This week, like last week, started off with mostly blue skies. Once again, I'm remembering twenty plus names as a new week of camp gets underway. My field group contains the usual assortment of personality types - smart kids, quiet kids, excited kids, and everything else in between. There is one little girl who has arthritis in her hips and knees and has trouble walking. She doesn't complain though. It's interesting that the kids who have the biggest obstacles to overcome are almost always the most mature. Not too surprising though. True maturity is often gained at a price.

I worked the evening program tonight with a co-worker who is sick with the same bug that I had the week before last. I'm glad it's the same one because that means I won't catch it. That said, my throat feels a little scratchy today. This could be due to allergies though, because otherwise I feel fine.

Oh, I believe I forgot to mention Willow's birthday party. We had most of her nearby relatives over for a wonderful chocolate cake, blondies (like brownies, except blonde so they matched Willow's hair), and butterscotch cookie bars, all baked by Jen. Willow opened her presents with glee and then threw them at us. She seemed happiest about the rubber ducks, but has been playing with the other stuff too. Her loot included lots of nice clothes for her to wear as well.

I'm still reeling with wonder at the fact that she's two already. The next time I turn around she'll be a teenager. I want this stage to last longer. She's just too damn cute. She now says "you're welcome" when you thank her for something. How very polite.

A storm of uncertain duration is moving through the area at the moment. The forecast in the paper calls for rain for the next several days at least. It's sure to be a wet and muddy week at work.

At the moment I'm itching from the first case of Poison Oak I've had in 20 years or so. Hopefully I won't transfer it to Jen or the kids. I'm not even sure when I got it. Must have touched a plant without knowing it. Since they're deciduous, it's a little harder to spot them during the winter months.

I did one party this weekend, and managed to get rear ended on the way there. I was stopped at a light, as was the person behind me, when some dunderhead in an SUV (of course) failed to see that we were stopped and hit the person behind me with enough force to cause her car to hit mine. There was no damage to my car (well, the rearview mirror fell of, but it falls off if you look at it funny), but the other two vehicles were banged up a bit. We all exchanged information and then I rushed off to the party to find out that they already knew I'd be late because a party guest had passed the scene and witnessed me standing there in my official party labcoat. So no harm done (to me, anyway). I got a 25 dollar tip too.

Last night, M and I went up to Berkeley to see Enemy Combatant, the new Central Works play. This time the inspiration comes from John Walker Lindh and the atrocities at Abu Gharaib (sp?). Very nicely acted, with wonderful sound design by G. Playing at the Berkeley City Club through march 26 (thurs - sun).

Okay, time to go wrangle children.

It was grey and cool all day today. We went up to Lake Ranch reservoir to eat lunch and play some educational games. I took some pictures.




These young Bullfrogs were hiding under a log at the edge of the water. It's strange that a species originally introduced to California because people liked eating their legs is now so abundant. Let that be a warning.




Here's a Pacific Tree frog mistaking the sleeve of a sweatjacket for a burrow.




Beyond the reservoir is a shady, moist area populated by amphibians and slugs. Fungi were also present in glorious abundance. Not a good place to play games though, so we left to seek out firmer ground.

Willow turns two tomorrow! Hurrah!

The day passed uneventfully, with everything going according to plan. Being a four day camp week, I have to cram five days worth of instruction into a smaller amount of camp time, so I shortened some lessons and changed things around a bit. We still managed to visit with the little tarantula who lives down near the Nature Lab though. He obediently sat on my hand while the kids all whipped out their cameras. Inside the Nature Lab itself, I discovered that one of the boys was so scared of snakes that he wouldn't even look at the lab's resident Gopher Snake. I didn't force the issue. People don't easily give up their phobias.

I almost forgot about a funny little "kid blooper" that happened yesterday: One of the kids was defining a term, possibly "decomposer" or something like that, using the word "organism", except that he left out a syllable. Yep. That one. None of the other kids noticed, but a science teacher from one of the schools was along on the hike and she definitely got a chuckle out of it.

The night hike tonight was rain free, but very bright. The moon, even though it is near full, was nowhere to be seen due to the omnipresent cloud blanket, but reflected city light washed away much of the darkness. I always make sure to talk about the city lights, and about why people feel compelled to leave so many lights on all night. It ties right into one of the subjects we cover at the beginning of every night hike. Of course I'm talking about fear. People in the cities are afraid of burglers and other even more nefarious criminal types sneaking into darkened buildings, while kids up at camp are usually afraid of something they saw in a movie, and imagine this thing sneaking around in the darkened forest. Fear is an important survival tool, but it seems that we do indeed live in a fearful society. People are more afraid than they need to be. Maybe.

Or maybe they're not afraid enough. Or maybe they fear the wrong things.

Who knows?

I went back to work today. It was warmer and sunnier than it was supposed to be, which is okay. Kind of nice, actually. I love the rain, but I love the times in between rain as well. There's still a lot of fungus growth and amphibian activity inspired by recent rains. The ground has soaked up a lot of water this season. We're still not allowed to go down one trail due to it being in an active slide area, where a couple of decades ago a big chunk of mountainside came down, wiping out a section of trail and tons of trees. It wouldn't be good if something like that happened while we were hiking by.

One of the kids this week insists on being called Guano. Nothing I can really add to that.

In a few days, Willow turns two! There will be cake and presents and celebrating.

I'm pretty tired, probably the aftereffect of being ill. I'll sleep soon.

I've been hanging out in Italy for most of the week, with occasional side trips to England, France, and *gasp* Los Angeles. I've learned some interesting things about the art world, although more about people who sell and steal works of art than about people who create them. There have also been murders. Lots of them. Some of them quite nasty. In the end, things generally work out quite well though. "Well", in this case, meaning "satisfyingly."

Too bad I've only got one more book to read in this series (by Iain Pears, and called "art history mysteries", probably by the publishers, who I imagine feel the need to over-categorize things much more than authors do). Still, this has been the most amount of guilt-free reading time I've had since I was a teenager, I think. I've been too sick to do much else.

Today I feel pretty well, although there's still some sinus pressure, complete with headaches. Last night I managed to hack up some blood, which alarmed me a bit. It may be due to having a bit of fluid in my lungs from laying on my back for so long while post-nasal drip flowed freely down into the caverns of my body. It may be due to a throat raw from coughing. Who knows? The human body is a mysterious thing.

Finally rejoining the real world, I went out late this afternoon and performed at a birthday party for a nine year old girl. This time I was armed with a tesla coil and an ethanol burner so I could zap things and burn chemicals. A couple of times I managed to zap myself right through the glove I was wearing, producing a bit of a rush. Similar to adrenaline, really.

I had originally planned to bring along my last remaining scorpion so I could make it glow under a black light bulb powered by the tesla coil, but when I went and checked on the scorpion last night I discovered that the term "remaining" no longer applied. It had died. It is an ex-scorpion. Deceased. Kind of sad, but expected. Maybe I should try breeding them... hmmm...

Anyway, the party was a success even without any arachnids in attendance. Afterwards I got a bunch of Indian food (In general, Indian families are interested when they discover that not only do I love Indian food, but that I'm a vegetarian), some cake, and a $20 tip.

Back at home, Willow, little detective that she is, pointed to my water speckled boots and said, "rain, rain!" Indeed she is right! The rain has started up again. Not that it's been gone for long over the last week and a half. Lots of clouds and rainbows interspersed with downpours. There've been rumblings in the news about mudslides and power outages, but nothing has happened locally yet.

There's nothing like being sick to make one feel like not doing a whole lot. I went home from work about mid-day on Wednesday, and I've been mostly sleeping and reading in bed since then. I have this fever that waxes and wanes, and aches that mostly just wax, although those too are finally starting to wane. If this wasn't enough, I suspect that I'm now getting a sinus infection. Lovely. Is it the flu? Not sure, but it's less than fun. It looks like Jen is in the initial stages of getting this as well.

What to do? Well, I think I'll go lay in bed and read.

I'm sick but stubbornly going to work anyway, since my position doesn't come with any kind of sick pay. Today my voice slowly degenerated into a hoarse croak, which hopfully, with the proper application of warm tea, will heal quickly. If not, I'm set to play the Onceler in a live production of The Lorax tomorrow night, so I guess I can pass off my voice as a "cruffulous" croak.
Walking in the rain all day and a portion of the night hasn't helped matters, I'm sure... On the other hand, I've got a pretty good group of kids this week. They all behave, and there's a little boy with cerebal palsy who is really cool, doing everything the other kids do and barely complaining. He does get tired on the uphill hikes, so I may have to trade him over to one of the other groups on Thursday, since our group is going up, up, and up.

Okay, to bed, to bed...

I'm sick but stubbornly going to work anyway, since my position doesn't come with any kind of sick pay. Today my voice slowly degenerated into a hoarse croak, which hopfully, with the proper application of warm tea, will heal quickly. If not, I'm set to play the Onceler in a live production of The Lorax tomorrow night, so I guess I can pass off my voice as a "cruffulous" croak.
Walking in the rain all day and a portion of the night hasn't helped matters, I'm sure... On the other hand, I've got a pretty good group of kids this week. They all behave, and there's a little boy with cerebal palsy who is really cool, doing everything the other kids do and barely complaining. He does get tired on the uphill hikes, so I may have to trade him over to one of the other groups on Thursday, since our group is going up, up, and up.

Okay, to bed, to bed...

Not much time for loafing around here. I started Friday off by joining several of my coworkers at a school whose fifth grade class recently stayed up at science camp. We sang some of the camp songs (recognizable tunes with lyrics altered to reflect outdoor science themes) during a school assembly before hurriedly hopping into our vehicles to make it up to camp in time to instruct the kids currently staying there. In the afternoon, my second employer talked me into going to yet another school to teach an after school program to a classroom full of kindergarten through second graders who acted like they'd gotten into the caffiene and sugar supply while nobody was looking.
Yesterday I went to a run down high school on the east side to help with a science workshop in conjunction with an elementary school science fair. There was free pizza and soda, as well as a magician, which made it entertaining. The high school sure was a dump though. Another case of money ending up in the wrong pockets.
Later on, I drove 30 miles and performed at a birthday party for some 7 year old twins. The family was nice, the kids were attentive, and the Filipino noodles and mango ice cream cake were delicious.
The rest of the weekend was taken up with cleaning and financial juggling. Tax forms were mailed, bills were groaned over, groceries were purchased.

I took Nate for a walk around the block last night, which was nice. It's great to do one on one activities with the kids. I think a lot of the behavior issues around here stem from the simple fact that we can never really focus on one child without the other three trying to get in on the action.

The week ahead is supposed to be rainy. Bring it on.

More student journal entries, from opposite ends of the spectrum:

The stars gazed down on a shuffling line of students as they whispered in the night. Stories of pirates and night vision. They thought of stars, sparking sweets, and lonely candles. Holding shoulders in a massive caterpillar they weaved through the trees. The stoic redwoods gaze solemnly down on the asorted people milling through the duff.
All on a late, winter night.

and

Jason, and Daniel were kind of freaked out. I was joking around about the chainsaw masacar and I got in trouble.

I'd rather have students like the author of the first entry above, but I have a feeling that it's people like the second author who really need the experiences that our program offers. Both of these entries were reflections on the night hike we went on last night, which is not ever a time to joke about the chainsaw "masacar" because most of the kids are already extremely nervous about being in the woods at night without flashlights. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't specifically told people not to try to freak each other out.

This little spider web, along with many others, is anchored by blades of meadow grass. This particular meadow is in the San Andreas fault zone. Fourteen miles underneath these webs is the main fault. Networks of smaller faults crisscross the zone.

At the moment all is peaceful. The spiders go about their business.

Every week at camp, the kids all get to pick "nature names". In other words, they get to rename themselves for the week. Predictably, there are lots of large carnivores represented. I've never had a week go by without somebody named Cheetah, or Tiger, or Mountain Lion. The raptors are always there too: Hawk, Eagle, etc. There are also lots of Butterflies, Ladybugs, and Fireflies. Not to mention Deer and Raccoons.

So why did one kid today want to be called The Potato? Sometime after picking this name, he wanted to change it to Giant Potato.

I always love it when people come up with the oddball names. The free spirits are out there, and they're naming themselves after edible roots.

Today is a four day week at science camp, so I didn't work today. In fact, I spent a good part of yesterday and today trying to lounge around. I was partly successful, or at least as successful as one is likely to get with four small children hanging off of him. In the end, not much was accomplished. We treaded rather than forged ahead, but I will always remember the words of one of my college professors: "sometimes you just have to do nothing." There really is a sort of wisdom in that. My nothing included finishing Sunset & Sawdust by Joe Lansdale, and starting The Raphael Affair by Ian Pears. This reminds me of my childhood, when I would often sit around all weekend (or indeed, all summer) reading novels. I can't do that now of course, so the occasional lazy hour or five is welcomed.

Other than that, I performed at a couple of science birthday parties, ran few minor errands, mowed the lawn, took Willow for a walk, talked with Jen without getting interrupted two hundred and fifty six times (while the older kids were at their dad's), and did this and that. One of the errands involved buying pet food at the usual place, where I noted that they must have recently hired somebody who can't spell worth beans. His (or her) handiwork was on display on the glass sides of many of the terrariums. Call me a snob, but when I visit a store where the displays are rife with misspellings, it makes me want to shop elsewhere.

Nate's not feeling well at the moment. He puked on Sunday at his dad's, and was running a fever earlier. He seems to be getting better though. Hopefully nobody else will catch it.

I checked out my first cd (Kronos Quartet "Caravan") from the library today too. I'm still fretting over not being able to go out and buy them like I used to, but I'm dealing with it. M handed me a stack of cdrs last weekend too, so I do have new things to listen to.

I managed to take both sets of car keys to work with me today, something I didn't find out until I got a message over the walkie-talkie in the middle of a hike. I've got to check my pockets before going to work. A little before this message came through, one of the girls in my group got a bloody nose and decided that she wanted to return to camp. One of my cabin leaders took her back down the trail, and through a series of wrong turns and a bit of miscommunication between me and one of the other field instructors, they got a bit lost. In the end they managed to get themselves found, so no harm done. The rest of us made it up to the same Redwood grove I visited with my group last week, which I noticed this week is a thousand feet higher up than our starting point. I told the kids this, and I heard at least one of them boasting about it after we got back down to camp. Of course, we got back late too. This group hikes a little slower than last week's did. We were almost late for milk and cookies, a regular thursday event at camp.

Lots of scat on the trail today too. At least one kid stepped in some. Darn coyotes.

Another day of hiking up creeks, composting, and wandering around under the trees. Now I'm guiltily typing away while I should be getting the boys to bed, so I'd better make this short. Here's a few photos from this week.




When millipedes feel threatened, they exude a smelly, yellow fluid that stains skin, leaving a mark that looks like a bruise or burn. Of course, I got the kids to smell my fingers, since it tied in nicely with the animal adaptations lesson I was teaching. Soon after this, I found one of the smaller, yellow spotted millipedes and discovered that they glow when subjected to ultraviolet light. Pretty neat. Below is a picture I took today, a millipede crossing the ranger road. This one was nicer and didn't stain me when I picked it up.




Our night hike last night was less eventful this week. One girl was too scared to make it through the hike and had to be taken back to the school by one of the cabin leaders. Another girl cried the whole time because she was feeling homesick. The rest of the kids did okay, and we got to spend some time at the telescopes looking at Saturn and a nebula (the one in the Orion constellation). Actually, only a couple of kids stayed out late enough to look at the nebula because it was getting late. I like it when people are interested enough in the things we show them that they stay up past bedtime to see more.




I'll leave you with an endearing little quote from The Dickens. "My poop wants to come out of my butt so it can play with you!"