last two weeks have been a hell. been running nasty cold. boy scout camp out last weekend. nasty cold since two weeks ago. stuck at work after hours with holiday rush. i only had time to clean molds on my cuttings now and then. 

left work at 3:30am last night after getting there 6pm day before. 

this morning had my older son's science club meeting helped coaching them making mousetrap vehicle. 

today, i took a look at the cuttings and most of them are ready for cup. few such as Pastiliere (Baud), Nero 600M, Stella, Paradiso Nero, St. Rita are showing roots and ready to be move. some have mold so bad they will go to fig heaven, but thank god i have enough that i won't loose the variety. 

tomorrow will be another busy day with moving cuttings to cups. 

oh.. impressed the heck out of other boy scout leaders by starting the camp fire with flint and steel using char cloth. yeah.. i like to go back to stone age. 

In the stone age they probably would have eaten that moldy cutting ?? LOL

yeah.. it's called natural selection. ones who ate everything helped themselves out of the gene pool :) next, i want to teach the scouts how to catch, dress, cook and eat frogs. 

Lol   (out of the gene pool) I guess your right about that and .....dress the frogs I could imagine that putting them in like little shorts with a hat or something etc.I know what you mean by dress but I thought my version was funny 

Don't live like that! What industry are you in? Technically gifted people are a rarer find than the technically gifted realize and end up under compensated. Are you sure you don't have better options?

Business in Charlotte seems good and I hear the Raleigh area is better, what gives?

I'm in tech field. Software. I know there are more money out there, but my job is cushy, and flexible. Yesterday was a rare exception.

Pete, I'm probably quite a bit older than you and an ASM.  I am not quite stone age though.  When boys at summer camp couldn't get the fire started with flint and steel and some dry leaves, I went to my toiletry bag with a cotton ball that worked great and really impressed them. :)

Harvey,

I had dryer lint, cotton ball with petroleum jelly, and news paper in my pack along with jute twine and char cloth. For fire, over prepping is the only way to go. Beside it's been raining for 3 days or so. So I had to prep well before starting the fire. Hat full of wood saving, enough twigs pencil lead thickness, and pencil thickness along with thumb thickness branches all off ground and drying. Platform out of tree bark, and some brace... It would have been easier harvesting fuel off dead branches off standing trees, but I was also doing low impact/leave no trace training for the boys.

Just finished my wood badge tickets and got my completion approval. Have to figure out my beading ceremony thing... Right now I'm a den leader for my younger son, and helping out with my older son's troop with new scout program. Volunteered for ASM for next chartering. I want to introduce some more primitive camping skills to the troop for older boys.

Pete, I wish I got more involved earlier.  I don't think most of the boys can start a fire without a lighter and their cooking skills (or even fig recipes....need to throw figs in here somewhere!!!) are very good at all.  It drives me nuts.  I remember my Scoutmaster teaching me maybe 44 years ago how to cook a pancake and to know when it was ready to turn over.  I just made my brotherhood OA honor in September and shared how he was my role model and a month later he had a accident (fell at home) and died.  I'm glad I took my son to meet him two years ago.  Great memories for me and you're building great ones for your boys and you.

It's nice to hear about men being involved with their sons lives!

Love it

harvey,

i had little talk with one of the scouts the other meeting. he insists that everything going into the backpack needs to be freeze dried and they need to be full of preservatives so they won't spoil, no fresh fruits or anything that has chance of going bad.

we decided that i'll pack what he wants for dinner and i'll bring what i want for the lunch. we had baguette, dried italian sausaage, havarti cheese, apple, and a bar of cholate for lunch. for dinner, they had instant ramen noodle. he liked lunch much better.

i'll show them how to pack steak, orzo, and veggie for first night simple stew next time. and all cooked in non stick frying pan that's much lighter than the pots they have been carrying.

Pete, loved reading about how involved you are with your son and the scouts, my son (16) isn't into scouting but we go hunting and fishing every chance we get. This year we were in the tree stand together, I took an 8 pointer, my nicest deer ever but it didn't mean a thing to me compared to seeing the smile on my son's face when he took a very nice doe, cherish the young years with the kids, they grow up way too fast!

Pete,

     No knocks against Scouting (my nephew just became and Eagle Scout), but it is apparent this guy never spent much time backpacking or even on the trail. We even took fresh eggs with us. It just takes some thoughtful preparation, doesn't it?

Pete, good job.  In my HAT core training we had a guy that did a good job of giving ideas for backpacking menus.  One idea I threw out came from a book I've used for ideas that I thought was pretty interesting, mixing dried milk and tang together for a drink mix, it's like an orange julius and I liked it as much as the boys.  My son will probably be going for his Eagle board of review next month, just before his 15th birthday.  Most boys drop out of Scouting after making Eagle but my son will stay involved pretty well, I'm sure.

I've got some dried jujube fruit that are great for backpacking.  Haven't ever dried figs but may have to give that a try. :)

All I remember is the night my ex called from a pay phone explaining they were coming home early.  Son went to emergency from spilling really hot chocolate on his sweet little foot at one of those "man teaches boy, things."  He had 3rd degree burns!!  OMG!  So I worry and wait.  And what is on TV at 2 in the morning?  Two stupid dudes talking boring stuff about catching fish!!  In a boat.  Droning on, and on and on...........

Kid grew up to be an attorney, and never, ever became a scout!  Last thing that happened to his foot was when he broke his ankle stepping on a random toy left on the stairs by one of his kids.  If you need an attorney, he's your guy!

Suzi

Pete, Harvey,
What is this ASM you speak of?   (From context I'm assuming you're not talking about the java technique).  I did Science Olympiad coaching with one of my sons for three years... it was overall a good experience, but eventually I got out of it (following my son's lead, actually), because the organized competition aspect of it was making various forms of corruption/cheating too widespread.  Almost all of it by parents.  When I saw that, I felt like:  Man, what are those guys teaching their kids?  So we left and didn't look back.  I felt it was more important to teach kids about ethics for scientists, so for my last three sessions there I used real-world examples of what happens when people falsify data, or misreport data, or otherwise "fake it".

SO, what is this ASM thing you mention?  Sounds a little more like a scouting thing... but I don't know the acronym, so instead I'm asking.  :-)   What is it?

Mike

<edit> oh, um... is it Assistant Scout Master or something like that?

yupe. Assistant SoutMaster.

i hear you on that science olympiad. i'm not happy with it. had a talk with my wife yesterday after this weekend's meeting. i feel that there is something wrong with whole concept of winning at all cost. how you win is more important than that you won. i don't think some of them understand this.

Pete, 

From your description it sounds like that win-at-all-costs culture in SO may be more widespread than I had hoped (I had hoped it was maybe just in the region I'm in... sounds like maybe not).  

Actually, fig propagation and fig growing is one of the things I expanded our involvement with as a "replacement" activity for all that (not exactly replacement, but you get the idea).  For me, it's a great way to bring my sons together with my getting-on-in-years father, in a way that affords fun, multi-generational conversations, and plenty of chances to learn a whole wide range of things.  Opportunities with science, folklore, family stories and history, ethics, business, horticulture in general, food preparation, taste and perception, communication, and plenty of just plain old fun.  A great activity!   I hope it's working out that way for you too.

Mike

I haven't seen too many problems in the Scouting program but some boys have been signed off on merit badges at summer camp when they knew very well that they had not completed some of the required activities.  In one situation I was acutely familiar with I discussed it with other leaders and lead the boys through those activities in an outing that I was leading.  Some weren't happy about it.

Some boys don't do much work to help fund their Eagle project.  My son could have asked for donations but I told him to try earning the money and he'd appreciate it much more.  I helped him with a tomato garden, getting started with a few hundred tomatoes last January and he sold tomatoes to pay for about $500 of his project and then earned another $4,000 for the remainder of the summer.  I know it's an experience he will remember very well for the rest of his life.  There can be bad experiences in any activity and it's up to responsible parents to make sure they are getting the most out of the programs for their kids.  Hopefully, leaders and others don't get in the way but that should not stop them.

My son has agreed to try some figs this next summer.  He's helped me with grafting before and eventually I'm hoping for him to take it over.  My hands do hurt much sooner these days than before and I hope they don't get bad enough to slow me down much but they probably will, eventually.

Thats awsome pete i was a boy scout den leader for a few years, its so great to teach them youngens about things in nature. you really want to impress them making a fire use a bow/drill. and as for skinning and cleaning thier own frogs, i feel that these things you are speaking about that have been lost over time are need to know info. once a year to keep up with what the army tought me i go camping for a week, taking only a knife. it would benifit anyone to obtain the skills to survive off the land. learn to make clean drinking water etc. fire is a big part of it all. keep up the good work.

Dave

I read the whole thread and I am still back on Ramen noodles!!  That is just so sad.....I think the only nutritional value of ramen noodles is 1000%of the RDA of sodium lol.  Mac and cheese would've been better!!

Funny how "healthy competition" has is far from healthy.  Almost everything is organized, has a uniform or 2 or 3 etc. and you need to be a relative of JD Rockefeller for the kids to be involved in other activities.  I don't have children myself, I don't live in a cave either, I see what people go through AND what they choose to do also.

I could go on and on, but I won't -

It does my heart good to hear of parents actually parenting! 

i know what you mean, joann. scouting cost money. if i say it doesn't, i would be a liar. however, both units i'm involved with will provide financial assistance if there is a need. also, both units decided on minimal unfirom standard. meaning, we only wear uniform shirts with only standard patches and unit number. all the rank patches are paid by the unit. i think BSA policy is that no boy will be deinied due to finanacial reasons.

That is a great policy, I was in the girl scouts for years and loved it!  I think there was something for available to help those in financial need too, I think that is how I was able to be involved, I have to ask Mom someday.

I think the different organization get a bit carried away with the demands they have for the kids participation.  I heard in my school district the girls on the drill team or cheerleaders, maybe both have 9 uniforms!!  They cost about $100 each - that about a grand for a kid to cheer, and then there are competition costs on top of that!  I don't know who comes up with this stuff.