Gingerbread Man- After School Event

The first After School Hour event went off in great style with a gingerbread man theme- thanks to a new picture book entitled The Gingerbread Man - Loose in the School by Laura Murray. 30 children from grades K-4 croweded into our not hardly large enough meeting room to eat popcorn, design paper gingerbread men (seen above) compete in Wii sport games, hear the story, go on a gingerbread man scavenger hunt throughout the library and then end up decorating edible gingerbread man shaped cookies! Since only a few pairs got to compete on the Wii the competition, along with prizes, will continue next Monday and other Mondays up until November when the weather gets a little unpredictable. Will try and plan for the younger children to be able to do their activitity in a different area if the crowd of older children is as large as this first one. All in all everyone had a good time. I failed to get a picture of my able assistant, Joyce, who was even wearing a special gingerbread apron. Will get a belated one to post.

The View from my home- Sept. 2011

Here are some new scenic views from my lakeside home: a gorgeous sunset over the lake, leaves changing color, my recently manicured secret garden area and some lovely cloud formations. It is scenes like these that make the coming winter weather worth living through!

Carlsbad,N.M. homes

While visiting my New Mexico "hometown" this past summer my friend took me on a tour of different houses. The very adobe Spanish style home is one that is located along the Pecos River that runs through Carlsbad and should I ever want to give up my lovely Iowa lakeside home, this is where I would probably want to move to. The other two houses pictured here are definitely out of my price range but are just two of many lovely homes in this desert town. They, too, have the Pecos River in their backyard. All homes along the Pecos have a special "Christmas on the Pecos" event where they have very elaborate yard decorations all lit up for tourists and locals to view while floating down the river on large pontoons designed for this annual event.

Kid's Pioneer Day 2011

We had another successful Kid's Pioneer Day at our authentic log cabin. There were 45 plus kids in attendance along with several of their parents. The weather was most cooperative providing sunshine and a cool breeze. Three boys from Harlan were impressed with their Lincoln log construction (one had to run to his campsite to get his own camera) and our local outdoorsman, Lon, was another big hit this year with his fire making skills and log sawing. Girls seem to continue to actually enjoy washing clothes the pioneer way and dressing up in long dresses. Former school teacher, Lois, filled in this year as our one room school teacher and there were funs games to play as well. Bags of jelly beans were given out to game participants. Homemade ice cream and even homemade butter skills were given with samples to keep . Ron & Joyce again provided fry bread and stew for everyone's taste buds. Another teacher showed off her natural dye making skills along with the homemade ice cream. Looking forward to adding something new to next year's event along with the standby favorites! It is an event being held every last Saturday in August for those needing to put it on their calendars.

Carlsbad Cavern's Jim White memorial

During my recent visit to Carlsbad, N.M. I visited this new memorial to the somewhat infamous rancher/farmer who is credited with discovering the Carlsbad Caverns that are located about 20 miles south of Carlsbad. It is hard to imagine someone willing to climb down into the then never discovered caverns since there were not the electric lights one can now depend on to light the way. Also, as depicted here, Jim White had only a rope ladder to use compared to the nicely paved walkway tourists can now use - not to mention there is even an elevator for the less agile. Having lived in this area most of my adult life including my college days I have visited the caverns more than once but have never taken the more primitive trip that is now available for the more hardy cavers since additional cave openings have been discovered. I prefer now to visit the large gift shop and restaurant at the top that has a spectacular view of the surrounding desert all the way into Mexico "on a clear day"!

Kid's Pioneer Day Pics!

The 3rd annual Kid's Pioneer Day events are scheduled for August 27, from 10:00 a.m. - Noon! Here are pictures from last year's event. The popular sack races along with some other games will take place and "winners" get jelly bean prizes. Old fashioned laundry and dressing up in pioneer type clothing (although they have to settle for adult sizes) has also been a favorite event. This year kids will actually get to sit at a spinning wheel to experience how one works. They will also get to see how butter was made and taste some homemade butter AND ICE CREAM this year! Lon Buse, our avid outdoorsman, has another surprise task planned for this year. In the past he showed the children how to saw wood to make a log bed and how to whittle whistles out of wood. The Bettin family will continue to provide food cooked over the open fireplace inside the log cabin. Children of all ages are welcome to attend and there is no charge.

"Poker Run" on Blackhawk Lake

I got to see a little of the annual "poker run" this summer -- especially since one of my neighbors was one of the "stops" boaters could retrieve their prize. Seen here are some of the hardy souls who enjoyed the sunshine from the dock location and then there are those who chose to merely partake from a more comfortable location in the shade! It was a great day weatherwise for those who had signed up for the event as was the weather for the recent Carp Fishing Contest that took place this past weekend. Learned that some lucky person did catch a $1,000 fish!!