Camp Lowden Campout - November 08

Greetings from Troop 66,
I have included some pictures taken by Mr. Taubman on the November campout. Many thanks to him!

Mr. C

Waterfall Glen - Orienteering Outing

Greetings from Troop 66!

We had a great outing yesterday as members of the Cobras and Silver Wolves completed First Class requirement 2 at Waterfall Glen! It was a wonderful morning outing. The temperature was moderate and the new snowfall made for a fantastic outing!

Many thanks to Mr. Knupp who drove and helped us find our way through the woods!

Mr. C

Court of Honor - November 08

Greetings from Troop 66!

We had a great Court of Honor this evening! We recognized a great number of Scouts for rank advancement, merit badges, and other awards. 34 scouts were recognized -
77 merit badges - 10 rank advancements, 3 position changes, and 5 special
awards. Patches were also given out for summer camp and Boundary Waters.

Special thanks to Karl and Andrew for organizing and executing the Court of Honor! They did a great job! Thanks also to Greg for his help in taking the photos this evening.

Mr. C

Cook Off! and Wilderness Presentation

Greetings from Troop 66!

Troop 66 did a wonderful job with the cook off this week. Several delicious meals were prepared and consumed by the Scouts and adults present! Pictures will be forth-coming!

Special thanks to all of the Scouts and Adults who worked hard to make sure this event was a success! We couldn't have done it without you!

We also had a very special guest speaker. Kathy Garness came to our meeting and presented to us the Chicago wilderness. She showed a DVD on the Chicagoland wilderness area and explained to us how each of us could do our part to help restore the area and protect native species.

Thank you, Kathy for a very informative presentation!

Mr. C

Troop 66 Mobilized!

Troop 66 was mobilized this Sunday to help with the flooding of the DesPlaines River. Record rainfall in the area caused the Des Plaines River to flood and impact a number of River Forest residences.

Troop 66 had a GREAT response as Scouts, Scouters, and parents all helped with loading and placing sand bags to protect homes and hold back the waters.

This was an EXCELLENT example of how Scouts can help their community.

I'm truly proud of our Troop and our willingness to "help other people at all times"

WELL DONE!

Go to the Wednesday Journal website and look at the slideshow on the frontpage. They are many photos of Troop 66 scouts in action. Thanks to Mr. Thompson for this link!


Mr. C

08 and 09 Calendar is now available

Greetings from Troop 66,

We now have our 08 and 09 (through March)calendar on our web page. It can be found at this link.

Please check it periodically because the dates do change from time to time.

Looking forward to another GREAT year in Scouting!
Mr. C

Words of wisdom from Philip Sparks

16 Things I Learned While Canoeing on the Boundary Waters

1.A watched pot never boils…especially if you never light the propane.
2.The “Ants Go Marching” has a remix that is about 30 verses long.
3.To steer a canoe to the left, paddle on the right. To steer to the right, paddle on the left. To go faster, ask your canoe buddy to quit fishing.
4.Wear A Pair… Take A Pair…and Spare A Pair for the night it rains.
5.Bug spray does not work if you’re allergic to bug spray.
6.Abridged from Mr. C and Mr. White: There is never a more insecure feeling on a campout than taking a dump and wondering if a bear is coming up behind you.
7.August 6 is officially declared Random Quote and Song Day.
8.I like country music….because occasionally, it’s all about ME!
9.Never name a fish you fillet an hour later.
10.If you miss the bear bag going up, you’ll have to climb a tree to get your Camelback secured.
11.If you laugh at all of Mr. C’s jokes, he’ll forget that you promised to teach him how to rap at the beginning of the trip.
12.I learned how to speaka Italiano! Biga de bop de bou! Buca di Bepo!
13.People can actually become bored of seeing bald eagles.
14.Coffee creamer is extremely flammable.
15.It is illegal to catch a Northern 24 to 25 9/10ths inches, and 26 1/10th inches to 30 inches.
16.It is never wise to bogart anything on a campout.

Word of the Trip: Bogart
Other notable Word of the Day’s: akimbo, aggita (Italian slang meaning an upset tummy), abscond, fa nabola (Italian slang meaning “go to Naples”)

Boundary Waters Canoe Trip

Greetings from Troop 66. A group of us just returned from the Boundary Waters. We were there for 6 days. We had a great time! It was quite an experience. This was a great adventure. Here is a link to some pictures from the trip.

Japanese Scouts at Grace

Yesterday, Troop 66 hosted 24 Japanese Scouts and 3 Japanese Scouters for a dinner at Grace. We had a great turn out of Troop 66 Scouts and Parents to help in the food preparation and serving.

My sincere thanks to Mary Morgan Ryan for organizing the event. Special thanks also to all of the parents who brought wonderful food for the American feast that was prepared for these visitors.

The boys had fun playing floor hockey in the parking lot before dinner. After dinner they had fun arm wrestling before we retired to the gym for a basketball shoot-around.

You can click on the slideshow to visit the pictures or use this link.


It was a great event in the traditional of the world-wide Scouting program!

Thanks again to all who made this possible!
Mr. C

More Pictures from Shin-go-Beek

Here is a link to Mr. Knupp's pictures. I believe you will have to sign up for a Snap Fish account to see them. It's free and all you need to sign up is your email address.

I have also added a link to Ms. Hollibaugh's pictures - there are over 400 of them!

Thanks,
Mr. C

Summer Camp 08

Greetings from Camp Shin-go-beek!

Photos from Summer Camp available at this link

I will post additional summer camp photos as the other leaders return.

Mr. C

Troop 66 Court of Honor - 6/13/08

Congratulations to all of our Scouts who advanced in rank

Lue - Life
Karl - Star
Ryan O, Grant - Second Class
Jules, Adam, and Matt He - Tenderfoot

Cobras and Silver Wolves earned their Scout ranks!

32 Merit Badges were earned and Matt Hu earned the World Conservation Award

Also, Mrs C received the prestigious Lutheran Lamb religious award

Snipe Hunt Photos

Greetings from Troop 66,

My thanks to Conor for taking these great pictures from the New Glarus campout last month.

When I was going through these pictures, I discovered a shadow in one of the pictures that was actually a SNIPE! I used special image enhancement software to pull the picture out of the shadows (which explains the unusual coloring for the common snipe).

The results speak for themselves! Well done, Conor! This is a FIRST!! Troop 66 finally captured a snipe! (although only in a picture!)

Best wishes,
Mr. C

Troop Meeting - 5/30/08

Greetings from Troop 66!

We had a very busy meeting this Friday. Among the many accomplishments were:
1. Had our Summer Camp meeting
2. Had an Order of the Arrow Election - sorry results are kept until the callout at Summer Camp!
3. Had our new Scouts from Pack 67 form a patrol! They are now the Silver Wolf Patrol!
4. We had a number of Scoutmaster Conferences and Boards of Review
5. We had a game night for the Scouts as we close out our 07-08 Scouting Year

Just a reminder, the Scout Court of Honor (CoH) is scheduled for Friday, June 13th.

For the new Scouts, a CoH is very similar to a Cub Scout Blue & Gold ceremony. The CoH is where rank advancements, merit badges, and other recognition takes place.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Thanks,
Mr. C

Training Opportunities - Please read

Greetings from Troop 66:

This note is for all adults in Troop 66, leaders or parents. In order to provide a safe program for our boys, we insist that all adults take the youth protection course (details below).

I would also strongly encourage anyone interested in helping out on the committee or as an assistant Scoutmaster to sign up for the Scoutmaster training.

This isn't a large commitment and it is essential for us to keep up the quality of our unit.

Please consider this training.

Thanks,
Mr. C

YOUTH PROTECTION TRAINING ON THE WEB
Youth Protection Training is available on the web at: Youth Protection Training. Enter the website: Select Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts, scroll down and select Training, scroll down and select Youth Protection, Select Narrated on-line web-based training program. Here is a short cut link. If you have questions contact lglover@bsamail.org or call the Council Service Center at 708-354-1111 ext. 20.

SCOUTMASTER/ASST. SCOUTMASTER LEADER SPECIFIC TRAINING
This three part training will be offered 7:00-9:30pm Monday 5/19, 6/2, and Tuesday 6/10/2008 at the Evangelical Covenant Church, 30E. 4th. Street, Hinsdale.

Registration deadline is Friday, May 16. Registration form is available at the Council Service Center or at this link.

Scout Meeting - May 9, 2008

Greetings from Troop 66:

New Scouts cross over from Pack 67

We welcome the new Scouts from Pack 67. We had 8 of the 11 Scouts crossing over attend our meeting. Charlie T, their Troop Guide, worked with a number of other Scout instructors to help the boys earn their Scout badge. The Scout badge is the first badge the boys can earn. Requirements can be found in the Boy Scout handbook or at this link.

Our Jaguar and Dragon patrol continued to work on First Aid Requirements.

The Roadrunners, Red Moon Raccoons, Falcons, Eagles, and Vipers served as instructors for the first year Scouts and completed a Quartermaster project.

New Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) Elected
Last week's election was our primary to narrow the slate of candidates down to the four candidates who ran at the meeting yesterday.

The new-elected SPL is James. The Assistant Senior Patrol Leader (ASPL) is Mark.

Upcoming Events
May 11, 7:00 p.m. - Eagle Court of Honor
May 14, 7:00 p.m. - Campout Meeting
May 16-18, 6:00 p.m. - New Glarus Campout
May 30, 7:30 p.m. - Troop Meeting
June 13, 7:30 p.m. - Court of Honor / Summer Camp Mtg

Detailed Calendar Link

Training Opportunities

Parents, in order to support our Troop, it is essential that we have trained adult leaders. Scout training is very valuable as it gets all of the adults aligned on the values and methods of Scouting. As training opportunities come up, I will post them here.

Here is one from Donna:

Safe Swim Defense and Safety Afloat

Adult Training is available on May 13th at the Twin Lakes Round Table at Grace in River Forest. Please arrive at 7:15 pm for announcements. 7:30 to 8 is training covering 12 months of recruitment followed by Safe Swim Defense and Safety Afloat from 8 to 9 pm. For adults planning on attending summer camp or the high adventure Canoe trip this would be a great opportunity to get a head start on your knowledge of swim safety. This program is also great for any parents who want to include water activities to their summer program with their families and have safety on their minds. Better to be safe than sorry! Take advantage of this program now....

Donna White

Service Opportunites

Scouts (and Parents), Jeff Wood is the Service Coordinator of our Troop. A significant portion of Scouting is SERVICE. Jeff comes up with a number of opportunities for our Troop to help others (part of the Scout Oath!) If that isn't enough incentive, Service hours are required for Advancement and demonstration of Scout Spirit!

Scouts, please take advantage of these opportunities and Parents, please encourage and support the boys in these activities.

Thanks, Mr. C

Eagle Court of Honor - May 11th, 2008

Eagle Scout
Court of Honor


Honoring



Nathan K
Steven W
Jonathan E

Grace Lutheran Church
7300 W. Division St
River Forest, Illinois 60305
(Fellowship Hall)
May 11th, 2008
7:00 pm
Refreshments to follow!

All Scouts and their Families are invited to attend.
All Scouts should attend in uniform.

Troop Meeting - April 25, 2008

We had a great meeting on Friday. We worked on a number of items:
1. Cobras - worked on First Aid Requirements - Tenderfoot 12a and 12b
2. Dragons & Jaguars - worked with Dr. Huck on the First Aid Merit Badge
3. Scouts in Citizenship in the World - worked on their workbooks for Mr. Wood





ELECTION UPDATE
Next week we will have elections for Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) and Patrol Leaders.
All Scouts at the rank of First Class and older can run for office. Any Scouts who do NOT want to run should send an email to Mrs. C.

ASSISTANT SCOUTMASTERS (ASM), INTERESTED ADULTS
Saturday, May 3rd we will be having an Assistant Scoutmaster's meeting in the Scout room at Grace at 8:00 a.m.

PATROL LEADERS COUNCIL (PLC)
Immediately following the ASM meeting at 9:00, there will be a PLC meeting. PLC is the meeting where the Scouts discuss what they like, don't like, and would like to change. They also plan the next month's meetings and campout.

TROOP OFFICES
Once you reach the rank of First Class, you need to serve in a leadership position in the troop. If you don't know what position you have, please talk to one of the Adult Leaders or look at the web site under troop leadership

See you at the meeting next Friday!

Mr. C

Spring Camp-o-ree Summary

Greetings from Troop 66,

With our new Cobra patrol and Dragon-Jaguar patrols, our youth leadership guided us through a successful Camp-o-ree.

Ryan C was our SPL, Charlie T was our ASPL, Dan was our QM, and Mark was the Troop Guide.

Friday - we left about 6:30 and encountered quite a bit of rain on the drive up. Fortunately the rain subsided and we were able to get our camp setup without getting completed wet.

Saturday morning - the camp-o-ree had a number of fun stations where we were tested on first aid, had a pancake relay, build an a-frame carrier, competed in fire building, and did a number of team building activities.

Saturday afternoon - the scouts could choose from activites like fishing, archery, kickball, and tug-o-war.

Saturday dinner - fabulous preparation and execution of a dutch oven meatloaf dinner!

Saturday cracker-barrel - we enjoyed a great assortment of snacks from all of the troops present!



Saturday campfire - probably the best version of the pick-pocket sketch I've ever seen. Great job narrating, Gabe!

Sunday morning - the boys did a fine job breaking camp and we enjoyed the scout service put on by the camp-o-ree staff.


More pictures can be found at our Scout web site in the Photo Gallery Section.

All in all, we had a great time.

Special thanks to the Scouters who helped out! Mr. Taubman, Ms. Morgan-Riley, and Mr. Knupp


Mr. C

Troop Meeting - April 11. 2008

Greetings from Troop 66!

Here is what happened at yesterday's Troop Meeting

1. Citizenship in the World Merit Badge Counselor Jeff Wood had a German foreign exchange student talk to the boys in the Merit Badge before the meeting. It was a fascinating conversation!

2. After flags, lone Viper patrol member, Steven W. (with the help of Mark C), let the troop in a rousing version of Top Knotcher

3. Next we had patrol meetings with the Uniform inspection. As a reminder, the complete uniform includes Scout shirt, red neckerchief with blue lettering, and boy scout neckerchief slide. Starting in May, boys not in complete uniform will have to stay after the meeting and help the service patrol clean up (per the Patrol Leader's Council)

4. In the instruction part of the meeting, the Cobras work on the Outdoor Code and Tenderfoot first aid requirement 12b. The Jaguars worked with Dr. Huck our First Aid Merit Badge Counselor. All of the older Scouts who were not instructors worked on the Citizenship in the World Merit Badge with Mr. Wood.

Parents reminder - please make sure you are there to pick up your Scouts at 9:30 sharp. We need to be outside of the Grace building by then.

Information for new Scout Patrol - Cobras

Greetings from Troop 66!

Yesterday your boys chose a new patrol name! They will now be known as the Cobra Patrol!
I am providing links to several documents that Diane sent out as emails.

Dos and Don'ts
Uniform

Please take a look at these and make sure your sons are familiar with them.

I will use this blog to make sure we provide you with current information about what is happening with the Troop. Please feel free to post your comments and questions so we can address them.

Thanks in advance for your support!
Mr. C