Weekly Post, February 16, 2014

Post date: Feb 17, 2014 1:17:08 AM

Hello Troop 737,

A great time was had by all the scouts and parents who came on the Ski trip yesterday. Before we started out, Rebecca gave us a tour of the Ski Patrol emergency facilities, see below. Luckily, none of us ended up there during the rest of the day. After the upper lifts were finally opened because of the 100 mile an hour winds the night before, some AWESOME SHREDDING occurred all day. Thanks to Mr. Goslou for HALOing this outing. You did a GREAT job! For all those scouts who are working on your Snow Sports Merit badge, we will finish up the other requirements at an upcoming meeting.

Tomorrow night is the Patrol Leaders Council meeting (PLC). The PLC will plan the activities for the upcoming units. All PLC members are expected to participate. This meeting is especially important for the Troop Guide and Instructors. We will be discussing how to work with all our new scouts.

Our next Campout is Klondike, February 21 - 23. This is always a great time! Come practice your scout skills and use what you learned at Winter Camp Training. Anyone can go camping in the summer, but only REAL MEN camp in the winter! Most of my favorite Scout stories come from winter camping trips. Of course there will be frozen chicken bowling! There is time to still sign up but you need to come tomorrow night to help with food prep.

Tomorrow night, February 17, we will need your help to prepare the food. We will be doing retort cooking, so we will be vacuum packing all our food. If you are not a member of the PLC, please come and help prepare the food.

If you want to go to the Crane Viewing Trip in March, you need to contact Mr. Bramer NOW. rjbramer@msn.com. Mr. Bramer needs to finalize the reservations by Tuesday. This bucket list experience is open to all family members.

All new scouts and at least one parent from each family need to attend the New Scout and Parent Orientation on March first. This will help everyone plug into Troop 737.

Thanks to Aaron Hansen, we have invited the Internet Safety division of the Jefferson County DA’s office to give a presentation to the mountain area Scout groups. The presentation doesn’t directly cover the CyberChip program of the Boy Scouts of America, but we may try to incorporate this into our programming. All parents and siblings in middle school or above are encouraged to attend. The presentation will be held on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 from 6:30pm to 8:00pm in the sanctuary of the Church of the Hills in Evergreen.

Here is a list of upcoming events:

· February 17 Patrol Leaders Council (PLC) Meeting 6:30 – 8pm PLC will plan the activities for the upcoming units. All PLC members are expected to participate. This meeting is especially important for the Troop Guide and Instructors. We will be discussing how to work with all our new scouts. Campout prep for Klondike.

· February 21 - 23 Timberline District Klondike Derby Leave ELC at 6pm, return Sunday at 1pm. Come on this winter adventure to practice and learn some new scout skills and have an awesome time with your friends. Of course there will be the Troop 737 tradition of FROZEN CHICKEN BOWLING!!

· February 28 Trainers report for New Scout Orientation 7pm. Trainers come to the ELC to get organized for tomorrow’s New Scout Orientation. You will also have some time to hang out with your buddies.

· March 1 New Scout and Parent Orientation 8:30 Check-in meeting starts at 9am – 3pm, Lunch will be served. All new scouts and at least one parent need to attend this meeting. Come learn about Boy Scouts and how Troop 737 specifically functions. This will help both scouts and parents to understand the ins and outs of Troop 737 and how to get the most out of your Scouting experience.

· March 7 - 9 Quinzee Campout Leave ELC at 6pm, return Sunday at 1pm. We have rented a lodge (sleeps 18) up at Tahosa Scout Camp for Friday and Saturday night. We will sleep in the Lodge on Friday night. Then on Saturday we will build our Quinzees and sleep in them that night. This is one of my favorite campouts! Building a Quinzee and sleeping in it is a very rewarding experience. The Scouts love destroying the Quinzees, which is not very easy, on Sunday morning. We have also invited our multicultural scout friends from Denver to join us on Saturday and Sunday.

· March 14 - 16 Nebraska Crane Viewing Trip Leave from ELC Friday at 4pm return Sunday at 2 – 3pm. This is your chance to see thousands of sand hill cranes up-close from specially built viewing blinds. There will also be some other fun and educational side trips. Families can possibly join in on this trip.

· March 15 Search and Rescue Merit Badge workshop 9am Alpine Rescue Team Shack Troop 400 has set up an event where scouts can earn their Search & Rescue merit badge.

· March 23 – 29 Spring Break Arches Family Campout We have reserved a group site in Arches National Park. This is a tent only campground that will accommodate 35 campers. Come and experience this incredibly beautiful setting with other Troop 737 families. We will be hiking, biking, exploring, river rafting, cooking incredible food and whatever else you want to do.

Other important dates:

· June 19 – July 3 Philmont If you have signed up for Philmont, the first and second payments are due now. We still do have room so if you are at all interested, please sign up or contact me or Mr. Riley. Philmont is one of the premier scouting events of any scout’s career. All of the scouts and adults who went last time had an awesome time and highly recommend that everyone should take advantage of this opportunity. Troop 737 was VERY lucky to get a chance to go again so quickly. There is a very good chance that if you are 14 or older, you may not get another chance to go Philmont. If cost is an issue, please contact me and we will see what we can work out.

· Summer camps:

o July 6 – 12 Camp Dietler and Peaceful Valley Colorado

o July 19 – 27 Camp Island Park in Idaho