CurlyShavings

This week was the Glacier Ridge District Dinner and my wife and I attended, partly to get out of the house but also to introduce her to some of the Scouters I hang with when I'm out of the house.

Last year's dinner was fun—I was awarded the William D. Boyce New Unit Organizer Award for starting up Pack 4 at St. Paul's Episcopal. You don't see many of them out there as part of a Scouter's "fruit salad". I originally wasn't going to apply for it, but after all the work that was put into it, I figured I had earned it! (Starting a new unit can be really, really hard.)

Pack 4 continues to meet, go on outings and thrive. We could do with a little more advancement, but that will come in time. (All the Tigers are expected to earn their Tiger badge before the end of the month!)

I had also completed my two years as a Cub Scouter and was eligible for the Cub Scouter Award, but for some reason, it didn't come through in time.

Well, this year it arrived. I learned this past year while coaching Pack 4's Cubmaster that I'll never be a Cubmaster—it's just not a role that I can perform—I'm very much the Den Leader type! The Cub Scouter is the one of only three Cub Scout leader knots that require two-year tenures and Cubmaster is one of them (Pack Trainer is the other). I could see myself as a Pack Trainer after the current Tiger moves on to Boy Scouts in a few years.

So that was exciting to receive this year!

Before my loyal readers dismiss these as meaningless "bling", I'd like to point out that by working on the knots, performing the required activities and training, etc., a leader can't help but provide a good program for the boys. It's just not (knot?) possible. So yes, many leaders do it for the "bling", but in reality, we're doing it for the boys. They get a better program when all these things come together.

It was also extremely fun to receive my Tiger Cub Den Leader award, one I had worked on this past year with my current Tiger.

I had questioned my eligibility but my Unit Commissioner insisted that I had met the goals. It had been a rough year as I wore multiple hats (the work of building and maturing Pack 4 continues). We need a strong Bears leader and I will be taking them into Webelos on June 1st.

(Yikes! That's just a few weeks away!!)

The real surprise, though was the District Award of Merit. Rob Fischer, the Cubmaster at Pack 71, was the first to receive his. It was loads of fun to hear them announce his accomplishments, list out all he has been doing for his Unit, the District and Scouting in general.

I was particularly proud because he's a Cub Scouter: all too often we're (perceived as) minor members of Scouting. And Rob Fischer is a worthy recipient for all he has done with District Day Camp over the years. I was proud to add my applause to the resounding thunder.

What surprised me was the second award. At first, it sounded like it might have been another leader at one of the units I serve (Packs 2, 4 and 11), but it soon became clear that they were listing some of my accomplishments (committee chair, den leader, WRC director, trails coordinator, unit commissioner, district trainer, round-table guy, unit organizer, etc.). Fun, embarrassing and rewarding, all at the same time.

Well, I lived through it and now have to decide how/if to sew them on. I have four already (Eagle, Den Leader, Webelos Leader and Boyce) and getting another three jumps me to a third row. I might leave one off for a while.

I'd better get out the needle.

Our tenants left us very little other than holes, scrapes, marks, scrap tires, 20 gallons of paint and broken glass. (Oh, we did find the quarter behind the mirror; we'll give that as a credit.)

One thing they didn't desecrate was a rosebush. (They probably didn't know it was there.) This week, while I was working outside near it, the bush bloomed.

I had planned to widen the sidewalk near the flowerbed a few years back and had installed a 4"x6" beam border as a promise to myself to add brick pavers there.

A different group of tenants relocated the border and I found myself moving it 9" back to accommodate the brick pavers we had salvaged from Wandle Avenue when they ripped out the brick and installed concrete.

We have dozens of these pavers left, which is a good things since I estimated that I'd need over 30.

All those years ago, I'd dug out to 5-6", laid out some plastic sheeting and added chipped limestone as a base. This served me well since it was exactly what I needed. As soon as the 4"x6" beam border was back where it belonged, I was set.

The rose chose this time to begin blooming.

I'd warned our youngest not to pick this one; to restrain her urge to lop off the head of any pretty flower and present it to her mother. A noble deed, no doubt, but one that is tiresome when the dining room table is full of drinking glasses with decapitated flowers and the garden is bare.

I was busy and working against the sun clock as the shade I enjoyed on the west side of the house became threatened by approaching noon. So I didn't actually see much of the rose opening—I smelled it open.

It was an odd pair of days. I'd wait until it was decently late to begin chipping concrete off pavers and then rush until the area I was working on was drenched in sun. All the while I dealt in dripping sweat, dry crushed limestone, chips of red, flint-smelling brick and the light, sweet smell of this rose.

How it had survived all these years, I do not know. But survived it had.

The buttercups and thistles and maple, buckeye and oak volunteers had not crowded it out, nor had the children climbing in and out of the windows squashed it.

It had survived and it was beautiful to behold as well as a scent to enjoy.

Maybe someday I'll post a picture of my beautiful sidewalk expansion. It's really quite plain in comparison.

This week also saw a fawn visit us.

Yep, in the middle of a suburb, near a busy road and right on a busy intersection, a very new fawn spent the day in our flower garden.

There are some woods a couple of blocks north on Southwick and some more woods a couple of blocks west of Broadway (and over the railroad tracks). But still, this was quite surprising to see a young fawn just sitting by the side of the house all day.

You can see my excavations nearby as I had started work on the sidewalk widening project. We had planned to go fishing that day, but wanted to adjust the dehumidifier before setting out. So I jumped in the house, checked things out, then went to close and lock the door. It was then that I saw the little guy, took some pictures and had the kids come check it out.

Of course, I had to Tweet about it and it got picked up by a couple of people.

Never did I think that it would still be there when we came back for lunch, some interior cleanup, painting and general getting-things-ready and then dinner and S'mores later on.

Mom must have come by that evening and retrieved it because it wasn't there the next morning. At least that's what we hoped happened.

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy fawn. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy fawn. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy fawn. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy fawn.

The Buckeye Trail passes along the eastern shore of Shadow Lake in the South Chagrin Reservation. This is in the Bedford Section of the Trail and from here it is possible to hike (north) all the way to Lake Erie or (south) into the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

This little lake is stocked with trout each year and while it may be possible to catch one, we have not. (We have seen them, however!) Perhaps one's luck is better in the winter, ice-fishing.

The lake is approximately 3.3 acres and the trail approaches the lake from the south, passes along the eastern and then northern edges of the lake before turning back into the woods at these steps (pictured).

We almost always catch something here, usually Bluegill Sunfish, Pumpkinseed Sunfish, Redear Sunfish or the odd Rock Bass.

I'm fairly certain that Katie is showing a Redear Sunfish in this picture. There's a barely perceptible red spot on the trailing edge of its "ear" in a close-up picture.

Anyway, Katie is ecstatic with her catch, her first, from casting to landing.

She's using a fly jig with a weighted head and a nice juicy (thick-skinned) maggot. Seemed to work that day since we were pulling them in one after another.