Getting Ready for Pathfinder Fair

Last night at the beginning of our Pathfinder meeting, we took the kids outside to practice stilt walking and boardwalking for the Pathfinder Fair. We wanted them to practice in the grass to cushion any falls.
T remembered how to walk on stilts from when they did this activity several years ago.

Each Pathfinder took a turn.

This is the boardwalk. They have to work in unison to walk and move the boards at the same time.

They did very well at this for it being the first practice.

Updates

Long time, no blog. I'll try to catch up and do better. Here are life's highlights since the last post.

• Our PBA team made it to the next level. Actually, three of the four teams made it. Louisville, KY; Tullahoma, TN; and our own Highland team. The next event is on Saturday the 28th at 3:00.
• We went to another funeral and another memorial service. M's nephew's longtime girlfriend was in a four-wheeling accident on March 9. The four-wheeler she was riding on hit another four-wheeler and she was thrown off and killed. Her funeral was Friday the 13th. On Sunday the 15th, we went to a memorial service for the step-father of a long-time friend of mine.
• Spring has sprung--we have all kinds of stuff blooming--I'll try to get pictures up soon.
• Our Pathfinder club started the knitting honor last week and will be getting ready for Pathfinder Fair (May 3) starting this week. They will need to be able to walk on stilts, do a boardwalk (pictures will help explain this event), and send and receive Morse Code with a flashlight.
• T's best friend's family is packing up and moving here (Gallatin) sometime in the next week.
• I'm still going to Mr. M's and looking after the house and taking care of the cats. Once we find a home for Socks, we'll move Pepper home with us.

Be sure to check out my other blogs for more pictures of what we've been up to lately, flower pictures, etc.

(Look Little E, no pictures!!!)

P.S. My reading lists and bird list are updated, too.

Life Lately

Been so busy since last post--hope I can remember to hit the important stuff.

• L's car died. We've been looking for another one, but on a very low budget--everything in our price range has either body damage (ok with us) or mechanical problems (not ok--don't want one that will break down soon).
• Mr. M is in the hospital. He went in last Friday--spent the weekend in CCU--got moved to a regular room on Monday. Frankly, he doesn't look so good. They say he has pneumonia and think he has been aspirating food and drink into his lungs.
• I've been going to Mr. M's house twice a day to feed the cats.
• Had to get new shocks and rear tires for the station wagon.
• M's car had a flat tire over the weekend. He put the spare on--I called a place in town, but they didn't have a set (the other three tires were in need of replacement)--so I started to limp to Gallatin. About halfway there, the spare went flat. M had to leave work and come rescue me and get the situation solved. (Took the flat to the tire store, got it replaced, went back and put it on the car, then drove the car to the tire store to get the rest of the set installed).
• The Pathfinders had 7-up Retreat this weekend at Indian Creek Camp. The director of our club and her husband were going as supervisory staff from our club, but didn't have room in their car to transport everyone. M and I took a load of kids and luggage to the camp on Friday afternoon--had to rush back for PBA practice (got back just in time). The kids had a great weekend.
• Sunday, after picking up kids from 7-up (T and a friend who came up from Atlanta for the weekend), going home to fix lunch, we went back to Portland to watch some of our PBA kids do speeches at the school's Social Studies Fair. Then took K (the friend from Atlanta) to meet her cousin (she went to her house to wait for her dad to get off work).
• We started some Spring house cleaning which involved the rearranging of furniture (T has outgrown his bunk bed--had to rearrange things and get him a different bed so he can stretch out without his feet hitting a footboard or hanging off the end of the bed). Did some deeper cleaning than usual while moving things around (vacuuming in corners and edges, dusting, de-cobwebbing, etc.)
• M cut up the part of the tree that fell in the ice storm to use as firewood.

I think that's all the big stuff--of course, all the regular laundry, cooking, cleaning, errands, church, Pathfinder meetings, etc. fit in there somewhere too.

Spring is finally starting to show--hope to have some flower pictures to post soon--several plants are budding.

Pathfinder Lock-in--Day 2--Sabbath Morning

Sabbath morning, we got the Pathfinders up about 7:00--had some devotional time, then breakfast. After breakfast, they changed into their class A uniforms and reviewed their parts.

Then we assembled for a group picture before going to the church.
At the church, the Pathfinders served as greeters--giving out church bulletins and welcoming folks to church.

The Pathfinders did the church service--starting with the songs of praise, then marching in with the flags and banners (sorry, no pictures of that as I had to march as well), scripture, children's story...

(during children's story, the little children collect an offering)

...then each Pathfinder had a speaking part about some aspect of heaven.
T had a slide show during his part about the gems that form the foundation of the heavenly city.
Here, the Pathfinders are describing what they think their heavenly homes might be like.
The pastor sang "The Holy City" and had some closing remarks. The Pathfinders marched out, then came back and ushered the congregation out. We had a church potluck for lunch.

Pathfinder Lock-in--Day 1

This past weekend was Pathfinder Lock-in (we spent the night in the elementary school gym) and Pathfinder Sabbath (the Pathfinders conducted the church service).T was thrilled because his best friend, S (along with his sisters), is moving back from Georgia and they joined the club and were here this weekend. Above are T, S and S's sister, A.

The Pathfinders began arriving about 5:30 (staff came at 4:00) and ate sack suppers (or ate before coming). After eating, they set up their sleeping areas (boys at one end of the gym, girls at the other, staff in the middle). We did some drilling and marching and some initial going over of parts.
Then we went down to the church and practiced marching in with the flags and banners--who carried what, who stood where, etc.

Then the individual parts were practiced using the microphone, slide shows were run to make sure there were no technical glitches, and then we had to stop practicing because some other group was there to practice for something. We returned to the gym, had a worship time (listened to Steve Marshall's "Grandma on the Sea of Glass" since our theme for Sabbath was heaven), and went to bed.

Monday with Mr. M--mostly

Monday, Mr. M had a doctor appointment at 1:15. We left at 11:00 so we could do lunch first at Cracker Barrel. He decided to walk into Cracker Barrel without his walker, but asked me to go get it for the return to the truck.

We got to the doctor's office (a new one we had never been to) a few minutes early and did the required paper work. It was after 2:00 when we were called back to the exam room and nearly 3:00 by the time we left.

We made a stop at Walmart--cat food, etc. Then Mr. M decided he wanted to eat somewhere again before going home. He finally decided on Dairy Queen where he got a burger and shake and I got french fries and a hot fudge sundae.

When we got home, I had to fix some pills for him since his box was empty. I dashed in the door of our house at 5:20--just as M and T were leaving for T's piano lesson. I changed into my Pathfinder uniform and checked e-mail, then went to Pathfinders--got there just a few minutes early.

On the way home from Pathfinders--just about 9:00--the freezing rain that had been predicted began to fall.

Someone's in the Kitchen...

Monday night at Pathfinders, we worked on the Cooking Honor. The recipe we made was for microwave cake in a mug. The kids had to measure the ingredients into their mugs and microwave them for two minutes. (For the recipe, click this blog's title for a link to the one we used).

This is one of the mug cakes.

They made a glaze of powdered sugar, lemonade mix, and water to pour over their cakes.

They seemed to have a good time--made a glorious mess (and cleaned it up). They liked the cakes--the glaze not so much.

KY-TN Conference Pathfinder Camporee--part 1

Our conference Pathfinder Camporee began on Thursday, October 23. Three of our Pathfinders were unable to attend, so our group consisted of seven Pathfinders, four staff, one staff kid, and three other adults. We left the church parking lot at about 12:30 p.m.

The camporee was held at Salt Lick Creek Campground which was about an hour and a half away--near Carthage. This is an Army Corp. of Engineers campground that is made available to our camporee after the campground closes for the winter. Our Pathfinder clubs have exclusive use of the campground for the camporee.

The day was cool but sunny. As soon as we selected our campsite, the kids found a pile of leaves to play in.

Next, everyone helped unload the trailer so we could set up camp.

Tents were set up. One tent for the girls,

and two tents for the boys.

Two additional tents were set up for staff and one for extra supplies.

A dining canopy was erected.

And, a screen tent put up for the cooking area.

What I've Done Lately

• Thursday afternoon, I took Mr. M's truck to get some work done on it


• Sabbath afternoon, the Pathfinders went Can Collecting

• Sunday was the Pathfinder Yard Sale--a long (12 hrs.), but successful day
• Monday I had a dentist appointment, then T's piano lesson and Pathfinders

Mid KY-TN Area Pathfinder Staff Campout

The last weekend in September, we went to a campout for Pathfinder staff in our area at Bledsoe Creek State Park.

We arrived shortly before dark and set up our campsite. (We were so late because we had to wait until M got off work and then pick up the car from the shop, bring it home and load it up, then drive to the park). We had sandwiches for supper since we got there too late to cook before the group worship at 7:00.

Sabbath morning, M and I walked the shoreline trail.

We got back from our walk in time for the group worship at 10:30 which was followed by a potluck lunch.

The Campout--Sunday Morning

Sunday morning started with personal devotions, followed by the striking and packing of tents and personal gear.

Once all the tents were packed and each person's personal gear had been taken to the front door, then we had breakfast.


After breakfast was eaten and cleaned up (each Pathfinder took care of their own mess, then helped until the job was done), the gym was cleaned up and straightened up (floor dust mopped, chairs returned to the rack, etc.), the Pathfinders fell in for final instructions, then were dismissed. Most left close to 9:00--a couple not until later. The staff finished cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms and took out the trash. It had been a good weekend.

The Campout--Saturday Night

Saturday night was a chance for the Pathfinders to practice teamwork and for the new Pathfinders to practice pitching and striking tents.

They separated into a boys' team and a girls' team with the veteran Pathfinders supervising, helping, instructing, etc.

Each team had to pitch and strike two different tents.

They also had to learn to put the tents back into the tent bags.

After the tenting, we went out to the campfire and had s'mores and worship. The Pathfinder girls had pitched a tent on the stage area to sleep in--the boys had pitched two tents on the tumbling mats for sleeping in. Everyone was tired and settled down fairly quickly.

The Campout--Sabbath Activities

After breakfast, Mr. Ed built a fire for cooking our lunch. Each person assembled a hobo stew in an aluminum pan and wrapped it in foil--then Mr. Ed cooked the pans in the hot coals.

While the fire was burning down to coals, the Pathfinders worked on the "Abraham and Sand Art" honor. They read Bible passages about and answered questions about Abraham.

After putting their hobo meals on the coals, they made sand art jars--to represent that Abraham's descendants would be as many as the sand.


The lunches cooked away on the coals while the Pathfinders made cards and bookmarks to pass out at the nursing home that afternoon.

Lunch was finally ready and a bunch of hungry Pathfinders dug in to their hobo meals--one of the most popular things mentioned for the weekend.

After lunch, they practiced some drilling--"about face", "left face", "right face", etc.

Then we all went to the nursing home and the Pathfinders passed out the cards and bookmarks they had made.

After that, we went on a nature scavenger hunt--each Pathfinder had a list of 21 items and a zip bag to collect them in. Everyone seemed to enjoy that too.