September brought a great court of honor. Wesley Elliot performed his bugling duty by opening with the "Star Spangled Banner". Great job, Wesley!! It also gave our recently elected leadership a chance to demonstrate their leadership skills. They are: John Dinwiddie – Senior Patrol Leader; Manuel Grajeda – Assistant Senior Patrol Leader; Juan Medina – Scribe; Chris Decker – Librarian; Paul Nester – Chaplin Aide; Augustine Nguyen – Historian; Tim Bohn – Quartermaster. Also a big congrats goes to "Troop Outstanding Scout" – Juan Medina. A chosen few attended the council’s high adventure rally. Some definite possibilities came from that (more to follow). Congratulations also go out to Wesley Elliot, Manuel Grajeda, David Nguyen and Louis Do for completing their OA ordeals. We had a great time at the Rock Gym; anybody sore from that one?? Don’t worry, I won’t name names.

October is as usual, busy, busy, busy. We will conduct the monthly committee meeting October 6^th and it is a great opportunity for your parents to come and learn about the troop. October 12^th brings the Troop Garage Sale. It’s a good opportunity to bring in those items you’ve been just dying to get rid of while helping to raise funds for the troop. We’ll need all the help we can get with this, so scouts ask your parents to pitch in and help. Contact Ms. Metcalf for further details. October 18^th thru the 20^th brings the OA Fall Pow-Wow. It is really developing into a great one. We also have the 20k Fun Run setup on Saturday the 19^th and working the run on the 20^th. It’s a lot of fun (or they wouldn’t call it a fun run) and also a great way to add money to your account. We must provide 20 scouts and adults, so please sign up. October 25^th – 27^th brings the Webelos Extravaganza at Camp Brosig. We will be teaching the Webelos "Totin’ Chip" type skills. It will be an excellent opportunity to meet potential new scouts and introduce them to our troop. I have saved the best for last. Pie Sales begin October 22^nd. Need I say more? Contact Rodger or Vanessa Meredith for further details.

November brings an outing to Fort Travis on the Bolivar peninsula. December brings

Did you know that car manufacturers try out their new models on some of the worst roads in the world? They can't find any ordinary roads that are bad enough for the purpose, so they build special tracks with ruts, bumps, and potholes that are incredibly bad. Now why do they do that, do you suppose? That's right, they want to give their cars the toughest possible test so that they can learn about the weak spots. The idea is that they will fix the weak spots before the cars go on sale. Are you like a new car model that never was tested? Are you cheerful when the going is easy but a grumbler and griper when there is trouble? Are you like a shiny new car that falls to pieces when it gets a tough road test? In a way, Scouting is like a road test. We challenge ourselves with rugged backpacking trips and other adventures to see whether or not we can take it. As Scouts we like to find out what our limits are, and if we find weak spots, we try to correct them.

That way, we'll be ready for life's bumps and potholes. Then people will say of us, "Those guys can take it".