A Scoutmaster's Blog

Sometimes plush animal toys are so cute you just have to buy it. At least that is what a Cub Scout aged child may think when one catches his eye in a store. As an adult I have collected several for myself, but they have a Scouting theme to them. Sometimes when I walk into the trading post at summer camp one of these toys may catch my eye and suddenly become the newest member of my stuffed animal collection.

In this video I show the plush animals I have collected. Many of them are from Many Point Scout Camp or the Scout Stuff online store. A couple have some from high adventure bases. Would do you think of them?

This video can be watched on the My Scouting Collection channel on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESqPKTNeeQg

Do you have many plush animals in your collection? If you enjoy the videos you are invited to hit the SUBSCRIBE button below the videos. Thank you for watching.

In July 2021 I began making a series of videos in which I display parts of the Scouting themed collection I have accumulated over the last 40 years. I did not have a good place to upload them to so I decided to add those first videos to the Melrose Scouting Productions channel. After a couple months of thinking about this, along with creating a few more videos, I decided to create a new channel to be the home for these videos.

Welcome to “My Scouting Collection”, which can be found at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Yq0KsCmgREJqCfS6pKv5Q

As I write this post I have several videos for this new channel. While I do not have time to post a new video every week I do hope to get one or two posted each month. The video subjects will include handbooks and other books, uniform parts, patches, jamboree items, Snoopy ornaments, and much more. I hope you enjoy the new videos.

The Melrose Scouting Productions channel will continue to be used for videos of Troop 68 activities and meetings, skills and songs, and other general Scouting related videos.

I was looking for a new social media site to join in early February. After all, Google Plus will soon be going away and the Yahoo groups are pretty much a cemetery these days. Facebook is okay but somewhat limited. I wanted a new site with Scouting groups to learn new things and share some of my stuff. That is when I came across Reddit.

I noticed Reddit had several Scouting themed groups. The was a BoyScouts group, a BSA group, and others groups including cubscouts, orderofthearrow, philmont, and scouting. A couple of them had quite a few members but others did not seem to be visited very often. Oh well, I will sign up for all of them, I thought.

I began to make a profile and quickly noticed my username was already in use. I found that to be interesting. After a few more clicks and a reset of the password I discovered I already had an account. It was created six years ago! I guess I made a profile and then forgot about it.

During the last month and a half I have been using it and testing the waters. I joined the subcategories listed above and found a couple more such as woodbadge and Scouts. I also joined a few more for good measure like disc golf, Minnesota, and a couple Star Wars groups.

Do you spend much time on Reddit? Which Scouting themed subcategories do you follow? What are some of your other favorite categories?

Wow. I just realized I missed the anniversary of this blog. It is hard to believe all the years that I have been sharing my thoughts, activities, and special events with you through this site known as A Scoutmaster’s Blog. How many years is that, you ask? Well, let’s see. The first blog article was posted on May 18, 2006. This blog is now ten years old! Again, I say WOW! (Do I get a ten year pin for this?)

I never would have dreamed back in 2006 that I would still be writing articles about Troop 68 ten years later. I have shared a lot of articles about the comings and goings of the local troop. I have also shared a lot of my own thoughts during the last decade. When I started this blog there were not many Scoutmasters who had one. There still are not many, but there are a few others out their nearly as old as this one, and probably much better than mine.

Here are a few statistics of this blog. There have been over 1000 articles written. Most have been written by me, but I did allow a few troop alumni to write articles about their memories of being a Boy Scout. Hundreds of pictures have been shared with you. The blog has received nearly half a million page views, which I think is something to be proud of. This blog got me into podcasting both a video and an audio podcast for several years, and introduced me to other Scouting themed podcasters. Together we formed PTC Media, a network of Scouting themed podcasts.

I sometimes think I should take all these articles and form them into a book format, but when I think about all the work that would involve I forget about it and move onto something else. Maybe after I retire and find I need something to do with all that time I will have on my hands…

After I retired as the scoutmaster of Melrose Troop 68 at the end of 2011, I thought about changing the name of the blog, but I decided to keep it. It is where people have come to know me and I did not want to ruin that. I figure that after spending 35 years as a scoutmaster I maybe deserve the right to keep the name of this blog as it is. Even though I do not write as often as I used to, I still write most of my articles about Boy Scouting.

Will I be writing for another ten years? I have no idea. Probably, if I am still involved with Scouting. After all, it only takes an hour a week you know.

I am not really sure why I started doing it. Maybe it was to keep a kind of online journal. Maybe it was to see if anyone would be interested to read what I had to share. I did know I did not want to write about how a Scouting leader should be trained or how an adult could be an effective leader. There were already blogs about that subject. I just wanted to share my thoughts and experiences.

My first post to “A Scoutmaster’s Blog” appeared on May 18, 2006, eight years ago! Blogging was just starting to gain in popularity. There were not many blogs about Boy Scouting at that time. I wanted to keep mine fun and, hopefully, entertaining. There have been a few changes over the years. I switched from Blogger to WordPress, which has worked out well. Two podcasts became a part of the blog. I have even had a few guests writers.

One of the biggest changes was when I stepped down as the scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 68 at the end of 2011. I gave a lot of thought to changing the name of this blog but finally decided to leave it alone. Some of the names I had thought about changing to were already taken by others. Besides, I will still be writing from a scoutmaster perspective. It is hard not to after holding that role for over 30 years.

I am still very active with Troop 68. That means I will still have things to write about. Hopefully, you will continue to find these posts fun and entertaining, and maybe even gain a bit of knowledge or two. Who know, maybe there will be a tenth anniversary of “A Scoutmaster’s Blog”. That is not that far away anymore.

If you have been following this blog of mine, you will have noticed that it is not a blog heavy about the things you should do to create a great Boy Scout troop, or about all the training you need to become a fantastic Boy Scout leader. No, this blog has basically been about my memories and experiences about being a Scoutmaster and Scouter in a small rural central Minnesota community. I have always thought of this blog being more entertaining then enlightening. Sometimes I think I should try to take these 800+ posts and try to make a book of it, but I just have not found the drive to do that. At least not net. But I do have a working title: The Master Thinks, And Unfortunately Wrote It Down.

Things will be a little different here next week. I have asked some alumni of Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68 to write articles about their memories of being a Boy Scout and what, if anything, they have learned that helps them in their adult lives. I only have replies from three so far, but I am hoping for a few more. All three have stated that yes, they have learned a few things in Scouting and that they do look back on their Scouting years as good times. What do they say exactly? You will have to check out the posts next week to discover that.

I hope that is enough of a tease to bring you back.

The end of the 2011 “100 Days Of Scouting” has arrived. This is the second year of the blogging event, but the first year for me. Twenty four blogs participated this year, including Scoutsigns, the originator of 100 Days of Scouting.

Did I post 100 articles to A Scoutmaster’s Blog during this time period? No, but I did find myself writing more stories then I probably would have. I ended up posting 73 articles during the event. I always had the 100 Days in mind, but I forgot to add the tag to many of the posts. (I wonder if anyone was 100 for 100.)

I hope you enjoys reading my stories, and I hope you checked out some of the other bloggers who participated. For a list of everyone involved check Scoutsigns by clicking HERE. Take some time to read the blogs and I am sure you will get a good feeling of how Scouting is going across the country.

I had thought about starting one for awhile before I took the plunge. I had some thoughts and stories I thought others may enjoy reading. There were not that many about Scouting related topics. So, on May 18, 2006, I posted the first article to “A Scoutmaster’s Blog.”

Who knew five years ago that I would still be writing articles today? I have seen other Scouters begin blogs over the years. Some of them ended within a year, but others are still going strong.

When I started writing this blog, I just wanted to share my Scouting experiences, and maybe include interesting things I found around the internet. I had, and still have, no intention for this to be a blog about how to be a good Scout leader. The B.S.A. has already posted a lot of information for people looking for that type of stuff. I have tried to keep this blog fairly positive and (dare I say it?) entertaining.

There have been a few changes over the years. This has become the home for two podcasts: Melrose Scout Productions video podcast and Around The Scouting Campfire audio podcast. I have switched from Blogger to WordPress, but it is still hosted on our troop’s website.

This happens to be the 714th post to “A Scoutmaster’s Blog”. There have been over 500 comments left by readers over the years. So far this year, the blog has averaged over 4500 page loads and 3100 unique visitors per month. While that may not be good numbers for ABC or USA Today, I think they are pretty decent for a scoutmaster of a small town in central Minnesota.

One of the best parts of writing this blog is the friends I have made because of it. Through the magic of the world wide web I have been introduced to other Scout leaders across the country, and even a few from around the world.

I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog over these five years. I have enjoyed reading your comments. Keep them coming. They keep me charged to to keep writing more.

Here’s to the next five years!