The World According to Leslie

Last week, Tony, Chasity, and I had the opportunity to help assemble bicycles for Toys for Tots.   Cougar Run Winery in Concord saves their tip money for the year and purchases bicycles to donate to Toys for Tots. Last year, they had over 100. This year, they had ALMOST 100---but they were shut down for 4 months!   Imagine what they could have done this year, if they had not been closed for 4 months!  Panoramic Shot of the Room of Bikes and Volunteers Chasity and the group of scouts she was working with assembled 46 of the bikes. That's about 1/2 of the total. They started at 6pm last Thursday, and they were done (and cleaned up) by 9pm. Three hours, 8 scouts, parents too, and they completed 46 bikes!  Tony and Chasity together worked on and completed 8 bikes. Chasity only allowed me to help once or twice. :)  She wanted to do it herself. Tony was there for assistance, if she needed it.  The hardest part on every bike was the brakes. She had to make s...

About a month ago, September 22nd to be exact, Chasity participated in her first Court of Honor. She has been in her Boy Scouts of America troop for a little over a year now. She is part of the Scouts BSA program; it's for youth 11-17 years old. She is loving it.  In February 2020, she went camping for the first time ever. It was raining. It was freezing cold. She loved it! Now she has all her own gear, and it currently occupies a corner of my living room.  In September, the all girls troop she participates with partnered with the boys troop at the same location and held a Court of Honor. Chasity was awarded a couple of Merit Badges, but she also was awarded her First Class rank that night. She is only three ranks (and a lot of work) away from achieving Eagle.  Did I say that she's loving it? Chasity in full uniform for the Court of Honor Technically, full uniform is just the Scout shirt, but Chasity loves the pants. They zip off at the knees to become shorts. If I got he...

Back in July Chasity and her scout troop went camping and hiking in the Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia.  I dropped Tony and Chasity off and drove to a near-by hotel to stay with my parents. Seriously, if you know me, you know I camp at the Holiday Inn. :)  When I dropped them off at the campsite, I stopped at the overlook. I used the panoramic feature on my phone to take the picture. It's pretty awesome, I think!   ONE of the awesome things about Grayson Highlands State Park is that they have wild horses. There were a couple of horses at the intersection, but a couple of them wandered off before I got to the stop sign to take a picture.