THE SNAKE

     THE HEALTH CARE CENTER - article and artwork by Leighton Durham, Age 8, Island Ford - Nurse Mary and Nurse Wanda found a dead snake on the road while they were exercising.
      The snake is about a 18 inches long. It is black and gray and skinny. It can be found on the Health Hut porch only for a while because it might start to stink. Yuck!!

THE POTTERY PLACE

     POT SHOP - by Robert Wilkins, Age 8, Chipmunk Hut - Here at the pottery place, they're making whistles out of clay (which is hard to do!). 3 out of 8 already work so far.
     The pottery place has lots of other stuff, too, like clay animals and clay bowls. You should go there sometime. It looks like fun!

ABOUT DUKE THE MOUSE

     THE FRONT PORCH - by Felicia Wilkins, Age 9, Running River - Hey, have you heard about Duke? If you have, good. If you haven't, he's a mouse.
     So, you're probably thinking, what's so good about a mouse?? I'll tell you. The famous RB used to tell stories about him and when he came here, RB wrote about Duke.
     Duke's house is on the right corner of the Dining Room. It says "Duke's House"! Below that is his mailbox. Then beside that is his little mouse hole.
     Duke has a personality that is self-centered and he's kind of selfish so we think he's an only child but he could have siblings. We don't know about his parents.

SKUNKS AT A CAMPOUT

     THE FRONT PORCH - article and artwork by Savannah Sowers, Age 9, Shady Grove - On Sunday, June 8th, 2003, Shady Grove went on a campout. If you went on a campout that night, you should know how hard it was to make a campfire.
     So . . . Shady Grove finally made a fire!
     When they went in the shelter called Clay Hill, there were bugs and spiders. They went to bed, but not for long. They woke up in the middle of the night with a very unpleasant smell. It was 2 skunks! Pee-you!

Interview With a Bridge
by Holly Millure, Age 10, Dancing Water

REPORTER: Do you like when people step on you?
BRIDGE: Well, sometimes I don't mind. When my back isn't hurting it is nice, but mostly my back hurts.
REPORTER: Do you like the position you are in?
BRIDGE: I hate it. If you were lying straight all day and night you would know it hurts.
REPORTER: How do you like looking at the fish all day?
BRIDGE: It is kind of exciting but it gets boring looking at a bunch of tadpoles.
REPORTER: Is it interesting seeing different kids in the summer?
BRIDGE: I like seeing boys and girls of all ages.

Sun
by Harrison Gage, Age 10, Meadowbrook

The sun shines bright and sunny,
   it will always be happy.

The sun takes away the darkness,
   It also takes away the dampness.

The sun is happy,
   around the world

Because it eats lots
   of taffy.

By The Water
by RB and Duke

     By now, you know a lot about my pet mouse. He is always up to something and it usually is trouble.#This morning, Duke surprised me. He woke up early and said he had something special he wanted to do with me. Of course I was ready for the worst.
     But the worst never came. That's the wonderful thing about that mouse. He is always full of surprises.
     This morning we walked down to our favorite place by the water. We walked to the bridge next to the stables and just sat and talked for awhile.
     We didn't talk about anything special and we didn't really do much except watch the Brookside Creek go bubbling by. Sometimes that's about all you need.
     I asked Duke what he would remember most about this session and he surprised me again. He said he would remember our quiet morning by the water.
     I told my pet mouse I would work hard to remember that time, too. There's a lot of fun to be had at camp but sometimes its the quiet moments that mean so much.
     Ah, that mouse. Like I said, he's always full of surprises!
     And that's the way it is with Duke.