More Pics from NOAC

Here are some sore pics, I also have some video's I gotta figure out how to upload, apparently the video file is too big for me to upload it through my email like I have been doing.

Patch trading...In Prison Cigarettes are currency, in the Boy Scouts, it is Patches...

More patches...

Wonder how many liberals got triggered on campus

Another parody poster made an appearance

I really like the humor...but I am warped...

Origami....Don't know the significance, but thought it was pretty neat.

Went to Klondike....and what an adventure.....

Well I was asked to run a range at Klondike, it is a council wide event ran by the Order of the Arrow.  I have been running the range for the past 4 years. Granted it is BB guns and normally boy scouts have the U.S Army in Vietnam attitude.."How much lead can we put downrange in a minute.."  Well I have changed it up...
      First off I made some awards...

One award was for the top shot for scouts, the other was for adults.  

I had the kids put their name and troop number on the target, then they got 3 shots.  I was looking for grouping.   This forced the kids to go slow and work the fundamentals.
   

 Then the adults shot, basically same criteria.  This is a game of skill and attention to fundamentals.

     It was a good weekend....except...My charging light came on Friday night on the way to work, I wanted to return but I already made the commitment and it would put a serious cramp to the kids that were depending on me.  So I went to work then when I got off work, I drove to the camp Saturday Morning.  I had already set up the range earlier in the week so it was laid out.   Well I made it to work and then drove to camp.  Well I was running from one side of camp to another Saturday evening and my lights were getting dim and I started suffering cascade failures in my electrical system...I barely made it to the parking lot and shut the truck off before the truck died in the street.

Had to get a tow to get home...The truck is at the shop to get the alternator replaced.  I wanted to call off the weekend but my sense of duty overrode my common sense, and my sense of duty got me a towing charge.   Eh it is what it is, when you don't have a car note, with older vehicles no matter how good they are, things break and you occasionally have a repair.

More Range and painting.

Today was my sons day off from School because the teachers had "professional Development", Instead of my son's desire to sleep all day and veg on sports channel, I volunteered him to help out with the Order of the Arrow lodge project for the council's camping base.
     We are making a huge Chess/Checkers set for the camp, so the scouts can play chess during summer camp and the cub scouts can play checkers.

 This is one of the checker pieces

He painted 24 of them, 12 of them in yellow and 12 of them in blue...the Cub Scout colors.

Because he was so good and took my  drafting volunteering him in stride with minimal grumbling, I took him to the range.

   

He shot his Marlin 10/22, he put a package of 22LR through it, about 100 rounds.
  

My son shooting my Nylon 66, He really likes my Nylon and keeps wanting me to give him the rifle.

I then pulled my adapter to shoot 22LR through my AR pattern rifle

He put a lot of ammo through my "new" AR rifle

I then got my "old" AR out and he fired about 50 rounds of 5.56 through my old AR, 

He really enjoyed doing that, and made some comment that I need to send him the pic so he can put it on instagram and add a comment "getting ready for Vegas".  He has my warped sense of humor but I informed him that right now people don't have a sense of humor and he would open a huge can of worms if he post that pic and the subsequent comment.  He reluctantly agreed with my assessment.

     I am proud of my son, he knows how to shoot and how to act on a range by following the 3 "Always" rules and all other safe behavior that a responsible gun owner, but I told him that I have been remiss in his education and he asked me on what and I informed him that I need to teach him to clean and care for AR pattern rifles.

     

Cardinal of the Kremlin, doctrine of lesser Magistrates and camping

I survived another weekend camping and teaching the rifle merit badge at camp.  I left for camp on Saturday Morning instead of Friday night.  I went for a series of Dr appts, I am getting my carpel tunnel taken care of in my left hand, I have had this for 20 years compliments of Ford Motor Company Atlanta Assembly Plant,  but it has gotten gradually worse with my current job.
    So I left very early Saturday morning and in a desolate part of the trip I saw a red blur and heard a *thump* and figured I ran over a possum or something....well I get to camp, drive to the range and I decide to look at the front of the truck and I saw this....

Dang, I actually felt pretty bad, there was no way for me to avoid this.  On a different note, My son continues to work the ceremonies,

    The kids also hammed it up before the 2nd ceremony..

   Meanwhile We have seen the vaunted tolerance that the left has to people that have different opinions in Chicago,  Those people are PROUD that they shut down an event, the concept of "free Speech and peaceable assemble" is totally alien to them.  They consider free speech if what you talk about is what they like, then it must be protected....but if you believe differently, then you are to be shunned.

 

I ran across this clip from the movie "Braveheart" and what Mel Gibson's character stated about the nobles and the commons resonated.  The nobles (GOP Establishment, big government liberals) believe that the people exist to serve them and their causes, the truth is the reverse, the nobles exist to serve the people. not their own petty squabbles and self interest. 

The Lesser Magistrate Doctrine teaches that when the superior or higher ranking civil authority makes immoral/unjust laws or policies, the lower or lesser ranking civil authority has both a right and duty to refuse obedience to that superior authority. If necessary, the lesser authorities may even actively resist the higher authority.

God has established four realms of government to which He delegates authority. They are: (1) self-government; (2) family government; (3) church government; and (4) civil government. Each has its own role, function, and jurisdiction. The authority an individual possesses in any one of these four realms of government is delegated authority. In other words, they derive their authority from God. Their authority is not autonomous or unconditional. Their authority is God-given, and thus, they have a duty to govern in accordance with His rule. When someone in authority makes laws or decrees contrary to God’s law, they are in rebellion to God’s rule. Those under their authority are NOT to obey them when they do this. They may have to even actively resist them.

Arrow of light ceremony and musings...

This past monday my son brought back the old tradition that the Order of the Arrow would perform at all Arrow of Light ceremonies...

The Arrow of Light award is the highest rank award available to Cub Scouts. To earn the Arrow of Light, the Cub Scout must complete four required adventures, three of eighteen elective adventures, and the Cyber Chit and child abuse prevention exercises. The Cyber Chit exercises can be waived if the family does not have easy access to the internet. Earning the Arrow of Light can help earn many of the requirements for the lower ranks of the Boy Scouts. The Arrow of Light award is the only Cub Scout award that can be worn on a Boy Scout uniform. Both Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts wear the Arrow of Light badge below the left pocket. Adults wear the square-knot version of the badge above the left pocket. Cub Scouts who earn the Arrow of Light are eligible to join a Boy Scout Troop at ten years of age instead of eleven.

      The Order of the Arrow is the honor society of the Boy Scouts of America.   They used to do the arrow of light ceremony for the Cub Scouts in the area.  However the OA had gotten away from that.  Finding arrowmen who wants to perform on the ceremony team  is problematic.  Most of the kids don't want to devote any time to this.  My son restarted up the ceremony team for this.  He started talking about it several months ago and I told him " you want this....you set it up...it is your baby."   Well he did.  I was very proud of him. 

     My son was afraid of making a mistake and I told him..."Keep in mind, these people will not know exactly what is to happen, they are glad y"all are here, you added a *Wow* factor to their ceremony."

  The people in the Cub Scout pack were blown away by the pomp and ceremony involved.  This was a good thing for the lodge and gave the new scouts something to look forward to in the Boy Scouts.

     Now on the the election year circuses......The Trump is going through the GOP field like a shark through a surfer..

The establishment is terrified, their hand picked candidates are getting removed one by one...from Christie, to Jeb to now Rubio is the last hope of derailing the Trump Train.  I have no pity for the GOP establishment, they have blown off their base the last 3 elections.  We elected them to stop the Obama hope and change.  Instead the establishment GOP rolled over and showed Obama their belly and did nothing except trying to preserve their spot at the trough. 
    I read some "conservative" talking head at one of these conservative magazines that stated that "if Donald is the nominee, he would recommend that people vote for Hillary, because that is the person that they can rally the GOP around."  So lemme get this straight...in the name of ideological purity you would vote for the democrat candidate.....?    are you kidding?    the damage that Obungler has done is massive, so in the name of ideological purity you would continue to damage the country because it is better for the party?.  Crap..that is how democrats think....to them it is party first.  I always believed that the GOP was above such craven behavior...but crap like this reinforced the belief that both parties are one half of the whole.

    On the democrat side, the Bern is raising hell on the Annointed one on the Democrats side.  She won the Nevada primary....this showed the power of the "fix" to Bernie.  Harry Reid and the democratic machine made sure that she won that one....to hope to slow down the road to socialism that the democrats are peddling to the millennials

Bernie is tapping into the lack of reality that many younger people have.  I blame this on the socialistic school system that didn't educate people, just indoctrinate them in a certain ideology.  Now we as a nation are paying the price for the economic beliefs and pipedreams of the younger generation.  

  I saw and listened to the speech Obama gave for his reason to close Gitmo.  He wants to move the most incorrigible of the terrorist in the U.S. legal system where they would have all the access of the American system.

 Anybody that says otherwise is being delusional.  Can you see all the mechanism that will be utilized as they use our own system against us.   They would find a lot of "fellow travelers" that will assist those terrorist to use our system against us.

Doings on here at Casa De Kona

I will veer away from the political stuff, lately I have been doing a "Friday Rant" where I go on a tear, but I kinda did one earlier in the week(see Thursday).  Christmas is coming, I find myself slowly getting into the Christmas spirit with lot of some prodding from the spousal unit.  We went to get the tree at the local tree farm...My son wanted to cut the tree down and me being the father of the year candidate agrees....so when the tree is almost cut through, I push the tree over on him....Remember the father of the year award I was going for....hehehe

Well we get the tree loaded up on the Ranger and made a few other stops before we get the tree home..

     We got the tree set up and I got the outside decorations set up.  We had to get ready for our Order of the Arrow Banquet, the end of the year celebration for our Lodge.  The crumbsnatcher, anklebiter, rug rat, my son was there with some of his friends

They had an awesome time...we got awards, Here is what I got...he got the same...

The one on tip is the "service" flap, you have to give 25 hours of service a minimum a year to get it and maintain it.  The other one goes on the Sash, the only patch "authorized" to go on the sash.  I saw at conclave earlier in the year, an elderly gentleman with the "50" year patch on his sash...
    Here is my son getting sworn in on his oath of office..for the year.

I was very proud of the kids, they all have done well and have worked hard....now they will work harder next year....
   After the banquet most of the people took off, the kids from my chapter immediately went into the mess hall and started helping Mac in cleaning up the kitchen.

I was really impressed that they would step up without asking to help somebody else.  It was a group decision, I just saw a bunch of kids heading into the kitchen area and I grabbed my kid and asked "what going one" and he stated..."We are going to help Mac get the kitchen closed down".  And off they went.  I was proud, this is where selfless service starts...     We on the way home, stopped at Krystals to get some gut grenades....I havn't had them in a long time.....and yep they havn't changed...I was passing gas all night;)

      A couple of weeks later, I had the opportunity to meet with Old NFO, Senior, Old, Antiquated, fossilized, experienced Blogger at the Original Chicfila in Hapeville Georgia.  the store that started them all.  Chicfila started in 1946 and the building of the Atlanta Assembly Plant of Ford Motor Company really got them going.  I would walk over to the Chicfila during work to get me a Chicken Sandwich when I worked there until The Ford plant closed in October 27th 2006. 

   It was great meeting again one of the people that got me blogging,  Old NFO despite me ragging on him about his age, experience is a class act, he has a lot of great stories and is a really good guy.  he was stopping in locations visiting people on the way to the ranch in Texas where he will  be a full time author for a group of books that is like reading a bunch of old friends and people you know and wished you knew.  I am glad that I took the plunge to blogging back in 2011, I have met some great people, people I would have never had the honor to meet if I hadn't taken the gamble to start blogging. Yep you can blame him for foisting me on the blogging world.
     And finally the new Star Wars has hit the screen, I will try to see it in a couple of weeks after the hype has died down a bit...

Weekend scouting events..

I was unable to post earlier because we had a scouting event called the "Fall Ordeal" in our council.  It is all work and a ceremony on Saturday night.  We basically do projects around camp like clean up or improvements.  The order of the Arrow is basically a "service patrol" for the camp.  My son joined the Ceremony team, there was a "preordeal" ceremony Friday night where the candidates are asked to affirm their going through the ordeal ceremony.

Pre-ordeal ceremony team.

After being elected or nominated, candidates may participate in a call-out ceremony to recognize those Scouts and Scouters that were selected before they attend their Ordeal. The call-out ceremony may be performed at summer camp, a camporee, a call-out weekend or at a unit meeting. Candidates subsequently participate in an Ordeal, intended to emphasize service and selflessness. During the induction, "candidates maintain complete silence, receive small amounts of food, work on camp improvement projects, and are required to sleep alone, apart from other campers, which teaches significant values."  If they succeed in their ordeal the candidates are then welcomed as Ordeal members in a formal Ordeal Ceremony. 

 "Nutiket" before the Ordeal ceremony

Part of what makes the Order of the Arrow exciting are its special ceremonies that are repeated year after year for new and advancing members. Members are asked not to disclose what takes place during the ceremonies, to preserve the experience for new members. Part of the enjoyment and satisfaction of being in the Order of the Arrow derives from the activities and surprises that occur during the various ceremonies.
     The candidates arrive outside the ceremony ring and "Kichkinet" brings them into the ceremony ring and "Nutiket" ask him if they know the "admonition"

    The candidates are them led into the ceremony ring and more information is relayed to them.

 During the ceremony, one of my favorite part of the ceremony that has the most meaning to me is when "Mateu" relays the legend from the Delaware indians...

      

METEU: Years ago, in the dim ages,
In the valley of the Delaware,
Lived a peaceful tribe of Indians Ä
Lenni Lenape their name was.
Deer and bear, wildcat and panther
Through the forest oft they hunted.
On the bosom of the river
Peacefully they fished and paddled.
Round their busy village wigwams
Still the chase they nimbly followed.
In this state of bliss so happy
Many moons they lived contented.
Springtime blossomed into summer,
Summer into autumn ripened,
Autumn died on winter's bosom;
Thus the seasons in succession
Never ending seemed to pass on.

But, behold, a cloud arising
Changed how soon this peaceful aspect.
Neighboring tribes and distant enemies,
Suddenly disturbed their hunting.
Then Chingachgook, aged chieftain
Of the tribe, made quick inquiry:
"Who will go and carry warning
Of this dire and dreadful danger
To all Delawares, our brothers?"
But none wished to make the journey.

 Then spoke up the noble Uncas,
Worthy son of the old chieftain,
"O my father, I am ready;
Send me on this gracious errand.
If we would remain a nation,
We must stand by one another.
Let us both urge on our kindred
Firm devotion to our brethren
And our cause.  Ourselves forgetting,
Let us catch the higher vision.
Let us find the greater beauty
In the life of cheerful service."

Off upon the trail they started,
Old Chingachgook and young Uncas;
And in every tribal village
Some were found who were quite willing
To spend themselves in others' service.
When at last the fierce marauders
Were forced back to their own country
And peace was declared between them,
They who first themselves had offered
For the service of their Brethren,
To the places most respected
By the chieftain were promoted:
For, said he, who serves his fellows
Is, of all his fellows, greatest!
As a seed dropped by the sower
On good soil bears quick fulfillment:
So this saying of their chieftain
In their hearts found glad acceptance
And they asked that in some manner
He should make its memory lasting.

So together fast and firmly
Chief Chingachgook bound these warriors
In a great and honored Order,
Into which can be admitted
Only those who their own interests
Can forget in serving others.
And so firm must be their purpose
So to live, that their companions,
Taking note of their devotion,
Shall propose them to the Order.
We, therefore, to them succeeding
To the present day perpetuate
The names and token of this
Brotherhood of Cheerful Service
Called by Delawares: Wimachtendienk,
Wingolauchsik, Witahemui!

 
 I like it partly because I see the Movie "Last of the Mohicans" in this and it shows a person willing to risk their life in service to others and such a thing is an honorable thing for a person is willing to suborn their interest to help others.  part of the O.A. is "Cheerful Service" to work to help others.  This is one of the things I like about the Order of the Arrow. 

Conclave adventure.....

     I will be going to another camping event this weekend...so I will not post again until Sunday unless I can get the network on my phone then I will post something sooner.
I had promised to post some pictures from my 2015 SR9 Conclave the past weekend.  Well I will try to post some pics and video's.   Here are some of the pics I have..

            These are scouts performing these dances..not professional dancers...this is part of the order of the Arrow.  They borrowed a lot from the American Indians as far as traditions.  It is a unique part of scouting.  The Indians approve of us doing this...to them it helps keep their traditions alive.

  Here is a video that I have uploaded and I hope it works.  The video shows the scouts dancing to a drum team that are also scouts.  I will post a drum team next.

     Here are some more regalia that the scouts are wearing....the Scouts hand make these outfits..they can buy the material...but they make them by hand

   Here are some more......

 

These outfits are works of Art

    I was very impressed by the dancing and drumming.    We also went to classes on the use of social media, the Order of the Arrow troop representative and his duties...the duties of the adult representative..    I always like learning new things.    The scouts also were there.....we also learned some new games....this one is called "Wixxam".  It was played by braves   whereas we use a soccer ball, the braves used a rolled up piece of skin.  

   It is played a bit like basketball...there are 2 big cans set up, one on each end..and instead of dribbling, they have to pass it hand to hand...no traveling...as they say.  and they can pass it to their team mates and try to shoot it into the cans.   Very fast paced.
      And of course the scouts had a lot of time to goof off...I call this the modern scouts...

   Camp Sidney Dew pulled out all the stops, and with the exception of all the rain we had, they did very well.  The camp cook teams had a unique patch they had for conclave.

   

    My being a warped individual...I had a huge laugh with the hat and patch.