Every nice Sunday afternoon in the past few weeks, ive set aside some time to take a long 7 mile hike around our land.  Found a few deer sheds and have seen some turkeys!  Its been a great way to get out and enjoy the outdoors in the woods!!   I ecourage you all to get out and do something like this if you are ever bored or have nothing to do!  It’s something that will always make you feel good and enjoy the splendor outside!

 The water level of the red river is at 40.9 feet. If there were no dikes my basement would be filled almost up to the ceiling. School has been canceled for 3 weeks and it might be cancelled next week too. Think this sounds great!! Think again, now we will have school in June and July!! That will not be fun. Right now at my elementary school they are digging up our soccer fields and baseball diamonds and using the dirt and clay to build the dikes. At the middle school that I will go to next year they are digging up the front yard. They are not going to fill in the wholes till fall (That’s next school year)!!! No more soccer games at recess.

Here’s a craft that is fun for the kids. Its a cheap and easy and you can learn some phun facts while doing it with your friends and family.

Supplies Needed:

* Paper Plates (1 per person)

* Wax Paper

* Scissors

* Tape or glue (glue works best, but tape will work)

* Black construction paper

* Yellow paint

* Black paint

* White marker

* Paint brush

How to Make:

Start by coloring or painting the plate with black and yellow stripes like a bee. The kids can have as many or as few a stripes as they like. No two bees look the same. (The less paint you use the faster it will dry)

 While the paint is drying the kids can cut out wings from the wax paper.

Once the wings are done, you can have the kids cut out stingers from the construction paper.

Once the paint is dry the kids can glue/tape the wings  and stinger on their bee.

After the wings and stinger have been attached, use the white marker/colored pencil/white out and draw a face on your happy bee.

Phun Facts:

There are more than 25,000 species of bees identified in the world and 3,500 of those are in the United States.

8 of the 1o are hunny bees.

Honey bees are insects with 6 legs, 3 body segements and antennas.

Honey bees feed on pollen and nectar.

Most honey bees have pollen baskets on their legs to carry pollen when they fly

Honey bees are social insects, they do not like to live alone.

There are 4 stages for bees- egg, larva, pupa, and adult.

Bees live in groups called colonies. There is the queen, workers, and drones.

There is only 1 queen per hive.

99% of the population are worker bees.

Only male bees can be drones.

Each colony can have as many as 60,000 bees in it!!!

 

If you make this craft you all should post your pictures on the site so everyone can see your masterpieces.

This is a Nebraska Bull, taken 10-1-2008. Up around Chadron NE. Bull should gross 420? Non-typical not sure about the net yet, but like I always say nets are for fish! But the bull should still be the state record hopefully. He is 52 inch spread, main frame 7×8 but if they count the abnormal points he is a 10×9, he has a couple points about an inch long.

Paper binoculars for kids are perfect for backyard explorers and nature-lovers. Create this paper craft with a few supplies and a wild imagination.

What You’ll Need:

2 toilet paper tubes

2 large wooden beads

Black acrylic paint

Thin yellow tape

1 yard black cording

Tools:

Paintbrush

Craft glue

Paper punch

Step 1: Paint both tubes and the wooden beads black. Let dry, then run a strip of colored tape around both ends of each tube.

Step 2: Line up the tubes, and glue the beads between them. Let dry.

Step 3: Punch a hole in each side of the binoculars, close to one end. String the cord through one hole, tie a knot on the inside to hold in place, and string through the other hole. Knot this end on the inside as well.

Now you’re ready for a backyard safari!

You can also have the kids color their own binoculars, some like them camoflauged, or pink. Its totally up to you!!

Once the craft is complete take a picture and send it in so others can see it!!