It's our fourth day together and there is a lot to cover about this day!

This was an extremely hard working day. Most teams had their first iteration of their projects almost complete, which is crazy as it it has only been four days! The morning started off pretty chill. After a tasty waffle breakfast hand crafted by the one and only Agent P, we watched a short movie about William Kamkwamba, the person who built an electricity generating windmill to power his village in Malawi, to give our campers a story about someone building energy generating machines like ours.

After this, we walked up to the shop to start working on our projects. The day before, Miles had built a tablesaw jig so that the potential energy team could cut out their wheels and mount them to their cart. As soon as we got up to the build site, Gever worked with the team and taught them how to use the jigs.

Pictured (left to right): Madelyn, Johnny, Savan, Morgan, and Michaela

And moments later, we had wheels!

Over at the windmill, they continued building their main structure in hopes of raising their windmill by the end of the day.

Pictured (left to right): Turtle Man, Cyrus, Yoel, Zach, and Gus

For the creek civilization team, the morning started with a group pow-wow and planning discussion about what every member of the team wanted to accomplish that day. The verdict was taking the 16 foot bridge they had built, down to the creek.

Pictured (left to right): Frannie, Laila, Isabella, William, Ben, and Micha

And after a brief kitten break...

...the work really started, right as the sun came out!

The potential energy team was trying to figure out a way to mount the axle to the frame with very low friction, so they called over the on site gear head and leather jacket owner, Max. With some consultation, they designed and built two iterations of what they called a "wheelbox." It includes two skateboard wheels on bolts that balance an axle to create extremely limited friction.

After they measured the two holes that the bolts would go through to support the wheels, some materials got their feelings hurt.

Meanwhile, over at the windmill team, they prepped their rear support for mounting once the windmill was raised up.

Pictured (left to right): Turtle Man, Caroline, Onion, and Matthew

Down at the creek, the team carried part of their bridges down to the area where they would be installed.

Pictured (left to right): Eisen, Yoel, Diego, Zach

Pictured (left to right): Tenley, Turtle Man, Isabella, Victoria, Liora, Diego, Ben, Eisen, Laila, and Cyrus

And, to end such a successful day, the windmill was in fact raised.

We then settled in for a mac and cheese dinner, and training on how to use our Opinel knives, taught by Caroline.

Last night, a mountain lion was spotted around the area where our yurts are. Luckily our staff chased it away and it did not come back, but in light of this, we have chosen to drag our mattresses out of our yurts and sleep inside the conference center tonight.And after we brought our mattresses in from the yurts to the conference center...

...we ended the night with cookies, and The Iron Giant!

Also -

after a conversation with the Elkus Ranch manager, we now know that one of the best ways to keep mountain lions away is to create a perimeter... out of human urine.

So -

some of our wonderful campers have volunteered to create said perimeter, and have dubbed themselves "The Pee Squad." Hence the title of this blog entry. You're welcome :)

Anyway, back to today.

This was a super fun day, even though we're all sleeping in the same room tonight...

Stay tuned for another day of tinkering, engineering challenges, and fun desserts. Goodnight for now.

Session E - Day 4 - Wake Me Up! Before You Go Pee