Today we were out reconnoitering the upcoming handcart trek route with an agent of the Environmental Agency. He had been informed by a farmer whose fields we would be going through that due to the threat of hoof and mouth disease, out trekkers would have to be equipped with special sanitized footwear. So he found a detour that would allow us to avoid the problem. Here is a picture of Sister Pemberton showing the point where the detour starts. Elder P. took the picture with his camera and here it is. Isn't she just the cutest little grandma that you ever saw. I do love her!
She is standing in front of a small pile of aluminium (say al-you-min-ium in England) irrigation pipe and an large circular abandoned bit of rusty farm equipment.
This evening, after hosting the local Ward's traditional Fourth of July Celebration at Camp Liahona where we serve as volunteer Camp Directors, we sat in our back yard and watched the fireworks. It all seems very normal except that we are in the nation whose tyranny caused the Declaration of Independence to be written in the first place. Not only that: one item among the objections listed by the declarers was that England had stationed a standing army in the colonies in a time of peace. But the fireworks we watched came from canons on the local Royal Air Force base which is staffed and operated by the USAF - the United States has a standing army in England (and everyone is happy about it).
These strange and wonderful facts illustrate the quirks of history, the perplexities of the nations and the fact that these two nations have been and remain sisters. There is also the reminder that the English in 1776 didn't exactly like what King George III was doing to them either. We have found that most of the people here have absolutely no resentment toward Thomas Paine (who was born in Thetford, a 30 minute drive from here), the US, or our celebration of our independence from them. They are quick to say something like: "And it was a good thing too because the US has saved us from destruction twice in the last century."
The reason the local Ward has a traditional Fourth of July celebration here in England is that the Ward boundaries encompass three RAF bases staffed and operated by the USAF. There are enough Mormons among these airmen that 80% of the Thetford Ward is American.
It is sobering to note that today, 2 and a third centuries later, we have leaders in the US government making statements like "We don't want to waste a good crises." To suppose that these people are unaware of the fundamental Marxist nature of such a comment is probably a dangerous choice at best.
President Uchtdorf says we are cool! Here's the proof! He and Apostle Anderson shook hands with all 280 missionaries. There was no conversation, so the line moved pretty fast. Elder Pemberton is right behind me.
Jack let Charlet go first, of course, so all you see is his nose, of course.
Elder Oaks of the Area Seventy described a program implemented in Europe that has increased membership by 22%. This confirmed our testimony that we need to grow our little camp to serve more youth. Part of that is building cabins to extend the usage into spring and fall.
Home school graduation
Here it is, the 26th already and what??? We have been so buried in work projects.
We have the camp all torn up with new electrical cables buried to the new location of the generator and the water system is being moved to a better location in preparation for a better "soak away" for the septic system. We have cut a million tons of brush and dragged and hauled it to the fire rings and burnt it (can't burn in place on this fen because it burns too), and rolled all the lawn in camp twice and the mile and a half road to camp several times.
We emptied, moved and then reorganized the storage containers that hold all of our equipment and supplies. Here are the two farm fork lifts doing the final placement of the lake storage for the row boat, kayaks, tents, archery, etc.
The miracles just keep coming. Everything we need just "happens" to show up just when we need it. Someone, somewhere is scheduling all this and we just hope we don't get in the way of it. Most of them are relatively small in consequence, but are incredibly timely and have saved thousands of pounds and many many hours of work.
Oh yes, the volunteers just keep coming. We have logged over a hundred hours so far in May. That amounts to having a third person by our side for the month.
We needed good "foundations" for the new cabins that will soon be erected - the camp first ones - so we talked with local farm equipment people about using discarded tractor tires. They suggested we might prefer discarded tractor tracks. These are long cleated belts that work like the tracks on a army tank or crawler. By magic they turn out to be exactly the right size so that each track cut twice covers a 5 by 15 area of soil completely. A set of them covers the 10 by 15 footprint of our new cabins completely sealing the moisture (and the rabbits, moles and badgers) under the cabin. "But wait, there's more." These are huge, heavy belts of rubber and steel 2 1/2 ft wide and 30 feet long. The farmers have to pay people to take them away. We made a deal - they will cut and deliver them to our specification at no cost to us at all.
One of the most dramatic little "coincidences beyond belief" was that after setting up the table and chairs in the kitchen/dining area one evening, we sat down and talked about how great it would be if we had another 80 chairs. That would allow us to provide chair seating for the whole camp for dining and free up all the benches for permanent placement around the camp fires and in the wood for resting spots along the trails and in the sacred grove. The next morning, our Bishop called and said he had ordered new chairs for the Chapel and they had arrived unexpectedly early and he needed to get rid of the old ones fast. Four hours later we had 140 more chairs in camp. Our prayer for chairs took less than 24 hours, and we got extras for other uses we hadn't even thought of yet. The picture shows only about a third of them.
We have also removed the understory and several small trees from the new cabin site now named Zion's Hill. We have a small budget for cabins and we are hoping and praying to get at least 4 that will sleep 8 each. Our largest group so far will be just over 70 people so our 5 old tents and 4 new cabins will do.
The Old Testament mentions a farm crop called rape and I always wondered what it was. Here it is in full bloom. The picture does not do it justice because it is in full shadow from a cloud. It is strikingly beautiful - so brilliant!
This particular field in one of the Church's farm fields near our home. Rape seed is the source of Canola Oil.
Today we had another great service project at the Camp. Thirty-five US airmen came and did a raft of little projects for us: reset fence post, set new posts for kitchen outlets and the Spider Web challenge, cover kitchen "floor" with wood chip, fill rabbit burrows, etc. Mostly they hauled and burned brush left over from last week's project. Here you see the guys carrying one of about 30 logs that needed to be moved and stacked. We had a group doing slash and burn of last year's reeds in the lake shallows, another group moving potato bins into place for fire wood boxes at the fire rings. What a crew!
At noon we took a break, fed them sloppy joes and sent them back into the woods to work. They were a happy, industrious lot, full of energy and muscle. We made them sleep well that night because they burned a lot of calories moving tons of wood of various types and sizes. It was another beautiful and productive day!
Today over 40 people showed up at 9:00 am to help with tasks at Camp Liahona. We had a crew build this fire ring while another crew built this picnic table.
Elsewhere, we had 4 chain saws going and 20 people dragging bush to trailers where it was hauled to the large group fire rings to be burnt. We can't burn anywhere except on these concrete pad because the fen soil will catch fire and burn (smoulder) and travel underground and generally wreck havoc. Wood large enough for fuel was cut and stacked for later use. One group hauled a large trailer load of firewood home to a family that needed the heat it would afford them.
Here you see one of the tree and brush crews working out a problem with a large dangerous tree they had just felled. The Stake President is on the left and next to him a professional arborist who lent his expertise to making the camp safer and more sustainable.
A few acres were cleared of Elderberry so that we can get our mowing equipment into the areas, keep the stinging nettle at bay and encourage the grass to take over. At noon, the camp provided "sloppy joes" to keep the volunteers going.
Just for fun, we thought we would just pick today and list the stuff we did. No day is typical because they all tend to be like today. [Was that an oxymoron?] Anyway, here's the list.
Drove to Feltwell to post a letter and pay the garage for restoring our van from a 2 speed back to a 5 speed.
Stopped at a tenant's home where we are installing a whole new kitchen and drilled hinge pockets in an oak dishwasher panel so it would function as a door on a wall cupboard.
Helped another tenant repair a garage door that almost fell on his car.
Cleaned up and burned a mess of lumber and carpentry scrap that infested our storage units.
Sent several emails to people like vendors, the Mission President, and family.
Made phone calls about issues at Camp Liahona, repairs on houses and tents, and pricing propane shower heaters.
Finished pruning the apple tree in the front yard.
Talked with the farm manager about the results of last Saturday's service project (Sponsored by Thetford Ward Elders' Quorum) that cleaned up, painted, refurbished and secured some vandalised toilets out in the middle of the farm fields.
Had lunch of soup and sandwiches.
Took delivery of the new, super quiet generator for Camp Liahona.
Planned the next two weeks work with our primary handy man.
Drove to Ely to pick up our new clogs, a chain saw chain and return a key to the Agency for the Environment (used in researching handcart trek routes).
On the way home stopped to enjoy this rookery (cluster of crows nests) we often pass along our way, but today each nest has a crow by it. It's spring!
Continued work on organising the next service project for Camp Liahona.
Had supper of potato soup, steak, carrots and grape juice.
Crashed in front of the TV to watch one of our favourite detective serials - Hercule Poirot.
Checked for friends on faceBook.
Did some genealogical research.
Made and entry in our blog.
Responded to blog entries by family.
Went to bed at 11:00 PM.
Is Obama's goal to subsidize parents so they can be in the workplace instead of raising their toddlers?
Washington Times' article says Obama's plan to require states to provide preschool is counter to a joint Harvard and Stanford study. The study suggests there is more social and psychological damage done to children in pre school and that there is no evidence of an educational or academic benefit.
There is research that supports that children benefit most from being at home with supportive parents in the 0 to 5 age ranges. Family. Imagine that.
