Buddy and almost a catastrophe

The boys went with us to sit in the car in the garage while we attended the Landowners' Conference (forestry).  Paul took them for a walk at lunch.  As he was putting them back in the car, Buddy snuck out of his safety belt and tore off down the garage ramp from the second floor to the ground floor but was stopped by the glass doors.  Luckily no kind people were there to open it for him, and even more luckily, no cars were leaving the garage.  Buddy didn't look back as he ran and was being called; I guess he knew there was no liver bait available.  Gambol, on the other hand, did exactly as he was told, no leash in hand as if it were his agility course. Perhaps he was mortified that his brother didn't follow orders.

PaFS annual meeting

in Tionesta, PA. We won the annual Findley bowl at auction. This year's is Norway maple. My auction donation was a birdfood bag, bird house from a Heritage Days vendor, and a bag of bird seed. I spent about $25 and that's what it went for. We also took a dozen eggs which brought $4 for the endowment fund.
We found out about www.pennpilot.psu.edu which has aerial photos of Julian (and other places) back to the 1930's. We can see our land through several decades. This is June 10, 1971.
Gambol stayed at Fahracres Kennel. He paid us back by rubbing in dead groundhog this morning. Yum.

Forest Connect

Cornell sponsors an Internet Seminar that we participated in tonight. What a concept! We can see the Powerpoint and hear the speaker. We communicate by typing our comments or questions. It's scheduled for an hour, but tonight's seminar went overtime. Tonight's information was "Natural Regeneration in Your Hardwood Forest". PaFS taught me all that was covered, but it was a good review for me and an excellent introduction for the Baron.

Undergrad practicum guest

My second PaFS assignment was more fun than the first. After a fantastic dinner at the Nittany Lion Inn 4 PaFS were interviewed by 21 undergrad students who questioned us about our land and our objectives for it as if they were our consulting forester. They had to to report to the larger group what they learned from us.
That was a lot of fun. My students more or less "got it".

Park Forest Middle School Program 7th Graders

My first PaFS assignment was to help 7th graders learn about GPS and GIS. I assisted a grad student who mapped Laurel Haven. He didn't know much about 7th graders and I didn't know much about GPS/GIS. We were a good team. Our station was in the gazebo so we at least stayed dry although the temps were hovering at 36 and the wet snow was steady. If the teachers hadn't chickened out last month when it rained from 8:-8:30 then cleared we all would have enjoyed the outing much more. As it was several teachers called in sick so substitutes had to herd the kids around. It didn't help that the kids didn't dress for outdoor ed; they were wearing their regular slit jeans and open sweat shirts. Not one had any winter clothes at all. Sandy took pity on them after lunch and brought them allinto the heated classroom for a large group activity.
Sandy gave me a notebook about the stations at Laurel Haven. I'm thinking of taking pictures of each station for inclusion in the notebook and perhaps on a website.

PA Forest Stewards

40 hours over 2 weekends of serious training organized by Dr. Allyson Muth and Dr. Jim Findley at the Hawk Mountain Boy Scout Reservation Sept 7-9 and Oct 19-21.
We have many pounds of information in a 4" thick binder. We had indoor lectures and PPTs as well as free form hikes around the Reservation and hands-on outdoor labs. The classroom was fine and the food was plentiful; the overnight accommodations were primitive or perhaps rustic, but the speakers were all fantastic. Now I have 40 hours of community service to pay back. I can't wait.