A new blog from the Lib

 Having thought it through
As to what I should do
This new, but Old Buffalo
Thought that the Rim just had to go.
Not deleted, of course
It has a diff'rent purpose
But when it comes to blogging on Scouting
The Snorts is where I will be writing

Welcome to the new Buffalo Snorts blog!  I decided to separate my scouting adventures from the religious/personal side, and to spend more time dedicated to writing and thinking on Scouts.

Why a name like Snorts?  Well, I had some others in mind, but I kept coming back to the Dr. Seuss book "Are you my Mother?"  In which a baby bird has fallen from the nest, and asks several animals if they are its mother.  Ultimately it asks a steam shovel, which gives a snort.  But unlike the animals, the steam shovel lifts the bird up and puts it back in the nest.  

FYI, Blogger changed formats, and so I apologize for the appearance of it, I am still trying to learn how to set it up.

No, it is not a Wood Badge Ticket goal.  If you know me, then you know that my preferred method of communicating to however many choose to receive the message is through the written word.  Yes, I have the podcasts, and will continue them, and if I podcast on Scouting, it will be found on the View from the Rim Podcast.  I am celebrating by recounting my experience for the second weekend of Wood Badge.  I so much prefer the prose to the poetry, but I can't get the rhyming process out of my head. 

Nor can I get a certain song out of my head. (Singing is my second preferred form of communication, and is frequently the primary way that God answers my prayers)  The refrain goes:

Back to Gilwell, Happy land
I'm going to work my ticket if I can

Good.  Now if you are a Wood Badge graduate, it is likely stuck in your head for a while.  Before I get into the nuts and bolts, including something that I actually learned, and not just how to apply something that I had already learned, I need to detail an experience that I had prepping to go to this last weekend.

Thomas Aquinas said that "To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.  To one without faith, no explanation is possible."

One of the best quotes on faith to be sure.  The skeptic will of course laugh, but who cares?  It really comes down to this.  If you expect miracles, you see them all around you.  From the simplicity of a flower blooming, to happy coincidences that are anything but. 

One such thing happened to me.  I was looking for an air mattress to take, as we were camping in tents that we set up, rather than the platforms, so the cot wasn't going to happen.  I have plenty of air mattresses, but couldn't find one.  Nor could I find  the air pump.  I went to Walmart, found an air mattress, but no pump. 

I opted to use my heavy sleeping bag as a pad.  Well, as it turned out, the  temperature did get down to the lower 50s, and my single blanket wasn't enough.  Had a gotten that pump, I would not have had a nice warm sleeping bag to climb into.  Like I said, some say coincidence.  I say that with God there are no coincidences. 

Back to Gilwell, and the big reveal.  For those that don't know, Gilwell Park is in the UK, and is the home of the first Wood Badge training put on by Lord Baden Powell himself.  Since that time, wherever Wood Badge is held, it is temporarily Gilwell.

I don't pretend to be some fount of knowledge before attending Wood Badge when I say that I actually learned something.  It would be a crime if I didn't remember most of the stuff that I had learned in my previous life as a manager in the FAA.  All of the leadership techniques were taught differently, but none of them were new.  The intensity of the training, and the application taught along with it, made the difference, I think, in how the learning went.

When our Patrol discussed the Patrol Learning Quest that was to be presented on the last day, we were nearly unanimous on what our takeaway was.  Point of view, or perspective is extremely important in understanding how to lead in a situation. 

This weekend was called the "Outdoor Experience".  To be honest, whenever anything in Scouting has the term "Experience" attached to it, I immediately hearken back to what my brother referred to as "The Nauvoo Experience", which was the Mormon Encampment with over 5,000 scouts brought together in a Camp ill equipped to handle them.  Another post for that one.  We had to camp overnight, as patrols, including cooking two meals, and pack up in the morning. 

While we did things as patrols, our movement was in Wood Badge order as a Troop.  Which meant that it didn't matter if every patrol was ready except one, none could leave unless they all were  ready.  This was the first reveal to me, was the importance of maintaining an order, and that it taught teamwork between patrols.  No brainer, right?  Common Sense?  For some reason, It took four days of having it repeated through ACTIONS and INSTRUCTIONS for me to see  the light, that that, in and of itself was a critical part of the training.  As was wearing Class A's in the morning to breakfast, to supper, and to campfire, and any time we went to Gilwell field. I had always looked at Class A's as something that had to be worn at camp, to dinner, and to Courts of Honor.  Now I see them as something that unifies a Troop.  It is so important.  Those two I consider together, sheepishly, as something that had not bubbled up to the surface in my head until now.  (#1 new item learned)

The second in this very long post, was that Wood Badge was very concentrated.  While this was necessary to ensure that all the material was covered in a way to be learned, it also had a secondary purpose, I believe, and this was the lesson that I learned.  The need to make sure that meetings and activities are planned out fully.  It is important to keep youth occupied, and the course modeled it, without teaching it formally.   and we had little time to even discuss things as a patrol, let alone screw off time. (my graduate work is reflecting that)  The need to make sure time is filled is critical for adults, and for kids,.purpose is required, and it has to be fun!  If it isn't, then it is a waste, and kids could be lost.

Was it fun for this fat old Buff?  Yes, even with the massive leg cramps brought on by trying to rough it out under the blanket instead of immediately getting in the sleeping bag.  Yes, it was fun.  Is it over?  We never stop learning, and while classroom time is over, the lab work of the ticket is just beginning.
More to come.