Okay, almost through last week now...

Thursday morning, after dropping five kids off at two different schools, I drive to work in the increasing rain.
Once I get there, I have to make myself a lunch (I throw together a veggie sausage patty with some cream cheese on a pita) and pack snacks for the all day (actually about 5 and a half hours) hike. I put 23 apples in a crate, plus two backs of pretzels, a bag of trail mix, and a bag of carrots and celery. I take this to our meeting site, along with a white board inscribed with directions for campers (fill water bottles, chase coyotes & bears, etc.). The idea behind the white board is that the kids can read it as they come to the meeting site and have everything done before I even get there. After all of the staff have gotten ready, we converge on the amphitheater and sing a song called the chiggy cheer, which is about as silly as it sounds. It gets the kids moving and helps make their dismissal into the dining hall to make sandwiches less chaotic. We try to avoid chaos.
Eventually the kids all filter back out and make their way to meeting spots. I have to go grab a couple more rain coats for kids, and nobody has read the sign I left, so it's one thing after another as the kids mill around like bemused farm animals. Eventually everybody is ready to go. We hike up the hill across from the meadow, and stop in Shelter grove to play Oh Deer, a game about the causes of population fluctuation. We play for awhile, and I graph "population" changes as the kids go from being "deer" to being limiting factors, and back again. Afterwards, I explain my graph and we discuss whether or not human populations have limiting factors. I ask the kids if they think there is a carrying capacity for human beings. Discussion ensues. I get to be the bringer of bad news again, but I try to keep it short.
From there, we hike up Switchbacks in the gentle rain. Looking up we can see mist in the trees. Many of the kids think it is beautiful. So do I. We arrive at the junction of Switchbacks and Banana Slug Way for lunch. It's still raining, perhaps even a little harder than before. We sit down at the base of some large Douglas Fir trees and eat. After awhile, I get out some Mexican spice and cheddar cheese flavored mealworms for the kids to eat, just in case anybody felt they got cheated out of a genuine worm-eating experience on the night hike. Surprisingly, most of the kids eat them. I'm going to have to order more.
After we separate our trash from our recycling and pack everything away, I explain to the kids about the upcoming solo hike. Due to the rain, I elect to go down Banana Slug Way, rather than continue up the Switchbacks towards Rock Outcrop. This will save us over an hour of hiking time, and I'll be able to get back in time for the kids to do some journal writing out of the rain. I ask the kids why they thing we're going to do a solo hike. Many of them have good answers. They mostly agree that it gives them a chance to experience the woods without the distraction of other people, and most of them are excited about this chance. A few of them are nervous, but that's expected. I leave them in the care of Terra and walk down the hill, leaving cards (which serve as trail markers and often contain reviews of concepts learned earlier in the week) on the ground every thirty feet or so. I stop where the trail crosses over Todd Creek, and wait. The kids arrive one by one, with only a few of them walking too close together. Once they arrive, I set some boundaries and let them explore the creek. This proves to be a lot of fun. When Terra arrives with the cards, I realize that she has forgotten to pick one up, so I hike back to find it, leaving her in charge once more. Once we're all back together, we hike back down, counting newts and playing the Downhill game as we go. Soon we're back near camp. By the pond, there is a squashed newt in the road. We discuss it, and hold an impromptu funeral service.
Back at camp, I let the kids go change out of wet clothes and tell them to meet in one of the cabins. Once we are all together again, I assign some journal pages, including an essay about the night hike. They get to work. Some of the kids are giggly, and after awhile a couple of the girls start giving the boys new hair styles. I check journal work as people finish, and rein everybody back in for a quick adaptation lesson using plastic animals. The kids have to write down adaptations that their animals possess. Most of them do it. Some of them seem to know nothing about the animals they have been given.
Class ends. I collect journals, stop by the dining hall to filch some milk and cookies (the kids get a milk and cookie break after field class), put my radio back, and hit the road.

Friday morning I get to work at around 8:40. I fill out an evaluation for Terra (all good marks - she has been great all week), put stickers on the kids' journals and put them in boxes with the Rikers projects so that they can be taken back to school by the classroom teachers, write down a couple of final 4c awards (forgetting to fill out certificates), and go grab some coffee cake from the dining hall where the campers are still having breakfast.
When field class starts, we circle up inside a different cabin. Usually I do an eco action (something to help the Earth) with my group on Fridays, but I decide to count our mid-week Periwinkle pulling as our group's eco action because we're getting a late start. Instead, we have an extended closing circle. Everybody is instructed to share a favorite moment from the week and/or something they learned. Being fifth graders, most of them choose to say what their favorite moment was. The usual moments are all there - night hike, dance, solo hike, etc. One kid says he liked Oh Deer the best. Terra emotionally informs the group that this week was the best week of her life. Some of the kids agree. I am happy that we get a closing circle that doesn't feel rushed. I tell the kids that I wish they could stay longer. Every Friday, I feel like I'm just getting to really know some of the kids, and then they're gone.
We head back to the dining hall for the closing ceremony. Eco action representatives from each of the groups report on what their group did, final 4c awards are read, the winners of the Stellar Cabins award are revealed (cabins kept neatest all week, coupled with other cabin points awarded by the hub host and night host), cabin leaders and teachers are thanked, Banana Slug is sung, followed by Shooting Star, which always causes some of the kids to cry. Our principal says some final words, and we form a goodbye line outside the dining hall. Soon, the kids are walking down the line. Mostly we get high fives. Some of the kids hug us. Some are crying. The cabin leaders, who are supposed to be part of the line, are over in the picnic shelter. The kids find them there. The teachers try to organize their students and get them to leave. Eventually they succeed and camp is quiet again. I pack up all of the lost and found and put it in the trunk of a teacher's car. Other staff members are busy at various tasks. Things are swept, sorted, and put away for the weekend.
I meet with Terra for a final time. She signs her evaluation (which will be sent to her school) and we talk awhile. She wants to work for the U.N. when she gets older. Good for her! I say goodbye and go get lunch. The staff from our other site arrives. Our Friday meeting begins. Apparently there was a power outage Thursday night. We have a generator, but it failed to kick in. Dinner was eaten by lantern light. I notice while glancing at the camp evaluations filled out by the teachers that at least a couple of them were so impressed by the lantern-lit atmosphere that they want it to become a regular thing. Our facility manager, Walrus, talks about why the generator wasn't working. Apparently one of the feral cats that helps keep the mouse population down around the dining hall crawled inside the generator to get out of the rain and ended up getting pretty well cooked. Walrus said he had to get it out piece by piece, and every time he tossed a piece to the ground, a Raccoon would sidle up and grab it, running off to stash it someplace before coming back for more.
Walrus then takes us on a safety walk around the site, showing us a new emergency generator and a mobile first aid cabinet. He then shows us how to turn off the water and the propane tanks in case of an earthquake. Eventually we arrive back at the staff room and sign-ups for next week happen. I take my paycheck and go home.

That's it, except for my weekend job, which this weekend amounted to a Saturday evening science party for an eight year old girl and her hyper friends. It was a lot of fun, and her dad tipped me forty bucks. I spent it by going to see Tyva Kyzy play at the Great American Music Hall. Review will follow shortly on my music site.