We were prepared for the start of this beautiful day. The leaders woke up to a beautifully warm day with clear skies. It was a relief to finally get a day where the temperatures were above freezing. It was even surprising to see the snow melting on the dirt roads. Again, we woke up early and got on the road to the Salvation Army where our members would be waiting for us. We tormented the members once again with a haunting game of “Bob, the weasel”, the members would agree that although the game is a lot of fun, it is still creepy to have a circle of your peers chanting “Boooob the weasel, keep it going, keep it going”. After the game we loaded the vans up for an hour ride to Prescott Farm.
It must be said, that the road to Laconia New Hampshire is absolutely breathtaking. You can see mountains, grass fields, and great farmland. The ride itself was a unique experience, it was also a opportunity to see a part of New Hampshire that the members probably wouldn’t get a chance to see otherwise.
Once we arrived to Prescott Farms we got a brief history of the area. We were told that the Prescott Family has owned parts of the property since the Revolutionary War. It was impressive how nicely preserved the area has been kept. We were guided on a hike to the maple sugar shack where we helped carry in firewood and shoveled some snow away from the trails. We then took a break and went back to the main office where we ate our lunch. We got to enjoy our lunch on a balcony where we enjoyed the sounds of bird calls, and the warm(er) weather. We also found it to be a perfect opportunity to play ninja. Our member Even decided to lead the game. He did a great job, and I would even go far enough to say it was probably the best game of ninja ever played! We finished our lunch then got ready to put up some bluebird houses.
We gathered our power drills, grabbed a bucket full of screws, and put dozens of bluebird houses on a couple of sleds and got to work. We found it a little hard finding proper places to put most of the houses, but we worked out a system and were able to find proper places to put them. It was great seeing the members work together and safely work with the drills and hammers. After putting up the bluebird’s new homes, we had enough free time to go sledding and geocaching.
Once we were exhausted we called it a day and got back the vans. The ride back was as great as the ride to Prescott Farm. We went over all of our Roses, Buds, and Thorns and found out that most of the members were excited about our upcoming overnight event. We congratulated everyone on their hard work and emphasized that without them it could have taken weeks for the facility to accomplish that much work. Rewarding work, great games, and great company, that’s what our program is about.
