>>How do I add properties to an object created with a SCATTER NAME command? And once I've got them in, do I need to get rid of them before I write back to the table (which doesn't have them).
>>
>You can use AddProperty() function (VFP8 and later).

SCATTER NAME oRec
>AddProperty(oRec, "MyProperty1", "Value For that Property")

The GATHER command will ignore properties that don't match field names.