January Winter Camping Trip – Reminder

The campout will be Saturday January 9, 2010 through Sunday January 10. We will be camping in the Upton State Forest in Upton MA. USF is a large forest with lots of trails and secluded camping spots to select from. Planned activities include sledding, hiking, animal tracking, snowshoeing, a visit to Whistling Cave, and other adventures. At this winter camping trip we will be doing some aluminum foil cooking (no pots and pans to clean) and Dutch oven cooking. The winter is a great time to do this type of cooking because you need some good warm fires to cook – and to stay warm with, too!

We will be using the regular troop tents (not the backpacking tents) to sleep in Saturday night. These tents have worked great for other winter campouts. The Troop 4 Website has a list of gear needed for a one night winter campout. BE SURE TO BRING EVERYTHING ON THE LIST. Most scouts already have most of the gear and anything else is usually around in the scouts homes.

We will be patrol cooking for Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast. Scouts should bring a bag lunch for Saturday (no soda). For scouts that have a plastic sled, please bring that along, too.

We will meet at St. Mary’s parish center at 9:00 AM on Saturday January 9. Patrols will have an opportunity to assemble their ingredients into tin-foil cooking packets using the parish center kitchen before we depart. We will need a few parents to drive to/from the site. We will return for pick up on Sunday, January 10 by noon.

Winter camping is fun and a great outdoor experience – and not that difficult. The adult leaders and troop have many years of winter camping experience and all of our trips have been a great time. Hope for lots of snow cover!

Permission slips (last newsletter) have already been turned in, and patrols have begun trip planning at the last troop meeting.

Town Christmas Tree Pick Up

All scouts that are participating in this year’s Christmas Tree Pick-up need to be at the Parish Center no later than 8:30 AM on Sunday January 3rd. The troop trucks leave at 8:30AM sharp, so please be on time. We will have a crew picking up trees in our assigned precinct, and also a crew unloading trees at the Transfer Station. Scouts will rotate so they can try both jobs. At the conclusion, parents can pick up their scouts at the parish center at 11:30AM. Adult truck/trailer drivers: we need a vehicle count so that we can get the proper paperwork for each vehicle. Please email Bob Garber at bobg.home@comcast.net to let him know if you have a truck you can drive. We also need 1 adult to volunteer at the Transfer Station. Email Bob is you can help with either. Also, to raise visibility for this event, we’ve attached a flyer that can be handed out, or posted in your neighborhood (see last page of newsletter). Please remind your neighbors.

OA Election

Congratulations to our elected OA members: Matt B., Cody M., Alex C., Nolan H., Wyatt B., Thommy T., Joshua S., Dev S. and Brian G.. These candidates will soon be receiving information from the OA Lodge related to the spring/fall OA Ordeals. Any questions should be addressed to the Troop’s OA representative Dan Avery, or to Phil Bedard.

Pioneering Merit Badge

The patrol leader’s council has selected Pioneering as the theme for January troop meetings. Scouts will have an opportunity to work on the Pioneering Merit Badge during troop meetings, and also, any pioneering/lashing/knot related advancement requirements.

Court of Honor Date Change

Please note that the next two Court of Honors have been moved one day earlier, and will now be held on 2/24/09 and 6/9/09. This change was made to accommodate a request from the Parish Center.

Pancake Ticket Sales should be in high gear by all scouts. Remember that all scouts are expected to sell at least 20 tickets. Please see the Troop Scribe or Mr. Bedard if you need additional tickets. And please turn in your ticket proceeds to the scribe as soon as you can. We’ll need these funds in order to buy pancake supplies. Thanks!

Upcoming Event Dates & Reminders

• – Dec 31 – no meeting (News Year’s Eve)
• – Jan 3 – Christmas Tree Pickup – 830AM sharp. Parish Center
• – Jan 7 – Troop Meeting 7pm / Canoe Trip Information Presentation & Q/A 8:10pm
• – Jan 14, 21, 28 Troop Meetings

Questions

Please call the Phil Bedard at 508-478-5773 or email at pbedard1@gmail.com if you have any questions.