MSPP #69: The Forest of the Yellow Fingers

 Everyone loves to hear a story. Especially a story that has a some comedy with a little grossness mixed into it. Add a moral to the story and you have something to tell the Boy Scouts around the campfire. But what if the moral of the story includes a bad pun? Then, you have a groaner and you better be prepared to run for your life! The story of the Forest of the Yellow Fingers is one such story. 

This video of the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast was videotaped during Troop 68's 2007 Laughs For Lunch Show. It features Scoutmaster Steve telling the audience the story of the Forest of the Yellow Fingers which takes place during medieval times. The story is a tale of a greedy king who wishes to enlarge his country by conquering the neighboring kingdom, but there is an obstacle in his path, a forest of huge, ugly, terrifying yellow fingers. Just wait until you hear how it ends.

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The Drawing Draws Near

There is only a week left to register for the drawing to win dvd's or posters for Scout Camp: The Movie. You do need a Twitter account to enter. Details are found at  http://tinyurl.com/kksp3z

Scout Camp: The Director

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Garrett Batty, the writer and director of the new film Scout Camp: The Movie, during a recording of the Leaders Campfire podcast. Garrett was nice enough to give us an hour and a half of his time. The episode came in at about 45 minutes after editing. Check it out at the Leaders Campfire site or the PTC Media site.

I am a bit of a movie buff so when I saw the film's trailer on Youtube a couple of months ago I rated it and added it to my favorites. When I realized this film would not be going into general release I sent an email to Three Coins Productions through Youtube to ask if the movie would be shown in central Minnesota. I received a reply from Garrett stating the film was going to be released on dvd but some councils were arranging special screenings.

After a few more emails Garrett agreed to be a guest on the Leaders Campfire podcast. Cubmaster Chris and I had a great time talking to him about making the movie, the cast, and his Scouting background. I am not going to write much about the interview in this blog because I want you to listen to the podcast, but I will tell you that I am even more excited to see the movie now than I was before our chat.

Garrett was kind enough to send PTC Media some copies of the dvd and posters of Scout Camp: The Movie to be used as prizes for a drawing for the listeners of the Leaders Campfire and people who use Twitter. Details of the drawing can be found HERE.

Cubmaster Chris and I appreciate Garrett Batty taking the time to join us for the show. The three of us hope you enjoy listening to it and pass it on to your Scouting friends. Don't forget to leave us a comment and enter the drawing. And be sure to order your copy of Scout Camp: The Movie.

Father's Day Card

 While shopping for a few graduation cards last weekend there was a Father's Day card that caught my eye that I just have to share with you. It features Snoopy, the Beagle Scout, and his trusty troop featuring Woodstock and his pals. I immediately added it to the pile of cards I was buying. Here is a picture of the front and the inside of the card. It is a Hallmark card, by the way.

I will not be sending it to my father though. I will be keeping this one as a part of my Scouting collection.

Arriving At Woodbadge

The Friday that I had been both dreading and excited about had arrived. It was time to go to the first weekend of Woodbadge training at Camp Stearns in central Minnesota. I was dreading it because I did not know if I would know anyone in attendance other than Paul, the culprit who signed me up for the training. I am pretty shy and it takes me a while to warm up to new people. But I was also excited because this was Woodbadge, the ultimate Scout leader training course.

It did not take long to find a few people from my council that I knew once I arrived at Camp Stearns. I have known Bruce since my days as a Boy Scout. He worked on staff at the summer camp I attended, Parker Scout Reservation. I knew Jim through roundtable meetings and council family camp weekends. Jim was also known as Skunk because of the striped cap and coat he wore when camping, which we suspected was made from real skunk hides.

John was also from the Central Minnesota Council and was the fourth member of our patrol. He was the scoutmaster of a troop in St. Cloud. The final members of our patrol were two female Scout leaders from the Viking Council, Mary and Marge. So, we had four men and two women in our group. We all got along great and formed a good, if somewhat mischievous, patrol.

It was time to receive our patrol name. Would we get to be the agile Antelopes? Maybe the wise Owls? How about the mighty Bears? I liked the idea of being a high flying Eagle. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered we were to be the Bobwhite patrol. A bobwhite? A small game bird? Come on guys, get real. But the Bobwhites we were named, and the Bobwhites we would be.

We actually had a lot of fun as the Bobwhite Patrol. We came up with a cool flag, created a nice sign for our camp, and came up with an awesome totem. Bruce even found some small yellow beaks for us to wear by the second weekend of training.

"I used to be a Bobwhite, and a good old Bobwhite too. But now I've finished Bobwhiting, I don't know what to do." We are the Bobwhites. Beware!

Watch for more stories about my Woodbadge training.

MSPP #68: Scout Law According To Great Leaders

I am veering away from the usual song or skit video found on the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast to bring you something created by Eagle Scout Doug Gray. A couple years ago Doug's father, Fred, asked me for some assistance in finding some Scouting videos that his council could not find for him. Fred recently wrote me to share a few videos created by his son. Here is a portion of that email:

My son just completed his Gold Palm and put together some videos. One of the DVD presentations was for this spring's Buckeye Council NYLT. He is going to be JASM and will present "The Leading Edge, How To Be An Effective Leader." Doug made an interactive DVD presentation in which he (as Napoleon on stage) interviews Napoleon on the screen. For Youtube he filmed both parts and put them into a complete presentation. Doug spent months on the project and then broke the presentation into four parts (he left out the first segment about Storming, Forming, Norming, etc because only NYLT people would understand that). The parts on Youtube Doug made because he felt that the National canned presentation was too much "how" and not enough "what" as far as leadership for 14 year old kids.

The best part of the whole presentation was about the Scout Law according to Great Leaders - Doug made that into a separate Youtube video. He is going to use it at his Eagle Palm presentation in a month.

I watched both videos and was very impressed with Scout Law video. After a quick email of my own, I received permission to share Doug's video through this podcast. Fred wrote that Doug made the videos to share, so if you have an opportunity to use this within your troop, council, or district than do so.

Leave a comment using the link below, or at the PTC Media forums. You can also rate the videos of Melrose Scouting Productions at the iTunes Music Store. It really is great to hear what you think about the podcast videos.

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Going to Woodbadge

I was beginning to feel a little burned out after serving as the scoutmaster of Troop 68 for six years in the fall of 1987. I told Paul, a great Scouting friend of mine, how I was feeling about Scouting. He suggested that I attend a Woodbadge training course. Woodbadge would get me energized.

I had heard about Woodbadge, that it is like the college course of Scout leader training, and that it is an excellent course to attend. I also knew that it would take place over three weekends and that there was a "nice" registration fee. Woodbadge would be something I would attend some other time.

Paul caught up with me during a district function in the spring of 1988. "I registered you for the fall Woodbadge course," he told me, and then gave me the dates of the three weekends. "Well gosh," I thought, "that was nice of him." Yes, I wanted to participate in a Woodbadge course but this was much sooner than I had planned. Oh well, I was registered now so I guess I may as well get it done and over with.

I told the troop committee about it at the next meeting. They agreed to pay a portion of the cost for which I was very thankful. I also discovered that I would need another uniform shirt since I was not about to redo many of the patches on my current troop uniform. Luckily, I already had the official Scout pants, cap, and socks.

As the first weekend approached I began to get a little nervous. I was attending the course in Viking Council, since our council was not conducting Woodbadge training. I knew Paul would be on the staff as the troop quartermaster but would I know anyone else? Who would be in my patrol? What would be my patrol name? Too many questions. Too much to be nervous about.

One Hundred Years From Now...

I think this explains one of the reasons that some of us participate in this adventure called Boy Scout (or Cub Scouting):

One hundred years from now it will not matter what your bank account was, the sort of house you lived in, or the kind of car you drove; but the world may be different because you were important in the life of a child.

– Dr. Forest E. Witcraft (1894-1967)
Scouting, Oct 1950, p.2

The BSA Youtube Channel

Yes, you read that correctly. The Boy Scouts of America now has an official Youtube channel. As I write this, the channel has twelve videos posted, eleven "Words to Live By" videos and the "State of Scouting" video. You can even watch them in HD. The channel can be found at http://www.youtube.com/BSA100years#all

It is long overdue in my opinion. The BSA has come up with some excellent promotional videos over the years, along with some pretty corny ones, but yet very few people ever saw them. Speaking for myself, the only time I ever saw most of these videos was when I attended a district or council event. I kept thinking about how the National office should be showing these to the general public, not the people already involved with the program. I am sure budget and costs were the main reasons for not seeing these on television very often.

Now we have the internet. I hope the BSA continues to use it to get the word out about Scouting. This Youtube channel is a step forward in the right direction. It also gives troop and pack leaders another tool to use to promote Scouting, and the Scouts a site to direct their friends to learn more about the program.

I am not sure if anyone from the National office reads this blog but I hope they also use the channel to post some of the older videos created years ago, like the Scout Zone and the We Do It videos. I know I have already posted several older videos to my Youtube channel, but it would be great for better quality videos to posted to the official BSA channel.

Scout Camp: The Movie (Behind the scenes)

I just discovered this video on Youtube featuring behind the scenes pictures from Scout Camp: The Movie, which is being released on dvd this month. I am looking forward to seeing this movie. I think the troop will be having a movie night after I get a copy.

And here is a short clip from the movie featuring the Boy Scouts as they arrive at the beach for their swim checks.