This year, we decided to to an “earlybird” delivery for those who wanted to get a head start on spreading mulch. We will deliver the remaining mulch on the 27th of March.
Earlybird Mulch Delivery
Mar 6
Well, we picked a great weekend 
. Snowed on us … not as bad as the previous weekend … just flurries this time! Before going out to deliver fliers for our annual Mulch Fundraiser, we did the Adopt-a-Spot (the road in front of our Charter Partner). Then we spent about four hours blanketing neighborhoods with our fundraiser fliers … over 3500 delivered!
Rock Gym Lock-In
Feb 17
had a great lock-in at the Rock Gym in Midlothian, VA. Joe shot a couple of vids with his iphone, so I’m posting them here for your perusal .
Mayor Joe Frank of Newport News, an ardent supporter of Scouting and an Eagle Scout himself, has been awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. Details can be found here http://www.dailypress.com/news/newport-news/dp-local_eaglescoutjoe_1216dec16,0,5415680.story . The video can be viewed here http://www.dailypress.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=5616b52a-478d-4340-b94a-fa748eab08c7&src=front .
Well, the food was great, the Scouts received their well-deserved awards, and the bidding at the Scout Bucks auction was intense. This year, we had several tables of goodies for the Scouts to bid on. The bids came quickly and furiously, with no quarter given. Everybody seems to have had a great time, and I think everybody was able to win a bid on something. Several boys, who had earned enough points to be “independently wealthy” went home with lots of loot!
Each year, the boys are able to earn points or “Scout Bucks”, for things such as advancements, summer camp attendance, merit badges … just about anything that Scouts do earns points, so an active Scout earns more than one that doesn’t participate as much. At the end of the year, the points are tallied and the boys can use them to bid on items at the auction in December.
This meeting closed out the year. The next meeting will be after the holidays. I’m finishing up the recharter now, and a snowstorm is on tap for the weekend. How much … nobody is sure . Christmas and New Year’s are around the corner and life is good! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
Dick
Looks like the guys really did a great job! The Troop placed 32nd out of 63 Troops. The older Scouts (First Class or above) placed 40th out of 122 teams, and the younger Scouts (not yet First Class rank) placed 26th out of 120 teams. Way to go, guys. We made the trip with only 5 Scouts and 2 adults. We’re looking at another orienteering event in the Spring a bit closer, and hope for better participation.
Bill S., our newest Eagle
This evening Bill S. passed his Eagle Board of Review, which I had the honor to sit on. All of the board members were impressed with his answers, and feel that he is very deserving of the award.
The board members were especially interested in his project, which was building an artificial oyster reef. Not your average run-of-the-mill project 
.
Congratulations, Bill!
Orienteering Meet
Nov 8
Well, we got back from the northern reaches of Maryland about 11:30 this morning after a 7 am departure. Only one pit stop along the way .
I am told the younger Scouts team placed 30th. That doesn’t sound to good until you know that there were 190 other teams competing. Good job guys!
We were hosted by Troop 873, Scoutmaster Steve’s old troop in the Baltimore Area Council, and his brother and Dad are both still active with that Troop. They treated us great! We arrived after a long drive through terrible traffic at about 10:30 Friday night. Since they were the service Troop for the Saturday event, they put us in the bunkhouse with them, fed us all weekend, and just generally made sure we were looked after. They’ve got a great group of Scouts and Scouters. They really made us feel at home. And the event was professionally run by the Quantico Orienteering Club. The Scouts learned a lot and had fun as well.
100th Anniversary Video
Oct 19
Here’s an inspirational video for the 100th Anniversary of Scouting.
Pumpkins, Redux
Oct 13
Well, when October comes around, we all know what time it is … PUMPKIN TIME! This year, the church had a Fall Festival in conjunction with the unloading of the pumpkins. There were all sorts of activities for the kids, and most of the church organizations sold home-made wares in support of the mission teams. There were home-made rolls, apple butter, baked goods, and even some store-bought Krispy Kreme donuts and scout popcorn .
This year, there seemed to be a lot more pumpkins, but there were a lot more people unloading, too. We had 21 from the Troop … adults and Scouts, and all the hands made the work lighter. It was a beautiful day, and pretty festive, too. The magician really put on a good show for the kids.
This weekend, there’s an Iron Chef weekend that we primarily use for a Fall Webelos-recruiting event, but there’s two to four inches of rain predicted by Sunday. We may have to rethink this 
. The first weekend in November, we’re off to eastern Maryland for a pretty big orienteering meet in the Scoutmaster’s old boyhood council.
Well, I have more work to do before I head to bed, so let me get this posted. I just L-O-V-E Fall weather. It’s my favorite time to camp!
Yours in Scouting,
Dick