Pack 55 - Austin, TX

Wow. The largest urban bat colony in North America put on a fine show last night!

As part of Pack 55’s summer activities, some of us gathered at the Congress Avenue Bridge to bat-watch (and play in the sprinklers…). Although this isn’t peak bat-watching season — August, when the babies begin to fly, is reportedly the best time of year — it was still mighty impressive when they began streaming out from under the bridge. Which they obligingly did before it got too dark to see them.  At one point, I looked up into a cloud of bats flitting by overhead (yes, I was tempting fate but it worked out OK) and felt like I was in the middle of a snowglobe that had just been shook up.  Equally impressive were the columns of bats streaming out from under the bridge at an amazing rate.  Very cool!

Here are some interesting facts about bats, courtesy of the Bat Conservation International webpage.

In 1980, when engineers were reconstructing the Congress Avenue bridge, they inadvertently wound up redesigning it into an ideal roost for bats. Bats had always lived around the bridge, but once the construction was done they started arriving by the thousands (word of mouth I guess). This worried a lot of people until they found out that the bats consume a staggering 10,000 - 20,000 pounds of insects on their nightly flights! Suddenly they became much more desirable neighbors. Bat Conservation International played a large part in helping Austinites to understand much more about these fascinating little animals.  From being considered a nuisance, the bats have evolved into a major tourist attraction for Austin, and generate millions of dollars for the economy.  Austin’s bats are Mexican free-tailed bats, which are migratory: they head south to Mexico in October and generally return each March to the bridge. Babies are born in June and July and by August are flying and ready to do their part to lower Austin’s mosquito population.

For those of you who can’t get enough of bats, check out the 4th annual Batfest 2008, coming up August 30-31.

Another year has come and gone, school’s almost out, summer’s almost here (OK, who am I kidding, summer’s been here since May, no matter what the calendar says!) … and Pack 55 celebrated in fine style this past Saturday at our annual Blue and Gold Banquet. Special thanks to Ian Clark for taking on the catering logistics — dinner, provided by Curra’s Grill, was delicious!

Den 5 presented the opening flag ceremony. All the dens had their monthly recognition ceremonies, and Den 10 also led us in a special song, complete with some groovy dance moves. Frankenstein, anyone? Speaking of recognition ceremonies, I think a special thank-you should also go to Pack 55’s Awards coordinator Karen Moore, for what was undoubtedly a gargantuan shopping trip to the Scout Store to get a truly impressive number of beltloops, pins, patches, beads, and etc. that the den leaders handed out. Way to go, scouts and parents!

After we had a chance to eat, Cubmaster Hilton Moore also handed out service pins to a number of parents who have given 1, 2, 3, or even 8 years of service to Pack 55. We’ve got terrific parents who are ready and willing to step up and volunteer, but we can always use more! Please consider helping out: jobs come in all sizes from small up to Above and Beyond the Call of Duty.

Saturday marked the official graduation for Pack 55’s Tigers (class of 2008), and after a solemn ceremony, Dens 3 and 6 are now Wolf Scouts. Afterward all the ranks were called up on stage for the cross-over ceremony when all the scouts up to Webelos I’s received brand-new neck scarves and slides. The Webelos II’s received new BSA whistles engraved with their initials, which they had a lot of fun trying out on the playground outside (thankfully). Den 5 presented the closing flag ceremony, complete with taps, to finish things out.

Former Den 1 leader Matt Smith will be serving as the Pack 55 Committee Chair beginning this summer, so keep an eye out for emails from him in coming weeks about activities such as the chili-pepper campout in July, the annual rollerskating afternoon at Playland Skating center, and more.

Happy summer, everyone!

Our first pack meeting of the year is coming up on January 31st at 7pm. The Webelos Is will be graduating!

February is looking pretty busy, as the Report to State parade is on the 2nd, Scout Sunday is on February 10th, and the Pinewood Derby is the 23rd. Speaking of which, Pinewood Derby kits will be on sale at the January pack meeting so plan to pick some up if you haven’t already.

The February pack meeting will be on the 28th, and will feature the Arrow of Light Crossover ceremony, exact location to be announced soon.

The November Pack 55 meeting is scheduled for November 29th at 6:45pm — 15 minutes earlier than usual). It is the Dad and Lad Dinner, plus a uniform inspection (heads up!). The winner of the uniform inspection gets to do recognitions and eat first! The Popcorn Kernels will also present the popcorn awards to the top sellers in the pack. Pack 55 is apparently the second-highest seller in the district, so well done everyone!

See everyone there!

Popcorn Take-order has begun!

We had a great pack meeting last Thursday night! Cubmaster Hilton Moore presented this year’s crop of new Tigers (the 15 or so boys who were able to attend are apparently only about *half* of this year’s incoming Tigers, that doesn’t include the new Wolves, Bears and Webelos who have joined Pack 55), and, as you might expect, the overall theme was … Popcorn!

Den 1 performed a skit featuring a bunch of ways you shouldn’t act while selling popcorn — rude, messy, mumbly, etc. — as well as the best way: use good manners, maintain good eye contact, always have an adult with you. Popcorn Kernels Suzan Nyfeler and Glenna Smith also performed a short skit featuring a soundtrack by the Popcorn Zonettes, complete with popcorn bags on their heads (if you missed it, you really should have been there!). Storyline: selling popcorn is a terrific way to earn money to attend way-cool summer camps next year instead of being bored doing the same old, same old.

Den 10 led us in a new pack cheer (we’ve got spirit, we’ve got drive, we’ve got it all, we’re Pack 55!), and performed the Den 10 cheer to finish off. Our Webelos IIs both received an impressive number of achievement awards and are apparently now evaluating which boy scout troops they’ll be joining next spring. A number of boys also received achievement awards over the summer and to finish it all off there was an ice-cream social on the rather dark playground. All the better to see the last of this year’s crop of fireflies!

Popcorn take-order begins this weekend and continues until the October pack meeting. This year’s principal incentive is the chance to earn money towards attendance at any of the summer camps next year, but the top seller will also receive a fabulous 7-in-1 optical … thingamabob. I can’t recall exactly what it was called, or all of its functions, but it has binoculars, a flashlight, and at least five other gizmos on it in one compact container. Sounds like the perfect tool to take on a campout!