4-H CWF - Day 4 - June 27, 2010

HI Everyone!

This is Jamie Steele and we are finally headed to our temporary home, The National 4-H Center!!!

We boarded the bus this morning at 9:00 A.M., which gave us time to sleep a little more than days before when some of us girls were waking up at 5:00 to get to the bus on time.

So at 9 o’clock we were headed to Baltimore, Maryland!

The whole bus was in anticipation for our trip to the Baltimore National Aquarium, which I believe has been the best stop on the trip so far. We got our tickets from our lovely chaperones Christi and Andrea and we were off to the aquarium.

The aquarium was amazing! I’ve never seen so many colorful and enormous fish in my life! We saw sharks, stingrays, jellyfish, a giant sea turtle, and many, many small fish!

My favorite part of the aquarium was the dolphin show. I think that it is just amazing that the trainers can train dolphins to do so much! They were flipping and waving and splashing all over the place. The program narrator also stressed the fact of people need to recycle and preserve our oceans!

We had the rest of the time to walk around and shop on the harbor!

Well, we have just arrived at the 4-H center to check in and start our long trek to our rooms with our luggage!

‘til next time,

Jamie Steele (;

CWF 2010 - Day 3 - June 26, 2010

Our bus pulled out of the Ohio hotel parking lot at 6:45 this morning. Not too many of the delegates minded, as most of us slept on the 6 hour trek to Gettysburg. We stopped for lunch in West Virginia, and then continued on our way.

We arrived at Gettysburg around 2:15, and stopped at the visitor’s center. Some of the delegates were dragged into learning how to waltz with elderly professionals.

At 2:30 we entered a theater to watch an educational movie on Gettysburg. After the documentary, we took the escalators upstairs to a room with a historical painting of Gettysburg, and enjoyed an informational light show involving the painting. We then had about fifteen minutes to look around the rest of the center and to purchase souvenirs at the gift shop.

We boarded the bus with an adorable elderly tour guide who took us on a historical tour of Gettysburg. Along the way, he explained what happened during the three days of battle (July 1-3). We saw many monuments and historical artifacts. The guided tour was a total of three hours of educational fun.

At this current moment, we are traveling to our hotel. I’m not sure of the location, but its 45 minutes away. We will eat dinner and then have time to shop and hang out with our new friends.

Adios!

Courtney Voelker =)

4-H CWF - June 25, 2010 - Day 2

This is Dani Crowell, bringing you the second blog post of the 2010 CWF group.

We woke up early this morning, having had our first night of hotel life with our new friends. After eating the complimentary breakfast, we loaded onto the bus around 7:30. Andrea congratulated us once we got the suitcases loaded, and on the open road, because we managed to leave 5 minutes early.

The first part of the morning, the bus was silent, and several people could be found dozing off. Perhaps it was the competitive game of pool volleyball played the night before. We took a quick break at a rest stop, and then hit the road again, with a movie. Poor “Cars” was no match for hilarious “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”.

Lunchtime brought a choice: either take the easy-way and go to Hardee’s, or face the feat of running across the busy roadway, for McDonalds. I chose to be adventurous. Apparently, McDonald’s is a favorite restaurant around there, because it was really busy, and there was even one of those Redbox movie machines inside.

Along the quick drive to the Louisville Sluggers Museum, there was interesting art. I happened to see a dragon-serpent bike rack, and a life-size blue horse, among many others. We parked along the road, and walked to the museum. As we turned a corner, we were met by a GINORMOUS baseball bat. It was big. After a quick video on the “Heart of the Game” (aka the crack of a baseball bat), the screen went up, and doors were opened, welcoming us into the museum.

We enjoyed the museum while we waited for our tour time. There was lots of things, including baseball bats used be famous players, (you could hold them if you wore white gloves), tons of bats hanging from the ceiling, and a pitching machine that chucked baseballs out of a hole in the wall at lightning speed.

Finally, it was time for our tour. Unfortunately, we could not take any pictures inside of the factory, because we may be spies from rival companies. We went through the life of a baseball bat, starting as a tree, and ending at the final painting. We learned that the cylinders of wood can be carved into baseball bats within 30 seconds, and even witnessed it. Also, if a professional baseball player orders a bat, it can be made and delivered to him within 48 hours.

After the museum, we decided to watch “Monty Python.” No comment from me on the movie.

Well, right now, everyone’s pretty excited to get off the bus. Everytime we pass over abridge, there are several distressed calls of, “Nooo! Water!” Needless to say, a restroom break should soon be arranged. We just pulled into the hotel parking lot, so I’m signing out.

NOTE: DO NOT CARRY MINI-BATS ON AIRPLANES. THEY ARE CONSIDERED A WEAPON.

CWF Day One - June 24, 2010

Hello and welcome to the CWF 2010’s first blog post. I’ll be your host, Brennan Walter for the evening. As of the time this post was written, we have just crossed the Mississippi River into our third of the nine states or districts included in this great union, under a beautiful sunset behind the silver Gateway Arch, headed towards our first nightly destination in Mount Vernon,

Illinois.

The wheels on the bus turned round n’ round at 7:30, and we were soon off on I-70 with our first in-bus movie, “Wild Hogs.” We arrived in Kansas City and stopped off at a shopping center for a prompt bathroom break and for the bus driver to exchange some paperwork.

The quest for some of our delegates was to track down a mascot for our bus trip – and it was swiftly decided that a garden gnome should be our standard. While we thought we could find just about anything at a Wal-Mart, a expeditious search found no gnomes on the premises. Feeling rather disappointed, we boarded the bus again and arrived at the Columbia Mall food court for lunch.

The quest for the gnome continued – members searched a nearby Target attached to the mall and successfully located a common garden gnome, but the bounty attached to the gnomes head was more than our group was willing to pay – The gnome had escaped our grasp again!

We departed Columbia sans mascot and started our second movie, “The Blind Side,” which defeated the movie “Cars” in a landslide election. Our bus rolled into suburban St. Louis at around 2:30 and our bus driver skillfully and tactfully maneuvered into the St. Louis Zoo parking lot.

Our group had about two hours to explore the expansive St. Louis Zoo during the beautiful afternoon. The group consensus was that the very chilly penguin exhibit was by far the favorite. We departed the zoo at 5:30 and travelled the few miles to downtown St. Louis’ Union Station shopping center. While some delegates were content to save time and eat in the food court under the 1890’s train shed, some people just had to eat at the Hard Rock Café, where they spent just over an hour getting their food and made everyone late. To further exacerbate the situation, those certain members came back to the bus with their food in carryout packaging, as they had not even began to eat. Yes, Brian sitting next to me, that means you.

Oh well.

We travelled through downtown St. Louis and went past the famous Gateway Arch, and are set to arrive in Mount Vernon in a few short minutes. When we arrive, our delegates are very much looking forward to jumping in a pool and/or just getting off the bus. While we are very much settled into our mobile recliners, the better part of another three days still must be spent in our speedy Arrowstage. We are very much looking forward to the days ahead and are expecting the trip to be very fun.

Until tomorrow,

Cheers!

4-H Teens to Travel to DC!

A group of 29 teens will be embarking on a trek across the eastern United States to Washington, D.C. The group departs on Thursday, June 24. Check out the adventures here at the Riley County Extension blog site. The group hopes to provide daily posts.

This national experience culminates the end of a year long program. Thanks for visiting the group’s blog!

Brown Patch in Tall Fescue

The first picture is a close up of infected leaf blade. Second picture is one of many brown patches that has developed in my tall fescue. This disease is called brown patch. It is common during hot and humid weather. Dew on the lawn and morning temperatures 65 degrees or higher will trigger the disease. I just live with it. There are preventative fungicides labeled for use. For more information go to http://www.plantpath.ksu.edu/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=551

Pepper Destruction

I came home the other day to find my pepper growing in a bag had been cut off and up rooted. What do you think would cause this? Another one next to it was fine.
Fortunately I had witnesses, my family saw a unknown dog come on the deck and attack this pepper and they shooed it away before it did anything to the broccoli, tomato and cucumber plants growing near them.
I would have never figured this one out. Peppers are pretty pest free, except for some dogs.

Cabbage Looper

Usually, the imported cabbage worm feeds on my broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. It might be a different year for pests since the cabbage looper is the one feeding. I picked them off this broccoli which is growing in a container. The others in the garden are under row cover which keeps the moths from laying eggs on them.

There are several insecticides for management. I've used products containing Bacillus thuringiensis or spinosad in the past. The insects are most often on the underside of the leaves so treatments need to be applied there. Cole crop leaves are waxy so use a spreader/sticker with the insecticide for improved results.