My week at the PTC is off to a good start. The accommodations have been great and the fellow Scouters in my section of camp school are interesting and engaged. Friday I got to visit the National Scout Museum and the trading post. I can say the only thing I bought in the tp was ChapStick but I did drool...Read More
I have been reminded as a Scout don't put a lot of faith in a 50/50 forecast several days out. We have had beautiful weather here in New Mexico so far. This morning my wife is dropping me off at the PTC and she is flying home. My MIL has been watching the kids and it was reported my...Read More
I am about to turn 50 in a few short days but before that happens I will strike one off my bucket list by going to Philmont. I have shared before in the newsletter that I didn't grow up in a "hiking troop" and nobody in my Air Force Base troop ever hiked Philmont as a kid. As an...Read More
Yesterday was a rare meet-up for me. Two brothers came to Charlotte to bring me their parent's Scouting collection. Both parents had been active including the dad serving as a council commissioner. The boxes contained books, t-shirts, patches, and more. It's not as easy for me to recycle some of that but since they were bringing these items from...Read More
Early next week I'm hopping on a plane with my wife to fly out to Albuquerque for a short vacation prior to National Camp School at Philmont. On the advice of several of you (thanks!) we are spending a few days in Santa Fe. The weather is going to be crap but it is march in a high elevation...Read More
I got to the office Monday to discover I had indeed won an Oscar. At least in the eyes of my very sweet employee Claudia who went all out decorating the office Sunday night to surprise me. While the Fabelmans didn't bring home the trophy Sunday night this one will sit on my desk and put a smile on...Read More
I am getting home and on the Hot Finds publishing a little late today. I attended the Spring Inductions weekend for the new lodge born out of the merger of Santee and Muscogee. The attendance was very good and we welcomed over 50 new Ordeals into the lodge. I shared on Facebook this cool flap (above) that I got...Read More
This weekend I'll be attending the first lodge event for Muscogee 116. The two predecessor lodges had already celebrated 80th anniversaries so it will be interesting to see these two proud families come together. This first one up is an Inductions weekend with some conclave prep built into the schedule as well. On the patch front, I did...Read More
Yesterday I finished my agonizing sort of modern era merit badges. I now have a few thousand merit badges sorted by title, era, and condition. This week one of my helpers will photograph everything and soon thereafter I will get them up on my Shopify Store. These are the designs still used by the BSA with plastic backing so...Read More
Last night I brought back from the dead an old eBay account that came with buying Best Hobby Pages. Joe started it back in 2009 but didn't use it too much (feedback of 138). I have had access to it for years but on a whim last night I converted everything over to my information and listed my 1st...Read More
My project for the last two days (YouTube Video) has been very satisfying although I probably couldn't pay most of you to suffer through this sort. I am taking thousands of modern era plastic backed merit badges and getting them listed online. My main goal is to help Scout troop's be thrifty by recycling these patches. I'm confirming condition,...Read More
I've missed some issues lately which is very uncharacteristic. I've been putting out the newsletter since January of 2009 (or is it 2010?) and have not missed many. This week I have been keeping my head down working diligently on a listing project. One of my goals is to get as much of my inventory listed as possible so that's...Read More
This week I got back in the rhythm of publishing a weekly episode of Scouting Hot Finds Live. This week it was an unboxing of a small collection from a Scout who attended the 1929 World Jamboree. This guy grew up in the Norwela Council of Louisiana and was one of four boys from the council to attend that...Read More
A few months ago when we planned this trip to Naples FL we didn't know that it would allow us to escape an "arctic bomb cyclone". I have never seen it get down to 10 degrees in Charlotte so we were glad to head south. So for a few days we get to wear shorts and visit the beach....Read More
I will have to give my wife kuddos for the holiday traditions she has spun up in our family. We really stretch out Christmas morning with stockings, eating, more presents and even fresh baked cinnamon buns delivered at the right time. In the coming hours my in-laws will depart and then it will be ready for some packing of...Read More