4-H Fundraiser Time!
And I have been absent! Of course, this time last year I was a bit absent as I was out in Banff and Glacier National Parks, so maybe it is a late June thing! The last few days have been a cornucopia of events. We cooked a five course Chinese dinner for our friends in Sandpoint and spent the evening immersed in the world of VR, the following day was a blur of meeting up with old friends and cooking again, and yesterday was spent in the blistering sun in downtown Coeur d'Alene, Idaho conducting the subject of today's post, a 4-H fundraiser car wash.
Earlier this year, the swine and my beef group decided to join forces and fundraise together. Our money accumulating goal was to earn enough dough to buy a portable livestock scale that we could all use to keep track of our market animal's weight gain for fair. It's really hard to judge an animal's weight gain when you look at it every day, and every creature that you take to fair to show as a market animal has weight requirements to show. A scale is a really handy thing to have around, for it takes the guess work out of just how well your feeding program is working.
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That said, livestock scales are incredibly expensive, so that's why we decided earlier this year to work together to try to earn one. One of my beeflings works in the Napa store in CDA, so he got permission from his boss to let us have a car wash at that auto-part repository, and the rest is sunburn and wet clothes history!
Yesterday morning we arrived at the Napa and proceeded to set up all the proper car wash accoutrements. There were hoses, buckets, scrub brushes, sponges, and towels galore! Before long we had the wash station humming, and there were parent smiles a plenty as the kids warmed up their car washing muscles by cleaning their family's cars first, just to get the party started. A big Bluetooth speaker appeared and the requisite for 4-H gatherings country music began blaring across the parking lot. A couple of our kids are cheerleaders and they volunteered for the first round of standing on the sidewalk with the 4-H car wash here signs. Lots of honking and hollering ensued.
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Before long we had a steady stream of soon to be gleaming vehicles in the parking lot, all getting scrubbed, hosed and dried to perfection. The organizers (hat tip) of the event made it donation only and also set up a table full of baked goods to sell and give to the people getting their cars cleaned, so instead of waiting in their cars or standing awkwardly, our customers were given Rice Krispie treats and brownies and regaled with conversation. We even had camp chairs in the shade for them to sit it!
Three hours and a good bit of drenching later we had made a few hundred dollars and our whole group was all smiles. Our scale costs around $700 for a good one that works for both pigs and steers, so we were all pretty elated to earn half of what we need with just one event! Well, to be honest we were also in a pretty good mood because one of the kids doused my husband with a bottle of ice cold water and nothing is funnier than an irritated Hawaiian!
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And on that note, I have to say I was pretty impressed with the kids and how they all conducted themselves. No one lazed around, they all took turns standing in the sun holding the car wash signs, and every car was washed to sparkling clean perfection. One very blunt and generous woman even commented,
In my experience, kids that take on 4-H projects are super dedicated and hard working, I am constantly impressed by their work ethic and consideration towards others. I am in no way saying they are better than or different than other kids in some superior way (see water bottle dumpage mention above;), rather I am just honored to get to be a part of a group of young people that works towards goals and accomplishes them, all while being an asset to their community!
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Wow, youall really know how to 'throw a wash'. Chairs, and snacks and shade and conversation. None of this sit in the car and watch the kids work sort of thing. I'd bring my truck. Though gas might get a bit steep getting there. Plus I already washed it, last November, so I guess it's not quite ready yet.
[Author's note: A first, I hit a wrong several buttons, and it posted this too early. Never happened before, so wonder what is up with that. Kind of like our conversives on Steemitchat. Anyway, back to my brilliant, riveting, can't bear to miss it, comment) ...
I have a brilliant idea here too. Why don't you save some money. Just get 4 bathroom scales from GW, then coerce the animals to stand on them, one foot on each, and get weighed. They would learn balance skills as well as cooperation. That should work good. You could spend the money you earn on more feed and more GW scales, so everyone has a set of four in each barn. I really SHOULD work in 4H, huh?!!!
That is amazing how much money you made in one sale. Almost there. Oh, I was just kidding about the scales above. That probably wouldn't work. They only go up to 120 lb. each, and I think some cows probably weigh more than that combined. Then again, I've never lifted a cow, so, maybe not.
Well, I better go mail this and get to work doing other things. Hope your day is going well, and the 'brare is not too sweltery these days. I assume you have A.C. Wow, this is getting boring, I'm talking about indoor atmospheric attenuation here. Yowza. Have a good one, le' skillette du rounde'
Ah, dd, you are just sublime, lol, lol! Both my corgi pup and I got such a good round of belly laughs out of your latest reply-ishness to my wordsmithery. Seriously my friend, you sure know how to put a word garnish of delight on my day sundae, or something:)
I truly adore your scale idear, but I honestly don't know how the application part would work, as the moovines would crush the scales with the first step upon the weight devices, but then again if anyone could get it to work, it would be a group of 4-H kids. I am so totally bias, I know.
Even though it would have been a bit of a fuel-extravagance, I so would have loved to see you, foist brownies upon your appreciative form, and have the kids scrub your truck to a new car lot gleam. You are right though, I mean you just washed it in November, so you are good for awhile, heh.
The brare' totes has air conditioning! Today we had story time in the park though, so I was nice and chill under our town's big maple trees! Today we got to play with streamers! Well, the kids were supposed to be playing with streamers during story time, but I liked the purple one, and it was windy, and I am about five years old on the inside! Hope you got to enjoy a lovely bike ride or perhaps imbibe in something tasty this evening. Mayhap a bit of both!
Ha haa, glad I could embellish your word sundae. You crack me up. I talked to a friend in Peck yesterday, so if I ever get over that way, I will take you up on the brownie invitation at the next car warshathon. Don't start mixing any homemade delights just yet though, as I sure don't travel half as much as I used to. Large sigh. (So no worries: "oh no, I was just joking, he's REALLY going to show up on my doorstep" ( :
I cannot imagine you getting a streamer, or any OTHER toy-ish 'thing', and NOT messing about with it. Just wouldn't me the b'Kat I know and SO appreciate on here. "Oooh, a dirt clod, shaped like a moose, let's make something fun". My night went well, and today is a busy one. But I gotta get a post out. Soon. No need to write back, I know your busy as a bee, but just had to reply, as the world is just that way. Cheerio(s)
Hello how are you? I hope that I see that they have a great project for a good cause and this is a very active way to make it good that everyone is working to achieve the goal
I hope you can achieve it if you succeed
Hi there! I am doing great, how are you?
Thank you so much for your fundraiser well wishes, we are going to keep working until we get to our goal for sure:) Hope you are having a lovely evening!
Beef bathing is pretty boring around here. We call it rain.
Congrats on a successful fundraiser. Those kids should be proud they took the initiative to earn their scale with old fashioned hard work. You appreciate things better when you have to work for them.
By the way, if somebody would have dumped some ice cold water on me yesterday I would have been thrilled. It's been hot and humid.
Ah, I see that you all utilize the Nature-spa version of cattle cleansing, lol lol!
I so, so agree about the appreciate things via hard work sentiment.
And I have to ask, do you wear like a super cool headband to keep the sweat out of your eyes in all that humid hotness that you are dwelling in? Just curious...😆
No sweatband, I'd hate to blind people with the glare. Good old baseball cap protects all of us. ;)
Remember the cool thing is you can always edit out stuff, but then again, people always love the bloopers best lol
Ha ha! For a couple of years my cohort and I, @jacobtothe turned our yearly library board report into a full video production. Our parody of the Office is still somewhat revered in very small circles, and it was the outtakes that brought about the reverence, there is just something magical about failure or catastrophe! LOL!
Wow ... half way there already. That is awesome. Good thinking too ... having the bake sale go concurrently with the car wash. Can I suggest the addition of coffee next time; you might even get the local Starbucks to donate a carafe full if they know it is for charity. Nothin' goes better with baked good than coffee.
Well good work all of you. You guys are an inspiration:):):)
Ooh! Good thinking! We had bottled water, but a cup of coffee with a brownie sounds like a total fundraiser winner to me:)
Thanks Pryde!
Beautiful animals and this my favorite animals. thanks for sharing this..
Well, thank you:)
Talking about a huge beef critter and "kick off" in one sentence made me vaguely uncomfortable. HA HA!! Except I don't think Moo Bear is inclined to kick. It was great thinking to provide chairs and snacks for the car wash!
must be very fun, friend
No apology needed! Just crowbar it! Lol! As I know you shall, since you are resourceful and quick on your feet! Oh boy, am I looking forward to Moo-Bear's bath! What fun!! And loved your bit about the irritated Hawaiian. I was going to say an irritated Portuguese is probably right up there, but then again, there are a lot of Portuguese in Hawaii so there are probably more similarities in those islanders than not! ;-)