Not Goodbye - It's So Long

Today, we were able to celebrate a man who has served as pastor of the church that is our troop and pack's sponsoring organization.  Today was Pastor's final celebration with this particular church, and it was a very nice send off.

For our troop's part, we had six adults and one scout in attendance, but the way we were welcomed, you would have thought we were 50 scouts strong.  They had their regular service, and then they had a service to release the pastor from his ministerial obligations at that church.  It was all quite nice.  During the releasing part of the service, we as scouts were able to go up in the front of the church along with some top ranking ministers of the church's parent organization.

I was pleased to be a part of the celebration, and was chosen to be spokesperson for the scouting contingent.  As unit chaplain for the troop, I have worked with the pastor the last 3 or 4 years preparing the program for use with the annual Scout Sunday celebration.  Each year, pastor came up with a theme that our scouts could ponder, and make meaningful contributions at the Scout Sunday service.  He was a great mentor to me, and helped keep us on track, so the scouts could be successful delivering their take on whatever the theme happened to be.

He was a good friend to our scouts and scouters, always approachable and willing to helpful if needed.  We had more than one scout lead projects around the ground at various times.  It was a win/win all the way around.

As Pastor moves on to new adventures, we don't say goodbye.  For us, it's so long, until we meet again.

I had to smile through mixed emotions.  It was a good day.

Swim Classification # 3

Tonight was the third and final planned troop swim classification event.  The pool was ready, the scouts were ready, the adults were ready.  We had four scouts and two adults complete the swim test. Since we had time to spare, a couple of the scouts had an aquatics requirement to complete for their first class rank.  We took the time, and I brought equipment that could be used to complete this requirement.

So we needed 3 scouts - and magically, we had 3 scouts.  One scout would play a victim in the water to be saved, another scout would be the rescuer, and would have something to throw to the victim. The third scout was to be a "tender" which is the guy that holds the end of the rope attached to the flotation device being thrown to the victim.

So, I demonstrated what was to happen, except I demonstrated what it would look like if you were alone trying to throw this thing to a victim who was in distress.  I stepped on the end of the rope so it wouldn't go flying when everything is thrown to the victim.  The demonstration worked pretty well. So I got the rescue flotation device past the victim, and used the rope to pull the device to the victim, and pull the victim back to "shore" (the side of the pool).

Next, it was time for the scouts to fulfill this requirement.  They figured out who would be the first victim who got into the water.  They figured out who would be the rescuer, and tender.  We asked the rescuer if they were left or right handed, made sure they were throwing to their strength, and that the tender was behind the rescuer and on the correct side so the rescuer would not be caught by the rope.

It was time.  What could go wrong?  What happened next I didn't see coming.  The rescuer threw the flotation device attached to the rope.  Apparently, we didn't have a count down because the tender let go of the rope and everything went out to the victim.  Fortunately, he swam well enough to bring back the flotation device and the rope, so we could try again.

Meanwhile, the parents watching, had a grand giggle about the whole thing, and since no one was in actual distress, it was pretty funny.  We backed up and tried again.  Once we got over the giggles, the boys got down to work, and saved each and every victim they had to save.  Turns out our rescuers had some game when it came to throwing the flotation device.  They all did well.

There was much accomplished tonight, I had to smile, it was a good day.

Unbelievable

This particular entry isn't scout specific, but I just had to share...

This morning I was having breakfast by myself at a local restaurant.  I was seated at a table for two which is quite routine for a party of one.  Next to me was a couple who was also having something to eat.  They were younger, perhaps mid 20's, and something about them caught my attention.  Nothing in particular, the lady had her back to me, and I never heard anything from her side of the conversation.  The guy, on the other hand, was an interesting dude.  He was clean enough.  Wore his hat on backwards, wore his pants on his hips and his underwear on his waist - Hanes, and had some plastic thing in his ear lobe that left a hole about 1/2 inch round.

I really wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings, the truth is I was catching up on some 90 emails in my inbox for the day.  Until....I heard the guy tell the girl..."when I was in jail in Florida, the first thing they do is take your finger prints, then they take an iris scan."  I didn't hear anything else from the conversation, nothing before, and nothing after.

I didn't look up, look around, look at them - nothing, except to start thinking.  "when I was in jail in Florida" - does that imply there are other states in which he was in jail?  What was he in jail for? How long was he in for - couldn't have been that long, he is still young.  Did the lady know about this guy's past?  What did she think of the comment?  She didn't look kidnapped.  Then my food arrived.

As I was enjoying my breakfast, they got up to leave.  Good, they had their bill in hand.  I was hoping he wasn't in the pokey for stiffing the waitstaff someplace.  I found the entire non-encounter unbelievable.  I make a habit of making up a real sounding story about people who I don't know and have never met, but have seen someplace.  That's kind of fun, but this non-encounter stands a chance of having a more interesting real story than anything I could possibly make up.

I'm so glad he's not my kid.  I'm so glad my kid is mine, an Eagle Scout to boot, and a really good egg.  I'm so glad all your kids are not this kid, all the scouts I know are really good eggs.  Using that as my final thought on this, I've decided it was a good day.

One For the Team

The weather today was ideal.  Not too hot, not too cold, just....right.  The crowd was big, warm and friendly.  It was opening day at Southeast Denver Baseball.  Once again this year, our Color Guard was invited to present the colors at their Opening Day ceremonies.  The scouts brought their "A" game and did a terrific job honoring our country and our great state.

Not only did our scouts present the colors in the short infield, but several of our adults were on hand to raise the American Flag in center field.  We got out to the flag pole with plenty of time to spare, however, the flag pole was not ready for prime time.

The flag pole had a pulley at the top, which was only marginally functional.  They had a clothes line to which the flag was to be attached.  The clothes line was not any longer than absolutely necessary, so the standards to which the flag was to attach (little hooks) were at the top of the flag pole, and there wasn't enough weight with the hooks, to get them down from the top of the flag pole. 

Well, there we were, two mom's looking at the top of the flag pole, to figure out how to get the hooks down, One of us had to climb the fence, and get the hooks down to where we could hook the flag for raising.  I'm not nearly as nimble as I once was, and the other mom, decided to accept the challenge. Even though the guide to safe scouting would have flipped a page over this maneuver, we tried to make it as safe as possible.  And failed.  I was the spotter, and mom on the fence most likely would have been fine, had she fallen.  Thankfully, she didn't fall, unfortunately she got a nasty cut on her finger from the fence, but she was successful in the over all mission of getting the hooks within reach.  Kudos to mom on the fence.

Coming down, her finger was bleeding pretty good, and apparently I ended up with blood on my nose and cheeks making sure she didn't fall, but the blood wasn't mine.  Another one of our moms was with one of the baseball teams, and called her husband (a doctor) to look at the finger.  The baseball mom was kind enough to wipe off my nose and cheeks and I was as good as new.  Mom on the fence went back to the dugout to have her finger bandaged, and thankfully, no stitches were needed.  She sent yet ANOTHER mom out to the flag pole to help with the flag raising, and about 45 minutes later, the singer started the Star Spangled Banner, and the scouts marched out to short center field, and the American Flag was raised out in center field.  

We had a bit of tweaking in center field to get the flag just right, after which we all met up after the ceremony.  We had more parents we could have run in as substitutes, thankfully we didn't need to do that. Those parents got to watch the scouts do their thing with an unobstructed view.

It really does take a village.  Thanks to all the parents who got their scouts to the field (following a camping trip the same weekend), and special thanks to mom on the fence for taking one for the team.

It was a good day.

2017 Swim Classification # 2

It was an interesting evening.  Not a particularly busy evening, but interesting none the less.  We had rented one lane of a pool for our second swim classification session of the year.  We only had 6 people take the test, 5 scouts and 1 adult, so we weren't full trying to get everyone in within the hour. Most of the swimmers passed the BSA swim test with little difficulty, all except for one new scout. This particular scout didn't say anything when he came in, preferring to let his mom gather information.  We operate on a first in first out basis, and this particular scout was a little later than the others, so his time was after most everyone else had left.

When it was time, I offered the scout the opportunity to get into the water first, and get used to the water temperature. He took me up on the offer, but never let go of the ladder.  I noticed, but said nothing.  Mom let me know they were going after the beginner swimmer requirements.  No problem, we measured off 25 feet, and stationed mom at the mark, and continued with the instructions.  First, jump into the water over your head, and swim 25 feet, turn around and swim back.  The scout worked up the nerve to sit down and slide into the water - which is not the same as jumping in.  So we started over.  Uh-oh, the scout didn't really want to give this swimming thing any more effort.  No problem, I marked him down as a white swimmer.  But, I noticed they didn't leave.

We didn't have any more people to take the swim test and we had about 40 minutes of lane rental left. Mom asked if he could practice at the other end of the pool, which was no problem.  I sat far away so he would forget I was there, and I watched his progress.  Meanwhile, another young scout who had passed his test already, was watching also.  The scout who was practicing was showing signs of improvement.  As the other scout and his dad were preparing to leave, I had an idea.  I ran (well walked faster than normal) after them, asked if they were in a hurry, and asked the scout who had passed if he was willing to get into the water and give the practicing scout some pointers because he was having some trouble getting the hang of this.

Well, they didn't leave, and the scout got into the water, and I went and sat down far away, and continued to watch.  Time was running out, we had the lane for about another 10 minutes.  So I went down to where they were, and measured off 25 feet, positioned mom, and the other dad as the measuring posts.  I asked the practicing scout if he would be willing to jump in down by the dad, and swim to his mom and come back.  He said he would try.  His first try was going great, until about 3/4 of the way through, he got a face full of water, started to cough, and stopped his swim.  Ugh, he was so close.

After he got a chance to catch his breath, he said he was willing to try again.  He jumped in...YES.  He began to swim...YES.  He reached where his mom was stationed....so far so good.  He got turned around and began to swim back to the other dad....YES.  This time he made it!! He qualified as a red swimmer or beginner swimmer. We were all cheering for him, Mom, the other dad, the other scout, and me.  The scout was smiling, obviously pretty pleased with his accomplishment.  So I upgraded his test record from a non-swimmer (white), to a beginner swimmer (red).

I told his mom that he really lived the scout law today - a scout is brave, and he was certainly brave not to give up.  As we were leaving, I got to the parking lot, and forgot to tell him something, so I turned around and went back into the pool facility.  I asked the scout if he had brought his scout handbook, which he did not.  I asked him if he was coming to our next meeting, and could he bring his scout handbook with him, it was important because he had just passed a 2nd class rank requirement and we needed to get that signed off.  You would have thought I told him he had just won the Publisher's Clearing House contest.  His face lit up as he realized he had actually accomplished something important.  For the first time, he answered my question directly, and told me he would bring his book to the next meeting.  The look on his face was priceless.

As I walked out to the parking lot again, I heard this quiet, shy scout, call my name and tell me good bye.  I had to smile.  It was a good day.

Course Correction

Sometimes...we all have to deal with things that are less than pleasant.  And over time, I've found with scouts that it's better to make a course correction in clear, plain spoken language. Generally, when the group understands what is in-bounds and what is not, and what is scout appropriate, and what is not, they rise to the occasion.  We had to make a course correction tonight.

Before our meeting one of the leaders of our sponsor organization asked if she could bring a situation to my attention, and see if we could fix the problem sooner rather than later. The individual described a situation, where another tenant in the building is a day care, and has a fenced off with a locked gate area in the yard upon which our scouts had been encroaching.  It turned out that the day care area was locked for a reason - it is out of bounds, off limits, no trespassing.  While the play area (which is quite nice and inviting) is on the same property, it has been reserved for the day care which is a separate entity altogether.

The elder mentioned they had found one of our scout's neckerchief slides within the restricted area, and when I asked for the slide, it was produced and returned to my care.  And yes, it was definitely one of our slides.  I promised we would fix the problem and thanked the representative for bringing this to our attention and  allowing us the opportunity for a teaching moment.

The next question was, how to present this?  I decided to bring it up at our circle before the meeting closed and put the slide in my pocket.  The meeting went on.  The Boy Scouts had their program, the parents had their committee training, the Venture Crew had their meeting.  I turned in my training certificates and went on to the Venture meeting.  I had assigned one of our 1st class scouts the assignment of signing off on new scouts rank requirements for those who passed last weekend's swim test.

The Venturers decided to have dinner at an India restaurant this coming weekend, and decided there was enough interest for the Venture Crew to go on a trip to Devil's Tower, WY starting 6/2.  Following the Venture meeting, I was invited to sit in on a board of review for a scout going for his Life Rank.  I'm always honored to be asked for a board of review, and this scout didn't disappoint.  He was confident, well spoken, and easily passed his board of review.

By now, it was time to retire the flags, and have circle time.  Several adults had information to pass to the general scout population, and then it was my turn to speak.

I mentioned that I had something unpleasant to discuss, and when I had the scout's attention, I launched into what had been reported to me.  All the while, keeping my hand in my pocket.  While I was prepared to produce the slide the instant someone in the group would try to deny they had anything to do with it, the scouts didn't offer any defense, or denial.  At the end of my description, I did produce the lost slide, and where it was found, and asked the scout who owned the slide to come up and reclaim it.  We actually had the owner of the slide come and reclaim it, and then go back to their place in the circle.  I made it clear that while the play area had some cool play things in it - that area was off limits - - period.  The rest of the circle ritual went on as usual.

After we were done, and clean up in progress, the particular scout who had claimed his slide, came up and apologized for going into the restricted area - he didn't realize it was off limits.  After accepting his apology, I mentioned now that he knows it's off limits, I was sure it wouldn't be a problem in the future.

Having had a chance to reflect on this, I had to smile.  The scout knew he had lost his slide, and it was a good guess on where he lost it.  He was brave enough to come and reclaim his slide, thus living the scout law - a scout is brave.  The same scout also made amends by apologizing after the meeting - a scout is courteous.  It could have been any of the scouts at any given time.  I would bet a lot of money that we don't have this problem with the play area for awhile. I'm hoping all that was needed was a minor course correction.  Time will tell.

It was a good day.

2017 Swim Classification # 1

Today, we had our first event for troop swim classifications for 2017.  This year, we had the opportunity to have our first event geared to our younger scouts, who may be taking the BSA Swim test for the first time as a troop member.  We had 9 scouts and 2 adults complete today's test.

As always, we had a few scouts who had done this test before and were good swimmers, we let them go first, and once they completed the requirements, they were free to go.  Some of the younger scouts were pretty good, and completed the test on the first attempt.  And we had a couple of scouts who decided the first time they could not complete test and bailed out of the test 1/2 way through.

Peer pressure is a great tool.  One of the scouts who had completed the test last year, but had a gray beard in the water to cheer them on, decided this year, that he could take his test without having anyone in the water a few feet away.  In other words, this scout had acquired the confidence to complete the required tasks without a nearby person ready to help if he got into trouble.  And this scout completed his test with flying colors.  Well....the other scouts who bailed out 1/2 way through decided they could probably take the test again,  And, you guessed it... they both completed the test and did just as well as the scout who made the test successfully first.

Nobody needled the scouts, threw it in their face that they didn't finish, or said anything to them about not completing the requirements.  It was their choice to try again, after seeing one of their peers complete the requirements.  If he could do it....they could do it.  And they did.  It was a good day.

Additional testing days planned are 4/19/17 and 4/26/17.