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January 10th, 2010
Nisha Kittan 114: First Flap Issued
Previously I had reported of the formation of Nisha Kittan lodge, in Lewis and Clark Council, from the merger of Kishkakon 32 and Taleka 81. Thanks to Rich Dillow, I now have an image of the lodge's newly issued first flap. The lodge has decided to use 114 as a lodge number. As far as I know there are no other issues from this lodge at this time.
The design of the flap a simple portrayal of the lodge's black wolf totem, depicted baying at a full moon. It's nicely done. However some observant collectors, especially those in the Southern Plains may find this patch rather familiar looking. I have to wonder if the designer of this flap was inspired by another patch.
Read the Full Post on blog.oaimages.com
October 27th, 2009
Never Assume
There is an old adage about what happens if one assumes. Randy Holden recently gave me an example of why one shouldn't assume.
A few years ago this privately made patch bearing the name and number of "Unilachtego 107". Given the history of lodge 107 and what was already published in Blue Book, and a proclivity for the recycling of some old lodge names, I assumed this was a predecessor lodge to Kon-Kon-Tu 107 that never had an authentic issue. That was where I was wrong.
Read the Full Post on blog.oaimages.com
August 30th, 2009
The Unknown Lodges
The Unknown Lodges (Originally printed in Blue Book reprinted with permission of the American Scouting Historical Society)
by Jeff Morley and Bill Topkis
It is hard to imagine the Order of the Arrow of the early 1920s. The scouting program itself was less than 15 years old and the Boy Scouts of America was only one of several scouting organizations competing for national dominance. In those days, the program was not even called Order of the Arrow. What we now know as the OA began in 1915 as Wimactendienk W. W. and was one of several honor camper societies to form during the first decade of Scouting.
Based upon the few first-hand accounts by members who were active in the 1920s, minutes of early meetings of the Grand Lodge and the official History of the Order of the Arrow by Kenneth Davis, an amazing picture of the orders early years begins to emerge.
Scout councils began procuring their own camps in the early to mid 1920s. Before then, it was commonplace for councils to share large camp areas. Three such areas were Treasure Island on the Deleware River near Philadelphia, Lake Kawonanke, and Crystal Lake in New York. Scout encampments from many councils co-existed along the shores of the latter two locations and in the case of Kawonanke Lake, we know that well over thirty different scout councils had campgrounds there at the same time. In circumstances such as these, it is easy to see that if one council utilized a popular honor camper society, it would not be long before the idea would spread to neighboring council camps and such was the case in the early days.
Read the Full Post on blog.oaimages.com
August 25th, 2009
Guest Editorial: On Patch Restrictions
Rick Obermeyer taught a training session on "Ethical Patch Distribution" at NOAC earlier this month. The topic of patch restrictions often arises in conversation both at NOAC and elsewhere. It is raised often enough that he included an answer to this question in his handouts. I share this here with his permission.
Q4: How do you feel about restrictions?
A4: That really isnt in the context of this session, but since we have time, Ill give you my personal opinions, if you like. I cant speak on restrictions for everybody. That would be too presumptuous. I can only talk about what works for my own lodge back home. Shall I go ahead?
How my lodge feels about restrictions is based on some premises. The first premise is that we are all brothers in the Order of the Arrow. That is, equal brothers. We all got into the OA the same way, with election by others. If we have Brotherhood membership, thats because we all individually made a personal promise to accept the challenge to cheerful service that was shown to us during the Ordeal. If we are Vigil, that is a sign given to indicate that others feel that we have done a decent job of keeping that personal promise we made to ourselves at Brotherhood.
Read the Full Post on blog.oaimages.com
August 22nd, 2009
Patch Trading at NOAC
Now this is patch trading!
Jason Spangler, aka The Santee Swapper, took out his video camera during the evening patch trading at NOAC. Rather than showing every single patch that was out there -- an almost impossible task if I say so myself -- he wanted to capture the atmosphere of patch trading in Read Hall. The video clip is after the jump.
Read the Full Post on blog.oaimages.com
August 18th, 2009
2009 NOAC: Who Had the Most Patches?
Now that NOAC is over we can start to get a better grasp on what the lodges issued for this event. I would not be surprised if there's ultimately close to 1500 issues from the approximately 300 lodges. Keep those images coming.
Today's question: Which lodge issued the most patches for NOAC. Skyuka 270 had 14 pieces and they are not a lodge known for its large quantity of issues. Has anyone issued more?
I think there's at least 11 issues from Amangamek Wipit (not yet online) so they could be a contender with a few more patches. Wipala Wiki has been known for a large number of NOAC patches in past years, but I've not seen much from them yet.
On the other extreme: Were there any lodges in attendance that issue no patches for NOAC?
Read the Full Post on blog.oaimages.com
Archive for O-Shot-Caw 265
The latest piece in the 2008-2009 2010 activity patch series for O-Shot-Caw 265 is now out, with the lodge’s Fall Ordeal. The designs for the series have been appropriations of National Jamboree patch designs; this latest piece is from the 1977 Jamboree.
Seven more designs to go….
Popularity: 14% [?]
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"Most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do."
James Harvey Robinson

O-Shot-Caw 265 2009 Year Patch
As reported in an earlier blog entry, O-Shot-Caw 265’s activity patch theme for the latter part of 2008 and all of 2009 is to reproduce past National Jamboree designs. An earlier year patch for 2008 recreated the 1937 Jamboree patch; yet another has been made for the set, for the year 2009 by using the 1960 Jambo patch.
Continue Reading »
Popularity: 12% [?]
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"Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience."
Laurence J. Peter

O-Shot-Caw 265 2008-09 Year Patch
Previous readers of the Blog covering Florida and O-Shot-Caw 265 may recall that the lodge’s 2008 activity patch series was supposed to be inspired by 1960’s rock concert poster art (as mentioned here). Well, for various reasons, the theme was abandoned (for more, read the Florida Collectors’ Newsletter 2008 Spring issue). A new theme began with the Fall 2008 Ordeal, using past National Jamboree designs. The year theme patch has been released, with a large felt rendition of the 1937 Jamboree design. Continue Reading »
Popularity: 11% [?]
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"Pray as if everything depended upon God and work as if everything depended upon man. "
Francis Cardinal Spellman
This summer, South Florida Council sent a contingent to the 2008 Irish National Jamboree. Ordinarily, not an OA patch event, but O-Shot-Caw 265 has two flaps that were created for the Jamboree, the first woven flaps from Florida.
Continue Reading »
Popularity: 8% [?]
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"Television is where you watch people in your living room that you would not want near your house."
Groucho Marx

O-Shot-Caw 265 Gokhos Chapter J2
Way back in October of 2006 I wrote a post entitled “Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery” in which I pointed out some patches whose designs appeared to be inspired by other patches. I now offer up another pair of patches.
Pictured here is an image recently sent to me by Robert Mathis. This is the J2 from O-Shot-Caw lodge’s Gokhos chapter. As you can see, the design is simply a large cut-out owl, wings outstretched, on an arrow. The chapter had previously issued their X1 with an almost identical design. I think it’s an effective design and looks good. However, it might look more than a little bit familiar to some folks.
Continue Reading »
Popularity: 8% [?]
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"Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book."
Ronald Reagan
On the weekend of May 16-18, Echockotee held its Summer Fellowship, and continued with the 2008 activity patch series of “Florida’s Coral Reef”. The weekend patch featured the design of a snapper.
A few weeks earlier, at the Nok-Su Chapter Conch Craziness Weekend, a discovery was made that could potentially add a patch to the series.
Continue Reading »
Popularity: 11% [?]
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"If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time."
Marian Wright Edelman
O-Shot-Caw 265 has released their multiple sets for the lodge’s ArrowCorps5 contingent. Two of the sets were available for sale as fundraisers, while a third set was distributed to the contingent only, at 2/ person.
Continue Reading »
Popularity: 8% [?]
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"Don't be a fool and die for your country. Let the other sonofabitch die for his."
George S. Patton
This past weekend was the annual “Conch Craziness Weekend”, hosted by Nok-Su Chapter of O-Shot-Caw Lodge 265 in the Florida Keys. Folks came from four different lodges to attend, with the furthest attendee travelling over 500 miles to Camp Sawyer (Mile Marker 34 oceanside, just north of Big Pine Key). Still, a longer trip than the Cuban refugees that sailed their raft a few weeks ago, to land on the shores of the camp. Continue Reading »
Popularity: 11% [?]
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"There are three things which are real: God, human folly, and laughter. The first two are beyond our comprehension. So we must do what we can with the third."
John F. Kennedy
John has beaten me to the punch with postings about the recent Section S-4S Conference. Osceola Lodge 564 hosted the event, held at Flying Eagle Scout Reservation near Bradenton. Over 1000 Arrowmen were in attendance. The number of patch traders seemed to be lower than usual, making it hard to find some of the more difficult items. Along with the host items that John had previously mentioned, three lodges (Aal-Pa-Tah 237, Echockotee 200, and O-Shot-Caw 265) made items for their lodges’ attendance at the Conference.
Continue Reading »
Popularity: 15% [?]
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"It's not only the most difficult thing to know one's self, but the most inconvenient."
Josh Billings
Nok Su Chapter of O-Shot-Caw Lodge 265 will host their annual “Conch Craziness Weekend” on May 2-4, at Camp Sawyer, located on West Summerland Key, just north of Big Pine Key. This event attracts Arrowmen from all over Florida, and even a few making the trip from Alabama, for a weekend of fellowship, tourism, camping, fishing, and patch trading in the Florida Keys (for those that want to visit but stay in civilization, Marathon is about 15 miles away, and Key West is 30 miles the other way. Miami? 120 miles). Camp Sawyer is extremely small (less than 4 acres), but no where else can you set your tent up 20 feet from the ocean like this. Activities include self-guided tours of Key West and the nearby Key Deer National Refuge.
Cost for the weekend is $22, which includes meals and a patch for the weekend (also a breakfast for Vigil members on Sunday morning). While this has been an annual event since 1993, this may be the last for two years, as construction on new facilities may cancel plans for 2009. If you are interested, contact Bob Wolz (chapter advisor) at Bob.Wolz@Craftsmandesigns.com, or: Bob Wolz, Advisor, Box 1411, Key West, FL 33041. Please let Bob know by April 25 if you are interested, by sending in your registration fee. Anyone that needs a ride from out of town, let me know, and I can put you in touch with the people to make it happen.
Oh yeah, the Section S-4S Conference (Florida) begins tomorrow, with 1200+ expected to attend. See you there.
Popularity: 7% [?]
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"Pray as if everything depended upon God and work as if everything depended upon man. "
Francis Cardinal Spellman
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Recent OAImages News
December 5th, 2009
A Fun Few Days
I'm sure most of you noticed the problems this site has been having over the past few days. It went offline several times. It was a frustrating experience. To add to my woes, I somehow managed to pick up some "bad stuff" on my computer at home. The last time I had this much trouble with my site, server, and home PC I was also let go from my job. Luckily that did NOT happen!
"Techie Talk" follows...
Read the Full Post
October 4th, 2009
Blocked Emails
I have been made aware this evening of a couple of issues with email.
Hotmail is currently blocking email from some RoadRunner servers at this time. RoadRunner is my ISP and my outgoing mail, except for messages automatically generated by my server come from there. RoadRunner currently has published this notice:
Read the Full Post
September 30th, 2009
More NOAC Images
To those who are wondering where the rest of the NOAC patches are... A large group will be uploaded to the site later today or this evening. I'm working on large groups from the 200s and 300s ranges of lodge numbers right now. Stay tuned.
Read the Full Post
September 21st, 2009
Temporary Email Outage: Resolved
Last Friday RoadRunner started blocking email from my server because of spam without my knowledge. I had been filtering all my incoming mail at OAImages through my RoadRunner so as to filter out most of the several hundred spam messages that I get every day. RoadRunner apparently did not like that. I had no idea the server was being blocked until I saw over 800 notices that email was rejected on my server's queue last night.
This is now resolved and I am now receiving mail again, but it is coming directly (unfiltered) to me from my server, spam and all. I am currently working to block the spam.
If anyone sent me email between Friday morning (9/18) and this morning (9/21), please don't assume I received it. I probably did not see it. Please send again.
Thank you.
Read the Full Post
August 7th, 2009
OA Blue Book Going "Web 2.0"
One of the big items of discussion at the recent pre-NOAC TOR was the fate of Blue Book. For those who don't know, the various legal issues in which this became entangled are now resolved. The new editor in chief of the Blue Book is Roy More. His desire is to maintain this resource in electronic and online forms. It has become impractical to publish this in book form as was done for the first six editions.
The goal is to create an "ever green" resource, with active input by collectors. It will be going "Web 2.0" in many respects. OAImages, will remain an integral part in this. This does not mean uncontrolled anarchy though, with lodge listings being changed at will by anyone who chooses. Roy writes:
...OA Blue Book will not become a Wikipedia. This is a standards (sic) project which means there must be structure, discipline and stability. That said, Blue Book will become much more open for all...
There are still many issues that need to be worked out. Roy More has started a blog at oabluebook.com to discuss some of the various issues that need to be resolved. There are only a few posts there now, but he plans to update this frequently. Please check this out and comment on the posts there.
Read the Full Post
April 1st, 2009
New Policies on Patches Announced
This post covers an important change in policy that will soon become effective regarding patches issued for all Order of the Arrow lodges chartered by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Please read the whole post carefully.
At a recent meeting at the National Headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America, it was announced that a new policy will be put in place by both the Boy Scouts of America and the NationalOrder of the Arrow Committee regarding lodge patch issues. Further announcements and clarifications will be made at this Summer's National Order of the Arrow Conference and at section conclaves throughout the year. This policy will be effective September 1, 2009.
All lodge flaps, and patches issued as multiple piece sets (most commonly two-piece sets) must be ordered through BSA Supply Division, or an official BSA licensee. The national OA and the BSA has decreed that all items must be produced in a minimum quantity of 1000 (one thousand) pieces. In the case where a lodge wishes to make minor changes in design or colors, 1000 of each must be produced.
Should the lodge feel they do not need that many pieces to suit their needs, the BSA Supply Division will purchase all remainders from the manufacturer and retain them. They will be available to the lodges should more be needed. At the BSA's discretion, they will also be made available for sale in all BSA run Scout shops.
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