Weekly Post, May 10, 2015

Post date: May 10, 2015 9:46:18 PM

Hello Troop 737,

Happy Mother’s Day to all you wonderful Mothers :) Thank you for all you do!!

I am afraid the meadow at Flying J Ranch is going to be more like a pond than a field. So Monday night we will meet at the church at the regular time. We will do a short program on backpacking and then the scouts will be playing games outside so dress appropriately.

Thank you to Mrs. Bly, who is in charge of our Boards of Review, and Mr. Landon, our Advancement chair, for getting through all the rank advancements that came up at last Monday’s meeting. Scouts please don’t put this off to the last minute. Next time, I may limit the number of scoutmaster conferences and therefore, rank advancements we can do in one meeting.

Because of weather, both the church cleanup and troop garage and trailer clean up were rescheduled to this Saturday May 16^th. Please come and do your duty to support our charter organization. We also need to get ready for the upcoming camping season. Come by anytime between 8am and 2pm. Lunch will be provided.

On May 17^th from 3 – 6pm we will be holding our annual Troop planning meeting. Scouts will be planning the events for next year. Parents, this is a scout led troop so the scouts will make the ultimate decision as to what they want to do, but we need your suggestions. Please email me with ideas for campouts, events, meetings, speakers, etc. We will present them to the Scouts.

The Lost Creek backpacking trip has been rescheduled to June 26 -28. Mark your calendars. Mr. Plaehn is the HALO (Head Adult Leader Organizer) for this trip. Details to follow.

On June 29^th we will be holding our annual summer camp prep meeting at our regular meeting time and place. This is for both scouts and parents. Come learn how your scout can get the most out of of his summer camp experience and learn about what needs to be done before and during camp. This is especially important for new scouts and their parents.

Raffle Tickets. Scouts have been receiving raffle tickets for being on time and in full uniform. Scout leaders have also been handing out a few for scouts who were especially helpful. We will be raffling off this cool knife and compass at the Court of Honor at the end of May. So keep those raffle tickets and bring them to the end of the year COH (Court of Honor).

REMINDER To be included in the Troop 737 group text messages, text @troop737 to (303) 625-7829. This is mainly for Scouts but parents are welcome to join. You will need to respond to a follow up text by entering your name. All of this information is now available on our website under Troop Communication. You can opt-out of messages at any time by replying, ‘unsubscribe @troop737’.

Upcoming signup deadlines

Sign up for the Lost Creek backpacking trip which will be June 26 - 28.

Scoutmaster Minute Review

Last week we did soap carving which kind of turned into a fiasco. I believe this is still a good idea for a troop activity, we just lacked in the execution. We talked about what happened and how we could do it differently next time. Life is full of setbacks, problems or failures. How do you handle them?

1. If you are part of the problem – admit it. A scout is trustworthy

2. Fix it as fast and as best as you can – in our case it meant cleaning up both that night and the next day.

3. Learn from it – how would you do it differently.

4. Move on – don’t dwell on the mistake but remember the solution. Lots of times moving on means doing it again.

Personally I have learned as much or more from my mistakes as anything else. I know the lessons are set in my memory better. Don’t freak out at mistakes – learn from them and even welcome them. So when mistakes happen; admit it, fix it, learn from it and move on. Remember what that great American poet, Garth Brooks, said, “Failure isn’t failure, if a lesson is learned”.

Here is a list of upcoming events:

You can always check out the full schedule on the Troop website at: https://sites.google.com/a/themountaintroop.org/troop-737-home/troop-calendar

May 11 Troop Meeting 6:30 – 8pm Backpacking Service patrol is the Atomic Swordfish. Please show up 15 minutes early to help set up. Moved back to ELC (Evergreen Lutheran Church) Lessons in backpacking and Outdoor FUN. Dress appropriately.

May 16 Church Cleanup 8:00am – 11:00 RESCHDULED Come help clean up the outside of the church, which is our charter organization.

May 16 Troop Trailer and Garage Cleanup 11:00am – 2pm. RESCHDULED Come help clean out and organize the Troop garage and trailer. Make sure that the Troop and your Patrol box is ready for our next outing. If you can only come for a couple of hours, that is fine. Lunch will be provided.

May 17 Annual Troop Planning meeting 3 – 6 pm ELC Scouts come and help plan the activities for the upcoming year. We really need your input. Parents, this is a scout led troop so the scouts will make the ultimate decision as to what they want to do but we do need your suggestions. Please email me with ideas for campouts, events, meetings, speakers, etc. We will present them to the Scouts.

May 18 Troop Meeting 6:30 – 8pm Court of Honor Service patrol is the Atomic Swordfish. Please show up 15 minutes early to help set up. All scouts who have achieved a new rank or merit badges since our last Court of Honor will be recognized. All parents are encouraged to come, especially Mothers. Theme is Star Wars so “bring no whole foods, bring tons of GMO’s and Chemicals” Meeting outside so dress appropriately.

June 26 - 28 Lost Creek Backpacking trip HALO is Mr. Plaehn. Details to follow.

June 29 Summer Camp prep Meeting 6:30 – 8pm ELC This is for both scouts and parents. Come learn how your scout can get the most out of scouts and learn about what needs to be done before and during camp. This is especially important for new scouts and their parents.

As Scoutmaster of a very active troop, I am constantly being approached about our troop helping out in the community. The troop policy has been to give our Eagle projects the priority over any other service opportunities. Instead of bombarding you all with these other opportunities I will keep a list and if a scout wants to participate in a service project or he needs service hours for rank advancement, he can email me for the list.