Many updates

Wow. Didn't realize it had been a couple of weeks since my last post. Lots going on. Summer camp has come and gone. A small group attended but much fun was had. There were some issues as well, but when aren't there? It was good that a few of our newest scouts attneded and earned a couple of merit badges. I'm especially pleased with the performance of our older scouts. They stepped up when needed and made sure stuff was taken care of.

The PLC annual planning meeting is this coming Saturday. Be there to give us your ideas of what you want to do next year.

We've had a couple of regular troop meetings since my last post as well. Seems like things are progressing. It's difficult to see sometimes. Growth takes such little steps and it's much easier to see a stumble. We're getting better, I really believe that we are. It's taking a heck of a lot longer than I thought it would.

We have a new committee chairman now. Thanks so much to Dennis Ledbetter for his years of service to the troop. Dennis will remain active in scouting, but with the Eagle board. Much success to you in the future.

Also congratulations to Mike Donlon for being selected as the new committee chairman.

Our next outing is fast approaching. Scotts Flat Reservior and water sports. This is gonna be fun! Deadline to sign up and get your payment in is this coming Monday's meeting. You're not gonna want to miss this one, I promise! We are hoping to hold one of our next couple of meetings at a pool to get the swimming requirements out of the way. Wish us luck!!!

Lastly, we have had three boys advance in the last month. Greg O. is now a Life Scout while Steven W. and Jaughn F. are now Star Scouts. Great work guys (and about time to a couple of you).

Summer Campers are there

9 youth and 3 adults ended up making the trip to Camp Fleischmann.  They got camp set up really quickly.  Temperature was nice, not too hot.  I guess it's been a little cooler this year when compared to the recent past.  Hopefully it will stay that way.

We are occupying a new campsite this year.  It's lakeside and looks to be well shaded in the afternoons.  That will be a nice respite from any heat that may come up.

I hope the week goes well for all attending and can't wait to hear the stories.

Summer Camp

For the last 8 years or so we have camped at Camp Fleischmann for our long term summer camping.  Should we be visiting other camps periodically?  I worry that the boys may be missing out on different experiences.  Each camp offers their own brand of lunacy along with different merit badges and opportunities.  I love Camp Fleischmann and would be very happy to go back there each and every year, but I have very fond memories of camping at Camp Winton as a boy.  Your thoughts?

Canoe Trek postponed???

It looks like we will need to postpone the canoe outing currently scheduled for June 12-13.  Trouble finding a camp ground among other items.

Outings changed and added

Our campout this weekend had to be canceled unfortunately.  In its place we will be taking a day hike and doing a scanvenger hunt.  Should be fun.

It looks like we will add an outing in June.  We already have a canoe trek being planned, but not everyone in the troop will want or be able to attend.  I am planning another day hike in the Lake Berryessa area for the same weekend as the canoe outing.  A challenging hike that will have us on the trail for most of the day.

Scotts Flat camping

That was a long weekend. At least it seemed like it to me. I haven't felt that tired after an outing since I was in the Cub Scout program with R. It was probably the excellent parenting going on in the campsite right next to us. If you were there you know what I mean, if you weren't any one of us can explain at length later.

All of our boys went to this event at Scotts Flat Reservoir which is located just Northeast of Nevada City. I had initially thought we were in for some very nasty weather, but it was quite nice really. It didn't get sunny until Sunday morning, but it was never really cold and we didn't get any rain.

A special thanks go out to the Mr. Powers for putting this event together. He signed up to be a Merit Badge councilor for both fishing and canoeing, so the boys had a chance to earn 2 merit badges this weekend. He put in a lot of effort to see that all of the boys had work books and spent a lot of time signing blue cards. When you see him next time make sure you say thanks.

Fishing was very difficult from what I heard, so none of them were able to complete it. Canoeing on the other hand came off quite nicely. Seven boys signed up to take the badge and six of them earned it! The seventh came this close, but wasn't ready to take that final plunge as it were. That's okay. He'll finish it at summer camp (hopefully).

We even had a boy earn a rank advancement at camp! B was able to have his Board of Review while at camp and was promoted to the rank of Second Class! Congratulations!!! An extra special thanks go out to Jeff Rogers. Jeff was at the campground with his church group. I had initially thought it was another scout group (not many other groups fly an American Flag while camping) and approached them to see if one of them would be willing to help us out. Turned out he is an Eagle Scout and was more than happy to be helpful.

June 1 meeting

While the adults had their monthly committee meeting the boys were visited by the Webelos of Pack 22. After discovering a problem with the water rocket launcher they had built, plan b was put into action. They still launched rockets, it was an air version. I didn't get to see any of this myself, but I heard that a good time was had by all.

Another scout reached First Class last night. Congrats to G!

B and I held his Scoutmaster Conference for Second Class. Hopefully we'll get the BOR done this weekend while camping.

Scott's Flat is this weekend. Looks like we're going to be getting wet, and I don't mean because we plan on canoeing and swimming.

Some upcoming events

Sunday, May 31

Orienteering. Not an official troop event, but a few of the boys did sign up to work on the Orienteering Merit Badge and this would be another item to check off for its completion. Of course, even if you didn't sign up for the badge, you could. Or show up any way and learn how to do it. I think it's a fun event. See the link for Gold Country Orienteers below right to learn more.

Sunday, May 31 (again)

Patrol Leaders Council. R will be making calls to those that need to be in attendance.

Monday, June 1

Troop Meeting and Committee Meeting. We will be visited by Pack 22 tonight. A joint activity is planned while the committee meeting is going on. If you haven't attended a committe meeting recently, or maybe at all, we could use your help. We have positions of our committee that need to be filled.

Friday, June 5

Scotts Flat canoeing/fishing outing. The plan is to have all of the boys that attend earn their canoeing and fishing merit badges. Lets hope that's possible.

Monday, June 8

Court of Honor. Need I say more? Seriously, come and see what's been going on with our boys. This will be totally(?) planned by the boys. At least as much as they can. Come and give them your support.

March 23 meeting

Planning for our next camping outing on the first weekend of April took place tonight. Menus were planned and duty rosters made. T had his board of review and was granted the rank of First Class Scout. Congrats T! Other than not knowing when to keep quiet, the boys are making some great progress.

Mr. P (T's dad) asked about putting together a 2 nighter canoe trek. We discussed what kinds of things we could do as far as activities and merit badge work. Sounds like it will be fun. I look forward to learning more about it.

Canoe trekking

Well the day came and we went on our canoe adventure. We had 11 boys and 5 adults. It was a hot day and we all seemed to have a good time, even those of us that got pretty good sunburns. We did 12 miles on the Feather River. It is an interesting river. Extremely shallow at points and then deep enough that you can't see the bottom in an instant.

We were able to find a nice little spot to stop for lunch and some frolicking in the water. All in all, a good day. When I got some pictures, I'll post them.

Has it really been that long?

Man, when you don't have time to do something, time really passes. Sorry for the lack of posts here recently. We have had some good meetings the last couple of weeks. The boys have been working together pretty good. Hopefully we can keep it up and it will show itself at the Fall Camporee in late September.

We go on our canoe trek this coming Sunday. Hopefully it won't get to be too hot, but I'm sure it will be fun either way. I'll be sure to post how it all went next week.

Short but sweet for now. I still don't have a bunch of time to sit at the computer.

July 28 meeting

It's early I know, but I hope this proves useful in the long run. I've been laid up with a nasty pinched nerve in my back and haven't been able to do much here recently. I've made some additions to the links and calendar on the right side. Please leave comments, or shoot an email to let me know what you think.

Last Monday at our meeting we had an array of good things going on. We had two boys advance to their next rank! D earned his First Class Scout rank and G earned his Second Class Scout rank. Congratulations to both of you!

We began the meeting by reviewing canoeing techniques. Mr. F. had the boys sit in chairs positioned as the seats in a canoe and had them work on different strokes for maneuvering. I think the boys now have a little bit better understanding of what to do the next time we are on the water. Which by the way is on Sunday, August 10 for our next practice session at Lake Natoma.

After this practice session and while the Boards of Review were going on, we had the boys that have already earned their Fireman Chit teach those boys that don't have it. At our next meeting we should have three more scouts prepared to start, maintain, and douse a fire.

That's all for now.

Can you canoe?

Yesterday was the first of two practice sessions before our day long trek coming up at the end of next month. There were 5 boys and 6 adults to take in a nice day on Lake Natomas. We were on the water for about two hours getting used to being in and handling our canoes. We noticed some shortcomings in our techniques and will be working on those at our next couple of meetings. The next practice session is on August 10, also at Lake Natomas.

To the boys... take note... you MUST attend this next practice session (if you weren't at yesterday's) in order to take part in the day long trek. So hopefully we'll see you there.

When I get some photos of our day, I will post them.