11 January 2021

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

It's 2021 but 2020 didn't win. We had our PLC last week and we've got some fun stuff on the horizon. 

Troop Meeting • Monday, 6:30-8:00 • Google Meet

link sent via email

1/18 - 2 hour Service Project - No Troop Meeting (see below)

1/23 - (Saturday) - activity day - Fill out this form

1/25 - Troop Meeting - game day & Elections If you'd like to run, fill out this form)

2/1 - PLC Meeting 

In February we'll be working on Fishing MB (and going ice fishing with Mr. Beck), and Reading Merit Badge with Mrs. Mayer. 

Service Projects

Please find a way to do some service next week as a way to honor the MLK holiday. Patrols may organize to do this together, or you can do something as approved by your parent(s). Regardless, I expect everybody to spend at least two hours doing service to others next Monday. As with all service hours, these should be logged in the service section at the back of your handbook and signed by a parent. 

Fort Snelling Wreath Clean up Feb 6,  9am - 12pm, register on your own. 

As you might expect, I have a strong negative opinion of Wednesday's attack on our National Capitol.   

When I was a kid, I was a big fan of most of Arnold Schwarzenegger's action and SciFi movies: Conan, Terminator, the Predator, Total Recall, to name a few. When Conan, "the Terminator" talks, I am programmed to listen. As an adult, I haven't kept up with his movies and I certainly haven't always agreed with him on policy (he was Governor of California from 2003 to 2011), but I feel in the video below he raises really great points about what happened and our way forward for our democracy. 

He's an actor, thus cheesy background music, regardless I encourage you to watch his comments. His thoughts are better than anything I might have this week. 

https://youtu.be/x_P-0I6sAck

12 December 2020

TROOP MEETING MONDAY 6:30-8:00 
via google meet (link sent in email) 

The PLC met last week and represented your interests well. They came up with a great plan for the next few Mondays. Our Troop Meetings this month will primarily focus on Gaming as we're missing our annual board game camp this month. 

For the rest of the calendar year, we'll be meeting via Google Meet on Monday, and then we'll head to some pre-determined "breakout rooms." Please read below

Toward this end, the PLC would appreciate it if you'd fill out this FORM to indicate which game you'd like to play this Monday. This way they'll be able to keep rooms a manageable size and make sure that numbers work. 

As part of these meetings, Scouts may wish to try their hand at designing some of their own games and maybe even try for GAME DESIGN or CHESS merit Badges. Mr. Rozatis is a chess MB counselor, but I'm not sure we have a Game Design Counselor in the troop. 

You'll have to check Scoutbook if you're interested. 

HIGH ADVENTURE 2022

Additionally, We need to start thinking about High Adventure 2022. PLC started a list of some options. Please fill out their form but feel free to add ideas. They're trying to gauge interest in activities. With time to plan the sky is the limit. By the end of January we should take a final vote and make a decision about what we'd like to do so we've got time to plan. If you're not sure of what these are, do some research. Spending a little time looking up BSA high adventure on google will yield quite a few ideas, I'm sure.

FYI - for the BSA sponsored National High Adventure Bases (Philmont, Sea Base, Summit Bechtel, Northern Tier) there are age requirements of basically 14. Anything we might do outside of these may or may not have age restrictions, depending on the activity.  

Here's a link to some photos from past Troop 1 Adventures. http://www.troop1min.org/high-adventure

In somewhat High Adventure related news, I just finished listening to an audiobook of Cary J Griffith's Lost in the Wild: Danger and Survival in the Northwoods. I highly recommend it! He's got another one about the Gunflint Burn I can't wait to read... 

WINTER/SPRING ACTIVITIES

We will continue to monitor and abide by the restrictions and recommendations for safety regarding Covid-19. We now know we can expect a vaccine that will likely be available to most of us close to summertime. 

Hopefully, we'll be able to add some camping (with modifications) into the mix come February or March. In the meantime, scouts may be able to start/continue some outside activities together. I don't know what they'll be but if we work together, maybe ice fishing, maybe snowshoeing, maybe more "daytime activities." Hopefully, we'll get some good snow and each scout will make their own quinzee snow shelter and sleeping in it and make some sort of archive of that experience. 

SUMMER

Superior Hiking Trail - June 24-27

We can open this up to more than just the Philmont Crew if we can get the adults to support a second crew. 

The Philmont Crew will be on the SHT as a training Shakedown for their July Trek in NM. Adding more scouts to their crew on the SHT probably isn't in the cards because part of the reason we take the trek is to go through our steps of group development(forming, storming, forming, performing) before we get to NM. Also, having more than 12 people in 1 backpacking group is hard on the SHT.  

Philmont Scout Ranch - July 15-29 

Many Point Summer Camp - August 15-21  --- ALL Scouts should make every attempt to attend this year!

HEALTH FORMS DUE

Val Mayer has volunteered to be Troop 1's new Health Officer. Thanks for volunteering!
As I'm sure you all remember from reading her Nov 16 email requesting completed health forms (parts AB only) by Dec 15. These need to be printed and mailed to Val. This is 3 pages. Please check your email for her address.

You do not need a physical...yet. Part C of the health form is for the physician to fill out.

All Scouts going on any activity longer than a weekend will need to get the C part filled out also before their trip. Philmont Crew - we'll deal with this separately as they have a system they'd like us to use for health forms. 

If you have more questions about health forms please read here. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Date	Time	Event	Notes
December 14	6:30-8:00	Game Meeting	LINK
December 21	6:30-8:00	Troop Meeting
December 28	6:30-8:00	Game Meeting
January 4	6:30-8:00	PLC Meeting
January 11	6:30-8:00	Troop Meeting
January 18		SERVICE DAY	MLK Rememberance Day of Service
January 25	6:30-8:00	Troop Meeting
February 1	6:30-8:00	PLC Meeting
February 8	6:30-8:00	Troop Meeting	Elections
June 24-27		Superior Hiking Trail	Philmont Crew + another crew TBD
July 15-29		Philmont Scout Ranch
August 15-21		Many Point Scout Camp	Voyaguer Sub Camp, Two Harbors Campsite

Subscribe to the Troop 1 Calendar 

BSA Troop 1 - Closed Facebook Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/mnt3001/

Troop 1 Website

http://www.troop1min.org/

Committee 

Please consider joining the committee or volunteering to help out with a specific task or activity as your schedule permits. Sometimes we need people to fill big important volunteer jobs like Committee Chair, Treasurer, Advancement Chair, Camp Coordinator, or Health Officer. Sometimes we just need somebody to make a good contact list of scouts in google sheets, or to help coordinate the wreaths, or to help with another activity. Teamwork makes the dream work, and every adult has something to offer. If you're interested in how you can help out, please attend the committee meeting this week (zoom) or reach out to our committee chair, Quentin Randolph <bent_ear@comcast.net>. He'll also send you details for this week's meeting. 

Also, you might just consider becoming a Merit Badge Counselor. 

There are lots of Merit Badges and new ones being written all the time. 

https://www.scouting.org/programs/scouts-bsa/advancement-and-awards/merit-badges/

Sharing Again

I shared this back in May (which feels like 2 years ago). 

I know all these cancellations are a drag but keep in mind a bit of perspective and history.  In 1935, the VERY FIRST National Jamboree of the Boy Scouts of America, which was planned to celebrate the young organization's 25th anniversary, was canceled due to an outbreak of a highly contagious virus, polio.

At the time it was canceled, entire troops were already en route to the nation's Capitol by train (a multi-day journey for many), and many had to turn around and head straight back home.

Now, I am happy to be corrected if I am being inaccurate, but looking through the historical records of this event I'm not able to locate any instances of people portending from this unfortunate event the "end of Scouting," nor was I able to find any leader from this era implying that the organization had gone soft or anything of that sort.

The Scouts and Scouters of 1935 took it in stride, made the sacrifices that were necessary cheerfully and with Scout Spirit, and two years later in 1937 gathered for the rescheduled Jamboree when it was safe to do so. That's how the Scouts in 1935 handled it.

For a bit more of a humbling perspective at this moment, imagine the things you would have overcome if you were born in 1900. When you are 11 your join the newly formed Boy Scouts of America, when you're 14, World War I starts and ends on your 18th birthday with 22 million people killed. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until you are 20. Fifty million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million.

When you're 29, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, global GDP drops 27%. That runs until you are 33. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy. When you turn 39, World War II starts. You aren’t even over the hill yet.

When you're 41, the United States is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war and the Holocaust kills six million. At 52, the Korean War starts, and five million perish.

Approaching your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, could well have ended. Great leaders prevented that from happening.

At 64 the Vietnam War begins, and it doesn’t end for many years. Four million people die in that conflict.

As you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends. Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How do you survive all of that? A kid in 1985 didn’t think their 85-year-old grandparent understood how hard school was. Yet those grandparents (and now great or great, great grandparents) survived through everything listed above.

Let’s try and keep things in perspective. Let’s be smart, help each other out, let’s follow our Scout Law and we will get through all of this. 

In the history of the world, there has never been a storm that lasted. As this year has proven,  our future will be forever altered by COVID-19, just as futures were changed by all of the events listed above, we’ll get through this - and we’ll do it by following the Scout Law and supporting each other.

22 November 2020

Great job with the wreath sale this year!

I hope you got all or most of your order delivered today. Mother nature cooperated with the best weather I can remember for "delivery day" And I'll say at this point in 2020, I think we've earned the decent weather for wreathing. 

GOING VIRUTAL

As I stated in an email earlier this week, Troop 1 will be obedient to Governor Walz's emergency order and not gather in-person for our meetings for the rest of 2020. Starting Monday we will be meeting online.  We'll meet this Monday and next Monday and have a PLC on 12/7 to plan our meetings for the rest of the year. In that regard, please start thinking about some winter activities that we can continue since it looks like camping is going to remain on the backburner. For those of you trying to get camping nights for rank advancement, feel free to set up a tent in your backyard, or just sleep outside. Just take some photos, and make note of all the details, etc. If you're able to coax your family out to the woods for a weekend, even better. 

Monday's google meet code was emailed directly.

About the meeting

This Monday, our meeting will run 6:30-8:00 and focus on cooking. 

Had we been meeting in-person, the PLC had planned to be doing some individual-based cooking as prep for the Dec. campout. So we'll adapt and overcome this challenge.  

For Monday, you'll need to cook something ahead of time and plan a menu for yourself as if we were going camping.

What to Cook?

You're encouraged to cook an individual-based meal (links below). Please prepare some food and have it ready for the 6:30 meeting.   

Freezer bag Cooking links

1. https://www.greenbelly.co/pages/best-freezer-bag-cooking-recipes
2. https://www.popsci.com/camping-meals-freezer-bags/
3. https://trailcooking.com/trail-cooking-101/freezer-bag-cooking-101/
   
4. https://www.trail.recipes/recipe-collection/freezer-bag-cooking-recipes/

A lot of backpacking type recipes are good for self-prep though maybe not for freezer bags. 

1. https://www.freshoffthegrid.com/backpacking-recipes/#grocery-ingredients

Or you could do some of those paper bag recipes even beyond the standard bacon and eggs.

1. https://www.explast.mu/plain-paper-bags-our-new-favorite-cooking-tool/
   
2. https://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/videos/1091383/brown-paper-bag-recipes/

There's always, my favorite scout standby, the foil meal. 

1. https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/g2854/foil-pack-recipes/
2. https://www.buzzfeed.com/melissaharrison/foil-packet-camping-recipes

There are tons of great ideas available with some creative internet searching. 

If you're still stuck, here's the Troop 1 Patrol Cookbook. I'm sure you can find something in there, though maybe not for prep in a freezer bag. Or, you might try out something in prep for Thanksgiving.

How'd you Prepare and Cook it?

 Be prepared to share what you prepared (if you're not actively eating it. How it was prepared - including what type of equipment you'd need: pots & pans, wooden spoon, strainer, knife, etc.,etc.,etc. 

Food Critique

What did you think? Was it any good? Or was it gross? Why? Think about it so somebody else might learn. 

Menu Plan

IN addition to prepping and cooking your meal, you should plan a menu (as if we were going camping in Dec.) that includes at least one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner, and that requires cooking at least two of the meals. Plan these meals for individual-based cooking. 

Be ready to tell how the menu includes the foods from MyPlate or the current USDA nutritional model and how it meets nutritional needs for the planned activity or campout.

See you Monday.

13 Nov 2020

 The PLC had a very productive meeting last Monday. 

Saturday 11/14 - 10 Mile Hike - 8:00-1pm - MUMC

Dress for the weather. Wear appropriate footwear. Mask Required. Bring water and a snack. Daypack suggested. 

Plan a route starting and ending from MUMC if you're working on Hiking MB. We'll choose the route in the morning.

We'll likely be back to MUMC before 1pm, please plan to be available to retrieve your scout from MUMC between 12:30-1:00. 

Adults welcome to attend. 

Sunday 11/15 - Troop Meeting 2:00-3:30 - Veterans Park Shelter, Richfield  6335 Portland Ave  

Dress for the weather. Mask Required.   

We're doing Totin' Chip - bring your knife! 

Bring your handbook and a pen, as we're advancement so please be prepared. 

Anybody finishing Cooking MB this is a time to meet with Mr. Beck as well. 

We will NOT be having a troop meeting on Monday. 

Monday 11/16 - Committee Meeting 6:30PM - Adults welcome to attend via zoom
If you're not on the committee but might like to observe a meeting or participate or join, feel free. to reach out To Quentin Randolph, Committee Chair (cc'd). He'll send the Zoom link Sunday and I'm sure he'd include you :-)

PS - we are looking for a new Troop Health Officer. It's an easy time to start this because all of our health forms have expired :-)

Saturday 11/21 - Wreath Sorting 8-12  Northrop School (More Details coming next week)

31 October 2020

First, please be safe if you plan to participate in any social Halloween events. Wear a mask, keep your distance, wash your hands, etc. 

With the virus numbers out there right now,  if you're out in the world (at work or school or a soccer game, etc) exposure is likely. But if you're wearing your PPE and washing your hands a lot, then you're seriously cutting back on the likelihood of contracting the virus. Please take this seriously. As I said in my SM conference last week, "We can't control the wind, but we can control our sails."

Second, remember to set your clocks back an hour tonight. 

Third, I regret to inform you our Court of Honor has been postponed until next weekend. 

Fourth, we WILL have a troop meeting on Monday (11/2) doing 50th St. cleanup. Bring gloves and a garbage bag and a headlamp and a mask. 

22 October 2020

Troop Meeting • Monday, 10/26/2020 • 6:30-8:00 PM • MUMC

Pumpkin carving! 

Bring carving tools and a pumpkin and good jack-o-lantern ideas.
Please gut your pumpkin before the meeting or Mr. Needleman will keep your seeds for his consumption.

Court of Honor • Sunday, 11/1/2020 • 1:00 PM • Wabun Park Pavillion D

Dress for the weather. Scouts should be in their best uniforms - probably with a coat on! 

Masks required. Due to Covid-19, we won't be having a potluck or snacks; feel free to BYO warm beverage.  

UPDATE:

In a MPLS park if we're assembling, we have to keep the total group size to 25 max. The committee is currently working on the best means to achieve this goal. We may hold two (or three) events back-to-back. Stay tuned.

Troop Meeting • Monday, 11/2/2020 • 6:30-8:00 PM • MUMC

50th St. Clean-Up

Please bring a small grocery bag for garbage collection. Wear gloves and good walking shoes. We'll be in patrol sized groups between the Train and the Lake. Meeting and dismissing from MUMC. 

PLC Meeting • Monday, 11/9/2020 • 6:30-8:00 PM • Meet
This is be a Google Meet. Link will be shared later. 

Meetings will continue to be outside. 

Dress for the weather and the activities - including appropriate footwear (slides are not good shoes for outdoor meetings). Always wear a mask. Always bring a headlamp and your handbook.

21 September 2020

Monday. 9/21• Troop Meeting • 6:30-7:45 PM • MUMC

Outside, Masks Required

    Bug Spray if you want

    Water Bottle if you want. 

Cooking MB - BRING YOUR MEAL PLAN with Shopping List pricing. 

Agenda

Scout badge and advancements...revisited

Recap cooking merit badge requirements & review meal plans 

Orienteering recap and game. 

No Boards of Review this week

Wednesday. 9/23 • Wreath Sale Kick-off  • 7-8pm • Online

Link in Email

Please attend the meeting if you're able. We'll provide some detail about how the sale will work this year and some ideas for participating. 

Key Points
 • Everybody's fair share. We are expecting each Scout to sell at least 5 items.

 • The Troop will be taking 25% of sales for the Troop's general operating costs. 
 • Sell $500 and you can pie in any SM face and typical non-premium weekend camps are free 2021.

 • Sale ends Oct 18. Any Money collected is Due Monday the 19th

 • Delivery is Nov 21. 8-1 Northrup School. Scouts need to plan to be there the entire time. The troop is doing all the unloading and sorting for the Cub Scout pack and Troop. The pack is paying us for this service.  

Wreath Sales Website - www.Troop1min.org/wreaths 

Please use the sales website for contactless payments and orders. These are for local sales. 

The use of this sales website goes hand in hand with the Wreath Sales Flyer. 

www.Troop1min.org/wreaths is a redirect site - trying to simplify the url. 

If pop-ups are blocked or there is a problem there is a link to the square site at the top of the page.  https://boy-scout-troop-1.square.site/wreath-fundraiser

Thanks to Ann Wempner and Steve Rozatis for setting up this online store!

Out of town sales that want things shipped to them can use the Evergreen Industries direct ship site. I'm not sure how we track these sales. 

Tracking In-Person Sales

Scouts selling wreaths in person need to collect the money at the time of the sale. 

Here is a Google Sheet if you're interested in tallying your sales here. You'll need to make a copy. This sheet does the math for you. So you can double-check, etc. Online sales will not go on this sheet. Thanks to Janell Newell for your work on this!

Selling door-to-door you may want to use this sheet. Wreath Order Form

Thanks to Ann Wempner for making this easy-to-use sheet. 

Online Sales - Online Store Supervisor needed

Being an Online Store manager is an adult(s) job. They will need to monitor the online store at the square site, create a spreadsheet so we can track orders and credit sales to the appropriate Scouts, and provide weekly updates so Scouts have a clue as to how effective their efforts are. 
This is job is beyond the scope of the Treasurer responsibilities, though they'll be able to help. If you're interested or willing to help please reach out to Ann Wempner. 

Sunday. 9/27 • 5 Mile Hike • 3pm-5:30pm • MUMC

Scouts should plan a 5-mile route starting and ending at MUMC and be prepared to lead the hike. I will not plan a route or lead the hike. 

A good free tool for creating routes is mymaps.google.com

    • Family members welcome.

    • Masks required. 

    • Scout Shirt or Class B. 

    • Dress appropriately for the weather - there's no bad weather, just the wrong gear.

Welcome the New Treasury Team!

It finally happened! The troop was able to find some victims volunteers to fill the treasurer post! Special thanks to Ann Wempner & Steve Rozatis & Andrea Murrill for stepping up. It takes teamwork to make the dream work. Ann and Steve will work the "bankside" and Andrea will be working with the Scoutbook and Scout account allocations/deductions. We thank Jen Newberg for her previous hard work in the post and Ruth Wikoff-Jones for stepping in on an interim basis to migrate us over for Scoutbook usage. 

If you need to reach the treasurer team, please reach out using the Treasurer email. 
You Scout's account balance is visible to you in Scoutbook via the "payments" link.  Please don't reach out asking for the balance unless you believe there is a discrepancy. 

Troop1 Treasurer <troop1.mpls.treasurer@gmail.com>

Troop 1 Website - Seek adult / professional help. 

The Troop 1 site is a google site and its got some funky restrictions. If anybody is a pro and wants to monkey with it, I'd love for that to happen and then "Webmaster" maintenance can be more of a scout job/position of resposibility (PoR) - as it should be. Right now that's very hard because it's such an unintuitive mess. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Monday. 9/28 • Scout Meeting • 6:30-7:45

Description:1. Elections 2. Fitness requirements: 1 mile run, sit ups, push ups, sit & reach wrap-up 3. Orienteering

Wednesday. 9/30 • PHILMONT Crew Meeting  • 7-8pm

Online - Link in email

Details forthcoming

Subscribe to the Troop 1 Google Calendar 

BSA Troop 1 Facebook Group

For those of you on Facebook, feel please join our closed group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/mnt3001/

Scoutmaster's Minute

"Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it, you'll never make it through the night." - Leia Organa