| Upcoming Events | |
|---|---|
| 22 | Boards of Review |
| 28 | Scout Sunday @ Church |
| 28 | Philmont Crew Meeting |
| 1 March | Meeting- Boards of Review |
| 7 March | Awards Banquet |
| 8 March | Meeting |
| 14 March | Committee Meeting |
| 15 March | Meeting |
| 19-21 March | Trip: Resica Falls |
| 22 | Meeting |
Wanted Several missing tents! Scouts, look around. You can't miss em
The March camping trip will be to scenic Resica Falls in the Pocono Mountains. The scouts will be staying at Firestone Camp which is the summer camp for Philadelphia Council of Boy Scouts. This will be a tent camping trip. Come view the beautiful falls during the March 19-21 weekend.
For starters, this time Troop 5 wasn't running it. Though everyone knows Troop 5 does an excellent job when put in charge of the show, we let someone else do it this year. Also, there was the quick drive home with some of the scouts about a half-hour before the start. Apparently, you could not participate if you weren't wearing boots, so many of our boys were sprinting home to drop off sneakers and pick up boots.
On the up side, for the first time ever, the people in charge realized we don't live in the Klondike, and that we weren't gonna get any snow! So a special rule to allow wheels on the sleds made our job a lot easier.
Once started, the two Troop 5 teams quickly got into doing the scout skills they had worked hard to learn. The Elite (comprised of Dan, Andy, Nick, and Matt) showed their skill at building and lighting fires, and bringing their heavy sled across a ravine. The New Scouts (featuring Brett, Pete, Davy, and Jeff) were quick to get into their first Klondike Derby as Scouts.
There were many sites at the Klondike Derby, which tested the scouts' skills, such as animal track identification, accuracy with a javelin, speed at setting up tents, knowledge of the stars, and plant identification. Troop 5 scouts blazed through these sites, and, with only a short stop for lunch, were out scoring high marks at many other stations.
After long hours of visiting sites, the annual sled race awaited our tired scouts. The New Scouts, with their many numbers, did quite well for their age. The Elite, with three men pulling the sled, pulled out to an early lead but finished an impressive fourth. Troop 5 put in an impressive showing in skills, if not so much in numbers. We had fun and are looking forward to going again next year.
Ed note: The scores for the Derby have not yet been released.
This year's Awards Banquet will feature the Eagle Court of Honor for Jon, Troop 5's 77th Eagle Scout. Congratulations, Jon. In addition to the Eagle Honor, most scouts will be receiving advancements, merit badges or service stars earned since the Fall.
The fun and games begin at 4:00 and run until 7:00 on Sunday, March 7 at the Church. We're looking for a Setup Crew to prepare for the gathering around 1:00 that day. Families are being asked to bring a covered dish, a salad, main or side dish. Please let Margaret know what you'll bring when sending in your reservations. Reservations were due by February 22. Therefore, if you didn't let her know yet, please do so soonest. Should be tremendous fun.
The kids got out of school at 10:45 on Friday in order to get an early start on the road. First, we stopped at the D's to pick up gear and eat lunch. From there, we hit the road. After arriving at our destination, Manchester, Vermont, we had a big meal at Friendly's Restaurant. Afterwards, we went to a school gym where we would be sleeping. After a couple of hours of kids bouncing basketballs, we got some shuteye.
Mr. D woke us all up at 5:30 AM to get an early start on breakfast before any other troop did. We were also the first troop to arrive at Mount Bromley. After waiting for about an hour for the mountain to open, we rented our skis and hit the slopes. The weather was great by Vermont standards, and so were the slope conditions. All of Saturday the skiing was great. We did greens, blues, and even blacks. When 4:00pm rolled around, we ended our skiing for the day. Back at the gym, we changed and went right back out to a movie.
On Sunday, although we woke up a little later, we were still the first group to get breakfast. We arrived early again to the mountain. However, we only had time to ski until noon.
Then it was time to head home. We made it just in time to see the Super Bowl. Luckily, everyone made it back alive (including Paul) but there were a couple of sprained knees, right Jon and "B"?. The Venture Crew's first trip of the year turned out to be a good one.
Scouts and their customers can look forward to a new and improved form which will make keeping track of orders and credits much easier. The boys will have three weeks to sell, starting March 22 and running until April 19. As in the past, about 40% of each scout's sales will be credited towards Summer Camp and, for the very ambitious, Philmont expenses. For a scout to have his entire Summer Camp fee covered by Flower Sale credits, he would need to sell approximately $450 worth of flowers.
A hearty thanks to Betty for her years as the coordinator of this extravaganza. This year Sabine has agreed to run the show. Mary and Karen will be helping on pick up day. Jack has been calling volunteers to help with picking and loading the flower flats at Gehrling's Nursery on May 6. If you can't help at that time, perhaps you can help by supplying some food for the legions of workers that day. It's a flowerific way to spend a few hours on a warm day in May!