Big Boy offers practice course for new drivers
After months of searching, Advantage Drivers Testing has found a location for a practice course. As many of you know, the State of Michigan will not allow them to let you to practice on the test course.
Recently the Hunt family and Big Boy of St. Johns graciously donated the use of a portion of their parking lot for a practice course. A huge thank you to them for this generous donation.
They set up the course and it is now available for you to use. Please help show your appreciation by supporting Big Boy of St. Johns and stop in for a meal and or one of their delicious desserts.
IQhub kicks off Camp Invention
The IQhub has kicked off their three-day Camp Invention summer camp with the help of Farm Guy, aka AgroLiquid’s Jason Crowell.
Camp Invention is a STEM program for grades 2-5 that turns curious kids into innovative thinkers through hands-on activities. There are over 1,000 Camp Inventions offered throughout the US.
Help The Voice for Clinton County’s Children celebrate 10 years
Honor a community member as Shooting Star for Children & Youth and help The Voice for Clinton County’s Children raise $10,000 to celebrate 10 Years!
For a donation to The Voice for Clinton County’s Children, you can recognize a Shooting Star for Children & Youth. Teachers, coaches, neighbor, family member, friend, professional, groups, open to all ages with endless possibilities.
Go to their website and submit your recognition and donation. Shooting Stars will receive a certificate with why they were recognized and their recognition will be shared on social media.
Visit the website VoiceForClintonCountyChildren.org and help them recognize Shooting Stars for Children & Youth.
Students learn STEM Skills during Laingsburg Robotics LEGO® Summer Camp
“Woah, that was cool!” was a frequent comment heard during a four-day summer camp hosted by Laingsburg’s Wolfpack Robotics July 10-13, 2023. Campers in three different age groups experienced the engineering design process by building a basic LEGO® model, coding the model to create movement and then letting their creativity run free as they improved upon, or in many cases, redesigned their base model.
Holly Cragg, a kindergarten student at Laingsburg Early Childhood Education Center, had an “awesome time”. Since summer camp, she and her parents, Kaye and Randy, have been on a LEGO building spree in preparation to continue with F.I.R.S.T. LEGO League this fall.
A team of rising second grade students transformed their ferris wheel by rotating their wheel so it would operate more like the Gravitron than a ferris wheel. During the grades 3-5 camp, teams had the creative freedom to build a design completely from their own mind and add coding elements. One group built a carnival game that included a motorized baseball bat, which hit a small object toward a series of spheres on a shelf. A second team built a Disco Dance Party in which their dance floor spun with disco lights. Several other teams chose to build vehicles that, with students coding, were self-driving.
When asked what the campers loved the most, one third grade student shared, “I really liked being able to be creative. It also made my brain hurt, which meant I was using it!”
At the fourth through sixth-grade level students built a robot which they learned how to program so that it would drive autonomously while completing a series of tasks. Campers used LEGO SPIKE kits which included all the necessary building pieces, motors, sensors and lights. These kits are used during the fall season for Wolfpack Robotics’ FIRST LEGO League Explore learning teams and Challenge competition teams. Tablets for each kit were purchased with funds graciously granted by Laingsburg Educational Advancement Foundation (LEAF) and several kits were purchased with a generous donation provided by Laingsburg Lions Club. Students can continue learning STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Math skills during the school year using these programmable LEGO kits.
Parents were equally pleased with Wolfpack Robotics’ inaugural attempt at running a summer camp for youth.
Gretchen Highfield, Laingsburg resident and parent said, “I thought it was a very well-organized camp, just the right amount of time with plenty of help and supervision for the kids. This summer camp gave my child the opportunity to do something more than just build with LEGOs.”
Remember When – 1959 aerial view of St. Johns
Phil Bair says, “This was a picture Dad, Carl, took from my brother Bill’s airplane. They are St. Johns in 1959. If you look close, you can see Rodney B. Wilson High School and the Court House, and from there you can find your way around.
“If you only knew what brother Bill did to get that plane up to St. Johns.
He was stationed at Panama City Fla.; and learning to fly it, he flipped it and that actually bent the air frame! Of course he didn’t mention that when he was giving everyone rides.
“He straightened it by tying the tail to a sturdy pole and pulling on it with a car while using a mallet to straighten the frame. When he got up to Michigan, he circled the house and dropped a note tied to a rock out the window to let us know where he was going to land. He had to change his plans. He got some farmer to let him use his field. We lived in rural St. Johns. I was lucky. Not every kid gets to ride in his brothers airplane! Dad and I thought it would really be great for scouting for deer.”
Maralyn’s Pet Corner – Why Do Cats Knead?
courtesy of Dr. Wailani Sung, MS, PhD, DVM, DACVB
At some point you’ve probably caught your cat kneading—rhythmically pushing their paws in and out against a soft object, which could be a blanket or even your lap. It’s also referred to as “making biscuits” because the action is like kneading dough.
While not all cats knead, it’s a common behavior for young and adult felines alike. Some cats knead and purr contentedly when they’re being petted, but they may also seem to do it for no clear reason. Cats even have their own techniques—some never use their claws when they knead, and some use all four paws.
There are a few different ideas out there as to why cats “make biscuits.”
Here are some of the more popular theories for why cats knead their owners and certain objects.
Why Cats Knead Blankets and Other Soft Objects
Cats start to knead as kittens while nursing from their mother. A nursing kitten instinctually kneads to help stimulate the mother’s milk production. But why do they continue to knead past nursing age?
You might find your cat kneading blankets, stuffed animals, or other soft objects around the house. Even though kneading a soft surface doesn’t yield milk, adult cats forever associate the motion of kneading with the rewarding comfort of nursing.
Why Cats Knead Their Owners
What if your cat likes to knead people—namely, you? If your cat is curled up and kneading your lap while you’re petting him, he’s returning the affection and telling you he loves you right back.
Unfortunately, this can be quite painful, since the happier he is, the harder he’ll dig in with his sharp nails. Never punish your cat for this behavior—he doesn’t realize it hurts.
Try placing a thick, soft barrier between your cat and your lap. To better ensure the comfort of both you and your cat, make a habit of keeping your cat’s nails trimmed with nail clippers, or invest in nail guards to cover your cat’s nails.
Kneading to Stretch Their Muscles
Cats are natural yoga masters and love to work out all the kinks left over from napping. Think about it—if you have sore shoulders, it feels good to grab onto a surface and pull against it. Kneading their paws is one of the many ways cats keep themselves limber until the next nap.
Kneading to Mark What’s Theirs
Cats are territorial creatures, and one of the ways they safeguard their turf is to scent-mark their belongings. By kneading their paws on the surface of something (yes, including you), they’re activating the scent glands in their soft paw pads, thereby marking that item as theirs.
Kneading for Possible Mates
Female cats have an additional reason for kneading. They may purr, stretch, and knead the air while lying on their side to tell male cats that they can approach for possible mating.
However, if they are immediately ready to mate, they will not knead their paws and will instead raise their pelvis with the tail to one side.
While these are some of the more popular theories for why cats are thought to knead, it certainly doesn’t provide all of the possible reasons.
Whether your cat is making biscuits to show you affection or to claim you as their own, kneading is a natural, instinctual and common cat behavior.