Getting Ready

Red Ant has joined Cub Scouts , and it's that time of year for him to create his own pine wood derby car. I've stepped back a little and letting it be more of his car than mine. We went to Pop Pop's shop, and Red Ant got to work a band saw [with Pop Pop's hands guiding his] and a belt sander. Pop Pop also showed Red Ant how to use sandpaper and a block of wood to make the car really smooth. I'll be posting more pictures of the car as it develops. The car has a Minecraft theme, and I'll admit it is looking really good.

Pop Pop and Red Ant working the belt sander

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Posting

Sorry for the lack of posting, but school has really been taking a toll on the free time. I have a few ideas on new posts that I have been mulling over in the brain. One was discovered on a Cub Scout "Go See'em event" last Saturday. Thankfully, I'm still able to lurk around on the blogs between study stints...

The Orange Jeep Dad posted a link to my ammo poll, and of course I had to write a short update. I was able to visit a few gun shops today with Sweetheart.

Keep Right On Prepping & Take Care - K

Pinewood Derby Day Results

Row was a pretty good sport about things, which is the most important lesson from today. I did a little prepping going into the Derby, and explained to him that we may not win. The light clicked and he understood that this was our first year, and next year would be better.

 

Red Ant with Pincers and Row had their picture taken here. This is a photo of Row that can go onto the blog since it doesn't show his entire face.

Once the cars were entered and weighed, they were put on display behind the track. Each car raced three times and each time on a different track. I weighed our car  on a scale at our house and had it close to 5 ounces, but once we went to the post office, it weighed 5.9 ounces. Assuming the post office scales were calibrated, we dropped too much weight. I'll know better next year, and hopefully have a scale that I'll be using for reloading.

 

There were 64 cars and almost all of them looked great. I was selected as a judge and the five of us picked out the best original car, funniest, and best representation of Cub Scouts. Row's car is #48 which is the lower right one. He finished 2nd on track 3, second on track 2 and first on track 1. His car averaged about 3.4 seconds per race. He was so excited to finish first, and I'm thankful that he did so well on the last race. It was a great way to end his circuit. He also got to race against his best friend on the last race too, and it was cool to see them both excited.

The race results were projected on a big screen behind the track and display case. It was also electronically timed to 5 digits. The fastest car this year had a time of 3.0812 - and it was burning up the track! Incidentally, the father of the cub scout car happened to be a coworker that I worked with at my very first job. We are going to catch up at one of the later pack meetings. He kinda took me under his wings so to speak, and we hung out at work and after work too. I think I got my first beer buzz with him.

These guys catch the cars at the end of the track.

I do have a few ideas for next year :-)

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Secret Weapons & A Block of Pine

Tomorrow is our Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby. Row and I, with a little help from Granddad, crafted this beauty.

We took it to the post office and put it on the scales. A little over 5 ounces , but we can make some modifications at the weigh in.

Real metal duct tape on the bottom for a few grams

Rear View

I'll just happen to have a Phillips screwdriver in my back pocket to lighten the car to the legal limit (141.7 g) and a little Graphite Powder in the front pocket to help reduce friction at the wheels.

After Row heads to bed, I'll do some touching up on the paint and maybe add something Star Wars related.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Print logo and add tape.

UPDATE:

Thanks TinCan Assassin!!!

Our Busy Weekend - Picture Heavy (19)

This weekend has been busy for our family. Red Ant with Pincers, the three year old, went to his Grandmother's to stay Friday and Saturday night. Sweetheart flew out to Reagan Airport to visit my younger sister-in-law, and to run a half marathon. I had the pleasure of taking Row, the resident six year old, to his first Scouting camping trip, for the Father-Son Camping trip.

We had three rules this weekend...
1. We stay together.
2. No complaining/whining.
3. We have fun.

The long wait, probably around 500 people attended the event

Row wasn't bothered one bit, and the game system stayed in the car

The climbing tower that Row wanted to climb, even though he scared of heights.

The first look at the parade field.

 The gear was hauled to your camp site, and all the vehicles were parked at the entrance field. We did a lot of walking, and we enjoyed it. That night, we had a chance to talk about making sure you have a flashlight when outdoors. We turned off our flashlights, and got to see how dark it can really get. We also talked about getting lost, and what to do.

Opening flag ceremony.

 It was very nice to see people saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and showing respect for our flag and country.

The Archery Range

The instructional speech for the Archery belt loop.

Row, sad to have to wait for his turn, but excited to finally get on the range.

The BB gun belt loop speech

Pretty good shot huh?

Unfortunately, Row won't be my natural shooter. Those are my BB holes when I was showing him how to shoot. He got frustrated rather easy, and wanted to quit. I admit that I got frustrated too, he wasn't listening, which has been a reoccurring theme.

A not-so-friendly game of checkers.

I was schooled on a game of Mario checkers...as best as I can figure out, the lightning strike happens at the most advantageous time for Row. The Bowser checker was also a problem for me, as he seemed to kill all of my kings towards the end of the game. Row 3 - Dad 0.

Dinner, not bad, but didn't leave hungry either.

Row did a great job of playing dominoes. I was really surprised and learned something new about him. He won this round, but didn't offer a repeat challenge though.

Reading inside our tent after the rain started to fall at about 10pm.

 I have a tent review in the works. We had a lot of rain, maybe about 5 inches inches from about 10pm until 5 am. I got very little sleep, due to the cramped conditions. At about 1:30 in the morning, it occurred to me that the Chinese have a torture system where the prisoner cannot straighten completely out. The tent was made in China. I had a good laugh, and made a mental note to post it on the blog.

A little canopy at the apex of the tent to hold a light.

The morning walk to the mess hall.

A father and son walk for breakfast.

I had a great time, and got to bond with my oldest son. He earned 3 belt loops, and part of the hiking requirements. We will be doing more of these, and I pray that he continues to enjoy going camping with his old man.