NORTHSIDE AWARDED NORTH ANDOVER CONTRACT

Northside employee, Rob Baker, and his son, Ross, have been very involved with their Boy Scout Troop #200. Together, father, son, and the scouts have embarked on many adventures as well as endeavors to help their surrounding community. You can follow Rob, Ross, and the rest of their troop on their blog at http://blog.troop200nh.org/. Below is just one account of the many adventures that Troop #200 has had this year. Northside would like to recognize Rob and Ross for their dedication and commitment to the Boy Scouts as well as their community.

Over the centuries, there have been many stories of winter camping disasters. Napoleon's trip to the Russian High Adventure Base outside of Moscow and the Donner Family vacation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains are just two that come to mind. Not to be outdone, Troop 200's weekend trip into the Camp Bell Wilderness will long be remembered.  The truth is that the days were cold and the nights colder and the scouts were forced to eat roast turkey just to survive.  It was horrible, said Daniel Colvin -- there were no candied yams. And, as further testimony to the hardships endured, Britton and Connor both noted that they were forced to make the stuffing using nothing but bread, eggs, celery, apples, and onions. It was like an episode from Hell's Kitchen said Douglas, wryly observing that Chef Ramsey would have seemed like the nice guy...

Yes, it was terrible. But, the air was fresh, the sledding hill was steep, and the food was plentiful.  The scouts spent most of Saturday just having fun sledding, hiking, and playing manhunt.  The Snow from a few days earlier blanketed the ground and made building our monkey bridge all but impossible. None-the-less, the lack of an agenda seemed to be just fine. Maybe even better. The scouts could just have fun.  It also gave the leaders a chance to work with the younger scouts in the Axe Yard. Britton swings a mean axe and did a number on the logs. So did all the scouts, it seemed like there was an informal contest to see who could chop the most wood. Mr. Baker and Mr. Harrington were not to be outdone by the scouts... I hope they could still move on Monday.

There were two highlights of this trip.  The first was the first ever Turkey Dinner cooked by the scouts in a dutch oven.  Connor and Britton prepared the dressing and then helped to prepare the birds for cooking. We will be posting the recipe separately. The Turkeys took four hours to cook and were accompanied by cranberry sauce and parsley potatoes.  It was a meal to be remembered.

Following dinner was the flag retirement ceremony.  In addition to Troop 200, Troops 77 (Hopkinton) and 76 (Henniker) participated with us.  The night was clear and the sky was full of stars as we started the ceremony. The pictures capture the mood of the evening. It was one of quiet contemplation and reverence as we retired over 130 flags.  It as an awe inspiring sight seeing the flames rising up from the pyre.

These Flags were not just any flag though.  Each one was desecrated by their previous owners who just tossed them away into the garbage.  Mr. Baker, was responsible for rescuing them and presenting them for a proper retirement. Custom dictates that the ashes of retired flags be buried after being consumed by fire. The Camp Staff at Camp Bell gave us permission to leave the ashes interned at Camp Bell.  I cannot think of any better resting place for our nation's flags.

And then Sunday came, More sledding followed by packing up and coming home. As we hit Newmarket, the snow started again. Perfect timing. 

It was great weekend and the scouts would like to keep the tradition going for next year. I thought it was great to share the weekend with two other troops as well as our own scouts.  Special thanks to Tim Harrington and Rob Baker who braved the wilderness, the cold, and the turkey to spent the weekend with the boys. Thank you.