Jun26th2008

Holy murciélagos, Batman!

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.

Jun12th2008

Chili-pepper campout next month

Ooof. At the rate we’re going, we could camp out in our backyards right now and earn a chili-pepper campout patch. (Already May has gone down in the books as the third-hottest in Austin’s history.)

But why suffer alone in your backyard, when you can experience the fun of extreme summer camping with Pack 55?

We’ll be heading down to scenic Cascade Caverns — even the name sounds cool, doesn’t it? — the weekend of July 19-20. Cascade Caverns is located about 20 miles northwest of San Antonio, close to Boerne. Among the activities planned is a tour of the caverns (natural air-conditioning!) plus other fun things for afternoon and evening.

If you’re planning to attend, please email Karl Shackelford (karl@shacklaw.com) so he can start working on a headcount. Hope to see you out there!

May19th2008

Blue and Gold!

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!

Mar11th2008

Arrow of Light, Spring Campout…

Congratulations to our former Webelos IIs, now all crossed over to their respective Boy Scout troops. Despite the very windy conditions, we had a very nice outdoor ceremony at February’s pack meeting.

The March pack meeting is Thursday, March 27th. The Bears will be graduating! We will also be presenting information about summer camps, Friends of Scouting, and the Spring Campout.

Speaking of which, it’s scheduled for March 29-30 at the Canyon of the Eagles out on Lake Buchanan, which by all reports is a very nice venue and is home to (not surprisingly) the local Bald Eagle population. From John Alexander and the Camping Committee: “We’re planning to have Astronomy (trying to cover the pin), Badminton, Fishing, Hiking and a Leave No Trace cleanup. ‘Come on out and see the beautiful Canyon of the Eagles.’ You might want to take your family on the Vanishing Texas River Cruise after our closing ceremony, Sunday.”

Hope to see you there!

Jan17th2008

January Pack meeting, February events…

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.

Dec4th2007

Dad and Lad Dinner

The November Pack 55 meeting (Dad and Lad Dinner) was well-attended and featured plenty of excellent pot-luck offerings, den recognition ceremonies, and popcorn awards. Pack 55 was the second-highest selling pack in the district, something of which to be proud.  Within our pack, the Den 1 Webelos Is were the top-selling den — way to go, guys!   In addition to the popcorn prizes (which went to the top seller in the pack and the top sellers in each rank), every boy who sold popcorn was automatically entered into a drawing for a limited-edition Schwinn Stingray bike.
There is no December pack meeting, so happy holidays to everyone!

On the calendar for January, Christmas-tree recycling will take place in early January, more information on exact days/times coming soon.  The first of our Roars and Snores weekends at the San Antonio Zoo is coming up January 18-20 and that same weekend is also the Boy Scout Camporee for interested Webelos.  The first pack meeting of 2008 is January 31st and will feature the Webelos I ceremony.  Pinewood Derby kits will also be on sale — it’s never too early to begin planning your car since the Derby is scheduled for February 23rd.

Nov14th2007

November Pack Meeting

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! :D

See everyone there!

Nov6th2007

Campout!

The Pack 55 Fall campout was a blast! The weather was absolutely gorgeous, perfect for spending a night outdoors. And we had great attendance: over 100 people showed up! Activities included a nature hike (hopefully everyone learned to identify poison ivy correctly), an official Retirement Ceremony for both a Texas and a US Flag, fire-building practice for Webelos, and a Leave No Trace activity. Flag football, some interesting insects, a most excellent climbing tree, and s’mores added extra fun to the weekend.

The Camping Committee would like to extend grateful thanks to all those who cheerfully stepped in to help out when the schedule evaporated into the ether, and there were many of you. There were so many, in fact, that we didn’t have time to get all the names, so we offer our sincerest apologies to anyone we leave out but we hope you know your efforts were nonetheless appreciated! :-)

Stephanie Files and Marc Hobbs led the Nature Walk when our ranger was called away, Ian Clark and Bradley Williams set up the blocks and boards so we could cross the bridge without getting wet feet, Jennifer Henry and Kurt Zinzmeyer trucked firewood in, Durbin and Hilton headed up the Flag Football. Shelly King shepherded everyone through the Leave No Trace activity, Terry Payne and Tracy Martin shopped for food and supplies, Ron Lucey and his father conducted the Flag Retirement ceremony, Ian Clark and Hilton Moore MC-ed the campfire activities, Matt Smith directed the s’mores making with the assistance of Glenna Smith, Rachel Payne, and Robin Allison. And a special thank-you goes out to Terry and Lisa Payne for culinary duties above and beyond: besides cooking dinner Saturday night, they hauled all the food, the Grill that Ate Austin, and utensils and other supplies out to and back from the park. Drew Hobbs and various Scouts helped with the Closing Ceremony, and the ever-organized Karen Moore, in a moment of rashness, volunteered to keep track of all the achievements that the Scouts earned during the campout.

Sep29th2007

September pack meeting!

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!

Aug22nd2007

Welcome New Scouts!!

We’ve got a great year planned, and we’re glad that you are a part of it. We’ll be camping out and marching in parades. We’ll be racing cars, looking at stars, selling popcorn, tying knots, fishing, hiking and earning awards. We’re even going to sleep at the San Antonio Zoo in January! So get geared up, this is going to be a great year. If you are not a member yet you might want to check out JoinCubScouting.org, or stop by our Recruiting Night at Gullett Elementary School on September 13th, 6:30-7:30 pm.