Archive for March, 2014


Scouting FigurinesAs I was looking online for a name of that Norman Rockwell painting mentioned in my last post, I came across a picture of a set of figurines based on six of his more popular Scouting themed paintings. I wish I had seen this sooner. I might have placed a bid on them. But the auction had already closed. They would have made a great addition to my Scouting memorabilia collection.

Do any of you have these figurines as a part of your collection? Where did you find them? When did you buy them?

2014CMCPatch2Yep. It is that time of year. Boy Scout councils are conducting their annual Friends of Scouting campaigns to raise money to support the local council and its program. Our district executive from the Central Minnesota Council visited our troop’s court of honor on Monday, March 24th. The troop almost met the goal set by the council, and still may. A few of the parents took the forms home with them to consider how they could financially support the council.

In our council, as I am sure in many councils across the country, there are various tiers at which a donor is recognized for their financial gift. For several years now, the Central Minnesota Council has presented donors with a special council shoulder patch for meeting the first level of support. These patches have featured a design based on a Norman Rockwell painting. The year’s patch was based on the painting of a Boy Scout saluting. I am not quite sure of the name of the painting, but it might be called We, Too, Have A Job To Do from 1944. As you can see from the picture, it is a fully embroidered patch, not a print like two patches a few years ago.

At another gift level the donor would receive a framed print of this Norman Rockwell painting. I think it was ten years ago that the council last offered this print. My home office wall displays 15 different framed prints offered by the council over the years. There is not much room left for any new ones.

I think the council did a good job with this year’s patch. I am happy to add it to my csp collection. This patch takes us nearly to the halfway point of the Scout Law. I look forward to seeing what the next seven years of patches will look like.

What sort of incentives does your council offer during its Friends of Scouting campaigns?

tabletopdaylogoA friend of mine recently posted a link on Facebook to something called International TableTop Day which will be held on Saturday, April 5th. I have never heard of this but it caught my interest so I decided to check it out. It is pretty much just like it sounds. Here is a short quote from the website:

International TableTop Day is a celebration for all the fans of tabletop gaming. A single day where the whole world is brought together in a common purpose of spending time together and having fun. We hope you find the resources you need — to connect new fans to experienced group organizers, retailers with their community, and publishers with the international community — all in one place.

This sounds like an event that would be right up my alley. I like to play board games, card games, and Dungeons and Dragons. Gosh, they all happen to be tabletop games! I enjoy the thrill of competing against my friends as we sit around a table playing Munchkins or Risk. Of course, I also prefer to win, but as they say, you can’t win them all.

As I considered this event I thought this could be an excellent activity in which Cub Scout packs and Boy Scout troops could participate, even if it was just within their own units. I can vision dens of Cub Scouts playing Sorry, CandyLand, Pokemon, or various card games. I can see Boy Scouts playing Monopoly, Scrabble, Magic, or D&D. I see scoutmasters and cubmasters being beaten at their own games by competitive Scouts of all ages. Could you imagine local packs and troops getting together for this one day of gaming that does not involve a video screen?

What do you think of this? Would your troop or pack be interested in joining an event that is international?

Cub Scout CharactersCub Scout Pack 68 held their Blue and Gold Banquet last night, Tuesday March 25, at the American Legion in Melrose. Pizza was brought in with hot dogs, chips, and desserts provided by the families. The Cub Scouts were pretty excited to receive their achievements during the award ceremony.

I am a member of the pack committee and attended the event for two reasons. First, I wanted to video record the awards ceremony. Second, I wanted to chat with the second year Webelos and their parents to promote moving on to the Boy Scout troop. Unfortunately, only three of the six Webelos Scouts attended the ceremony. I did get to chat with the three boys who did attend, along with their fathers.

Mark, the current cubmaster, will be stepping down from his position in May. His youngest son is one of those second year Webelos who will become a Boy Scout of Troop 68. Mark has been the cubmaster since his oldest son, who is now 14, was a Cub Scout. Near the end of the evening’s ceremony Mark spoke briefly of his tenure with the pack and thanked the parents for allowing their boys to be a part of the Cub Scout program.

It was then time for Dave, the committee chairman, to say a few words and thank Mark for all he has done for the pack. Dave’s son is also a second year Webelos Scout and will be joining Troop 68. Dave has agreed to join the troop committee.

This means it is time for new leadership to step forward to continue the program of Pack 68. After the meeting I chatted with a few of the parents about filling these leadership roles. One father is seriously considering taking over the position of cubmaster. Another is willing to join the pack committee, and may even be willing to take over as the chairman.

I offered to stay on the committee for another year and offered my home as a place to hold the committee meetings. Mark and Dave have also stated they would be willing to help the new leaders as they learn about their new roles within the pack. Our district executive has offered to come to town and conduct a training session for all the new pack leaders.

It is starting to look like things are falling into place for Cub Scout Pack 68’s program to continue strong as things kick-off again with a new program this fall.

scoutingpromotiondvd2For the last 15 or 20 years I have been collecting videos of Scouting commercials and promotional films. I have a few dozen of them. Some of them are very good. Several not so much. A few are just plain weird. But they are interesting to watch.

At tonight’s district roundtable I plan to give away some dvd’s I created featuring many of these videos, along with a couple old training videos. I plan on giving two of these discs to the Cub Scout roundtable. The other six I will give away to lucky winners at the Boy Scout roundtable. I am also hoping to have a projection screen set up during the roundtable to show a few select videos since promoting Scouting within your home community is a theme for the evening.

Some of these videos can be seen on our troop’s website. Check them out at
http://melrosetroop68.org/videos.html

PinewoodDerbyDesignGuess what. It is time for the Pinewood Derby! Has there ever been a more powerful comment that causes so much excitement for a Cub Scout and also creates a higher stress level for his father or mother?

Cub Scout Pack 68 of Melrose, Minnesota, held its Pinewood Derby on Tuesday, February 25. Thirteen Cub Scouts, from Tigers to Webelos, and their families came together at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on the north side of town. It was going to be a fun filled Tuesday evening.

The track had been set up a couple days earlier and everything had been tested. A few Cub Scouts arrived early and had started racing their cars down the track. Unfortunately, their moved something on the track and caused the electronic timer to work improperly. It took the cubmaster and a couple of the fathers several minutes to discover what the problem was and to fix it.

During this time I was taking pictures of the Cub Scouts and their cars. The pack also used this time to have the boys vote on their favorite car design before the races actually began.

The pack leaders decided to run the derby as a double elimination events so the each Scout would be a part of at least two races. While most of the boys took their loses in stride, there was one or two younger ones that took it a little hard. Most of the boys cheered on the ones still racing as the championship bracket began.

The final race for the 1st place trophy came down to the cubmaster’s son, Ethan,  and the committee chairman’s son, Spencer. Both boys were smiling from ear to ear as I took a picture of them with their cars as they were place on the track.

The lever was dropped. The cars began moving, quickly picking up speed as they moved toward the end of the track. Both cars were nose to nose all they way. It was going to be a photo finish.

Even with a photo finish it would have been hard to declare a winner. Good thing the pack had bought an electronic timer when they purchased a new track last year. The timer showed that Ethan’s car had beat Spencer’s car… by one thousandth of a second! Could the final race have been any closer? No.

Trophies were presented for the top three places. One trophy was presented for the best looking car. I took plenty of pictures during the event and promised the parents that each of them would get a cd of them all. I also had one of the Boy Scouts sitting at the end of the track recording the races with my video camera. It will be fun to see what he recorded.

How did things go with your pack’s Pinewood Derby?

PinewoodDerbyFinal

PinewoodDerbyTop2

PinewoodDerbyTop3