It has been a long weekend. Camp-in went well Saturday evening. It was well-attended, and all the helpers showed up. The scenery was ready, though if we had started sooner, it would have been more elaborate, But it was more than sufficient. I forgot to bring my camera along, so I have no pictures of it.

When the program ended, Va suggested that she might just go to Walmart and get a couple of pillows instead of sending me home for them. The plan was for me to bring the boys home so Penny wouldn’t be all alone, grab the pillows, head back to the church, and spend the night. We didn’t have room on the car for the pillows on the first trip (it was crammed full of props and food). But Va thought I should just sleep at home. I didn’t argue.

She went to Walmart and we started taking stuff down (including the canvasses we had painted). The boys and I got home around 10:30pm I guess. I washed the dishes and then went to bed. I got up when Va got home this morning.

Then I needed to turn my attention to the next project. Pathfinder Sabbath is in two weeks, and I need to get ready for that. I went to Tilton to buy some puppet-makin’s. I read that a decent approach was to get stuffed animals and disembowel them. As it turns out, Valentine’s Day causes a flood of cheap stuffed animals to appear. I bought eight at $3.00 a pop. Mostly bears and dogs, but there’s a chimp in the mix for good measure.

At the Pathfinder meeting tonight we cut them open and removed most of the stuffing. The next step is to sew a sock or a glove into the innards to keep the rest of the stuffing inside. Then I’ll make some clothing for them.

The other part of my plan is to pre-record the audio portions of the puppet show. That accomplishes several things. First, we can edit out the mistakes. Second, I don’t have to worry about anyone flubbing their lines or ad libbing in an inappropriate way. Third, even though one of the kids was sick tonight, she will still get to participate – we won’t use her voice, but she’ll get to work a couple of the puppets. Fourth, I’ll know exactly how long the performance will be.

The only problem is that we only got about 70% of the dialog recorded before we ran out of time. We’ll finish it (and the puppets) next week. Then we’ll need to practice. Oh – and I’ll need to build a puppet stage.

My old friend Warran was back again tonight as well. He’s pitching in with the Pinewood Derby which we worked on some more. I think he’s going to stick around afterwards as well, meaning that my oldest unit will now have a counselor. Yay!

So that bring us up to date. I think I’ll spend the evening working on the sock I’m knitting.