Category Archives: scouts

03.11.13
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He fought a tree and the tree won

I mentioned a desperate need to lower the baby’s crib mattress.

We did manage to get that done the very next day.

He wasn’t very happy about it.

And the following weekend, this happened to Billy:

When I picked him up from camping and saw his face, I asked, “What happened to your nose?!?”  The Scoutmaster was right there to give me some details and assure me that my son had been well cared for.

Bill was out of town, and I felt it necessary to email him the picture.  Billy was concerned, saying he didn’t want his dad to “freak out.”  I asked if he thought I had “freaked out” when I saw him.  “Yes,” he said.  Next time, I shall pretend I don’t even notice that my child’s proboscis is twice as big on Sunday morning as it was on Friday night.  I thought my reaction had been rather calm…

We sent the story of the nose along with the photo:

Billy:  We were canoeing down the river.  We had just turned a bend, and we saw a branch sticking out of the water.  I was in the front.  I told Andrew to turn left, and he started to paddle, and it did start to go left, but it wasn’t enough, and the boat went under the log and hit my chest, so I leaned back and it scraped my nose. 

Fritz:  I was in the middle.  After Billy got scraped, I ducked and I grabbed the back of his life jacket and held his head above the water enough that he could get under the branch, and then I lifted him up on top of the branch and held him there because he could not stand.  Then we got him to shore while we got the water-logged boat free.  Matt and Peter brought their canoe over and put Billy in and got him to the end.  We followed.  Once we got to the end, they took off his life jacket, and an adult leader took him to the camp site.

Billy:  There they gave me medical assistance, wiped my nose off, determined it wasn’t broken, and told me to get in dry clothes.  It didn’t hurt that much.

One day, you are lowering their crib mattress so they won’t fall and bust their noses open.  The next day, they’re big kids and off on weekend adventures, busting their noses open.

12.08.10
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Camping and Laundry

Our blood has thinned.  The heat does that to you.  Yesterday it was only in the 40’s…you would have thought a blizzard was imminent with how my children pulled out the gloves and hats.  Last night Fritz had Scouts and he wanted to know where his winter coat was.  Alright, it was in the 30’s by evening, but the meeting was indoors.  I’m doing fine with layers.

The boys have a camping trip this weekend.  The Webelos are hanging out with the Boy Scouts in preparation for their crossing over in March.  Billy gets to sleep in a tent with Fritz and do stuff with his patrol.  It’s a good thing, too, because Bill and I have an event Saturday night, and it would be difficult for us to camp with Billy (Cub Scouts typically need a parent or other guardian with them on campouts).

Neither Bill nor I were particularly eager to camp out either.  Bill did it last month with Billy, and the morning temps were close to freezing.  It makes the event somewhat less enjoyable.  Especially when you have to work hard to get that hot cup of coffee.

But it seems that God is smiling on the Scouts this weekend.  The daytime temps are expected to be in the mid to upper 60’s.  Saturday morning might be uncomfortable for Fritz with temps in the upper 30’s, but Sunday morning temps should be 10 degrees higher.  The camp is local, so Bill will be able to get up, enjoy freshly brewed hot coffee with ease, and head over to retrieve them in time for Mass and not expect to find two Popsicle Scouts.  Maybe he’ll even bring some hot chocolate.

It’s hard to believe that Billy will be a Boy Scout soon.  It amazes me to see how mature Fritz is getting, not that Scouts is completely responsible.  But I do think it helps.

Of course, as I write this, staring up at me from my desk is a blue card that would show he had completed his Environmental Science Merit badge – a tough one and a requirement for Eagle.  It would show he completed it…expect that he left it in his pants pocket and put it in the laundry.  Now it doesn’t say much of anything.

So, he is maturing.  But he’s still very much just twelve.