Going to a Garden Party and MEETING LOCATION ALERT

What a beautiful weekend to be out working in the garden!  In absolutely perfect prognostication on the weather done many weeks in advance, young Mr. Dahlmann had 46 of T648’s friends and family spending a glorious Saturday working out of doors on his magnificent Eagle Project.  St Vincent de Paul enlisted him to assist them in helping their clients better help themselves by building irrigated food gardens on donated land just north of their South Phoenix facility.  Our troop developed and installed two large automated irrigation zones for salad plants (kale and other lettuce varietals) and two zones of citrus trees, for underprivileged people of the charity to tend and harvest for community meals.  It is always amazing to me the ingenuity and scale of the projects our scouts develop, and the fabulous results when the best and brightest of our organization are then brought to bear on those designs.  This project will benefit many of the neediest in our community for years to come.  Many thanks to all who gave up much of their Saturday to put together such an outstanding outcome.  Well done!

For a number of the top salesmen in T648, it was then home for a quick shower, and then off to an incredible award dinner at Mr. Parizek’s home.  Each of the top ticket sellers from last spring’s Pancake Breakfast were treated to the ultimate in haute cuisine (American style), as the boys were entertained with views from his mountaintop home, and overwhelmed by the tastiest beef ribeyes this side of Dodge City.  More than one scout was heard asking their parents as they left if they could please do steaks like Mr. Parizek.  Congratulations to the award winners!  It bears keeping in mind that there are sometimes additional benefits to a scout’s doing his best beyond simply having a fuller scout account – everybody who left that night was certainly full of some of the finest food in Phoenix.

For this next week, I have one last MEETING ALERT.  We will be meeting at Scottsdale Worship Center Tuesday night (not Blessed Sacrament), and at 6:30PM (not 7PM).  It will be a packed agenda, and it is important that everyone be in the right location ready for starting early, as we have a whirlwind tour of multitudinous piles of awards to wade through, and we want to ensure that every boy who has achieved so much is due his moment in the T648 sun.  You are encouraged to bring a sack dinner or fast food by 6PM, and eat and visit with our troop family as we are setting up for the ceremony at 65th Street and Cactus.  Or simply come ready to begin sharply at 6:30PM.  You’ll be glad you did!  And we’ll have a better shot to send you home in time for bed on a school night.

Additional items of note include a service project this coming Saturday to benefit our charter organization, Blessed Sacrament.  Young Mr. Turner has developed a quick project to beautify a path on our host’s campus.  Please arrive by 6:30 AM on the 12th, and we’ll plan to be done in two hours or less.  For those of you tracking your Eagle Merit badge requirements, Mr. Conrad’s Community in the World merit badge class will begin at 6:15PM at Blessed Sacrament before the October 15th  troop meeting.  There will also be an opportunity to practice first class lashings during the troop meeting on the 15th.  If you are interested, please practice some of the key knots (can you say clove hitch?), and be ready for some A-frame and other useful pole gadget building.  Looking ahead, we have a cool, crisp backpack planned for the San Francisco Peaks area on the weekend of the 25th.  This is the absolute best time to be a scout in Arizona – please take advantage of all your troop has to offer.  It doesn’t get much better than this!

See you at the Court of Honor (did I mention Scottsdale Worship Center and no later than 6:30????)

Mr. Cole