The kids in my field class are upset that the week is almost over. I don't blame them. Next week they're going to be back in regular school. Today they were walking by themselves (along a trail marked by me) and experiencing the solitude of the wilderness. As they ended their solo treks, I had each of them in turn roll the sheep knuckle bone dice. I then interpreted their rolls and told them their fortunes (yes, it was relevant to the class - it's similar to games the Ohlone Indians played, using simple objects from their immediate environment). The least well behaved kid's roll was interpreted as "your thoughts and ideas are bad." Maybe these dice really work. I soft-pedaled the "bad" fortunes of course. There are ways to make bad fortunes seem good. It's all in how you look at them.

The girl who was feeling sick was back in class today. Her mother came up to the camp and brought her some medicine. Yay!

On every hike I take, I look under at least a few logs and bits of bark for small, interesting creatures. Today I found two things of interest. the first was a mother Tarantula and her egg sac (see below), and the second was a pair of sunglasses. I'm not really sure why sunglasses were under a log, but what the hell - free sunglasses! I always get sunglasses for free. I either find them or people give them to me. With this in mind, it's not really too surprising that I'd find a pair under a log in the woods.




For once I refrained from picking it up, because I didn't want to disturb her more than I already had. This type of Tarantula tends to be a bit grouchy anyway. The absence of urticating hairs on their abdomens means that their first line of defense is to rear up on their hind legs and wave their fangs at you. They don't actually bite - at least I don't think they do. I was holding one once when it went into defensive mode (due to kids crowding around to look more closely) and it went so far as to lunge at the palm of my hand. The fangs never went in though. It was all bluff.
Note also the insect wings scattered all around it. I think they're from termites, but I could be wrong. I'll have to look into it.