Sunday, July 31, 2005

Three years ago today I sat down in front of our old computer and typed in the first entry here. I'm a creature of habit.

Holy crap! Go visit Yat-Kha at their website. They've recorded an album of cover songs that must be heard to be believed. You can listen to their versions of Motorhead's "Orgasmatron" and Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart". Very odd. If Albert Kuvezin's voice was any deeper it would be subsonic. I can't wait to track down the actual cd.

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Tomorrow is the third anniversary of this blog. When I started it, I had no idea that so many other people were doing it as well. Jen just got back from the blogher conference, and reports that there is apparently a blog pecking order, the bottom of which includes "mommy blogs." So what the hell are the other people blogging about? Sure, there are political blogs, music blogs. corporate blogs, PTA blogs, and shoe blogs... but what else? A random stroll through other blogs doesn't reward me with much, except possibly some insight into how the english language is mutating before our eyes. Maybe I'm just getting old. Anyway, despite all of this, Jen had a fun time. She'll write about it soon. A lot of people who attended the conference were writing about it right then and there on their laptops. I'm still to much of a luddite at this to be able to keep up with all of the technological advances and what they have to offer me, but I'm content for the time being...

It would seem that people who are so ready to discount a whole group of blogs based the fact that the writers are mothers are missing the point entirely. Mothers don't get paid, work long hours, and are already almost completely discounted by society at large. But the job is much more important than any corporate or political job out there. Much more real too. Remember, personal is political. If you want to change the world start at home. How better to do this than parenting? How better to spread the word than blogging about it? How better to connect with fellow parents than sharing the day to day frustrations of an oftentimes seemingly thankless task? Mothers who blog are very punk rock- discounted by the mainstream but very full of insight and content, with strong community ties. I seem to remember from a sociology class that this can be explained by "conflict theory", which states that people will band together and form stronger ties when they are attacked from outside their borders. Okay, now I'm rambling...

Also, until relatively recently history has been interpreted for us by "authors", "documentarians", and "official biographers". Because of this, world events have been filtered through the minds (political leanings, agendas, and personal opinions) of a relatively small number of people. This is no longer the case. The well-connected and the wealthy no longer have a monopoly on things. Just about anybody can enter the fray. Sure, a lot of it is still crap, but at least we'll be left with a broader perspective. Crap can be used as compost, after all. People everywhere can now publish their journals on the internet and leave records of their personal struggles (or lack thereof) for all to see. The distinguished elite no longer have a stranglehold on fame. The guy who delivers your newspaper or pizza probably has a blog. Centuries from now (unless things change drastically) there will still be a record of this. Imagine feudal Europe as seen through the eyes of a serf. There you have it.

That's why I do this. Hell, I would probably forget a lot of life's little details if I couldn't rummage through my archives now and then. My brain is full. May I be excused?

Friday, July 29, 2005




As Jen mentioned in her blog, we are sans van for a couple of days. The old one squats in the driveway, immovable as a statue, and the new (to us) one is still in use by the people who are selling it to us. Until Monday, anyway. Jen and Nate are out watching the the finale of Lexy's music camp week at the moment. Later, Jen gets to go out and have fun with the Blogher convention folks while I watch the kids. I'm so glad that she gets to do this.

I camped overnight with the campers again last night. I lay on my back in my sleeping bag listening to music (David Maranha's "Musica #2) while stargazing. Unlike last week, the moon wasn't up and you could actually see the white smear of the Milky Way stretching across the heavens. I counted six meteors as well. My thoughts turned towards the space shuttle being up there somewhere and about how small we all are. Then I fell asleep. When I awoke in the middle of the night it was foggy and the quarter moon was a hazy white spot above. I love my job.

Earlier, I once again relocated a Rattlesnake which had been hiding in the garden near where we were soon to camp out. It's eyes were milky, signifying the onset of molting, and based on its size I would say that it probably came from the same batch of babies that all of the other ones we've found over the last half a year belonged to. It rattled a bit as I moved it, but other than that wasn't aggressive at all. Most of the kids who saw it thought it was pretty cool. A few were worried that it had been found so close to camp. There was another Rattlesnake in the garden as well, but it had managed to get itself caught in some nylon netting behind the shed, and had died there. I'm thinking of trying to boil it down and preserve the skeleton, but probably won't. We'll see. I'll at least move that damn netting so no more snakes die.

It also looks like I'm now going to be working all of the summer camp weeks up through the end of the season. There's always more work than I expect there to be. This is a good thing. Plenty of overtime opportunities watching the early arrivals and late pickups as well. This usually means getting paid for playing ping pong or chess with campers. Nice.

The top photo here is of a Madrone tree. You can make tea out of the bark. It does taste a bit like wood though.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Jen just got back from securing us a new van. We're going to pay for it and pick it up on Monday. I'll let her fill you in on the details. I'm really glad that we're getting rid of the old one because it's an unreliable, stalling, lurching piece of shit.

It's still hot. A girl in my camp group fell and hit her head today. She's okay, but a boy in one of the other groups managed to break his finger. He's going to take a bit more mending. I've noticed that many of the kids show up each day unprepared for camp. Lot's of them are under the impression that they don't need water bottles for hikes. Come on kids, it's July.

There's little else to report. I'm falling into the summer camp routine and loving it. I'm doing one more week after this, and then possibly the last week of camp sometime in August. In between all of this I'm supposed to do some odd-job maintainance work around the camp. I practiced today by painting a small corner of the nature lab, which is being overhauled by the Leaders In Training (L.I.T.) kids, under the direction of a couple of my coworkers.

Monday, July 25, 2005


I came across a salamander I couldn't identify today. The larvae usually look different from the adults, so there's a slight possibility it's just the larval stage of something I could easily identify as an adult. Maybe even a California Newt, but I don't think so. It doesn't look like a California Newt larva to me. After I finish here, I think I'll go research it.

Oh, and the kids. There are a few kids from last week still at camp, and bunches of new ones. Most of the kids at this camp are old pros, having been involved for years. It makes things pretty easy on the instructors. Less explanation time needed. As for my group, I'm not sure what this week's dynamic will be like. There is definitely a contingent of smartass boys, who have picked names for themselves like "Roadkill" and "Beached Whale", but so far everything has run pretty smoothly.

Still too hot though. I'm probably going to say that every day until sometime in November.

Sunday, July 24, 2005


Each Thursday at summer camp, the kids have the option to camp out on the lower field. We give these campers the whole deal - a barbeque for them and their families, songs, skits, stories, a night hike, marshmallow roasting, and of course, camping. As a staff member, I can choose to stay overnight and go home at 8:30 in the morning, or go home and stay until 4:30 on Friday. I chose to stay overnight this week. There was a bat flying around in the hallway outside the staff room for awhile. The moon was full. The kids on the night hike I led were pretty well-behaved. I slept pretty well too. In the morning, one of the kids found a small bat crawling around by the basketball court. One of my co-workers put it in a box and we moved it out of the way so the kids wouldn't bother it. Bats seen during the day can be sick, and one of the diseases they carry, as most people know, is rabies. This particular bat may have just been young and confused though.

Speaking of young and confused, one of the other groups ran afoul of a Yellowjacket nest on Thursday, and predictably, chaos ensued. I think four or five kids got stung. Not too bad, considering...

This weekend we were supposed to rehearse for the upcoming show in Seattle, but M was ill with the flu, so I took my mom up to Berkeley to see the new Central Works play, featuring G in his usual role as sound designer. The play, The Grand Inquisitor, uses a segment of Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov as a jumping off point, and was really well done. It was especially nice to see Gary, who usually confines himself to writing and directing these things, in the role of the Grand Inquisitor. He managed to transform himself quite well. Too bad about the loud wedding party nearby though.

The Tucson Blonde Tarantula molted last night too. Tarantulas achieve this end by flipping on their backs and looking quite dead. It's a very stressful time for them as well, since they are completely helpless until they have successfully molted.

And it's too damn hot. Again.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005


I didn't muck around in the pond today. We were too busy doing archery (shooting arrows at a target painted with the likeness of a certain purple dinosaur) and scaling the climbing wall. One of the counselors even ascended blindfolded!

I got phone and e-mail notification that I'm one of the four people to make it to the final stage of the interview process for the environmental educator position I applied for awhile back, but the benefits wouldn't cover Jen or Willow so I have just nicely informed them that I'm no longer interested. The commute would have sucked too.

It's still hot here. The older kids are at their dad's. Jen is at the gym. Willow is watching Winnie the Pooh. I'm typing and thinking that it's time to go eat a lemonade popsicle.

I took this picture while the kids were on the climbing wall. It's a Cicada resting after molting. You can see the cracked molt underneath it.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005



I spent another afternoon in the pond today. This time several campers came in with me, and we removed lots of invasive plants. We even caught some Bullfrog tadpoles and brought them back to camp with us. They'll probably end up in various backyard ponds. The problem with Bullfrogs is that they're so voracious that in a very short amount of time they can wipe out local populations of smaller animals.

I read another couple of chapters in the new Harry Potter book to the kids. Nate is unable to remain still. It's very distracting to discover that fifty percent of your audience is performing gymnastics while you are reading.

The moon is almost full again. It was rising through the trees as I walked back from the grocery store earlier. I always have to stop and look at it for a moment.

The photo at the top shows how much work we still have to do if we want to completely clear the pond of duckweed. The other photo is of a pretty little Alligator lizard that we encountered in the meadow. You can see a tick in front of his front leg. That must be really uncomfortable.

Monday, July 18, 2005

I spent a good part of the afternoon in a pond. It proved to be a pretty decent way to cool off. Of course, then you have to walk around smelling like a pond afterwards, but that doesn't bother me too much. I saw lots of crayfish and bullfrog tadpoles while I was sloshing around, but the turtles all made themselves scarce pretty quickly. Later, I was discussing with one of my coworkers whether or not we should remove some of the bullfrog tadpoles, since they are non-native and damage local animal populations. The problem is what to do with the tadpoles. Anybody out there have a backyard pond or know of a place where bullfrog impact would be minimal?

This week I have slightly older kids than last week. They seem calmer too. Time will tell. A couple of the girls said they'd been hoping that they would end up in my group. It's kind of funny how kids make snap decisions about us. Or maybe they just said that to be nice. Who knows?

Over the weekend, M, G, and I started trying to piece together the music for an upcoming show in September. A lot of rehearsal is needed, but everything is down on paper at least. That's a start, anyway. While up in Berkeley we came across an itinerant tarka salesman, but I didn't buy one because of a lack of funds. First time I've ever seen tarkas for sale on the street too.

I did a party on Sunday. Most of the kids were dressed up as Harry Potter. With the tip I got I went out and bought the new Harry Potter book. I started reading it to the boys last night. When I talked to my mom, she was about 250 pages into it as well. At work today, several people were reading it. Several others were already done reading it. When I got home, Jen was reading it. No, don't tell me what happens. I'll find out soon enough. That's the one problem with a book as popular is this. I feel compelled to read it quickly before some blabbermouth can ruin it for me. I wonder how long my voice will hold out tonight?

Friday, July 15, 2005

My first week of summer camp #2 is over, with three more to go. We went down to the climbing wall and let the kids clamber upwards like monkeys (safely helmeted, harnessed, and belayed, of course). In the afternoon we went back to the pond and cleaned more plants out, taking some time to contemplate Bullfrogs as well. It was really too hot to be doing all of this, but we did it anyway for some reason.

At home, the kids are all in bed and resisting sleep. I don't blame them. It's too damn hot for easy slumber. I'm ready for autumn weather. I'm also ready to stop typing and go get another popsicle.

Thursday, July 14, 2005


I spent a long, hot day at work today, during which we ran through sprinklers, played games in the shade of the redwoods, and scooped unwelcome plant matter out of the pond. Of course, then we had to sort through the piles of plant matter to make sure we weren't stranding any aquatic creatures. Many tadpoles, damselfly larvae, aquatic snails, and crayfish were returned to the pond after being discovered in amongst the piles of elodia and duckweed. Afterwards, I took a wheelbarrow full of the spoils of our labors up to the compost pile.

Thursday evening is the barbeque and campfire program, so I stayed to eat free food and help out with songs and skits. The campers were joined by their parents and other relatives for the festivities, making the little amphitheater quite crowded. There are a lot more staff involved for these summer campfires than there are during the school year, so things are very relaxed. Actually, the whole program is very relaxed. We choose what activities we like to do, and like minded campers follow along. Oh, and there's ice cream every day. And a swimming pool. A lot of the time, people just sit around and relax. And I get paid to do this. It's quite different from the Youth Science Institute summer camps I've taught, which are structured like a week long lesson plan with crafts and hikes thrown in for good measure. Both have their merits of course, so it's good that I've gotten bounce around this summer. It keeps things from getting stale.

The cute little creature above is a Jerusalem Cricket. They're nocturnal, but pretty easy to find if you spend as much time looking under logs as I do. This one is living under an old mattress in the garden. I found a Garter snake nearby too, but it slipped away under some debris. I must be getting slow in my old age.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005



I was actually kind of excited that the space shuttle was going to be launched today - which meant of course that it would be delayed. My father in law is somewhere in mission control, so there is actually a tenuous personal connection to this particular launch. Perhaps over the weekend it will happen, they say. And yes, I know that there are a billion and one better ways to spend the money. Still, as expensive as the space program is, the scientist in me thinks it's kind of cool. We humans can be so inconsistent.

The scientist in me also thinks that the article in the paper this morning about the possible discovery of a Mammoth fossil in San Jose is pretty cool too. They say, "possible," because the "authorities" haven't examined the bones yet. Could be a cow.

Today was even hotter than yesterday, which is pretty damn hot, especially if one happens to enjoy winter more than summer like I do. The kids were wilting on the hike, so in the afternoon they had the option of swimming, soaking counselors, hanging out in the Nature Lab with snakes, or exploring the creek. The photo of the meadow was taken on the way back from the creek. It's right on top of the San Andeas fault too. The beetle, however, was right on top of our driveway. I see about one of these a year. The last two have been in the vicinity of the driveway. I think they're eating the molding around the garage door. They're still pretty exceptional looking beetles though.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

I shouldn't have said anything about the nights still being cool, because now they're not. I'm not enjoying this. Of course, it's cooler than it was earlier, but that's not saying much. During the heat of the day, I took some kids hiking on a trail that I think should be re-named Mountain Lion Outhouse Trail due to the amount of scat we found. Most of it was already pretty dried out, but we did find a few fresher chunks, although those were small enough to have been processed by a Bobcat. We also saw a Ringneck snake, which gave me the slip.

That's it for now.

Monday, July 11, 2005



I got to spend a lot of time hanging out with Willow this weekend. We went on a nice walk around the block on Saturday night, just the two of us. There were a surprising amount of clouds for mid-July, and a bit of a breeze too. The moon is a tiny sliver at the moment, but Willow still recognized it for what it is. She babbled happily for the duration of the walk too, which is just too damn cute.
Yesterday, we went to the park and rode the little train for $1.50. We followed this up by playing on two different playgrounds and going down the slides way too often. Nice moments. Willow had a great time.

Today, I started in at the other summer camp, which is twice as long each day, half the work, and several dollers more per hour. It's on the site that I've been working at during the school year, but all of the routines are different, so I'm still getting used to it. A few of the parents recognized me as they dropped of their kids, due to the fact that just about every job I've had for the past 7 years has involved working with kids. I've taught and/or entertained thousands of kids during that time, so it's not too surprising that I get recognized on a regular basis. This week, I've got a group of 19 kids, all 7 and 8 year olds, plus 4 teen volunteers to help out. The volunteers could just about run things themselves at this point, I think, but of course they're really not that much older than some of the campers, so that's probably not a good idea.
In the afternoon, another instructor and I took a few kids down to the pond to scoop out duckweed, which grows so thickly across the surface that the water resembles a lawn. I took the pictures of the feather (Heron, I think) and the Bullfrog while we were down there.

It's supposed to get hotter later this week. I'm not looking forward to that. The nights are still cool for the moment, so I'll just enjoy it while I can.

Jen finally made it to the gym today too. The girls and I stayed home.

Saturday, July 09, 2005




I went up to San Francisco last night to see Faun Fables at the Bottom of the Hill, with a quick detour to Aquarius to spend my tip money from yesterday. There was some nice fog drifting through the city as well, which was very welcome after all of the sunny South Bay weather we've been experiencing lately. At the venue, I found out that all of the advance tickets had sold out. Fortunately Dawn put me on the guest list, which was nice. The opening band, The Lonelyhearts, was quite good, consisting of a keyboard player and a guitarist who both sang as well. Delicate, with nice harmonies. Too bad the audience thought it was social hour and talked through the whole set. Faun Fables was excellent as usual, with M joining in on a handful of songs. Pretty short set though. The headliners, who were the major reason for the sold out show, were a Swedish band called Dungen. Strange that I hadn't heard them before. Very unlike me. Using borrowed equipment, they played a set of early 70's sounding psych rock, complete with tambourine and flute and catchy swedish melodies. It was good enough to keep me there till 1:30 in the morning, tired though I was. I overheard a couple of audience members, no doubt influence by the 70's vibe, have the following conversation:

Guy #1: Do you have a bong? I miss bongs.
Guy #2: I have a stainless steel bong!

There you have it. When I got home, Jen was still up sewing. Yesterday, I fixed the camera (sort of) by taking the batteries out and putting them back in. Low tech, I know, but it seemed to work. That means Jen can photograph her new sewing projects and that I was able to take pictures last night. The python picture is from the other day because he'd just shed and he was looking pretty. Enjoy.

Currently listening to Bohren & der Club of Gore "Sunset Mission" (finally reissued!)

Friday, July 08, 2005

My last week of teaching at the Youth Science Institute is over for the summer. Next week I'm back at my other job, although in a slightly different, less educational summer camp role since it's more of a "social" and less of a "science" camp. That means more swimming, archery, rope climbing, and the like, and fewer science lessons. Sounds relaxing. The camp days are twice as long as the ones I have been doing though.

We ended on a good note this week though. During our snack time at Ghost Rock (aka Jabba Rock), a curious deer wandered up and circled the group several times, coming within ten feet of us. The kids were thrilled, and actually managed to keep relatively quiet while this was happening (very hard to do if you're 3 or 4). After awhile, the deer satisfied its curiousity and wandered off. We moved on as well, and found a large, hairy pile of scat with some vertebrae and a claw in it. I couldn't identify what kind of animal the bones came from, but the claw looked large enough to come from a Raccoon. Most of the kids were fascinated, but a couple were grossed out. Towards the end of camp, we all ate cupcakes because one of the girls turned 5 today. I even got a cool, hand-painted card with feathers (a raven's and another one possibly once belonging to a turkey) attached to it from the little 3 year old, and another card with 20 dollars stuffed inside it from one of the older girls (and her parents, of course). It's nice to get tipped, since working for non-profit organizations is definitely not a get rich quick scheme.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Time seems to compress as we grow older. The days are often a blur, with no time to stop and reflect. I did manage to lay down for a moment today, but I fell asleep instead of reflecting on anything. I probably wasn't asleep for more than a moment or two, but this illustrates the point that I'm pretty damn tired most of the time. The way I usually stave this off is to keep busy, but I often find, like Jen does, that most of the time the work we're doing has little substance. We flail around trying to keep the house in some sort of order, but it always returns to chaos while we're not looking. Jen did manage to start a sewing project today, so I guess occasionally there is some substance to our endeavors. We also got the van back from the mechanic today, all nicely tuned up, but it still stalls if the air conditioner is on. Lemon. $550 more transferred beyond our reach. Earlier, I took my mom to drop off her old station wagon at the Pick N Pull in San Jose. We waited about 45 minutes in a little air-conditioned office while they inspected the car, which is a small amount of time to wait for the $1000 dollar check they gave her. I think I'll bring my car there some day. Earlier still, I led small children on a hike through the woods and tired them out. I noticed at one point that my legs were actually longer than most of them were tall. They managed to hike pretty far considering their shortness though. Tomorrow I think we'll stick closer to our meeting spot.

Currently listening to the ominous, yet relaxing throbbing of Nurse With Wound "Salt Marie Celeste".

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

I went out wandering the streets with the three older kids last night in search of fireworks (and so Jen could stay home with the sleeping Willow and work with her cornucopia of quilting supplies). We managed to find a block party several blocks away, with the ends of the street roped off and everything. The kids quickly found a number of familiar faces in the crowd, so we sat and watched an endless succession of fireworks. Things were winding down as we left. On the way home, we saw a bunch of miscreants aiming fireworks at power lines and nearby, disgruntled neighbors mumbling about calling 911 on them. It seemed like people everywhere managed to sneak fireworks into a county where it is now supposedly illegal to light them. I guess some people, like the ones at the block party we crashed, had permits, but I'm sure most didn't. Still, the kids had a great time, and Jen got a little break. She's been going kind of stir crazy lately due to the van being temporarily out of commission. As I write this, she's driving it over to a mechanic's house to get it fixed. Also on the list is the camera, which keeps flashing a big red, "lens error", message everytime we try to turn it off. That's irritating. Not sure what's wrong with it. I hate finding that something I once did without has become indespensible. Like microwaves, computers, and cd burners... the list goes one. Technology really has its claws in us now.

Anyway, it's now the 5th, and I still occasionally hear fireworks going off somewhere in the distance. Any excuse to blow things up or light them on fire I guess. I taught a camp today up at Sanborn park, and the place is pretty quiet this week. There's my camp, which is actually a combination of two different animal-themed camps because there weren't enough sign-ups for either camp to have enough kids to make having two teachers worthwhile, and there's a chemistry-themed camp. The kids are pretty cute though. They range in age from not quite 4 to 7 or so. I predict short hikes and more crafts. Their legs are just too short for long hauls, and it takes them a long time to do crafts. Add to this the fact that it's a four day week and it will almost be over before it has begun.

Currently listening to Cordelia's Dad "Jane" single... oops now it's just switched to Popol Vuh. I love having the music on shuffle.

Monday, July 04, 2005

People have been lighting off fireworks every night for the past week or so, making me wonder if anybody will actually have anything left for tonight. Jen's cousins came over last night and it was really nice to spend some time just hanging out and talking with them. It's rare that we get to do that. After awhile, we migrated out front to watch the neighbors setting off illegal fireworks in the street. They shared some of their sparklers with the kids too, much to their delight. It's definitely a holiday for the kids, since any real examination of the meaning behind it leaves me dissatisfied. Sure, it marks the birth of this nation, but I can't wholeheartedly get behind any celebration of this nation's existence. Like just about every other type of organization, it sounds pretty good on paper, but the reality falls far short. It's not really a democracy. We're not really free. Willing slaves maybe, but slaves nonetheless. That said, there is a lot of beauty on this continent we call home. Now, if we can only stop the government from destroying it in its indiscriminate search for profit and prestige.

Yeah, I know it could be worse. But it can always be better too.

Tomorrow it's back to work to try to make it better. Will it be enough in the long run?

Friday, July 01, 2005

Damn it's hot! The pretty orange sunset light filtering down through the atmosphere and painting the wall above the desk kind of makes up for it though. Kind of.

The kids at camp who have been working all week to perform their plays saw their efforts come to fruition today. The three plays were brief, but the kids all enjoyed taking part in the experience. Two of them were structured like myths, with one being about why there are white and brown doves and the other being about why the octupus changes colors. The third one was more of a moral lesson about why fighting will get you nowhere. The kid who had been misbehaving all week played a hobo, and actually did a really good job. Of course, before the play he was running wildly after a frightened wild turkey, and after it he was puking on the walkway. Maybe the upset stomach was karmic payback for scaring the turkey. It mellowed him out for awhile at least.

And now for a long weekend. I don't start the next camp until Tuesday. Time to recover from whatever it is that ails me.

Hey. The light on the wall is gone already.