“I was walking with my walker to the Old Folks Boarding house waltz.” When not writing fiction, I dabble with writing lyrics. Goes back to my Sea Scout days when the bow crew from Abilene sang to close the evening campfire: Good night Sea Scouts, where ever you are. And in our dreams we’ll sail again. We will pray to God and then we will drift away in sleep. There wasn’t a prize for campfire
Category: Boy Scouts
Hornblower
My sea-going credentials included Sea Scout, a skipper who raced sailboats on lakes and oceans, a Navy reservist. But wished I could have commanded a historic square-rigged, man-of-war sailing vessel. Even if you are not as handsome as Gregory Peck who starred in the movie Captain Hornblower, helps if you have read all of the Hornblower sea-going fiction. Plus read the Jack Aubrey sailing adventures. Or walked the decks of ‘Old Ironsides,’ the three-mast, wooden
Skunked
Our country was fighting World War II. Military surplus stores sold pup tents. Sydney and I were sharing one in the New Mexico mountains. I was 15 years old and Sydney was only 12. We were camped at Philturn—name then of the Philmont ranch that Oklahoma oilman Wade Phillips gave to the Boy Scouts of America. We pitched our tents next to a mountain stream. I was the senior patrol leader so the scoutmaster assigned
The ‘Phantom Lady’
She was weathered, in need of more than cosmetic repair, a 18-foot sloop that we Abilene Sea Scouts received as a gift from her owner. Year 1945. We sanded, repaired, painted the old lady. While she was upside down the owner, a builder, came and inspected her bottom. With his finger he compressed our smooth white lead filling between the bottom wood. We found out why when we launched the ‘Phantom Lady.’ For the launching
A ‘Famous’ Scouter
1941. I remember Pearl Harbor because the next day this Tenderfoot donned his Scout uniform to show his patriotism. 1953. I camped at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico to learn ‘wood badge’ outdoor skills. That’s the summer I became world ‘famous’ in the international Boy Scout movement. One of 48 adult Scout leaders invited to Philmont, we learned advanced woodcraft training so we could teach other Scout leaders. We divided into eight-men crews, slept