THE PAST: Did August blow by or what? Laser Quest lock-in was cool with many hard played games. Tim Osborne’s Eagle ceremony reminded us all of our purpose and goal in scouting, reaching the rank of Eagle Scout, mastering skills and tools needed in life, and having exciting adventures along the way. Troop elections and patrol elections gave us the new leadership corps to carry us through the rest of the year; and oh yes, school is back in session.

THE PRESENT: September starts off slow allowing us all to get back into the swing of Scouting. The HIGH ADVENTURE RALLY is Saturday the 13^th; the lock-in at the Texas Rock Gym is Friday the 19^th ; Pancake Sunday is Sunday the 21^st. For those scouts who have not done their O.A. ORDEAL yet, the opportunity will be open the week-end of 19^th through the 21^st. The Troop will have the fall Court of Honor and Pot Luck Dinner on the 9^th. We will also honor our retiring Scoutmaster Bobby Metcalf and Assistant Scoutmaster Don Leo.

THE FUTURE: The months of October and November are filled with Scouting activities: opportunities for advancement, service, camping, money earning events, fun and adventures. These are all the ingredients of a good scouting program. The only items missing are the boys and the adults who will support these events. Look for signup sheets at future meetings.

SM MINUTE: What can we learn form the turtle? First we see his shell, his armor, his means of defense. We are like the turtle in that we have many ways to protect ourselves from danger, to shelter ourselves from it, for example. Secondly, we see the turtle’s persistence. He’s slow, he’s plodding, but he always gets where he’s going. His persistence is memorialized in the age-old story of the tortoise and the hare. The persistence tortoise outlasted the showy, flashy, and very fast hare. We can learn from the turtle that our greatest accomplishments do not come from skill alone, such as in our journey to the rank of Eagle. Finally, we see that the turtle can go nowhere unless he first sticks out his neck. Again we are like the turtle in that we accomplish nothing until we dare to stick out our necks once in a while.

DOUG BOHN