Best wishes to you and yours for a Happy Christmas and a
prosperous New Year – Etta and Chris.
Notes’N’News
Valley Highlands Area – Scouts Canada
|
Best wishes to you and yours for a Happy Christmas and a
prosperous New Year – Etta and Chris. |
Notes’N’News |
Volume Two #2 Editor
Scouter Chris Tyler email Firstscoutkim@aol.com
By the time you read this, the festival of Thanksgiving (US) and our Caribbean Cruise will be history and, like you, we will once more be heading into the frenzy of the Christmas season. Maybe now is a good time to remind ourselves what it is all about.
Sure it’s all about celebrating and the sharing of
gifts: but what about the deeper meaning of Christmas which so often gets
overlooked in that frenzy.
Christmas
as we know it has been a long time in the making. Originally it was the pagan celebration of
the winter solstice, in which mistletoe, holly and the Yule log were a part of
the sacrificial rite. In the 17th
century, the Christmas tree was first used indoors, in
As adult leaders we have
a “Duty” to remind our youth that this is a time to think of others. Of the thousands of people who are in need at
this time of an outstretched hand of friendship and love. To think of the Police, the 911 operators,
Customs and excise officers, Prison Guards, Fireman, Ambulance personnel,
Doctors and Nurses, Train, bus and taxi drivers, to name but a few, who will
work around the clock to keep us safe, help us if we get into difficulties and
ferry us around while we celebrate. To
think about our soldiers, sailors and airmen posted thousands of miles away
from loved ones here at home, and, their families who will celebrate
half-heartedly because part of their family are away from home; serving us,
overseas. And for those who will not be
celebrating at all, but rather mourning the loss of someone who has made the
ultimate sacrifice that we may be free to celebrate the joy of this
Christmastide. Include them in our
prayers at the closing of our section meetings – If you don’t have closing
prayers, maybe this is a good time to start.
We truly do have so much to be grateful for.
Planning a night hike or widegame for
January? Will you want a moonlit night
or a very dark one? This moon calendar
will help you to plan accordingly.
Month Full Moon New
Moon Month Full
Moon New Moon.
January 14th 29th July 11th 25th
February 13th 28th August 9th 23rd
March 14th 29th September 7th 22nd
April 13th 27th October 7th 22nd
May 13th 27th November 5th 20th
June 11th 25th December 5th 20th
Throughout time, people have tried to explain why
certain, often mysterious things happen.
Superstitions emerged to help us avoid bad luck and bring good
fortune. Let’s look back on some of the
superstitions that folks have put stock in over the years. And why not?
After all there’s still a lot out there we still don’t understand.
Looking
at a new moon over your right shoulder is good luck,
whereas looking at it
over the left shoulder is bad luck.
It’s good luck to get
out of the bed on the same side you got in.
And if you’re making up your bed,
don’t stop in the middle
or you’ll have a restless sleep.
If the bottom of your
foot itches, you’re going on a trip. If
you’re nose itches, watch out your
going to get into a
fight or be kissed by a fool.
Catch a falling leaf on
the first day of autumn, and you won’t catch cold all winter.
The
Campfire is an integral part of camp life yet we seem to have
great difficulty in getting troops and packs to join in.
Many youth today do not know the words to many (if
any) of the campfire songs or be able to put on skits. Over the next five issues of this newsletter
we will publish the words of six songs and details of six skits, and six
cheers.
Please get your youth to learn these, and then
they will hopefully be able to take an active role, and better enjoy the spring
Campfires. They can all be found in “The campfire book” Published by Scouts
Canada National Council, available at the Scout Shop.
This month two of each.
First skit. “Three Rivers”
Cast: two youth who are prospectors on separate
claims.
First prospector is cooking his supper when the
second enters. They exchange
pleasantries. First invites the second
to share his supper.
First: “Here, use this plate.”
Second:
“ I don’t want to be picky, but this plate is
not very clean.”
First: “Well
now, that plate is as clean as three rivers can get it.”
Second accepts the plate and they enjoy the stew.
Second:
“That was very good, thank you.”
First:
“Would you hand me the plates so we can clean up.”
Second hands him the plates.
First sets them on the ground and calls the dog,
“Here
three rivers! Here three rivers! Come
boy! Clean up, Good dog.”
First Song. “My Bonnie”
This is an action
song. Stand up on the first word
with a “B” in it, sit down on the next “B”, and so on for each word with a “B”
in it. The whole group should end the
song sitting down.
Cheer #1 All Together… slowly “Oh fa_____ Oh fa________Oh fa________ Oh-fa-goodness
sake.”
My Bonnie lies over the ocean,
My Bonnie lies over the sea,
My Bonnie lies over the ocean,
Oh, Bring Back my Bonnie to me.
Bring Back, Bring Back,
Oh Bring Back my Bonnie to me, to me,
Bring Back, Bring Back,
Oh, Bring Back my Bonnie to me.
Second Skit. “Lion Tamer”
Cast: Three children
Action: Two children watching the other child
crack a whip at a frozen chicken.
Cheer # 2 “Bubble gum, Bubble gum, Bubble gum, Pop!”
First Child: “What
is she doing?”
Second Child: “Practicing”
First: “Practicing
what?”
Second: “She
wants to be a lion tamer.”
First: “But
that’s not a lion. That’s a chicken.”
Second: “So
is she.”
Second Song: “I had a little chicken”
1. Oh,
I had a little chicken and it wouldn’t lay an egg, 2. So I ran hot
chocolate up and down it’s leg,
So I ran hot water up
and down its leg. And that darn old chicken laid an Easter
Egg.
Oh, I ran hot water up
and down its leg. 3. So I ran a pig up and down its leg,
And the darn old chicken
laid a hard-boiled egg, And that darn old chicken laid Bacon and
egg.
Hard-boiled egg,
Hard-boiled egg, 4. So I ran vinegar up and down its leg,
The darn old chicken
laid a hard-boiled egg And that darn old chicken laid a pickled
egg.
Country
Legends abound in folklore, and I thought it might be fun
to look at the true stories behind a few of them.
The
legend of John Henry.
They say that John Henry
was born in Alabama with a sledgehammer in each hand, destined from birth to be
a steel diving man. “Big John” got his
fame working on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, driving steel faster than any
man who ever swung a hammer, and every man who tried to match him.
As
the tracks were laid, and the railroad moved forward, they came upon a monster
– Big Bend Mountain in the hills of West Virginia. Rather than go around the mountain, the
C&O bosses decided to tunnel through it, with John Henry leading the
charge. In they tunneled, with Big John
swinging his fourteen-pound hammer, often gaining twelve feet a day.
Now,
this was an era when machines were replacing workers all over the country and,
as fate would have it, one such machine showed up at Big Bend with a slick
salesman in tow. “My machine can drill
faster than any man alive!” the salesman claimed. The C&O crew knew better – but the
railroad bosses considered the offer.
John Henry, like most workers had a wife and family to support. Realizing that the new machine was
threatening their livelihood, John said “A man is nothing but a man. Before I’ll let your steam drill beat me,
though, I’ll die with a hammer in my hand.
So a challenge was struck.
The
race begun with a mighty roar as the crowd cheered, the steam drill cranked
into life, and John Henry went to work swinging TWO extra big, twenty-pound
hammers. With all the noise and smoke
the crowd thought the mountain was going to cave in. But it was Big John swinging away, doing what
he did best, as the steam drill furiously tried to keep up.
When
the dust settled and the tunnels were measured, John had beaten the steam
drill. But then Big John staggered, and
then he fell. That day John Henry died just
like he said he would, with a hammer in his hand.
Some
say he was a real man, others say that he was just a folk hero who today still
lives on in the stories, songs and hearts of workers everywhere. If you’re ever down this way, call in at Big
Bend Mountain, near Talcott, West Virginia, where you can see the Great Bend
Tunnel, said to have been carved through the mountain by John Henry.
Useless Trivia…
Did you know that the first state to unanimously ratify the
Constitution, did so on December 7th 1787 becoming the first state
in the U.S.A. Ah…. But can you name it?
Codes
and Ciphers…
Here’s a new code to add to your collection. It is called a Dial-a-gram. The messages
are written in numerical code based on the familiar telephone dial or pad. Each number represents one of the letters
shown with it on the dial. A letter is
not necessarily the same each time, since each number has three letters
associated with it. You (and your youth)
have to decide which letter to use.
(Note there is no “Q” or “Z” but you could substitute the # and * for
these respectively.) Use the number 1 to
indicate a Full stop.
Test your skill on these two messages before
attempting to confuse your youth.
Message #1. 843 8463 47 7473 367 843
94334263 86 78278
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Message
#2.
843 *8336 63
#3532 47 2
782883 46 843
72751 6338 84373 28
P1GJ761
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
4663
58251 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sweet Dreams… Before putting away your sleeping bag after
each camp, put in a sheet of fabric softener to keep it smelling fresh.
What all the BUZZ is about…
People have long understood
the benefits of keeping bees – for candle wax, to help fertilize crops and, of
course for the honey we love so much.
But here are some facts you might not know:
-
Bees visit around two million flowers to
make one pound of honey.
-
To help find all those flowers, bees have
five eyes: two “compound” eyes with thousands of facets, and three “simple”
eyes.
-
A single beehive can have around 50,000
bees at any one time during the spring and summer.
-
Honey never spoils or goes bad.
-
By combining the healing power of beeswax
with pure, natural ingredients like botanical oils, herbs, and even buttermilk,
you can create some of the best skin care products money can buy.
It
could happen to you…
My
wife and I spent our honeymoon touring Southern Ireland in a rental car. On day four we set off from our hotel to
drive the very scenic “Ring of Kerry” About an hour and a half into the trip we
were horrified to see a cart loaded with hay and two Kerrrymen sitting on top,
emerge into the narrow lane from a field.
My wife who was driving at the time, slammed on the brakes, but couldn’t
stop in time, so she yanked on the wheel and steered the car through the
roadside hedge on over some rocks into the field, where the car stooped and
burst into flames. Fortunately we were
not hurt.
Later
at the police station, we heard the Kerryman saying to a guarde “Bejebers, some
of these tourists are awful bad drivers.
We only just got out of that field in time”
Several
hours later, we were in our hotel room and decided to have a late night
snack. I picked up the telephone and
listened for a dialing tone – only to overhear a conversation that went
something like this:
“Is
that Kerry two, double two, double two”
“No,
you’ve got the wrong number, this is Kerry double two, double two, two.
“Oh,
sorry for troubling you in the middle of the night”
“That’s
all right, I had to get up anyway, because the phone was ringing!”
Can
you identify the badge…
Requirements… (note: ……. = missing word or words
1.
Help plan and take part in an outdoor …………
Activity lasting at least 72 hours……..
2.
Keep a log or diary, or other form of
record of your………….
3.
In your record, first explain why this
activity was chosen, and the part you played in its planning………..
More
than a Million….
A
school here in Florida has just this week donated 1,000,000 pennies or $10,000
to a charity that
helps children of very poor families. Is this not something we can do as an
Area? If every member of
Valley Highlands donated all the pennies from
their change for the rest of the Scouting Year, I am certain
that we too could help a few families in distress,
while hardly noticing the loss from our own purse.
As
a point of interest I have just counted the pennies in our “change” pot. The total is 26cents
U.S. and we have only been here a week. I know for a fact that there is $30.
Canadian, back home. So…
I
will set the ball rolling with 326 pennies, now I hope you will encourage all
the members in your group
to join
in. Send me an email and let me know
your tally at the end of each month and let us all watch 326
our “Charity Fund grow.” Don’t forget your
committee members and sponsors. Select,
Copy, and paste the
form at end of newsletter, into a new page and
print one for each member of your group.
And Finally….
A
crossword puzzle for the educationally disadvantaged…
1.
Clues:
1.
Across.
The indefinite article. (Anagram.)
1. Down.
The first letter of the alphabet.
1.
Diagonally.
Alpha Singular.
1. Up.
First of several blood types
More than a Million….
You are invited to join in a monthly
collection and help Valley Highlands Area raise 1,000,000
pennies for Charity. This equates to
just $1.57 or 157 pennies per week per member, so I feel very confident we can
do this.
On June 30th 2006 our Youth will be
asked to select the charity/ies to which the fund will be donated. Your help will be appreciated
Scouter Chris Tyler
Use the form below to tally up your donations
received.
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Thank
You. Total
pennies this month