Another Toastmasters Major Award

I did it. I earned the Advance Communicator Silver award in our local club of Toastmasters International. Below is a photograph of the letter of commendation and below that the certificate of recognition.






I will continue to work toward getting my Advance Communicator Gold. I have but 2 more awards to earn before I have completed enough to become a Distinguished Toastmaster.

I am the president of Waco Wordsmiths for another six months. As a club we were one speech away from having been awarded the president select club distinction award. Maybe in the next year we will improve our club and earn that highest distinction.

Another Major Scout Award

A few years ago I was the Scoutmaster in my ward. The boys and I went to camp at Camp Tahuaya near Temple. The Senior Patrol Leader was Kevin McCann. On the first day of camp Kevin was not very interested in staying another day. Mark Jacobson was there to help with the camp. He convinced Kevin to stay another day. Kevin stayed. When Friday rolled around and it was time to go home Kevin was sad and wanted to stay longer. I think in the long run it was an experience that he will remember.

One of those days I came back into camp and found that the inside of the tent where I had my gear and I slept was covered with "Silly String". I was not pleased and figured that it was a conspiracy. I retaliated by going around the campsite and pulling all the stakes out of the tents in the campsite. As I was in the process of carrying out my revenge, Kevin came into camp and confessed that he was the one who sabotaged my tent. I had him clean it up and then I had to eat some humble pie and put back up some of the other tents.

Last week Kevin had his Eagle Court of Honor. Kevin gave me the pin noted above in recognition of the contribution that I gave him in scouting. His mother informed me that Kevin wanted to tape it to a can of silly string. I did make an acceptance speech.

"This makes up for the silly string in my tent."

It was nice to see Kevin receive his Eagle badge.

Eric has sent his papers to Hurst Texas to the scout office to be reviewed. We are waiting for his board of review to be set.

Homemade Chairs

When Arlo, Craig, and Brian were young I worked at Wright's Furniture Mill in Provo Utah. I was in school and so was Jeanette for a couple years. We were rather poor. I collected scraps from projects that other people discarded their waste and I salvaged material from pallets. I fabricated 2 chairs from the scraps that I managed to acquire. When we moved here to Texas I discarded one of them. I wish I had not. The other children have all taken their turns at using this little chair.



I decided to make some more chairs for my grandchildren. I made 2 last year, one for Bradly and one for Leslie. This year I made one for Luke. Jeanette helped me in the shop with fabricating the parts and assembling them. I bought a stair riser to use for the seat and turned the legs and back supports on my lathe. The back was cut from a piece of oak that I purchased for firewood from the redwood pallet company.



The finish is danish oil; oak colored danish oil.



We are going to deliver the chair in July when we go visit for our summer vacation.