Weekly Post, February 23, 2014

Post date: Feb 24, 2014 2:35:59 AM

Hello Troop 737,

What a great weekend for Klondike. Due to a lingering illness and some sound advice from my wife and Mr. Riley, I did not attend Klondike this weekend. Thank you to Mr. Riley and Mr. Pond for HALOing (Head Adult Leader Organizer) this event. I look forward to hearing all about your adventures.

The PLC (Patrol Leaders Council) has decided that the theme for the upcoming unit will be cooking. This will be culminating in a Troop 737 Cooking Competition on March 17^th. The Scouts will be planning and cooking the meal by patrols. All families are welcome to join us. There will be many prizes including the coveted prize for the best all-around meal.

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. We need an assistant HALO for this event to help Mr. Osborn with the food for this event. This includes breakfast for the trainers and lunch for everyone. Please contact me or Mr. Osborn.

Here is a list of upcoming events:

· February 24 Troop Meeting 6:30 – 8pm Cooking Service patrol is the Stags. Please show up 15 minutes early to help set up. The new scouts will be learning how to set up and use one of the Troop 737 stoves. This will be outside so please dress accordingly. The older scouts will be learning about Dutch oven cooking and thinking about the upcoming cooking contest. Game: sharks and minnows, which will be played outside if possible. Dress accordingly.

· 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 3 Troop Meeting 6:30 – 8pm Cooking Service patrol is the Stags. Please show up 15 minutes early to help set up. Scouts will learn about one pot meals, including a demonstration and a tasting. Quinzee crew will be doing campout prep including demonstrating prepping for retort cooking. Game: rubber ball relay.

· 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 10 Troop Meeting 6:30 – 8pm Cooking Service patrol is the Stags. Please show up 15 minutes early to help set up. Patrols will be deciding on their final menu for next week’s feast. They will then be making detailed grocery lists. Patrols will then switch and critique each other’s list. Mr. Scutellaro will talk about dehydrating your own backpacking food. Games: tarp flip and human knot.

· 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 10 Troop 737 Cooking Competition 6:30 – 8:30pm All families are welcome to come. Many prizes will be awarded including the coveted prize for the best all-around meal. Some scouts will need to be dropped off as early as 5:30 depending on their duties for the night. The plan is to eat by 7 and be cleaned up by 8:30.

· 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:

· Wednesday, April 16, 2014 from 6:30pm to 8:00pm in the sanctuary of the Church of the Hills in Evergreen. 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.

· 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