What Your Outpost Did This Week.

I found it a good idea to hand them a list of merits that we do as RR and ask them if this stuff is ok to do. This way you are not limited to a committee that really don't know what your doing and really don't care. It's a better program to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. If you wait for permission on everything.. your program will struggle. Just make it safe and make it work.

Mark Jones

Canadarangers wrote:

RRCmdrBennett wrote:

CanadaRangers do you guys have any recreational air rifle programs for kids in Canada? Here that would not be a problem. We have several men and ladies who carry concealed and many are firearm enthusiasts/hunters.

I'm sure there is something  I just have to get the ok from the Church board to do something like that.  I am leaning more to an archery program, that Icould share that costs with my Kids school of which I am the board chairman...

Jeremy, there IS an Archery Postal Competition in Royal Rangers. You have until October 31 to send your scores in.

The rules say that it is for Outposts "Across the Nation", but it may be worth an e-mail to R/R HQ to see if you can participate.

Here is a link to the rules and the score sheets:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjzzYLi7cfKAhUO_WMKHTW8DZgQFggdMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fagwebservices.org%2FContent%2FResources%2FArchery%2520Postal%2520Information%2520Packet.pdf&usg=AFQjCNEugg0cfcqM7YUX7rlifJzI6AIAdA&cad=rja

Mark Jones wrote:I found it a good idea to hand them a list of merits that we do as RR and ask them if this stuff is ok to do.  This way you are not limited to a committee that really don't know what your doing and really don't care.  It's a better program to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.  If you wait for permission on everything.. your program will struggle.  Just make it safe and make it work.

Mark Jones

Canadarangers wrote:

RRCmdrBennett wrote:

CanadaRangers do you guys have any recreational air rifle programs for kids in Canada? Here that would not be a problem. We have several men and ladies who carry concealed and many are firearm enthusiasts/hunters.

I'm sure there is something  I just have to get the ok from the Church board to do something like that.  I am leaning more to an archery program, that Icould share that costs with my Kids school of which I am the board chairman...

I think Eve told Adam that in between a couple verses in Gen 3 haha just poking ya.

Mark Jones wrote:I found it a good idea to hand them a list of merits that we do as RR and ask them if this stuff is ok to do.  This way you are not limited to a committee that really don't know what your doing and really don't care.  It's a better program to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.  If you wait for permission on everything.. your program will struggle.  Just make it safe and make it work.

Mark Jones

Great idea, Mark.. thanks.

So this past week, we were going to do a reading from 1 Peter.

Before we did the reading, I asked, "Who was Peter?".  They answered, "An Apostle".  Very Good.

Then I asked, "Who did he write his letters to?"  They said, "To Churches".   Excellent.

Then we figured out that Peter worked mostly with the Jewish Christians, while Paul worked with the Gentile Christians.

We talked about who ruled the Jews at the time of Peter.  The boys thought that it was the Greeks, but we eventually figured out that it was the Romans.

We talked about the Romans being pagans until the Emperor Constantine.  (They didn't know what a pagan was, and so we had to go through the Roman polytheistic beliefs.)

I told them that Roman Emperor Constantine was shown the sign of the Cross by God, and then he made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.  Before Constantine, it was called the "Roman Empire".  After Christianity became the official religion, it was referred to as the "Holy Roman Empire".

I asked what language the Ruling Officials of the Roman Empire spoke.  They started guessing English, then French, then Spanish, and then got to an early form of Italian, Latin.

I gave them an example of a couple of words in Latin; gold is "Aurum".  One of the boys said that he took a test that day on the Periodic Table, and that the Chemical Symbol for gold is "Au".

I said that is correct.  Many of our Periodic Table Symbols come from the Latin language.  I then asked him what the symbol for lead was.  He said, "Pb".

I said, "Right.  And what word does that stand for?"  He couldn't guess.

I said, "If Au is Aurum, then what is Pb?".  Answer: Plumbum (at which the boys chuckled).

I said, what word do we get from "Plumbum?"  They couldn't figure it out.

I asked how the Romans moved water (we had studied aqueducts a couple of months ago).  They said that they used big clay pipes.

I said, "The pipes had a flange on one end, the other end slid into, but the water leaked through the flange, so they poured Lead where they met to seal the pipes so that water would not get out."

So the men who assembled the pipes to move water used Plumbum to seal the pipes, and that is where we get the word "Plumbing".

So, if the Government spoke Latin, and the Church was tied to the Government, then what language did the Pastors speak?

And if the Roman Empire was based in Rome, and they made Christianity their official religion, where did they put the Headquarters for the Church (boy, that one took a while to figure out).

So, the Roman Christian Church eventually became the Catholic Church, but it had close ties to the Government (both of Rome, and then of other Nations/Kingdoms, after the fall of the Roman Empire).  So Martin Luther dissented with the Catholic Church, and formed the first organized non-Catholic Christian Church in over a thousand years.

Then I asked, "When Christopher Columbus sailed, what was the religion of the men on the ships?"  They said, "Catholic".  I asked why.

They couldn't figure out the answer to that one.

I said, "Because Martin Luther was only nine years old, when Columbus discovered the Americas".

Well, I guess that we can get to 1 Peter next week.

Good lesson!

Our Bible portion was 1 Peter, Lesson 1 (the lesson that we were SUPPOSED to do last week).

Winds up that it was quite appropriate, because it was on "How men should treat women". The key word in the reading was "Respect". We went on to say that "Respect" doesn't mean that you necessarily have to put yourself in being subservient to women, but it means to treat them "Special".

I informed them that we were going to have the Girls' Class over in a few minutes, and that this was a good time to put this reading into practice.

At about 20 minutes past the hour, the Girls' Class arrived.

We talked about the history of Jerky, and how we learned to make it from the American Indians, why we learned to make it, and what meats were good for it.

I got out the knives, and talked about the correct size knife for such a task, then did a quick explanation and demonstration of using a stone to dress the edge on your knife.

I then pulled a quarter of venison (that I had pre-chilled) out of the cooler. I gave a demonstration and explanation on cutting the "white stuff" off the meat to keep it from being gamy and bitter, and how the meat is easier to slice, if you put it in the freezer for about 90 minutes, so that you don't have to chase it around the table with your knife.

I then sliced about two pieces of jerky from the quarter, and passed the knife to the Patrol Leader, along with a hand-wipe to clean his hands prior to working on our food.

After he cut two slices, the next oldest boy was given the knife and a fresh hand-wipe, etc. This went right through to the girls. I told them, "If you are going to EAT jerky next week, you are going to CUT jerky this week".

The sliced meat was laid out in a plastic container, and we gave a spice for each boy to sprinkle on the meat: Prague Powder, Liquid Smoke, garlic powder, black pepper, celery salt, and onion salt. Some of my younger rangers (especially "Ranger Rascal") went a bit wild with the spices, but I am going to cut more meat tomorrow to add & even things out.

All-in-all, it kept the attention of the boys and girls. We even issued poker chips to the girls and allowed them to have their own drawing for something out of the door-prize box (under the supervision of the Girls' Leader).

Next week: How to Eat Jerky.

That's it. Jerking them around. Just like fishing. It won't be long before you have a coed group eating jerky. Grin. good job.

Mark Jones

Our Pastor teaches the Wednesday Night Adult Group in the Main Sanctuary.

When I told him what the Rangers were doing that night, he said, "I want to go to YOUR class!".

(2 days later)

So today I stopped in at the Dollar General Store. The daughter of the teacher for the Girls' Class works there (she is 17, and assists her mother with the class).

As I was checking out, she looked at me and said, "So how's our Jerky coming?"

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I've got to go. There's more venison to cut up and cure before next Wednesday.

So, in order not to disappoint the aforementioned young lady and our rangers, I spent the entire day working on Jerky.

Morning: finishing putting the seasoning, liquid smoke, and sodium nitrite, then mixing and putting tooth picks in about 200 pieces of jerky.

Afternoon: washing the racks for the smoker, insuring that it fires up (there was water in the thermometer, so I took it to my wife's part of the bathroom and dried it with her blow-dryer, until it quit - - I'm glad that she was at church, printing up the bulletins for tomorrow).

Couldn't find my debarked pecan wood, so I had to go down to the grove, find some fallen branches, whittle the bark off of them, and soak them in water prior to putting them over the fire.

Next: hang 200 strips of meat on the racks, and try to adjust the gas so that the temperature hovers between 180 and 200.

Whittle more pecan, because I barely had enough to get the smoke properly start rolling.  Turn up the gas flow for more drying temp.  

Add whittled pecan branches every hour.

Starting at/about 4 hours, the thinner strips of meat are ready to come off.  Open up the smoker (can't turn it off, because the thicker strips will need to cure another 40 minutes).  Pecan smoke rolling out of the smoker into my face, and the wood reservoir is still generating more smoke.  I can't see to take off the thinner strips, and now I smell like a smoked carp.

Took the jerky upstairs.  Wife got home, tried some and approves (still doesn't know about the dryer).

Wash up mason jars and lids.  Get out the Seal-a-Meal.  Take the tooth picks out of 200 pieces of dried meat, pack the meat into jars, and vacuum seal them.  I now have one jar of jerky for the Rangers and Girls Group, and four on hand for myself, plus a few orphan pieces in the refrigerator, just to be available.

I'm pooped. It is 10:55 PM, and we've got church, tomorrow.

Claymore wrote: Wife... (still doesn't know about the dryer).

Wait, what??? You keep.... SECRETS from the bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh???

Old men don't get to be old by being STUPID!

What's that old saying about there being old men and hot headed men (or something like that), but not many hot headed old men? I know that's butchering that saying, but I can't remember what it is. Anyone know?

Agreed Claymore.

There is a lot you can use a hair dryer for when then main user is not around. I personally have zero use for one but it removes sticky things really well.

Well I have been playing a running game with my rangers call "stump the teacher." They have to come up with questions from or about the Bible that I can't answer (the rule is that if I get it wrong they need to have the right answer). If I lose they get a point, if I win I get a point. If they boys can beat me by 20 or more points I promised them a Pizza party at my expense.

I gave them most of the night to get ahead of me since I didn't have time that week to prepare a lesson properly. It didn't go too well for them. I went from being behind by 4 points to ahead by 10.

Now I am not playing this game to win, my goal is that it will be hard enough that the boys need to actually spend time looking at their Bibles to come up with hard questions for me. It has been effective for some of them so far. Lately I have been getting questions like "What was the name given to Solomon by God?" Wow I was amazed when a 4th grade kid came up with that question and didn't even have a Bible in front of him while asking it.

Good idea; using competition and a "carrot" as incentive.

One of my favorite techniques is "Peer Pressure". I've had boys who didn't want to do their memorization for Ranger Recruit. I never pushed them, but when the other boys made Recruit, they were awarded their R/R T-Shirts and fitted for uniforms, and a big public deal was made of it in the meeting.

Within 2 weeks, all of the other boys insured that they had their requirements fulfilled.

Good idea Claymore. Withholding merit badge or advancement level would work too since one must be recruit to go above that.

OOH, I never WITHHOLD anything from the boys.

I put it right there in front of them and say, "Don't you want this? Here it is. It's not hard to do; Billy's got his."

I always tell the kid hat HE is responsible for whatever happens in the Ranger Room.

Ok I have never heard of Ranger Recruit before, is that something that is outpost specific for you? or is it another of the ranger advancements that are lost on our somewhat young group of leaders?

I guess that I used an outdated term.  The new book lists them as "New Member Requirements".

I was using a politically incorrect and archaic military name from the old days for the requirements, so I guess that I will update and change my vocabulary................
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I will also admit that we have not necessarily been doing things "by the book" so I actually don't know about the new member requirements either.

OK

This is out of the Adventure Ranger Handbook (2004). It is the same for Discovery Rangers, except the Age Requirement:

Be in at least the sixth grade.

Complete the Royal Ranger Charter Form.

Complete the Outpost Medical Information and Parents' Medical Waiver.

Recite the Pledge to the United States Flag.

Recite the Pledge to the Christian Flag.

Recite the Royal Ranger Pledge.

Recite the Four Red Points of the Royal Ranger Emblem.

Recite the Four Gold Points of the Royal Ranger Emblem.

Recite the Eight Blue Points of the Royal Ranger Emblem.

Recite the Royal Ranger Motto.

With your Parent or Guardian, complete the Exercises in the Pamphlet Preventing Child and Substance Abuse, a Parent's Guide.

Participate in a Recruit Interview.

Thats basically what I meant Claymore was recruit is prereq for everything else after.