to end the school year and kick off the summer program with the boys in their "new" dens. We also have a boy that registered as a Web2 just this year, is in 5th grade, and actually won't even turn eleven until next October, so he can't enter Scouts with his den, and it will take him until the end of the year (June) before he could finish his AOL anyway. I'm encouraging him to stick with the Pack until the end of the school year and bridge at that time (with all the other boys in the pack), though I'll be getting him to lots of Scout meetings during that time.

My first Boy Scout camp experience was at Camp Pipsico (Lions) in Surry, VA, 1974 - 1975. I went to Philmont in 1976. We moved over to Camp Pipsico (Kiwanis) in 1976 (I believe), after which Camp Pipsico was closed for a while because of the toxin Kepone in the James River and no pool or alternatives for waterfront activities. We then went to Camp Brady Saunders in VA for a year, then a couple of years at Chickahominey near Williamsburg, VA. In 1996 I went with a crew up to Maine and went down the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. I'm promoting with our Webelos to go to Pipsico again this summer. We'll see where we end up!!

Proud, I like what you had to say here. I'm a Cubmaster that started out really not knowing anything about Cub Scouts about a two years ago. On the other hand, I really know everything about working the patrol method. As a youth, I was Senior Patrol Leader and ran our council's week long Troop Leadership Training Course for three years in a row, working both to teach leadership skills and model ideal Scouting in the patrol method. Of course the best part about being a Cub leader is that I get to be in a position as an adult that I actually got to do as a SPL. Who knows, even when I want to move on with my son to Scouts, mostly to have a good reason to go out camping monthly and eventually get into cool high adventure trips, I may find my way back to Cub Scouts someday to get that rush of jumping around like a crazy man and planning cool and fun things. Don't get to do that as a Boy Scout leader. But I also know about transitioning leadership and decisions onto the Webelos, having all the Cubs involved in the things we're doing, asking them questions and letting them know they are important. I make sure they know this is their program, and it is necessary that they contribute. If I didn't understand Scouting and the Patrol Method, I probably wouldn't know to do some of the things that I do without thinking. And I think this is fun!!

You can do your own research, but it really is a horrible idea to use Ziploc-type bags for cooking. Here's one of the articles from Outdoors magazine: "Toxic Ziploc Omelet Procedure Published on February 24, 2008 by Joseph Parish in Outdoors A while ago it was the rage to make omelets in a Zip-Lock bag. Here are the reasons it isnt such a good idea. In several of my previous articles I have highly praised all the various benefits associated with the popular Zip-lock storage bags. These points commending the zip-locks usefulness are still valid however several readers of my articles have written to me describing a very hazardous cooking procedure that they had heard about involving the zip-locks. I have written this article to advise my survival readers of this present danger. Although Rachael Ray may use it and others highly recommend it, the use of plastic zip-locks in the preparation of Omelets is not suggested. This method of using plastic zip-lock bags can be down right dangerous. Those appetizing zip-lock omelets are without doubt extremely toxic. The University of Illinois has released a statement saying that Ziploc omelets represent nothing more then a toxic cocktail. Those entire quick omelet instructions you may encounter on the internet or you possibly watch on the food channel can be dreadfully deceptive. The practice of cooking with plastic bags has not received enough exploratory research necessary. There simply does not exist enough research data to ascertain if the process is hazardous or not due. Within the process is a potential for cancer generating breakdown associated with the plastics contacting the food during the cooking period. The Ziploc Company, S.C Johnson and son, voluntarily affirms that their brand of plastic bags should not be employed for boiling food. They have disclosed that they do not under any circumstances advocate using the bag in boiling water. Zip-lock bags are manufactured from polyethylene plastic which is predisposed to soften when subjected to temperatures in excess of 195 degrees F. The procedure of inserting these plastic bags into a pot of boiling water or just as harmful by placing the boiling water into it, could cause the plastic to commence breaking down and possibly resulting in melting. Since the egg and cheese contained in an omelet includes fat of their own the mixture tends to get even hotter than the boiling water. The major concern here is of course the possible contamination of the food as well as the cancer causing carcinogens resulting from the chemical decomposition of the plastic bag. This does not however preclude the use of the bag for mixing ingredients or to store the various constituents that survivalists generally require. The problem is the bag chemical breaks down under the high temperatures. The associated heat is what chemically breaks down the Zip-lock. The company has stated that the Zip-lock bag was never designed or approved for subjection to these extremes of heat found when boiling and they do not recommend such procedures. Any concerns which you may be having about the use of zip-locks and your food can be answered by contacting S.C. Johnson and Son at 866-231-5406 or you may visit their website at Ziplock. I hope this has alleviated the potential for a dangerous procedure in the use of these valuable items. After all we dont want to lose good survivalists, do we? Read more: http://quazen.com/recreation/outdoors/toxic-ziploc-omelet-procedure/#ixzz1AqMj0oUX

What would you do in this situation if the young woman was 19 and engaged to be married? Or already married? She could still be part of the crew up to 21, correct? Is there a value in what we do in Scouting that goes beyond whether she is pregnant or not?

About the only place I see value in this training is with parents and leaders that essentially have no real camping or backpacking experience. The place where there is an abundance of that is in Cub Scouts, where I even have leaders that have very little or no experience in camping. I know I will get absolutely no value out of the OWL/IOLS that I'll do in April just to say I've done it as I move into being a Webelos leader, as I know without hesitation that I have far more outdoor and camping experience than most anyone in our district. In a Cub Scout Setting, though, where the adult leaders are the ones teaching and running things, when they don't know what they are doing it can be really messed up. But it is a completely different ball game in a Scout Troop. There, it is boy run. In an established troop, there will usually be older boys that have been camping for several years that are teaching the younger guys, or at least setting the example. Inexperienced adult leaders should also be getting their cues from those same experienced youth or other experienced adults in the troop. "Oh, we're going camping this weekend?" "What do I need to bring?" "Okay!" Then the experience of going through it will create the skills, in the same way I learned as a youth. I never had any formal camping "training," but I certainly am an expert. I became an expert through experience first, then reading or asking questions when I wanted to improve things. There is no way any of that can happen in a two day artificial training. Maybe at my OWL/IOLS weekend the instructors will learn something!!!

I would make sure they have their pocket knife (so long as they have their Whittling Chip). An essential survival component.

I would do what we always called "Boy Scout Eggs." Tear a hole in the center of the pieces of bread, about 2" across. Place 2 pieces of the bread in the hot buttered frying pan and crack the eggs in the holes. Flip when they are halfway through to cook the other side. Serve with syrup, if you like. Quick, easy, and less mess than trying to do regular French toast, though essentially the same thing. My son, at eight, already knows how to cook these at home.

I see Scouters out without neckerchiefs fairly regularly, but I can honestly say that I do not feel I am in uniform until I put on my neckerchief. I wouldn't go out without it.

If you really want to see the significance and importance of the things we've done in this country to reduce our impact on our environment, all you need to do is spend some time travelling and camping in some other countries around the world. I've now been camping and hiking in the Altai Region of south central Siberia several times, most recently this past summer for eight days. Each of these trips has been with my wife's family and friends, so it is not just my own actions that affect me. Some of the most amazing wilderness, forest, and more, that I've ever seen is there, comparable to the many national parks, forests, state parks, and more that I've been through all around our country. The big problem, huge problem, is that they have NONE of the general respect or concept of taking care of their natural places. The idea or LNT is just about as far from reality as you can imagine. I remember on my first trip camping there, hiking around this beautiful little lake, but being hugely disappointed by painting and marks on rocks, glass and trash everywhere, and having inlaws thinking I am definitely from another planet when I was picking up some of the litter and even stopping my brother-in-law (through a language barrier) from leaving a bottle or trash in rocks along the trail. They really thought I was odd. New places this last time, but I still saw plenty of signs of regular abuse of their natural land. We even went to this one site that had a "ranger" lead tour showing and explaining these ancient, thousands of years old, rock etchings. There were these somewhat barrieres to keep us back from most of the etchings, but this ranger doing the talk was walking over them and rubbing his hands and fingers over them through his talk. With rangers like that, this amazing history will not be around long. In some of the places we went, I noticed trash cans, for example, but none you could actually use. They were always completely full or rotting putrid trash. Apparently there is actually no one designated to empty them. We were at a campground along a swift moving river for a few days, pit toilets too close to the river, our only water the river itself, definitely no trash collection. There was this single trash can near the pit toilets that had a huge pile of several weeks of trash piled in a huge mound around it. Very unlike any travelling I've done all around this country. The one good thing I noticed on this trip, after several previous trips like it, is that I believe my inlaws "get it" now. Although not perfect, they camp regularly with friends around the area, and I saw them doing things far differently than when we first camped together something like eight years ago. They were paying attention, picking up after themselves, and looking for ways to avoid leaving anything nasty for the folks following them. I guess I made an impact. So maybe we continue to make improvements, and LNT is a step toward even more improvements. I certainly think there are ranges. For example, up in Maine, going down the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, there is absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing wrong with collecting all the firewood you could ever need for cooking and keeping warm. It really is a never-ending supply, continually replenished, and abundant resource, and it is all we cooked with on that trip. Trying to do that in the woods around here in Virginia just wouldn't work out quite as well, so it makes good stoves that much more important. I'd say the most important value in LNT is putting it in the minds of our youth to reduce their overall impact, to leave it like they found it. It's probably even valuable for us to make those kinds of pitches in our elementary schools and more, ideas for service projects probably. Even when there is not 100% compliance, I am thankful in this country for seeing how well we actually do compared to other places I've been, even though I know there is much more that we need to do.

By summer, I'm transitioning to a Webelos Leader. All I see as I look to what we will be doing for the next year and a half is a really cool opportunity to get into a whole lot of fun. We can camp, get out to local trails, Scouting events, and other places, create adventures, build things, and get into all sorts of trouble that boys like to get into. I think I'm going to be finding ways to send these boys home dirty, if you get what I mean. It just sounds like a blast to me, removing a lot of the restrictions and controls that we've had as a Wolf and Bear. We'll still need parent involvement and adult leadership, but it can be the boys helping identify cool and awesome things to do and experience. I can hardly wait - I actually doubt they will see us on the den meeting nights all that often, so there won't be a lot of sitting around a table unless it is planning our next adventure. I want an eighteen month program to get it all in, but my goal is to have them not even wanting to go to soon, but geared up for the possibilities once they get to Scouts. As a Webelos Leader, I can get them thinking creatively, and help them turn whatever they imagine into something they can see. By the time they get to Scouts, they won't be thinking the only adventure they can find is in a video game, but in making the world around them better than a video game.

We are all associated with "BOY" Scouts, are we not? I've found that one of the ways boys and men interact is to give each other a hard time, particularly if they like each other. I don't know if it is all a test or some other strange freak of nature. It doesn't tend to work as well when interacting with women. My son is only eight, and he gets it. We now regularly tease and give each other a hard time when we are playing, and we know we are playing. We don't do that with mom, at least not in the ame way. It is strange that as we get comfortable with using this forum, in the normal Scouting spirit we get used to, we'll hit on someone here just as we do when out on a campout with the other guys!!

I agree with you, NJCubScouter, and I think that was the point I was trying to make. I was saying that it is nonsense that there are folks that are wanting to remove TJ's name from the district because he once owned slaves. For all he did to insure tolerance and freedom, it is rediculous anyone would want to knock him. And I'm saying that as a graduate of THE University! (of Virginia)

I've also heard said that Roundtable is supposed to be the perfect example of a Pack Meeting (for the Cub Scouts)in general form. The first requirement of a Pack Meeting is that it is fun. The second requirement is that everyone gets involved in some way. The only difference is that we're targeting adult Scouters rather than 8YO boys, and there is some general information we're trying to get across, but it should be worthwhile in helping us do our jobs better.

Make it worthwhile for folks to attend. If it is boring or they only are getting information they can download themselves, then of course no one will attend. Is it really worthwhile, and does it make their jobs easier if they attend regularly? If not, communicate by email and don't waste your time holding them.

At our church service yesterday, the talk was about Thomas Jefferson and his religious freedom principles that ended up as part of our Bill of Rights. I guess there is some talk about removing Thomas Jefferson's name from our district name because of his slave-holding legacy or some such nonsense. Anyway, it made me think of some of the principles that I personally picked up, beginning with my time in Scouting as a youth. In religion and in politics it seems we seek to find ways to divide rather than bring together. In Scouting, I learned that we should strive to find ways to bring people together, the whole "world brotherhood" concepts and the Scout Law. Yet in politics, I find the main things we try to do considering Republicans vs. Democrats is divide. Same thing, Protestant, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, etc. It is all about division, and a big part of many of the conflicts occuring around the world. Virtually every world religion has principles along the lines of "love one another," - be nice, but the divisiveness drives them to interpret that to mean "unless you are not one of us." So my call, whether it's politics or religion, instead of divisiveness, let's find ways to come together. Far more productive and good for us all.

We did this last spring. We also had tenst already set up and fully equipped, had them setting up tents (it's fun to just have the tent rolled up and in it's bag, tell the boys we need to come up with some shelter, let them figure out(with a little prodding) what to do, until they get it to set up the tent - and let them work together as a den to get it set up - a real challenge for them), we had them involved in cooking things outside(at the school)- hot dogs & s'mores, we included a Kim's Game with various camping and hiking pocket items at one station, and then we had another station about Camp/Outdoor Safety -Sun, Bugs, First Aid, Buddies. We rotated so each den had time at each of the stations.

Although I like the idea of the bag omelets, when researching this last year I found some not so pleasant issues with using typical plastic bags for cooking. Ziploc and other storage bags are designed for storage, not cooking, and there are toxins produced when you use them for cooking. Do your own research, though.

I absolutely see no place whatsoever for Coleman type lanterns while out camping, whether Scout camping or even campground family camping. I've even felt the urge to destroy them when someone is using them, though I've never acted on that urge. Why go out camping if you are just going to make it as bright as the indoors? When family camping I've used a small kerosene wick lantern, and I even have one of the small candle lanterns I use for Scout camping, but I like most this small LED lantern/flashlight that is amazing. In nine months of using this thing regularly, I haven't had to change the batteries, and that even includes eight days of camping with a group in Russia where we used it through the night for cooking, eating, games, stories, etc. Even as a youth, I hated Coleman lanterns. I like my eyes to adjust to the woods at night, and it is not possible to do that with this big honking light blaring through the campsite. I don't even like the racket they make. Daylight is for the day, learn to enjoy the night. I've set up camp, prepared meals, and done everything else really needed with little more than small lights, and that is the way it should be. I've had too many experiences in a campground, quiet, peaceful, dark; severly disturbed by a group that comes in, strikes up three or four Coleman lanterns all hours of the night, lighting up the whole campground, and making it so I can't even get to sleep. No thanks. I own one, but I'd never take it with me camping.

At my Woodbadge final night, I brought my DO to make a simple cobbler. In the fire circle, I made a big pile of charcoal, and when the fixings were in the DO I put a good pile of the charcoal on top and set the DO on top of a good pile of hot coals as well. Thirty minutes later, just as we finished dinner, the cobbler was ready and perfect. I even had a leftover piece in a plastic container that ended up in the cooler and taken home that my wife ate and loved - now she's demanding I make them at home!! One of the other patrols was sharing the fire ring, and they were also attempting a DO cobbler. They were using these newfangled rules about so many pieces of charcoal on top and bottom, etc. They had started their charcoal before I even went over there, even had put on their DO. As I opened my finished product, ready to serve, I saw these other guys drooling, jealous-like, considering how little effort overall I had put into the whole process. They ended up asking if they could have the charcoal I had just finished cooking on, and since I was about to poor water on it, they got it. I don't know if they ever got the food done, since we had already moved onto other things. Some basics, I like the liners, I use plenty of heat, but not too much to burn, and while camping I like to prepare well and make it simple.

I picked up a nice red fleece jacket, warm, fits right, easily washable, works wet or dry. Exactly the same color as the old wool jacket I had as a kid. I picked up one of the oval jacket patches at the Scout shop, sewed it on, and I'm good to go. I even sewed on my Philmont Bull. I like wearing this a whole lot more than the wool jacket that needed dry cleaning if I leaned against something. Anyone that has seen it just assumes it is a Scout jacket, and it is because I made it one.