A Scoutmaster's Blog

I attended the 2001 National Jamboree as a scoutmaster for one of the two troops from our council. I had a great time and had great Scouts participate in my troop. It was an excellent experience. This video brings back a few memories from that experience. Did you attended the 2001 National Jamboree?

https://youtu.be/UA-PHbJy_XI

It is that time of year. It is time to make the DVDs for the Scouts of Troop 68. Not that is a requirement by any means. But it is kind of a tradition that I began once I started taking digital photographs. It was easy to take the digital photos, convert them into slideshows, and burn to a DVD, so why not share them with the troop?

This year, for 2020, I decided to make an annual dvd for both the troop and for the Cub Scout Pack. The Cub Scout DVD will contain four slideshows featuring the January Pinewood Derby, and the February, July, and October Pack meetings. The Boy Scout DVD will contain 6 slideshows featuring activities, troop meetings, and a special advancement outing.

The Boy Scouts will receive a bonus DVD featuring this year’s Egg Drop Competition held at Camp Watchamagumee in June. I just recently got around to editing the footage so I thought it would make for a nice surprise.

Every year at this time I keep asking myself if I should continue to create these videos, and every year I seem to keep doing them. The first one was done in 2003, so that means this is the 18th year. I have often wondered if anyone ever takes the DVDs off their shelf to watch them years later but I have talked to a few people, especially parents, who like to go back and watch them once in awhile.

I usually hand these out to the Scouts at the troop’s Christmas party but, of course, due to the virus we will not be holding the annual event, so I may need to drop them off at each Scout’s home. Luckily we live in a small town.

Does your troop do something like this each year? Do your troop families enjoy watching them?

Those of you who read this blog know I like collecting the Hallmark “Beagle Scout” Snoopy ornaments that come out annually. I have been collecting them for years. Unfortunately, it seems that Hallmark is the only company that is making any Peanuts/Scouting related items. At least, I have not seen anything out there for sale.

In addition to collecting Scouting related items I also collect Star Wars toys and items. I few years ago I began collecting the Funko Pop Star Wars bobble head figures. That collection has grown too fast! I do enjoy them and I think Funko usually does a good job of capturing the various characters in their Pop style.

This morning (Monday) I received an email from the Funko company of some new figures that would go on sale today, in time for the Christmas holiday. Imagine my surprise when I discovered one of those figures was a “Beagle Scout” Snoopy with his pal Woodstock. I immediately went to the website to discover I could not find the Pop figure. I went back to the email and discovered they only went on sale at 2:00 (Central Time). Arrrgh!

As 2:00 approached I started checking in to the website. I did not want to miss out on this special sale. I have missed out on other special sales so I made an extra effort to make this one. At 1:55 I was able to get on, find the Snoopy figure, and place my order! In fact, I ordered two of them. One I could open and the other leave in the box. I was a happy camper.

What do you think of this Funko Pop bobble head figure? Is it something yoou plan to add to your Scouting collection?

Update: Well, this figure did not last long on the Funko website. One week later it has been removed. I hope you were able to order one for yourself.

Many of you may remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about finding a 1955 training flip chart in my Scouting collection. It was called Advancement and Your Patrol. I stated that it might be fun to do a video using this old training device and many of you seemed interested in the project.

Well, I did get one of the Scouts of our troop to record audio for the project. We spent a couple hours going through it page by page, getting the Scout to read it just right. Then we did one quick run through of him reading it the way he wanted to read it.

I have not finished my “serious” version of the project, but the Scout’s version is now complete and ready to be watched. You can see it at https://youtu.be/VhzBBrNO31k

It turned out pretty well, I think. In fact, I do not know if I even want to make the “serious” version any more. Let me know what you think of it. And I would appreciate it if you left a comment and a like on the YouTube site.

I recently saw this picture online, smiled, and thought to myself that this describes my life for over 30 years. That is how long I was the scoutmaster of Troop 68 in Central Minnesota. I worked with patrol leader councils during those years to plan troop programs, and thus at least one weekend each much of my life.

I have to say, most of those weekends were very enjoyable. It is amazing what a council of 13 year olds can come up with.

I am now a committee member of that troop and the current patrol leader council still gets to plan an occasional weekend on my schedule.

My family room has served as the troop’s Scout room for over two and a half decades. Patrol Leader Council meetings were held there, along with training sessions and some smaller troop activities. Committee meetings were held around the table once a month. One third of the room is a showcase for Scouting awards, memorabilia, and Eagle Scout photos.

I was cleaning up and sorting through some things last night and discovered a little gem I forgot was part of my Scouting collection. It is a training flip chart from 1955 regarding patrol advancement. It is for patrol leaders and discusses how to make their patrol become a First Class Patrol! It is 36 black and white pages, with the cover page, and is in excellent condition considering it is 65 years old.

As I was looking through it (yes, I had to stop and look at it) I began thinking it could be fun to scan the pages and turn it into a training video. Well, at least an interesting look at an old training resource. I was thinking about reading each page myself but then thought it would be much better if I could get one of our Scouts to read it.

I began working on it tonight. I have been in contact with one of the troop’s dads and he thinks his son may be interested in doing the reading. I have begun scanning the pages, which it going to take awhile. My old scanner is not the quickest by any means. In fact, each page is taking me over 3 minutes to set up and scan.

I will have to work with the Scout to be a good narrator. I do not think he has ever done anything like this but I think, after a couple read throughs and a few pointers, he will do an excellent job. I have even thought of trying to find an old uniform for him to wear during an opening introduction, but I am not sure if that will happen.

Would you be willing to take ten minutes or so to watch a video featuring an old training resource from 1955? Is this a project that is worth my time? Let me know in the comments!

It is that time of year once again. Hallmark has released its 2020 ornaments for the holiday season. Once again, they have created a special Scouting themed ornament featuring Scout Leader Snoopy, the world famous Beagle Scout, along with a few of his troop members. I believe this is the fourteenth year we have seen an ornament in this series. (If I am wrong, leave a comment.)

As you can see from the photo, canoeing is this year’s featured activity. This is the third time that water sports has been chosen as a theme, although this is the first time that portaging a canoe has been featured. As you can see, I do not believe Woodstock and his pals are offering much help with this portage.

Have you been to Hallmark yet to purchase your ornament? What do you think of this year’s design? Leave a comment and let us know.

Photos from hallmark.com.

Everyone seems to have their favorite music playlists these days. They could be on your mp3 player but chances are you have them on your mobile phone. I do. Too many of them in fact. But you never know what kind of music you will be in the mood to listen to so you need to have several playlists from which to choose.

One playlist on my phone is labeled Scouting Songs. It only has nine songs in it but all the songs are Scouting related. It is a fun list to listen to when I am working on troop paperwork or getting ready for the next meeting. It can help me get in the mood for Scouting. What songs does it include, you ask? Well, let’s take a look.

As you can tell from the picture with this post this playlist includes the theme song from Scout Camp: The Movie. “Born To Be A Scout”, by Alex Boye, is a fun upbeat song that may start your toes tapping. The song can be found through iTunes or whatever store you happen to use to download your music.

“The Scout Zone” is a song I ripped from the Scout Zone video which promoted the Scouting program nearly 20 years ago. It is another upbeat song telling about the adventures you could find in the Scouting program. The video can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKFnGDRaMQU .

“The Scout Law” is a fun song about The Scout Law and the meaning of the twelve points of the Scout Law. It is from the album suck, by the Croutons. You can listen to it and download it at https://thecroutons.bandcamp.com/album/suck .

“Boy Scout Rap” (a Tik Tok parade) is a fun video I discovered on YouTube nearly ten years ago. Created by Wild Youth Productions and sung by Thirty100, it pokes a bit of fun at Boy Scouts. I found it to be funny and enjoyed the song. The video can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rps1zdppqBA . It can be downloaded through iTunes.

“We Do It” is another song from a Scouting promotional video from a couple decades ago. Once again, it features fun things you could do in the Scouting program. The video can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tok9gePil3E .

“Proud To Be A Scout” is a song from one of the videos from the BSA’s Inspirational Shows DVD. Check out the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKxXx-6rOVg

The “Scout Song” was song by the Buckskin Staff of Many Point Scout Camp during a campfire program in 2007 (I think). I videotaped the program and ripped this song from the video. It is a nice easy listening song about Scouting. The video from this campfire can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxSGiY_XuvY .

Of course, a Scouting playlist would not be complete if it did not contain the theme song from perhaps the greatest Scouting themed movie of all time. That is correct, I am talking about Follow Me Boys. I tried to find a link to download this song but I am having some problems finding one.

The newest song on my playlist I heard for the first time at an Eagle Scout court of honor a few months ago. It was used during the slideshow. After the ceremony I asked what the song was told it was “Growing Wings”, by David Shipp. It is a song written about Eagle Scouts and the author has given permission for Scouts to use it for their court of honor. The video and song information can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xnEbRKvouA .

That wraps up my playlist. Do you have a Scouting playlist? What songs have you included? What songs do you think I should add to my list? Leave a comment and tell my about it.