About Me

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I have been a Cub Scout Den Leader since 9/04, Cubmaster since 2/07. I have also been a Boy Scout Troop Committee Member and Merit Badge Counselor since 2/08, changing to an Assistant Scoutmaster in June of 2011. Since spring of 2010, I have also been the Lighthouse District Cub Scout Program director, in charge of planning district-wide events. I have three boys -- Peter is a First Class Boy Scout, Nathan is a Tenderfoot, and Nick is working toward the Webelos rank. If you like this blog, please be nice and click a link.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Supporting our troops

This is a news clipping from this week's Suburban Post, page 3. During our council's annual popcorn fundraiser, we did a few "Show & Sell" activities, and while not everybody is going to buy popcorn, many people were happy to donate some money to support our troops serving overseas. In fact, we collected close to half as much money in donations as we did from actually selling popcorn. We got information on four local soldiers currently serving abroad and used the donated money to purchase popcorn to send to these soldiers and their units. We were also able to get a donation to cover the shipping costs.

I know this won't do anything to protect our soldiers and keep them safe, but I hope the morale boost that they get from this popcorn will help keep their spirits up and keep them vigilant against those that might try to do them harm. We received a letter of thanks from one of the soldiers, and I hope that all four of them will return safely to thank us in person some day soon.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

True story: This one's for the birds

Perhaps you've heard this song:

Be kind to your web-footed friends
For a duck may be somebody's mother


Yesterday, I got to put that to some practical use. On Monday, a bird flew into our computer lab at work. We tried to coax it out one of the doors, but it kept flying up high into the rafters. We tried crumbling up some animal crackers and leading a trail out the door, but like Wile E. Coyote trying to catch the Road Runner, the bird wouldn't fall for our plan.

Yesterday, the bird was obviously getting tired of our lab. He was flying lower, and frequently crashing into the many windows in an attempt to rejoin the outdoor world. Eventually, he headed toward one of the corners where a door was located, so we opened up the door. Again, he wouldn't fly out. Instead, he kept flying by the door.

Eventually, he was resting on a window ledge, still trying to crash through the window to escape. I snuck up on him with an empty trash can and mange to pin him against the window. Another person extracted the liner bag and took him out the door so he could be released outside. Everybody was happy not only that the bird was out of our lab, but that we didn't have to hurt him in the process.

Scouts should be friends to all living things, not just people. :-)

Monday, November 8, 2010

Cold Weather Camping


This past weekend, our Boy Scout troop participated in the annual, district-wide, fall camporee. For early November in Rochester, NY, temperatures were about as cold as you might think -- they were below freezing overnight, and we woke up to frost-covered tents on frost-covered ground. We even saw some snowflakes on Saturday, although nothing actually accumulated on the ground.
So, why would somebody willingly subject themselves to such cold temperatures? First of all, cold-weather camping means no annoying mosquitos, gnats, moths, or other annoying insects stinging or biting you. A hot meal becomes much more enjoyable. The campfire is more than just a gathering place, it's a vital source of warmth. Also, if you get clear skies at night -- which we did on Saturday night -- there are a lot of fascinating objects to look at in the fall/winter night sky, like the Pleiades, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Great Orion Nebula, and more, with even a modest pair of binoculars providing great views of these items.
At this particular event, they held an orienteering race and a chili cook-off. One of our First Class scouts who had never made chili before came in third place among scouts, and two of our leaders tied for first place with their chili entries, one of which was made in a Dutch oven. After the camporee campfire, we returned to our campsite to enjoy an apple cobbler and a raspberry cobbler that one of our older scouts prepared in Dutch ovens.
Obviously, you have to be properly prepared for cold weather. Dress in layers, but avoid cotton as that will retain moisture and lead to hypothermia. Get a good sleeping bag that is designed for colder temperatures. A fleece blanket over the top of your sleeping bag will make it even warmer. Keep extremeties (e.g. -- head, hands, and feet) covered, even when you go to bed, as those are the places where your body will lose the most heat. And make sure you drink plenty of fluids because you don't want to become dehydrated.
So, even though it may be cold, that doesn't mean that you have to stop camping until spring. If you are properly prepared, it can still be an enjoyable event.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Square knot and sheet bend

These two useful knots are related to each other, so if you know how to tie the square knot, the sheet bend is easy to learn.



The square knot, also known as the "joining knot" is used throughout the Cub Scout and Boy Scout requirements. It is used to join two ropes of similar thickness. The sheet bend is used to join two ropes of different thicknesses. If you've ever been on a campout, you've probably run into lots of times when you need a long rope, but all you have is two smaller ones with different thicknesses.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Easy Placemats

This is an easy craft that even a young child can do. All it takes is a couple of pieces of construction paper, scissors, a pencil, and a ruler. A paper cutter will make things go faster, but you can get by with just scissors.



Use the pencil and ruler to mark where to cut slits on the base sheet, then cut the other sheet into strips. Weave the strips into the strips on the first sheet, and you have a placemat! To make a placemat for a certain holiday or event, you can pick colored sheets that match the theme of the event.

Monday, October 11, 2010

My Favorite Skit

Of all the skits my boys have performed over the years, my favorite wasn't really a skit. It was a lip-synced puppet show, set to the Blues Brothers' version of "Soul Man". This was done at one of our pack's annual Blue & Gold banquets.



Nathan and another boy from his den made puppets from four brown lunch bags. Two of them were the singers (the Blues Brothers), while two were the musicians. They even cut out saxophone and trumpet shapes from foam sheets, cut a little slit near the paper bag's "mouth" so they could insert the end, then cut arms from another paper bag and taped them to the instruments so they would stay in place. The biggest challenges during the performance were making sure they had the right puppets up and holding them high enough for the audience to see.

You can tell a skit (or puppet show) has gone well when the audience really gets into it and they are cheering at the end.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Neckerchief Slides (aka "Woggles")


Neckerchief slides, those metal things that keep your neckerchief in place (but tend to fall off of active little boys), are known as "woggles" in other countries. Most people think that you have to wear the specific neckerchief slide for your rank. That's not true. You can make any sort of slide you want. In the accompanying picture, you can see several different slides that I and my sons have made. You can take almost any item and attach it to a small ring cut from a piece of 1/2" PVC piping, which is available in 6' lengths for about $2. At that price, you can easily make this into a pack activity. There are also kits for carving a slide from wood or stamping designs into leather. I have also made some from beads, a slice of wood from a branch, laminated paper, and colored pieces of foam. I will go into specific details of making a neckerchief slide in a future post.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The Bowline Knot

The bowline knot is one of the most important knots you can learn. If you are ever in a situation where rescuers can only reach you with a rope, knowing how to tie this knot can save your life. It is known as the "rescue knot" because it will stay tightly tied no matter how much you pull on it. It will, however, easily come undone when you push on it, so it can also be used to tie something to a rope or tree, like a clothesline when you're camping. Depending on the size of your rope, two half hitches can be a struggle to undo when you're breaking camp.



This can be used as part of Bear Cub Scout Achievement 22b or First Class Boy Scout requirement 8a.