Yesterday, I spent eight hours supervising the work crew as they cleaned the dining hall, cabins, amphitheater, staff room, and teachers' quarters. We also cleaned one of the school vans so it would look nice for a fundraising event. Not as fun as my regular job, but since it counted as overtime, well worth it. Of course, today I'm more tired than I would have been otherwise. My battery didn't get a chance to recharge.

It's sixth graders this week, coming from three different schools. I recognize some of the teachers from last year. I continued with my new Monday routine of setting the field class loose in the chaparral. We found some Fence lizards, a Black Widow, a scorpion (technically a California Common Scorpion, aka Silvestri's Scorpion), and a small insectivorous bird's skull. Oh, and the dead mole is still there from last week, although it looks like something took a bite out of it. I really like starting the week out this way because it gets the kids moving around and exploring on their own. Again, there were a few kids who elected to follow me instead of doing their own thing, but the world is made up of many different personality types, so who am I to complain?

Oh, I forgot to mention that I went with a number of my coworkers to record a bunch of the camp songs we sing to the kids every week. Not being a guitarist, I contributed vocals, tamborine, and a tiny bit of mouth harp. Other instrumentation included, guitar, banjo, mandolin, djembe, dobro, slide whistle, and various shakers. The idea is to release the recordings on cd to sell to campers. The songs themselves are mostly familiar tunes (Louie, Louie, La Bamba, etc.) with the lyrics changed to reflect the wildlife and conservation themes we teach.

It was hot today, with a few clouds gathering during the afternoon and evening. The forecast claims that things are going to cool down over the course of the week, with a slight chance of rain towards the weekend. I took a few pictures of the full moon rising over the apartment behind our place tonight. It's not great photography, but still interesting...

I started reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude last night, noticing as I did so that it was first published the year I was born. Cool.