http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/CGPFa1hW/1/4925641

Just click on Start Slideshow when you get to the page.

There was some fear that the addition of new bathrooms along with the creation of a
serving area would greatly reduce the space available, but it looks like all that
has happened is the reduction of previously wasted space along with the addition of
new facilities. The new, built-in, serving area will mean we can put more tables
along the side wall, for instance.

Within the next month we have to find a replacement coffee/hot water maker, test the
grills, and decide if we need a fourth grill to replace the one we will be missing
because of the change in stoves. We also have to work on a Plan B to get around the
fact that we are now down one oven. The old stove had two, but the new one has only
one.

-Hank

We will be sleeping on tent platforms in tents. Outhouses are open for winter use. Grab your friends for a fun filled weekend.

Don’t let equipment or cost stop you–talk to me about equipment–the troop has some gear to lend. (And see here for lots of information on this website about winter camping and gear.)

Talk to George Kaplan for financial aid for this trip.

Make checks out to Troop 160 and return by 12-23-10.

Meg Bonnell-Bradley

Trip photos can be found on kodakgallery.com at http://tinyurl.com/2g2xgqe. The full trip report can be found here, or via the Trip Planning information page.

There were very few lost items reported at camp. One was a gray-and-blue backpack with a water bottle in it. If it shows up in a trunk, bring it to the first meeting. If you are missing other items, let me know about it.

I owe pictures to a small handful of people and arrows to a slightly larger handful. I will give them to you when I see you. There is a continuing misunderstanding of pictures and how they are paid for. We used to ask a Scout who went to camp for two weeks pay for one of the pictures. That is no longer the case. It is built into the price of camp.

There are some meds which parents did not pick up after camp including an epi pen. E-mail me offline so I can figure out how to get the meds back to you.

There are some partials on merit badges which can be cleaned up. We are making plans for a cleanup session like the one we had last year. The merit badges we will concentrate on will include Swimming, First Aid, Small Boat Sailing, and Pioneering. We will take a look at all of the partials, however, to see what a Scout needs to do to complete those merit badges. If we can provide some way to complete those partials, we will. I suspect it will be an Old Res Saturday as it was last time.

We will also be discussing camp among the Scouts at that first meeting so we can start the planning process for next year. If adults have any thoughts about camp, good or bad, please share them with me.

A note to adults: Go online and at the very least get that Youth Protection Training requirement out of the way. The rules are getting stricter and we want all our adults to have YPT.

-Hank

UPDATE 7/5:  More pictures at the same link thanks to Mr. Schaffner!  New pictures start on p. 6 of the gallery.

I wish all of you have been able to go on this trip, but since you didn’t, we are going to devote the program time this week to a moderated discussion of what was learned on this campout.  The lessons learned will be applied when we go on the Deep Freeze.

Come prepared to offer your own two cents.  And if you went on the trip, then be prepared to be on the panel.  If those who went on the trip could be at the meeting a few minutes early, it would give us a chance to go over what will be going on during the discussion.

We will also be folding tents and doing a few other housekeeping chores.

-Hank Manz

If you are even thinking about attending the 100 Anniversary of Scouting Jamboree in 2010, then you don’t have a lot of time to make your intentions known.  Herewith word from Dave Osborn:

===========================================
Hello Hank,

Next week, the Jamboree committee will decide whether or not BMC will be sending 2 or 3 troops.  If it is two, they are basically full.  If there are additional Lexington Scouts (160 or 119) who might want to attend, they must sign up (on the Council web site) ASAP, but no later than 31 Jan.

Please pass the word as would hate for one of our scouts to be closed out because of inaction.

YIS

Dave Osborn

Yes, there is room in the class.  First meeting at 3:45 PM in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room on the second floor of the Town Office Building on Monday, January 12th.  That is the building to the left of Cary Memorial Hall as you look at it.  It is just past the Post Office.

Meeting Planning

Joey and Jeff led an impromptu brainstorming session at the last meeting.  I was impressed by the input.  Stay tuned for something different for the next meeting.

A Scout Is Helpful

I hyperextended my knee recently so it is a bit unstable and I can’t bend it fully.  It doesn’t stop me from walking, I can shovel snow, and I don’t limp, but it makes me just a little fearful of a fall which would certainly tear something and little slips can be painful.  That, plus the recently icy sidewalks, have reminded me of what it is like to have less than full mobility–how winter affects many of our neighbors and limits what they can do.

Today a bunch of us got together to shovel out the driveway of a person who couldn’t reasonably do the job all by themselves.  The way I felt last week when I was trying to dig out my driveway and just couldn’t move the heavy snow.  My neighbor came by and helped me with the heavy stuff so I then helped him with the lighter stuff.  We can all do something, but nobody can do everything.

This note is to remind you to look around you.  Besides digging out those hydrants and keeping the street drains clean, be alert to those around you who may need help with driveways and walks.  Just digging out that berm the snowplow leaves, a relatively easy job for some, may save a neighbor hours of work and in some cases, it may allow them to actually get their car out instead of being trapped because they cannot move that much snow.

It might not even be mobility.  Perhaps there are other stresses in lives like needing to get to work at odd hours or spending all available time caring for family members so small favors you can do like shoveling a walk may well help them a great deal.

There are other things you can do as well.  My daughter noticed that a elderly neighbor of ours had gotten off the bus with some bags of groceries, but then cars were not stopping to let her cross the street.  So she helped.

“A Scout Is Helpful.  A Scout cares about other people.  He willingly volunteers to help others without expecting payment or reward.”

That comes right from the handbook and it comes right from Robert Baden Powell.  I think the rest of what Scouting stands for flows from that simple statement–A Scout Is Helpful.

The vast majority voted for Monday.  But I will make every effort to work with the two who could not make it that day.  Let’s get the Monday class off the ground first.  Unfortunately, there are a few problems with that day as there are with all days.

Let us plan to meet the first time on the 12th of January starting at 3:45 PM in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room on the second floor of the Town Office Building.  That is the building at 1625 Mass Ave very close to the Post Office.

The next week is Martin Luther King Day so there will be no meeting.  Then we will have a meeting on January 26th, but then will miss another week because it looks like I have to be in Seattle that Monday.

But let’s get this thing off the ground.  Come to the first meeting and let’s discuss some options to perhaps shorten the class and not have to meet every other Monday.  Be prepared to discuss some alternatives such as meeting that second week on Tuesday instead of Monday.  I know–this scheduling stuff gets complicated.  And be prepared to tell me if we can meet at least a few minutes earlier than 3:45 PM.

Adults are welcome, by the way.  And needed, I might add, because we will need to form a Board of Selectmen for the last class which will be a Town Meeting to debate and vote on an article.

-Hank Manz

Parents, please fill out the form and come to volunteer. Scouts, challenge yourself during February vacation and brag about it for the rest of the year to your friends!

Questions? Please contact your friendly trip coordinator Lien Ho (Wilson’s mom). You can bring signed form to our troop’s meeting or, you can mail to me.

For information on winter camping gear, click here.
Downloads:

2009 Deep Freeze Sign Up Form
Directions to Rolfsons