The weather was half-and-half:  pouring rain on Friday and cold, windy, and cloudy on Saturday morning, but spectacularly beautiful with startlingly blue skies and colorful fall leaves in the afternoon and on Sunday.  Special thanks to Callie for doing our grocery shopping for all our good food.  After a hot breakfast Callie and Crystal headed for the barn, and the rest of us spent Saturday morning snuggled up in the bunkhouse doing homework, reading, and working on Gold Award paperwork.  We continued some of that outside in the shelter in the afternoon after soup and dump cake for lunch.  Our Mexican dinner was tasty and the opera was interesting.  The archery session was harder because of wind, but we adapted, and the horses were happy to see us on Sunday morning. 

Callie, Crystal, and Maria have Mary’s (the equestrian director) undying gratitude because her scheduled volunteers did not show up, and she had a service unit camporee in camp.  Laura and Brittany got bragged on by their Girl Scout leader to some of the other leaders.  On Sunday with the other three girls at the barn, they got stuck with all the clean-up chores.  They did not so much as complain; they just cheerfully and skillfully did the work.  Once again our troop is “known as true Girl Scouts” just like in the song.

Julia Kitchings called within five minutes of Pat’s getting home from the campout.  She is not available on November 10, but is planning to be with us at our January meeting.  If we decide to work on the IPP From Stress to Success, she can talk to us about nursing careers or do some of the other activities.  Some of us may decide to do our Gold Award Career Exploration by doing 40 hours of shadowing nurses, which Ms. Kitchings can arrange for us. 

There are other things we need to work on in November.  We need to make the hemp necklaces that Laura will teach but that we didn’t have time for on our camping trip.  We will have to draw for Secret Santas and get ready for our trip to the Empty Stocking Fund.  We also need to decide on a winter or spring camping trip date so that we can send in the application.  We all want Mr. Callaway to do a Red Cross First Aid course for us, and we have to figure out a date when all of us can get together.  He says it will take nearly 4 hours, so we probably need to block out a 5-hour time slot.  Maybe we can do it in December.  Please bring your calendars!

A new thing will happen in January, either the 6th or the 7th.  It is a kick off for cookie sales, and it can earn bonus money if the service unit has 50% participation.  Older girls will be asked to run activities, and, of course, we’re certainly able to do that.  We need to think of something that we’ll enjoy doing and that the younger girls will think is fun.  Maybe we could do our trusty limbo, which would add festive music.  Maybe someone will come up with another good idea.  Let’s start thinking.

We have started to talk about a big trip in 2008 when our troop will finally end.  Of course, parents and our graduated girls who are registered as Adult Girl Scouts will be invited to come with the lovely last three! 

There is a lot of wishing that we could go to Pax Lodge in London again or maybe Our Cabaña in Mexico.  We all need to check out the websites (the links are on our troop home page), and start thinking about how we can pay for such a trip.  We need to think in terms of somewhere around $2000 per girl, including airfare.  Of course, there are many other options, and we certainly could go somewhere other than a WAGGGS World Center.  We need to think about this and start working out a plan.

 We have plenty of some of our usual supplies, and we do not need to buy any of the following:

• Toilet paper (We have at least 12 rolls)

• Aluminum foil (We have 4-5 rolls)

• Lemonade mix (We have two containers that will make nearly 5 gallons)

• Cocoa packets (We have about 75 packages)

• Hot cider mix (We have 15 packages)

 To do for next time:  refill soap containers and dishwashing liquid, bring cutting board, sharp knife, and a few foam cups.