Results tagged “Girl Scouts” from Debi's Journal

One of Melody's troop's service projects for the year was another round of replacing dead trees that were destroyed in the 2007 and 2003 wildfires in the San Bernardino National Forest. This time around we would be planting trees near Lake Arrowhead. We hit the road early in the morning, and during the drive on Highway 18 we were greeted with this sight:We were very lucky with the weather, because the days before and after were unseasonably cold and yet this Sunday was just perfect.

The organizations that were managing the large group of volunteers that day were Tree People and Forest Aid. Somewhere around fifty volunteers met at Lake Arrowhead Elementary School, where most of us received a free blue plastic water bottle before being shuttled to the planting site off a forest service road nearby. Each group picked up their hard hats, a bag of 32 Ponderosa and Jeffrey Pine seedlings, and digging tools, and were then escorted up a hillside to watch a planting demonstration. Then off we went.We carried two types of planting tools: a scraping tool to clear off a spot for planting, and a blade tool to make a hole. Since Mel's troop split into two groups, we planted a total of 64 trees by lunchtime.Melody, of course, had to make some time to catch ladybugs and butterflies.(David, what kind of butterfly is this?)

Afterward, the troop drove to Lake Arrowhead Village to eat lunch and then called it a day. Melody and I lingered near the lakeside before deciding to head to last year's planting site on our own. Back on Highway 18, we passed several stretches of dead trees.It was a short drive to Heap's Peak Arboretum and the Sequoia Trail nearby. The area where we planted last year's trees was near the halfway point of the trail loop, where it bends in a small switchback. Both Melody and I were sad to see that none of the trees we planted on the barren slope above the switchback nor on the slope below survived the year. However, in the area within the switchback was a nice row of two-year-old Ponderosa Pines, plus one Sugar Pine (second from the front, which is a slightly bluer color).We had been told that each year-old seedling that we planted had less than a 50% chance of thriving, but from what Mel and I could see, only 10-20% of what we planted last year was still growing. It was worth the effort nonetheless.

At the beginning of the day, Melody had around 50 boxes of cookies she still needed to sell. Today also happened to be Flag Football day, with the first games of the season going on in the park all morning and early afternoon. Melody got to work with the help of two of her cousins.
She sold almost 30 boxes, which means we still have another 20+ we need to sell by the end of the month. We have lots of Caramel deLites, if you happen to be craving any...

Later that afternoon, the two older girls and yet another cousin poked around the backyard and dug up a few live treasures. Now, this is what the back wall normally looks like towards the end of the day:
Boring, gray/brown lizards sunning themselves on the wall, scuttling away if you approach too closely. But when you (or a fearless teenager) flip one over, it becomes much more interesting.
Cool. Mel observed that this particular lizard had previously lost its tail; its current one was smaller than usual and appeared to be in the process of growing back. The kids eventually put the lizard back in its hiding place, but it wasn't long until Mel shouted, "I caught a frog!"
Rawr.

Cookie sales and deliveries for Girl Scouts - San Gorgonio Council began February 28 and will run until the end of March. I went and put Mel's troop's cookie booth info on Twitter as a sales experiment:
Several troop parents have this sign taped inside their car windows. We'll see if this improves sales from last year. I'll send reminder tweets on the day before and morning of each cookie booth, assuming anyone starts to follow us.

Melody's Girl Scout troop (7 out of 9 girls, 4 adults) met up at a picnic area called Thurman Flats in the San Bernardino National Forest for a little wilderness education. It rained a bit that day, but we hiked anyway for about an hour and crossed several creeks by stepping on rocks and logs. Our goal was to spot some wildlife and identify animals by the footprints and scat they left behind; the troop leader had a laminated chart with a variety of pictures to help with the identification. We saw no animals other than a few birds, but we didn't have any trouble finding plenty of scat.

Melody is in the center of the group of people in the background of the photo above, in the green raincoat. At first I was ticked that the camera focused on the leaves in the foreground, but then I thought it looked kind of cool after all. After the hike, we paused for a picnic lunch.

I was going through some more of my photos from last Spring, and here is one that was meaningful to me. The destruction in the background is making way for hope and renewal in the foreground. That is Miss M on the left.

This past April, my daughter's girl scout troop did a service project up in the San Bernardino Mountains. Under the supervision of the local forest rangers, the girls planted 41 Sugar and Ponderosa pines in an area that was devastated by fire back in September 2007. One ranger mentioned that they had a boy scout troop up there the week before, and they only managed to plant around five trees. What can I say, our troop of eight girls truly dominated, and received a heap of praise from the rangers.


Below is a photo of part of the fire taken by my brother on his cell phone on September 16, 2007. I guess he was on the job at the time, working with emergency crews from the Big Bear area.

Sorry, no photos today. I was hoping to get a nice shot of one of the Teenlet's kites flying in the air, but the wind really picked up after school so we opted to avoid the outdoors.

What has Debi been up to?
This week I am in between student teaching sessions. I finished up with a wonderful 1st grade class last week. I had been with this class since the end of October, so the last day was somewhat emotional with a little going-away party the class threw for me, and all the sad goodbyes. I think I enjoy lower elementary grades the most since most of my experience from the last six years has been with Kindergarten through 2nd grade.

My next assignment, however, is 5th grade at a different school. I'm really going to have to change gears!

How is the Kidlet doing?
I started referring to her as the Teenlet since she started the 7th grade this past fall. I guess she's not technically a teen yet, since she is 12, but she and her friends are definitely beyond the tween stage. She is still playing the bells in band, though she made the jump from beginning to advanced band over the summer. She's already plotting to drop band next year to take Journalism for her elective (or Exploratory period, as the school calls it).

And... she is still in Girl Scouts. She didn't really want to stick with it for another year, but as a Cadette she is taking more of a leadership role in her troop (e.g. planning activities, finding volunteering/service opportunities) and I feel she will continue to gain valuable experience and growth by staying involved in scouting.