July 10 & 11, 2013

Humbug Mountain State Park

Wednesday we presented a program on salamanders.  The craft associated with the program involved making a beaded salamander.  Monte and I had prepped some kits the night before by counting out beads needed, cutting the ribbon to length, and wrapping a piece of tape on the tips of the ribbon to make it easier to slide through the bead.

I had never made a beaded salamander before and there were no instructions in the kit box so I spent a half hour figuring out how to do it so I would be able to show the kids.

I was hoping we would have a small group because I knew I was going to have to offer assistance especially to the younger ones.

We ended up with 20 kids in the group.  Luckily some parents remained to help out.   We only had 15 kits prepped so I made the decision to have the kids who were under 5 years old color a picture of a salamander.  I had downloaded and ran off a few copies that morning just in case we had real little ones.

When I began to show the kids how to do the beaded salamander I actually forgot how to do it myself.  One of the older kids figured it out and showed me.  DUH. 

In the end, everyone enjoyed doing it and everyone had a good time.  As everyone was finished and began to leave, one little boy stayed behind.  He was only half way through the project.  Monte and I stayed an extra half hour to help him because he was determined to finish it by himself.

On Thursday our program was entitled, Birds of Humbug Park.  We handed out a brochure listing information on the most common birds in the park.  We finished off the program by making a hummingbird feeder using red plastic cups.  The craft was easy as we had pre-cut the cups and the lengths of ribbon.  I had also pre-cut paper flowers that the kids colored and then glued onto the feeders.  I also gave them a recipe for nectar.

We had to ship a package so we took a ride into town after lunch.  When we got to the Post Office there was a sign on the door stating the clerk was out to lunch and would return at 2PM.  WHAT?    

It wasn’t a big deal because we planned on going to the library for a couple of hours.  So at 2:30 Monte ran the package over to the Post Office while I stayed at the library. 

I was watching a program on my computer, listening with ear buds when all of a sudden a loud static-like noise came through the buds.  I pulled the jack out of the computer but the static noise continued getting louder and louder.  Even after turning the computer off, the noise continued. 

When we got back home Monte turned the computer back on, uninstalled the audio driver and then reinstalled it.  So far the computer is working fine but I have a feeling its days are numbered.  I guess I can’t really complain because in laptop age it is a dinosaur at 7 years old.