Pack 565 Families,

It was a wild and wooly Fall Family Camping weekend. Some of us wish we had more wool because it was quite cold both nights. Personally, I’d rather have it cold than hot, because you can always throw on more blankets.

I think our Cubs would say we were assigned a perfect campground. It had everything a Scout would enjoy: We were right next to the lake, so we could fish anytime we wanted. We were right next to the woods, so we could have a “war” anytime we wanted. I’m not sure what the rules were to “war”, but it must have been a great game because anytime you were missing a boy, all you had to do was go over to the edge of the woods and call out a name and a minute later they’d come crashing out of the woods carrying their stave. I think it’s great that boys can still play a game where they make up their own rules. Too much of their time is spent playing organized activities.

What’s a stave??? It is a manufactured hiking stick basically. It can be decorated with markers, beads, doo-dads, feathers, or other adornment. It is great for walking, hiking, mud poking, and “war” pretending. This FFC, all of our Scouts and participating siblings were issued staves. I want all Pack 565 parents to congratulate their Scouts. No stave had to be taken away because of unapproved uses! And nobody got hurt either! (We all had to take an oath that staves were not to be used to practice kung fu, simulate bayoneting, or torture little sisters, or the stave would be taken away and not returned until Sunday morning.) That is a significant achievement.

We have two extra staves for those Scouts or participating siblings who never received one. Contact me for those. If you would like one just because they were cool or one to replace a lost one, contact Joe Murphey of Troop 797 at 770-354-3365 and ask him who the Cubmaster for Pack 797 is. They may still be available at $4 per stave.

We did our usual 20-mile hike to the various day-time activities. We did BBs, ecology, first aid, Olympiad, and others. Nothing can wear out those Cub Scouts.

This year, Pack 565 was in charge of the Saturday evening flag ceremony. The Webelos performed in front of about a thousand people and did an excellent demonstration of lowering the flags and folding them in the proper way. Mason F. was stellar as our sergeant. I think he is the first sergeant I’ve ever heard that could be heard by a thousand people. He was tall, straight, and formal.

Dinner and all our meals were provided by our excellent chef staff of MarKay A., Ian B., and Becca B. Nothing would have happened without our numerous volunteers or our chief kitchen gopher, Chris A. The meals this campout were the best in my memory. Don’t even ask for the secret spaghetti recipe. The recipe is kept in a Gringotts vault, because if it fell into the wrong hands, dark forces could use it to control the entire tri-state area. The spaghetti is dangerously scrumpdillyicious.

We had a bunch of first-time campers and I congratulate all of you who made it through your first camping experience. I’m sure you’ve learned a lot and have recorded many things that you will do differently next time. One of them might be, Don’t listen to Carl; he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. We had rain Saturday afternoon and that always puts a damper on things, especially if your tent lets in water. I haven’t figured out the secret as to why that happens. Several campers were forced to pack up early Saturday evening because of wet sleeping bags. That’s always a downer.

It was a downer because you might have missed the best skit ever presented at a Scouting event! During the usual campfire, Pack 565 presented “House On Fire”. We had a cast of dozens, all playing movie producers, stage hands, makeup artists, script prompters, camera and sound men, and actors. Our typical American family was excellent. The Mom looked a good deal like Daniel R., except with long black hair. Our fire department was first rate, despite what the director said. I am positive that we got the biggest laugh of the night, thanks to the thespian talents of our Pack.

We were taped all weekend for a TV show. Start watching “Let’s Go Camping” on CSS Sports South to see when our episode will air. Here is the Website:

http://www.letsgocampingtv.tv/

Sunday dawned cold, crisp, and clear. We packed up, policed the area, got one more fishing expedition in, and headed for home. Man, that shower was nice.

I’ll see all of you next Spring for Spring Family Camping!

Yours in Scouting,

Carl