Leader awards

Kids aren't the only ones working on some sort of badge for their uniform. Yes, leaders can earn awards, too. It's nice to receive recognition for the time you put into Scouting. I recently earned my fourth Boy Scout square knot award -- the Cub Scouter award (pictured at the top).

The first two square knot awards I earned, I actually earned when I was a Cub Scout. Way back when I was in Pack 3, Den 2, I earned the religious emblem for Cub Scouts and the Arrow of Light. As an adult, I am entitled to wear the square knot emblems corresponding to those achievements (bottom left and bottom middle). Two years ago, I earned the Cubmaster Award (bottom right) for being fully trained at my position and completing several other activities related to the award. At this month's roundtable, I received my Cub Scouter Award for completing additional activities at my position.

If you are a leader and would like to work on an award, you can check out the different awards and their requirements at www.boyscouttrail.com/square-knots.asp.

The Amazing Ropemaking Machine!

This simple machine for making your own rope was supposedly conceived by Leonardo da Vinci. All it takes is some scrap wood, a metal coat hanger, and some twine.

Make the primary base by screwing together two pieces of scrap wood. Drill small holes (large enough to slide pieces of coat hanger through) 1" apart on the upright piece. Take a small piece of scrap wood and drill similar holes 1" apart. This will be our crank. Cut three 6" pieces of coat hanger and bend a hook shape at one end. Slide the piece through a hole one the upright piece and bend it down and out so that you have an end to fit through the crank. Once all three hooks are in place, you should be able to fit the crank over the ends so that all three hooks can be turned at the same time.

Make the secondary base by screwing together two more pieces of scrap wood. Put a big hook on this upright piece, or make one coat hanger hook like you did for the first base.

Make a separator tool by taking another small piece of scrap wood and putting notches at the top and on each side. This will be used to keep the strands from twisting together until we are ready.

Clamp or hold down the base pieces. If you are using poly twine, your rope will be about as long as the distance between the bases. If you are using fiber twine, you will need to extend the bases as the rope will shorten considerably as you crank the handle. Tie the twine to the first hook, loop it around the hook on the first base, go around the hook on the secondary base, then around hook #2, back down to the hook on the secondary base, around hook #3, back around the hook on the secondary base, then back to hook #3 where you can tie it off and cut off the excess. For thicker ropes, double or triple up on each hook. For more colorful rope, using different colored poly twine on each hook.

With the twine in place, use the separator tool to separate the strands, and move it down by the secondary base. Begin cranking in a clockwise manner, making sure the strands stay separated as you crank. Keep cranking until the strands are almost ready to kink up. Tie off the end by the secondary base and remove it from the hook. Grab the tied end and slowly pull the separator tool toward the primary base. The strands between the separator tool and the tied end will twist together and form a solid rope. Keep working this way until you get all the way up to the primary base. Unhook the three strands and tie the ends together. Trim off any excess and whip or fuse the ends of the rope to keep it from unravelling.

You know you have a good Scout activity when the boys don't want to stop when you run out of time!

Cold weather cooking - it's all in the preparation

My son, a Tenderfoot Scout, has spent the evening cracking dozens of eggs and cutting up pre-cooked sausage. Why? Because his Boy Scout patrol is in charge of making breakfast for the entire troop at this weekend's Klondike Derby, and they chose to make breakfast burritos. So, rather than crack dozens of eggs and cut up sausage outside in the cold where his egg-splattered hands would get way too much exposure to cold air, he can do these things ahead of time in a warm environment where he also has access to warm water and soap. The eggs have been cracked, whisked, and poured into a gallon jug, and the sausage pieces have been cut up and placed into tupperware. When it's time to actually make breakfast, all his patrol will need to do is heat up the food.

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.