The date we selected was two weeks after the first group was here. These kids didn’t disappoint being just as active and fun as the first bunch was. We invited Jacob and family to come back to help us celebrate with this group as well. Each year we try to include things that will be new experiences for the kids and this time we threw in some things that were a big hit. Mr. Jerry piled up a huge pile of leaves and the kids knew exactly what to do. We thought this might be a new experience, but we were certainly behind the curve on that one.

They jumped and romped in the pile all day long. While it wasn’t a new thing it was a big hit none the less. We also bought a bad mitten set for them to play with. That was somewhat new for them. We also built a fire in the outdoor fireplace and made samores for the kids. The garden was a big thing for some of the kids as well. We showed them how we grow various veggies and they thought that was huge.

All in all they had a blast. One of the kids said that it wasn’t fair that she couldn’t come back for a whole year. We think that’s testimony to the good times they have when they all come.

One of the things we do when they come is take photos….tons of photos. Mr. Jerry is the person who takes the most.

Kyle Taylor	Ella, Claire, Jacob & Kyle

Over the past three years he has completed a slide show that includes these kids. This year’s show is complete and all that awaits is to present it to the kids to get their reaction. We’re sure it will be lots of fun for them to see themselves on the "big" screen. We are hoping to screen this new show later this month when many of us will be gathering for a retirement party for one of the grandfathers.

While all the kids are beautiful, it never seem to fails that one of the kids stands out as being more photogenic on that day. This year it was Kyle Taylor (this, of course, is Mr. Jerry’s opinion). We are including one of his photos for you to judge for yourself.

Kyle is the son of Jeff & Shorey Taylor and the Grandson of Dave & Lee Padula. Aside from be so photogenic on that day we noted that Kyle is likely going to excel at athletics. He can definitely kick, hit and otherwise manipulate a ball better than an older child would be expected to do. We were amazed at how coordinated he is for such a young one.

While working for this agency she overheard that they were embarking on a new program to make all their records electronic rather than continue to keep paper records on their clients. This prompted her to offer Mr. Jerry as a someone who might run this training for them.

One of our classrooms

They pondered the idea for a while then called Jerry to assist. This project put Mrs. Gerrie’s work on hold whey the training proceeded.

The training has occupied much of the month and we are expected to end on November 6th. Mrs. Gerrie decided to help with the project as an unpaid volunteer. It seems that when Jerry got hired, she got laid off. Ummm...seems a bit odd doesn’t it? However, we are sure that more assignments will be there for her after Mr. Jerry is back home tending to home matters.

The training consists of classroom and onsite work to train in excess of 80 of their employees. At the writing of this newsletter the training has gone very well. The agency is very pleased with the results and with very few exceptions the participants seem to be able to function with near 100% accuracy in using software. Many of these folks are not computer savvy and that did complicate the task just a bit. But we can say, without a doubt, the training was a huge success.

Taking a shot at the hog isn’t much of an option and who knows otherwise how one would catch this guy. So, Mr. Jerry took it upon himself to set a live trap, but where would that be? Well, we visited the dumpsters at a nearby building site and scavenged scrap plywood. We cut the wood to the right size so that we could block the area where this guy had been working. The only place he could enter was exactly where the trap was set. Surely this would work if anything would. Wouldn’t you know it, not long after we put this plan into motion we had some luck. First we caught a Opossum which was trucked into the next county before being released. He didn’t seem too interested in leaving the trap and we had to encourage him with a stick. We carefully reset our trap and not long after we had luck once again, this time it was a Raccoon, followed by another raccoon, then we bagged a skunk. We had to handle this one very carefully least we get the perfume treatment. Our trapping efforts have been a total failure unless you add up all the critters we didn’t intend to catch. The last of our catches was a tiny bunny. So, it appears that we caught everything under the sun EXCEPT that Ground Hog. The last time we set our trap something sprung it but we found nothing inside. We’re guessing that it was a mouse since they could easily escape through the wire.

We have seen the ground hog around recently but not in our trap.

Halloween at Hymrod House

This all brings to mind how it was when I was a kid. As I recall all I had was a towel which I hooked around my neck. I was pretending to be Superman (that was big when I was a kid). I think that was my best costume and I used it many years. I don't believe I ever had a mask.