TROOP 464
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TROOP TRIBUNE

SEPT/OCT 2004

Outings
Sept        11            OA Chapter Picnic
               
12            Jared’s
Eagle Court
               
17            Bike Outing
Oct          1             Edwards Air Base

                9                     Marc’s Eagle Project
                14            OA Chapter Meeting
                15            Cub/Parent Weekend
Upcoming Meetings
Sept        1              Troop Meeting

                8                    
Troop Meeting
                15            Troop Meeting
                22            Court of Honor
7 pm
                                American Legion Hall
                23            Parent/Committee Mtg
                25            PLC
                29            Troop Meeting
Oct          6              Troop Meeting

                13                 
Troop Meeting
                20                 
Troop Meeting
                21                 
Parent/Committee Mtg
                27            Troop Meeting

Birthday Corner
Scouts – Kevin R 9/14, Orion F 9/23, Landen S 9/26
Adults –Brian Crane 9/14  


Eagle Project

  
Please refer to the attached flyer for the specifics on Marc Crane’s Eagle Project.  All Scouts are expected to participate and their families are encouraged to join in the fun as well.  RSVP to the Cranes.

 
Karen’s Stuff
Bike Ride at the Beach

  
This coming weekend is the next Troop outing – overnight at Playa del Rey.  There will also be a bike ride along the beach (don’t forget your bike & helmet!).  You can work towards your Cycling Merit Badge, but it is not required to attend.  Cost is $20.  Please sign up with Daniel.  See David or myself for more info.
Advancements
  
Thanks again to all who assisted with our latest round of Board of Reviews.  With all the advancement work that we are doing there will be plenty more after our upcoming Court of Honor, so be listening for another call for help shortly.

Court of Honor
  
The next Court of Honor is right around the corner – September 22nd, 7 pm at the American Legion Hall.  It is on Fallbrook at the corner of Ventura .  Please plan on attending with your son and come celebrate his achievements with us.  Refreshments to be served following the ceremony.
Popcorn
  
Yes, it is that time again!  Scouts should have received their order forms in the mail already – if not please see me to get one.  For anyone new to our Troop, this is a great way to save money for summer camp.  All profits go directly to the boy’s account (approximately 1/3 of their sales).  So, lets get out there and start selling!  We will try and set up some sales at local stores also, so keep listening for more info.
 
Karen Osterheldt                              ASM/Advancement/Popcorn


 
Matt’s Stuff
  
Next Silhouette fundraiser is November 13 and 14.  Put it on your calendar!  We need 8-12 young, strong boys to help out the Troop.  The boys who have been doing it for the last 1 ½ years have really helped the Troop, and it is time for other new boys to help out.  Also, I can’t be at this outing, so we need an outing leader.  Let me know which of you it will be…
Matt Weintraub
ASM – DS (Dangerous Stuff)

 
In-Box
NEIL AND JOEY SHOW AT THE
LAKE
This is a brief chronicle of a scouting weekend at
Lake Naciemento that took place on 08/20-08/22.  The major part of the band descended on Lake Naciemento on Friday 8/20.  Warren and I didn't arrive until Saturday morning around 11 o'clock am .
Neil, Corky and boys, including Joey, Riley, Blake, Ryan, Jake and Steven all arrived bright and early Friday for some immediate lake and boat time.  Gregory and his dad arrived late Friday evening and connected at the local general store.  Warren and I arrived Saturday morning late and lucked out and connected immediately because Neil and crew were at the Marina
refueling.
    Soon we were on the water cruising around the lake.  Neil set it up so each boy got a chance at knee boarding and another board for doing tricks. There was time for the boys to just jump in and swim near the boat.  We all had a late lunch and during that time
Warren was able to set up his tent. Corky and Blake took off for home early because of prior commitments.  So we all said good bye and headed back out on the water. Gregory and his dad had rented a pontoon boat in the morning and spent their time fishing with Steven.  Late in the afternoon Warren and I switched boats hoping for some fisherman's luck. During after lunch time we all stopped at the floating head for relief and we all noted lots of fish jumping out of the water, so remembering that, the fisher crew headed back there to surely bag our limits.  After many casts and bait switching, 6 o’clock pm rolled around and it was time to return the pontoon boat empty handed.  Gregory stood on the Marina dock asking his dad what to do with the worm still on his hook. Of course the reply was "just throw it in the water". Sure enough a huge fish swam by and gobbled up the tasty worm, what luck!  We need to confer with Dave Hanson as to whether that caper counts for anything in the Fishing Merit Badge!                             (cont'd)

(Neil cont'd)
Evening time was kick back time and a great dinner was planned.  Neil brought out tri-tip steak, salad fixings and the like.  Warren and I brought the Dutch Oven and fixin's.  Warren and Gregory helped out with the cooking the main meal.  Gregory and Warren made a safety circle of found rocks and started up a charcoal embers bed.  Gregory helped Neil with the steaks and Warren did the cobbler cooking himself.  We all had seconds and thirds.  During dinner hour we observed a family of deer raiding a camp above us.  These guys are experts at nosing open the plastic storage boxes.  Neil threw apples up to them and the family seemed to like that.  Joey played guitar for us and we all sat around embers and enjoyed the evening. 
  
Sunday morning we all decided that Warren, Steven and I would leave camp around 11 o'clock and the remaining crew would do some serious boating until later afternoon.  Warren and Steven did some shore fishing in the morning; we packed and headed out on schedule. The trip home was made longer because of a big traffic jam in Santa Barbara .  We arrived around 4 o'clock pm , while Neil and his crew didn't get home until after 8 pm .  All in all it was a fun trip and a real pleasure to spend some time on Neil and Joey's boat. Some body ought to check and see if there's a water ski merit badge.  If so I think several of the boys surely aced the requirements.

KAREN'S BUNKER BURGER KAPER AT SILHOUETTE TARGET RANGE

   Silhouette shooting is a Troop tradition and a significant fund raiser, which occurs four times a year.  This is a brief chronicle about the most recent event that took place on August 14-15.
  
Off
Osborne Street, north by northeast of the 210 freeway is a large L.A. County complex of shooting ranges. One of them is called "Silhouettes".  This was our destination early Saturday morning.  Our job was to bring out the targets and set them up according to range instruction sheets.  To do the job that Saturday we had the following able bodied crew; Jared, Evan, Bryce, Marc, Taylor, Nick, Brian, Warren and Jake (who joined us toward evening on Saturday).  The adult leaders included: Matt, Karen, Mark Myers, Bill Wright and myself "Hutch".  We all pitched in and got the targets set up quickly and efficiently and shooting commenced by 9 o'clock am sharp.  There are two concrete bunkers, one located at the 100 meter point and the second around 200 meters out.  Experienced boys were stationed at the bunkers while the inexperienced boys operated down on the firing line to 50 or so meters out.  The chant we all got used to quickly was "Ears!" we all put hearing protection on during shooting phase and "Eyes!" we took off hearing protection and put on eye protection for the reset phase. Those assigned to range duty then ran out reset the blown over silhouettes and after a clearance from shooters they quickly repainted them, and ran back to safe positions. When done, range officer began the count down for shooting sequence and so it went all morning that Saturday without a hitch.
  
Around
noon at another range just east of us or so, we are told that one of the shooters was firing Chinese ammo.  This is very hard ammo and apparently the sparks set the range on fire, which set the surrounding hillsides on fire, which was on its way to a major conflagration.  Range control shut all of the ranges down and called the L.AC Fire Dept.  They in turn sent in several trucks and an observation helicopter.  It wasn't long before the fire was raging out of control and threatening the entire area.  Karen had wisely already rounded up all the boys and placed them in the parking lot for immediate evacuation if required.  From the parking lot we all got to observe many water and fire retardant drops by other helicopters.  In other words we were in the middle of a major production that day.
   Since the range was shut down, and firemen were doing a good job of controlling the fire, we all retreated to the club house for lunch and a game of darts while we waited.  It was a long dart game indeed and we were told the range would not be cleared until around
six o'clock that eve.  Pizza for supper was ordered and we enjoyed it.  Karen and Mark conducted a cooking class for boys needing the cook over an open fire step (with charcoal), Mark had a big appetite and enjoyed several of the cooked up packages the boys made.  Around 7 o'clock pm we all got to partake in range shooting, we owned the range for about an hour before darkness as it came. What fun we had.  All of us got to shoot the 22 rifles and plunk as many targets as we could hit.  Most of the boys stayed over night and slept in the storage lockers Saturday night.
  
Sunday, started bright and early and everything was setup and running by
9 o'clock sharp.  It was a busy day and I think we all earned our personal fitness merit badges that day with all of the up and down and running.  Around noon a very special event occurred.  Karen carefully put together a bunch of lunches in zip lock bags and it was hotdogs and goodies.  Between shooting on downtime, the lunches were quickly trucked out and given to the boys.  We never stopped and we ate as we could.  A couple of hours later a really special event occurred and it was second lunch, this time it was Bunker Burgers by Karen and the food was doled out the same way.  By 3 o'clock or so all the shooting was done and the range was shut down and everything put away.  Around 4 o'clock or so we were all released and headed home.
  
The Troop makes $450 per weekend of service and the boys get the opportunity to earn some money via tips for excellent service.  This is certainly a win win proposition where everyone involved makes out.  On the way home I asked
Warren if he would consider helping out again and he replied "Certainly!”  For those who have not experienced this opportunity to help the troop and themselves, I hope this increases their understanding of Silhouettes and more importantly, it improves their willingness to volunteer too.  The next Silhouettes Range weekend is coming up in November.
“Hutch”, ASM