I was asked to write a guest article for the Algonquin Outfitters Blog (these are the outfitters we use for our canoe trips in Canada) : Moose are sneaky. I could imagine them getting together a few days before we arrived and a big bull issuing some orders: “So next week there’s going to be two crews of Scouts up here. There’s one guy, his name is Bill, medium height, medium build, black hair; don’t anybody go near that guy okay?...
A dog in the manger guards the manger (where hay is put for animals to eat) not because he wanted to eat the hay but to prevent the other animals from doing so. In the context of Scouting I think of a few instances that illustrate the point; Volunteers who get so stuck in one way of doing things they refuse to let anyone else help them, let alone share their responsibilities....
In 30 plus years of Scouting this past Saturday was particularly meaningful. My wife and I were invited to the wedding of one of the men she calls ‘our boys’. Andy worked with me on camp staff and worked for me when I was a camp director nearly twenty years ago. There’s something to the friendships we forged as camp staff members that remains lasting and important. Andy asked me to be one of the readers at his wedding....
Via Facebook Tracey Lucas asks: We’ve helped our Elks with an annual Flag Day Ceremony and Flag Retirement Ceremony for many years. Some years we have over 400 flags that have been collected during the year to retire during the evening. We want to retire these flags with the utmost respect, but at the same time, the emissions from burning mostly synthetic flags for several hours has us worried, for the environment, but mostly for our Scouts....
Julian Kulski was a Polish Scout when the Nazis invaded his nation in 1939. He was only 10 years old when the war began. After the invasion the Nazis directed that all schools be closed and that any patriotic clubs and organizations be disbanded under penalty of death. Concerned about his son’s safety, Kulski’s father urged him to move in with his Scoutmaster, Ludwik Berger, who later revealed the existence of a secret military organization, the Union of Armed Resistance....
A reader recently inquired to the origins of the left handshake as a greeting for Scouts. After researching the question the short answer is that, while no one can really determine who first started the tradition, the left handshake is a tradition older than Scouting. Baden-Powell (the founder of Scouting) may have adopted the left handshake from author, illustrator and co-founder of the Boy Scouts of America Earnest Thompson- Seton’s early pre-Boy Scouts of America writings....
I posted this ‘study’ to Facebook earlier this week. The interest it created leads me to share news of research by hard-working yet little known Scouters who staff the Large Baden Collider at Philmont Scout Ranch. Some years ago Bernoulli (Harry Bernoulli, Pack 234) concluded Scout volunteers could fulfill their mission in an hour a week. This hypothesis has since been the subject of intensive study. I was able to find the most current formula that accounts for the ages of the Scouts (younger Scouts require more time) and the influence of other volunteers....
Rule No. 54 from Andy at Ask Andy : The more logical and simple the Scouting procedure or policy, the more it will be ignored. This isn’t simply a curmudgeonly observation – it’s true. True things ought to inspire us to think for a minute or two (at least). I see a similarity to a quote I posted earlier this month from Edwin Armstrong : It ain’t ignorance that causes all the trouble in this world....
‘It Happened to Jane’ (1959) starred Jack Lemmon and Doris Day. It’s an O.K. movie (Ernie Kovaks is the villain). This clip is a little long , but watch the first part. Note the reasonably realistic, chaotic group of Cub Scouts. Doris singing ‘Be Prepared’ as Jack strums the ukulele on backup. As a youngster I would have been a worshipful, attentive and enthusiastic singer if the lovely Ms. Day showed up at my cook out....
From Rules of Thumb : The most successful teaching lessons last 22 minutes, the exact length of the average TV sit-com. – Steven M. Keisman, New York City high school resource coordinator
What weighs an ounce in the morning, weighs a pound at night. An old soldier’s proverb, also mentioned in Earnest Thompson Seton’s “The Birch Bark Roll”
Scout leaders hear lots of interesting things over the course of a normal day (if there is such a thing) at Scout camp. Many times even the most contradictory versions of many of these phrases are heard minutes apart. Have you seen my (handbook, merit badge book, wallet, towel, water bottle)? You do know where the shower house is, don’t you? (This is, You are) the worst (counselor, patrol, troop, senior patrol leader, patrol leader, scoutmaster, tent, bunk, breakfast, lunch, dinner) I have ever had!...
“Take care of all the small things, and the big things never show up.” From Sippican Cottage
Here’s the latest question posed by Scouting Magazine’s ‘What Would You Do‘ column: Commanding Respect Our troop has just seven Scouts who are 14 or older, including me, and then 15 to 20 younger Scouts. On camp-outs, the younger Scouts don’t listen to us, and they give us attitude when we ask them to do something. We have tried many things, but nothing seems to work. Could you give us some ideas?...
From Scouting Magazine’s ‘What Would You Do?’ One of our Boy Scouts has Asperger’s syndrome. He does well learning Scouting concepts by reading, but he has struggled with camp-outs and activities that are not highly structured. What can we do as a troop to help him succeed? Also, it is taking him a long time to complete advancement requirements. How do we encourage him to keep putting in the effort to complete his requirements, even though they are more challenging for him than for other Scouts?...
An adventure is merely a bit of bad planning, brought to light by the test of a trial. Roald Amundsen polar explorer Camping when the weather is clear and sunny = great camping. Camping when the weather is ‘interesting’ = adventure.
Pettifogger: n, a disputant who quibbles; someone who raises annoying petty objections. pettifogging, pettifoggery
Voluntold */*vol-en-told/ *adverb;*Taking on a responsibility normally assumed voluntarily under some from of compulsion (typically a withering look from one’s comrades). “Edward was voluntold to be the patrol cook.”
‘What Would You Do?’ AKA ‘Front Line Stuff’ question for the next issue of Scouting Magazine; During free time on a recent troop camp-out, a Scout from the Fox patrol thought it would be fun to steal the Rattlesnake patrol’s flag. One boy punched the other, and the fisticuffs continued for several minutes. In the aftermath, I want to know how other troops handle physical fights. How do they prevent them, and what...
From an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal; Boy, the Scout Handbook Keeps Changing by Tony Woodleif, a succinct and thoughtful evaluation of what Scouting means to a Scout and his family: I suppose a handbook won’t determine whether my sons have an enriching Scout experience. Their troop’s leaders will. And I will. “Troops,” says an Eagle Scout friend, “are like churches.” You get some good and some bad; it depends on who’s doing the work....