Attempt #2

I'm going to give this another try. I was posting to my blog earlier and had just gotten all of my pictures uploaded and the electricity blinked off for a second, causing me to lose everything I had just done. I have no idea why the electricity blinked off, but I hope it doesn't happen again, at least not until after I complete this post!

Emma and I got Sid, the salamander, all set up in his new home. I think he's liking this set up much better, despite the picture of him attempting escape!

The information Scott had printed off of the internet about taking care of salamanders said that you need to have stuff for them to burrow in, like peat moss, sphagnum moss or something similar. When we were at PetSmart, I saw that they have wood chips in their reptile habitats, so that's what we went with. I hope it's not too difficult to keep clean!

Poor Sid!

Here's Sids new home. The wood chips should hold moisture which is necessary for a salamander, and it will also give him something to burrow in. He thoroughly explored the aquarium last night and it was fun watching him. He even soaked in his water dish for awhile! He is a cricket eating machine let me tell you! We put 4 crickets in there, as I was thinking if they had a place to hide, it would take him longer to find them and eat them. WRONG! He snatched them all right up. The stupid crickets would walk right up to him and he snatches them up and eats them so fast that you could miss it if you blink! I also have a light set up to shine in there for him. I don't know if it's the right type of light or not; however. I will have to do some more research on that. I do know that he seems happier and looks better now that he is in his new home. It's much harder to find him now because he hides under the wood chips.

Today Emma and I went to Sertoma Park to the Girls Rock the Park event. Once again, I was unimpressed. Maybe I have my standards set too high? If there hadn't been people I know there, I wouldn't have had a clue what we were supposed to do. They did not do too much explaining of how the whole thing works.

There were several booths set up in the park for the girls to check out. One was the American Red Cross and they were able to assemble items to put into a first-aid kit. That was my favorite booth of course. The Gateway to Science had a fun booth and the Fire Department had their smoke house set up. I can't really tell you of the other things that were there because around noon, Kara and I went to nut training. They don't have to work too hard to train me to be a nut! The Girl Scouts will be selling nuts and chocolates, as well as magazines subscriptions for their fall fundraiser. So, if you have any magazine subscriptions that need renewing, let us know! They have quite a few neat things they can earn and for the most part they seem attainable. They have a neat interlocking, 4-part patch that the girls can earn by doing various things. The sale starts Oct. 3 and goes through the 19th. So, if you haven't already been hit up for Cub Scout popcorn, you can expect a double whammy with popcorn AND nuts, chocolates and magazines! I just HATE selling things. I would have starved if I had gone into sales as a profession!

Here is Emma at the face painting booth. She chose to have a watermelon painted on her cheek.

Emma checks out the fire truck!

At this booth, The Gateway to Science, the girls made rockets. They taped paper around an empty film canisters to resemble a rocket, then put an alka-seltzer tablet with water into the canister, snapped the lid on and then placed them on the ground to watch them explode. They actually shot about 5 feet in the air! The Gateway to Science also had a little catapult made out of PVC tubing and rubberbands that they launched candy to the kids with. Emma really liked that booth! Imagine that!

After the girls had visited 6 different booths and got their passports stamped, they received these Sacajawea dolls.

This patch was also available for the girls' uniforms. I have always LOVED patches. I remember collecting patches back when I was in high school or it may even have been when I was in nursing school (do you remember that Kysa?). Some lady had made a denim quilt and in each block, she had sewn a patch. It was really neat and Kysa and I started up our own patch collections so we could make one. Kysa even got our Schwan's man to give up a couple of patches for our collections! I never did get the quilt made, but I still have all of the patches in one of my craft buckets somewhere! Now I can help the kids collect their own patches for their Scout uniforms.