saturday, july 20, 2013 …thesheridanpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130720...carved wooden...

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SATURDAY, JULY 20, 2013 www.thesheridanpress.com THE SHERIDAN PRESS C1 Silk flower care S ilk flowers aren’t really a substitute for the real thing. They’re just another decorative item for the home, like a flowered fabric or a pillow. Here are a few tips concerning the care of faux flowers. • Know your enemies. Most silk flowers are made not of silk but of synthetic fabrics with two principal foes; harsh sunlight and dust. Keep your flowers from fading by placing them away from sunny windows. Remove household dust regu- larly with a duster or with a hair dryer set on cool. • Consider life span. Artificial flowers do have one. One of the best things about silk flowers is that they don’t die. And, one of the worst things about silk flowers is that they don’t die. Five to 10 years, depending on the set- ting, is a good length of service. • Avoid boredom. Change bouquets several times a year or seasonally. Either rearrange the flowers or move the arrangement to another room. • No straight lines. You should bend each stem to help give it a more natural appearance. FYI Twining vines typically twist clockwise or counter clockwise; most varieties twist one way or the other not both. Block printing I have a collection of carved wooden block stamps. I suspect they are from India. Each is hand carved with a simple large design although a few are more intricate with a complex design or two or more designs in one. I’ve used a few from time to time to bring some life to plain paper bags when working on a project. You can use an ordinary computer mouse pad to make your own block stamps. The high density of the rubber can be cut easily and any subtle veining or configura- tion can be added. A little pattern around a window or door can be done in under an hour. Not your gramdma’s oilcloth I saw a cute idea the other day. Lunch bags made from oilcloth. They are reusable and cut back on waste since they can be washed with a damp sponge (oilcloth is not washing-machine safe). Use a single pattern for the whole bag, or cut out complementa- ry patterns or solid colors for side panels. Use a small vel- cro tab to hold the bags closed, or clip the tops with colorful wooden clothespins. Cut the main piece 29.5-inch- es-by-8-inches, and two side panels, each 12.25-inches-by- 5-inches. Fold the long panel into a ‘u’ shape with a 5-inch bottom. Sew-in side panels. Rake Tool Rack Put and old, rusted rake head to use as a rack for gar- den tools. Hang trowels, weeders, hoes, and shears from the tines with leather cord. Susan Woody has been a home and garden writer for more than 20 years and is an advanced Master Gardener. Playing house at home A playhouse provides a safe place for ‘kids to be kids,’ unplug BY MARY G. PEPITONE UNIVERSAL UCLICK A Victorian mini-mansion or a wee Cape Cod cottage can have "back" street appeal, which requires an invitation from the children of the house to visit. A playhouse is a place for "kids to be kids," says Dan Schlabach, owner of Little Cottage Co., based in Berlin, Ohio. "A playhouse gives children a chance to escape and also to practice adult roles without TVs or other electronics," he says. "Kids can unplug in a playhouse." Schlabach started his company in 2000, after designing Sara's Victorian Mansion to com- memorate the birth of his daughter. Since then, he's sold assembled and shipped con- struction kits for playhouses internationally. "Grandparents and parents alike want play- houses for children to be able to make memo- ries," he says. "We've found that the optimal ages for children to enjoy the playhouse are between 3 and 13 years old, and that time in a child's life goes all too fast." If you want to set up a home-away-from-home in your backyard for children, there are a num- ber of things to do before breaking ground on a bitty building. Schlabach says involving family members in the playhouse design helps to make it a little extension of the big house. "People may try to have the architecture of the playhouse emulate that of the family's home, such as building a small playhouse cot- tage that looks like the big house," he says. "But we find that people -- instead of trying to match architectural styles -- are more inclined to match paint colors and roofing materials instead." The location for the playhouse should be a relatively dry, partly sunny spot, built on slightly elevated ground, where rainwater does not collect. Often, playhouses are built on a crushed rock surface or a poured concrete pad. Most playhouses are constructed in a home's backyard -- partly for privacy -- but sometimes, because a city or homeowner's association pro- hibits "accessory buildings" in the front yard. "What we find is that playhouses are often exempt from local accessory building codes, which usually includes storage sheds," Schlabach says. "But the point is to check with local municipalities for building codes regard- ing playhouses before the little home-raising begins." To create a grand child (or grandchild) get- away, have a playhouse plan that includes the itty-bitty blueprint, detailed and drawn up by consulting woodworking books or Internet sites. There are also companies like Schlabach's, which will construct the playhouse of your dreams or ship construction kits that have pre- cut boards and predrilled holes, and come with easy-to-follow directions for relatively easy assembly. "Part of the whole allure of building a play- house is that it usually brings generations of family together," Schlabach says. "Parents -- sometimes grandparents -- and children all get excited when the vision of having a playhouse starts to become a reality." Playhouse guidelines to make a safe and special place for childhood memories can include: — Creating a traditional-style playhouse that can appeal to both girls and boys. — Using naturally rot-resistant lumber, such as cypress boards, and exterior-grade plywood for the structure, with hidden galvanized screws to avoid protruding points. — Sanding all square corners inside, creat- ing air vents near the roof for ventilation and using shatter-proof materials for windows — such as Plexiglas — all help to make a play- house comfortable and one that inhabits a dan- ger-free zone. After a playhouse in constructed, it's time for the children to help transform it into a home with personal touches, both inside and out. Consider painting or staining the house using water-based products. Children can become interior decorators and gardeners by making curtains, filling flowerboxes or plant- ing a small vegetable garden to tend. And while child-sized furniture can be pur- chased, sawed tree stumps can serve as a rus- tic table and chairs. Interior wall decorations can include gluing mosaic tiles onto wooden planks or encouraging children to create a memory wall by creating a collage using pic- tures or magazine clippings, then coating it with polyurethane. Sweetly landscaping with flowering dwarf trees, herb gardens, and wildflowers and perennials such as hollyhocks, Shasta daisies and poppies, add a finishing and fragrant touch. The charm of a playhouse is that children can create their own private, perfect world, says Schlabach. "A playhouse can become a family heirloom — one where parents build it for their children, who keep it for the next gen- eration," he says. SUSAN WOODY | COURTESY PHOTO | UNIVERSAL UCLICK This Grand Portico Mansion can be a child's home away from home. With construction kit this deluxe playhouse has 22 working windows with safety glass and screens with four stately columns on the outside with a loft and ladder inside. BY DEAN FOSDICK THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Grass isn’t always the best groundcovers for a yard: It’s thirsty at a time when water is becoming scarce; it attracts fewer pollinators; it requires expensive chemicals to maintain, and it must be disposed of if you bag as you mow. That’s why many proper- ty owners are downsizing their lawns or simply elim- inating turf grass in exchange for something more functional and less demanding. “We’re recommending ecosystem changes provid- ed by a more productive landscape, instead of a monoculture from grass,” says Susan Barton, an extension horticulturist with the University of Delaware. “A lawn should not be a default vegetation, but it should be more pur- poseful. More diverse.” She suggests four alter- natives to turf grass: land- scape beds, meadows, woods and paved, perme- able hardscapes. “All of these provide more ecologic service,” she says. “We’re talking clean water. More habitat for insects. More oxygen taken in and less carbon dioxide given off.” Barton helped get a coun- ty landscape ordinance passed a decade or so ago allowing “managed mead- ows” to replace grass in residential front yards. These no-mow areas filter water, encourage the return of native plants that provide food and cover for wildlife, and still have curb appeal. “A managed meadow isn’t simply a matter of letting your grass grow long,” she says. “It means mowing paths through it and adding edges where need- ed. If people think about it and make it look good, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be part of subur- bia.” Downsizing or replacing turf isn’t simple or cheap, but it can be done in stages. Start with your toughest-to-grow or hard- est-to-mow sections. “Use the 80-20 plan where 20 percent of your area requires 80 percent of your maintenance,” says Evelyn Hadden, a founding mem- ber of the Lawn Reform Coalition and author of “Beautiful No-Mow Yards” (Timber Press, 2012). “Hillsides are a good example,” Hadden says. “The steeper they are, the more difficult they are to mow. Replaced with the proper plants, they can moderate (water) runoff.” Other replaceable options include boulevards, drive- ways and pockets over- grown by weeds or moss. Use ecological grasses if you don’t want to eliminate turf, Penick says. “Fine fes- cue lawns grow slowly and can get by with less rain- fall and less mowing. Those are good options for people who want to fit in with their neighborhoods but don’t want to be slaves to their lawns,” she says. Or “consider ornamental grasses,” she adds, or “some of the new ground- covers (aromatic herbs, succulents, low-growing shrubs, ferns, hosta). Edibles. Larger shrubs. You can have a nice look- ing yard yet be conserva- tion-minded.” Any lawn renovation project should be regional- ly appropriate, however. “What we’re really talk- ing about is using native vegetation,” says the University of Delaware’s Barton. “Xeriscaping is a great concept for the Southwest or areas that are dry, but those kinds of plants would drown here. Rain gardens would be a better addition given the amount of moisture we’ve had recently.” Creativity by the yard: thinking beyond grass as landscaping

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SATURDAY, JULY 20, 2013 www.thesheridanpress.com THE SHERIDAN PRESS C1

Silkflower

careS

ilk flowers aren’t really asubstitute for the realthing. They’re justanother decorative item

for the home, like a floweredfabric or a pillow. Here are afew tips concerning the careof faux flowers.

• Know your enemies.Most silk flowers are made

not of silk but of syntheticfabrics with two principalfoes; harsh sunlight anddust. Keep your flowers fromfading by placing them awayfrom sunny windows.Remove household dust regu-larly with a duster or with ahair dryer set on cool.

• Consider life span.Artificial flowers do have

one. One of the best thingsabout silk flowers is that

they don’tdie. And,one of theworstthingsabout silkflowers isthat theydon’t die.Five to 10years,dependingon the set-ting, is agood length

of service.• Avoid boredom.Change bouquets several

times a year or seasonally.Either rearrange the flowersor move the arrangement toanother room.

• No straight lines.You should bend each stem

to help give it a more naturalappearance.

FYI Twining vines typically

twist clockwise or counterclockwise; most varietiestwist one way or the othernot both.

Block printingI have a collection of

carved wooden block stamps.I suspect they are from India.Each is hand carved with asimple large design althougha few are more intricate witha complex design or two ormore designs in one. I’veused a few from time to timeto bring some life to plainpaper bags when working ona project.

You can use an ordinarycomputer mouse pad to makeyour own block stamps. Thehigh density of the rubbercan be cut easily and anysubtle veining or configura-tion can be added. A littlepattern around a window ordoor can be done in under anhour.

Not your gramdma’s oilclothI saw a cute idea the other

day. Lunch bags made fromoilcloth. They are reusableand cut back on waste sincethey can be washed with adamp sponge (oilcloth is notwashing-machine safe). Use asingle pattern for the wholebag, or cut out complementa-ry patterns or solid colors forside panels. Use a small vel-cro tab to hold the bagsclosed, or clip the tops withcolorful wooden clothespins.Cut the main piece 29.5-inch-es-by-8-inches, and two sidepanels, each 12.25-inches-by-5-inches. Fold the long panelinto a ‘u’ shape with a 5-inchbottom. Sew-in side panels.

Rake Tool RackPut and old, rusted rake

head to use as a rack for gar-den tools. Hang trowels,weeders, hoes, and shearsfrom the tines with leathercord.

Susan Woody has been a home and gardenwriter for more than 20 years and is an advancedMaster Gardener.

Playing house at homeA playhouse provides a safe place for ‘kids to be kids,’ unplug

BY MARY G. PEPITONEUNIVERSAL UCLICK

A Victorian mini-mansion or a wee Cape Codcottage can have "back" street appeal, whichrequires an invitation from the children of thehouse to visit.

A playhouse is a place for "kids to be kids,"says Dan Schlabach, owner of Little CottageCo., based in Berlin, Ohio. "A playhouse giveschildren a chance to escape and also to practiceadult roles without TVs or other electronics,"he says. "Kids can unplug in a playhouse."

Schlabach started his company in 2000, afterdesigning Sara's Victorian Mansion to com-memorate the birth of his daughter. Sincethen, he's sold assembled and shipped con-struction kits for playhouses internationally."Grandparents and parents alike want play-houses for children to be able to make memo-ries," he says. "We've found that the optimalages for children to enjoy the playhouse arebetween 3 and 13 years old, and that time in achild's life goes all too fast."

If you want to set up a home-away-from-homein your backyard for children, there are a num-ber of things to do before breaking ground on abitty building. Schlabach says involving familymembers in the playhouse design helps tomake it a little extension of the big house.

"People may try to have the architecture ofthe playhouse emulate that of the family'shome, such as building a small playhouse cot-tage that looks like the big house," he says."But we find that people -- instead of trying tomatch architectural styles -- are more inclinedto match paint colors and roofing materialsinstead."

The location for the playhouse should be arelatively dry, partly sunny spot, built onslightly elevated ground, where rainwater doesnot collect. Often, playhouses are built on acrushed rock surface or a poured concrete pad.

Most playhouses are constructed in a home'sbackyard -- partly for privacy -- but sometimes,because a city or homeowner's association pro-hibits "accessory buildings" in the front yard.

"What we find is that playhouses are oftenexempt from local accessory building codes,which usually includes storage sheds,"Schlabach says. "But the point is to check withlocal municipalities for building codes regard-ing playhouses before the little home-raisingbegins."

To create a grand child (or grandchild) get-away, have a playhouse plan that includes theitty-bitty blueprint, detailed and drawn up byconsulting woodworking books or Internetsites.

There are also companies like Schlabach's,which will construct the playhouse of yourdreams or ship construction kits that have pre-cut boards and predrilled holes, and come witheasy-to-follow directions for relatively easyassembly.

"Part of the whole allure of building a play-house is that it usually brings generations offamily together," Schlabach says. "Parents --sometimes grandparents -- and children all getexcited when the vision of having a playhousestarts to become a reality."

Playhouse guidelines to make a safe andspecial place for childhood memories caninclude:

— Creating a traditional-style playhouse that

can appeal to both girls and boys. — Using naturally rot-resistant lumber, such

as cypress boards, and exterior-grade plywoodfor the structure, with hidden galvanizedscrews to avoid protruding points.

— Sanding all square corners inside, creat-ing air vents near the roof for ventilation andusing shatter-proof materials for windows —such as Plexiglas — all help to make a play-house comfortable and one that inhabits a dan-ger-free zone.

After a playhouse in constructed, it's time forthe children to help transform it into a homewith personal touches, both inside and out.

Consider painting or staining the houseusing water-based products. Children canbecome interior decorators and gardeners bymaking curtains, filling flowerboxes or plant-ing a small vegetable garden to tend.

And while child-sized furniture can be pur-chased, sawed tree stumps can serve as a rus-tic table and chairs. Interior wall decorationscan include gluing mosaic tiles onto woodenplanks or encouraging children to create amemory wall by creating a collage using pic-tures or magazine clippings, then coating itwith polyurethane.

Sweetly landscaping with flowering dwarftrees, herb gardens, and wildflowers andperennials such as hollyhocks, Shasta daisiesand poppies, add a finishing and fragranttouch.

The charm of a playhouse is that childrencan create their own private, perfect world,says Schlabach. "A playhouse can become afamily heirloom — one where parents build itfor their children, who keep it for the next gen-eration," he says.

SUSANWOODY| COURTESY PHOTO | UNIVERSAL UCLICK

This Grand Portico Mansion can be a child's home away from home. With construction kit this deluxe playhouse has 22 working windows with safety glass and screens withfour stately columns on the outside with a loft and ladder inside.

BY DEAN FOSDICKTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Grass isn’t always thebest groundcovers for ayard: It’s thirsty at a timewhen water is becomingscarce; it attracts fewerpollinators; it requiresexpensive chemicals tomaintain, and it must bedisposed of if you bag asyou mow.

That’s why many proper-ty owners are downsizingtheir lawns or simply elim-inating turf grass inexchange for somethingmore functional and lessdemanding.

“We’re recommendingecosystem changes provid-ed by a more productivelandscape, instead of amonoculture from grass,”says Susan Barton, an

extension horticulturistwith the University ofDelaware. “A lawn shouldnot be a default vegetation,but it should be more pur-poseful. More diverse.”

She suggests four alter-natives to turf grass: land-scape beds, meadows,woods and paved, perme-able hardscapes.

“All of these providemore ecologic service,” shesays. “We’re talking cleanwater. More habitat forinsects. More oxygen takenin and less carbon dioxidegiven off.”

Barton helped get a coun-ty landscape ordinancepassed a decade or so agoallowing “managed mead-ows” to replace grass inresidential front yards.These no-mow areas filterwater, encourage the

return of native plants thatprovide food and cover forwildlife, and still have curbappeal.

“A managed meadow isn’tsimply a matter of lettingyour grass grow long,” shesays. “It means mowingpaths through it andadding edges where need-ed. If people think about itand make it look good,there’s no reason why itshouldn’t be part of subur-bia.”

Downsizing or replacingturf isn’t simple or cheap,but it can be done instages. Start with yourtoughest-to-grow or hard-est-to-mow sections.

“Use the 80-20 plan where20 percent of your arearequires 80 percent of yourmaintenance,” says EvelynHadden, a founding mem-

ber of the Lawn ReformCoalition and author of“Beautiful No-Mow Yards”(Timber Press, 2012).

“Hillsides are a goodexample,” Hadden says.“The steeper they are, themore difficult they are tomow. Replaced with theproper plants, they canmoderate (water) runoff.”

Other replaceable optionsinclude boulevards, drive-ways and pockets over-grown by weeds or moss.

Use ecological grasses ifyou don’t want to eliminateturf, Penick says. “Fine fes-cue lawns grow slowly andcan get by with less rain-fall and less mowing.Those are good options forpeople who want to fit inwith their neighborhoodsbut don’t want to be slavesto their lawns,” she says.

Or “consider ornamentalgrasses,” she adds, or“some of the new ground-covers (aromatic herbs,succulents, low-growingshrubs, ferns, hosta).Edibles. Larger shrubs.You can have a nice look-ing yard yet be conserva-tion-minded.”

Any lawn renovationproject should be regional-ly appropriate, however.

“What we’re really talk-ing about is using nativevegetation,” says theUniversity of Delaware’sBarton. “Xeriscaping is agreat concept for theSouthwest or areas that aredry, but those kinds ofplants would drown here.Rain gardens would be abetter addition given theamount of moisture we’vehad recently.”

Creativity by the yard: thinking beyond grass as landscaping

Sometimes I don’t like me. I get kind ofwhiney. Well, OK, I get a lot whiney.Then I want to leave me and go toMexico. But I know that I would be

taking me with me and somehow “me”would find something to whine about inMexico too.

I wonder who this person is I call meand why I can’t leave her in Mexico. So Iread a line from my favorite poem by ananonymous poet that I read 20 years agoor so: “It is rewarding to find someonewhom you like, but it is essential to likeyourself.”

I might need to listen to this since “me” found her wayback from Mexico.

Then I remember that I have that other me inside of mewho is rather critical. She makes me want to eat chocolate— lots of chocolate. But then I just criticize me about eat-ing chocolate for breakfast (and lunch and dinner). Whatis there to do about me? I go to the next line of my favorite

poem, “It is quickening torecognize that someone is agood and decent being —But it is indispensable toview yourself as accept-able.” Could it be that I amwrong about, well, aboutme?

I continue with the thirdline in this poem, “It is adelight to discover peoplewho are worthy of respect,admiration and love but it isvital to believe yourself

deserving of these things.” I wonder what would happen ifI entertained the thought that I was worthy. Would I haveto give up that shoe fetish I have going on? Lots of shoesare the meaning of happiness aren’t they? I think that itwas me who just thought that.

I read the next line of my poem, “For you cannot findyourself in someone else.” Well that is just plain scary. Iknow me pretty well and let’s just say the grass looksmuch greener anywhere but here — with me. Never mindthat others often let me down and they seem to frown onthose 3 a.m. phone calls. And let’s face it, they don’t reallyunderstand — me.

With caution I read the next line of the poem (as I do nothave any money right now to go to Mexico or to buy a newpair of shoes). It says, “Of all the people you will know ina lifetime, you are the only one you will never leave orlose.” I know this is true because I have made several tripsto Mexico to try and lose me and my me is still here. I’vealso tried to drown out parts of me in many interestingways and it turns out I am a pretty good swimmer!

The last stanza states, “To the question of your life, youare the only answer — to the problem of your life, you arethe only solution.”

So now I get it. This me inside me is not going anywhere.But if I quit running, I do worry that this me will whineme to death. I suppose it is time to find out as all theseother solutions have not worked for — me. Besides, theseshoes are hurting my feet, chocolate gives me a headacheand that Mexican beer just isn’t all that good.

KELLY WHITE is a licensed professional counselor in private practice in Sheridan. Although she isirrational around chocolate, she has not been to Mexico in many years and (if you don’t count her golfshoes), she only owns a few pairs of shoes. “Center Stage is written by friends of the Senior Center forthe Sheridan Community. It is a collection of insights and stories related to living well at every age.”

SENIORSC2 THE SHERIDAN PRESS www.thesheridanpress.com SATURDAY, JULY 20, 2013

BY LOIS BELLSHERIDAN SENIOR CENTER

SHERIDAN — If you pullinto the Sheridan Farmer'sCo-op in Sheridan for gas,don't be surprised whenHarold Ruzila steps to yourvehicle and asks what youwant. He is Farmer Co-op'sgas attendant. His job is tofuel your vehicle, wash yourwindshield, check the airpressure in your tires andcheck your engine's fluidlevels if you wish. You canpay from your seat and notget out of your car if youdon't want to.

Ruzila's presence at thepump is a reminder of timeswhen such service was thestandard in the UnitedStates.

“At first, about 1910, auto-mobiles got gas from thegrocery stores or local mer-cantile,” said HelenLaumann, a board memberof the Sheridan CountyMuseum. “As the number ofcars increased, there wastraffic congestion at thestore. That’s when gas serv-ice was moved to an individ-ual business.”

After the Standard Oilmonopoly broke up therewas more competition in theindustry. Filling stationsbegan to offer services suchas checking the air in yourtires, service under the hood and washingwindows. The job of the gas station atten-dant emerged.

Drivers and passengers could remainseated throughout the process. The serviceattendant would show you the oil level onyour dipstick and comment if the fluidlevel was within an acceptable range orrecommend a quart if your oil was low. Hewould put the oil in your car for you.

The driver paid the attendant who wouldwalk your payment to a cashier in the sta-tion and bring back your change. Being a

gas station attendant required specialtraining.

Service bays were added to gas stationsand offered service work such as wheelrotation and balancing, brake work andmore. The gas stations were now "full-ser-vice" stations.

During the 1960s, gas station owners triedto influence buyers to come in throughgimmicks to collect sets of glasses, flat-ware and dishes. Customers would accu-mulate proofs of purchase — such as S&Hgreen stamps — to trade in for product.

Price wars emerged between stations.The fuel crisis in the United States dur-

ing the 1970s is credited with the rise ofconvenience stores with self-serve pumpsand the demise of the full-service station.A generation of drivers accustomed to full-service learned to pump their own gas andsubsequent generations knew no other way.

“In 1933 there were 14 gas stations inSheridan,” Laumann said. “1970 was thepeak year with 33 gas stations inSheridan.”

Ruzila grew up during the cyclical

growth and subsequenttransformation of the gasstation. He spent a numberof years as a "lubricationtechnician" (as Ruzila callshimself) at HammerChevrolet before coming toFarmer's Co-op 47 years ago.

Ruzila cultivated a love ofautomobiles, a compatibleinterest to his career. Ruzilaenjoys his 1928 Ford ModelA, a 1956 Chevy, a 2012Mustang and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

"I used to drag race inGreybull in the 1960s,"Ruzila said. "I even won afew trophies. We used torace at the Hawkins andPowers airstrip (there)."Ruzila raced in a 1962Corvair.

Ruzila doesn't race anymore but he enjoys going towatch friends race at thetrack in Gillette.

"It's a young man's game,"Ruzila said.

"Sheridan used to have arace track over where theWingate Hotel is now,"Ruzila said. "They movedthe track over the hill.Racing here ended four orfive years ago. The track isstill there but it will take alot of money to get racinggoing again here inSheridan. I don't thinkthere's a market for it."

How do drivers not accus-tomed to an attendant react when Ruzilaapproaches their car?

"People are getting use to us," Ruzila said,referring to his service at the gas pump."We mostly get local people (at Farmer'sCo-op), sometimes a tourist. But mostly weget little old ladies and little old men whodon't want to pump their own gas any-more."

If you haven’t experienced full-service atthe pump, Ruzila works 11:30 a.m. to 5:30p.m. Mondays through Fridays and someSaturdays.

Maintaining a full-service gas station in a self-service world

COURTESY PHOTO | LOIS BELL

In a world where you pump your own gas at a convenience store, Harold Ruzila provides full service at the pumps of Farmer’s Co-op inSheridan. Full-service stations faded from the scene beginning in the 1970s.

Did you know thatthere are two states

that prohibit pumpingyour own gas at the

pump?

It is against the law to fuelyour own vehicle in New

Jersey and Oregon. Driverswho do so in those twostates can be subject to

fines.

KELLY WHITE|

The trouble with ‘me’ and finding ‘me’ acceptable

• HF Ranch tour and lunch, Tuesday, July 23. Guided tourwith a handicap accessible dining room. Lunch and trans-portation for a suggested contribution of $20 per person;lunch only is $10 per person. Register at the SheridanSenior Center by calling 672-2240 or the Tongue RiverValley Community Center at 655-6419 by July 18.

• Scenic mountain drive through Shell Creek with a pic-nic at Ranger Creek picnic ground, Thursday, Aug. 1.Suggested contribution per person is $15. Register at theSheridan Senior Center by calling 672-2240 or the Tongue

River Valley Community Center at 655-6419 by July 26.

• Fort Phil Kearney tour and lunch with the Story LunchBunch, Thursday, Aug. 20. Tour includes the interpretativecenter and a guided tour of the fort grounds. Suggestedcontribution for lunch and bus is $8.50 per person.Register at the Sheridan Senior Center by Aug. 16.

• Home delivered meals volunteers needed for Sundays.Contact Nancy McKenzie, Director of Volunteer Servicesat the Senior Center at 672-2240.

HAPPENINGS FOR SENIORS |

Miss an article in The Sheridan Press?Find it online thesheridanpress.com.

www.thesheridanpress.com

online

Sunday — Roast beef with gravy, rosemary red potatoes, greenbeans with tomatoes, orange wedges, cinnamon coffee cakeMonday — Boneless pork chop with mushroom gravy, garlicmashed potatoes, California vegetables, lemon poppy seedmuffin, tropical fruit saladTuesday — Chicken florentine, mixed grain pilaf, butteredbeets, carrot raisin pineapple salad, strawberry shortcakeWednesday — Meatloaf with gravy, mashed potatoes, brusselspouts, creamy cole slaw, fruit parfaitThursday — Baked breaded fish, roasted root vegetables,zuchinni salad, peaches in orange sauce, chocolate marshmal-low squareFriday — Baked steak teriyaki with egg noodles, stir fry veg-etables, Asian salad, blueberry plum crispSaturday — Jean’s white bean soup, cucumber sandwich,strawberry spinach salad, creamy fruit bowl, apple pie crumbbar

YOUTHSATURDAY, JULY 20, 2013 www.thesheridanpress.com THE SHERIDAN PRESS C3

BY CHRISTINA SCHMIDTTHE SHERIDAN PRESS

SHERIDAN — Ever since she was ayoung child, Sheridan High Schoolsenior Nikki Copenhaver has lovedhorses. However, for a recent journal-ism class assignment, she decided tocreate a documentary film that cap-tured other people’s love of horses,rather than her own.

“I’ve always been horse crazy,”Copenhaver said. “It always comesdown to the horses.”

For her final semester project in herbroadcast journalism class thisspring, Copenhaver created a shortdocumentary film called “For the Loveof Horses” featuring horse trainers inthe Sheridan area.

“We had to create a documentaryand it was supposed to be about 15minutes total,” she explained. “Wecould do it on anything we wanted. Atfirst I was going to do something onlocal history or something like thatbut then I turned to my dad and thenit expanded to other trainers.”

Her father, Ralph Copenhaver, is anaccomplished horseman and trainerand her initial inspiration. However,he was just the beginning. NikkiCopenhaver went on to interview andfilm several other Sheridan area horsetrainers to find out how they gotinvolved in the horse industry andwhat keeps them motivated to contin-ue.

“It shows the dedication and thatthey are passionate about what they aredoing,” Copenhaver said about the film. “Asfar as the horse industry goes, it is reallyhighlighted.”

Copenhaver not only profiled trainers andriders in the Western riding discipline, butcompetition jumping and polo as well. Beingan accomplished rider herself, she said she isfamiliar with the variety of horse sports andriding disciplines, but wanted to share thatwith others.

“I wanted people to realize the different tal-ent we have in our community with horses,not just the rodeo spectrum and riding les-sons, but across the board with the differentdisciplines,” she said. “It is horse countryaround here, but you don’t see too much of

the other disciplines, so I wanted to show atleast a little bit of the English (riding disci-pline) side.”

Copenhaver’s final version of the documen-tary comes out at 40 minutes, though she pro-vided a shortened version for her class assign-ment, for which she, of course, got an A. Thelonger, complete version has since been postedon YouTube and has been viewed more than400 times. The film contains interviews withRalph Copenhaver of Hanna Creek AcresHorse Boarding and Training Facility; PerkConnell, President of the Big Horn Polo Cluband breeder and trainer of polo ponies;George Pfieffer, who competes in reining com-petitions; and Charlie and Hilary Carrel ofColts Unlimited who compete in

hunter/jumper competitions.Copenhaver said the lengthy project

involved many hours of developing questions,setting up equipment, interviewing trainersand then editing the film. She was assisted byLauren Alden, Alexa Inchauspe and LeonSchatz of Wayward Films, who loaned herstock footage.

“I learned a lot about filmmaking and edit-ing,” Copenhaver said. “I had never done any-thing like that before I took the class. Ilearned a lot from everyone, including mydad, about what it takes to be part of thehorse industry and how much time they haveput into everything to get where they are.”

The video can be viewed atwww.youtube.com/watch?v=CzbS-bhJw6c.

COURTESY PHOTO |

Nikki Copenhaver does some basic training on her mare 'Lill.’ Copenhaver has ridden horses from a young age andnow assists her dad in training and giving riding lessons.

Class project turns into 40-minute documentary

NEW YORK (AP) — It wasa year ago this week that thesickening sound of gunfirerang out at a midnightscreening of “The DarkKnight Rises” in Aurora,Colo. The mass shootingreverberated painfully inHollywood, and how could itnot? It happened at themovies.

Five months later, the hor-rific massacre of first-graders at the Sandy HookElementary School inNewtown, Conn., launchedyet more reflection — aboutgun control, certainly, butalso about entertainmentcontent, particularly violentvideo games said to befavored by the killer.

And yet, in the year sinceAurora, seemingly little hasovertly changed in the areaof violence in entertain-ment, save the notable mus-ings of actor Jim Carrey,who tweeted misgivingsabout his latest film, “Kick-Ass 2,” after Newtown:“Now in all good conscienceI cannot support that levelof violence,” he wrote.

And some ask: If nothingchanges now, will it ever?

“My fear is that we havesuch a short attentionspan,” says Chuck Williams,a youth violence expert atDrexel University who’sespecially troubled bymovies that depict “styl-ized” violence. “And as asociety, we don’t like beingon a diet. We want to con-sume what we want, whenwe want it.”

Certainly, screen violenceis a complex issue. Studieshave not shown clear linkswith real-world violence; invideo games, which haveundergone the most scruti-ny lately, many researcherssay the evidence just isn’tthere.

There’s also the specter ofcensorship and infringe-ment on artistic freedom,something that raises hack-les instantly in the enter-tainment industry. And, ofcourse, there’s the issue ofgun control. Many inHollywood say that’s wherethe focus should be, whilethe gun lobby has suggestedviolent images in entertain-ment and games are more toblame than access to guns.

“The issue makes a lot ofpeople uncomfortable inHollywood — they don’treally want to deal with it,”says Janice Min, editor ofThe Hollywood Reportertrade publication. She notesthat after Aurora, producerHarvey Weinstein called fora summit of filmmakers todiscuss screen violence —but it never happened.

And one of Weinstein’sfavored filmmakers,Quentin Tarantino, directorof films like the bloodyWestern “DjangoUnchained,” is angered bythe mere question of a linkbetween entertainment andviolent events. “I’ve beenasked this question for 20years,” he said in a tenseexchange on NPR.

Have recentshootings

affected screenviolence?

GLEN JEAN, W.Va. (AP) — Two months after a vote that acceptedopenly gay boys as Scouts, officials for the Boy Scouts of America saythey’ve put the issue aside and are focused on their 10-day nationalJamboree.

Some 30,000 Scouts and their leaders arrived Monday at the SummitBechtel Family National Scout Reserve in southern West Virginia.Thousands more staff and volunteers have been at the 1,000-acresite since last week.

Months of divisive debate led to May’s vote by theBSA’s National Council to allow gay Scouts to partici-pate while keeping a ban on gay adults. The policychange is effective next January.

“We don’t see any changes in the way we dothings at the jamboree at all,” Wayne Brock, theBSA’s chief executive, told The AssociatedPress. “We don’t see where it would have anykind of impact.”

With much negative attention directed towardthe Boy Scouts in recent months, Brock said thehope is that the Jamboree proves to be a big,positive event.

“People are going to see kids getting together,having a great time and learning,” Brock said.“That’s what the public will see is what Scouting isreally all about.”

BSA national president Wayne Perry said Scoutingleaders have been too active to reflect much on the decision.

“We’ve debated this issue, but we’ve moved on,” Perry said.As Scouts get settled into their tents on six base camps and dive into

the dozens of amenities that include whitewater rafting, mountainand BMX biking, and rock climbing, national BSA spokesman DeronSmith said the organization is unaware of any openly gay Scoutsattending the Jamboree, noting “we do not proactively inquire aboutthe sexuality of Scouts, or leaders.”

But Pascal Tessier, 16, of Kensington, Md., an openly gay scout whoisn’t attending the Jamboree because of prior commitments, said

some of his gay friends who are Scouts are attending.“I don’t think they’re too worried about anything happening there,”

he said. “They’ve already been accepted. But they’re also not making abig deal about it. They’re regular Scouts.”

Tessier believes it’s inevitable that Scouts will discuss the BSA’sdecision at the Jamboree.

“Not officially, but by themselves,” he said.Scout officials said they’re unaware of any scheduledprotests at the Jamboree. Rich Ferraro of GLAAD, for-

merly known as the Gay and Lesbian AllianceAgainst Defamation, said the media watchdog

group has no planned events around theJamboree and is continuing work to end theScouts’ ban on gay adults.

“The Boy Scouts took an important first step,but there’s still a long way to go,” Ferraro said.

Earlier this year, GLAAD led a successfulcampaign to get two musical acts — Carly RaeJepsen and Train — to drop their plannedappearances at the summer event. Jamboree

officials have not announced the act for a July20 concert.

John Paterson and John Bode from the PikesPeak Council in Colorado Springs, Colo., helped

bring 50 Scouts to West Virginia on Monday.Paterson is at his seventh Jamboree. And it will be his

last because of the vote to allow gay Scouts and the push toinclude gay adults and others.

“It will effectively change Scouting forever. It has,” Paterson said.“And not just because of what the ramifications are. Eagle Scouts willbe in next, and then gay leaders. It’s a ripple effect. It will happen. Itmay take three years. I think it will happen pretty quickly.”

Paterson said the parents of one of his Scouts also said they’re drop-ping out of the organization over the vote.

Bode, who previous attended a Jamboree as a youth in 1977, saidhe’ll stick with the Scouts — for now.

Scouting leaders focused on Jamboree, not gay vote

C4 THE SHERIDAN PRESS www.thesheridanpress.com SATURDAY, JULY 20, 2013

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