WEATHER REPORT

The weather here is sunny.  And hot.

Maybe our temps are not as hot as yours. But we're just not used to HOT.

A lot of us don't even have a.c.'s here in Southeast Idaho.

We're melting! Melting!  Oh! What a world!

CELEBRATING PIONEERS

July 24 is the day pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. 

In honor of the event Utah takes the day off and dances in the streets.

DH and I like to visit our daughter and her family in Logan 

because their party is just the right size for fun. 

The parade starts at noon with flags, firemen and a huge fire engine.

Much to the delight of the young ladies in the crowd there is a plethora of princesses.

Not everybody is impressed with princesses.

Free toys are a different story.

Lots of antique automobiles.

A convertible that comes with four on the floor,

 red spokes, hand saw and a spare chicken.

We were at the end of the parade route so the candy-tossers were 
either out of ammo or trying to get rid of all their supply in the last few blocks.

Speaking of ammo—this group was dousing down the crowd 
that had been waiting in the hot sun for quite a while. 

My favorite parade entry.  Serious auto envy.

Adjourn to the park for fun things to do like; face painting,
 crafts, hair coloring and a watermelon eating contest.

The grandkids were no match for the kids with the big mouths and stomachs,

but when the winners were announced the other contestants
 were able to savor the rest of their melon.

The park was filled with booths and barbecue.

There was plenty of square dancing available to be enjoyed 
with no restrictions on the age of the participants.

All I needed was O-66 or B-8 to win a BINGO prize,

but fortune was not on my side.

No, I was beat out by DH.  
Lucky for him the prize was dinner for two at a great place to eat.

More dancing for the kids with prizes for everybody on their feet.

This dance was for moms only with more prizes.

Thanks to all pioneers who endure, strive, survive 

and make the way easier for those of us who follow.

GIRLS CAMP 2012

Once again DH and I were “volunteered” 

to help out with girls camp.

Camping:  the art of getting closer to Nature while 

getting farther away from edible food and comfortable sleeping conditions.

It was easy to find the camp.  

Everyone knows storm clouds go out of their way to rain on tents.  

We just followed the clouds.

Down the dirt road.

And into the forest.  We were soon out of range of any cell phone and into a no technology allowed zone.  Then we just followed the smell of mosquito repellent, burned marshmallows and hair spray.

 

After a very good dinner cooked over the fire 

by some of the girls we were invited to the evening’s entertainment.

There was lots of enthusiastic drama.

One skit featured Nemo and his family and friends.

We didn’t need name tags to know who each character was.

One of the most unusual skits was a bit of Shadow Theater.

Everyone is as unique and amazing as a snowflake.

Beauty and love.

Parents may pack up their troubles and send them off to camp.  

But with some good leadership, the exuberance can be directed into superb creativity.

Fortunately DH and I didn’t have to spend the night in the same sleeping quarters as the leaders and girls.  Even though sleeping on rocks and lumpy mattresses could be thought of as therapeutic—like shiatsu massage, we decided to sleep in the back of the Subaru.  It was much quieter.

Note to self.  The need to urinate at night 

increases in direct relationship to the hour past midnight.

 The next morning

everyone was encouraged to “Rise and Shine!”

Some campers are just not morning people. 

A clever bit was put together to illustrate the power of small influences.  Holes were cut in the bottom of big buckets and the tops were tightly covered with shower curtains. 

Using a mist machine the buckets were filled with fog.  Some of the girls beat on the “drum” of the buckets shooting out smoke rings to knock plastic cups off the other girls’ heads.

I have no photos of the assigned duty given to DH and me.  We were judges for a relay race involving knot tying, fire starting, shelter building and first aid.  I was a timer and I used an app on my phone to keep track.  The girls performed their tasks wonderfully.  When the events were over I checked the data on my phone.  Not only had I kept track of the times but I’d walked over two miles and burned 350 calories.

P.S. Pine sap holds down hair better than hair spray but is more difficult to remove.  I got a very itchy mosquito bite on my toe--through the heavy wool socks I wore while sleeping.  One determined blood sucker.