Thrills & Skills at the County Fair

Look at this - FRIENDS building Bridges! This IS what Thrills & Skills is all about! This is the Outdoor Display depicting our Bog Bridge Repair project put together for the Schagitoke Fair. We won a blue ribbon for this KIDS!
The last minute touches for the outside Fair Plot. Dad's get in on the action to help put this all together. Barb - bringing all the materials and know-how to get this put together!

And - on the inside. We made another Blue Ribbon winning display of all the community service done this year. Everything from UMCOR Health Kits for Haiti, cookies for the homeless, Christmas gifts for 5 girls living at Unity House, Bean Soup Jars to give to community 'acquaintences' for Christmas, to installing 4 blue-bird houses at Dyken Pond Environmental Center and Bog Bridge Repair project on the Taconic Crest Trail. Well Done EVERYONE!

Look at this. Hannah meets the Judge!!!! Wonder what he had to say about her Flower Press!

This is Janice Fox. The 4H Youth Coordinator for Rensselaer County Cooperative Extension of Cornell University. She thinks Bri's anorak is PRETTY SPECIAL! We think JANICE is pretty SPECIAL too. Thanks for all your help - always given with a smile - to our club!

We did BUNCHES of sewing projects. I see Eliza's apron, Grace's Anorak, Mel's skirt, Hannah's apron, and more! I think there is a quilt in there somewhere. Nicely Done! We also had 11 projects recognized as really well done that will be on display at the 2011 NYState Fair. GREAT JOB!

Here are some more sewing proejects. I see Kathleens musical pants, Eliza's cross-stitched pillow, and a BUNCH of 9-patch pillows.

Let us not forget the flowers! This display included our Dried Flower Mirrors and documentation of our forced hyacinth bulbs!

You know we aren't all about sewing and food! We also made lamps, created hiking journals (and documented 12 hikes to qualify for judging) and did woodworking - like flower presses and CD racks. Nice stuff!

5th Annual Camping Trip

I must have been relaxing and having a lot of fun, because there aren't a lot of pictures on MY camera from the Fathers Day weekend trip. Here is CINDY - on their boat, helping us all to go tubing this year. We are thinking to change the venue for 6/2011. Perhaps heading to a private camp-ground near by and going tubing down the Battenkill. THOUGHS?
Dinner time at camp. Never a shortage of food. Nice tarp too - just in case of the annual sprinkles! NONE this year - nice job Mother Nature!

And - after every meal - DISHES! Great job girls.

Best of all - simple down time. This shot in the meadow adjacent to our favorite camping spot. What a gorgeous weekend it was.

Clothing Evals and Fashion Review

This was the second year we did sewing projects for the 4H CLothing Evaluations. The HARDEST part is writing up the commentary. We have to work hard on it because this is what they read while we walk down the aisle at Jo-Ann Fabrics.. It has to sound GOOD!
Here is Miss A posing for a picture to use with her commentary. NICE JOB on the Apron!

And here is another Miss A modelling her dog themed apron. Nice job blending two of your favorite things. Well - three, cooking, sewing and dogs!

Here is Grace in her Dog Anorak. I'm sensing a theme here myself!! She is excited for Fall becuase she can FINALLY wear it now that it is almost done being JUDGED. One more step - our Fair! Then colder weather and a new anorak!What a nice group of you represented Thrills & Skills at Jo-Ann Mother's Day weekend. Great job on the pants, aprons, and anoraks - and M's skirt. Love it and can't wait to know what you want to sew next year!

Trail Maintenance

This year we took on a DIFFERENT kind of volunteer project. We decided to FIX the BOG BRIDGES on the Taconic Crest trail leading to the Snow Hole. Here is Drew Jones from Williams College helping the leaders scope out this muddy muddy project in mid-April. There were a lot of broken brides and sinking or rotted support timbers. This area also needed just a TAD bit of drainage!
Mrs. Donlon looks pretty excited about this - ehh? Good thing she wore her MUD boots. Or - maybe these are her NEW mud boots? oopsie - sorry!

Um - and this is the beginning of work day. Williams students carried in all the materials for us. We are 10-12 years old after all!! Now, WHERE ARE THE KIDS. All I see here is the leaders getting muddy. Note - I am BEHIND the camerA! HA!

Ahh - there is the whole group. What a nice look all this mud is!

Ingrid, Mel and Bry learning about the BRACE and BIT! This was Mr. Morton's grandfathers tool. It works WITHOUT electricity - and is a great thing for this project. Nice job girls! WOW - all that softball practice really paid off on this outing. GO BRI - get that bridge off the muddy base! Get-um SLUGGER!

Even the 4th Graders got in on the drilling act. This is FUN! Some of our group had to depart early - but most stuck it out until the end. This was a lot of work. In the end - most of the kids agreed it was worth the trip and acknowledged that everyone who uses this trail during wet weather will surely appreciate our work - even if they don't know we did it! NICE JOB EVERYONE!

Wood Working & More Demonstrations!

Well - it's true. I get distracted late in the year and aren't as good at keeping up to date. Here are some more pictures and two more posts with end-of-year activities!

Here is Grace doing her CHICK demonstration at 4H District Demo Days in Voorhesville. This was Early May! She did great and will be presenting at the NYState Fair in Syracuse come August!
Mrs. G came thru once again with a GREAT wood-working project. We made a CD rack. Lots of sanding on this one. We had to keep the screws going straight and then the most fun - we learned all about the MESS of staining. They came out great!

Catching Up

Hi Everyone!
BEEP and life do sometimes get in the way of my getting things done. I can't believe it's been since early February that I updated our BLOG. So - here is a picture diary - of all that we've accomplished since then! PLEASE Check the side-bar for meeting schedule thru the end of the year.

Get ready for camping - it'll be the best ever - 5th annual I believe! Whatta milestone!

We forced hyacinth bulbs. Despite an allergic reaction to the bulbs when we handled them in January - many bloomed. Remember to take your pictures and fill out the log to enter it in the fair in August. Here are Ingrid's Sprouts:
.....and Grace's Blooms!

We also responded to the Earthquake in Haiti. It was a proud moment when I delivered these to the United Methodist Council on Relief - 20 Health Kits from Thrills and Skills. These are needed and we are appreciated.

Over February break everyone started their sewing projects. These ranged from quilts, jammie pants, aprons, and anoraks to skirts! WELL DONE everyone. Clothing Evaluation season is upon us. Here "S" learns all about how to run the machine!

and K and C cut out their pants!Then we moved on to woodworking. We are a diversified group in so many ways. Mrs. G designed a perfect CD Rack for us all to build and stain. Here H is working to put in the screws! Everyone else in the background is STILL SANDING!

"W" got done super quick 'cause boy-o-boy those brownies sure looked good and mean 'ole Mrs. M said "not until your project is done"!

Here a bunch of girls puts a coat of stain on their finished project. Lots of sanding and work to get this far. Nicely done everyone...

In March we moved on to Demonstration Season. M told us all about how to Snowboard Safely.....

.....and "R" told us how to make an Oragami Crane. We even got to fold along with her. What a great first demonstration she put together.Grace explained the delicate art of Brooding Chicks. She was one of a few in our county to be named an Exceptional Demonstrator. She'll go to District Demonstration Day in May. KR was also named an Exceptional Demonstrator. As a first-timer, she'll have to do this again next year - and then she can to to the District Day too!

After the demonstrations were over, David and a few kids went out to D Pond to hang our Bluebird Houses. Several of these houses went to State Fair last Summer too. This donation of our effort and supplies is greatly appreciated by the center. Let's plan an outing mid-summer to see who may have moved into the 4 houses we put up in the Land of 1000 Dead Trees!

And then, Spring is on the horizon already. We decorated some little tin pails.....

Some VERY much in anticipation of the new seasons....

and planted marigold seeds. NOW - to remember to water them. This is always the trick isn't it?

Our most recent outing was to the Regional Food Bank to volunteer. Here we learned how they help 23 counties within our state to feed the hungry. Trucks go out daily filled to the brim with supplies for food pantrys, shelters, soup kitchens, day care centers. Even Whiskers gets donated cat food and kitty litter from here. In this picture we are IN the FREEZER! Yes "IN" the freezer. We were so glad our work was not in here, but somewhere a tad warmer.

Here we are learning about our task. We worked for 2 hours on two huge totes like this. It is full of food from food-drives. We looked for expiration dates and then sorted it into CEREAL, SOUP, FRUIT & VEGGIES, FOOD PANTRY and MISCELLANEOUS categories. Then we weighed each small box, and sorted them onto pallets.

Here we are at the end - with all the pallets of sorted food. WELL DONE EVERYONE!

Relief Kits

I thought it appropriate that our group somehow support Relief Efforts for Haiti. A perfect way to do this is by donating UMCOR Health Kits. Each one costs around $10 to make. Follow this link to see the full description - and bring at least one completed kit to the meeting on February 5th. http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/media/pdf%20files/sbdhealthkitv02.pdf

We'll contribute the requested $1 for shipping costs out of our kitty. UMCOR is on the ground in Haiti. The need for these kits is real. This is a very tangible way that our kids can help out the millions of people in need in Haiti.

Place the following items inside a sealed one-gallon plastic bag.
1 hand towel (15" x 25" up to 17" x 27", No kitchen towels)
1 washcloth
1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)
1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)
1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)
1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper, No child-size brushes)
6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages
$1.00 to purchase toothpaste