Two rainy day jobs finished.

Stephanie and I met all morning finishing up the education program planning for grades K-5.  Since just about all materials for the previous K-4 programs were lost in the hurricane, it was a good time to revamp those programs and add a fifth grade program.  All but the fourth grade program have been changed to stations.  That means small groups of students will move every 15 minutes along six different learning stations.  In the past, the volunteer teachers had one group of students for an hour and a half and had to cover all parts of the curriculum.  It was exhausting, to say the least.  I have taught both ways, and suggested to Steph last fall that it would be easier on her volunteers to switch to a station approach.  We've ironed out most of the wrinkles, so now it remains for her to order all the new supplies and equipment.

The elementary schools within 50 miles of the refuge have really taken advantage of the education programs on the refuge in the past.  Once April arrives, there are usually over 100 students/day four days/week coming for an educational field trip.  There were no programs last year due to the hurricane, and truthfully, there may not be many this year either.  There are two reasons for this.  First, there is the very likely possibility that this spring will begin the construction of the new visitor's center in the area where the outdoor classes are held.  Secondly, Stephanie has not had a good response to a call for RV volunteers for this coming spring.  There are some local volunteers, but the RV volunteers are the backbone of the education programs.

After I headed back to the rig for lunch and to exercise Emma, I started on another project that I could do in my rig.

  Yesterday, I borrowed this Dremel engraver from the Fire Crew.  My mission....engraving "VOL" (for volunteer)

onto every piece of the socket set, wrenches, and all the tools in the blue bag.  There were over 100 pieces that needed engraving.  I had no idea the Dremel tool would be so noisy.  It was also a challenge to hold it steady while engraving all those curved surfaces of the sockets.  But, I'm happy to report that the job is finished!  Tomorrow I'll return all these tools to the community building where they will be available for volunteers to use on various projects.  I guess I can now add dremel tool operator to my resume.  :)

Well, that's the report for tonight....except to mention I had to really step on the brakes on the way back from the office this noon.  A not brimmingly healthy opossum decided to slowly lumber across the road during the middle of the day right in front of me.  In my opinion, opossums are not the most gorgeous of creatures on this planet, and this poor fellow or gal was looking pretty bedraggled.  After stopping, I wished him/her well as I continued home.

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later,  Judy