A Scoutmaster's Blog

My new Hallmark ornaments arrived in the mail on Friday. That makes thirteen years of Beagle Scout Snoopy ornaments in the collection. I know I do not have the earliest ones. but maybe someday I will. This year had the nice bonus of a Scout Leader Donald Duck and his nephew Scouts.

Some people have been wondering what the collection looks like so I though I would share a picture of it with you. The sad thing is that the biggest one of the collection was only $19.99 when I bought it back in 2007. Now look at how small this year’s ornament is, and the price was $17.99. A much smaller ornament for nearly the same cost. I guess that is the way things are these days.

How many of these do you own? Do you plan to collect all of them?

Earlier this week I discovered that Hallmark was selling the 2019 Snoopy Beagle Scout Christmas ornament. Since I collect them I had to place an order for a couple of them, but that was not the only thing I ended up ordering.

It seems that Hallmark decided to release a second Scouting themed ornament this year. This one features Donald Duck as the Scout Leader and his three nephews as the Scouts. The ornament is based on the 1938 Disney short film called The Good Scouts. If you have not seen it yet you should look it up. Donald is not the best Scout leader, but his nephews are not the best Scouts either.

I think is it cool that Hallmark released two Scouting themed ornaments in one year. I like it even more that one is based on the Peanuts characters and the other is based on Disney characters. I wonder what they have planned for next year? Maybe something from Follow Me Boys?

Do you already have your 2019 ornaments? Do you plan to buy them for yourself or as a present for someone this Christmas?

It is that time of year. Even though it is not yet Halloween the Christmas stuff is starting to find its way onto shelves at your favorite stores. While I agree it is too early to put out the Christmas decorations I always look forward to seeing what the next Hallmark Christmas ornament featuring Beagle Scout Snoopy is going to be. Today is the day I discovered what it is.

This year’s ornament features Scout Leader Snoopy helping Woodstock and friend work on their archery skills. Of course, the bow is longer than Woodstock and his friend but it gives a great example of a Scout leader helping his Scouts.

This year’s ornament is 2.5 inches tall. The cost is $17.99 and can be ordered online at the Hallmark website or picked up at your nearest Hallmark store. I usually get two of them, one to put on the tree and one to keep as part of my collection. This will be the thirteenth Beagle Scout Snoopy ornament in my collection.

Do you collect these ornaments? Do you have them all? I know I am missing a couple of the earlier ones.

(Pictures are from the Hallmark website.)

Over a year ago I downloaded an app for my iPhone that was created by the Boy Scouts of America called PatchScan. It looked like an interesting program. It was from the B.S.A. It was free! I just had to have it since it was from the National office.

I downloaded it to my iPhone and took a quick look at it. It looked like a very simple program. I scanned the code sticker on the back of an Order of the Arrow patch I recently bought. Luckily, the patch I scanned was an officially licensed patch since the app only works with officially licensed patches. That means any patches I have that are made in China probably will not work with the app, especially since they do not have a bar code.

Once the code was scanned the app displayed information about the patch that, to tell the truth, I found quite interesting. It told me who issued the patch, how many were made, the date it was issued, and the manufacturer of the patch. There was also a picture of the patch and patch detail information. This looked like it would be a handy app for a serious patch collector.

I closed the app, and then forgot about it for nearly a year. This week I opened the app to check it out once again, and scanned another patch. I really need to start scanning my patches when I get time.

Unfortunately, it does not appear to get updated very often. The last update was done over a year ago. There have only been two updates since the app came out six years ago. The app description talks about the 2013 National Jamboree but there is not a word about the 2017 Jamboree. I hate to say it, but it looks like the B.S.A. is letting the ball drop on an app that could be fun for Scouts and Scouters to use.

Have you downloaded the PatchScan app to your phone or tablet? Have you used it? What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments section.

I am sure I am not the only long time Scouter that has accumulated a fair amount of Scouting memorabilia over the years. I think it is inevitable. But when you actively collect anything you come across the collection grows a lot faster, and you develop a lot of subcategories within the collection. Handbooks, novels, coffee mugs and patches are probably the most common Scouting related collections.

Last year I discovered that there was a short comic book series that featured a comical look at Boy Scouting. This series, printed in 1951, was named The Little Scouts. According to the Comic Vine website, there were five issues printed in this series, but a few more stories were printed in Dell Four Color comic series that featured the same characters. Each comic book featured a few short stories of a group of Boy Scouts.

I was able to pick up one of these comic books. It is shown above. According to the information on Comic Vine this is #5 in the series. I have looked through it and found it to be entertaining and fun to read. It may not be quite “socially correct” by today’s standards but it was published over 60 years ago. It like reading the humor found in the books back then. I think I need to begin the hunt to see if I can find the rest of them.

Do you know of any other Scouting related comic book series? Leave a comment and let us know about it.

The Central Minnesota Council has had a nice incentive to donate a certain amount of money over the last several years during their Friends Of Scouting (FOS) campaigns. Each year they had a special council shoulder patch designed featuring a point of the Scout Law. This year, 2019, this patch set came to an end with the Reverent patch.

I like the patch set overall, although there were a few years I did not care for the patch. There were three years the council came up with printed patches instead of sown patches. I am sure they were trying to save a buck but I think the plan backfired. After those three years they went back to the sown patches. I bet they received quite a few complaints about the “cheap” council strips.

I wonder if they will continue some sort of patch set during the upcoming years. I am a patch collector so a new patch always catches my eye.

What do you think of the Scout Law patch set? Has your council done something similar to this? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Boy Scout Troop 68 of Melrose holds two meal fundraisers each year. The spring meal is usually a pancake and sausage breakfast that includes scrambled eggs. The fall meal has been a spaghetti supper for the last few years. The troop does well with both fundraisers and is able to keep up with the yearly expenses.

The 2019 spring breakfast fundraiser takes place this weekend at the Melrose American Legion. The parents will be working in the kitchen while the Scouts take care of the tables and the dishes. I will probably do the same thing I have done for the last thirty years, pour coffee, visit with the people who come by for breakfast, and keep an eye on the Scouts to make sure they get their work done.

Another of the jobs I have, and one that I really have made my own, is to create a table top display for the meal. I began to take items out last night to prepare for Sunday’s meal. As you can see from the picture I will have both Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting items in this year’s display. The Cub Scout Pack has been doing well and I wanted to include something for the elementary aged children.

One item not shown in the picture is the patch blanket I plan to hang. I may even bring both of them. I do have clothing racks that work very well to display them. Add in a few photo albums and I think there will be enough Scouting memorabilia for families to view.

How often do you set up a Scouting display in your community? What do you include in it? When do you set it up? Leave a comment and let us know about it.

As I was gathering patches for my new Scout uniform shirt I went to the eBay auction site to find an adult leader 2001 National Jamboree patch since I did not want to remove it from my old shirt. I found one at a very reasonable price, for only $5.20 with shipping. As I was searching for it I came across a few other auctions that caught my attention.

Normally I just glance at the auctions since the prices usually end up going higher than I like. One auction did catch my attention. It was a patch set from the 2001 Jamboree that I had never seen before. The set included three patches from the Jewish Shomer Shabbat Contingent. I could be mistaken but I think it may include an adult leader, a participant, and a staff patch. It was a very good looking set.

I decided I would like to add it to my Jamboree collection. I checked the price and I thought it was very reasonable. The seller was only asking $9.95 for the set, and that included postage. I hit the Buy It Now button before I could change my mind.

The patches arrived last week and look sharp. I am glad I purchased them. But I do not know anything about this contingent. My mission to you is to leave a comment with some information of this group. I appreciate the help.