Barn Rules! Rules to live by!
Jessica and Rebekah from the BCK's and Addy from Careywood Eager Beavers with one of the clinician horses, "Peg."

Annette and Lenora talking with the showmanship clinician.

The Bonner County Clan, bundled up and ready to learn with paper and pencil in hand.

Showmanship do's and don'ts.

Today was a COLD day for some die hard 4-H kids and a few adult leaders! After rising early (7am!---I know, really??) and getting the chores completed, cell phones and digital camera batteries charged, we loaded the little red mini van with folding camping chairs, snacks, blankets, kids and adults, and went on our way. We stopped near the end of the road and picked up 2 more passengers, and all their gear. We were headed to Hayden Idaho for a Showmanship Clinic. What were we thinking?? It began snowing in earnest, but the chatter in the van over whelmed any nerves threatening to fray. We did pass a terrible accident on the south end of Granite Hill and we quickly said a prayer for all involved and thanked the Heavens for the grace of timing. The chatter picked up again and the printed directions were shoved into the capable hands of the front seat passenger. Soon we were executing a u-turn and going back to the barn that we thought must have been our destination the first time we passed it. They really should make the address numbers much larger on those barns. Anyway, we realized we were the guests at an amazing ranch. We were all completely awestruck with the shear beauty of the facility. Gail Silkwood of the Golden Go-4's 4-H club, organized an amazing day for all the Northern County 4-H clubs to attend, FREE of charge. The clinic, sponsored by a grant from the AQHA was held at Joy Richard's barn, 1221 Lacey Ave, Hayden Id. The facility was beautiful! The rider's lounge, where we assembled to sign in was well appointed with leather couches, beautiful artwork, a full kitchen and donuts and hot chocolate and coffee. We signed our group in and went to collect our chairs and blankets which we placed around the perimeter of the indoor, HEATED arena. The stalls on either side were amazing. Automatic waterers and feeders, beautiful runs....ahhhh, what a life! The arena floor was chopped up rubber, NO dust! The clinic began with an instructor teaching about showmanship from the very basics and on up. The kids learned tricks for training their horses how to square up (HOURS and HOURS of practice!) pivots, leading, increasing/decreasing your horse's speed and that showing your horse to the judge as best as your horse can look...clean, tidy, well mannered. The clinic then moved onto Horsemanship and what the judges are looking for. We learned some tricks to begin training for lead changes and a very key statement to take to heart, "Its not IF something is going to wrong in the show arena, its WHEN." and how important that makes it that your horse is listening and responding to you. Then we had a FREE lunch! Hot chili with all the fixins'. and sweet treats. Even though the barn was heated, it was still pretty darn chilly and the hot chili was welcomed with smiles and cupped hands. After lunch, two trail judges and instructors came out on their horses and taught the kids the fine points of trail. I am excited to try trail with my horse now! I only need to figure out how to let her know that the gate I am trying to open by pulling towards us is really not going to eat her! After trail was a short clinic on Western Pleasure riding. This class probably sparked the most conversation on the drive home, with the "draped rein" and the "peanut rollers" and the "4-beats" as we jokingly call them, and the pro's and cons of each characteristic of top Western Pleasure horses. All in all we had a terrific winter day immersed in the world of horses. Of course the husbands of the adult attendees now have to listen to the wishes of their wives for indoor arenas, automatic water and feeding systems and rubber footing for those non-existent indoor arenas.

Upcoming 4-H Calendar and News

It's been awhile and I apologise. I wanted to stick the 4-H calendar in here for January and February as well as update the 4-H community on news. I am busy, as I am sure most of you are, getting ready for the holidays but 4-H still goes on.

I had a great class of nine new leaders last night. I am always happy to see new leaders as they add spice to the mix. I hope they enjoyed the class. One suggestion came up. A FAQ list for new families or leaders. I need some help on this one. If you know of questions that are asked to yourself or your other families, please let me know. I will compile this question and answers for future use. The comment which brought this to light was "as a new leader or family, I didn't know the questions to ask". Good point and since I have been in the program so long, I forget that new families really are confused and have very simple questions, questions we all take for granted. So... if you can remember the questions you had as a new family or have been asked a number of the same questions, let me know.

There is a new 4-H group in the Gooby Rd area in Sandpoint. They are focusing on the goat projects. If you or anyone you know would like more information on this club, let me know and I will be sure to send you to Melanie, the Organizational Leader.

I am excited to say that the Bonner/Boundary 4-H Horse and Livestock leaders are hosting a Tack and Equipment swap in April at the Bonner County fairgrounds. The reason I'm excited about this event is that in this economy, which may get worse before it gets better for us, anytime we can reuse, recycle and make a little money, it's great. The sale will be in the Southwing of the Main Exhibit Building on Saturday, April 24, 2009. Anyone is welcome. We have not ironed out the logistics yet, such as times and fees, but it's on my Horse Leaders Council meeting agenda in January. Please mark your calendars and start a "I can get rid of this" pile that includes tack, livestock equipment, show clothes etc.

Many kudos to Adrianne Nelson, her family and all the Beaver Creek Kritters for their work on the Free Christmas. I am quite sure they helped a number of families. What a great feeling.

The Extension Office will be closed from December 24 to January 4, 2010. I will be checking my email so if you have to, contact me that way. Look for your 4-H Briefings newsletter shortly after the first of the year. You will find a printed copy of the 4-H calendar for the whole year. Make sure you pull it out and post it in your home.

JANUARY 2010
Dec. 31-Jan.1 New Years Day, Extension Office Closed
9 New Leader Training, 9-12 noon, Extension Office, must pre-register
11 Horse Leaders Council meeting, 6 p.m., Extension Office
13 Market Animal Livestock Committee meeting, 7 p.m., Extension Office
18 Martin Luther King Day, Extension Office Closed
FEBRUARY
1 4-H Club Enrollment Deadline
1 Deadline for New Leader Applications
1 American Beekeepers Federation Essays due State 4-H Office
4, 11, 18, 25 Leader Training Workshops (tentative)
13-15 Know Your Government Conference, Boise
15 Presidents’ Day, Extension Office Close
19 4-H Ski Night, Schweitzer, Tickets available at Extension Office and Schweitzer Conoco

Beaver Creek Kritters Free Christmas 2009, DONE!

Free Christmas 2009 is in the books!!! Great job by the Beaver Creek Kritters!

Grab yourself a cup of something hot drink and settle in for a heart warming read....



Little shopper's hands putting on the "to, from" sticker.... below

Lenora lookin' cute below and Payton asking the little one if they want to sign their name on the package (upper right) Galen picking out the right bow. (left)

Wrapping, wrapping and more wrapping!



!

Beaver Creek Kritter Gang, pre- Free Christmas door opening. Don't they look calm??

Ali, Isaac, Abigail, Isabelle,Payton, Angelica, Keaton and Rebekah up front (littlest one)





Shoppers at Free Christmas 09

Our heavy laden tables

Well, our Third Annual Free Christmas is in the books! YAHOO! The 4-Hers did a great job, collecting donations, setting up the Free Christmas Store in the Sagle Senior Center, and then wrapping all the treasures for our shoppers. They also hung around for clean up and helped return the building back to its pre- Free Christmas state. I am sure proud of all those kids. What a great day we had! We had many families lined up at 9:30am, and our doors opened at 10am. We had some who had lost much in a fire, some who were there collecting for neighbors who were too shy to come in for themselves, some who just recently came out of surgery and were hobbling around the tables on crutches. We had quite a few kiddos come through and choose gifts for their families. It was and always is a heart touching day. We greeted everyone with a "Merry Christmas" and handed out candy canes to one and all. We had local neighbors bring us home made candy to sustain the gift wrappers, and bagels for those who stayed at the Sagle Senior Center all day Friday to collect donations. I LOVE our community! We had many awesome donations, a mountain bike, a TV and VCR, some beautiful side tables, lots of stuffed animals. Just a lot of wonderful gifts. Our kids were wrapping tornadoes! I tell ya, Santa's elves "ain't got nuttin' " on the Beaver Creek Kritter Kids! Thank you to all the other 4-H clubs and members who helped by donating, we REALLY appreciate you!

Merry Christmas!
Fa, la, la, la,

Adrienne

The Bonner County Fairgrounds are getting a whole new upgrade to the Horseshoe camping area thanks to the grant written and submitted by Fairgrounds employee, Bob Snider. With this upgrade we will be getting a new shower and bathroom facility, a new pavillion, new camping pads and a beautiful new landscaped camping area. I happened to be out there when the restroom/showers arrived and took some pictures of the process. Imagine picking up one section, around 71,000 pounds (I think that is what Bob said) and placing it right next to another one. There are three sections to this unit. I was there to watch the second connect to the first. Good crane opperator. As you can see in the above pictures.

Family fun Night Photos

Just a few pictures of our Family Fun Night 2009. Thank you everyone for another great 4-H year and event!

Saturday night we held our Family Fun Night at the Bonner County Fairgrounds. At first glance I was a little nervous that the only ones coming would be the members that were setting up a booth from their club. But as it turned out, we had a great turn out and everyone seemed to be having a great time. I would love to hear from some of the people who were there.

I want to thank everyone that helped pull this together, Rhonda Livingstone, the fair board members, Sharon Dalton, Gail Curless, the fair royalty, Rachel Doty, Ashlee Knopp, Cassie Tenney; the junior fair board, Mikaila Bristow, Rachel Doty, all the clubs that came and set up tables, all the donations of door prizes, (I think most everyone received something and we still had some left over to donate to the Beaver Creek Kritters Free Christmas) Sandpoint Super Drug for a large door prize of a snowy themed basket, Kevin Bristow (and the whole Bristow family) for always being our "token" man. All the cakes and cupcakes and cookies donated to the cake walk. But most of all I want to thank Kristan Peacock and Patti Speelmon from my office. Those two are the creative juices of our office - they have more creativity in their little fingers then I'll ever have! Thanks ladies, I could not do it without you.

Free Christmas

Hello fellow 4-h-ers! Its that time of year again when we begin thinking about "giving." Giving has many identities; monetary, personal, time, sharing etc. Three years ago, my kids and I read an article about a lady and her family who were "de-cluttering" their home before the holidays. You know, cleaning out closets to make room for all the new things coming in. In doing so, the woman was wanting to show her children a new way to think of giving and getting. She didn't have any "extra" money (who does??) so she set up a table in her front yard (she lived in a warmer climate) and put all the gift-worthy toys and extra things out on it. She made a sign that said "Free Christmas." She gathered some extra wrapping paper and sat with her children at the table. They were amazed at the first timid "shoppers" that browsed their small offering. They wrapped the gifts that were chosen and a warm feeling began to grow within those family members. That warm fuzzy feeling has grown into an annual holiday tradition and many people donate gifts. People from all over the city come to shop the Free Christmas. Some are homeless, some are in shelters, some have just hit dire straights due to lay offs, medical bills and the like. No questions are asked, no hoops to jump through in order to be "worthy" of the Free shopping day. That story inspired my children I. Three years ago, we went through our closets and garage and stuff and came up with some donations that we considered "gift-worthy." We shared our idea with our friends and neighbors, and they too started collecting and gathering. We had our first "Free Christmas" at the Sagle Senior Center. We offered free gift wrapping to those who wanted. We made flyers and distributed them at the shelters, at the food bank, the WIC office, Panhandle Health, anywhere we could think of. We were interviewed in the Daily Bee and Channel 4 even called. We spent the evening before our event carefully arranging the donations in such a way as to be like a boutique. We carefully displayed tea sets, Barbies, snow boots and more. The next morning we arrived an hour early. We planned to open the doors for shopping at 10am. There was already a line waiting when we got there. It was sleeting, cold and early morning and the line was 20 people deep. They were bundled up in coats, scarves if they had them, quietly talking amongst themselves, eager to see what waited for them. It brought tears to my eyes. Who knew of the need? Who knew how many lives we were about touch. We opened the doors and the flood of people was amazing. We had EVERY walk of life. We had people with diabilities, people dressed nicer than me, single moms, families who had just lost their homes (one in a fire, another due to lack of money) Most were shy, not wanting to meet our eyes. Most questioned, was it "really free?" We wrapped like Santa's Elves on Red Bull! There was paper and ribbon everywhere. We had a small cd player playing Christmas music and offered hot chocolate and cookies. We were completely "sold" out of our Free Christmas within 90 minutes. Many expressed deep thanks for the opportunity to put something under their tree for their loved ones. Yes, I've had people ask me how do we regulate who gets what, who gets in. My response is always the same. They have to sleep at night. Whether they "needed" the Free Christmas or not is between them and God. All I can do is help organize it and trust that the Lord will bring those who need to be there. Who am I to judge? We have had our times when things were very, very tight. It didn't look that way on the outside, because we are all good at making things look better than they are. So I will not judge who can come and what they can take. As I said, if they feel they need to be there, then so be it.

Lat year I brought the idea to our 4-H club. The Beaver Creek Kritters. I thought it would be a good community service project and it would help our family with extra hands to accept donations, help arrange the displays, help wrap, help clean up. Last year was a success. The club has decided to partner with us again this year, for which I am thankful for. We will be hosting the event December 5th. We will be at the Sagle Senior Center on the 4th to accept donations. If you or your club members or friends and family would like to donate we would appreciate it very much. If you would like to stay and help and work towards your club's community service, that would be welcomed as well. We are in need of tape and ribbons, we have plenty of paper for wrapping. Last year we lacked men's gifts, tools, mugs, nice clothing, gloves, hats etc....if you have anything you would like to donate, please contact us, call Susan at 290-1320 to coordinate pick up of your items, or if you have any questions please contact me, Adrienne at apumpkin29@yahoo.com, or 597-2280. CD's, DVD's, books, toys, dishes, kitchen items, nick knacks, games, complete puzzles, anything that is in a gift worthy condition is appreciated. If there are any items left, we donate them to the local thrift stores. Sometimes we get phone calls after the event from those who couldn't make it and we've wrapped stuffed animals and pretty little girl's dresses and delivered them Christmas week. Please join us in redefining what it means to give. Your time, your extra things, your thoughts, your effort. Thank you!

Catch us on Speak Up North Idaho

2009 Fair Royalty, Rachel Doty, and Cassie Tenney, will be joining Barb Carpenter on Speak Up North Idaho on Thursday, November 19 at 12 noon. Rachel and Cassie will be promoting the Family Fun Night, set for Saturday, November 21 from 6-8 pm at the Fairgrounds along with promoting 4-H and Fair. Join us!

Volunteer Opportunity

Carol Miller, a representative from the Bonner County Food Bank and the Salvation Army, called to let me know she is looking for volunteers to “ring the bell”. The Salvation Army in North Idaho will not be paying a wage to ringers this year so this has put them in a bind. The money raised goes to the Bonner County Food Bank and helps pay for gas vouchers, the backpack program and other local programs. There will be 2 shifts each day, Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am-2 pm, and 2 -6 pm. Shifts will begin the day after Thanksgiving and go until Christmas Eve. Please give her a call if you or any of your members would like to help out. Contact her at 946-6646.

Family Fun Night Getting Closer

Well, today is the 18Th which means that there are only 3 more days until Family Fun Night, Saturday, November 21. This a fun, family event for anyone, not just 4-H families. Clubs will have a table promoting their group, and showcasing the projects they normally offer. The Fairboard will be offering ice cream and all the toppings, Rhonda Livingstone will be teaching Line Dancing to anyone game to learn, they will be 3 on 3 basketball mini tournaments, a cake walk, and numerous other activities. We will also be awarding our Leader of the Year award. Join us on Saturday, November 21 from 6-8 pm on the Fairgrounds for Family Fun Night. Hope to see you there!

A Visit with Miss Idaho, Kara Jackson

2009 Miss Idaho, Kara Jackson, was visiting in Bonner County recently, thanks to the Bonner County Farm Bureau. On Friday, she spoke at the East Bonner County library. The Bonner County Fair Royalty and members of the Junior Fair Board attended. I have posted some pictures for you enjoyment.

Kara Jackson and Lael Gaddie, Selkirk Pack 4-H member and future Miss Idaho!

Rachel Doty, Kara Jackson and Mikaila Bristow, Bonner County Junior Fairboard member.

Rachel Doty, Bonner County Fair Queen and member of the Junior Fairboard; Kara Jackson, 2009 Miss Idaho; Cassie Tenney, 2009 Bonner County Fair Princess.

Family Fun Night

Join us for the 2009 Family Fun Night on Saturday, November 21, from 6-8 pm at the Bonner County Fairgrounds. This event is open to any family interested in learning more about 4-H and just getting out to have a good time. There will be 3 on 3 basketball, cake walk, line dancing, numerous games and activities for all. 4-H clubs in the county will be available to tell interested participants what is available in their clubs. The Bonner County Fairboard will also be dishing up ice cream and all the toppings. See you there

Welcome to our Blog

This is my second day blogging and I might add I am having quite the education setting this up. I was having a few problems adding links to the page but after a quick call to Marianne Love, who has numerous links on her blog, Slight Detour, http://slightdetour.blogspot.com/ she helped me pull it all together. Thanks Marianne! Next, I would like to learn how to post more pictures and slide shows.

I would like to invite all of our 4-H leaders and members in Bonner County to comment or even post events you have coming up. Just let me know and I can "invite you" so that you too may post to the blog! If you know of a super web site you think should be linked, let me know and I will put it on if it fits our mission - which is to get good and accurate (and sometimes funny) information to all. And pictures.... I would love to post any 4-H pictures of your group. Just send them to me. Enjoy.

Family Fun Night 3 on 3 Basketball

Don't forget to come to attend the 4-H Family Fun Night on November 21st. We will be having a 3 on 3 basketball tournament and would love to see all the kids show their sportsmanship!

4-H isn't just cows and cookies anymore!

To help promote 4-H, to spread some of the fun and achievements of 4-H, to let people know what will be happening in the world of 4-H, I have developed a Bonner County 4-H blog site "4-H Clover Country". Welcome and enjoy.