When you live in Florida you may see alligators almost anywhere. Not to worry about the gator under the bed...there is a rope around it's neck and it's made out of 2 pair of pants, and stuffed with an old discarded comforter. It's all part of being Cub Scout leaders. We put together a one day Cub Scout/Webelos event held at the Ranch Rodeo Grounds. We did knots, para-cord bracelets, fire building, cooking 2 meals, making catapults, swimming, skits and awards. The alligator made it's appearance during the skits when we had an Alligator Race. The alligator was under a box with a rope extending out front and held by an older scout. After the appropriate "hype" (nice name for an untrue story), the race began with the scouts racing for their lives. One poor 8-year old didn't have his shoelaces tied (can you imagine that), and he tripped, falling to the ground. The alligator climbed right over him but left him unscathed. The alligator is waiting patiently under the bed for it's next sighting.
The down side of the Day Camp was that Sister Fillmore got a nasty spider bite on her ankle. It popped the following day and is still in the healing process. (You may not want to show the kiddies these pictures because they are gross!)
Two weeks later we had a Cub event where we planned to visit a religious site, a historical site, pick up trash at the beach (while swimming and having fun), and recycling our trash. (4 requirements passed off with one event) Well, after we left the historical site the rain descended so we didn't get to do the garbage, the beach or the recycling. Not to worry....we went to an ice cream shop instead and had cones and sundaes. The historical site was our closest neighboring Ranch that used to run it's own railroad tracks from a town called Deer Park, where they harvested timber, to the east coast of Florida where they ran a saw mill. Not only did the saw mill provide lumber, but it also generated electricity for the city of Melbourne. The train had the only bridge over the river at the time so they would charge $1 per car to transport them over the river. When the mill burned to the ground years ago, Melbourne was without electricity for 2 years! The owner took us on a tour using his swamp buggy, which was a treat for all of us.
Camp Nephi, an Aaronic Priesthood event occurred in June, which used many of the Ranch facilities.Around 1,000 scouts and leaders from the area converged on the Youth Camp and engaged in a variety of activities. The Senior Elders were asked to build a 30 foot boat dock reaching out over a swamp to give the boys access to commercial airboats what were brought in to a nearby lake. They used old pallets screwed together to make the boat dock, with the pallets stacked 5 deep near the end. It was tricky working in the swamp, but fortunately the gators weren't hungry at that time.
The Senior Sisters used our trusty tour bus to transport Deacons and lunches from the camp to the swimming hole for two days, so we got to see a part of the action. After Camp Nephi was over our bus smelled like wet boys and leftover sandwiches left on the bus. A little Febreze helped a lot.
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| Yes, Nephi had BIG muscles! |
The Elders had quite a number of urgent projects this past month (besides the boat dock), including a home with a quick turnaround in residents requiring carpet removal, new baseboards and paint. Another house needed a quick bathroom make-over including a new tub, new plumbing, electrical work and enlarging the room by 1 foot. This led to ripping out a wall, framing a new wall, dry wall installation, painting, etc. Now about the old rusty tub that needed replacing...when the men took out the old overflow and drain (the pipe that goes down), they discovered that the pipe had rusted off long ago and every drop of bath water had been draining right onto the ground for who-knows-how-long. None of these homes have basements due to the high water table in Florida. Now we know why the grass looked so green out back! They had to get a jack hammer and remove (then replace) the concrete floor around the tub and toilet pipes....all within a 2 week deadline when the new family was scheduled to move in. Whew!
Other projects the Senior Elders were working on included painting a different house, replacing old air conditioner units, laying tile, and other housing emergencies that arose this month.
Meanwhile, Sister Fillmore has been doing more sewing (including the alligator), and made a fleet of cars, trucks and tractors for the ongoing humanitarian project.
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| Truck with Deseret Ranch brand on it....the Beehive Bar |
Just a few of the many makes and models of cars.
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| The thrill of winning and the agony of "de Fleet"... |
We are entering our rainy season (over 55 inches of rain in 4 months) so it could rain at any moment, (which it does), and there is lots of it! Did we mention that we lose about 1% of our cattle herd (80,900 cows, calves and bulls) to lightening strikes each year. Florida is the lightening capital of the Unites States.
I think we're having way too much fun out here!
