It's Rarely Work at the Visitor Center

John works for the National Park Service and often does Interperative Programs at the Visitor Center.  This is one I particularly enjoy--he dresses in costume and plays the part of a Purser on an 1880's steamboat telling stories.  

John particularly enjoys puns, he waited all summer to say "well, that's all water over the dam now".   The generation gap showed, as a young college student didn't "get" the pun, even when we tried the one "water under the bridge".   Which made us laugh harder!  We thought of several alternative roles for John's costume.  Undertaker.  Minister.  Saloon keeper.  John's personal favorite--"Manager at a Residence of Paid Affections".

Monday Thoughts

Are you a people watcher?  I am!  What do you look at??  Me, my favorites are shoes and t-shirts.  I asked a visitor if I could take a picture of her t-shirt --

Often Henrietta and I have the same idea at the same time, so maybe we have great minds.  Nah!!  And then I had this in my fortune cookie --

Guess someone knew I was about to poke some buttons!  And it rained the other night.  I noticed this in the afternoon --

Its hard to see, but the seat is full of water!  Glad I looked before I sat down.


My windows and doors are open, there's a nice breeze.  Its a beautiful day, I'm going to work on my Jacob's ladder blocks.

 

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Today is Ken's birthday!  He's at home and I'm at the camper (sniffle sniffle) so I called him and sang Happy Birthday over the phone.  He was slightly underwhelmed by my performance--but its the thought that counts!  Later this week we're visiting Laura Beth, Nick, and Mason and we'll celebrate.

Relaxing Friday

Last week a storm front came in from the west.

 And then another storm front moved in from the east.

A warm front and a cold front. 

It was not directly over the Visitor Center--but it did pass over the North and East side of Yankton.  Whew!  It was NASTY!  Winds and some large hail---half the skylights were broke on the roof of WalMart.  Only some wind gusts and a short downpour at the Visitor Center.   

There are lots of "summer people" that work or volunteer here.  Its hard to get together since we all have different schedules.  But Sunday evening was beautiful weather and we met at my campsite.  

Ahhh!!

Remember I said I had 64 Jacob's Ladder blocks?  

I was sewing the blocks into pairs and I only had 63.  Luckily I had enough pieces left over I was able to make one more.   Today I'll work on them some more.  Slowly they're turning from a UFO to a finished quilt.  

Last week I made a cake for a potluck.  Well, I was a week early.   It didn't last long!

 

Jacob's Ladder Blocks

Today I didn't volunteer so I sewed.  Remember--sewing machine and fabric type activity??  I finished enough blue/white Jacob's ladder blocks for a top--64.  

I tried laying them out on the grass but a slight breeze had them flipping around. 

Tomorrow there is a potluck at noon and I'll be volunteering at the Visitor Center.   I used the oven in Admin building tonight--I wanted to make a Peanut Butter cake in a sheet cake pan, and my camper oven is too small.   This recipe is a tried and true favorite.  Its sitting on the counter in the lunch room--I hope Ryan doesn't eat it before the potluck!

This weekend is Riverboat Days and I'm sure it will be busy.   The weather has been cooler and a few nights its supposed to be in the 50's.   Good sleeping weather!
   

 

Blue White Swap Blocks

I sometimes participate in block swaps.  I needed to finish a set while Henrietta was here.  They were to be blue/white and a "star".  Remember I said I was tired and making many mistakes?   First I tried a sample block.  

Next--I tried to repeat it----

Okay--try it with different fabrics.  Hmmmmm---

This effort definitely had problems!!!

Okay--thery were all supposed to look like this----

They're not hard to make--but you do have to follow directions exactly.   They are from a Book called "Stars by Magic".   No set-in seams, and all the blocks come in multiple sizes.   I'm planning to use the same book for the next round but different fabrics/different star.  Wish me luck!!

A Visitor to the VC

I enjoy watching the visitors at the Visitor Center.   Here is a set of grandparents trying on the 1800's period clothes with a grandson---

Dress up is fun at any age!

But some of our visitors do not come in through the door.   We have several of these during the summer---

He's not very good at hiding--a brown bat on a white wall really shows up!   He's small--maybe 3-4 inches long.

There is "bat catching gear" at the VC.  A net on a very long pole, and leather gloves.   Bats are protected species--we catch them and release them outside.  Did you know that bats cannot fly when they are on the ground?  They need to "drop" from a height to fly.  This one was only about knee height on the wall, I just used the gloves to pick him off the wall and hung him on an oak tree outside.   These bats eat insects--so I hope he's busy eating mosquitos at night.