GimletBlog

Thing Two and his Tiger Cub den visited KUOW radio in Seattle!  Some of his fellow Cubs sang, “Row, row, row, your boat” in the studio for a recording.  One cub was asked a “man on the street” question.  Thing Two was interviewed and asked, “Why did you join Cub Scouts?”  He replied that he joined the pack because his big brother Thing One had been a member of it, and Thing Two was having a great time in Cubs!

He also got to see where radio shows are recorded and broadcast.  Finally he saw where the satellite feed from NPR and BBC come into the studio and then is sent out over the transmitter.

All in all a fun time with a den of busy little Tiger Cubs.

Related posts:

On November 9, the OA lodge hosted Fall Rally, an annual event that was at Camp Brinkley.

I got there at 6:00 PM, and the first thing that happened was a presentation on unit elections, which is where Arrowmen go to troops and have the scouts vote for eligible members of the Order of the Arrow.

Then, after playing board games for some time, we watched The Avengers. I slept in the loft in the dining hall and the next morning, it was snowing and sticking until about 10:00 am.

I went to some training classes for things like ordeals, and being a chapter officer, and then after lunch, everybody played capture the flag around camp, with chapters grouped together to make teams.

Later, we had dinner, more board games, and then there was a concert performed by some members of the lodge.

Fall Rally is fun every year, and you can learn a lot.  This year we also learned about how to design and build a totem pole for the new OA longhouse that is being built at Camp Pigott.

The next Monday was Veterans’ Day, so our chapter joined other scout troops in the area to put up flags at Evergreen-Washelli.

Related posts:

Now that Thing One’s scouting days are drawing to a close, it is fun to be able to go back to the beginning and start again with Thing Two and cub scouts.

He’s enjoying making friends with his den and has had a great time at all the meetings.  So far he has earned his Bobcat badge and is working on the Tiger Cub badge.  Not surprisingly for Thing Two, he is looking ahead at the belt loops and other elective awards and wondering how many of those he can achieve.  Take it easy, little buddy; you don’t have to do everything the first year!

The pack completes their annual fundraiser at the beginning of the school year, so now all there is to do is enjoy the activities, camp outs, friends and fun!

Related posts:

NYLT.  National Youth Leadership Training.  The beginning of this project was the extraction of Thing One from Camp Pigott early.  After dealing with a number of poorly marked detours, (a road closed sign with no other options is not a well planned project!) I picked up Thing One and returned home.

(more…)

Related posts:

Three mosquito bites, a little road rash on an elbow, and one lost neckerchief slide:  Thing Two has entered the world of Cub Scouts.  He was excited as a little boy can be to go.

With an early morning wake up and a DVD to make the hour drive to camp go quickly we headed out and went back in time to 1876 and the  “Brinkley Territory”.

(more…)

Related posts:

When Thing One started work this summer, he thought he would be working at the Trading Post again.  He’s putting in a few hours there, mostly to reconcile the cash register, but this year most of his workday is spent at the Archery range.

One of the earliest pictures to appear on GimletBlog, this photo was taken at Thing One’s eleven year-old scout camp, held at Camp Pigott:

Six years later, he’s the big staff guy helping the younger scouts!

The first week took some getting used to, but now Thing One has settled into a routine and is enjoying the new job.

Thing One didn’t participate in any of the skits and songs last year, but this summer he has a part in an opening campfire skit, leads one of the opening campfire songs, and leads a dinner song.  The opening campfire this particular week was held in the dining hall because it was raining too hard, which is saying something for these parts.

The Gimlet happened to be spending part of a week at camp as a Camp Commissioner, and had no warning that Thing One was going to be part of the campfire until he began his song, at which point The Gimlet picked his jaw up off the floor, found his phone and began to film the performance:

Watch Thing One’s opening campfire song (QuickTime)

After this, the head camp commissioner advised The Gimlet that Thing One’s dinner song was worth the drive (and camp dinner), so the whole family visited on the appointed evening.   All the drama classes in school and the hard work of our former ward choir director have paid off!

Watch Thing One’s dinner song (QuickTime)

Lyrics to Thing One’s songs can be found in the songbook (Word document) of one of our neighbor troops.

Thing Two wanted to wear his Tiger Cub uniform to camp, where a cute little brand new Cub Scout attracted as much attention as one might expect.   Boy Scouts encouraged him to stick with Scouting so he could attend Camp Pigott some day; the youngest scouts seemed especially interested in giving advice to the only scout in camp smaller than they were.   Adults had a new audience for all their corny jokes, all of which Thing Two loved.  After all the noise and excitement of a big Boy Scout camp, he’s ready for his turn at Cub Scout camp!

At the beginning of the summer, Thing Two expressed his delight that we wouldn’t have to listen to any of Thing One’s annoying songs.  Instead, all of Camp Pigott has to listen to them.  However, Thing Two not only didn’t seem to mind listening to the songs, he sang Thing One’s song for the rest of the evening.

Related posts:

Thing One is back at Camp Pigott for the summer, where he will be working in the trading post again.   We were reminded again that summer weather doesn’t really start around here until July as we packed up Thing One’s gear in the drizzling rain.

Thankfully it wasn’t raining at camp, but the camp roads were mostly mud.  Thing One loaded up a wheelbarrow with his gear, and headed up the hill to The Rock, where the under-18 staffers live.

The over-18 staff members stay in yurts like these:

He joined up with his fellow staffers and was eager to be on his way.

We spent a little time walking through the less muddy areas of camp, and The Gimlet visited with the adults in the main office.

As we drove away from camp, Thing Two said, “Now we don’t have to hear any of those annoying songs Thing One likes to sing!” (Which both Things had been singing on the drive to camp.)  But by the time we got home, Thing Two didn’t feel well and had to rest for a little while.  He misses his big brother, annoying songs and all.

Related posts:

Last year we measured the Things before Thing One began his summer camp staff job, so it seemed like a good time to measure them again.

Just like last year, Thing One spent his brief break between school and work eating, sleeping, and watching Doctor Who (with a hefty dose of yard work added to the routine), and it seems to be a winning combination:  he now measures just under 6’1″.

Thing Two is keeping pace behind his big brother, checking in at just under 4’1″.

This summer Thing Two begins Tiger Cubs!  Such a milestone deserves its own blog post so for now we’ll briefly mention that he’s headed to Cub Scout Resident Camp with the Gimlet later in the summer, and an activity-filled year with his school friends in the neighborhood cub scout pack awaits him in the fall.  As you can see, he’s just a little excited about starting his own scouting adventures.

Related posts: