Sleeping in the Cold!

Greetings from frozen Illinois! This last weekend, I had the particular joy of spending time with my Boy Scout Troop at the Annual Klondike Derby. Unlike the last two years, it was actually cold this year, but with not much more snow than the last two Klondikes. (More frozen mud and grass than snow.) For many of you out there, spending two nights in below freezing temperatures may not sound like a lot of fun to you, but this is one of the highlights of my year. Camping with the scouts is always fun, but joining them in the Klondike, trying to take home the prize and then working with them to stay warm, entertained and fed is also enjoyable. This year was no different. We did have a few scouts that were not as well prepared for the weather as they should have been and it did affect our performance, and most certainly theirs. We tried our best to get them comfortable, but in the end, I think it will be a learning experience for those boys.

One of the things I like best about hanging out with the Scouts is interacting with them on a level of not a scout leader but as a friend. I usually try to involve myself in some of their conversations, games and activities. I have even begun to be the game master for the troop. The boys love having some of the new and different games that I bring along to play after all the planned activities have ended. Let's face it, sometimes even Boy Scout Camp can be boring after hours, so I figured that having fun, easy to play games ready to go would help keep them from getting in trouble or at least keep the whining down.

All of the boys, or at least a very large majority of them, are a sheer pleasure to be around. I like to think that while they see me as one of their leaders they also see me as a friend. And even more so, I really am starting to see how my son is starting to take a role as a leader in the group, especially with some of the younger ones. And he is even starting to stand out among the older boys, even if he does not stand up for himself strongly enough. A case in point is during one of the activities at the Klondike, my son had the correct answer and method for accomplishing a goal, but the older boys decided to do it their own way, which in the end, turned out to be wrong. They should have worked together and listened to their other fellow scouts and maybe they would have done better.

Over all, the whole scouting experience is a great thing for me. I never got to be in Scouts as a kid so I am kind of experiencing this whole adventure along with my son. So far, it has been a fun ride.

Until next time!

later!

Book Recommendations...

Greetings!
I don't think I have given any book recommendations in a while, or any for that matter. But recentlyI have read a book that was such fun and heartwarming to read that I must encourage the rest of you to read it. It is "Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog." byt Jack Grogan. For anyone that is a dog owner, especially a big dog owner, you must read this book. It is the misadventures of a horribly behaved dog that does so much wrong but get it right at just the precise time that he will remind you or your own dog eventually. It is a true story and filled with laugh out loud stories, stories that will tug your heart strings and maybe make you cry, and with good lessons for all of us two legged animals that only a dog can teach us. And for those of you who have an older dog, or maybe have recently lost your dog, it will be amazingly hard to read the last three chapters, so I warn you now, be prepared, not so much as the sadness of the end, but more so for the insight into the passing of a pet. Believe me, it will make so much sense to you that you will wish that you had thought of it yourself.

So go out and get "Marley and Me." You will not be disappointed.

Other Quickie Recommendations:

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson (Historical Fiction)
The Complete Roman Army by Adrian Goldsworthy (Military History)
Eragon by Christopher Paolini (Fantasy)

What's new and what was old...

Welcome to 2007! The first post of the new year! I have not posted in such a long time, the last time being the posts from Las Vegas, because it has just been too darned busy to write a blog entry. Bad for me... I will endeavor to do better...

Since the last post, an anniversary, Christmas, New Years, and a 40th Birthday have come and gone.

My wife and I celebrated our 16th anniversary in late December with a quite dinner together and a get together with some friends at a local watering hole. It was a nice time, but I cannot wait until these bars in our area are SMOKE FREE! Yee-gahds I hate smelling like tobacco smoke. I supposed that if cigarette smoke smelled like pipe tobacco, people might not mind as much, but as it is, good riddance to the smokers, or at least to their nasty little habit.

Christmas is always a good time, however, it is not my favorite time of the year, nor my favorite holiday. Too much goes into making Christmas the holiday we expect... lots of lights, bigs trees, lots of food, tons of gifts and all the other things that make it what it is. I often wonder what Christmas' were like 200-300 years ago. I think I might like that level of celebration better. Now, mind you, I for one am not complaining about the great gifts I receive or give, but maybe some of the effort and money spent on getting these gifts and making the big parties and the elborate decorations might be better spent on spending more time together in a quieter setting. But then again, with my family, there is nothing small or quiet and yet, it is still a great time and would not miss it for the world. Maybe this is what makes Christmas such a delima for me. I am wanting more (or less, more specifically) but really enjoy and look forward to the chaos that celebrating Christmas with my family is. This year was especially good, because my sister
and brother came up with family from Texas and we had a great time together. It was good having everyone back in one place.

Next, was the New Years eve party. We have started in the last few years, a travelling, or progressive dinner party with friends from the neighborhood. It has been a really good time with some really great meals. No one, except for the person that hosts the end of the evening party really has to deal with much of a mess for very long and the guests only stay about 1.5 hours at each dinner site. It is a good time for my family. We really enjoy it. But this year, something changed! My son decided to head off on his own for a party with some of his friends. It was kind of weird not having him around. I guess I should start getting used to this. As he grows, he is going to be doing less and less with us and more with his friends. Hopefully he was taught well and there will be nothing for us to worry about as he heads out on his own more often.

Resolutions are something that were missing from this new year party again. No one mentioned that they had any, so I guess they are gonna keep doing what they have been doing in the past. My resolutions, and I make some every year are pretty short. First: To count to 10 more often and handle my kids like I do my dog. Second: To help my wife get back into shape. She is too sexy to be out of shape! That is it, but I still have to keep up with the other resolutions from years past... they don't expire, you know!

Finally, to end the holiday, or to start the New Year, my wonderful wife turned 40 on the 4th! With her help we planned a party at a friends house and invited a large number of people to join us. However, even though it was my wife who was turning 40, it was a large number of our friends who were acting either childish, or very old and could not come out and play with us. It was a bit of a disappointment for my wife, but to those who came to the party, it turned out to be a very fun one. It was great to have the family and friends who came and I thank them for it. It was however, a disappointment to have many people say they were coming to attend but then, with out notice, not make a showing. Too bad for them. Not only that, it seems to be to be rude. It did upset my wife a bit, and that makes me sad, and a bit angry, because my wife deserves the best. She sacrificed her 40th birthday present of planning a cruise, in lieu of sending our son to Europe on an ambassador trip, and I wanted to make it as nice as possible. And the gifts... not that she needed any, but sometimes a nice gift on your birthday from someone who gave it some thought, makes you feel good about yourself and gives you that warm fuzzy feeling. However, aside from a few gifts from myself and family, what upset me (and I am sure her) was the lack of communication or gifts from her family on her big day. They failed miserably. That is all I will say about that. But it was sad comment on the lack of effort on such a big day. I know it bothered her but she did not say anything.

So that is all for now on what has been happening since I last posted. I will endeavor to do better. The writing muse has been sleeping lately, and little has come to mind to post about, but I will try.

Until then however,

Happy New Year!

Later