This is day 21 of 100. Three weeks into the project. 21% done, 79% to go. Things are moving quickly, that’s for sure!
With all the things that have to be done as Cubmaster, it is easy to miss the things that need to be done as a parent of a scout. So today, while the kids had the day off for a teacher work day, we reviewed the Wolf Handbook to see where he was at for the achievements and electives for this year. After verifying a few dates, I sent an email to his den leader with what was completed to date.
Today I also did the following for scouting:
Did some preliminary sketches for an updated crossover bridge. When finished it should be much less overbuilt (read: lighter) and easier to store.
Sent off some forms to the Wood Badge Course Director
Spent some time reviewing plans for the April outdoor pack meeting and the fall family camping trip.
All in all a pretty slow scouting day. It is hard to believe that tomorrow is March already. Time flies when you’re having fun!
I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. I’m not really worried about having a day where I don’t do something for scouting, but I have been a bit concerned that I would have time to write a blog post every day. Eventually I figured I would run out of hours in the day and have to double up the next day. Well that day was yesterday, hence the doubled up post today. I’m collecting days of Scouting.
Yesterday (Day 19) was dominated by hosting a birthday party for the six year old Daisy Scout in our house. It is slightly scouting related, since she had half of her Troop here among the guests at the party. The thing I noticed (while watching a group of girls work quietly together on a craft) is there is a big difference between boy and girls at this age. Last year’s Tiger Den Leader experience taught me one thing: if you don’t plan every second, the boys will plan it for you. Usually that means a game of chase or a game of tag. Something loud and very disruptive. These girls were happily working together with no danger of a game of chase spontaneously erupting.
Other than the party, the scouting things I did yesterday included:
Dropping off a Bear Handbook to an Assistant Den Leader that volunteered to take over the den for the Bear year.
Scouting out a park with a fire pit to see how well it would work for our outdoor pack meeting/campfire in April. Turns out it has these cool totem poles as a back drop!
For today (Day 20) I:
Confirmed the start date and schedule for the God and Me class we are hosting at our church.
Helped haul Girl Scout Cookies to get them delivered. Get them out of my house. They are ruining my girlish figure!
Bribed my mother-in-law to sew the patches on a second uniform for me, so I can take it to Wood Badge. Don’t judge me, she’s the one with the super-awesome sewing machine!
So tomorrow is a teacher work day at our kids’ school, so I’m going to enlist their help redesigning the crossover bridge. See you on day 21!
Today I had to do quite a bit of driving for work. Which was unfortunate, since the weather wasn’t the greatest. Taking lab equipment north from Boulder to Fort Collins found me in increasingly worse driving weather. One thing about driving on snow-packed and icy Interstates, it sure gives one a lot of opportunities to do a good turn for the day!
Other than stopping to check on a couple people that had slid off the road, and helping one guy get his car back on the road, I spent the trip up and back catching up on a couple more scouting podcasts.
I listened to the second episode of Scout Nation, where Bryan Spellman and Shawn Cleary talked about how they deal with helicopter parents in Boy Scouts. Interestingly, it seems that many of the parents that have a hard time letting the boys run things in Boy Scouts are the same ones that helped run the program as Cub Scout leaders.
Another podcast I caught up on was the most recent episode of the SMM podcast. Jerry Schleining does a great job covering the issues one might come across as a Scoutmaster. This show was about how to keep older scouts (teenagers) involved in the program. Short answer: challenge them with new adventure and make them teachers for the younger scouts (I agree). Just don’t make the teaching all they do. Jerry also talked about Founder’s Day and how we don’t stress it enough in the Boy Scouts of America (I agree here too).
Anyway, I’m off to help prep for a little Daisy Scout’s 6th birthday party we are hosting tomorrow. See you on Day 19!
Today was definitely the slowest day for scouting stuff so far in the 100 days. Based on some of the other posts today, it doesn’t look like I’m the only one. So how’s the weather?
Spent some time thinking about Cub Scout day camp and whether or not I could road trip to Austin for that week (see above).
After the kids’ swim lessons, I spent quite a bit of time at REI this evening getting things for our snowshoe adventure that it coming up, but that’s not really scout-related. I guess we’ll use the same gear at the Cub Scout Winter Adventure that is coming up in a week.
Coming up in March we have a Pack Meeting where the program is going to be the a game show. Tonight I met with one of the Assistant Cubmasters and our two webmaster/AV guys. We hashed out the plan for how to run the game show, and what equipment is needed. I am really excited about this, it could be really memorable for the scouts!
Speaking of memorable, as I mentioned yesterday, I went with my son’s den to do the flag ceremony at the city council meeting. They did such a great job, practicing a few times before the council chamber started to fill with people, and rocking it when it came to show time. Here’s the public access video of the meeting:
They did this last year as Tigers, and as long as it fits the schedule, I figure we’ll do it every year until they cross over to Boy Scouts. Funny thing is, after doing this for the City, we’ve become the go-to group for flag ceremonies in the city. A role we are more than happy to step into.
For the international scouting community today is Founder’s Day. It is Lord and Lady Baden-Powell’s birthday (they were both born on February 22nd) and is celebrated by scouts around the world. It is also a chance to learn a little of the life and work of the movement‘s founder.
Tonight is when my son’s Wolf Den provides the opening flag ceremony for the City Council here in our town. They did it last year as Tigers, and did a fantastic job. They even missed the wall mounted TV camera I was sure was going to get wacked! I have no doubt they will do just as well this year.
This flag ceremony has been a great benefit to the den. It gives them a chance to visit our local government, and see the mayor. They get the chance to perform a small service for the city, and gain a little publicity for it in the process. When they were practicing the ceremony last night I was watching the boy that was giving the commands. I remarked to his mother that he was doing a great job and that a year ago this boy was so shy he wouldn’t even talk to me at the den meetings. His confidence has exploded in the last year and I like to think Cub Scouts had something to do with that.
Twice a month on Mondays we get together for a den meeting with seven rowdy 7 and 8 year olds. These boys have done a great job this year getting through the Wolf badge requirements while having a lot of fun along the way.
Tonight’s meeting was all about Achievement 9, Being Safe at Home and on the Street. The guys brought their bikes and we had a great time with a bike rodeo and reviewing safety rules. We completed the Bicycling Belt Loop while they were at it. After practicing the flag ceremony a few times we called it a night, and will meet up tomorrow night to do the opening flag ceremony for the City Council.
I started today with a trip to the family doctor to get my health form signed for the upcoming year. A couple of days ago I asked the virtual round table on Twitter if my Wood Badge course would require more than parts A and B of the BSA Heath form. It turns out that for the two-weekend course it isn’t necessary. Good news since it makes paperwork easier!
Then I remembered something. I am attending a week long course at Philmont Training Center in July. It will require part C and D as well, so I might as well do it now! So I am one step closer to that adventure too.
Maybe it is just that we had our Blue and Gold yesterday. Maybe it is because the previous Cubmaster has left the pack as his son crossed over to Boy Scouts. Maybe it has nothing to do with any of that. But the fact remains I have spent a lot of time today thinking about what is in store for our pack in the next few years. Looking ahead. Making plans. Figuring out where we are headed.
Today while my daughter was partying it up at the local roller skating rink, I was going through more of the pre-course questions for Wood Badge. Inspired by The Hike Guy and his incredible notebooks that log his outings, I decided to keep everything for my Wood Badge journey in one place too. I don’t expect it to be as artistic or mind-blowing as Kolby’s notebooks, but it will be beneficial to keep all the stuff in a compact and portable medium. I use notebooks in my day job too, logging details of experiments, documenting intellectual property, or just making shopping lists for the lab. I find them incredibly useful when trying to capture thoughts that may be important, but you won’t be able to remember when the time comes.
I don’t know if this is still a part of the course (I’ll find out soon enough), but back in 1968 Wood Badge included a training notebook and included information on how to sketch pictures and take notes. Even if there is such a thing today, I don’t have it yet so I started my own.
I brought the notebook with me today to review what I had included to this point, and maybe expand my thoughts on some of the answers. After an hour or so, I was off on a tangent making notes on the next year of events for our pack. Either way, a useful exercise.
I have spent the last year figuring out where we are. I have a vision of where I want to be. Now to get everyone on board and head out in the right direction!
Doing something for Scouting wasn’t an issue today. Finding something that was done today that wasn’t for Scouting might be a bit more of a challenge.
Blue and Gold was a lot of fun. We had a cake decorating contest, a magician for the awards and crossover, some silly awards for the leaders that are crossing over with their sons, and a couple hours of swimming after the party. I can see why the scouts like it. During the banquet I was talking to some of the other leaders that had been in Cub Scouts as a kid. We all remembered the pinewood derbies and the camping trips (and the Scout-o-rama?!?), but we didn’t recall much about the Blue and Golds. Hopefully these are more memorable for the boys in our pack.
I did notice that we were missing a number of families, but I think that might be due to the three day weekend. I think that one thing I’ll add to the event sheet for the Blue and Gold is to make sure it doesn’t fall on President’s Day weekend. Speaking of event sheets, I should explain those one of these days too.
As the boys were swimming (and the Webelos were working on their Aquanaut activity badge) I had a chance to talk to a few of the parents that were hanging out. Out of those converations I got a new Popcorn Kernel for next year (yay!) and a new Den Leader for a soon-to-be Bear Den (yay!) and a couple more parents that expressed an interest in helping the pack out more (yay and yay!).
After I got home and unpacked the truck, I just zoned out for a while until my wife and daughter got back from Girl Scout’s World Thinking Day. Sounds like they had a good time too! There’s a lot more bling on that Daisy vest now.
That’s all for now, but as I get my hands on some of the pictures from today I’ll post more of the details from our Blue and Gold.
As the man says, I’ve been everywhere. All over the geography of this city of ours. Today I spent a lot of time in my car for scouting. There were a lot of small things I had to get done in preparation for the Blue and Gold Banquet tomorrow.
Among other things, today I:
Spent a small fortune at the candy store so my son could decorate a camping themed cake for the cake decorating contest at the banquet.
Picked up leader appreciation awards from the engraver that weren’t ready when I was there last time.
Stopped off at the scout service center to buy Good Turn coins to give to the pack leadership as a thank you for the last year.
Talked pack planning for an hour in the scout shop parking lot with one of our Assistant Cubmasters after I ran into him in the store.
Folded banquet programs.
Talked to Jr. Webelos Den Leaders about their preparations for tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the Blue and Gold (first for me as Cubmaster). Why do I feel like this is the night before the Super Bowl?
