After a long weekend during which very little was accomplished, I'm working my last week of outdoor school before the summer camp season starts.

Tonight, we all went up to the school so the kids could see the campfire program. It was still warm after sunset, and swallows flitted here and there, looking like bats. Willow ran around a lot, trying to climb fences and poles. The Dickens, who had fallen asleep in the van on the way up, groggily woke up about halfway through the program. Nate darted here and there. Lexy sat and watched the program. One out of four isn't too bad, I guess.
Jen and I switched off caring for the girls, trying to keep them quiet. With little kids it's more about damage control than everything else. At least this time the damage was controlled, and everybody had a good time.

At home, it's uncomfortably warm. The snakes are all crawling around in their cages looking for ways out. I think I'll go read for awhile. Goodnight.

It's partially cloudy today, after a week of sunshine and warmth. There's a squirrel sitting on the fence outside my window, chewing on a nut or some other food item favored by squirrels. Okay, now it's just staring at me. News update: now it's gone. Ah, the transitory nature of wildlife viewings...

And now, a small, improperly lit picture of a Dobsonfly nymph.




Lovely little creatures.

And here's an old, overturned Redwood stump big enough to crawl through. If you crawl through it nine times you enter faerieland. Maybe.




Magic is what you make of it. Celebrate the unexpected.

(this is Jen, commandeering the blog to bring you this important information. and because the people it's intended for DONT READ MY BLOG not that I care or anything.)

If you live in the SF bay area, you can buy tickets to see our friend M perform in August. Surprised?

Also, we keep seeing toronto-related things and we hate you.

xoxoxojen

We went slightly farther than I've ever been before on a Thursday hike today, deeper into the Redwood grove a thousand feet in elevation above the school. By the time we got back, most of the kids were dragging their feet and complaining. There's this one girl that just smiles and thanks me at the end of every hike as she bounces past me. Today was no exception. In general, I've got a very good group of kids this week.

Next week is my last week of science school before summer camp madness sets in. The trails are all much more dry and the mosquitos, flies, and gnats are swarming. Instead of the 50 newts we saw on the same trail a few weeks ago, we saw one. The Alligator lizards are everywhere too.

There are still millipedes out and about. This is the kind that glows under a black light.




One of the girls found a Dobsonfly nymph in the creek too. Very strange looking creatures. I took a couple of pictures but they didn't turn out too good. I might post one anyway. We'll see. I also took a picture of a dead shrew the kids found on the trail, but it turned out blurry. Oh well, you probably didn't want to see it anyway.l

Nobody got eaten by a Mountain Lion on the night hike tonight. Perhaps this is because we lit a candle at the Jabba rock.
Jabba rock is a large, sedimentary rock that has been weathered away to look sort of like Jabba the Hut. Or like Elvis, depending on your point of view. I lit a candle in the mouth and one of the eyes, making it look a bit like a Jack-O-Lantern. It made the atmosphere in the twilight woods even more mysterious than it usually is. The possibility of a large predator lurking somewhere nearby added even more spice to the hike.

At home, the kids are getting feverish again. Nate has an ear infection. Here we go again...

After I go home from work in the evening, the campers are under the care of the night host. He's a gentle guy with a calm voice who has been doing this kind of work for years. His job is to be in charge of the camp when everybody else is sleeping. One of the things he occasionally has to do is scare Raccoons away from the area near the dining hall. Last night he heard some sort of commotion in the bushes near the dumpsters, which he thought might have been Raccoons fighting. Then it sounded more like a Raccoon dying. He went over to investigate and heard something large moving through the bushes in the darkness beyond the dumpsters. He made some noise to scare it away and was answered with a low, rumbling growl.

Needless to say, he didn't stick around to see what the growl belonged to. Perhaps a Mountain Lion upset at being interrupted while having a Raccoon snack.

We've decided not to let kids do the solo walk on the night hike tomorrow. Some of these kids aren't much bigger than Raccoons.

Here's a large Pacific Giant Salamander nymph. It's the size of an adult, but it still has gills. Apparently, some of them never go through metamorphosis.




And here's some sun kissed Poison Oak. Some time last week I touched some. I itch a bit.




Someday I'll figure out a way to stop kids from calling it "Poison Ivy." Someday.

Without warning, summer has descended upon us. The windows are all open to cool down the house, and the kids show no sign of getting tired. All of the late light and hot heat is making them restless. We don't really get much of a break around here when the kids keep the same hours as the grownups.

G and M, fresh back from a trip to Vienna earlier this month, are departing for Toronto later this week. I must confess to being a bit jealous. I miss travelling.

I did see a coyote towards the end of last week. Trickster spirit? Seeing wild animals, regardless of what legends/mythologies they're associated with, is always a spiritual experience. They are reminders of a time when people were more connected to natural cycles.

Speaking of animals, one of my coworkers who sleeps up at the school was awakened over the weekend by the cry of a Mountain Lion. She said it sounded like a woman in ecstacy. I've also heard that they can sound like a baby crying. I may decide against letting the kids do a solo walk during the night hike this week, just to be safe.

The kids this week are much more well-behaved than the bunch we had last week. We have better teen volunteers watching over them as well. That's not to say that last week was all bad. There were some really cool kids in my group, at least.
Today I found a family of mice and a small tarantula co-existing under a section of corrugated iron siding. I caught the tarantula and then spent a good deal of time chasing it across my own body as it decided to hide under my backpack and in my hair. I finally caught it when it took refuge in the crotch of my jeans. Good thing it didn't try to bite.

Time to go get the boys to bed now.

I went and saw a couple of shows this weekend, which turned out to be a wonderful way to recharge my batteries. On Friday, M and I went to the Great American Music Hall in S.F. to see Dot Dot Dot (ex Ninewood), Faun Fables, and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. SGM's set included a ten foot, benevolent sun god puppet which swayed and danced its way through the audience. Shinichi was also on hand for some flawless butoh dancing during most of the set. Just beautiful. G, M and I even got to be part of the procession that forced its way through the crowd to the stage. We all chanted in unison with the strange christian cult blather coming over the PA system as we advanced through the bewildered crowd. Aim to confuse.

Saturday saw me in a park in Sunnyvale, making slime. This was in conjuntion with the Hands on the Art festival - some sort of child friendly city-centric arts/crafts festival. More than five hundred cups of slime were made during the morning and early afternoon. I left when we ran out of materials.
That night I drove up to the City again to see Om and Six Organs of Admittance. I got there early enough to wander up the hill under a waxing moon and get a tasty mocha at a little coffee shop called Farley's. The show itself was at The Bottom of the Hill, which is one of my favorite venues in the City due to the availability of parking and the fact that Farley's is up the hill. Pretty mellow neighborhood too. I ran into some old friends inside the club, including one who I went to high school with. We reminisced about getting into trouble and complained about getting old for awhile. Of course, the fact that he was both drinking and chain smoking wasn't helping him any. I think I've had my yearly allotment of second hand smoke now. In the distance, towards the bay, there was a massive fireworks display illuminating the sky and shaking the air. Not sure why. Soon afterwards, Six Organs put on a stunning set, which was much more varied than the one I saw in Toronto last year. The music ranged from delicate, fluid acoustic guitar to savage bursts of noise produced by electric guitar and drums. At several stages, the sound was either looped or provided by backing tapes, providing some interesting interplay of sounds. Their set ended in a massive, hypnotic chant that left me wanting much more. Soon Om hit the stage and I could literally feel the sound waves wash over me. The air vibrated. Pretty good for just bass and drums.

Today we're trying to clean up the house and yard. Almost time for another week to begin.

It misted again all day today, making the long hike (a Thursday institution) quite beautiful, with groves of Coast Live Oaks made indistinct by fog. Down at camp, lots of kids got in trouble and had to be sent home, making this one of the most difficult weeks so far in terms of behavior problems. These kids are paired up with some pretty ineffective cabin leaders as well, so chaos often reigns. I kind of lucked out with my group though. The most difficult kid I have to deal with is this girl who does nothing but whine, sometimes contradicting herself with her own complaints. It's kind of amusing, really.

Here's a small picture of the Alligator lizard who tried to hide up under the van.




Here's a big picture of the Gopher snake I caught today.




I was surprised to see it out in this kind of weather. I guess it is half past May, but it sure doesn't seem like it.

More later.

It's warm and stuffy inside, but outside it's cool and the moon is bright. Sometime around the full moon, later this month, I'll get another cd in the mail because I get one every time there's a full moon. How clever.

It was supposed to rain today, but while I was at work, only a light mist fell. This was a welcome addition to the uphill hike we took this afternoon.

When I got home from work, there was an Alligator lizard in the driveway. I jumped out of my car and attempted to catch him but he ran under the van. In short order, he was up inside one of the wheels. After some persistant poking and prodding from me, he abandoned this vantage point and started running along the undercarriage. About ten minutes later, with my hands and arms black with oil and grease, I finally caught him.
It's strange to see an Alligator lizard in our neighborhood. Suburbia is unkind to reptiles. Cats love to kill them. With this in mind, I'm trying to decide what to do with him. I'll probably end up introducing him to the organic garden at work. It'll prolong his life and help control our bug population. Then again, he survived to adulthood around here, so maybe I should just let him go again in the backyard or something. What a dilemma.

Oh, and here's a picture of another sort of reptile I have to keep relocating.

This week I'm back at the other site. We've got a camp full of kids with behavior problems too. These kids just don't listen very well, and often just wander around aimlessly until they're reminded about what they're supposed to be doing. Some of the kids cuss and throw things at each other. This is all expected behavior. I was the same way when I was that age. Unfortunately, the majority of the cabin leaders (teenaged volunteers) this week are ineffectual. Some of them have gone so far as to allegedly misbehave right along with the kids in their cabins.

This made my night hike much easier tonight, because all of the boys in my group were busy explaining to their teachers why there was so much chaos in their cabins. So instead of having 21 kids, I had a mere 11 girls to lead through the twilight.

I also ended up having to relocate a couple of Rattlesnakes today. Two babies were found in and around the camp. They are now a more comfortable distance from the cabins.

Here's a photo left over from last week. More to follow.




S is for snake.

At home, we finally got DSL. No more spending precious time waiting to get a connection. Jen's got a bad headache right now, which just isn't fair. I wish George Bush had it instead. The kids are all asleep. The sky is cloudy, with the possibility of rain looming. Much more to do everywhere. How I ramble...

It's now warm enough to have the windows open in the evenings. The cool breeze feels good. We have to keep a close watch on Willow though, because she likes licking the screens, a habit no doubt learned from her sister.

I'm well into the final month of teaching outdoor school for the season. Summer camps start up in June. We're still juggling finances a bit, but hope to have things running more smoothly soon, barring unforseen money pits.




When you're feeling troubled, pick up a leaf and stare at it for awhile. Reflect on it. Make a wish. Sing a song to it. Notice that everyone else is staring at you. Put the leaf down.

Big picture thinking. That's what we need.




I can't custom size these photos anymore, and the next smallest size is too small. I kind of like them this size though. Above is a small adult Pacific Giant Salamander. I was pretty excited about it, and so were the kids. The salamander itself was less than thrilled, and quickly ran back under some bark after I finished playing paparazzi.



Speaking of less than thrilled, here's the resident tarantula exhibiting some classic defensive behavior, rearing back and displaying some formidable fangs. I think it's getting tired of my weekly visits.

More soon.

The new computer sometimes decides not to let us online. Tonight it was merciful.

I've seen a couple of new things this week so far. Yesterday we stopped near an old landslide area in a place known as Overlook Grove. On the ground was the biggest pile of scat that I've ever seen. The kids were very excited. I whipped out my measuring tape and measured it (over six inches long) and the kids got sticks and dissected it, finding a lot of animal hair and a foul stench in the process. It could only be Mountain Lion scat. Either that or there's a Bobcat with a sore butt somewhere nearby. It looked pretty fresh too. Kind of exciting. It was really cool to see the kids so enthusiastic over what was essentially a big pile of crap. Future wildlife biologists, every one.

I finally found another adult Giant Salamander too. The last one I found was a California Giant Salamander. Today's find was a Pacific Giant Salamander. As soon as I figure out how to resize photos with the current software I'll post pictures.

The weather has turned sunny too, with occasional fluffy clouds drifting over the hilltops. Tonight's crescent moon was outlined by earthshine, giving the kids something nice to look at as we finished our night hike (not really a night hike a this time of year, due to the fact that only the last ten minutes of it are after dark...)

How crepuscular.

We all went to a summer school open house at my work on Saturday just to let the kids run around and tire themselves out. Oh yeah, I guess I'm getting paid for it too. Lexy brought a new friend along who turned out to be very polite and friendly, even going so far as to be nice to The Dickens, which is unusual for a second grade boy. The Dickens has a way of trying the patience of elementary school children.
Jen mostly hung out around the school with Willow, while the older kids went on a hike with one of my co-workers. I led a hike as well, bringing a mixture of parents, fifth/sixth graders, and teenaged volunteers up into the hills. We saw a variety of cuddly creatures. Avid wildlife viewers got to see a tarantula, a tick, and a scorpion, making the hike unintentionally arachnid-themed. Okay, that's a bit of a lie - only the tick was unintentional. Think of it as an added bonus.
At some point, Willow got smacked in the head by a basketball, and later managed to bloody her lip climbing one of the food carts parked outside the dining hall. Other than that, she had a blast and everybody loved her.
The good thing about this outing is that we managed to keep all five of the kids entertained, and I got paid for it. I wish we could arrange something like this every weekend.

That evening I drove up to Stanford to meet up with a couple of old friends, Wayne and Rich. I hadn't seen Wayne in about a decade, so it was pretty cool to catch up with him. He's been working at Stanford, helping convert their vast archives of secret microfilms into digital information. Or some such. He goes to Geneva every year where the curse of the Swiss works upon him, giving him achy teeth, broken bones, and gallstones. Rich works at a computer company, telling Luddites where the "on" switch is and explaining to them the wonders of electricity. He brought his son and his son's friend along too. We all hung out with Big Chief at the Stanford radio station and made asses of ourselves on the air. It was like being 18 again, when we all went to heavy metal shows wearing our smelly denim and leather jackets and probably acting a lot sillier than we thought we were. It was all quite fun though. Lots of memories there.

Sunday we went to the Tech museum, which was sort of like being blindfolded and chasing chickens around on the freeway. The kids all had very specific ideas about what they wanted to do there, and rushed this way and that like hyperactive Kangaroo Rats. Tiring
That night we had lots of ice cream and cookies and pie at Ashley and James' place. Very good.

Today brought spurts of rain and sporadic sunshine. A new week of campers began. Our lead teacher just had a baby girl, who was born on 5/5/05 at 5:50 PM. Maybe she's the new messiah or something. Messiah or not, the pictures I saw were pretty cute.

The mailman stopped by and told Jen that some guy in the neighborhood walked out into the street and killed himself with a shotgun a morning or two ago. I can't help thinking about the kids who would have been walking to school at about this time. One of the only things more antisocial than killing yourself is killing yourself in the middle of a quiet, suburban street. Sad.

Speaking of sad, I found out in a round-about way that one of the kids in my field class this week lost his dad three weeks ago. I never would have known it. This kid is involved with the lessons, even if sometimes his language is a little inappropriate. He cracks jokes. He gets in minor amounts of trouble, just like most of the other fifth and sixth grade kids who come through. The information really made me pay closer attention to him today. He was genuinely interested in the lessons I taught this morning, and told me as much. Later, he exclaimed in delight as a large millipede crawled across his hands. I keep thinking that he's got a world of hurt to go back home to though. Once the distraction of science camp is over, he goes home to a life that is emptier than it was three weeks ago. It probably hasn't fully hit him yet. Kids sometimes have to deal with so much...

On a more light-hearted note, our class counted fifty California Newts on the hike today.

Most of the way through the week already. It has been raining since mid-afternoon. We're still figuring out (okay, Jen's really doing most of the figuring - I'm just reaping the benefits) the new computer. It doesn't always let us online when we want. I couldn't figure out how to resize photos either, but Jen just solved that little problem. I think. Let's see.




This is a Ringneck snake. It has a corkscrew for a tail. Not good for opening bottles of wine though. Better for fooling predators into thinking you're poisonous or taste like old socks.

Inspired by an article in Bay Nature magazine, I licked a Banana slug last week. Actually, come to think of it, this action is referenced in one of our most popular camp songs as well... Anyway, they do not taste like bananas. Their slime also numbs lips and tongues. Interesting.

Over the weekend, while driving north on the freeway, I witnessed a guerrilla marketing incident. Traffic was slow, and I noticed that the passenger door of the car in the lane to my immediate left was slightly ajar. As I watched, a man jumped out of the slowly moving car, jogged past it and slapped a poster on the rear of the next vehicle up, which just happened to be a Winnebago. Winnebagos, of course, have a large blind spot, so nobody in it was any the wiser. The man quickly jumped back in his car, which then accelerated into the other lane and disappeared into the flow of traffic beyond the Winnebago. The poster was for some hip hop cd, which I won't buy, but I do applaud the innovative advertising campaign.

At home, the big kids were away at their dad's house, so Jen, Willow, and I relaxed. We've been monkeying around with the new computer, which, wonder of wonders, joy of joys, has a functional cd burner! It's keeping us well occupied.

Oh, I guess I didn't entirely relax. I did a couple of birthday parties and I picked up a bunch of volunteer cabin leaders for this week's camp. Extra money never hurts. The fact that there never really is any extra money does though.