The car needs to have its transmission rebuilt. The van still mysteriously stalls. I noticed while I drove the latter vehicle around last night that the cooling fan stays on nearly full time. I remember reading somewhere last week that there's something called a cooling fan control module that tends to go bad with this make & year. Could this be related to the stalling? It did indeed stall a couple of times last night, by the way. Jen called the dealership today to ask questions, and they (like a website or two suggested) were rude and unhelpful. At least the people fixing my transmission are helpful, but of course they should be for the amount of money that I'll be handing over when they're done.

The last day of camp came in went in a blur. I got about three and a half hours of sleep last night due to some mishap somewhere in the middle of the long chain of events that ends with me getting newspapers to deliver. Not only were the papers late, but I had to take a lizard with me on my route. One of my co-workers thoughtfully caught a Western Fence Lizard in his yard and brought it to work in a plastic storage container which contained, in addition to the lizard, about two inches of muddy water and a bunch of uprooted weeds. The lizard was clinging to the weeds in order to escape drowning. I dumped out the water and quickly explained some of the main differences between lizards and salamanders to my co-worker.

So, anyway, camp. We let the lizard go in the garden, finished picking apart the owl pellets that were started on one of the days I was absent, and went hiking up to see the Pacific Giant Salamanders. Once there, I caught one of the smaller ones in a cup and watched it sitting there with its little, frond-like gills sticking out on either side of its neck. Then, after returning the small amphibian to the clear, cold water it called home, we hiked back and actually had time to do one of the activities we were supposed to be doing: paper mache plastic containers. For good measure, I also got out paint, glitter, and colorful feathers. Messes were made.

I got some good feedback about my work from the YSI administrators, and also from one of the park maintainence staff, who stopped to say that he appreciated what I was doing. He seemed to admire my ability to not let the chaos stress me out. I told him that I thrive on chaos. This is partially true, I think, as long as it is balanced out by healthy doses of serenity. That's the true secret of life right there: balance. Don't you forget it. Never too much of one thing. Never not enough of another.

cds I listened to while being very much later than I have been all summer, and driving a van in need of an exorcist: Elend "Winds Devouring Men", Uz Jsme Doma "Hollywood", and Vagtazo Halottkemek (Galloping Coroners) "Jumping Out the World - Inst-inct"