Welcome, troop families! This is our page for the 1999-2000 year. I'll keep the calendar, the badge list, the camping information and the sign-up lists here so nobody has to dig through a backpack for the flyer (we all know the flyer is at the bottom of the backpack, under the banana). Please check it before each Monday.

A word about names: for the girls' safety, no girls' names or photos appear on this page, and I ask that you don't put them in the guestbook e-mails either. Parents and leaders are listed by name so you know who to call about what. If you're not a troop family and you found us anyway, welcome, and if you have a girl in fourth or fifth grade who'd like to join, e-mail me. We have room for two more.

Junior badges are earned by completing a set of activities from the badge book; we do most of them together at meetings and a few are done at home. When a badge is finished I'll send it home in an envelope with the girl's name on it. Badges go on the front of the sash or vest. If you're not sure where, ask me before you sew, because I have seen some very creative placements and taking them off again is no fun for anybody.

Our two fifth-graders are also working toward the Junior Aide award by helping with the Brownie troop that meets Tuesdays. They're doing a wonderful job and the Brownies adore them.

We're going to the council camp, about an hour's drive, and staying in the platform tents by the lake (canvas tents on wooden floors, with cots; it is not roughing it, but the girls will think it is). Cost is $18 per girl, which covers the site, food for six meals and the craft supplies. Nobody stays home over $18; talk to me privately if it's a problem.

Leave: Friday 5:30 p.m. from the church parking lot. Eat dinner before you come, or bring a sandwich for the car.
Return: Sunday about 1:00 p.m. to the church parking lot. I'll call the phone tree if we're running late.
Adults going: me, Beth Kowalski (co-leader), Mrs. Park and Mr. Oyelaran (drivers and chaperones), and Mr. Hansen (our first-aider). That's five adults for eleven girls, which is more than the council requires, and I like it that way.

What to pack (the girls have this list; this is so you can check it):

Do not pack: candy (it brings raccoons, and it brings arguments), electronic games, radios, money, or anything you'd cry about losing. Everything gets labeled with the girl's name. Everything. I have had a tearful search for an unlabeled sock.

Forms: the permission slip and the health form went home Sept. 27 and are due Oct. 4. I can't take a girl without both. If yours is buried in the backpack, e-mail me and I'll send another home.

Yes, it's coming. Our cookie manager is Mrs. Delaney, and she is very organized, and we are all very grateful. Here's the general shape of it; details at the Dec. 6 parent meeting.

• Order-taking runs from the second week of January through the end of the month. The girls take orders on the order card; we do not take money in advance this year, except for booth sales.
• Cookies arrive in late February and get sorted in the Delaneys' garage. Pickup is by appointment with Mrs. Delaney. Money is due when you pick up your cookies.
• Booth sales at the grocery store and the hardware store on Main Street run through March. We'll have a sign-up sheet for two-hour shifts. Two girls and one adult per shift, always.
• Price is $3 a box, same as last year. Thin Mints will be the ones you run out of. They always are.
• The troop's share goes to our spring trip and to bringing down the cost of camping. Last year the troop earned enough to pay for the whole spring trip and every girl got to go. That's what the cookies are for.

Safety rules, and these are not negotiable: girls never sell alone. Door to door means with an adult, in daylight, in your own neighborhood. Girls don't go into anyone's house. Girls don't carry the money; the adult does. Council rules say no selling over the Internet, so please don't put an order form on your home page (I know it's tempting). And parents, it's the girls' sale: please don't take the order card to work and sell them all yourself. I know. I know. But the whole point is for them to learn to ask.

Goal-setting: each girl sets her own number at the Dec. 6 meeting. Last year the troop sold 1,140 boxes. The girls have already, unprompted, said "1,500." We'll see.

A troop is only as good as its parents, and this troop has good ones. Thank you. Here's who's doing what, so you know who to call. Everything with a question mark still needs somebody.

To take a job with a question mark, e-mail me or grab me at pickup. Every adult who works with the girls needs the council's volunteer form and the short background check; I have the forms, and it takes about ten minutes.

• Camping forms and $18 are due Monday, Oct. 4. Both forms. Please.
• Uniforms: sash or vest at every meeting, and full uniform for ceremonies. Girls who don't have one yet, that's fine, the council shop has them, and we have two hand-me-down vests in the troop box.
• Dues are $1 a meeting, brought in the girl's own hand (it's part of learning to be responsible). Beth keeps the book.
• Fleece for the blanket project (Nov. 8): we need about 12 yards total. If you have fleece, or find it on sale, bring it any Monday and I'll store it. Any color; the dogs don't mind.
• Pickup is at 5:00. If you're going to be late, call the church office and they'll let me know. I will always wait, but I'd like to know.
• E-mail: if you have it, send me a note at the troop address so I can add you to the list. Not everyone does yet, so the phone tree stays in service for now.
• Y2K note for the worriers: the January 10 meeting is on regardless.