Speaking of Boyscouts

“A Boyscout. Yeah. I'm not even a boy. But a troop in Nashville made me an honorary one back a couple years ago. I had forgotten it til today!

I tried the uniform on ..... but it didn't work too well. So I gave up on that part of it.
I still have the keys to the canoe though. ha!”

“you in the uniform...or at least attempting ot put it on.”

“Did they make you go through the "initiation"...if not, they missed out....errr...you missed out.”

“and we take the bait every time - we're so damn predictable ;op”

“you said it, ynami. Geesh. Kids....

;-)”

“Let's get together and tie some knots. Knot tying is great.”

“is this the start of another bondage thread?”

“You people are dangerous.”

“Sometimes, I head out to western
Mass. for a star party. It's usually supported by a local scout
troop.They set up a tarp and offer
dinner,hot dogs, coffee etc.
I'd like to get their shoulder patch.They are an astronomy troop.”

“Another "look at me, I think I'm cute" thread.

Grrrrrrrrr....”

“I haven't seen too many people look "cute" in a scout uniform.”

“...I'm trying to put together an indoor obstacle course for my boys tomorrow night. If anyone is so inclined, I would appreciate some suggestions on individual tasks that a group of 11 year old boys could perform. Remember, it's indoors and I am looking to put this together without purchasing anything elaborate. Any help would be appreciated. If HPM is reading this, you have mail...”

“Dang it, Tree, I thought this was a danababy thread! ;-)”

“Tree - Where the he11 is maple today?
BB hurt her feelings again?
We need Mapes!”

“WE NEED MAPES
WE NEED MAPES
WE NEED MAPES

ALL TOGETHER NOW!!!
WE NEED MAPES!!”

“I recycled it, Stove. She's around. Guess not posting right now...”

“Ok, that's great! I need suggestions!!!!!!”

“Inside area? How large?”

“About 30 by 20 feet.”

“maybe a little bigger, but not much”

“If you weren't already dead, I'd kill you, Bit!”

“Got it, HPM. Thanks, sent you reply...”

“Email sent.

Sounds like fun TB.

I got a great water game when summer comes around. Watermelon water polo. Pretty much the same as water polo only the ball is a watermelon and you can't throw the melon. Get the melon over the goal line get a point. Most points wins the melon. Well, everyone gets some watermelon but the winners go first in line.







Did I mention that the watermelon is greased with vegatable oil?”

“We used to do that in summer camp. It was a blast! Forgot about that...”

“Another good one.
Human knot.
No more than 8 people per team. Teams stand in a circle. Pick one guy to be the "end" Everyone reached their right hand across the circle and grabs the right hand of the guy across from him. Then everyone reaches in with their left hand and grabs the left hand of a different person than the one they already have a hold of. The end guy then lets go of who he's got with his right hand.

Now each team tries to unravel themselves without letting go of each other. When unraveled you should end up with a line of guys holding hands.

It can be a bit of a mess. It's hilarious watching them get out of the tangle. Get adults as spotters so no one gets hurt or falls.”

“Thanks for the ideas guys. HPM, that looks like a lot of fun. Chili, i was able to get some ideas form some of the links there. Again, thank you.”

“Treebeard, are you a Scoutmaster?”

“No, but HPM is.”

“Yes, I am, Orion. In Park Slope, Brooklyn...”

“He is now that his son crossed over into Boy Scouts.”

“My hat's off to both of you. I think Scoutmastering (is that a word?) is one of the best contributions a person can make to our youth. Thank you.”

“Hey Tree, I'll trade Council Strips with you - I'm in Blue Ridge Council, SC.”

“Correctamundo, my friend! We have a small troop and I am trying to do some recruiting. Man, this part is difficult. A lot of kids don't seem to want to be bothered at that age. But, I'm trying. Tedious process, though. The troop had been defunct for about 6 years until I revived the charter in September.”

“We could do that, Roam. I'll e mail you...”

“Thanks, Orion. It's a compliment that makes me feel good, as I know the other guys involved here can attest to. A little recognition is nice...”

“Tree, I did the same thing a few years back. My best recruiting tool was the boys. Get the troop active - camp out or hike or something fun and neat/different once a month. THe boys will tell their friends and bring them in.

Bug the you-know-what out of your DE too. Take the troop to district and council events.

Good luck!”

“A solid and active program recruits boys best. Ya gotta do cool stuff often to keep their interest.

Iff'in y'all ever bring your boys down this way (on the way the Seabase or another Florida locale maybe?) be sure to stop in and our Troop will put you up for a night.

Oh yeah this is usTroop623.com”

“Nice site, HPM. I'm working on one for my boys currently. Can I e mail you and Roam the link when I am done? I'd really appreciate the feedback.

Roam, I have been on the Ditrict leaders. They made some really nice efforts in the fall, but once the holidays hit, things got a little lax and I haven't seen much action. Time to light the fire again, I believe...”

“Sure, go for it.”

“My church has embraced the BSA organization, and boys in the church "automatically" get involved in the Scouting program. I have a group of Scouts ages 14-15 that have done the majority of their merit-badging, my task at this point being to get them out and apply what they have learned. I dont know if this is how it works for you guys (tree, hpm) but we call these kids Varsity Scouts (aka Adventure Scouts). Its the best time to have them IMO, lots of backpacking. Most of them have done little or no backpacking until this point, so they are heavy on practice (car camping etc) and light on experience.

But my problem is not recruiting, but rather retention. Most of these boys really dig what's going on, but some of them are only there because their parents think that they should be there. Attitude the whole way, everything sucks. One boy compained the entire way through the planning of our last trip, only to tell me during the trip that he was really enjoying himself and glad he came. We leave on another trip tomorrow, and he is right back at the moaning and complaining.”

“Tree - be glad to take a look at the site.

c bat - at the ages you've got you need to expect lots of complaining but then expect lots of fun being had during the actual event. They may not admit they're having fun sometimes, but you'll know. Teenagers suck. Keep it active and keep the kids very involved in the planning and it'll work.”

“OH myt LOrd ,tree bead ,theres is one indvidual task that all most some an other 11 years od boys do- right Buddy ?Since theBoy scouts do'nt allow the homo-sexuals to Join ,they could'nt do It together .Like the Circle Knot idea ,but its would be not a Knot-instead it would be a Jerk .”

“Our SM made a position patch for the boy who is Webmeister... scribe is SO archaic!

Check it out! ”

“In my mind's eye I can see Maple in a scoutmaster's uniform on Survivor, but not Treebeard.”

“real nice site HPM. Looks like you have a very active troop.”

“Thanks, we try.

C bat I've been trying to reply to you all day. here goes.

First off I depart from the BSA in that I am not a fan of Varsity or Venture Scouting they very mach have aplace in Scouting but I believe what they do most boys should be doing as a matter of course. I have seen some rockin Venture crews out there but the majority that I see (at least in my area) really don't do anything that would mandate a separate program from a Scout Troop. What my council calls high adventure I call basic Scouting skills.

As far as the attitude thing I don't see it that much any more as my Scouts tend to shut those guys up quick. We have very little tolerance for whining. We make it very plain that if they don't like it then plan something better or shut the heck up and don't dump on everyone else's good time. In short, make it better or go home.

Our difficulty is not in retention of older boys it is in retention of new boys. Usually we get new boys that don't understand that the boys take care of themselves and can't hang with the concept that the adults aren't there to be their servants. I'm still working to remedy that situation.”

“Dang dood...you've been a human packmule for a looooong time.”

“I'm not sure what you mean.
Maybe I'm just being dense....or tired.

I'll go with tired.”