Good morning,
Happy Mother’s Day to all our troop mothers! In our weekly meeting a few days ago, I shared a number of classic ‘mother quotes’ from my mother in the 60’s and 70’s that amazingly the boys in our current troop recognized 50 years later. Can you finish ‘If you can’t say anything nice, don’t…….’ or ‘Clean your plate, there are…..’? Of course you can! Mothers have wisdom that transcends generations, but also an amazing resilience, patience and never-ending love that gets us through some of the most challenging years of our lives (no way would I ever want to go through middle school again – and I can’t imagine what it would have been like without my mother)! Thank you for everything you mean to the boys in T648.
This week we had a small but spirited group spruce up our canoe trailer. Not only does our trailer now have a set of new treads, and is ready to take on our next lake adventure, but each of the boys are now equipped to rescue their mother from the inevitable family vehicle flat tire – a truly useful skill to have! After a few final tugs on the tire iron, a couple of boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts were consumed, and everyone was back to their Saturdays before 9AM. Many thanks to Mr. Turner, home for a couple of days from Chicago, for stopping by on his motorcycle, and for young Mr. Murphy for organizing the event.
Throughout this year we have been tracking participation, uniform completeness, and patrol competitions in our annual march toward the T648 Honor Patrol award. This year the PLC has tentatively requested that the award be a fall trip to a different theme park – Magic Mountain. There is still time to influence your patrol’s standings, as active participation is averaged, so the number of individuals in a patrol doesn’t ultimately matter – your individual participation does. As usual, it is neck and neck coming down to the end at summer camp, with the Turtle Patrol in the lead, followed by the Royals, the Pirates, and the Leprechauns.
Looking ahead, tomorrow night we have our monthly adult leader meeting at 7PM in the Board Room at SWC (65th Street and Cactus). Tuesday night is the troop meeting at 7PM with the meeting theme to be a review of Engineering from young Misters Turner and Traynor. On the long weekend of May 24th, young Mr. J. DeAngelis will be leading our troop on our annual flag planting service project for Memorial Day. If this is an event you have not attended in the past, you have to see it to believe it. For those of you who have been, it is something not easily forgotten. Also, don’t forget to begin getting your backpack ready for our trip to the Fossil Springs swimming holes the weekend of the 30th. This is one of the truly most magical destinations for cooling a hot hiker in all of Arizona!
Best wishes as you finish preparing for finals. Work hard for only two more weeks – your summer awaits! See you at the troop meeting.
Mr. Cole