Scoutmaster Shane’s Troop 560

We met at Brother McCook’s house to work on the Swimming Merit Badge last night.  The boys had to come fully dressed over their swim suits because requirement #4 simulates an emergency situation where you are in the open water without a lifejacket.  To prevent the legs getting too tired from treading water continuously, the Scouts had to inflate their shirts and pants and use them as flotation devices and "swim" to shore while resting their legs.  Needless to say, it was quite an adventure. 

It took a while, but each Scout removed their shoes and socks then tied off the legs and arms of their pants and shirts and tried inflating them to form bubbles of air to rest on - all the while treading water.  Most gave up on inflating the shirts and concentrated on just the pants - which seemed to hold the air better.  We’re not sure how many would have actually survived had this been a real emergency but it sure was fun to try.  We also finished requirement #7 where the Scouts had to retrieve items from the bottom of the pool.

We ended the night with our version of Camp Geronimo’s "Big Splash" with a few Scouts paying homage to Brother McCook’s Shark Man by doing belly flops in lieu of cannonballs.  You can just hear the chant of "Shark Man…Shark Man…Shark Man!"

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Last night we started working on the Swimming merit badge.  All of our deacons need this eagle required badge (a few have partials) and the teachers quorum, aka Brendon & Jeremy joined us.  The boys were pretty wired but we got through the first 3 requirements and each boy gave a mini-presentation on various swimming injuries or illnesses and the first aid needed for each.

We also had to demonstrate the proper technique for performing CPR on a training device.  I couldn’t find a manequin or CPR dummy, so we used a big Winnie the Pooh doll as our "scoutmaster approved device".   The scouts had to act out each step in performing CPR including immitating mouth-to-mouth and chest compressions.  I did not realize that this particular Pooh doll had a voice box in it’s belly, so each time the boys started chest compressions it would trigger the recorded messages.  You can imagine their surpise and the impending laughter of everyone in the room when - during the serious act of performing lifesaving CPR - a supposedly unconcious Pooh Bear suddenly laughs and says "I’ve got a rumbly tumbly!" or "Goodness, that tickles!" or "You’re my friend!"  It was the un-planned hit of the night but it’s probably one CPR practice that the scouts will not soon forget.  What if the manequins at the fire department responded like that?

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Sunday evening was our first Court of Honor in 2006 and it was a huge success.  The Scouts worked hard at troop meetings, advancement days and camp geronimo and as a result there were 99 merit badges to hand out.  That’s got to be a record.  We also had 18 rank advancements and that meant 18 little rank pins to pin on the parents - and no blood was spilt!  We were thrilled that every one of our Scouts could attend - even 2 that have moved into the Teachers Quorum and 2 that have moved out of the ward. 

With a generous amount of help from Sister Layton, Brother Layton took all his pictures from Camp Geronimo plus a bunch of the favorites from Brother Sill and the other leaders, set them to music, ripped off the Star Wars opening credits and successfully made his first DVD.  We turned off all the lights, projected it up on the wall, piped the music through the cultural hall speakers and had a blast watching it.  Who can forget the "Danish Eating Champ" picture of Brother McCook that was seamlessly photo-shopped by Brother Sill?  or Brendon Warner with a finger up his nose?  or Brother Layton and the horse’s rear end?  or the half-awake boys in line for the Polar Bear?  But the big question is - will we ever be able to get the catchy tune "Alien World" out of our head?  And more importantly, do we really want to?

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The deacons set up breakfast for the Annual Planning Meeting early Saturday morning.  We had a wide assortment of "cold breakfast" items including muffins, danishes, yogurt, fruit, doughnuts, mini bagels with cream cheese, orange juice and milk.  All of the Young Men and Young Women adult leaders and class presidencies came to plan the next year’s worth of monthly combined activities and BYD topics.  As you can see, the deacons couldn’t wait to sink their teeth into breakfast . . . after the young women went first or course!

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We had five boys complete a Scoutmaster Conference and a Board of Review for rank advancements last night.  Because we have not been able to schedule a Court of Honor since our last batch of Board of Reveiws in February, five of the boys had already passed the 4 month waiting period between First Class to Star and now they can get both ranks at our Court of Honor on Sunday!

We also planned the breakfast for the Annual Planning Meeting this Saturday. Traditionally, the deacons serve breakfast before the planning starts. Knowing that we could not compete with Brother Garner’s amazing breakfast burritos of last year, we decided on a cold breakfast of muffins and fruit. The deacons are meeting at the Church on Saturday morning at 7:30 to set up.