February Camping Trip

Congratulations are due to Mike Carman for his Court of Honor. It was appropriate recognition for the work, participation and leadership he has demonstrated to make Eagle. For the rest of his life, Michael will be an Eagle Scout! Thanks as well to Maureen Carman for all the effort she put in to the pot luck supper and the wonderful Court of Honor.

A reminder that Dante Ingato has an Eagle project work session this Saturday. Dante: please send out the reminder with all the particulars to the Troop again so everyone knows where and when to get together. I will be there as will Brian.

Our winter cabin camping trip is coming up. We will leave from the church Friday, February 10 at 5:00 pm. Bring a dinner to eat either on the way or after we arrive at KMSR. We can decide on the meals next Monday, but Dan Dabbs has acquired some venison for a venison stew on Saturday night. We will do a Forrestal clean up on the way back and should be back at the church between 1:00 and 2:00 on Sunday, February 12.

Congratulations to Dan, Steven and Matt for rank advancement. Congratulations also go to Rinku whose Eagle papers came back from Council this week.

Remember that next Monday, February 6 is an open house for a number of Weblos Dens. With our existing Scouts getting more senior (and going off to college at a great rate), we need new Scouts. It's also important for our senior Scouts leadership skills to have younger Scouts. After Bridging in March, we might consider a Sarnoff campout to introduce the new Scouts to our private campground and to get them started on camping skills (and finding left handed smoke shifters).

If you are planning on attending the cabin camping in a couple of weeks, send me an email so I can get a count. I know that Dan Dabbs, David Wertz and I plan on going.

That's it for now.

Kent Allenby

Cabelas Trip A Hit - Outdoors is Indoors

Scouts, Scouters and Families,

At last night's meeting the consensus from those who went to Cabela's was clear: it's a very impressive and massive outfit. The walk-through aquarium grotto, the mountain in the center of the store, the variety of gear (Dr. Dabbs lamented the large selection of women's clothing, I overspent in the fly fishing area, the Scouts were attracted to the wide knife and gun collections). Only Pat Mickey took advantage of the wild game menu which included ostrich burgers and venison and bison bratwurst. Too bad it's 100 miles away.

Kent S. Allenby
Scoutmaster, BSA Troop 88
Allenby.Kent@kyowa-kpi.com

Upcomming Events on the Calendar

Scouts, Scouters and Parents,

Monday's meeting was eventful with election of a new Senior Patrol. Congratulations on our new SPL, Brian Allenby and our new ASPLs Dan Schloss and Nolan Mickey. Our Eagle Scout, Mike Carman, and Ross Merkin (soon to be Eagle) will advise the new Senior Patrol.

Upcoming Events:

Sunday, January 15, 2:00 pm: Forrestal Clean-Up.
Monday, January 16: No meeting due to holiday (MLK day)
Saturday, January 21, 10:00 am Cabela's trip. Meet at the church at 10:00. We plan to return by 6:00 pm. Bring money for lunch and to buy any outdoor items you can't live without. A permission slip is attached.
Monday, January 30: 7:30 pm Court of Honor and Pot Luck Supper at the church
Friday, February 10: 5:00 pm Winter cabin camping at KMSR

Forrestal Clean-Up: This is the Troop's major source of funds and a portion of the money earned is credited to the Scout's account for use in paying for trips and/or summer camp. If we get a good turn out it only takes an hour and beats selling Christmas trees on cold December nights or going door to door selling popcorn. We'll meet at the parking turn out halfway up the road.

Cabela's Trip: For those who don't know, Cabela's is a massive store (250,000 square feet) with excellent prices on everything from basic camping goods to high end fly fishing equipment as well as interesting aquariums and displays. Anything you might need for the outdoors is in stock. It takes 1 1/2 hour to get there (Hamburg, PA off of Interstate 78) but it's worth seeing. We will meet at the church at 10:00 and plan on returning by 6:00. Bring money for lunch (the food court at Cabela's has standard fare as well as exotic game meals) and to buy outdoor gear you just can't do without. Scouts and their families are welcome and it's a real experience.

Court of Honor: More information will follow, but we get to celebrate our newest Eagle Scout, Mike Carman, as well as a number of other advancements. This is a wonderful time for the families of our Scouts to get together to celebrate their accomplishments and to get to know each other better. Troop 88 is a small Troop and we'd like as much family involvement as possible. Come out and support the Scouts, the Scoutmasters and the Troop Committee.

Winter Cabin Camping: We plan to leave the church around 5:00 pm on Friday, February 10 to head up to KMSR with a return on Sunday mid-afternoon. This was a lot of fun last year and the cabin has an overhead light and a wood stove so it's comfortable (as long as someone remembers to wake up in the middle of the night to put a few logs in the stove).

That's all for now.

Kent Allenby