Bock Buck Buck Booooooock!

Well, you can blame Parsley of Seasons of My Mind for this... She dared folks to show a picture of themselves... and then when I demurred, she called me a big chicken!


Here is a picture of me in the reading room with my groupies. I'm probably reading "Scientific American" although I should be reading something historical since I'm in (or very near) Valley Forge National Historic Park in this shot. The famous steel balls are out of view to the left (here, here and here).


Here is a more dignified shot - I think I was showing my coworker my new digital camera when they mistakenly took a picture. Oh well, accidents happen. The camera seemed okay afterwards, anyway.


I love being near water - ponds, lakes, creeks, oceans, it matters not what form it's in except frozen. Here I am standing in the Aegean (Mediteranean) Sea at the beach in Mykonos, Greece. I think I had a couple servings of Kataifi, Baklava and Amygdalopita too many and a couple Loukoumades thrown in to boot.


Here I am with my last dog Gypsy. She was a very smart Border Collie that I rescued from the SPCA when she was an older puppy. She was one wild maniac when I first got her - and being a Border Collie, she was meant to run around and around and around...

She often went to work with me - and went everywhere else too, once she learned that she could go, if and only if she "behaved" - being smart, this lesson didn't take her too long to absorb - but there were days when she just had to stretch her legs and "herd the wild rabbits." Those days were usually rainy ones, and usually just as we were leaving the house to go somewhere! The last time she ran off in the morning rain, I had to leave her run - she just wouldn't come - and I had a major client who wouldn't take "I'll be a little late" for an excuse.

I came home after a most anxious day - and found her sleeping quietly on welcome mat by the front door of the house. She looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said, "I'm sooo sooo sorry." and that was that, we never spoke of it again - and she never ran off again.

Alex's Lemonade Stand

Today, while walking through a local cemetery, I came across this gravestone**


You may know of her, she was the brave and rather remarkable little girl that sold lemonade to help raise money for cancer research - in her own words, "when I get out of the hospital I want to have a lemonade stand" - wanting to give the money to doctors to allow them to "help other kids, like they helped me."

I copy her courageous story from the Alex's Lemonade Stand website:

"Shortly before her first birthday, Alex was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer. On her first birthday, the doctors informed Alex's parents that if she beat her cancer it was doubtful that she would ever walk again. Just two weeks later, Alex slightly moved her leg at her parents' request to kick. This was the first indication of who she would turn out to be - a determined, courageous, confident and inspiring child with big dreams and big accomplishments.

By her second birthday, Alex was crawling and able to stand up with leg braces. She worked hard to gain strength and to learn how to walk. She appeared to be beating the odds, until the shattering discovery within the next year that her tumors had started growing again. In the year 2000, the day after her fourth birthday, Alex received a stem cell transplant and informed her mother, "when I get out of the hospital I want to have a lemonade stand." She said she wanted to give the money to doctors to allow them to "help other kids, like they helped me." True to her word, she held her first lemonade stand later that year and raised an amazing $2,000 for "her hospital."

While bravely battling her own cancer, Alex continued to hold yearly lemonade stands in her front yard to benefit childhood cancer research. News spread of the remarkable sick child dedicated to helping other sick children. People from all over the world, moved by her story, held their own lemonade stands and donated the proceeds to Alex and her cause.

...

In August of 2004, Alex passed away at the age of 8, knowing that, with the help of others, she had raised over $1 million to help find a cure for the disease that took her life."

**to honor her memory and right to rest eternally in privacy - I won't say where she is buried but will share her story and a picture of her final resting place - she was triumphant in a way - with her terrible battle with cancer. She will never be forgotten. I urge you to help find a cure in whatever way you can.

BSA Time Warp

Jeannie of Jeannie's Happy World mentioned having to iron/sew patches on Bella's, her budding Brownie Scout's uniform. The very thought send me hurling back in time to the day when I sewed patches on my Boy Scout uniform. Jeannie suggested that I photograph the patches such as I still have, and write about them. So I did.

In my bedroom closet, in the center of my old backpack, is a paper bag that holds all of my remaining Boy Scout patches and awards. I spread them out on my unused bed and ...


... it wasn't long before my rusty memory recalled times long ago. The red "Voyager's waist sash" was an award for completing a lengthy canoe trip in the Canadian wilderness - a trip patterned after the trips made by the earliest explorers and trappers - The red sash reminds me of the voracious mosquitoes of Manitoba and how they made my arms bleed red in minutes. I learned quickly, that no matter how warm it was - to wear my long sleeve shirt and pants at all times.


I found my trusty pen knives, and the neckerchief slide I carved with them... and my fork and some brass "skill awards"... but the treasure in this photograph are the tent stakes and the bicentennial patch - the patch was awarded to campers that had the honor of sleeping on the hallowed grounds of Valley Forge... and these tent stakes held my tent that Spring weekend in 1976. Even after two hundred years, one could feel the presence of General George Washington and the men that made our country free.


Hmm...so that's where my can opener got to! In the picture below, the yellow "campers award" was given to the one boy that exemplified camping during one of the summer camps. Of the hundreds of campers - I came home with it.


My Scout hat, and the neckerchief that I treasured most of the 10 or so that I had. I wore this one while representing the Valley Forge Council on a 250 mile canoe trip in Ontario and Manitoba that led to me leading an "Outward Bound" group a few years later. This neckerchief was the my final one as a scout - as I graduated from High School that year -


I participated in a dozen "Mile Swims" - and several "Northern Expeditions" (canoe trips in Canada) - and earned the "century club" award - given to Scouts that hike 100 miles in less than a week (at the time). I love the brilliant blue and white polar bear patch. :)


Two "50 Miler" patches, and one of the three "High Adventure" patches I have. The treasure for me, though is the Southwest Michigan Council band and Canada map patch - I was made an honorary member of the SW Michigan Council after assisting one of their troops participate on a High Adventure trip in Maine. The map patch was given to me by a troop from Montreal - that we ran into in the Maine wilderness - and I was called upon to translate an English map for some French speaking boys.

"Cela signifie mauvaise eau prudent avec bateau ici."


Somehow, I have three merit badge sashes - I'm not sure why, but I have both of my brother's sashes. They too, were active scouters - and earned a good number of merit badges. I had to look closely to determine which one was mine. Any guesses?


Perhaps Jeannie will notice that one of the merit badges is sew on upside down. Do you see it? It is the one with the gold dollar sign on a background of green, on the leftmost sash.


My sash was the one in the middle. My oldest brother's is on the right, my younger brother's is on the left. I was the only of the three of us to earn the "Space Exploration" merit badge (near my thumb).

To be honest, the awards were incidental for me - I enjoyed the camping, hiking, swimming, and canoeing the most - going new places and not getting lost - knowing how to read a map and live off the land if my life depended on it. Learning how to handle dangerous tools such as axes safely, first aid and CPR as well as something intangible - self respect and leadership skills... the Boy Scouts helped make me a better person - and to be a better man.

The final award and highest rank - Eagle Scout.


I don't know who was most proud of me the day I was awarded this - my parents - my brothers - my scoutmaster - or the boys in my troop... I remember my older brother standing in front of the Church with his dress uniform on - and his Eagle scout badge gleaming, as he lit the ceremonial candles and recited the Boy Scout pledge... beaming at me as if to say, "you're alright, you know that punk?"


During college and afterwards, I led several high adventure trips - and one year, took a "special" troop to summer camp, serving as their Scoutmaster. The boys were life-challenged. Their handicaps were multitudious - they weren't very "sharp upstairs" but they sure knew how to smile and appreciate a good time outdoors. They were on their own, away from home and away from their parents for the first time - camping along one of the Finger Lakes in New York state. They surprised me - they made no excuses - they just kept trying until they got it done.

They inspired me to take on the Outward Bound challenge - the canoe trip of a life time - hundreds of miles through Ontario, Manitoba and into northern Saskatchewan.

I came back from that trip - confident that with the right team, I could do anything - and some of the young men that went with me - came back and went on to wonderful things.


My backpack, with yet another "50-Miler Award," sits against the closet wall, seemingly ready for the day its owner wants to put it on once more - and peel off another 50 miles, or even more...

Perhaps someday - I'll take it up on it.

Secret Penpal and the Weekend

Sometimes people amaze me with how they think and the cool ideas they have. Take my secret penpal, they sent me a really neat Halloween card and some bright colored candy. I would have never thought to do such a thing.


The card reads - Trick or Treat! Smell my feet! Give me CANDY or I'll BITE your SEAT!

My secret penpal even included some (early) Halloween treats! Sugar-free ones! How cool is that! Thank you Secret Penpal! The candy was yummy (I couldn't wait until Halloween).

P.s., No, I'm not smelling any one's feet!

This past weekend, I went to Chestertown late on Friday, looking forward to a long weekend (I had Columbus Day off!) and the weather was forecast to be super-incredible-fantastic.

Well... things didn't work out quite the way I expected. On Saturday afternoon, I did get a nice boat ride on the river and enjoyed the sights. The birds are beginning to clump up for migration - some of the Geese are already moving on by.







On Friday night, I got to the wharf, grabbed my bag and walked out the dock and nearly stepped into a big hole in the water. There was no boat in the slip. Due to a misunderstanding between the owner of the Wharf and my Dad, the houseboat had been pulled out for the season. I ended up spending the night in a strange room. The next day, I took the spoiled food out of the refrigerator and unloaded all the stuff that comes off the boat each year (the linens and anything bugs or other critters might eat or nest in). After that, I winterized it, taking all the water out of the lines so that they don't freeze up. The most tedious part of doing this is emptying the hot water heater - it is built in without a drain and the 10-15 gallons in it, have to be ladled into a bucket and the bucket hauled outside and dumped.


I took one last look at the boat after the ride on the river and headed home in disappointment and some sadness. For me, the summer is officially over.