Troop,

The long awaited new guidance has been published for us to move toward meeting in person.

Basically, the adult leadership (Scoutmaster, Committee Chair, and COR) is required to do some on-line training and all parents will have to sign some waivers and such. I will get this stuff done, and push the others to get their parts done as soon as possible so we can have some meetings in person.

That being said, we will likely have one last Zoom meeting next week before being able to resume in-person stuff, just due to training availability.

When we do meet, we will still have to remain distant and wear masks when we are near each other.

More information to follow!

Dan

Troop,

Instead of holding an official meeting tonight, a bunch of the guys are getting together at Mountian Shadows Park (next to Chipeta Elementary School on Flying W Ranch Rd) to play Ultimate Cabbage.

6pm, Mountain Shadows park – not an official meeting.

Yes, if you play and have small hands, you will smell like a carny in the end (Austin Powers reference-for those of you who care).

See you guys there!

Dan

Troop,

August is our annual planning month, so on that theme, here are a few ideas to start throwing around:

Merit badges for social distancing: the list

• American Business
• American Heritage
• Animation
• Art
• Basketry
• Bird Study
• Chemistry
• Chess
• Citizenship in the World
• Collections
• Composite Materials
• Cooking
• Digital Technology
• Drafting
• Electricity
• Electronics
• Energy
• Engineering
• Environmental Science
• Family Life
• Fingerprinting
• First Aid
• Game Design
• Genealogy
• Graphic Arts
• Home Repairs
• Leatherworking
• Mammal Study
• Metalwork
• Mining in Society
• Model Design & Building
• Moviemaking
• Music
• Nuclear Science
• Oceanography
• Painting
• Photography
• Plant Science
• Plumbing
• Pottery
• Programming
• Pulp & Paper
• Railroading
• Robotics
• Salesmanship
• Scholarship
• Sculpture
• Search & Rescue
• Soil & Water Conservation
• Space Exploration
• Stamp Collecting
• Sustainability
• Textile
• Theater
• Weather
• Wilderness Survival
• Woodcarving
• Woodwork

Camping at a distance? Need to know where and how we plan on doing this safely.

See you guys on Zoom tonight.

Topic: BoyScouts Troop287’s Zoom Meeting
Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime

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Troop,

Due to our unofficially planned non-meeting tonight having a great chance of being rained out, we will do it on Thursday evening at 5pm. Same place, Adventure Mini-Golf, 6550 Corporate Dr.

No Zoom tonight, just going to meet up on Thursday.

If you have anything that needs signature, I will be available thursday evening during the golf stuff (and a little prior and after).

Have a nice Scouting-free evening!

Dan

Troop,

Tomorrow night, we will not have a meeting. Instead, I understand that the Scout leadership made a decision not to have a formal Scout related meeting, and will be attending mini-golf at Adventure Mini-Golf, 6550 Corporate Dr.

They said they plan to meet up there at 5pm, and head into the course to do some golf and batting cages.

Remember this is not a sanctioned Scouting event, just a chance to have some fun with some friends during a time slot that is usually reserved for Scouting. The cost is $5 for those 12 and up. $4 for 12 and under. http://www.adventuregolfcos.com/pricing/

Siblings and such are alright to attend as well. This place is open air, but a public area, so masks are still required. Since it is open air, I do not know if they allow you to just carry the mask with you and use it when you go into the buildings or what. But make sure you bring one.

Talk to you all tomorrow night.

If you are attending and need something signed off in your handbook, I can take a few minutes to do that on the side, just bring your book.

Dan

Troop,

As discussed last week, we are looking to move to a new schedule for our meetings during this time of no in-person meetings.

The schedule would be to meet the first and third Tuesday of each month. Reserving the second and fourth Tuesdays to have optional “other” non-Scouting activities.

I will seek Troop Council approval for this action, which is required, to make this change.

This week’s meeting (28 July) is cancelled in an effort to test this concept. I think several members of the troop are meeting up at Adventure Mingolf at 6550 Corporate Dr. More details to follow such as time and all that. Remember this is not a meeting, so no scout funds can be used to pay for the golf.

Dan

Troop,

If you are working on the Citizenship in the Community, or want to work on it, tune in tonight to the D-20 live broadcast of their School Board Meeting. make sure you take notes so when Mr Durrenberger quizzes you on it, you will be able to answer his questions.

https://www.asd20.org/board-of-education/board-meetings

Sorry, I forgot to click post earlier!

Dan

There will be PLC at 6:15 tonight to discuss this weeks game night.

Heres he needs to be there- Mark, Evan, Jack and Ignacio.

Sorry for the short notice!-Geren SPL

Of course it does! Just make sure you are documenting your activities in your Scout handbook so we can review it and mark off the requirements when we actually get to meet up again.

Troop,

As we continue to move through this Covid-19, social distancing, stay safe at home and everywhere else stuff, I encourage you to continue learning and Scouting. There are plenty of sites available through a quick Google search that will provide you with the resources to earn merit badges and rank advancement. Just let us know what your plans are and we will support them!

Tonight, again is a Zoom meeting, of course. I want to have you all think about a non-Scouting function to do “together”, but not “together”. Maybe a bike ride, hike, or something like that. Anyway, let me know. This can’t be an official Scout-sponsored gathering, it would be just for fun and volunteer based.

See you guys tonight!

Dan

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Troop,

Below are a couple of resources to keep an eye on. The first one is the State of Colorado Covid update and the second is the Pikes Peak BSA site. As I have been saying all along, we have to abide by these two agency’s guidelines before we can meet in person. This is where I go a couple times a week to see if anything has changed.

On the same note, the Mayor today stated our numbers of Covid are increasing at an alarming rate. He basically gave the community two weeks to make a change, otherwise he would heavily consider re-implementing lockdowns.

I am not posting this info to put any fear into anyone at all. I just want you all to be informed and understand where my decisions are coming from to protect all of us.

Also, a couple of you are bashing out Merit Badges! Good job. Continue that effort! It will make things so much easier when it comes time for advancement through the top three ranks.

See you all in Zoom tonight. As always, if you need something from me, shoot me a text or email, or give me a call. Life is a little crazy right now, we are still renovating our house, so my response time has been a little slower than normal!

Dan

FYI: https://covid19.colorado.gov/safer-at-home

http://www.pikespeakbsa.org/News/SAFERestart

From the Pikes Peak Council Website:
Units should not conduct meetings or activities until your community has entered the “Protect our Neighbors” phase of Colorado reopening.

Zoom details:

Topic: BoyScouts Troop287’s Zoom Meeting
Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime

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Meeting ID: 741 7820 3858
Password: 0BtFgg

Troop,

Bottom line up front (BLUF): No in person meetings, yet.

The reasoning behind this: I spoke with our Scout Executive/CEO, James Machamer at Council a little while ago. We had a pretty in depth conversation about how BSA is handling this Covid stuff and the relationship between El Paso County and the stages of re-opening things.

The BSA as specific guidelines in place that should be followed when holding in-person meetings. We can definitely do all of those and be successful. There is one requirement we can not get past: the requirement for El Paso County to be in the “Protect Your Neighborhood” phase. Because El Paso County is not yet fully in that phase of this process, we are still restricted from meeting in person.

This is a definite blow to our plans to get together, but I hope that all of you understand the seriousness of this pandemic. When we are allowed to get together, we will definitely make the most of it.

I encourage all of you to NOT rely on Scouting to be your only access to the great outdoors. Just because we can’t have togetherness and camping and such, does not mean you can not do those activities with your families. Plan a trip, have a picnic, or just go into the woods and hang out for a few hours. Build a camp gadget (ahem: Rank Requirement) that is beneficial to the campsite (take a pic and send it to me and I will credit you).

Anyway, We will see you again tonight through the magic of the interspace.

Dan

Topic: BoyScouts Troop287’s Zoom Meeting
Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime

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Meeting ID: 741 7820 3858
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Maybe. That is the word.

Troop,

Tomorrow will be our first meeting in July after some guidance was published by State officials.

The State provided a framework for each county to follow in order to enter the next phase of Covid Response. The next Phase is “Protect Our Neighbors”.

The bottom line here is that El Paso County has not accomplished the requirements for us to move into that phase. Or at least the website is not clear on this matter.

This means we are going to plan for another Zoom type meeting; with a secondary plan to meet at the Barn (depending what I hear from Council tomorrow morning).

I will call the Council office in the morning and begin the bombardment of calls to them about meetings and such. Here is the real deal: if we do not have council approval to meet, no one is covered by BSA insurance or anything like that. So to be safe, I will make contact with Council to determine a plan forward. Once I hear something, I will make a post.

On another issue: Ryan Mutchler (Life Scout), has been approved to move forward with his Eagle Scout Project. Here is a note from him pertaining to his project. If you would like to help Ryan out (he needs to provide leadership to other Scouts to meet the requirements).

Hi Everyone!

I am Ryan Mutchler and I am new to the troop. I am working on my Eagle Scout Project and I am making N-95 face mask covers for the Audubon Surgery Center. These N-95 covers will prolong the usage of the N-95s used by the medical staff, as N-95 masks are in short supply. I am in need of volunteers to cut and sew the mask covers. I will provide the specific material and pattern to the volunteers. Volunteers can either cut out the pattern, or sew the masks together, or do both. I am asking volunteers to provide their own scissors, thread (any color is fine), and sewing machine. It is possible, this thick material being used, may dull the sewing machine needle. I will replace any needles that are affected from volunteering. In an effort to comply with social distancing, I will drop off materials to you and pick them up within a couple of days. 

If you are interested, feel free to email, call or text me.

Thanks!

Ryan Mutchler

(925)628-3007

ryan@leibnizcreations.com

Sorry, I messed up and put the wrong zoom code in the last post.

Here is the correct information:

BoyScouts Troop287 is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: BoyScouts Troop287’s Zoom Meeting
Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/74178203858?pwd=SUYxNEtPNThZZEwrTzNhSUZEWkgrZz09

Meeting ID: 741 7820 3858
Password: 0BtFgg

Troop,

The word in the wind is that starting 1 Jul (tomorrow) the state will go from “Safer at Home” to “Safe Neighborhood” rules.

The BSA has published a rather long and in depth rules for this stage of getting back to normal. I will gloss over the big parts, and you and your families can dig deeper into the rules over the next week.

Here is the link to the rules:
http://www.pikespeakbsa.org/News/SAFERestart

The big thing is that we have to have some waivers signed and documented. No biggie there.

The other stuff is like the requirement to wear masks (whether indoors or outdoors). Taking temperatures at home prior to coming to the meeting, and a few other things like that.

Anyways, here is the Zoom stuff:

Meeting ID: 961 858 5239
Password: 8EKJzf
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Meeting ID: 961 858 5239
Password: 345220
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbpqoiIeSS

See you tonight!

Dan

Noun

1. disagreement between people.
   “a prosperous family who showed no signs of discord”
   
2. lack of harmony between notes sounding together.”the music faded in discord”

Verb

1. (of people) disagree.”we discorded commonly on two points”
   

2. (of things) be different or in disharmony.”the party’s views were apt to discord with those of the leading members of the administration”

So, with that out of the way, I owe some parents a few things, namely BSA applications and such, which can be downloaded from this link: https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/524-406.pdf

I know I am forgetting a whole mess of stuff, it has been a crazy week in my house with this renovation going on. But that is no excuse. I will get on it this week and get everything caught up.

Here is the Zoom link. I think the Scout Leadership was thinking about setting up Discord again, which is why I provided the information above. I suggest we start in Zoom and then migrate to Discord.

See you guys tonight!

Dan

BoyScouts Troop287 is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: BoyScouts Troop287’s Zoom Meeting
Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/74178203858?pwd=SUYxNEtPNThZZEwrTzNhSUZEWkgrZz09

Meeting ID: 741 7820 3858
Password: 0BtFgg

Troop,

Here is the invite for tonight’s Zoom:

Topic: BoyScouts Troop287’s Zoom Meeting
Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/74178203858?pwd=SUYxNEtPNThZZEwrTzNhSUZEWkgrZz09

Meeting ID: 741 7820 3858
Password: 0BtFgg

I would like to see if some of the younger Scouts can knock off some advancement requirements. Maybe we can work our old schedule of MB week, Rank ADV week, etc. back into the mix.

I will hang out for a couple minutes in the beginning, then let Scout leaders have the younger Scouts practice, and if anyone wants to “prove their knowledge”, we can do that the last few minutes of the 7 o’clock hour. Then you guys can chit chat and do that Discord stuff.

Dan