Thursday, October 15, 2009

New Scoreboards at Exeter-Milligan School

New scorers table

New scoreboard on the south wall of the gym.

New scoreboard on the north wall of the gym.

It was time for some new scoreboards in the Exeter-Milligan High School gym at the Exeter location and they have arrived and have been placed in time for basketball season.

The scoreboards were purchased with a generous donation from a life estate gift, a donation from the E-M Foundation, a donation from the E-M Booster Club and a donation from Pepsi.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Who doesn't love a ride on a fire truck?

Exeter preschool students with their teacher, Mrs. Laura Stueben.

It's the Exeter-Milligan kindergarten class posing for a picture on top of the fire truck.

The Exeter-Milligan first grade class couldn't get over the size of the tires on the truck.

The second graders pose for a picture with the fire truck.

The Exeter Volunteer Fire Department once again sponsored fire truck rides for the Exeter Preschool, Exeter-Milligan kindergarten, first and second graders.

Each class took their turn along with their teachers touring the town on top of the departments big fire truck.

At the end of the school day the students were also presented a frisbee full of goodies courtesy of the department. Students at the Exeter-Milligan site in Milligan were given a bag full of information on fire safety as well.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Volkmer's Pumpkin Painting a success despite the weather




There were lots of bats, jack o lantern's and pumpkins Saturday morning in the shed of Bill and Terri Volkmer.

The Volkmer's hosted their Eighth annual Pumpkin Painting Party for painters of all ages despite the dusting of snow and the cold temperatures overnight.

The crowd was a little thinner because of the weather this year but with well over 100 in attendance during the morning event the shed was more than full.

Attendees are invited to pick out their paint colors and seat themselves in a spot at the low tables and benches to paint. There are plenty of patterns and samples of the Terri's talent for inspiration if needed.

The themes the kids chose ranged from actual jack o lantern's to the two and three year old special, paint swirled everywhere, to the ever popular Green Bay Packers.

The kids enjoyed popcorn while they waited for the pumpkins to dry and get clear coated.

More pictures in the slideshow on the side!!!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Local Junior Rangers



Peytan, Jordyn and Trystan Brandt are pictured from the left with their quilts displaying their National Park Junior Ranger badges and patches.

Following their latest travels the children of Roger and Dianne Brandt of Exeter have each surpassed the 100 mark in their collection of Junior Ranger Badges. The badges are earned at America's National Park Service sites. When visiting a park all you have to do is request a Junior Ranger activity book and complete the activities while learning about the park. The program is available for ages four through the teen years. Upon completion of the book, Junior Rangers are awarded a certificate and a badge or patch or sometimes both. The goal of the program is not only education, but also to encourage young people to do their part in helping to preserve and protect our national treasures.

Jordyn, age 12, has earned 118 badges, Trystan, age 10, has earned 115 badges, and Peytan, age 8, has earned 107 badges so far. They display their badges on wall quilts made by their grandmother. Not all of their badges are the same as they have all been on at least one individual trip with their parents.

Their travels have taken them all over the United States. All of the children agree that their favorite experience was the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial where they enjoyed riding to the top of the St. Louis Arch. Other highlights of their travels include: following the entire Lewis and Clark trail all the way to the ocean in Oregon, visiting forts and battlefields from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, touring ancient Native American ruins in the southwest, exploring caves, hiking and viewing wildlife in our scenic parks, and just relaxing at some of our unspoiled National Seashores.
They can't wait to see where the road takes them next as they continue to add to their collection.

Coffee/Birthday Club Celebrates 50 years



Members celebrating the 50th anniversary of their coffee group are pictured from the left front row, Tess Moor, Delores Bailey, Jean Hoffman, Loryne Moore, LaVonne Guthrie, back row from the left are Barb Heffelfinger, Suzanne Johnson and Linda McCabe.



They've watched fifty years fly by as they've talked about their pregnancies, watched their kids grow up and get married, struggled with their parents aging and now are busy with all of their grandkids and great-grandkids activities.

For fifty years a group of women in Exeter have been gathering in each other's homes for coffee and fellowship.
After fifty years the women claim to remember no big fights or arguments and they continue to meet every other month. The group always stayed close to a dozen members but the members have changed, some moving out of the area and some moving in, but three of the original members remain. The passage of fifty years has changed the conversation among the women drastically. "We used to talk about diapers, but now its Medicare," said one of the newer members, Linda McCabe.

It started all of those years ago because "we just wanted to get out of the house," according to original member Delores Bailey. The other two original members LaVonne Guthrie and Tess Moor piped in about how they "just brought our babies along and watched them play while we talked."

Other members recalled how the topics have changed from worries about their children, to concerns about their parents and now the activities of their grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The group always gets together on a gift whenever one of the kids get married and its always a serving tray, while at funerals they go together for a plant. They don't really have a set name for the group but sometimes they call themselves the birthday group because at one point they got together for everyone's birthdays. Loryne Moore recalled that "We used to each bring a card for the birthday person but we decided it would be better to give the person the dollar that we would have spent on the card and then they would let us know what they bought with the money."

The hostess served coffee and treats and they spent the afternoon watching their kids play together and visiting. There was always an olive tray on the table and in the early days of the group everyone watched the tray as it went around the table. Taking an olive was your way of announcing to everyone at once that you were pregnant. As the group explained this ritual they all laughed, proclaiming that original member Delores Bailey "got the most olives."

These Exeter women have enjoyed fifty years of coffee and have no plans to stop meeting now, although the olive tray probably doesn't have the same significance.