When I'm teaching outdoor school or leading a summer camp group, the school/camp site seems relatively small. There are miles of trails branching off from the site in all directions, many of which leave the average 5th or 6th grader gasping for breath. My office is indeed the trails and the trees. Of course, as you can see, our home office could also be classified as wilderness.

This week, however, I find my perceptions turned on their heads. I'm basically working as an assistant to the facilities manager - the guy in charge of making sure everything is working and put away properly. My main task, as I think I've mentioned already, is to make sure the symphony camp and the day camp aren't intruding on each other's territory. Easier said than done. Today there were little clusters of musicians around every corner, dragging chairs from the dining hall so they wouldn't have to sit their musical butts down on the lawn or in the dirt. Imagine, if you will, a large orchestra fractured into little sections and scattered about. Imagine the din as each little cluster of people practices different bits of music, completely independant of what other sections are practicing. After awhile I decided that they should collectively be called "cacophony camp." It actually has a nice ring to it too.

Oops. Went off on a tangent there. What I set out to say is that one's perception of distance increases when one has to carry bulky things like old TVs, rickety tables, food, and large piles of milk crates all over the place. I did some sweeping and whatnot as well. A lot of the kids who were at camp during previous weeks kept asking my why I couldn't take then down to the pond. Some of them were curious about how much I was getting paid for what they obviously perceived as an odious job. Sometimes I find it hard myself not to perceive this type of work as somehow beneath me. I think because of this it is important that I do this type of work when the opportunity presents itself. It actually can be pretty mentally, as well as physically, demanding sometimes. It definitely causes me to look at my work environment in a different way.

For instance, out behind the nature lab there are more fleas per square foot than I've ever seen before. I'm not sure if they had recently jumped ship off a dead or dying animal, or whether they were in town for the flea market, or what, but they sure liked it when stopped to contemplate all of the broken aquariums littering the area. Very itchy. I never would have known this little secret if I'd been off doing summer camp stuff.

I brought home the Bullfrog tadpoles that we caught last week too. I'm not sure what we'll end up doing with them, but the kids were pretty excited. Willow just laughed and laughed and kept grabbing my hand and pushing it into the water so she could watch all the frenzied activity as the tadpoles (and one small frog) rushed to get out of the way. Maybe I'll call the Youth Science Institute and see if they want them. The last thing we need around here is more pets.