B2 Students attend Blue Lake Env CASTLEGAR NEWS, July 27, 1980 {o. Learn through involvement Robson Elementary School principal John Landis and teacher Doug Hickey re- cently took their Grade 7 class for an exciting few days at the Canadian Forestry Association Blue Lake En- vironmental Camp, which is situated 18 miles west of Canal Flats in the Findley Creek area. This camp is sponsored by Crestbrook Forest Indus- tries under the direction of a former district resident John G. Murray. Also, Canadian Cellulose Company, Limited, has been involved in assisting if the development of the camp which is suitable for any group participation. The purpose of this project involved multiple de- sired outcomes arising from many varied activities, This included the use of a‘yariety of subject matter using en- viromental models and to enrich the skill development required in science, sdtial studies, mathematics, and language arts from a prac- tical point of view. (The classroom subjects were used in real-life situations.) Students became fami- Nar with other communities in the Weat and East Koot- enays such .as Salmo and Cranbrook. At the camp the stu- dents had an opportunity to become involved with forest watershed environmental ex- ercises by taking advantage of the program provided by the Canadian Forestry As- sociation personnel, namely Joe Gyurkovits. He did an excellent job of explaining logging operations, refores- tation activities, fish and wildlife management, water- shed management and forest Joris } | | "Foller Buncher' in action. This machine can really cut and pile those trees. * > The effects of ‘Pine psec re ere TSE Canoe race was in order followinga Added to this, Gyurko- vits gave lessons in basic water safety, basic survival, tree and plant identification, fire control and detection methods and forest pests and diseases. (The mistletoe and pine beatle are ruining niuch of the forests.) Mr. Hickey involved the students in mapping by the use of a compass and taught science by using the lake environment with added at- tractions such as turtles. Mr. Landis taught sur- veying by using triangula- ation system without use of sophisticated instruments. Les Allen taught the proper use of the cance and canoe safety. Art Graham missed this lesson as was demonstrated by his wet attempt at starting off in'a canoe. i Another desired out- come was to live and inter-act together in a new surround- ing which is so essential to social development. Also, it was essential to have students, teachers, and adults work together to- wards common goals which were necessary for the suc- cessful completion of the program. Everyone had to work together on fund-raising proj- ects in order to off-set the cost of the program and the group certainly did an ex- cellent job here by becoming involved in such activities as fashion shows and car washes. A final activity was to learn to plan the daily menu, purchase the food, and cook the meals based on good nu- tritional guidelines. The stu- dents were divided into four groups and they planned the meals, wrote out the pur- chase requirements, cooked delicious meals and cleaned up the facilities. The young- sters deserve a lot of credit for doing a very good job. With only a: few. minor set-backs that were resolved, all the objectives were met and the trip was very suc- cessful. (Only one student was unable to make the jour- ney.) Now for the trip itself. aa safety by instructor Les Allen. and the mistletoe disea h is destroying so much of the forests in the Eost Bi Kootenays and British Columbia, is shown to the students by Joe Gyurkovits. ironmental Cam “While Ed Thors and Doug Hickey were loading the food on their trucks at Super- Value, the students and adults gathered at the Rob- son School shortly after 7 am. on Friday morning. They were assigned to the vehicles provided by parents and friends. These were Mrs. Irene Quaedvlieg, Miss Jodi Wigen, Les Allen, Ed Thora, Doug Hickey and John Lan- dis in A. Graham's car. The caravan was on its way. They took a breather at Stag Leap Park and then pressed on to Cranbrook where they had lunch. They were met by Joe Gyurkovits at Canal Flats and he led the group up to Blue Lake. It had rained a lot so the camp area did not look too inviting. However, the boys and girls set .out for their cabin choices. Mr. Hickey and Mr. Thors helped light fires to warm up the cabins. (Each cabin has its own fireplace.) In the meantime, the food was put away. Mrs. Quaedvlieg, Jodi Wigen and Mr. Landis began cooking supper, the first meal in camp consisting of Shak'n Bake chicken, potatoes, car- rots, selaa ond milk. Bed check was at 9:30 p.m., but it’s certain some of the troops never stopped talking till well into the night, as was evident by the bleary-eyed youngsters next morning. The days were well planned as all activities be- ganat7 a.m. Ed Thors would instructions, students tock a Karen Minogu put the warmth into every- one by lighting the fires in the stoves, Mr, Landis would put on the coffee and prepare for the cooking unit to arrive. Mr. Hickey would have students out on their daily run, ; A daily timetable was as follows: 7 a.m. Wake up. Exercises. Run around the lake. Shower. Cooking crew would be in the kitchen pre- paring breakfast. 8 - 9 a.m. Breakfast. 9 - 12 noon Morn- ing sessions of classes. (11 - 12 noon Crew in to prepare Yunch,} 12-1 p.m. Lunch. 1-5 p.m, Afternoon sessions. Varied; Map and orienteer- ing; forests pests and dis- eases. (4 - 5 pm. Cooking crew.) 5 -6 p.m. Supper. 6 - 9° pm. Entertainment spon- sored by a row included sing-songs,: canoeing, volley- ball, fishing and campfire. 9 p.m. Snack and bedtime. As a follow-up the stu- dents went through the Koot- enay Forest Products Ply- wood plant in Nelson and then examined the Celgar Pulp Mill operations. They had experienced . complete forest operations from cut- ting the tree down in the for- est to loading the finished product into the box-car for shipment. An interesting observa- tion was that although the -students came from a rural area they showed very ur- banized attitudes. However, they adapted very quickly and.soon were in control of their environment. “KINNAIRD TRANSFER LTD. L.A. (Tony) Geronazzo, Manager _ Excavating — Trucking Gravel Products Phone 365-7124 UNION SHOP ractical session in fire fighting. e handing the hose. The six days spent to- gether in other than a class- room setting will be long re- membered by all. At this time the organ- izers would like to thank John Holden, Superintendent of Schools and the Board of School Trustees of School district No. 9 for granting the group permission to go on this trip. Also, special thanks ‘go to the parents and friends who provided transportation and stayed with the students. These were: Ed (keep the fires burning) Thors, Les (Roving cameraman) Allen, Irene {get those meals on) Quedvlieg, Jodi (throw hic- key in) Wigen, and Art (bring up the rear in jogging) Graham. Mr. and Mrs, Bojey were certainly welcome visitors for the first two. days. Mr. Hickey did an ex- cellent job of waking them up, taking them through the day and finally doing bed check. He was tired! Finally appreciation and thanks to all the parents for supporting the project. Service Special! $28” INCLUDES: road test, remove pan,’ visual Inspection, clean sump and screen, adjust bands and link- age, replace pan gasket and fluld. NEW IN TOWN? LET US PUT OUT THE MAT FOR YOU! Tia ie Fomor ate athe ol? UNDA GREEN 365-6316 M, KENNEDY 365-3590 FREE Towing within a 20-mile radius with major One-Day Service In most cases 368-3231 P.O. Box 114 Rock Island, CASTLEGAR & DISTRICT PHONE LINE 365-3610 CJAT 610 — West Kootenay Radio Right from the first,'I knew it was a day, {I shooda siood ; in bea}! as ‘third-rate “pugilist, Kingfish Levinsky, e sald after being flatten- by the ‘great heavyweight Joe Louis, in round one.’ i ip, took a tug at’ the. strap of; my’ wristwatch to - take it-off and wash; broke the ‘strap.. Nothing serious.’ Cheap plastic: junk. ’But it turned ‘out'to’ be applied to the watch by one of those un- seen geniuses who lose one of your socks in the wash, and produce four extra beer bottles when every case of empties is full. T'll probably never be able to wear the watch again, unless I glue it.to my wrist. Serves. me right. I hadn't a watch for 30 years, and never felt the need for,one. But my. . wife bought me this one last summer, in, the duty-tree shop at London airport. Who needs a watch? Life> is going § quickly enough, without the evidence on a little dial. The very word has nothing but unpleasant con- notations. ‘‘Watch .what you're doing there. Watch out. Watch your step. Watch the late movie. Watch your wife. ‘Watch’ that guy hang- ing around your daughter. Watch what you say in mixed company.” a . O.K. 1 shrugged off the watch. Went down and got my breakfast.. Usually, it's toast and tea. This particular morning, I had more time, so I fixed the works: real coffee, bacon, fried bread and a nice sloppy fried egg on top of the bread: A drooly great breakfast. Homemakers amazed when emerging — sto ought , "deat in my * favoritezchair Mn \the living | room, ard read my morning, ‘ ting the fried‘bread’and egg, into bite-sized pieces, so that», ~ Bill Smiley “I'd need only’ one’ hand to cat. x Something ‘skidded. | The plate slipped off the counter, sprayed grease ‘all’ over the front of \my- pants, * and smashed to smithereens on the floor.’ 1 emitted ‘a most unlady-like. few words, salvaged the bacon from under the sink. and started , cleaning up. 2 : Have you ever tried to ipe up just one lousy semi- fried egg from-'a kitchen floor? Well, 1 should have stop- ped right there, stripped to the skin, and gone .back to bed for’ the day. But, as faithful readers. know, 1 believe that bad. things come in threes, and then you have agood streak. As it happened, Iwas go- © ing to buy a car from’a chap that day. With impeccable ‘logic, I. reckoned one more minor disaster would occur, and I'd be home free for a while. If it‘didn’t, ‘the: car would be.a lemon, to com- + plete the trio, and.1 wouldn’t. ne of those d buy it.» tO It did, The minor disaster. I sailed out of the house, figuring I'd slip and break an elbow, or the car wouldn't ‘start. Nothing of the sort. Stuck my hand in my coat pocket. No’ keys. No car keys. No house keys. And I'd es Teft the latch on, Stood at the- back door, ding-donging like crazy, for five’ minutes. Blasted if I ‘was going to . + climb in the cellar, window and. wreck my second pair of pants. Finally, ‘the Old Lady appeared, She'd been in the bath tub. She was not ecstatic with our, marlial “ state.” Anyway, I finally’ set. off ,. with a light heart. The three baddies had happened, and the rest of the day would be “glorious, the car a winner, everything golden. Ny Well, you probably know the rest. Late for work. Thir- teen decisions to make at same. A‘ hair in my grilled cheese at lunch. Lukewarm * coffee, Banker who hed pro- mised’ me the loan out to lunch for two hours. Tried to . sneak in a quick visit to doc- - tor.for allergy shots; and he forgot I. was there for an hour. : Late ‘for my appointment to meet car seller. We'd both forgotten to pick up the safe- ty. check certificate. Rushed off to the garage, telling car seller and wife to wait for me at licensing bureau. Arrived at garage breath- less, but still time, Nobody home but gas pump Jockey. Mechanics out jogging. Jog: : _ Keep your eye on the ball - JOHN CHARTERS’ co Reflections & _ __ Recollections _ ging! Phoned license bureau to tell short, ill-tempered seller with beard to hang on, They hadn’t seen him since I left. Wait 25 minutes. Sweaty, gasping mechanics arrive, sign certificate... * Rushed back to license * bureau. No sign of car seller, inside or out. Got all papers teady. Waiting, fuming, in- side, them outside. “‘Tur- key’s probably gone to the bank or something.’” At five to five, phoned his apartment. He was there. He and his wife fad waited OUTSIDE the license bureau. (not enough brains to stay in and keep warm), had decided I'd changed my mind and wouidn’t 0c back, and were at the moment packing to go sto the, city for a week. With my car. bureau closed at five. Tottered home in a daze, expecting the house to. be burned down and my wife pregnant. Or vice versa, the way things were going. And then I started to laugh. And laugh. I. had to be ad- ministered ‘a strong dose of cough medicine to cool me out. j * Somebody ‘once said that the Lord works in mysterious ways. He sure does. Wonder what He had against me that cold March day? Maybe it was a lousy car, and He was trying to warn me. . © The Argyle Syndicate Ltd. from their domestic time capsule The current, name for them Is displaced’ home- makers. They're at that awkward time of their tives. Too ald for camp. T young for Social’ Security. Too ‘00 overquallfied for yellow wax bulld-up. ‘Too tired for an affair. They decide to re-enter the job market. 7 They're terrified, Insecure, intimidated, apprehen-* sive, desperate, confused, put-down and frustrated. They're sensitive about being the last parenthesls of the age brackets (35 or over) on the application form. There _ Is one thing they are definitely not. . . and that's alone. evi weak@ otters come over the desk asking me to find some ‘humor’ woman who gets leg cramps in.their situation. It's hot easy. Can a from’ wedgles find happiness with a young gir! whose life revolves around a yogurt pyramid club? Mostly, displaced homemakers are amazed at what they see when they emerge from their domestic time capsule. One woman from Maumee, Ohio, summed it up better than anyone else. “") was interviewed by a‘child,’’ she said. ‘'l knew that child and all the others lke her. Didn't 1 hold them In my arms, nurse them, powder their behinds? Didn’t | feed them and hang crepe paper :for their birthday parties? | went to their class plays and clapped the loudest. | went to thelr science fairs and walked for hours while they explained thelr projects to me about how bread mold can cure cancer. ‘ “| went to their noisy concerts, their plays and listened to thelr volces crack between youth and adulthood. - Amatter of gett By MAX SEIDEN SOME TIME AGO, I realized my wife and 1 hadn't spent a single night alone together without our children in the six years since our oldest boy was born. 1. GUESS THERE aren’t many parents left any more who don’t man- age to get off by themselves without the kids at least once in a while. MARRIAGE COUN- sellors advocate the ‘‘sur- vival weekend,” or the “second honeymoon,” for its therapeutic value. They say it's important to re- charge your batteries and catch up with your spouse. Nowadays, nearly everyone - who can afford to get away | does. I DON’T THINK IT was always such a’ common practice. 1 don’t recall my parents ever going off with- out me, and I don’t think their parents ever took any trips without them. \" "IN ANY' CASE, ONE weekend recently we finally decided the time had come to give ourselves a break from six years of unrelieved parenthood. ¥ F WE PRESENTED the idea to the children as a “special” opportunity for them to spend a whole weekend alone with Grand- ma and Grandpa. THE CHILDREN IM- - mediately wanted to know where we were going, and though we tried to down- play our own plans, it took a lot of fast talking to con- vince them. they: weren’t being left behind. BY FRIDAY AFTER- noon, the kids seemed pret: ty much adjusted to the two-day. separation. We _ were beginning to get cold feet. All my little girl had to say was, ‘Daddy, please don’t go,”’ and right away I “1 palaniced thelr meals and balanced our budget. |” learned how to sew and cut hair. | enrolled them in school and‘ gave :them ‘words in English while. they responded In-Sparilsh. GN E T Steit “Now my professional life hangs in thelr balance and they are asking me. if I’m quallfied for anything. £1 have been told in the same day | am too quiet and too aggressive. One sald my eyebrows showed ‘negatl- vism.' (| developed those when | was ‘Into diapers.’) One asked If-! could drive under pressure. (Get serious!) Another said If could get a No. 2 license | could drive an airport shuttle or If | were a size 9 | could rent cars. like.Emmett Kelly.'She was young and got the Job.’” Do not despair, ladies. Try to remember Helen who wrote in one of the fetters, ‘‘When | was given an application blank and | came to a small spot marked, ‘Experience,’ | sald to the personnel manager, ‘Pardon I've been a wife and mother for 16 years. I'll skills. She got the job. me, 3 € need two extra sheets of paper to list my background and was ready to drop the whole idea. ‘ BUT GRANDMA scooped up-the kids and shooed us out the door, and before we knew it, we were alone in the car, heading west, tryifig to remember _ how to conduct an unin- terrupted conversation. Tt WASN'T EASY. fs iG WITH dren is a little like living with air conditioning. You ° get so used to it, you're hardly aware it’s there until you turn it off. Then you are struck by the unfamiliar silence. WITHOUT CHIL- dren chattering away ond fighting in the back seat, there's a lot more silence to fill, You don’t have to sing nursery rhymes or identify out-of-state licence plates .or turn around periodically to scold or spank. INSTEAD, YOU FIND yourself actively making conversation, trying to be witty and charming, actual- ly wondering what to say next to this person you’ve lived with for 10 years. THE EFFORT CAN be both invigorating and exhausting. And the ficense . “Back Department” still a problem (it hurts back there!), therefore’ we will continue .our ‘Recollections’ - from ‘old E.G.O, columns. As suggested by present events, the recent tournament on the Castlegar Golf ‘Course, ir which: for reasons most ob- vious, I was not a competitor: A GLANCE AT GOLF You'll. never guess the awful truth — after all these years, I've -discovered golf. While on ‘the Vancouver ofcourse, where else, old boy —I saw a golf course within walking dist- ance of where I was occupied in other endeavors and, since the price of club rental and “green fee” was within range of my pocketbook, I decided to show them how simple the whole thing’ is. : It. was_a simple step therefore, to where I found myself in the temporary possession of one bag of golf clubs (assorted), a number of tees (varicolored little “jig- gers” for balancing the golf ball on) and several golf balls (second hand). —. i It’ was another equally simple step to where I found ‘myself ‘teamed with a short, plump gentleman cal- led“Larry” on the first tee and placing a golf ball on one of the “jiggers” aforement- ioned. ‘Perhaps I should explain at this point that I had never before been on a golf course, Island —-- score, my supposedly genial partner had craftily removed - the ball just before my club would have driven it on that screaming drive and had just 7 roplaced in on the wooden tee after my club and swept by. but from watching the pros *, do their stuff on the new, reels and sport shorts, I knew instinctively that I was anatural born expert myself,, Selecting therefore, the large wooden driver from my assortment, I adopted the accepted stance, feet apart, weight - evenly ‘distributed, hand over hand, etc., took careful aim and made a 200 yard drive... ie - At least that was the theory of the things and it always happened when the, pro followed the same .rou- tine. i . However, the fairway — golf jargonese for the long narrow alley of grass covered tank-testing grounds flanked by streams, swamps, broom thickets, blackberry thorns and small rapacious boys —. was entirely innocent of harboring my ball. FOURL PLAY In fact I discovered, to my horror, that to ensure himself of a comparably good “Too bad,” he murmured with hypocritical sympathy, “you should have kept your eye on the ball.” He was telling me! Passing off the matter ‘nonchalantly I adopted the correct stance again, gave the club a few expert wig- wags to loosen my wrist (in my earlier eagerness I, had omitted this vital precau- 1 awa ) from i Sigg S What about time when the WHEN WE GOT TO our destination, we were amazed at how much time family ts growing? there was in a day and how tong the nights seemed. Somehow, miraculously, CASTLEGAR NEWS, July 27; 1980 ; tion), aimed carefully, drew back the club,. keeping my eye fixed on the ball (no one was going to pull that switch- eroo on me twice) and unleashed a 250 nowerhouse drive on tha bail. ie The ball and I watched . arm. You should ‘always keep it straight.” The coward. He wasn't ; going to admit the truth and give himself away. Not he. Murmuring politely to cover my rage and concern over this base lack of aports- manship I readressed the ball, determined that. skill and intelligence would sur- mount. petty. difficulties. Again I adopted the correct stance. Again I took careful aim, watching the ball closely all the while, and + directed a short, powerful blow at the ball with a view to catching it unawares. A “DUCKY” BALL. Fast as I was that craven sphere was a little faster so that I just caught it a glancing blow as it was ducking down. It rolled about five yards — to the side. “That's better,” said my partner secretly hugging himself. “but you didn’t stand - close enough to the ball.” What did he want me to do breathe down its neck?” Having offered this grat- uitous advice he then teed up his own ball, went through various ridiculous wriggling _ and contortions plus several false starts and struck the ball with a clean “click” sound. ‘The ball sailed down the fairway like a bird in flight and disappeared into the “thickest of the broom, fascinated as’ the club whistled ever closer to the ball. In the instant before the «drive of the ‘year, that coward ball- cringed. I swear it did. I saw it with my own eyes, ~ The club meanwhile kept on going and wound itself lovingly around my neck. “Too bad,” said my part- ner again, “you bent your it all there was time to read and watch TV and still sleep eight hours. In the morn- ing, there was time to go bicycling and canoeing and still get back in time for lunch. In the afternoon, there was time for tennis’ and a swim, and a nap, too. AT SOME POINT during the weekend, while I was stretched out on a blanket beside the pool, I tealized this was probably: © the first time in six years that I had been able to'lie in the sun, without having a child jump up and down-on my stomach, or sit on my head, or splash cold water at me. AT MEALTIMES, WE tried to remember how to eat slowly, without jumping up and down to mop up spills. It seems strange to eat without first cutting up the meat on someone else's plate, ‘and luxurious to pause after the main course without having someone in- sist on dessert ‘‘nowl"’ AT FIRST, I FELT guilty about leaving the children behind. But after talking to the kids on the phone, I realized they were having a perfectly great time without us. THAT'S WHEN I started missing them. Des- perately. Bi MY WIFE — WHO regularly spends more time at home with the kids than I “now let's see what we can do with the ball of yours.” . THERE'S HOPE YET:*. He wasn't a bad fellow really, and my. playing im- proved as I lost that ball on the next stoke, substitued another and eventually reached the first hole: It's quite a fascinating game. We played the following day and the two days after that while my score im- proved by leaps and bounds. At the end of four days I was doing famously and was shooting 68 — for nine holes that is. A. fascinating gam do — was not in such a great hurry to get back to ff them.’ f second day, I was stopping to talk to. every little kid I saw. Whenever I saw a child about the same age as one of my own, I felt my. eyes grow moist. I started checking my watch con- stantly, wondering if Grandma knew it was time for their dinner, or time for a bath, or time for bed. MY WIFE ASSURED me everything would be all tight. But it wasn’t long before our scintillating con- . versation had deteriorated into incredibly lengthy cx- changes about whether or not Grandma knew where the kids keep their Super- man-pyjamas. WE CHECKED OUT early Sunday afternoon and raced home in time for din- ner. MY WIFE IS AL- ready talking about an- other, longer ‘second han- eymoon"’ without the chil- dren. I think she may have to go without me as well. I'm enjoying my kids so much this week, 1 can’t imagine wanting to go off. without them ever again. | SAYS! that’s the whole point: leav-, ing them for a few days makes you appreciate what you've got when yol §t home. Vancouver Sun