Akela Camp 2007 - An Unmitigated Success!

Over 500 Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Scout Leaders, and family members attended the 2007 installment of Akela Camp at Ross-Rhodes Scout Reservation this past weekend. Roughly 75 of those represented Pack 82. "Roughly" - because they moved around too much to count.

Tent City

As Pack 82 descended on Campsite #1, the small outpost blossomed into a metropolis of nylon. By Friday night, a dozen tents could be seen blanketing the landscape. By mid-day Saturday, the count had tripled.

Breakfast of Champions

The Pack 82 Kitchen was open for business Saturday morning after an hour of cooking over three propane stoves. Baconmeisters Mr. Kevin and Mr. Jason fried the pork, while Mr. Jeff flipped sausage on the griddle. The cholesterol was supplemented by hash browns, eggs, and toast. Mr. Kevin: "You can have your eggs any way you like 'em. As long as they're scrambled." Roughly 30-40 people chowed down.

Loopapalooza

Oh yeah, there were some beltloops for the boys to earn. Marbles. Volleyball. BB Guns. The usual suspects.

Mercury Rising
The early October weekend was unseasonably warm and humid. Some might characterize it as hot. Maybe even sweltering. It was darned uncomfortable. But we still had a fire, mind you.

March Through the Night

After the sun set and dozens of marshmallows incenerated, most Cub Scouts found their second wind and began running throughout the camp with sticks. In order to vent this excess enthusiasm, Mr. Jeff, Mr. Chris, and Mr. Rick (among others) led the Scouts on a perilous hike down the road and back in the dark. The trek included flashlight-free zones, cricket listening, and ghost stories of the Absolutely True genre. Some of the more true elements of the stories: Mr. Jeff was in fact once a Cub Scout, did in fact have a pickup truck, did grow up in a town with railroad tracks, and really had a great-great grandfather who fought in the Civil War. How much more truth can ya stand?

The midnight-ish march was such a hit that it was repeated Saturday.

Campfire

This year's mercifully concise Campfire featured Indian dancing, songs, skits, and jokes of both the audible and inaudible variety; and tributes to all who worked so hard to make Akela Camp 2007 an unmitigated success. Pack 82 contributed a rousing round of "Ravioli" in lieu of Bug Juice Reloaded.

Creative Cooking

The "A for Effort" award goes to Mr. Rick, who braved both humiliation and hunger to fix the most unique lunch of the camp - pizza on a stick. He was 50% successful. Get that man a sandwich iron.

Blackmail

Ben, I ran into your mom in the store this afternoon. She asked me if anything interesting or even dangerous happened while at camp. I told her I couldn't think of anything offhand.

By the way, my yard needs mowed.

Notes to Self

Next time we camp:

• Do breakfast again. It worked. Everyone seemed to like it.
• Use a fourth stove to cook breakfast.
  
• Maybe cook a breakfast casserole in a Dutch oven.
  
• Find some new ghost stories.
• Encourage boys who can't stay overnight to just come for the Saturday activities
• Prepare an impressive (but simple) campfire presentation ahead of time
• Recycle all aluminum cans
• Take a group picture
  

Here are some pictures from Akela Camp 2007.

Modern Conveniences....Air Conditioning...

Ahh. . . to get back to my spoiled life. . . A/C and satellite TV.

What a great weekend guys! Though the weather was a bit on the warm side, I think a good time was had by all. It’s abundantly clear by the number of kids we had performing Sat. night that we are doing something right in Pack 82. Several times Kevin and I mentioned the fact that 4 years ago Pack 82 had two representatives at AKELA. . . Kevin and myself.

From the campfire cooking(Pizza on a stick) and stories(Viper. . . think I missed it this year), to the hikes with 'grandpa's finger' story, the Copperhead bite, Three Amigos cooking breakfast, to the 'quicksand mud with snake' incident, I think we are providing these boys with essentials to make great memories and build them up in a positive manner. . . plus teaching them some good outdoor skills.

Thanks to each of you for what you do. I'm not sure who's having more fun. . . my son. . . or me!

Jason

More Thoughts on Akela Camp 2007

Jason,

You're right, I think this was a great campout. I asked a few of the boys to rate the campout on a scale from 1 to 10-got a high grade of 10, a low of only 8! (The 8 was justified by wishing for a little cooler weather. Can't argue much with that one.) BTW, for the record Luke did *not* ding me for the Pizza on a Stick. Generous kid….

Special kudos to the breakfast (cook) club and Jeff for organizing the nightly hikes. Spooky factor was just right-nobody ended up scared, but everybody listened closely! New Bear leader Chris Eley did an excellent job of keeping the boys in a group, too.

You're also dead on that Pack 82 must be doing something right- we had the biggest "tent city" I've seen yet. Good work, Kevin.

I hope the tireless Akela camp director agrees to sign on for another year-this was a great campout. (Don't let that guy out!)

Only take-away for us: Let's give some thought to our skit a little ahead of time next year. We were good, but I honestly think we got upstaged by the "Mom's Super Soup Surprise" Pack. With a little practice a few weeks out, I bet we could set a new standard for the campfire skits.

Thanks to you all for making our Pack a great place for our kids. Jason's right, we're making great memories.

Rick

More Scouts

Correction to previous post: we have 54 Cub Scouts now. Wow.

Welcome Back to Cub Scouts

Wolf Scout Parents,

Welcome (back) to Cub Scouts! Dan and I are so excited about this year of scouts, we can hardly get any work done. We're almost as excited as all ELEVEN boys were Monday night. It was really great to have all seven of the "old" boys back and to see four new boys join the den. All I can say about that is - bring a friend next time! We will find more room and get more leaders if we need to. Dan and I are committed to make the Den meetings a quality time of fun and learning for the boys. We appreciate all the help the parents provide - setting up, cleaning up, bringing stuff, working with your boys, occasional crowd control. By working together, I know the boys will have a great experience in Cub Scouts this year.

Here are a few items I wanted to bring to your attention:

Pack Meeting

The September Pack Meeting is Monday, September 17 at Springhill Elementary School, 7pm - 8pm. The Pack Meeting is for the entire family. Our den will be performing our Academy Award-Winning Skit, "Waiting To Buy Train Tickets." I'm sure there will be other presentations, games, and events, but none as moving as "Train Tickets." So don't forget. Monday. At the school.

Bobcat Rank

The first rank earned by all new scouts, regardless of age, is the Bobcat. There are only eight requirements to earn the Bobcat. Most of these are part of our opening ceremony that we do every week. You can find this information starting on page 16 of the Wolf Cub Scout Handbook. Here is an online link if you want to read it now instead of doing your work. (!) http://www.boyscouttrail.com/cub-scouts/bobcat-scouts.asp

We want all new scouts to earn their Bobcat badge at the October Pack meeting. You can do it. We have faith.

Youth Safety

One of the requirements for the Bobcat rank is to discuss safety. This isn't "don't play with matches" or "look both ways" safety. Rather, it's the "don't let anybody touch your ____ " and "never keep 'secrets' from your parents" safety. It breaks my heart to know there are people in this world who take advantage of young boys to satisfy their own perverted desires. It also makes me quite angry, frankly. The best way to protect our boys against being a victim of abuse is to make sure they know what's appropriate and what's not, and to make sure they aren't afraid to talk to us as parents about it. The BSA takes this matter seriously, and they require all leaders to have training on it. In addition, the BSA has rules in place to prevent situations where leaders could take advantage of boys or be accused of improper conduct. For example, we require "two-deep" leadership for all meetings and activities, all (Cub Scout) campouts must be "family campouts," and the boys always use the "buddy system" and never go anywhere alone. All this to say: don't brush over this Bobcat requirement. Take time to read through it carefully and talk to your boy about it. I urge parents of last year's scouts to go back through this information as well.

Anyway. On to a happier topic.

Working Toward Wolf Rank

Have you looked through the Wolf Cub Scout Handbook yet? Sit down with your son and just go through the book. I guarantee they will find some things they can't wait to do. I also guarantee you will find some things you already do around the house and can probably sign off right then and there.

Pay special attention to these activities and try to have them completed by the end of September:

Achievement 1 - Feats of Skill
Achievement 9 - Be Safe at Home and on the Street
Elective 16 - Family Alert

Our goal is to have everyone achieve the Wolf rank by the Blue and Gold banquet in mid-February. The absolute deadline for finishing the Wolf rank is May 31. After earning the Wolf badge, a boy will start to earn Arrow Points for finishing Electives. He can work on Electives before finishing the Wolf, but he can only earn Arrow Points after the Wolf is completed.

Akela Camp

Let me strongly encourage you and your family to participate in Akela Camp the weekend of October 6-7. The cost is minimal for the amount of fun involved. Let me know if you do not have a registration form. Here are a couple of links to some pictures and stories from camps gone by:

http://jeffmcfarland.blogspot.com/2007/03/pack-82-family-campout-roaring-success.html

http://bryantpack82.shutterfly.com/action/

Do Your Best

The Cub Scout Motto is, "Do Your Best." What does that mean? It means instead of saying "I can't" or "I won't" or "I don't like that" you will say "I'll give it a try." It is very important for Cub Scouts to understand this and put it into practice at our Den meetings. Some boys are going to be more artistic, or athletic, or articulate, or energetic. But as far as Cub Scouting goes, they are only being judged against themselves. Did the scout give it his all? Or did he not even give it a try? The boys are going to do lots of things this year - lots of fast, colorful, sticky, thoughtful, outdoor, clever, cool things. (Editor's Note: We will do NO "cute" things. Cute is...well, not for Wolves.) They need to know that it's OK to not like something, or not be really good at it - because there are going to be plenty of things they do like and are really good at. But doing my best sometimes means playing along even when it's not my favorite thing.

Please have a talk with your boy about Doing Your Best. It is going to be the cornerstone of what we do this year.

Website

Pack 82 has a website that is updated at least once a year. You can see it here:

www.geocities.com/bryantpack82

Also, I will post pictures of any events to our photo website (link above). If you have pictures, you can email them to me or bring a CD.

Again, Dan, Kevin, all the Pack 82 leaders, and I look forward to a great year.

Thanks,

Jeff

Off to a Great Start

Pack 82 now has 49 scouts. Wow.