Good afternoon,
In my previous post I stated that no matter what occurred this week, it could not possibly rival the events from last week. Well – – maybe I spoke too soon! Tuesday night’s ‘Can You Cook’ meeting was an outstanding culinary experience, and the judges had an impossible task to choose from among three delectable selections hand crafted by our scout chefs. Additionally, we had families of 5 Webelos joining us for the fun, and the cubs jumped enthusiastically into the competition. Late in the week, the troop held an impressive shed improvement program, led by the eldest young Mr Jeorling, leaving the shed as sparkling and organized on the inside as at any time since my association with the troop. The Jeorlings and the Conrads were a bit delayed in getting to the shed event, as they narrowly avoided being involved in and then assisting with a bad accident at 56th Street and Shea. Mr. Conrad had included a first aid kit in his car in case anyone encountered a splinter, and instead, the scouts and scouters dealt with severe head injuries of a man who had not been wearing a seat belt until the police arrived. A scout is always prepared to do a good turn daily! After cleaning up the shed, a number of the scouts headed over to University of Phoenix stadium to help the Butler family run the Arizona Scouting Museum at the annual Scout-O-Rama event. A gorgeous day in the sun saw almost 400 people tour the museum – and the boys became master junior curators. If only there were a ‘Day at the Museum’ merit badge!
This week has also been (in the words of Paul Harvey) a ‘rest of the story’ week. A number of months ago, you may recall I spoke of our terrific December backpacking trip in the Superstitions. One of the memorable moments was witnessing the rescue of a lost hiker by a backcountry ranger, EMTs and helicopter right off the Bluff Springs Trail. A middle-aged woman had gone for a hike on Friday, and had not returned. She was found lost and suffering from exposure from temperatures in the 20s literally a stones throw from our position. It made for great discussions on Search and Rescue and being prepared around that night’s small campfire before turning in for a much better sleep than the poor woman had had the night before. Amazing what a bit of forethought and preparation can do!  It is now less than three months later, and Mr. Turner discovered a nugget in this week’s news which will provide additional learnings for our troop. A 51 year old woman named Robyn Bird searching for Lost Dutchman’s gold was rescued this week along Bluff Springs Trail in the Superstitions. Yep, she is the same woman we witnessed being rescued during our December hike. This time, a helicopter searching all day Wednesday did not find her, but she was eventually found at about midnight by a volunteer rescue crew. She was lying in semi-frozen mud and suffering from hypothermia, severe dehydration and early frostbite. She was surprised by Tuesday afternoon’s snowstorm, and her clothes were thin and soaked.  Authorities stated she would not have survived the second night.  I suppose the words from an old Donna Summer song, ‘She Works Hard for the Money’ come to mind, but so do a number of others: probably the kindest being ‘Rescue Me’ by Aretha Franklin. An even crueler ‘rest of the story’, is that it was later discovered that she had come across three other hikers who asked for directions, and with her answers, she also got them lost. They were rescued from the snow and cold in the middle of the night Tuesday by a Pima County Sherriff’s rescue team.   Hopefully we have witnessed the last of Ms. Bird’s hiking exploits – I fear the third time would not be the charm….
There is much to be aware of for upcoming events:
- This week there is NO troop meeting, out of respect for Parish Lenten Mission at the church
- The church has extended a welcome for individual troop families to attend the service Tuesday night from 7-8PM, if they so desire
- If you have any remaining unsold Scout-O-Rama tickets – please get them to Mr. Jeorling for credit – they must be returned to council.
- There are three troop-led merit badges underway for First Class + (or close to) scouts. Please participate now if you need them for your Eagle rank planning. They include Citizenship in the Community (Mr. S. Butler), Camping (Mr. J. Benyi) and Personal Fitness (Mr. M. Conrad).
- The weekend of 3/1-3 is a backpacking outing near Towel Creek. This may be rescheduled, however, due to a new conflict with Geronimo work interviews next weekend. Stay tuned.
- March 5th is PLC at 6PM, as well as a committee meeting and summer camp information session at 7PM.
- March 9th at 2PM is an Eagle Court of Honor for young Mr. McFetters at the Horizon Community Center on 100th Street, east of FLW Blvd
- March 9th from 5-8PM is Lenten Family Social Dinner – our scouts will be providing seating and serving service for this one Saturday night instead of during the traditional six Lenten Friday fish fries, which were cancelled this year due to the church remodeling
- April 27th from 6-11AM is our annual pancake breakfast and auction fundraiser. Please put this on your calendar now, as it is the best way throughout the year to significantly add to your personal scout account funds.
See you over a week from now on 3/5/13 for our next scout meeting
Mr. Cole