A Calling...No More

Today I got a phone call letting me know I was being released from my church calling. It's an assignment I've had for over three and a half years.

In my church we're given assignments, or callings. Unless you're an employee of the church, all the day-to-day functions are completed with unpaid labor. Some callings have more responsibility, such as a Relief Society President (leader of the women in the congregation...), Bishop (congregation leader...), or Stake President (leader of several congregations...). And with great responsibility comes great time commitment. 

My calling was that of Cub Master--an important calling, but one of the ones that didn't require a lot of time. In fact, I'd say of all the callings I've had in my forty years of callings, this one's been great. It helps that I had wonderful people working with me to make life for the boys in our neighborhood just a little better.

Some callings last longer than a couple of years--most, in fact. Three years is about average for many of them, so my release wasn't that surprising. The timing threw me a little bit. Next month is the Annual Blue & Gold Banquet, a time when the scouts have a sit down meal with the whole family. There's a program, games, and good fun. For the first time in four years, I won't be a part of it. But change is good. It's time for another to take up the binder of Cub Scout information and use The Scoutmaster Minute book. He'll now get a chance to help the boys in the neighborhood, and if his experience is anything like mine, he'll get a lot out of it.

Bottle Rockets...Cub Scout Style

Last Wednesday our little cub scout troop got together for an uplifting experience. 

We shot off 2-liter bottle rockets.

We had a blast!

Okay, sorry about that (but not that sorry...). We did have a great time, though. One of the den leaders had done this before--he said it was pretty easy to build the rockets, especially since a bottle will launch and fly without any modifications, but it's fun for the kids to decorate them. And, yes, the leader who suggested the activity and did the most to pull it off, that is his BMW parked closed by. Only 2 rockets actually hit the car. I'm told it suffered no real damage.

And since this activity is more of a "must see in action," here are some videos of the event. All in all, fun was had by all.

And the highest flight of the night!

Yesterday...I Made A Marshmallow Eagle

Yesterday was one of those crazy days, one of those crazy busy days where I barely had a chance to snap a picture.

But I did take this one...one of a marshmallow eagle.

I can understand if you look at what I made and see something that only slightly resembles an eagle. I admit, it's not the best representation--it's barely a representation. Here's how it came to be.

Last night was our cub scout pack meeting and I was in charge. Being a Cub Master is a church assignment and as church assignments go, it's a good one. The kids are usually well behaved and eager to learn new things. I thought since the election is coming up, I'd talk a little about patriotism and thanks to Pinterest (a cub master's best friend...), I found a fun activity for the little tikes to do.

If you're interested in making one, you need marshmallows, shredded coconut, candy corn (although, the Pinterest page used a cashew nut for the beak--we chose candy corn in case one of the kids had allergies...), and a couple of chocolate chips for the eyes. When done the whole contraptions sits atop an Oreo cookie.

We bought all the supplies the night before and last night I headed out for the meeting. Before I left we found out we needed to dip the marshmallows in white chocolate. It worked better for the coconut. We didn't have any white chocolate so we improvised. We ended up spraying the marshmallows with water and hoped for the best.

Before we started I challenged all the scouts to see if they could make a better marshmallow eagle than mine. They all thought they could. After a few frantic minutes, the kids each produced an eagle of their own. When all the scouts got back to their seats, I reminded them of my challenge and they all said their eagles looked better than mine.

Of course, I asked them to prove it by producing their finished product.

Mine was the only surviving eagle. I guess I won.

How To Make A Drum...Or, How To Make A Cub Scout Make A Drum?

Do you remember those days of your youth when even the simplest things could bring such wonder and joy? Maybe it's easy for me to remember because when I was a cub scout, there were no such things as video games, cellphones, computers, or even VCRs (or Batamax machines...). No, we had skateboards, bicycles, friends, open roads, and public parks.

But I think the wonder of a child care be reached even in our electronic age. Case in point, tonight we helped a bunch of eight to ten-year old boys build drums. These drums were rudimentary, and the finish product produced sounds that sounded a little like what you hear when you bang a proper drum. Still, the scouts didn't care. They were excited for the opportunity.

And that tells me something. We took some large cans, some faux leather fabric, some rubber bands, and some paint and let them loose. The only complaints I heard was there wasn't enough red paint. Apparently, the kids liked red (a good sign for the next generation, if you ask me...).

So, how do you get a young boy to make a drum? Basically, you provide the materials and let them go for it. Like I said, I doubt these things will be effective drums, but those kids didn't care. They had a blast putting them together anyway, and there's something important to be learned in that.

Cubstruction...An Educational Word

What is Cubstruction, you ask?

It's a word I learned about just tonight. Basically, it's having cub scouts construct something--anything--out of common household items.

We also talked about thrift.

You see, being thrifty involves not only the wise handling of money, but also the conservation of resources. I am the cub master in our congregation. It's challenging--a little bit more than some church assignments--a lot less challenging than others. But is is a fun assignment. Tonight we had our Pack Meeting, and we learned about Cubstruction.

For the past week I went around the house and gathered up fifteen of various items around the house. Fifteen nails, fifteen buttons, some almost-impossible-to-blow-up balloons, paper cups, paper plates, toilet paper tubes, pencils, yarn, ribbon, rubber bands, and even pinecones from our yard. We set up everything before the meeting started and the scouts had to sit to the side and wait for our meeting to be over before they could begin building.

To be honest, I was a little worried that the kids would be bored with the collection of stuff. I mean, we're talking about kids who most likely spend a lot of time playing video games. I told them there were no rules--they could build whatever they wanted, and you should have seen the look in their eyes. They could not wait to get at it. I saw them all scoot to the edge of their seats in anticipation. And when I said, "Go!" they ran to the table and got to work.

I suppose I should have more faith in these industrious kids. If I did they wouldn't surprised me as much. They each jumped in and for about twenty minutes, the usually noisy hall was quiet as the kids worked. They were even disappointed when I told them they needed to stop. Not even the mention of refreshments dampened their spirits.

In the end, the things they created were not function and they were in no way useful, except they taught their cub master something: never underestimate these incredible scouts.

Fine Dining With The Cub Scouts...

This last week a bunch of neighbors gathered at the local church for a cookout. We held a Cub Scout Pack Meeting, the one we hold each month. But this time we did things a little differently. I brought along my camera to see if I found anything interesting.

We went to the city and asked if we could have an open flame at the local park. Nope--we were still under a "no open flame" advisement. Of course, when we asked about having a cookout, few suspected the temperatures on that day

would be in the 50s after having rained all morning.

Oh well--we had a good time at the bowery next to the church. We had a choice of cooking methods. We could choose Caveman or Civilized. Most of the cubs chose Caveman. The adults picked the other. Once dinner was done and awards were handed out, we had s'mores.

I came home smelling of campfire. I'm glad I took my camera. Turns out, there was a lot to see.

A Scout Is...Courteous

I have an assignment in my church. I'm the cub master. As assignments go, it's pretty great. However, this will be the last time my son will be attending as a cub scout. He's had a birthday and so he's graduating. I've really enjoyed spending time with him.

As a cub scout master, part of my responsibilities include running the pack meeting. At each pack meeting there's a different theme and it's usually one of the scout law categories. 

This month: Courtesy. 

It's an interesting topic, when you think about it. Do we really even teach courtesy nowadays? I was thinking of some things I could use as examples of courtesy and some of the things I thought up seemed a bit dated. Do we open doors for our spouses (I'm talking to mostly the men here...)? I know I do occasionally, very occasionally. My wife usually just hops in the car--it's faster. I've asked my wife if she would like me to open the door for her every time and she's okay doing it herself so I think I'm okay. 

There's other examples of courtesy and I'm going to try and let the scouts know that it's important, even though many in our society either don't believe so, or don't know what being courteous means. The kids in today's world face a much different reality than I did. Heck, can you imagine if all people were more courteous on the internet how much of a better world world we would have?

We'll see how the meeting goes. I hope when it's done we'll all be more courteous to each other. And teaching people that is an important thing.

Camp Kiesel...Just What I Needed

Today, while breaking news hit--news, it appears, that everyone has expressed their opinion on, I was in the mountains, away from it all. No cell phones, no internet access, no distractions.

It was fantastic!

I spent the day at Camp Kiesel, just east of the little town of Huntsville in northern Utah. I went with a contingent of youths from the neighborhood with a couple of other leaders and it was simply beautiful up there. Unfortunately, it was not much cooler in the higher elevations today, but being away from it all did me good.

And the kids had a good time, too. The big three activities, archery, boating and BB gun shooting were the highlights of the day, but other things--learning about first aid, governments, even rocks of the earth were informative and interesting.

So, when big news is about to hit, I recommend heading up to the mountains where there's no phones and no internet access. But be sure to bring your camera along so you can capture some wonderful memories.

Angry Birds...Cub Scout Style

A few weeks ago many of the cubs scouts in the neighborhood gathered for an activity. Nothing unusual about that--happens all the time where we live. But what was unusual was the specific activity that took place. You see, the kids had the opportunity to play a game of Angry Birds and the only purpose of the electronic devices were to record it all.

The idea was genius--use a water balloon launcher to hurl small bean bags at Papier-mâché

 pig piñatas filled with candy and other toys.

The kids--and their parents--had a blast!

Literally!

When the launcher was pulled back to the almost breaking point and the bean bag was let loose, those piñatas didn't stand a chance, when they hit the target, that is.

So, if you're involved in the cub scout program, give this activity a try. Good times were had by all!