Webelos-o-ree 2024

My youngest went to the local Webelos-o-ree, a day of fun stations for the oldest cub scouts. Local troops host each station. They teach various skills and try to sell the boys on joining their troop. Parents go along and meet the leaders of the troop (typically the older boys since troops are scout-led).

Our first stop was a gaga ball pit. Gaga ball is like dodge ball, but the ball needs to hit a player below the knee to get the player out. The game has no teams, every man is for himself. My son took a "let everyone fight each other" approach, calmly waiting by the side for the crowd to thin down. 

Going for the under-the-leg shot

Keeping his eye on the ball

The next station was the axe yard. Here, cub scouts learn safe handling of saws, hatchets, and axes. This particular station was run by my eldest son's troop, so the boys got to see each other.

Using an axe

Practicing sawing with a sibling

Later on, my son had to practice his army crawl under a bunch of strings pretending to be lasers. The station also had some knot-tying skill challenges. 

Being safe

Down by the water, a teamwork exercise challenged the boys to communicate without using words (they were only allowed to say "lava"!). They had to cross a field of lava with only a few boards of different lengths. It was a fun exercise. Since my son was alone, we joined up with another pack for the group challenges.

Getting to the other end

The last station before lunch involved climbing to the top of a wall. Some of the boys could make it on their own, some needed help. They worked together to lift up or pull up the boys who needed assistance (my son included), eventually getting everyone up.

Seven on the wall

We had lunch at my older son's troop, which was a bit of a hike from the wall. After eating, we had to go back to the middle of the trail for the shooting range. After joining a different pack for the trail, we had a good time with the bb guns. 

Posing with Pack 737

Practice with the rifle

Other stations we went to were the first aid station (with some realistic-looking injuries), orienteering (with some awesome home-made cookies), and more teamwork challenges. We had a fun day but didn't camp there, so we headed home for dinner.

Soldiers Delight Choate Mine Trail

We went for a hike in the Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area outside of Baltimore, Maryland. The first European settlers to come to this area were frustrated in their attempts to farm the land. The serpentine ecosystem is made from an oceanic rock called "serpentinite" that is high in magnesium and low in other nutrients typically need by most plants. The land was barren of trees for timber but had some scraggly oaks and lots of grass. Settlers switched to raising livestock on the land rather than growing produce. A lot of rare plants and animal thrive in this area, making it an interesting place to visit.

Around 1808 chrome was discovered in the area. Isaac Tyson, Junior, opened a chromite mine that operated from 1828 to 1850. The trail we hiked was the Choate Mine Trail.

History on a stick

Start of the trail

The trail leads to two holes in the ground that show the oceanic rock not far below the surface. Surprisingly, the mine came later on the hike (though that did not surprise me since I had looked at a map beforehand). These holes are pit mines.

Grassy hole (safer than the grassy knoll?)

Inside the pit

Picture for the earthcache

We continued our hike along the trail. The day was a bit hot for late October and the path was very rocky. The hard stone really is close to the surface, providing little soil for the vegetation and little comfort for our feet.

Moving on

Barren land

Looks more like a stream bed than a walking path

More trees and the blazing sun

The hike was not very long and the landscape is very much unlike other nature hikes in the area. Maybe it was the late autumn that made everything brown and blasted. Or the unseasonable sun. I felt like this would be a good place for an H. P. Lovecraft story.

Unusual vegetation

Some scraggily forest

We finally made it to the mine ruins. The main shaft into the mine has some cart tracks. A nearby hole was dug to ventilate the air in the mine. Both holes have been fenced off and an audio recording said that the mine is flooded now, so there's no point in even trying to go in.

The entrance is behind me

Another view of the entrance

Mine cart tracks

Ventilation shaft

Across the road from the Choate Mine Trail is the Serpentine Trail, a longer trail that we decided to do another day.

View over the Serpentine Trail area

Soldiers Delight also has a visitors center that was closed when we were there. We will probably come again.

Book Review: The Nameless City Book 3 by F. E. Hicks et al.

The Nameless City Book 3: The Divided Earth story and art by Faith Erin Hicks and color by Jordie Bellaire

The new General of All Blades plans to solidify his grip on the city by using the ancient weapon that made the city so prosperous (and desired by the three nations)--Napatha. It is a powerful flame that cut a passage through the mountain to the sea beyond. Surely it will wipe out any enemies. He refuses to let his generals have the formula in case they turn against him. An aide gathers the ingredients, hopefully in time to drive off the Yisun army approaching.

Meanwhile, Kaidu's father is seeking out the Yisun army to make a treaty with them. He runs into trouble in the form of a Dao force led by his wife, who is coming to see Kaidu and is now swept up into the conflict. Kaidu is still in the city and wants to steal the formula to prevent its use. He and Rat plan to infiltrate the royal palace. They run into trouble when they discover all the buildings next to the palace have been destroyed. They can't sneak in by the roofs and will have to find another way.

The action is plentiful in this volume. It's well balanced with the backstories and plot expositions by the various characters. Everyone has their own agendas, plans, and desires for the Nameless City. The story ends happily, tying up lots of loose ends and bringing this world to a better place. The characters are interesting, even the bad guys. I enjoyed the story a lot.

Recommended.

Movie Review: Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Witness for the Prosecution (1957) co-written and directed by Billy Wilder from the stage play by Agatha Christie

Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) is accused of murdering an older woman. A lot of circumstantial evidence makes him look guilty but he protests his innocence. Lucky for him barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton) is just back from a serious illness. Sir Wilfrid is constantly pestered by nurse Miss Plimsoll (Elsa Lanchester), who tries to stop him from having cigars and alcohol. Most especially, she needs to keep him away from stress, like arguing in court. Sir Wilfrid is not interested in sitting around being pricked and prodded and swallowing pills on a regular schedule. So he takes Vole's case, which looks especially bad when they find out that Leonard will inherit a large sum from the older woman. Leonard's main hope is his alibi--his wife Christine (Marlene Dietrich) who will say he came home early, before the time of death. Leonard's main problem is when his wife shows up in court as a witness for the prosecution to testify that he did commit the crime!

The story is sensational and has plenty of twists. The mystery is intriguing and Sir Wilfrid's efforts are impressive. He is a master of the law and good at sussing out people. He feels there's something fishy about Christine but he can't put his finger on what it is. She is very careful about how she presents herself and defeats one of Wilfrid's little character tests. Their sparing is quite good, especially in court. Wilfrid's sparring with Miss Plimsoll provides enjoyable comic relief. The ending is a personal favorite of mine, so very satisfying on many levels.

Wilder does a good job turning the stage play into a movie. He breaks out of the courtroom and barrister's offices with a lot of background story for the Voles (Leonard met Christine in a German cabaret where she was performing during the war; they had a whirlwind romance and he brought to England as his wife) and visits to prison and the murder scene. Wilder has a great style and communicates a lot through images even in a talk-centric story like this. 

Highly recommended--among the best court room dramas in cinematic history.

TV Review: Ted Lasso Season 1 (2020)

Ted Lasso Season 1 (2020) created by Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, and Bill Lawrence

Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) is hired from a Kansas college football team to be the head coach of AFC Richmond, a Premier League (European) football team in England. Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) had acquired the team through a divorce with her cheating husband Rupert (Anthony Head). He loved the team so she is trying to tank the team in revenge. Lasso knows nothing about soccer or England. His main strengths are his folksy optimism and genuine concern for other people, though most everyone (the owner, the players, the press, the fans, etc.) think he is an idiot and will be nothing but a problem. His positive attitude starts to win over people but the process is slow and a lot of schemes have already been in the works to ruin things before people get on his side. He brushes aside the negativity, persevering through many hard situations and seemingly fruitless gestures.

While the premise sounds very hokey, the show is surprisingly effective. The writing is very sharp with well-rounded characters and complicated relationships that constantly evolve. One player, Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), is a veteran who is getting past his prime. He's the captain of the team but has a lot of anger issues and a generally bad attitude. He is especially upset with young star player Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), who knows how good he is and so egotistical that it hurts the rest of the team. His girlfriend Keeley (Juno Temple) becomes the source of a lot of complications, both romantic and personal. Everyone has an interesting blend of strengths and weaknesses--including Lasso, which is probably the key to the success of the series. While he comes off like a Pollyanna and a lot of his ideas work out in the end, not everything does and he has some deeper problems that come to the surface that make him a very human character. The cast is uniformly excellent and believable in their roles.

The show is a comedy but has lots of drama built into it. Viewers easily laugh at the simple wisdom and unassuming style of Lasso. As I wrote, he does initially seem like a moron but he is in fact very smart and knows how to manipulate people for their own good, which is sometimes also his own good and sometimes not. He takes the strategy he had for the college team, making the players the best men they can be on and off the field, and applies it to the professional league players, who are more set in their ways and more focused on victory than self-development (or even self-awareness). The drama is touching and the comedy is hilarious. The show works on so many levels, it is well worth watching.

Highly recommended.

This season was discussed on A Good Story is Hard to Find Podcast #288.

Lake Frank, Maryland

We went for a hike around Lake Frank in Rock Creek Regional Park. Like a lot of other parks in Maryland, they have plenty of trails and a nature center. The center was not open when we visited, so we just hit one of the trails. 

Deluxe trail sign

I chuckled at the water warning about the ice being too thin. That particular day was in the high 70s so there was no ice hazard. The algae warning (the yellow sign above) was more concerning but we had no plans to go in the water.

An all-weather sign

The trail took us across a stream. Rather than go over a bridge, the trail map pointed to a bunch of stones for crossing.

The way across

Kids crossing

We were a little mystified by this trail sign. The action figure nailed to the sign must mean something.

No militia allowed?

The trail was not too challenging, with a mix of hard ground, crushed rocks, and pavement. 

Some easy walking

Avoiding getting their picture taken

The lake is beautiful, especially surrounded by fall colors.

On the south end of the lake

More of the lake

The usual bit of construction in the lake

More camera dodging

The trail got closer to the water on the second half of the hike.

Another view of the lake

An actual bridge!

A bit of the fall colors

The trail eventually took us away from the lakeside, giving us the chance to spot a deer or two!

A bit of forest

First deer sighting

Can you spot the deer?

A close-up of the above

The end of the hike brought us bak to the nature center, which looked nice from the outside.

Nature center

Tired from the hike

Cute Kid Pix October 2024

More pictures that did not get their own post...

My son and I went on a hike in Patapsco Valley State Park. We saw some rapids along the river and interesting rock formations.

Raging river

More of the river

A calmer spot

A rock too big to throw into the river

More calm

At our cub scout pack meeting, we tried making catapults with wooden sticks, rubber bands, and a plastic spoon. The final contraption did not work so well but we had fun.

Trying to put it together

Shooting

My wife and I went to the costume ball at That's Dancing. I dressed as the Dread Pirate Roberts (but I couldn't be Westley since I am left-handed) and she was Buttercup. We had a lot of fun!

Posing by the balloon arch

Cuddly

I took the kids on a hike to an abandoned chromium mine, which was not the most exciting destination.

Such enthusiasm!

We had a good Halloween but I forgot to get a picture of our youngest who dressed as Spider-man (the teens did not dress up). He had the costume from his older brother, so it's been on the blog before. Our neighbor had a Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man in his yard. I tried to convince my son to fight him, since Spider-man is also from New York, but there was no action.

Don't egg this house!