One week of camp down, seven to go. We caught a couple of crayfish, a newt, and more millipedes today. One of the kids brought me a handmade thank you card, and another brought a Black Widow in a jar. We spent a lot of time around the ponds and down by the creek. Right now I should be preparing for next week, but instead I'm sitting here typing...

There's a little container in the visitor's center with a Brown Recluse inside, just so people can see what it looks like. They don't live in this area, but I have heard reports of people who claim to have been bitten by them. From what I've read on the subject, there are other things (types of infections, etc.) that are often misdiagnosed as Recluse bites, but there has been no conclusive proof of local Recluses. That said, the spider I picked off the porch at YSI a couple of days previously looked really similar to the little dried one in the container. It must have been a cousin...

Yesterday at the park, while I was sitting with The Dickens, a woman walked up to me and compimented her, as people often do. The Dickens loudly lectured the woman and told her to go away. That's why we call her The Dickens.

cds I listened to while pondering spiders: Stone Breath "Songs of Moonlight and Rain" and "A Silver Thread to Weave the Seasons", and Roy Harper "Born in Captivity/Work of Heart"