Pioneer Day Activity

This past weekend Salem Branch had a social based on Pioneer Day.  It was also a reunion inviting those who had been members in the past but had moved elsewhere.  We had a good attendance, but not many people who fit into the reunion part of it.  I guess that makes sense, as most of those people don't live close any more.  Here are a few pictures from the social.

The stick pull was a lot of fun.

 

 

Getting the grill ready

Here is the chef, waiting for the coals to heat up.  He wore a white shirt and managed to keep it clean all day.  That's probably better than I could have done.

Some  of them found a good place to eat and hide from the hot sun.

This was Elder Wilson's last day with us. (on the left)  He was temporarily located here while he waited for his visa to come through.  He left that afternoon for the mission office -- and then off to Australia!  We get to keep Elder Naef.  We're very glad of that.

There was lots of visiting in the shade.  Did I say it was HOT?

Another Pioneer game

And another -- the sack race was popular.  I didn't get a photo of the three legged race.  I did get a video, but I won't post that.

This little bulldog was a popular addition to the picnic.

Have you ever held a butterfly on your hand?  This girl walked around with one and it just stayed with her.  Oh, and yes, it was alive.

Moving the Library

Yesterday was a very busy day for many members of Salem Branch.  We have all been advised to get busy and serve our community, so several of us volunteered to help with the moving of our Public Library to its new building.  We boxed books, dismantled shelving, loaded trucks and transported lots of stuff to the new location.  It was actually fun.  Somehow when a group of people get together and work for a common cause it brings out the best in them. We got quite a bit done; the librarians were very appreciative.  Boy, were we tired when we got home.  We were there from 8:00-4:00.

Things were starting to clear out even before we started to work.

It starts to look bigger when you take out shelves and computers.

I can't even imagine how many boxes of books moved out of this small library.  We scoured the community for boxes and even ended up creating some of our own out of mismatched cardboard pieces.

Packing books and taking down shelves.

Here I am leaning on my dolly.  Maybe I could get a job working on the highways?

The new building will be much nicer but, still it's sad to see the old familiar library emptying out.

 It was a VERY humid day.  Apparently when we took the camera outside there was condensation on the lens.  I worked with it and got rid of much of it, but this was the best I could do.  In this picture our elders are loading up one of the trucks.  We drove four of them at a time to the new location two blocks away.

Happy Birthday, Emily! ---- (Still)

Emily's birthday was on June 22, which we celebrated here.  We had lots of balloons and the kids enjoyed playing with them.  They discovered that if they put a balloon over the air conditioning vent it would fly up and bob around until the air kicked off.  When they left for home this little balloon was still over the register.  Today is July 19 and this balloon has been over the register since June 22.  It goes up and dances around, then falls back onto the register until the air starts again.  We have left it there, wondering how long it will take before it stops this interesting little game.  I've been trying to upload a video of it, but with no luck.  You'll just have to take my word for it -- this balloon is in the air even though the picture doesn't really show it.