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.

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.

Scout Expo has come and gone

6300 scouts and scouters.  28 of them from Troop 22.  No rain this time, that was good.  We did get some wind.  Made for interesting moments.  I believe that everyone had a good time.  There were a few occasions where we were provided with teaching moments.  I hope we made the most of them.

Would we do this event again in the future?  I would say yes, but with some changes to our participation in certain events.  I don't feel that the Arena Show is worth it.  Too far to travel and too late in the day after such a long day of nothing but more walking.  We'll know the answer to this question in another 3 years.

Leave a comment and let us know what you thought of Scout Expo.

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.

Can you cook eggs?

At last nights meeting we discussed how to set up a kitchen area and what will take place when we go camping.  I put on a little demonstration of how to cook eggs.  It may have gone a little long as I lost the boys toward the end of it.

We also welcomed two new boys to our fold last night.  Please join me in welcoming our latest scouts and helping them on their way to Eagle.

We also passed out the gear list for Scout Expo this weekend.  Make sure to read it as some of the items on it have changed.  Don't let its familiar look fool you.