Our Fish Fry was a success!

We held our 1st "annual" fish fry on 8/25/12 and it was a great success!  We served over 160 plates of fish, fries, and fixin's to members of our community and got rave reviews.  We had a lady stop on her way to get some fast food and instead she got her lunch from us and loved it!  We even had people come back for seconds later on in the day.

Doug, Bo, Aaron, Tanya, Elaine, Kim, Susan, Cheryl, and Glen all did an outstanding job setting things up, preparing and cooking the fish, keeping drinks flowing, and running the show.  We were able to show off all the hard work that has been put in to the scout hut and tell people about what we've been doing there.

The money we raised is going to be used to support the program of Troop 165.  Many, many thanks to everyone that came out to support the effort!

Good Court of Honor tonight

We had 30 people at tonight's Court of Honor, and things went really well. Nathanial Smith, our SPL, did a good job leading, and everyone enjoyed the delicious ham and sides that were brought by the parents.

Awards included:

- Stephen Holly received his Cooking and Small Boat Sailing merit badges as well as his 2nd Class badge.

- Matthew Armstrong received his Climbing, Indian Lore, and Swimming merit badges.

- Collin Roberts received his Indian Lore, Plant life, and Swimming merit badges as well as his Scout and Tenderfoot badges.

- Austin Miller received his Computers and Wood Carving merit badges.

-Will Brown received his Fish and Wildlife, Mammal Studies, Small Boat Sailing, and Kayaking BSA merit badges.

- Landon Clemens received his Backpacking, Citizenship in the World, Communications, Emergency Preparation, Hiking, Personal Management, and Radio merit badges as well as his Life Scout badge.

- Nathaniel Smith received his Backpacking, Hiking, Rappelling, Rifle Shooting, and Kayaking BSA merit badges.

- Joseph Brown received his 2nd Class Scout badge.

Philmont "50 Miler" patches were handed out to Robbie Swindell, Joseph Brown, Chris Swindell, Nick Oxford, Chris Smith, Nathaniel Smith. Other Philmont patches and awards were handed out, too.

NATO water- and wind-proof matches were handed out to Collin Roberts, Matthew Armstrong, Will Brown, Nathaniel Smith, Austin Miller, and Joseph Brown for their fine fire-starting skills that were demonstrated a couple of weeks ago.

Everyone had a good time and enjoyed the fellowship and celebration. Many thanks to Keith Brown for coordinating such a great Court of Honor!

Webelos Woods was a success!

We had a great time with the other Troops in putting on Webelos Woods! The boys introduced the ideas and basics of Boy Scouts to several Webelos from the area, and everyone had a good time playing the games. Thanks to all that participated, and we look forward to another session of Webelos Woods the weekend of 11/4/2011!

Great canoe trip!

Troop 165 had a great Canoe Camping trip in September. We put in at the Hwy. 16 Bridge in Whitesburg and took out at the old highway 27 bridge in Franklin. We covered about 19 miles on a hot, sunny Saturday then found a great sandbar to camp on. The next morning started cloudy and cooler with some occasional sprinkles. After covering about 9 miles the sprinkles turned into a deluge. The final two miles of the trip and the takeout both happened in a strong storm. Thanks to the help of Tim Lawson with Georgia Trail Outfitters our truck and trailer were at the ramp, and he even shuttled the rest of us back to our vehicles. Tim was very easy to work with and really helped us out on Sunday. Many thanks to Tim. You can check out Georgia Trail Outfitters at http://www.georgiatrailoutfitters.com

While on the river Scouts saw cranes, ospreys, and to our surprise several mature Bald Eagles, and several yearling Bald Eagles. We took in the sights and sounds of a pow-wow at McIntosh Preserve. We got to see some of Georgia’s soon to be newest State Park. Chattahoochee Bend State Park will be over 3000 acres when it opens next year. We saw the new boat ramps, which will make a great put in or take out point. The Park is being built with a lot of volunteer help, for more info check out the Friends of the Bend website at http://www.bendfriend.org/

The Scouts are now looking forward to their next adventure. Stay tuned..

"Campout of the Century"

Scouts from Troop 165 attended the Atlanta Area Councils Campout of the Century last weekend at Bert Adams Scout Reservation. Our Scouts were joined by 4700 other Scouts and 900 leaders. The event was amazing. Our guys took part in most of the over thirty events offered from Frisbee golf

to human foosball.

There was something for everyone there. Solar telescopes to water rockets. Great to see several of the Atlanta Falcons take time out to come by and sign autographs. They were only supposed to be there for an hour, but stayed most of the day.

Ron Young (Iraqi War veteran and POW) flew in Saturday morning and was a guest speaker Saturday night. You could have heard a pin drop as he told his tale of being shot down and captured.

One of the more popular events was the rockband competition with troops competing all day until the finals that night.

That night during the 5 hour stage show scouts got to see the winners of the Scouts have Talent competition, followed by several motivational speaker including Alvin Townley – an amazing Eagle Scout and speaker. His two books(Legacy of Honor and Spirit of Adventure)are excellent!

After that there was a concert by Chris Sligh, a finalist on American Idol a few years back, who is really becoming a well known christian rock star. The show was great!! My pictures are not so great.

It was our first ever jamboree style event. Hopefully not our last.