Scouting...The Newest Phase of My OCD Lifestyle

Between teaching at two different schools, doing the hubbie/daddy thing, dissertating, and listening to countless Disney podcasts, another item has been thrown into the mix. Aaron has found scouting and really likes doing the items in the handbook. I had to teach the night of the information meeting, so I didn't get a chance to gauge his interest. It didn't take long to realize that he wanted to do it, and not just because he had friends that were also interested.

Aaron and I headed to the first "official" meeting the following week, and his interest grew even more as he found out what den he was in and who all was in his den. I think he was hoping to have only one den so all of his friends would be together, but they did split the first-graders up into 2 dens (definitely a good decision there...that would have been too many people). One of the first items of business was to select the leaders for the Den. A committee member of Pack 53 has a son in the den (Den 3) and is serving as the Den Leader. He asked for 2 Assistant Den Leaders in the event that he and his family moves out of the area (better potential employment opportunities). One volunteered, and I slowly raised my hand to offer my assistance.



Oh boy.



The learning curve had begun. I was a Scout for a couple of years back when I lived in Hoopeston...I got the Bobcat badge, the Wolf badge, and was 75% of the way to the Bear badge before dropping out. I don't recall ever really attending a pack meeting...only going to Mrs. Montour's house, doing some stuff, and having her sign my book. Well, I do still remember two outings: the pinewood derby (I had a wheel fall off half-way down the track...was in therapy for a month) and a breakfast at the Hoopeston Conservation Club (I remember manning a fly swatter and accidentally hitting someone with it...made him cry...more therapy). I also remember reading Boy's Life magazine and loving it. I loved reading the White Mountains strip every month! Other than that, I don't remember too much, other than the ranks, the beads, and the arrowheads.


Regardless, things have changed just a bit in the 28 year-span between when I started and now. For example, WHAT THE HECK IS A TIGER CUB???!!! They used to be called Den Mothers...now it's Den Leaders (and, yes, Sheri occasionally calls me a Den Mother)? Advancement is by grade now?


Again...oh boy.



First thing was a uniform . We searched around and found the Scouting Store in Bloomington. Aaron was about to burst as he picked out his shirt and saw the badges that were to go on it. While there, I picked up a handbook on helping plan den meetings (the Program Helps). His first pack meeting was a mere 5 days away, so we had to get those badges on the uniform. Being a Veteran coming from a military academy where perfection of the uniform is expected, I started searching for where to put all those badges (Badges? We don't need no steenking badges!).


Now, y'all are going to see how my warped mind works. The primary debate going on in my brain was tied around whether to sew on the badges or use "badge magic", which was an adhesive. I spent several hours researching blogs on that topic and even put up a status post on Facebook soliciting feedback. While not 100% unanimous, most agreed that sewing, while more difficult, was the way to go.


Next came the placement of the badges. Sheri was getting ready to head out for a conference for work, so I started working on my sewing skills (more research on starting/ending knots), which I haven't used for several years. I made the mistake of trying to do the largest patch first, which was also the oddest shape. After three tries, where I got 1/3 to 1/2 way around and then unthreading it (my index finger bleeding from trying to push the needle through the thick embroidery), I finally got it to where it was close to being where it was supposed to be. It wasn't perfect, but it was on, and the thread was pretty much invisible. I then switched tactics...how about putting badge magic on to get the patches in the right position (at least the permanent ones...I didn't use that stuff on the ones that were likely to change, such as the Den number) and then sewing around it? Perfect idea! It will take care of the edges curling, as is common with the badge magic, and we can dry clean the uniform if needed without losing the badges.


One problem...when you pushed a needle through the badge magic, the goop got on the needle and made it harder to push as well as really sticky. Still, they looked pretty good. Of course, it took a LOT longer (I was up until around 1-2 am several nights in a row working on this). In between classes, I researched the proper placement of the World Emblem Badge...I agonized over lots of conflicting information and, after several hours, decided on ignoring many of the pictures and going with the official placement instructions on the Scouting.org web site (which was higher than where most people placed it).

Like I said...you get feel for how my brain works here.


Okay, with Aaron's uniform done, I had my work cut out for me. Added to this was the notion that there is a chance of actually filling in as Den Leader, I went in full-bore trying to figure out what all there was to figure out. I started off by going to our Pack's web site to see what they had to help. Looks like there's some training required. Okay, on to the main scouting site, where I saw tons of training, most of what I did in one evening. When it got to the point where I was going to be considered "trained", I was told that I could probably receive my own badge noting the trained status. This, of course, led me to ask if they wanted the assistants in uniform, too.


Yep.


Oh boy.


It's only a day before the pack meeting, and I'm back in the Scout Store getting my shirt. We get all the stuff for my shirt, and I run home to wash it and start applying the badges (using badge magic, of course and then sewing). I didn't have time to get everything sewed, but at least I got the stuff on the shirt.


After my third night in a row of about 4 hours of sleep, we finally get to the day of Aaron's pack meeting. The school PTO is the chartered organization, and the scouts are encouraged to wear their uniforms to school the day of the pack meeting. Aaron was stoked...he was ready to wear it!







Of course, we had to check out the sewing outcomes:











Yeah, he was liking the uniform!



Sheri was still in the Chicago area for her conference, so I uploaded pics for her to see. This led to quite a few comments over on Facebook on how happy he looked.


I finished up my shirt about 45 minutes before picking up the boys from school. I didn't have any starch (it's the Academy in me...I can't help it), but I did iron the heck out of both of our shirts. As we're getting dressed for the meeting, I could see Eric taking a keen interest in all of this, which means we'll probably be doing this again in a couple of years. Aaron gets the neckerchief on, and I wasn't thrilled with the way it looked (I knotted the chief to avoid losing the slide...more on that in a later post). Back out to the porch for more pictures:







When it came to the salute (his idea, not mine), he got all serious and, despite my requests, refused to smile. You can't see it, but Eric is right next to me saluting back to him.


We head over to the meeting (a whole 2 blocks away), and the first thing the Tiger Cubs are tasked with doing is a little song:





Remember, I'm used to teaching college, so I'm not used to working with this level. I'm starting to wonder what I'm getting myself into around this point. The Tiger Cubs then go through a short ceremony where they get a little bit of face paint symbolizing whiskers:





Two things here...#1, I really need to lose weight (I've taken off 12 pounds in the three weeks since this picture was taken); and #2, Aaron wasn't big on the face paint...he rubbed it off after about ten minutes. BTW, there are more (and better) pictures at the Pack's photo link.


Then he got his first badge, which he thought was uber cool.


Well, it was cool for about ten minutes. Then, being a first grader, he was on to other things.


After the meeting and helping clean up a little, we headed home, where I asked Eric to take a picture of Aaron and me in our attire:






It's easy to forget that Eric is only 4 years old, and he framed up this picture...pretty darn good job by Eric!!!



Throughout the meeting, I noticed that the shirt that I was wearing was slightly different from all the other leaders. This, of course, led to several more hours of researching to see what was up (new "centennial" shirts just came out this summer, which, of course, means different rules on badge placement on the sleeves). I also found that the numerals I had for the pack, while allowed, didn't quite go with the rest of the patches. Since I had used badge magic on the numerals, I then had to research the proper way to remove them (a couple of hours...seriously, I need to cut down on the information-gathering). Sure enough, following the directions and using "Goof Off" worked perfectly! I got the green numerals as well as a Tiger Cub Den Leader badge (the Den Leader suggested that as the proper identification), and I finished up all the current sewing with my stuff as well as Aaron's newest rank.


In the next installment of the Scouting Saga, we'll talk popcorn, a "launch", and the first den meeting.

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The Road to the Hall of Fame, Step 2

Well, we recently wrapped up Aaron's second step in his road to Cooperstown, NY. Last year was his first year in organized ball, pee-wee league. It started out as tee-ball; however, all the kids thought the tee was boring, so they ended up getting pitched to. Aaron was one of those who I was worried about when he hit (I'm not talking as his father...everyone said he could hit the ball hard). He had the option of doing one more year of tee-ball or head up to the next level: the instructional league. We decided to send him up to instructional.



We signed him up, and they put a call out for an additional head coach as there were so many boys that had signed up that they could easily field an additional team. I thought about it a number of times, having assisted last year in tee-ball, but my teaching schedule was going to keep me from at least 1 or 2 of the first practices, so I decided to stay back and assist one more time.


Being that it was a 6-7 year old league, Aaron was going to be one of the younger ones on there, but we thought he could handle it. He was bored in tee-ball, though all kids were bored easily at that age. I don't know how many times I had to holler to a kid who was playing in the dirt or watching a grasshopper to RUN to third base because the kid from first was standing right next to him on second base and wondering what was wrong.


After the first practice I went to this season, I was a little worried about our decision because Aaron was still out there playing in the dirt, and the balls were coming at him a little faster than the last league. As the season progressed, though, our decision was affirmed because he fit in fairly well with everyone in terms of level of ability. He was about average, both batting and fielding. Besides, with the exception of one or two, all the kids were still playing in the dirt.


From team photo day:







The biggest issue we had was keeping them interested in the game while out in the field. Everyone wanted to bat (wouldn't you?). The coach that pitched for us was REALLY consistent, and our kids would usually hit the ball by the second or third swing (Note to my Father: I did NOT pitch for this league...I vowed never to pitch again after that one almost sailed over the backstop back when you coached me back in 8th grade), but going out to the field and standing there while the other team took 7-8 pitches to get a hit had them about as A.D.D. as me. I got to hear lots of interesting things out there..."LOOK, A TRAIN"; "See the face I drew in the dirt"; "Can we bat yet?"; "My sister kissed so-and-so and got caught by my Dad...she is grounded for the next 4 years." At times, the ball would roll right by them as they're telling me this stuff. During those times, I'd most likely be biting my lip and trying not to let the military "vernacular" slip out.


I think I had the "funnest" coaching job as I stayed behind the plate when we batted and helped shag passed balls and make suggestions on batting. I wish I could say that I was the one responsible for how well our kids hit (and jokingly did once or twice), but they had a lot of natural ability. Between Craig (pitching guy) and me, we'd tweak a few things based on what we saw...you know, stuff like choosing a lighter bat when they were late or dropping the barrel and popping it up; closing the stance when the kid swung really early on everything but was late when pitched faster; putting my glove at the corner of the batter's box to keep them from stepping "in the bucket" (that was my Achilles Heel when I played); and my favorite, DON'T THROW THE BAT AFTER YOU HIT IT! I think I had one kid scared of me because of that one. 95% of the time, they'd hit the ball by the 3rd pitch, often into the outfield. Mark did great keeping things organized as to who was on deck and keeping the dugout to a low roar, and head coach Brian usually held down the fort as first base coach.



It was a traveling league, which was odd for me at this level. Back in Hoopeston, where I started my little league career, we didn't have organized ball until I was finishing second grade, and the games were all against Hoopeston teams. Aaron just finished kindergarten, and we played against several other Tri-Valley teams as well as teams from Heyworth and LeRoy. I don't think I traveled until after 6th grade.



It became apparent that some teams, parents, and kids are already out for the win, with teams with only second graders on it, playing their best players at first, second, and pitcher, etc. We treated this as "instructional", in that everyone played all positions, and they rotated every inning or two. That was also done in part to keep them interested (playing outfield was like the death sentence to our boys...they wanted to be in the infield where the action was).



Aaron at catcher:





One of the coaches from the other team kidding around with him.






Working with right and right-center field:





This all changed when we started playing the 3-out rule rather than letting both teams bat around. They wanted to bat, and they realized that they could bat quicker if they could get 3 outs. THAT got them watching the ball!



Probably the hardest thing for the kids at this age was figuring out what to do once the ball was hit. I usually worked the right side of the field. First base was easy.

Me: If the ball's hit to do, what do you do?
Kid: Go to first base
Me: And if it's not hit to you?
Kid: ???
Me: GO TO FIRST BASE (jokingly...usually if they've already played first)


Second base and pitcher was a little more challenging for most of them, but that's the purpose of instructional ball - to get the basics down. We didn't worry so much about strategy (i.e. runners on first and second, ball's hit to you, see if short is covering second, if not, try tagging runner and throwing to first, if he's past you and short isn't covering, throw to first). Basically all we said was: if it's hit to you, throw to first...if it's not hit to you, head to second base for a possible throw in from the outfield. Most of the time, the players would get the ball and look at us to tell them where to go. It worked a lot of the time, but you should have seen their faces when the coaches shouted different things.


Bases loaded, ball's hit to the pitcher

Me (seeing that the first baseman is ready): FIRST BASE!!!
Another coach (seeing that the catcher has stood up): THROW IT HOME!!!
Yet another coach: SECOND BASE!!!
.
.
.
Pitcher: looks around and throws it over the third baseman's head
.
.
.
Coaches: looking at each other like the 3 Stooges.


The season ended on a HOT note in late June. First, we traveled to LeRoy, where the game-time temp was still a good 96 degrees at 5 pm, with at least 80% humidity (ahhh...summer in the Midwest). I had just donated blood (2 pints using a double-red cell donation), so I was pretty much worthless, especially in the heat. It was so hot that everyone was sitting in the shade - it didn't matter what side you were on or what view you had:




Notice nobody's in the sun right by home plate...between the dugout and the bleachers? Yeah, it was that hot. Aaron, of course, is catching the first 2 innings of the game:






At the end of every inning, I'm force-feeding him water, despite his protests.






Yeah, they were definitely moving slower in this game. Notice there are no coaches in the above pic. That's because A) we were down 1 coach; and B) we're all still crawling back to the dugout.







Aaron, after clubbing one to the outfield. The rest of the other team is just standing there, worried about spontaneously combusting if they move to look at where the ball is.






Aaron, rounding third after someone behind him clubbed one into right-center. He's listening to one of the coaches telling him to head on home (we allowed doubles on really good hits).







He made it home with no play. I'm there telling him not to slide and to give him a high-five.


I think we made it 4 innings before we decided to call it a day. I was seeing steps in the dugout that didn't exist (much to the amusement of one of the coaches). Probably the most anticipated part of the game was the snacks afterward:






Eric's giddy with excitement (or in the first stages of heat stroke).




The next night, we got a respite. It was only 92, and there was a slight breeze. The only problem was that this game started at 8 pm (scheduled...actually started around 8:25), and most of these kids are in bed around 8:30. Added to that was the fact that we were playing in Ellsworth, where the field is right next to the water tower (painted like a baseball). It is also really close to the tracks (and, yes, a train went by right in the middle of the game). To make it even more distracting, it was located in the middle of a wind farm, with turbines as far as the eye could see.



It was heaven for someone with A.D.D.





Aaron's up to bat here, and I'm not in my usual post behind the catcher. I'm watching him, trying to figure out what he's doing wrong as he developed a rather unique swing tonight. It took another at-bat to finally figure it out:





Now, I know I'm going to get grief from the baseball Gods here for showing the controversial "back elbow up" stance. Aaron had his back elbow down so far that he had essentially started his swing in his stance...only he'd bring the bat back up before swinging. He was really late in his swing. Bringing the elbow up some actually sped his swing up a little more, and he hit the next pitch past the shortstop (he got around faster). We'll fix his stance later...small steps.


We had one who always stepped into the bucket when he swung. I threw my glove down near his front foot and told him not to step on my glove (I didn't want shoe marks on it). I looked at him and told him that if he "stepped right at the pitcher, you'd probably hit the ball through him."

He gave me the "okay...quit bugging me" look and dug in. He stepped right at the pitcher. You can probably guess what happened.


CCRRAAACCKKK!!!!!!


It was pure instinct for our coach to put his glove up to save some extreme pain and a voice an octave higher. I think I heard Evan (the batter) giggling maniacally as he ran to first. I hollered to him that I was just joking about hitting it through the coach.

It cooled off rather quickly, and the lights took over...the boys thought it was pretty neat playing under the lights.





After the game, Brian, the head coach (and, unfortunately, a die-hard Cardinals fan), gave each of them a medal and a little trophy for those who were chosen as MVPs (or MVTs...the boys wanted to call themselves the "Thunder"). Surprisingly, every one of them received MVT honors throughout the season (and I don't think they suspected a thing, either).



Brian also found cookies in boxes with MLB logos on them. He gave a box of their favorite team to each child. You can see a couple of the boxes in the pic above.

Before they turned out the lights, Aaron and Coach Daddy posed for one final pic:


Despite both of us sweating buckets at 9:45 at night, it turned out to be a pretty good picture!


So, to Aaron, C.J., Colton, Derek, Eli, Evan, Greg, Liam, Logan, T.J., and Tommy...GREAT JOB GUYS! To Brian, Craig, and Mark...it was a blast working with y'all. And to the parents of the boys...a huge Thank You. Several of them came up after the last game to give the coaches a big thanks and to tell them how much they appreciated what they did. That little gesture did not go unnoticed.


Until next year...

Track and Field Day 2008

When we decided to build our house, one of the big draws was the school district. The location of the lot that we purchased was about as close to school as you could get...our back yard butts up with the school property. We have an awesome view of football games on Friday nights. I wanted to install bleachers on our roofs (like Wrigleyville), but Sheri threatened bodily harm if I followed through with it. Still, we can see 90% of the field from our deck.

As we were working on the plan for the house, I drove out to the lot and noticed a lot of activity at the high school. I met our soon-to-be neighbor across the street, who told me that it was the elementary school's annual "Track and Field" day. Having never done this when I was in school, I asked her what all it involved. Apparently, it's one of those days that the kids look forward to all year.


Now I know why...Aaron was talking non-stop about it for a couple of months. When I was home, I'd see the classes walking out to the track and practicing. Back in the day, I actually was in fairly decent shape and did track. I was a sprinter by nature...anything over 200 yards seemed like a waste of time (just get in a car...it's quicker). I loved the sprints, though, as I ran the 110 hurdles (placed 3rd in state in 7th grade and broke a 25 year old county record in 8th grade), 100 yard dash, 200, and 400 relay (I was in 7th grade running with the 8th graders, and we shattered the state record at regionals...unfortunately, our anchor finished in the wrong lane thanks to the lines from the 100 dash start (easy thing to do), and we got DQ'ed). Proof that I'm not making this stuff up . I tolerated the 200 and the 800 relay when I ran those, but I was about exhausted near the end. I had a decent time in the 40-yard dash in high-school (4.65-4.7 my freshman year), but half of the linemen would pass me up on the 2-mile runs every Monday. At the Air Force Academy, I could pass the physical fitness test, which included the 600 yard dash (it took everything NOT to throw up after that run), but I could never do the aerobic fitness test, which was 1.5 mile run. I failed it a number of times, and, when I did pass it, it was just under the deadline. During basic training when I was in peak shape for distance running, my 1.5 mile time was still right at 11 minutes (the deadline was 11:16). I spent several months on athletic probation at the Academy because of my inability to run long distances, no matter how hard I tried. Several of my friends tried training with me, but it was hopeless. Whether it's an elevated red blood cell count (which I have), histoplasmosis (long story...never checked this out, but I'd be a prime candidate for it thanks to prolonged exposure around starlings (alive and dead) in my pre-teen years) or just plain sucking at long-distances, everyone who's seen me run knows I can't do long distances.



I bring all of this up because I finally have proof that Aaron truly is my biological son. As I mentioned earlier, I was able to watch the kids practice when I wasn't teaching. Aaron's class was always the last one of the day, so, to his detriment, I knew when to look for him. Every practice, they did a 50 meter dash and a 400 yard run (one lap). Aaron usually did really well in the 50, but he was walking about 150 yards into the 400 (he barely made it to the back straightaway). I'd usually talk to him after school to make sure that he knew that he didn't to be the best, but he had to try his best. He appeared to have my genes, though, in that he loved sprints and hated distance-running.


Aaron was extremely excited the morning of Track and Field day. The kindergarten class was scheduled to start around 12:30. Aaron was scheduled for 4 events: the long jump, the "wacky races", the 50 meter dash, and the scooter races. Up first for him was the long jump:

From Mush's Blog

Everyone did a practice jump, and Aaron nailed the launch...he jumped right at the line and soared!

Yeah, Proud Pappa writing this.

From Mush's Blog

His official jump didn't go as well as he started his jump a good 1-1.5 feet in front of the line. He had a blast doing it, and the smile on his face let me know that he was pleased with how he did.

Next came the wacky race. I'll just let the picture give you the 1000 needed words:

From Mush's Blog

They had to run with that thing on about 20 yards, bend over, pick up a frisbee, and carry it 20 yards back. I think every kid did at least one face-plant during the event. Nobody got hurt, and everyone loved it!


Then came the 50.

They had heats, and they took the top 2 from each heat to compete in the finals. Aaron was in the second heat.

From Mush's Blog

He won his heat! He's still in sprint mode as he heads back to the starting line.

From Mush's Blog

The Final Heat:

From Mush's Blog

AND THEY'RE OFF!

From Mush's Blog

Waiting to find out how he finished:

From Mush's Blog

He ended up finishing 3rd overall of all the Kindergarten boys!


Very Proud Pappa writing this. Aaron was just beaming at his accomplishment.


He had a break then, so we headed over towards where a lot of his class was hanging out and talked to some parents while Aaron sat near some friends to watch classmates do the ball throw.

From Mush's Blog

Up next for Aaron is the scooter race. He's again in one of the later heats. As he gets ready, we try to get a pic...he doesn't look up, but we get a great pic of his friend, Ben.

From Mush's Blog

He got second in his heat, but he qualified for the finals.


The finals go, and it was too close to call who won from our vantage point...

From Mush's Blog

This pic was taken at about the half-way point.

From Mush's Blog

That smile on his face should be an indication as to which (1st) place (1st) he finished (1st).



Done for the day, he headed up to the stands (bouncing around everywhere) and watched the 400. I seriously think a couple of them could beat me in the 400! After the 400, the classes go together for their awards and group pics.

From Mush's Blog

...and, being Kindergarteners, they had to do one of these:

From Mush's Blog

Sufficed to say, they all had an absolute blast, and I think they're already looking forward to next year's events!

Not Quite the Animal Kingdom, But...

We headed out to the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington a couple of weeks ago to get the boys out of the house and away from the Wii for as long as possible (if the boys had their way, they'd play Lego Indy and Lego Star Wars 24/7...I guess I might actually be their father). For a smaller city, the zoo is really good! We've been members of the zoo for several years now and encourage the locals to join up to in order to help them.

From Mush's Blog

Yes, I know some people consider it child abuse to put children in Crocs, but they like them! Besides, we found them on sale at the outlet store in Wisconsin Dells.


Sheri had control of the camera for most of this, and she got a good picture of some bluebells that had just bloomed.

From Mush's Blog

Below are Cathy and Gremlin, two of the bigger stars at the zoo.

From Mush's Blog

From Mush's Blog

I grabbed the camera and tried messing around with the settings a bit to try to see what I could come up with. This one below was taken inside a rain forest building, with less light than normal.

From Mush's Blog

One of the few times they were sharing and being nice to each other (so un-brotherlike).

From Mush's Blog

Aaron was watching the sea lions, and one of them took a liking to him. I think it was Gremlin who swam up next to him and started carrying on a conversation with him.

From Mush's Blog

Eric pondering the meaning of life (or at least how to get over the fence and into the pond).

From Mush's Blog

In this most fortunate of days, we did see a rare species...SHERI! She's usually behind the camera, so there aren't a lot of pictures with her in it.

From Mush's Blog

Afterwards we had a picnic in the park and let them burn off energy for a while. We had a great time, and the boys seemed to appreciate it.

Firefightin' Mushes

Our local fire station held an open house to display its new station. They boys had a blast!


Firekid Aaron:







Firekid Eric:





Aaron's driving like he's at Daytona, while Eric's just thrilled to be in a firetruck:






Needless to say, they had a good time.