The Past: April can be described in one word—RAIN. Rain, especially on our activity weekends.

The Present: May is a busy month. May 6, Thursday, is the open house of Youens School. Our Troop will have a display/recruiting table. See the sign-up sheet for more details.

The 7^th-8^th is the OA Ordeal weekend at Camp Bovay. Two of our Troop’s Ordeal candidates will be attending this weekend.

May 11^th, our Troop Committee has planned a potluck dinner for all of the families in the Troop. Friends of Scouting will be present.

The 15^th is Tatanka District Food Drive. We will meet at Norte Dame at 8:00 a.m. and collect non-perishable food items from the surrounding neighborhood.

May 16^th is Donut/Pancake Sunday and we end the month with our annual trip to Schlitterbahn Water Park on May 29th! Oh, yeah, school ends also.

The Future: June, summertime and the living is easy…we will be attending Sid Richardson Scout Camp in Denton, TX, June 20^th – 26^th. Money is now due and so are Merit Badge a sign-up sheet.

SM Minute: May in Galveston Bay—what a great place to be. The weather is just about perfect, not too hot, and not too cold. Tides are still running high and there is plenty of fresh water to add nutrients to the bay. I stalk along in waist deep water, my prey…the Southern Flounder. A likely spot appears, tall grasses on shore hide a small runoff stream. Finger Mullet nervously dart around the surface, they fear something on the bottom. My first cast is short, I move closer, short again,10 more feet shoreward. Suddenly, the air erupts" keet, keet, keet". OH NO—Terns! Terns are white seabirds, smaller than a crow, bigger than a Blue Jay. They nest on shore in the tall grasses during the spring and bravely defend their nesting territory. What do they use as weapons in defense of their homes? Poo!! Stinky, partially digested fish poo! One quicker cast as 25-30 Terns swarms towards me. The rod bows heavily and the drag click, clicks. Definitely a nice fish on the end; the Terns swarm overhead defending their homes. A Scout is Brave!

>>--<<doug

Doug Bohn

Scoutmaster Troop 1113