Bernard Queneau: 98 Year Old Eagle Scout

It's not every day that you get to meet a man who was working on his Eagle Scout rank way back in 1928 but here's a video that will open up that window for us. Mr. Queneau talks about winning a contest as an Eagle Scout and being selected to travel 7,000 miles across America at a time when there weren't any Interstate Highways. He was part of a 4-boy team leading exhibitions on safety, first-aid, making fire by friction, and other Boy Scout related topics.

Mr. Queneau later became a Commander in the United States Navy, earned a PHd in engineering, and was in charge of quality control at U.S. Steel Corp. He says that he owes a lot of his success to his early Boy Scouting experiences, especially when it comes to being "truthful" and "working hard" for what you have. Today we live in a much different culture where more and more people depend on anything other than their own hard work to succeed. It's nice to be reminded about some of the values that led America to producing the largest middle class in the history of the world. I sure hope that we can hold on to these indispensable values in an ever-changing world that appears to be headed into the opposite direction.

I'm Just Walkin'

I've been following an interesting adventure of one man's walk across America that I thought I'd share. His name is Matt and he's pushing a little cart that is loaded with all his gear from New York to Oregon. The best part is that you can closely follow his adventures as he updates his website via a smartphone, sometimes several times a day with the photos of the people, places, and his other experiences so you're never more than just a few hours behind him.

You can find him at his website I'm Just Walkin' . Just click on the sidebar calender to get caught up on his journey then you're on your way. A good interview about his journey can be found on John Greenfield's blog.Matt meets kindly folks along the way who let him camp in their yards, fields, or barn and sometimes right in a real bed with a nice hot meal to boot. He also has an ongoing roll of awesome mailboxes along the way which are quite interesting. Matt is a great writer/photographer and you will quickly get addicted to his descriptive captions which tell his story well.

I've always been interested in the adventurous pursuits of others since I've had a few of my own adventures over the years and I'm especially interested in common people that do extraordinary things.Give him a visit. Who knows; it might be you out there looking for adventure one day!

Dick Proenneke: "One Man's Wilderness"

Looking at society as a whole, there is no other character trait that I admire more than a person who is determined to become his own person, even if it means grinding against societal norms. When a man decides that it's time to pick up what he owns and move deep into the Alaskan wilderness to live close to nature and to the land, to build his own log cabin home with his own hands, and to spend more than 31 years in that occupation, then there is no more kindred spirit to my own walk in life.

As seen in the picture to the left Dick Proenneke was one such man who at the age of 52 left everything behind to fulfill his life's mission. In 1968, when I was just 12 years old, Mr. Proenneke traded in his job as a master diesel mechanic to live the next 31 years in a log cabin that he built at the base of the Aleutian Peninsula, in what is now Lake Clark National Park & Preserve. At his death in 2003 Mr. Proenneke had willed his homestead cabin to the National Park Service where his legacy still lives on today.

As you can see from the picture to the right, Proenneke is posing inside of his famous dutch door that has been the focus of many conversations among master wood workers for it's amazing craftsmanship. I have heard that making the trek to visit his cabin is worth the journey just to see the perfection in art of those wooden hinges and latch. One day I will visit and see it for myself.



 Proenneke also fashioned many of the tools used to build his cabin as seen in the picture below. He was a master craftsman and spent much of his time on creating his own homemade furniture and devises that are a powerful reflection of his woodworking genius.







Fortunate for us Proenneke took the time to film the construction of his cabin, almost in a step-by-step manner as though he wanted to leave something of his experience behind to share with the world. In 1973 his friend Sam Keith edited a volume of his journal entitled One Man's Wilderness. In 2003 a documentary film, Alone in the Wilderness, was produced from Proenneke's recordings and it is often shown on Public Broadcasting stations.
To many, Dick Proenneke is thought of as a modern day Henry David Thoreau but there is one profound difference: Proenneke lived in his Twin Lakes cabin for over 30 years and Thoreau lived in his cabin on Walden Pond for just over 2 years. Not to diminish Thoreau because he did make a profound mark on American culture, but Proenneke has also made his own unique statement about life and living for men to ponder upon for many generations to come.


While living in an age where more and more Americans are looking to big government for the answers to their societal ills, it's refreshing to remind ourselves of the rugged individualism and self-reliance that can still be found by those determined to live their own lives. Proenneke lived those values which made America strong in the beginning and I only hope that they remain important to future generations.

The film below gives a small glimpse into the mind of Dick Proenneke which reminds us of the things that really matter in life.

Profile: Alex Is Making Pens For College

It's not very often that you come across a kid that's really into working wood and I mean REALLY into the hobby... so much into it that at only 12 years old he's started his own business selling extraordinary homemade pens to raise money for his own college fund. First, I'm most impressed that in the popular culture of today's America when it seems like more and more people are looking for a handout, here we have Alex who has taken steps to secure his own future and on his own terms. Now that's impressive!

Just click on the video above where Alex tells his story in his own words and the video below shows him in his dads workshop as he actually makes one of his unique pens step by step. After watching the video below it is obvious that this boy has achieved a masterful level of competence in using some heavy-duty woodworking machinery. His hands are steady and he knows exactly what he's doing. Alex has a plan to one day attend Duke University and study to be a heart surgeon and I can only hope that he will be available as "Dr. Alex" if  the time ever comes for my own heart surgery one day. You can also learn more about what he's doing by visiting his website, Pens For College. It's kids like this that renew and inspire my faith in the next generation. Nice work Alex!

Executive Chef Robert Hesse And Carving A Hell's Kitchen Spoon

Last week we were privileged to have a real celebrity, an accomplished executive chef, and a graduate of our program many years ago visit our camp to share his story when he was a 15 year old troubled young man.

Just who is Robert Hesse you ask? Just enter his name and Hell's Kitchen into any search engine and you will find plenty because he was a star contestant on Fox's reality TV show in 2009. Yes, today he owns several prominent New York restaurants, caters regularly to the likes of Mariah Carey and Sting, is a multi-millionaire, and continues to appear on various VH1 and HBO shows but this week he wanted to give back to a program where he spent 3 years as a boy during a very troubled time in his life. During the last week he has traveled around to several of our camps for at-risk kids telling his compelling story and signing autographs. It isn't often that I ever see our 60 boys tuned in with total silence but it was just that way when Robert revealed  one of the roughest childhood testimonies that I've ever heard and how he overcame those overwhelming odds to the success he is today.

At the end of his talk I presented Robert with his very own "Hell's Kitchen" spoon that I carved the week before from a tulip poplar tree limb that I found on the mountain. He was very honored and accepted it with great appreciation and said that he looked forward to displaying it in his Brooklyn, New York office.

As you can see from the IMDB (Internet Movie Database) biography below, Robert also contributes his initial interest in cooking to a day when his counselor put a potato piller in his hands and said, "Do you know what to do with that?"

Mini-Biography

"Celebrity Chef Robert Hesse first got his love for cooking by watching his grandmother and mother in the kitchen as a boy growing up in Long Island, NY. While shuffling back and forth between New York and Florida, That love for cooking laid dormant as an emotionally challenging upbringing caused him to make some poor life choices, often seeing him in the presence of a judge. During one of these judicial experiences, a 15 year old Robert was sent to Eckerd Academy in Brooksville, Florida to spend six months and hopefully, put his life back on track and to provide him with the positive male role models that his life was thus far lacking Eckerd Academy is an outdoor program for troubled youth. The kids live out in the woods, receive alternative schooling, therapy and learn life skills. Once a week, the kids are responsible for all the cooking for the day, which teaches them math and writing skills, responsibility and planning. For Hesse, those meals changed his life. A camp councilor handed Robert a potato and a peeler and asked, "Do you know what to do with that?" Hesse was blown away by the responsibility of cooking for the camp, but by the end of it, he realized this is what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. After his Eckerd Academy experience, Robert had some struggles with readjustment back into everyday life. Reflecting upon what he learned at Eckerd, combined with some "tough love" from his mother, Robert picked himself up by his bootstraps and took his new found passion for cooking into a career by getting kitchen jobs at area restaurants. One day, a twenty year old Robert heard a radio ad for a culinary school in Lakeland, Florida. He quickly signed up, obtained financial aid, hopped a bus and off he went to take his dream to the next level. After receiving his degree in Culinary Arts, Robert toured the country, working at various hotels and resorts under some well known chefs, sharpening his kitchen skills in the process. In 2005, Robert returned home to New York as the Executive Chef of Q Restaurant in Quogue. Robert then brought his "Strong Island" street-honed personality to the hit FOX reality show, "Hell's Kitchen" and into the hearts of America as Season Five's overwhelming fan favorite. A health issue forced an early exit for Robert from the show, as most, including host, Chef Gordon Ramsey, thought that Hesse would easily glide into the finals. After the completion of Season Five, FOX was flooded with mail in support of Robert, urging the network to bring him back. That remains to be seen as Season Six is set to premiere on July 21, 2009. Currently, Robert Hesse is the Executive Chef of Georgica Restaurant in The Hamptons, partnering up with Hell's Kitchen mate, Seth Levine and continues to do personal appearances, cooking demonstrations and autograph shows."
IMDb Mini Biography By: Pat Tortorello

Cliff's Totem

As promised I am posting a few pictures from the "totem angel" that I carved for Cliff earlier in the year when so many of us wanted to do something for him. Cliff so enjoyed sharing the stories of checking his mailbox each day and that not even a Canadian snowstorm could hold him at bay to retrieve his mail. This is the totem that I mailed to Cliff and I also included the following description of all the characters on the pole for as you know, every totem has a special story:



Cliff:
Just to let you know that I have finally finished your "angel" but I had to apply a lot of spin to make that work because my heart led me to carve a totem pole. This totem is an almost exact replica of a 14 foot totem pole that I carved for the wilderness camp where I work... sorry that I couldn't afford the freight charges for the bigger one all the way to Canada.

It sits about 8 1/4" on the red oak stand and I carved it from local poplar that I milled down to 7/8" square. I then finished it with some woodburning accent, acrylic paints, and a final polyurethane seal. My goal is to have it in the mail late tomorrow afternoon after work if all goes as planned and hope that it makes it through customs OK. I thought that I'd go ahead and post a few pictures of it here so that you could have something to look forward to and also to share with others on the board.

Starting at the bottom of the pole:

* Bear: This bear is at the bottom of the totem because it represents the tremendous strength to hold up and support all that is above him... just like the amazing strength of your own attitude when faced with the challenge of your life. I could only hope that I would be able to share my feelings and to talk with others if/when I will face such a challenge. The "bear" thus reflects the great admiration that I'm sure many of us here share about your real strength.
* Beaver: The beaver represents your skill as a woodcarver and your willingness to share your thoughts, your projects, and your ability to respond to so many posts here on the board. You obviously have moved up through the ranks in life through the "College of Hard Knocks" where a persons true knowledge is judged more upon their ability to apply common sense instead of their ability to explain the theory of relativity. Personally I find more in common with someone like you who knows how to use their hands than I ever would hanging out with John Smith Phd.
* Frog: The frog is a symbol of your ability to "leap" from one level of life to another, despite the obstacle, with amazing ease. Although apparently a simple thing for you, THAT is a life lesson that we can all benefit from.
* Raven: The raven represents the truth and wisdom that you have shared with us (and I'm sure your own family and friends) during this ordeal and I'm sure others throughout your long life. No matter how long that we are walking on this planet it is a high honor to achieve the wisdom of the raven!
* Thunderbird: The thunderbird on this totem represents what I refer to as the Native American angel that brings everything "full-circle" in your life. Your strength in faith, your love of family, and the protector of all that you do while on earth. It perches tall atop the pole watching over all that is below him so that you know all is well and everything is in order during this life and the next. No matter what, you and your family will be OK.

As I continue to write a small chuckle cracks out on my face because I know what you just said, "Is that all there is"? Well, "No" is my answer because I still believe that even during times of great challenge the best is always yet to come... if only we look for it in the small, mostly unseen cracks and crannies where such hope tends to hide from us. Don't stop looking!


CLIFFS RESPONSE:

Dave, I'm absolutely blown away, man oh man, for once in my 78 years I'm at a total loss for words. Sure, the totem is beautiful, no question, but the thought you have put into the written word is so heart warming. You can rest assured that totem will live in this family (along with the written word) long after I'm gone. Thank you so very very much for being so thoughtful, it's friends like you and the rest of the carving community that make me want to hang on forever. Thank you my dear friend, so very much.
Cliff

Profile: Remembering Cliff

At first glance I didn't believe that it was possible to gain a meaningful relationship with someone whom I'd never met nor would ever meet in a world where we were connected only by computers. But by chance that is exactly what happened via the cyber technology of the Woodcarving Illustrated Message Board when one of our most prolific woodcarving posters from Ontario, Canada known by the name of "tucker1931" decided to go public with his battle with cancer. (That's a picture of Cliff and his wife Vikky to the left)

Cliff was one of those amazing posters who somehow found the time to compliment just about every carving that was posted. Most folks can't find that kind of time or are only there to elaborate on their own niche branch of carving, like myself, but Cliff was all over the place. Some of my fondest memories were in the "Off Topic" room where I enjoyed seeing the pictures of some monster carp that he enjoyed catching and sharing the stories with all of us across the continent and the globe. You could just feel that this was the kind of man that you'd want for a grandfather if you were a kid. He always shared such a zeal for living that was contagious... even at the age of 78!

Cliff also posted some of the most beautifully carved spoons that I've ever seen right up to the time of his passing and it was obvious that he wasn't going to let no dreaded disease get the best of his living life to it's fullest. I was amazed at how an impending death didn't seem to phase him and that he was only interested in what he could do "today". That concept about how to face life's ultimate challenge so courageously and honestly really touched me in a powerful way. To the right is a picture of just a few of the magnificent spoons that Cliff carved and shared with our community. His drive to produce such wonderful spoons greatly inspired me and many others to go on a spoon carving frenzy ourselves. I now think of Cliff every day when I use the cherry wood coffee scooper that he inspired me to carve.

Most people would have a hard time just facing their impending death much less talking openly and honestly about it. Cliff and I had several very "wordy" public conversations on his situation since my own father had died from cancer years earlier. These conversations weren't easy for me but they made me a stronger person as Cliff's amazing courage was a lesson in life that I will never forget. Cliff openly discussed his situation because it was his hope that other men would be screened for prostate cancer and a lot of men went in for a first-time screening because of his words. Cliff also continued posting threads on the amazing carvings that he was producing until his lack of energy finally confined him to a bed. For me, therein lies the real story of Cliff's character and the legacy that he leaves behind for his wife, children, and friends.

Cliff's last post on the message board was in mid-July but his daughter Janis continued to keep us informed with regular updates until early in September when Cliff slipped away from us. I will miss looking for his words and his carvings on the message board but he will not be forgotten... even by those of us who never personally met him. That cherry coffee scooper that he inspired me to carve will let his memory live on in my heart forever.

(I will shortly be posting pictures of a totem pole "angel" that I carved and mailed to Cliff right after I learned of his illness back in the springtime. I would have added it here but thought that Cliff deserved his own space.)

Profile: Remembering "Annie & The Salesman"

It's been 15 years since my first thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, Georgia to Maine where I spent 5 months (152 days) on the trail. Reflecting back I now realize that I treasure the people and friends that I met along the way more than anything. Other than a few selected spots along the trail, I can't recall that sunset, that long-range view, or a scenic lake but I do remember the people that I met along the way. The people are what makes a good hike a superb hike.

"Annie & the Salesman" (Larry & Ann McDuff) were two of those special people that I met during my hike and we continued to keep in touch from time to time for several years after our thru-hike. I first met them at a shelter in New Jersey where I finally caught up to them after a chase that lasted for a month. For weeks I had enjoyed reading their meaningful entries at the various trail shelters and I was determined to catch up to them. Perhaps more than anything Larry & Ann were from my own home state of Alabama so they felt like family to me even before I had met them and I just knew that I had to catch them.

So it was, that very late one evening I arrived at that shelter in New Jersey and introduced myself and revealed that I'd been chasing them for a very long time. It was late and the shelter was full so we didn't get to have a long first conversation but I knew now that we'd be bumping into each other for the rest of the way to Maine.

Larry was a retired salesman for IBM in the Mobile area and this was their first thru-hike attempt. They talked proudly of their son whose trail name was "Fairhope" and he had just completed his own thru-hike of the AT in a recent year and now they were here following in his footsteps. Larry & Ann were very down to earth people from the Fairhope, Alabama area on Mobile Bay where they lived a very self-sustaining lifestyle of gardening, bicycling, and soon to be very well known hikers on the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail. Both of them talked in a manner and tone that was not in the least intrusive but instead their inquisitive non-threatening conversation made everyone who met them instant friends.

One of the most memorable moments of my thru-hike that I will treasure forever occurred on my birthday, July 2nd at Morgan Stewart Shelter in New York. Once again I had caught up to Larry and Ann at a small store where I walked in and found Ann teared up in a conversation with her children back in Fairhope. Even though Larry wasn't on the phone it was strongly evident that he was very emotionally involved in the conversation as he paced closely to Ann.

After we had re-supplied Larry & Ann caught a ride back to the trail ahead of me and I followed about 45 minutes behind them as I had a need to gobble up a couple pints of ice cream. That evening when I arrived at the shelter I was greeted to a standing chorus of "Happy Birthday" from everyone at the shelter of which Larry & Ann had already befriended. Apparently they had overheard my own conversation on the phone at the store when I had mentioned my birthday.

They secretly sneaked in a big honey bun then planted a big campsite candle right in the middle of it for a birthday cake. Another hiker insisted that I allow him to fill my water bottles at the distant spring since, "You shouldn't have to work this hard on your birthday". In the picture above that is me (second from the right) and Ann is in the center enjoying the show as I blow out that huge candle. Unfortunately Larry wasn't in the picture since he took it.

We continued to share many mutual campsites and trail town hostels all the way into Maine sharing trail stories, future plans, and tales from our Alabama homes. The last time that we crossed paths was in Monsoon, Maine then I took off ahead of them through the 100 Mile Wilderness in an anxious end-of-the-trail hiking fury to reach Mt. Kathadin. We did correspond by mail for quite some time after the hike and the letter to the right is the first one that I received from them in October, 1994. They always wanted me to visit with them at their home but somehow it just never happened.

In the years that followed Larry & Ann became quite a prolific couple in the long-distance hiking community and went on to thru-hike the Colorado Trail, The Pacific Crest Trail and they managed to get half of the Continental Divide Trail completed when during the winter between this hike an unfortunate tragedy occurred back at their Alabama home.

While riding her bicycle Ann was struck and killed by a car on her way to work in their organic garden. Ironically, just two years later in 2004 Larry was also hit and killed by a hit and run driver while out on his bicycle. The world has definitely lost two good people who touched thousands of lives during their years of hiking. The last time that I saw them was at a Trail Days celebration in Damascus, Virginia in 2000. I attended their slide show presentation of their thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (Mexico to Canada) in 1999. I was then planning my own thru-hike of that trail for the next year so it was great to talk with them again.

I will miss their tender and caring spirit, their genuine friendship, and most certainly their refreshing deep southern accent that cured my homesickness during that first long-distance thru-hike when I first met them along the trail in 1994. Annie & the Salesman are together again but there's still a whole lot of people here who dearly miss them and will never-ever forget them. They really made a difference.

Profile: The Slingshot Man

I've been away for a week taking care of personal business and didn't have time to update the blog but I'm back for now. Thanks for all the comments and I'll answer them ASAP and I'll post my latest carving project soon.

Meantime I wanted to post this link to one of the most amazing old timers that I've ever seen and he lives only about a two hour drive from me in North Carolina. His name is Rufus, he lives with no telephone or TV, and he's made over 4,156 slingshots since 1952. As the video shows, Rufus is the best there is when it comes to hitting a target. Absolutely amazing!

Profile: Remembering my friend Jack Fair

Jack Fair
1923-2001

Some folks say that to build a meaningful friendship takes months or even years and to a large degree I also subscribe to this belief. I'm also open minded enough to know that's not always the case and certainly not for the 3 hours that I spent visiting with Jack during my 2001 thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, Mexico to Canada. My first acquaintance with Jack (and my last) came on the 26th day of my hike on the parching hot afternoon of May 21, 2001 at Jacks home just on the edge of the Mojave desert in southern California.

For many years Jack was a well known character on the trail who opened the doors of his home for tired PCT hikers and a crucial last stop before crossing the hot and unforgiving Mojave desert. He would give hikers a ride to the nearest store to re-supply their packs which was about a mile from his house and he'd wait there until they were done and take them back to his house or the trail. From reading various hiker journals some people had a hard time understanding how to befriend Jack who was a former motorcycle rider adventuring to most parts of North America. Yeah, Jack had the vocabulary of a drunken sailor with every sentence uttered from his mouth and he often referred to himself as a philosopher evidenced from all the hand painted signs covering his house with some pretty sharp and perhaps shocking messages to some. The more that I've thought about it the more that I now believe that this was a test... Jack's way of finding out just who you were.

Jack at the door and a hiker

A lot of hikers would just fill their water bottles and leave wanting no part of what they assumed was just a crusty old eccentric man whom they didn't understand. I arrived at his door waking him from a nap as I gradually heard his loud grumbling voice saying over and again, "I'm #$!!!$#@%% coming". When the door finally opened he instructed me to go to his nearby open garage to take off my backpack and he'd be there in a minute.

At this point I was still the only hiker at his house so I enjoyed the shade of the garage and browsing through some hiker journals and some scrap books that were full with newspaper articles written about Jacks illustrious past motorcycling adventures for which he was obviously proud. Jack eventually came out to the garage and after elaborating on some of the articles for me he asked if I could help him with a small chore in the house, putting the paper tape back in his calculating machine. As we walked to the house he grumbled about how his vision was failing and he just couldn't do the simplest of chores anymore.

When I was finished Jack invited me to have a seat in a chair next to his revered recliner and gave me a notebook of poetry written by a past female hiker that had also developed a good friendship with him. Meantime he went to the kitchen and brought me back a glass of ice cold sprite cola. As I was reading the poetry about Jack some other hikers had begun to arrive at the house and it was obvious that they only wanted some water, a ride, and a little rest and Jack just let them drink the hot water from the tank in his yard as he continued to serve me iced sprite and cold water.

Bishop and Jack's dog

After a while Jack drove the other hikers to the store and I hung out in the garage with an 8 year old boy named Bishop. As we talked I learned that the school bus dropped off Bishop each afternoon at Jacks house until his dad could pick him up after work. Jack later told me that boy worships the ground that he walked on and it was obvious they thought a lot of each other. I'm not sure if Bishop completely understood the concept of my hike from Mexico to Canada but I sure enjoyed talking to him and listening to his enthusiastic stories about his encounters with rattlesnakes.

It was somewhat ironic about the contrast in age between this 78 year old man and an 8 year old boy. My heart goes out no stronger than to the very old and the very young. Perhaps it is because these two extremities warrant more compassion and I found myself located somewhere in the middle. Perhaps it is because I grew up with a dad who role modeled compassion for the underdogs, the weak , and the most vulnerable. For whatever reasons it was an interesting contrast of ages that I thought about for a long time.

Jack waving goodbye

After a few hours I had to get going since the late afternoon and nighttime was the coolest time for hiking off into the Mojave desert which was ahead of me. As you can see from the picture above I think that Jack was waiting for me to turn back and wave to him and when I did we both exchanged a huge wave and smiles to match. From the beginning of my visit I knew that Jack respected me and I greatly enjoyed his company. He was definitely a unique man and at 78 years old he wasn't changing for anyone but a friendship awaited anyone willing to accept him for who he was.

Me beside the L.A aqueduct entering the Mojave desert

The PCT follows the L.A. aqueduct for several miles into the Mojave and you can hear the loud flowing of cool Sierra water underneath and no way to get at it. The sound of that flowing water was like the soothing sound of being on the beach and I walked for the rest of the day thinking about my short time with Jack and considering his failing health I hoped that he'd be okay. Some time after my hike I learned from various hiking message boards that Jack was found dead from a self inflicted gunshot about a month after my visit. Like a lot of folks along the trail I was at first shocked and saddened but then I felt so grateful to have had the opportunity to have met him and to honestly say that Jack Fair was a friend of mine. I remember him almost 9 years later and I will remember him forever. Jack wasn't a perfect man but he was a good man.