2.33 Gallons = 1 US Peck

September 9, 2010…7:00am…

My wife Bobbie Jo and I had been up for a few hours already, a bit tired as we hadn’t slept well the night before. It was at this moment that we left the comfort of our car and marched with 38 other men and women, all dressed in tan and green, towards a world we knew little about, but were excited to see. The journey had begun.

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Wow, I have to tell you that was a long haul. 100 days of documenting the things I’ve done to impact the lives of the young men and women in Scouting makes you realize just how important all of this is. I am truly honored to serve the Scouting movement and honored that the Scouts I serve are welcome to me doing so.

So much has happened and changed in my life of Scouting over the last 100 days. I thought it would be nice to share the highlights to show the magnitude of what 100 days of Scouting is in my life.

• Attended 10 Troop meetings (one cancelled due to weather)
• Attended 1 Court of honor
• Watched 4 Scouts be presented their Eagle Scout Award.
• Watched as one Scout did not pass his Board of Review for Life.
• Sat in on 3 PLC meetings and watched them take over the Troop 100%.
• Was crushed as my Ast. Scoutmaster, my SPL, and a committee member decided to change Troops.
• Welcomed a new 11 year old Scout that found us via beascout.org.
• Watched as a Scout left the troop as it just wasn’t cool any more.
• Saw the return of a Scout that has not been to meetings since October.
• Camped 6 nights with my Scouts.
• Taught roughly 30 Scouts the Geocaching Merit Badge
• Took part in training at ITOLS.
• Watched my Scouts take part in OA elections (1 was voted in) and saw the disappointed in others as they did not get voted in.
• Watched a patrol member be awarded his Wood Badge beads. He’s off to Gilwell as a Troop Guide in June.
• Encouraged 2 Scouters to go to Wood Badge and took a pie in the face in the process.
• Completed 2 Wood Badge ticket items. I’m down to my last one, two more date nights with my wife and I’ll be done.
• Watched my wife complete 2 Wood Badge ticket items. She’ll wrap up at the same time I do in early June.
• Watched my troop for one month become a 100% Scout lead troop.
• Planned, prepared, and ran 4 Roundtable meetings.
• Attended 1 Pack Blue and Gold dinner
• Attended 1 District awards dinner
• Presented at our District FOS breakfast
• Started planning a trip with some fellow Scouters to go to Philmont.
• Listened to 673 hours of podcasts (ok, I made that up, but I listened to them all)
• Read 2,652 blog posts (OK, made that up too). To be honest, I read them all from the 100 days of scouting and was inspired by them all. To see the dedication of other Scouters and to gather some of their experience has been a great pleasure. Thank you to everyone that took on the challenge. I’ve met some new friends along the way.
• Countless other hours reading and writing e-mails, talking to Scouters at the meeting after the meeting, and watching my Scouts play the game.
• Spent 100 days living the Scout Oath and Law and living the life of cheerful service.

This list doesn’t begin to sum up all of the things that I have done over the last 100 days, but it shows the things I found important. My life in Scouting will not be summed up by 100 days, but with any hope, by many, many years. To have this list to reflect upon I find myself awestruck by the fact that I’ve become so tied and dependent on the program. My life would not be the same if it wasn’t for Thursday nights with my Scouts, late night conversations with my wife about ways we can do a better job, and Twitter conversations with Scouters from across the country.

I would like to thank my wonderful wife, my Bear, for putting up with the time I took to write here. I know at times she didn’t enjoy it, but other times enjoyed the conversations we had afterwards. I want to say thank you to ScoutSigns (aka Todd) for getting this going again. I also want to thank the others that took this challenge on. Even if you didn’t finish or post every day (I don’t think any of us did), your words have been a source of knowledge and encouragement. Your dedication to Scouts shows and I know you’ll share that with others.

I would like to leave you with a closing thought, a Scoutmaster Minute if you will.

There is no greater gift in life than the gift of giving. As Scouters we have dedicated our life to give the joy of Scouting to others. We can not do this for ourselves as the Scouting program is meant for a different generation other than our own. But this gift we give does not go without its thanks and rewards. We have the pleasure of watching little boys grow up to become men. We have a hand in shaping a brighter tomorrow. We become the model and the mentor to so many, across all generations. At times we singlehandedly change the course of someone’s life towards a life of cheerful service to others.

Do not take this gift lightly. It carries much responsibility and should not be discarded as unimportant. Wake up each day with a smile, knowing that today, just as you have done for the last 100 days, you will touch someone’s heart, you will strengthen someone’s soul.

May you find many happy trails, but remember too look back at that shadow you have following you. Don’t loose him along the way.

Yours forever in Scouting and forever grateful for your gift to this world.

Scoutmaster, Commissioner, Husband, Father, Bobwhite, Coach, Teacher, Student, and Friend

Phil

Southwest Airlines claims to be the friendly airline. Yes, the employees were nice to me yesterday on my flight home, but I again met someone else on the plane and we struck up the conversation about Scouting. As we approached Spokane the lady next to me asked if I lived in Spokane and what I was doing down in Boise. She had just got back from a conference on training and we started to talk about training people. I said I was a Scoutmaster and loved to train and teach young men the joys of Scouting. Turns out, her son is an Eagle Scout and she had nothing but great things to say about his Scoutmaster.

So, just when you think your Scouting day is done, think again. Next time you’re on a plane somewhere, talk to the person next to you and see if they want to talk Scouting.

YIS

Phil

Not be outdone on my streak of trying to not do anything Scouting while out of town, I did something Scouting today. My consulting gig got done early so I killed some time at a local Starbucks digitizing an Order of the Arrow patch for our local lodge. A Scouting friend of mine drew it up a while back and wanted to know if I could put it in a digital form so they could use it as a base for patches and such. I think it came out quite nice, we’ll see what she says about it.

Other than that, I’m headed home tonight to be back with my family. I’m looking forward to that and I know they are too.

Tomorrow marks day 100. My post is all ready to go. I hope everyone enjoys it. I have truly enjoyed everyone’s efforts over the last 100 days, so here’s me giving you all a big hand.

YIS

Phil