Troop,

Here are a few things that you can check out for ideas and knowledge for winter camping:

https://www.mec.ca/en/article/winter-camping-tips-26-things-beginners-should-know

https://boyscouttrail.com/library/wintercampingtips.asp

Anyway, talk to you guys tomorrow night.

Dan

Troop,

This week’s meeting is the third Tuesday of the month, which means it is uniform inspection week! So, wash and iron your shirts and prep them to look your best. Comb your hair at least once too.

We will also meal plan for this weekend’s winter campout and discuss winter camping safety (layering, proper gear ratings, etc.). Lastly, we need to identify what we will be doing for game night next week.

If you have any updates to your rank advancement, please ensure they are documented in your Scout handbook so your Scout leadership can check them off before the adults verify your knowledge and skills. You have two weeks before the rank advancement meeting.

Have a great day, it’s going to be warm out there today! See you tomorrow night.

Dan

Troop,

Here is an update from Mr Durrenberger on the MB requirements:

For Citizenship in the Community Item #3a,
Attend a meeting of your city, town, county council or school board; OR a municipal; county or state court session.
If a session is available on-line (internet) and with your parents’ permission, then watch that.

Item 3b, Choose one of the issues discussed at the meeting where a difference of opinions was expressed, and
explain to your counselor why you agrees with one opinion more than you do another one.

Jack and Mr Durrenberger will be attending the District 20 school board this Thursday Jan 23rd @6pm, 1110 Chapel Hills Drive.  If you can’t make that meeting, District 20 school board holds every other Thursday @6pm.

District 11 school board meetings will be streamed live on the D-11 website on Wednesday @6:30pm.
https://www.d11.org/Page/1782
Meetings can also be seen live on Comcast Channel 16, Falcon Broadband Channel 73, and CenturyLink Channel 8004. Meetings are rebroadcast on Saturday and Sunday evenings at 6:00 p.m.
Otherwise, District 11 school board meets every Wednesday @6:30pm at 1115 N El Paso Street.

Dan

Troop,

As you know, many of you started the Citizenship in the Community MB. Mr Durrenberger provided a lot of guidance the other night. Some of which was to watch a movie (from a pre-authorized list) and finish the requirement pertaining to the movie. Anyway, here is the list:

http://www.eaglecoach.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Citizenship-in-the-Community-Acceptable-Movies.pdf

Take a couple hours (with your parent’s permission) and check out one of these films.

I will soon post an update to some merit badge stuff that I am tracking and how you can attribute a lot of stuff you have already done in Rank Advancement to some MB work.

Have a great weekend!

Dan

Troop,

Last night the decision was to do some camping and snow shoeing. Yup. Camping. And snowshoeing. I am excited.

Here is the link to sign up:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0C4AADA829A7FE3-winter

The plan will be solidified at next week’s meeting. If you have not attended a winter/cold weather camp before, please bring your gear next week so we can discuss cold weather safety and how to stay warm overnight, as well as how not to overheat in the day when we are wearing all those layers and hiking around.

We will meet up at the church, cross load gear and Scouts into vehicles and roll out from there. Right now the choices are likely to be either National Forest areas, Camp Shadybrook, or Mueller State Park. Adult leaders are researching the best choice and will let you know next meeting what shakes out.

I heard, we had a good meeting last night. I will coordinate with the scribe to get the notes posted today or tomorrow.

Have a great week!

Dan

Troop,

Here we go! Tomorrow is our first meeting of the year and we will kick it off with some decisions on this month’s (and next month’s prospective) activities. I know we threw a few ideas around last month, but we didn’t lock anything down. So, let’s do that tomorrow night! Then next week we can have a prep meeting for the event.

As soon as we do that, Mr Durrenberger is ready to launch us into the Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge (Eagle Required). We may have a few Webelos join us tomorrow to check us out, they are more than welcome to sit in on (and get credit for) the merit badge work.

Just as a reminder: we have revamped our MB work to limit the classroom stuff and put a little more responsibility on YOU as the Scout to learn on your own. Mr Durrenberger is going to lay out the requirements for the badge, and discuss some of them as well (satisfying the requirements). After that, it will be the individual Scout’s responsibility to do a little homework on the remaining items and bring that knowledge back to and demonstrate/brief/discuss to Mr D’s satisfaction before he signs off on your blue card. (much like we have done with the Indian Lore-which, to my knowledge, there has not been a Tribe Presentation since Mr Petree started the badge in October).—Hint, hint. Come, on guys, get ‘er done so we can have some awards at the COH next month!

Anyway, see you all tomorrow night! I will be tied up in the Committee Meeting from about 7:15pm. If anyone has any questions, give me a call or shoot me a text 228-806-9063. If you are a visitor to the troop, or have interest in visiting, either swing on by or give me a call!

Dan

Troop,

D-11 is still on break until Wednesday, the 8th of January. This means we will not have our first meeting of the year until the 14th.

Enjoy the last bit of winter break and prep for an awesome year of Scouting. We will start with winter activities next weekend (17-19 Jan) for either a winter snow sports outing or something similar. We will also start Cit in the Community MB in the next meeting or two.

Anyway, enjoy this respite and we will see you on the 14th at 7pm. Also, there will likely be a few WEBELOS in attendance to see how we operate.

Dan

Troop,

I made a mistake on the time for the soup kitchen in the sign up. It is from 5:45-7pm tomorrow night. I have made the correction. So, please sign up and we will see you there!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c4aada829a7fe3-holiday

Dan

Troop,

This Sunday is our last Soup Kitchen for the year. We are only asked to do this three times during the year, and it is a good way to give to those in need and to earn some service hours for your records. Please join us for a couple of hours on Sunday.

Here is the sign up:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c4aada829a7fe3-holiday

By the way, we had a great time sledding on Tuesday night over at Howbert School. Although it was a bit chilly, the snow was fast and there were a few bumps that made great jumps. Results: loads of fun!

If we don’t see you on Sunday, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and a great New Year holiday. Our next meeting is scheduled for Jan 14 after D-11 gets back into it.

Happy Everyday!

Dan

We didnt have enough participation to meet the 10 person minimum for Battlefield Colorado tonight so we are going to do some night time sledding instead. We will meet at Howbert Elementary School at 6pm. Bring a sled and dress appropriately for the cold. We’ll be done before 8am, but might want parents to stay in case your scout gets too cold. Howbert Elementary is located at 1023 N 31st St, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 or https://goo.gl/maps/dMcqM7nDSdG1Z68JA.

See you then!!

Troop, tomorrow night is game night and it was voted that Battlefield Colorado is the place to be. However, they are on limited ours of operation during this time of year. We will need at least 10 players to make a reservation, and see if they will open the facility for us. So, please sign up if you are planning on going. Once we get the 10 rsvps, I will call and make the reservation. If not, we will have to make a quick decision on what we are going to do.

Here is the sign up:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0C4AADA829A7FE3-battlefield

Here is the weather forecast, dress accordingly.

Lastly, there have been many inquiries about visiting our troop as Webelos. This particular game night we do once a year and have a great deal of fun doing it, so if you are a Webelos and are viewing this post, please feel free to sign up and have a great time with your future troop!

Dan

Troop, Last night some decisions were made. Here is the outcome of those decisions:

1. Who is attending (see the sign-up genius in a previous post to sign up)

There are about eight Scouts currently signed up for the lock-in. Maybe more to follow.

1. What is being brought? (Games, game consoles, etc.)

Xbox 1, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Atari, Laptop for Party Games. If you want to bring something else, then go ahead and do so, or if you think you want to bring a game for one of these systems, that is totally acceptable as well.

1. Who is going to earn the Fingerprinting MB?

Pretty much everyone who participates. It is a really easy MB and should only take us about 45-60 minutes to complete if there are minimal distractions. There will be several extra packets for those who want to accomplish this MB.

1. What are we going to eat?

Doritos, Mountain Dew, Pizza, and for breakfast: donuts. Noah volunteered to buy the stuff on the list (he has a picture of the menu). His budget is about $6/Scout, so be sure to sign up so he knows how much to buy. We will order the Pizza Friday night, so he doesn’t have to worry about doing that part.

1. Will we invite Webelos? If we do, there are restrictions on them (they need to have their own adult leadership and supervision). Unless we give them a timeframe like 8-midnight or something like that.

Webelos have been invited. So long as they provide their own Adult leadership. They can stay as long as their Adults stay (part or all of the night).

1. What are we doing for Game night next week?

It was decided that Battlefield Colorado would be Game night next week. We will have to coordinate with them to see if we can get a group price or something like that, otherwise I believe it is about $25/person.

So, the schedule for Friday night is as follows:

1900 Lock-in Operations begin.

At some point before I go to sleep – Fingerprinting MB.

0930 Saturday: Lock-in operations cease and cleanup operations begin.

1000: end of operation. Everyone go home, and get some rest.

Anyway, Those are the details. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please give me a call.

Dan

Good morning everyone,

It is the time of year in which the troop needs to collect scout registration fees and annual dues. As Lisa has mentioned, Pikes Peak Council has raised the registration fees for scouts to $65 and adult leaders to $36. We do not charge our Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmasters the $36. Additionally, the annual troop dues is $80. This covers awards, supplies, and other items as needed.

Please reach out to me at bayouboyx@comcast.net should you wish to take the fees out of your son’s scout account. Also reach out if you are unsure of your son’s scout balance and I will provide. We will be writing a check to council shortly and the troop funds are tight at this time of the year. Carrie and I will be available to accept checks at troop meetings.

Reach out if you have any questions.

Regards,
Danny R.

Troop,

Tomorrow night’s meeting will cover several items for the lock-in:

1. Who is attending (see the sign-up genius in a previous post to sign up)
2. What is being brought? (Games, game consoles, etc.)
3. Who is going to earn the Fingerprinting MB?
4. What are we going to eat? we had pizza last year, maybe too much?
5. Will we invite Webelos? If we do, there are restrictions on them (they need to have their own adult leadership and supervision). Unless we give them a timeframe like 8-midnight or something like that.
6. What are we doing for Game night next week?

All that being said, we will go through the church and assign what consoles go in what rooms and stuff like that.

A schedule of events will also be decided upon.

Dan

Troop,

There was a scheduling conflict with our lock-in on the 14th. We have had to adjust our date one day to the 13th.

Here is the adjusted timeline:

Friday, 13 Dec, 7pm: show up at the church and begin lock-in operations.

8pm: doors officially lock us in for the evening (parents/adult leaders are free to come and go so long as YPT is maintained).

7pm-midnight: games, fun, food, Fingerprinting MB (for those who want it-sign up below).

Midnight-9:30am: more fun, games, eating what is left over, trivia, etc.

9:30-1000am: clean-up and re-organizing the church to the way it was when we arrived.

Saturday, 14 Dec, 10am: end of operations, go home and get some rest!

Apologies for any inconvenience this adjustment may have caused.

Dan

Fingerprinting MB sign-up:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0C4AADA829A7FE3-fingerprinting

Here is the sign-up for the Mountain Shadows tree lighting. We will be in Class A uniform and will assist in handing out hot cocoa for those who attend.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c4aada829a7fe3-mountain1

Here is the sign-up for the Lock-in. Bring games, video game consoles, TVs, movies, and whatever you guys want to do during the night.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0C4AADA829A7FE3-troop

Here is the Soup Kitchen sign-up. This is one of three Soup Kitchens we are asked to participate in during the year. A very easy couple of hours of service for your records.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0C4AADA829A7FE3-holiday

Troop,

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving break and are ready to launch full force into the Christmas season! Decorations, selfless service, Christmas music on the radio that you can’t get away from, and happy times for all!

We have only three meetings this month, plus the Mountain Shadows Holiday Tree Lighting on the 5^th (service hours opportunity), the lock-in on the 14^th (yay, video games, food and movies all night long) and our holiday Soup Kitchen on the 22^nd (more service hours opportunity) .

I will post sign-ups for those events in the next day or so.

Pack 166 has asked that I bring a couple of Scouts to visit their Pack meeting tomorrow night, so I will be late arriving to our meeting, so go ahead and get started without me.

Talk to you guys soon,

Dan

From the parking lot, the Cashe was only .6 miles away. Yes, the boys planned the route.

All kidding aside. The Scouts had a great time and we saw some great scenery. Four Scouts completed the Geocaching MB by guiding us to a cache with the use of GPS devices, found the cache, and exemplifying Leave No Trace by ensuring the area was free of litter (Cashe In Trash Out (CITO) in Geocache world). To top it all off, we got Ignacio’s BOR for Life completed at the end of the event.

Scouts should remember to update their books with today’s hike of 3.99 miles in the Red Rocks Open Space.

See you all on Tuesday for the COH-remember to sign up at the link below in Sean’s post.

Dan

Troop,

The next COH is a Thanksgiving/Christmas/Holiday COH. We will give thanks and also dine in the Christmas spirit with a great potluck dinner prior to awards and advancements.  We truly have a lot to be thankful for….living in Colorado, our happiness, health and most importantly our wonderful scouts that bring us all together and allow us to have such great scouting adventures! Please sign up for what you are able to bring to the dinner. 

Set Up for the COH is at 530pm, Grace and Dinner will begin at 6pm. 

2 Ham’s

1 Turkey’s – (keep your receipt for reimbursement by the Troop)

3 Salad’s

6 – 8 Sides 

4 – 5 Desserts

Please sign up here!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F054BACA929A4FC1-thanksgiving2

Troop,

Above is a link to sign up for the Mountain Shadows Tree Lighting. Get a couple of service hours by serving hot cocoa at this annual event! Or just swing by and have a cup with neighbors!

Dan