November 8, 2004

November 8, 2004

Trout Lodge

DAY 144

 

Today was another sunny day. It's the time of year here when mornings and evenings are cold, but afternoons are warm. It's the fall period that we really enjoy. Back home this is what the weather is / was like 2 months ago, around Labour Day.

I was supposed to work on a special project from 9:00 A.M. until 2:00 P.M. today. I kept getting "side tracked" and never started working on my special project until 2:00 P.M.. I was tired and called it a day at 4:00. My morning started with a short meeting with Abby, discussing a special activity I'm leading next weekend. Then I had a lengthy meeting with Jessica discussing how things went this past weekend, and planning for next weekend. At 11:00 A.M. as I was finishing meeting with Jessica, Mrs. Weaver, an Elderhostel participant wandered into the dining hall where Jessica and I were meeting. She was looking for a solution to a problem she had. Nobody else was around, so I offered to be the solution. She needed a fire built at the Pioneer Village restoration project that is one of the two Elderhostel programs this week. She needed a fire to boil a huge pot of water, to soak onion skins, to make dye for her natural dyed wool project. After I built her a fire, and tended to it for the better part of an hour while they went to lunch, I rushed back to Trout Lodge to have lunch myself. No sooner had I put the first bite into my mouth when Mrs. Weaver was back in the dining hall, looking for me to solve her next problem. I guess she thought I was her resident problem solver today. Now she needed a five gallon jug of water beside her fire. OK ! I ate lunch very quickly, then brought five gallons of water for Mrs. Weaver. Getting into and out of the Pioneer Village restoration site twice gave me 2 opportunities to shift Dee-Dee into 4 X 4 Low, and do a teensy bit of "off roading".

Finally I began to work on my special project. I have been asked to develop three different questing hikes. "Questing" is an activity that involves following a series of rhyming clues to a destination, where a surprise or reward awaits the successful "quester". Questing can take place around the block, or around the world. The reality TV show "Amazing Race" could be described as the ultimate "questing" activity. I am going to design three different questing hikes, each for a different age range, each with a different level of difficulty. Today I completed the rough draft of the first questing hike, of intermediate difficulty. After I complete this one, I will do an easier one, and a more difficult one. I will try to have this first one ready for use for the "You're In The Army Now" special weekend in 2 weeks.

"From Trout Lodge fireplace, head west to the canoe.

Can't find one of fibreglass or aluminum ? Then bronze will have to do."

Chatted with Jack and Sharon over dinner. We are all going to join the Elderhostel outing tomorrow morning to visit a local State Park, and a nearby winery. Until tonight, I wasn't aware that Missouri had a wine industry.

DSK