Jen is sick with some sort of stomach pain, and I took the afternoon off work so she could have it checked out. We're hoping it has nothing to do with her appendix.
As for me, I'm just tired. Greg and I went to the wedding of Dan and Nieves up in Petrolia this weekend. We left after work on Friday and got home around mid-day yesterday, sleeping very little in between. The wedding itself was beautiful, with beautiful people and stunning surroundings. Attendance was divided between the mountain folk of Petrolia and Salmon River, and the smoky venue-dwelling creative types of the San Francisco bay area, with a few people coming in from even farther afield. Greg and I got there after midnight, just missing a set by Faun Fables (who, coincidentally enough, played for us when Jen and I got married). We slept on the floor of a converted barn, which also served as the band stage and dancing area. It was probably the best sleep I've ever gotten while on bare, plank flooring. The next day held the ceremony itself, some wandering around down to the nearby Mattole river, lots of marvelous food, a multitude of conversations, a short hike, and a rousing, nearly 3 hour set by Rube Waddell. Afterwards, Greg and I slept in the car. My plan to have the cold wake me up in time for the drive home worked perfectly. At 5 AM I turned the key in the ignition and we set out for home, stopping briefly in the Humboldt County Redwoods to ogle the "Tall Tree" (359 feet) and the "Giant Tree" (of impressive, but momentarily forgotten circumference), as well as the "Flat Iron Tree" which, having been laying on its side for 12 years or so, was sort of flat, I guess. Photos can't do justice to these trees. I took pictures anyway, of course. The Redwood forests up in Northern California make the one around my work look pretty tiny. Driving through them at night on the way there was amazing. We even saw some critters which I thought were Ringtails or Martens. After doing a bit of online research, I'm still not sure what they were. They could even have been young Foxes. The only definite Fox we saw was on the way back. It was a Grey Fox (which, just to be confusing, have some red on them). I can now cross them off my list of animals I have yet to see in the wild. At the wedding itself, one of the children there found a cluster of Coast Garter snakes. This excited me almost as much as it excited the kids, and I took lots of pictures. They've got a lot more orange than the local Santa Cruz Aquatic Garter snakes do. I also found a small Gopher snake dying on the road, making it the second dying Gopher snake I've come across in the last week (the first being at work, discovered by a co-worker in the process of expiring after obviously being run over by car). This Gopher snake was little more than 6 inches long, and seemed to have no life in the front half of its body. It did wind its tail around my finger when I picked it up though. Strange and sad.
On the wedding night the crescent moon smiled down on Venus, the Goddess of Love. The photo accompanying this post was taking the morning after as we drove home.
I wish that Jen and the kids could have come. Our lives these days seem to be all about taking turns doing things rather than doing them together.
On the subject of kids, I recently got a mother Emperor scorpion with a back full of babies. This resulted from me asking about them at the pet store when I went to get food for the other animals, and being told I could have them for $20 because the guy who runs the store didn't want the extra work of caring for them. It should be interesting to watch them grow up.
I should really post more often here. Things happen and, being nearly 40, I forget them. The kids at science camp are done with their testing for the year, and they're obviously ready for summer. We've been finding lots of snakes and such, and generally having a good time. Still waiting on word of when they're hiring for the next position with benefits. Soon, I hope.
More later.
No comments:
Post a Comment