Adopt the pace of nature...

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

Last night during a meeting of the adult leadership, it was decided that we would leave on Sunday rather than Saturday as previously talked about.  This will make it easier for those driving due to conflicts with other things.  Those attending summer camp will meet briefly next Monday, July 5th at the VFW hall to finalize the trip.  Look in your email inbox for more info.

Monthly PLC

After not having one of these for a couple of months we're going to start them up again.  Tomorrow night (June 30th) everything changes (I hope).  If you have a position of leadership in the troop (or if you don't but would like to learn about this process), please be at the Antelope-North Highlands Library (Antelope Rd. & Walerga Rd.) no later than 6:20.  Meeting starts at 6:30 and will be over no later than 8:00 (that's when the library closes).  A map link to the library is in the Useful Links section of this blog at the bottom right of the page.

Weekly meeting

Very good meeting last night.  All of our newest scouts worked on their Fireman Chit while the older scouts worked on flag ceremonies.  Even though they have done many of these in the past, we want to give them a refresher and come up with a troop standard that they will then teach to our younger boys.

Future meetings will take us back to some basics of not just scouting, but comfort and survival in the outdoors.  We're planning some patrol competitions as well.  I'm hoping to get them to be creative in these competitions and use their imaginations.

I'm really excited about what is happening in the troop right now.  Things feel different.  Things feel good.

Twilight Camp redux

Twilight Camp was a success.  The Friday Webelos overnighter was also a huge success.  Ryan did a fantastic job and received quite a few compliments (we even received our very first comment to the blog concerning his handling of the campfire program).  There were around 40 Webelos scouts and their guardians that camped overnight.  We were able to have the BB gun range open on Saturday morning so these boys were able to have it all to themselves.  If you were there, thanks.

To meet or not to meet???

In the past we have not had a troop meeting the week of summer camp.  Of course we only had 12 boys and 10 of them went to camp, so it was pointless.  Now we have 32, but only 8 are attending camp.  Should we hold the meeting or give everyone a week off?  Hmmm...

District Twilight Camp

I have been working(?) at Twilight Camp all week.  Working is really a stretch.  I've handled the MC chores and smiled alot as I tell various adults you can't park there, or park like that, or you need to wear this to prove you're supposed to be here.  Tonight is the Webelos overnighter and Ryan is in charge of the campfire.  He's been working on skits with the dens and also compiling a list of filler skits/songs so we have a good campfire program.  We'll be retiring a flag at the close of the program, so that will hopefully prove to be a special moment for the Webelos in attendance.

June 12 Day Hike

Really pretty trail.  The first really hot day of the summer had to hit this day???  We had 13 total attend.  4 adults, 8 boys and 1 sibling.  Didn't make the entire loop.  Took too much out of my respirtory system.  The boys... no big deal.  Even with the elevation gain of around 1500 feet in about 2 miles.  We're going to plan many more hikes in the future but they'll be a little less challenging.  We'll (and by we I really mean me) work our way up to those.

The part that pleased me the most was listening to the boys singing as we were heading back down the trail to our cars.  That and the one scout that had a questionable view of another scout at the beginning of the hike and by the middle had changed his view 180deg.

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?

Weekly meetings

Good meeting this past Monday.  The boys learned how to make their own Gatorade and held Patrol elections.  Afterward they played some baseball.  Is there a better game to watch boys play?

Weekly meeting notes

The Vikings and Flaming Monkeys worked on some Citizenship items last night.  I have a DVD that was created as an Eagle project a few years back and we watched this last night.  It covers flag etiquette and ceremonies.  Afterward the boys folded some flags that are ready to be retired.  We also started an Honor Guard and will rotate all the boys through it so they can learn proper methods for a flag ceremony.

The older boys held a PLC and made some decisions for the Troop while the younger boys were watching the DVD.  We have a new SPL in Trevor and his ASPL will be Brandon M.  Good luck to both of you.  We will seat these and other boys into their positions at the next Court of Honor in June.

Leadership can and does happen

At the recently completed Scout Expo our SPL was unable to attend due an illness.  Our ASPL was also absent so I appointed Trevor to be our SPL for this event.  Trevor recently earned his Life rank and he did a fantastic job.  He had never even help a Patrol Leader position before.  This is what I was hoping for.

Also, Greg took charge of the kitchen as head cook for the outing.  He divided the kitchen in two since we had basically two patrols going.  Greg was wonderful in his duties as head cook.  We had some excellent food over the weekend.

Both of these young men were singled out for attention at our committee meeting last night, and deservedly so.  Congratulations to both of you for an outstanding job!  Our troop is in good hands as it heads into the future.

Weekly meeting notes

We had our weekly meeting last night and for the third time in the last 4 weeks we are having issues with bullying.  I had a circle up discussion about this very topic three weeks ago and it doesn't seem to have had any impact.  I've let the boys know that if it happens again they will asked to leave the meeting.  Once more after that and they will be asked to leave the Troop.  We have a young man that will be sporting a black eye due to last evenings activities.  I won't tolerate it any more.

One more month of craziness, then we slow down and can breathe.

The month of May is the last of the craziness.  Things will settle down after that.  We do have something planned on all but one weekend for the month of May.  Our outing is a campout to Yuba Gap the weekend of May 21-23 and a decision on your attendance is needed pretty quickly.  The deadline to sign up is May 10th.

We have community service projects on May 13, 14 and 15 (Rio Linda Farm Days), another one on May 14th (help out at an Eagle project to paint crosses) and May 29th (place those crosses).  There is the parade on May 31st.  These will only last a few hours each, but we do need your help to make them successful.

There is actually something planned on that lone weekend, but it isn't a troop activity.  The Pioneer District is having their annual District Awards dinner on May 8th.  I hope that you can be available to attend this.  It will be fun and will allow you to show your thanks for all of those adults that volunteer their time to our kids.

10-19 Meeting

Productive evening. The boys began work on two Eagle required merit badges, all by themselves. They plan on finishing them up before Thanksgiving.

Annual Planning meeting

We held our annual planning meeting and it went very well I think. The boys gave input as to what they wanted to do next year and then we had discussions on where we should visit to do those things. I think we have a good year planned. The next step in this process is to select a boy to be in charge of each event and an adult to help guide them through the leadership of that outing.