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The Story of the Florida Bobwhite
(very short version)
The Story of the Florida Bobwhite
(very short version)
I admit that I am not the original Florida Bobwhite, a friend of mine
is. He went to a Woodbadge (advance training for Boy Scout adult leaders)
course up north somewhere, and took along a few of the pink flamingos that
he collects, including one of the big ones that some Floridians (I remember
my grandfather had a flock in his yard) have used for yard decorations.
He promptly set the flamingo up in the Bobwhite Patrol camp. One of the
councilors told him that he did not feel that it was appropriate. "Fla-Bob"
replied that it was a Florida Bobwhite and therefor a patrol critter, of
course it was allowed to remain.
When I went to Woodbadge training (SR 442, spring of 2002), I was placed
in the Bobwhite Patrol along with five others from the Wekiwa District
who knew "Fla-Bob". We were all trying to fit the training in with our
work, family and scouting schedules, and never did find a critter before
the second weekend. "Fla-Bob" came to the rescue and let us borrow a few
"Florida Bobwhites" to use for our critters. We had a nice stuffed flamingo
for our patrol flagpole, some puffy paper flamingos mounted on swizzles
sticks, and a few other odds and ends, thanks "Fla-Bob". We took a little
flack about our critters, but had a lot of fun and managed to learn a little
bit too, I'm proud to be a Florida Bobwhite.
P.S. We returned the stuffed flamingo to "Fla-Bob", but I found another one to keep with our patrol flag.
About the author
I am a member of the Boy Scouts of America. I am a former Cubmaster
of Pack 231 in Altamonte Springs, Florida. I am currently an Assistant
Scoutmaster at Troop 7 in Forest City, Florida, and serve on Wekiwa District
Boy Scout Roundtable, Training and FamilyFest staff. I wrote this WEB page
as one of my "ticket" items (self improvement, to learn more about desktop
publishing and to learn how to make a WEB page - I thought that it would
also satisfy the diversity requirement, what could be more diverse than
sharing my ideas with anyone who has internet access, but the diversity
part did not get accepted) from Woodbadge, a few of my other ticket items
are also on the index page. Thanks for visiting, I hope you found
something useful.
When not scouting, I am a Professional Surveyor and Mapper registered
with the State of Florida, I am a member of the Florida Society of Professional
Surveyor and Mappers and a former board member of the Central Florida Chapter.
In my spare time I try to enjoy camping, hiking, backpacking, fishing,
swimming (see why I like scouting), geocahing, reading, and playing around
on the computer.
I am the proud father of one daughter (in the Navy) and two sons (one
in scouting and one who can't wait until he is old enough) and I would
like to thank my wife for putting up with a "sociable recluse" like me.
Yours in Scouting - Happy Trails
Bill Byrd
byrdscout@hotmail.com
