Pig Weigh-In was this past Saturday. Needless to say things didn't go exactly as I had planned. The thought was that we would coax the swine with feed to walk up a ramp of a couple boards into the back of the pick-up truck. One was willing enough to do so but halfway up it started to slip and we couldn't keep it on the board to continue the journey. So, I ended up picking up all the hogs, one of them twice because the gatekeepers failed me, and lifted them onto the truck. Got them down to the Fairgrounds, timed it at a lull so we were in and out being that we just had them tagged but did not put them on the scale. Getting them back off the truck was another adventure with poop and puke added into the fun. In hindsight we should have used the long trailer but it's all over now. I estimate them to be in the 80-90 pound range.
Also on Saturday was the Wild Lapeer event on the Chatfield School/Willows campus and the Ponds and Prairies of Oakdale. We had a respectable turnout overall considering there was much going on that weekend, with a festival at Mott College and a carnival at the American Legion Hall which were on either side of us. The boys helped with the 4H Project Clover booth and got considerable donations althought we haven't gotten the final tally yet, it was enough that made it worth doing and helped get the word out about it. The Flint Crepe Company had some wonderful selections on their cart, offering crepes made with organic and locally bought ingredients, there were many things about the Flint River, and I made a contact with some ladies from the Lapeer Conservation District to set up some workshops and classes with the Academic Enrichment Company.
The Funny Face Alpaca exhibit was a huge hit as people clamored around to get a good look at the animals and have a pet. The Organization for Bat Conservation from the Cranbrook Science Center did a wonderful presentation although I only heard if from a far as I helped at the dock doing pond dipping but I did mange to come over at the end and get a quick pic. I was excited to get a close up shot of an owl they brought for the falconry presentation before they got started. What a gorgeous creature. The surprise discovery was when I went to get a photo of the fly fishing demonstration. By the time I got there he was packed up and gone but a beautiful blue heron was hanging out on the side of the river right in front of the pavillion. Observed it for a bit until Ethan came running up behind me yelling which scared it up into a tree which we then stayed and watched it from there for a while. I've seen herons many times around my ponds on our property but never got to see them high up.
I got shifted from disc golf duty to pond dipping last minute after someone bailed. I've seen this activity at several ecology and nature centers so it was no touble for me to take it over. My first "customers" were kids from North Branch, one of which was my friend Faith whom I had the pleasure of canoeing with at the Camp Lael field trip last year and also saw recently at the Willows outing. She and her sisters spent quite a while with me looking at things under the field scope. I had another young man come over later in the day that was a very determined "critter finder" and his efforts were rewarded greatly as he discovered many pond creatures others hadn't. We pulled lots of frogs eggs, had a few sightings, but no one was successful in capturing one.
Other demonstrations included Barb Barton, an endangered species biologist with the Native Wild Rice Coalition who demonstrated the steps for processing native wild rice: parching it over an open fire, dancing or jigging to remove the hull, winnowing the chaff and cleaning. Quite the process however I don't know if this was as big a draw as the organizers thought it would be. There was also an interactive story put on by The Superhero Training Academy which was relatively engaging from the boys' report, and of course hand-churned ice cream!
Friday and Sunday were also the Lapeer County Concert Choir performances. My dad and his wife came out to the evening concert which I greatly appreciated seeing as no one else I invited made it. Most never even acknowledged the invite which I find a bit rude and disconcerting but whatever. I had a 'solo' in the gospel number "Be Thou Faithful", really liked how it went on Friday but the Sunday version not so much, that one oddly enough got a standing ovation, go figure. Ethan, Ben and I also snuck in a showing of The Avengers, straight up version, which was very entertaining. I don't think I could have handled that much action in 3D, seriously! Love, love, love Robert Downey Jr., he is the man! Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner was also notable, and although I'm not a previously professed ScarJo fan, she definately brought it!
What's up for the Partons? Baseball games start this week for Ethan. Finishing up soccer games and sponsorship sales. I'll be subbing three days for the middle school special ed teacher as she makes the trip to Washington DC with the 8th graders. Marketing is out for the AEC Summer Program and hopefully registrations will start streaming in. Click HERE to see the schedule. Also planning a day trip to Lansing with the boys, helping with the LVLC Open House, and TREK trip with Ethan's class. Rock On!
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