It's been a busy weekend again. I led an extra night hike on Friday night for some high school kids from the Silicon Valley chapter of the NAACP. Due to time constraints, it was only about 45 minutes long. We were slowed by rain, which brought the California Newts onto the trail. I had to move 21 of them out of the way as we walked.
Then, this morning, I went back and helped supervise a pond/stream study with the same kids. This is when we discovered the ball of newts pictured here. It made the kids giggle. Again though, we only had about 45 minutes to do our thing, so the whole activity was rather rushed. Still, we had fun and the pay was quite good. The group is building up towards doing a creek clean-up project later this year, and possibly other stewardship projects. Good for them!
After I got back home, we finally got the girls out of the house and took them to the children's museum, where they got to play for a couple of hours. We are often guilty of not planning ahead for weekends and letting them slide by without the kids getting out of the house. That's what we get for being too busy to think.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Curly Tail
This is an Arboreal salamander. It demonstrated its climbing skill for us by using its little toes to easily grip the vertical side of the rock we found it under. I've only found a few other Arboreals, and this one is by far the biggest and prettiest. I also have vague memories of finding one of these when I was a little science camper myself. This gets "find of the week" status.
The same day we found this, I saw another Coyote, this time from my car. I managed to get a bad photo of its butt.
The kids this week are an interesting mixture of good students and slackers, but then that's pretty much always the case. I've been both myself. I did have a good exchange with one boy as we passed some of the large, mansion-like houses on the way back from the reservoir today. I asked him if he would like to live in a house like that, and he replied that it would be a waste of money, and that he would like to live in something much smaller. It's refreshing to know that some kids realize that bigger is not always better.
The same day we found this, I saw another Coyote, this time from my car. I managed to get a bad photo of its butt.
The kids this week are an interesting mixture of good students and slackers, but then that's pretty much always the case. I've been both myself. I did have a good exchange with one boy as we passed some of the large, mansion-like houses on the way back from the reservoir today. I asked him if he would like to live in a house like that, and he replied that it would be a waste of money, and that he would like to live in something much smaller. It's refreshing to know that some kids realize that bigger is not always better.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
...Nevermore
The ravens have been hanging around a lot lately. We often hear them croaking from up in the branches of a big Douglas Fir tree over near the garden. Today a pair of them decided to spend some time on the roof above the girls' shower room. They didn't hang around long after I noticed them. They're too smart to have anything to do with human beings.
Speaking of smart, the guy who modified the sign pictured in this post left a comment. Small world.
Speaking of smart, the guy who modified the sign pictured in this post left a comment. Small world.
Yesterday, I spent a few hours at a first aid/CPR class hosted by my weekend job. This is a good thing for a couple of reasons: Since I work with children, I need to have first aid/CPR certification for both jobs, and I would hate not knowing how to help somebody I love should that need ever arise. The funniest thing we learned was that occasionally somebody will call 411 to ask what the number to 911 is.
Perhaps these people needed somebody to remind them how to breathe. I can envision the conversation now. "Was that in and out, or in, in, and then halfway out. Do I need to be standing on my head while doing this?"
Perhaps these people needed somebody to remind them how to breathe. I can envision the conversation now. "Was that in and out, or in, in, and then halfway out. Do I need to be standing on my head while doing this?"
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
A coworker got rear-ended while stopped at a stoplight on her way to work today. What made this accident particularly outrageous is that the woman who hit her not only finished the phone call she was in the middle of when the accident happened, but actually made a second call before dealing with the matter at hand. She never even asked my coworker if she was hurt (thankfully she wasn't).
I would have been tempted to grab her little phone and bounce it off the asphalt.
On a brighter note, we saw a coyote during field class today. I'd say about two thirds of the kids got to see it before it disappeared up the hill. I think our group must have awakened it from where it was sleeping in a stand of Redwoods off the side of the trail. It didn't stick around. Some of the kids thought it was a fox. Of course, some of the kids this week have asked if they are likely to get eaten by bears while on a hike.
I would have been tempted to grab her little phone and bounce it off the asphalt.
On a brighter note, we saw a coyote during field class today. I'd say about two thirds of the kids got to see it before it disappeared up the hill. I think our group must have awakened it from where it was sleeping in a stand of Redwoods off the side of the trail. It didn't stick around. Some of the kids thought it was a fox. Of course, some of the kids this week have asked if they are likely to get eaten by bears while on a hike.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Ice
For the first time in my memory, the pond at work froze. Many of you reading this (all 2 or 3 of you) might find this a non-topic, but you've got to remember that this is California we're talking about here. Things don't often freeze in California, unless you're up in the mountains. Of course, the ice is only about a centimeter thick, but I was still pretty excited to see it. Maybe it will kill the duckweed.
Tonight it's raining, which sort of caught us by surprise. We had to interrupt the campfire program and shift all of the kids out of the amphitheater and into the picnic shelter. Our boss called to warn us to be careful of ice on the road, and sure enough there was some just where she said there would be. Road crews had thoughtfully scattered sand across it to improve traction, but I still slid a tiny bit. I drive like a Californian, I guess. Ice doesn't often figure into the equation around here.
Tonight it's raining, which sort of caught us by surprise. We had to interrupt the campfire program and shift all of the kids out of the amphitheater and into the picnic shelter. Our boss called to warn us to be careful of ice on the road, and sure enough there was some just where she said there would be. Road crews had thoughtfully scattered sand across it to improve traction, but I still slid a tiny bit. I drive like a Californian, I guess. Ice doesn't often figure into the equation around here.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
The girls got new toys today, and we picked up some movies too, which meant that we had to spend a fair amount of time cutting plastic, untaping cardboard, and peeling away little strips of adhesive. The process left us with a heap of detritus destined for the recycling bins and trash can. This reminded me of a conversation I had with my mom a couple of weeks ago, when she mentioned that her mom, who lived on Cape Cod, didn't have garbage service. Instead, she had to go to the landfill when her garbage can was full. For her, this served as bonus social time. For most people however, I'm sure the idea of weekly dump visits would rank right down there with emergency dentistry or cleaning under the refrigerator.
That got me to thinking. If I was king (no elected official could hope to get away with this) I would remove all garbage service, making it necessary for everybody to drive their garbage and recycling to a central location, be it the landfill or a recycling facility. In a short amount of time, people would stop buying products with excessive packaging. If alternatives to certain products weren't an option, angry letters would be generated. Campaigns would be mounted and boycotts put in effect. Companies would stop wasting resources.
It would even be worth the additional fuel consumption required to make it happen. In fact, the extra expenditure on gas would get people even more worked up and lead to even more immediate results.
Think about it for a moment. Think of the resources that are squandered to make sure your purchases aren't nicked or dinged. Think about products like lunchables, where you end up with more plastic and cardboard than you do food (calling what lies within "food" is kind of stretching the definition anyway). Think about this the next time you have to find the scissors to cut through molded plastic. Lets not even get started on toys that are so trussed up as to appear inappropriate for their intended demographic.
Sure, we have made some headway. Anybody remember when cds came in longboxes? Of course, that was so they would fit in the same shelves that once held records. Pubic outcry, if I remember it right, was at least partially responsible for the end of the longbox. Some companies even offer customers the option of less (or no) packaging. I got a cool little tripod (or Gorillapod, as it is called) for Christmas from Jen, which if funny because I got one for her too. When I ordered it for her, I was able to pick the cheaper no-packaging option. This is good. More companies should do this.
Anyway, if I were king, people would really think twice about buying anything with packaging. Who wants to have to drive to the dump or the recycling center every week? Companies, faced with boycotts and angry letters, would have to change in order to survive.
But I'm not king, am I? I'm just one more person typing away in the middle of the night when he should be doing something more productive. Or maybe this is productive. If you're reading this, think about looking for more minimally packaged alternatives the next time you go shopping. Hit them where it hurts.
That got me to thinking. If I was king (no elected official could hope to get away with this) I would remove all garbage service, making it necessary for everybody to drive their garbage and recycling to a central location, be it the landfill or a recycling facility. In a short amount of time, people would stop buying products with excessive packaging. If alternatives to certain products weren't an option, angry letters would be generated. Campaigns would be mounted and boycotts put in effect. Companies would stop wasting resources.
It would even be worth the additional fuel consumption required to make it happen. In fact, the extra expenditure on gas would get people even more worked up and lead to even more immediate results.
Think about it for a moment. Think of the resources that are squandered to make sure your purchases aren't nicked or dinged. Think about products like lunchables, where you end up with more plastic and cardboard than you do food (calling what lies within "food" is kind of stretching the definition anyway). Think about this the next time you have to find the scissors to cut through molded plastic. Lets not even get started on toys that are so trussed up as to appear inappropriate for their intended demographic.
Sure, we have made some headway. Anybody remember when cds came in longboxes? Of course, that was so they would fit in the same shelves that once held records. Pubic outcry, if I remember it right, was at least partially responsible for the end of the longbox. Some companies even offer customers the option of less (or no) packaging. I got a cool little tripod (or Gorillapod, as it is called) for Christmas from Jen, which if funny because I got one for her too. When I ordered it for her, I was able to pick the cheaper no-packaging option. This is good. More companies should do this.
Anyway, if I were king, people would really think twice about buying anything with packaging. Who wants to have to drive to the dump or the recycling center every week? Companies, faced with boycotts and angry letters, would have to change in order to survive.
But I'm not king, am I? I'm just one more person typing away in the middle of the night when he should be doing something more productive. Or maybe this is productive. If you're reading this, think about looking for more minimally packaged alternatives the next time you go shopping. Hit them where it hurts.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Frosty Leaf
We're already eleven days into the new year and for some reason I haven't found the time or inclination to post here. I've been thinking about what I want to accomplish this year, artistically and otherwise. So far it's all just ideas scrabbling for purchase inside my head: ideas for novels, ideas for teaching, ideas about time and money and whipping the house into shape. In the midst of all of this mental activity, reality squats like a vaguely sinister pagan idol. People keep getting sick. Work demands time and energy. The house keeps mysteriously uncleaning itself. Kids demand water when I'm in the middle of typing a post... *sigh* I'll be right back.
Okay, where was I? I started the year out in the usual way, playing music at midnight with Matt and Greg. This year we drove out to Almaden Quicksilver park and crawled up inside one of the old cement towers (damned if I can remember what their role in the quicksilver mining process was) left over from the mining days. The tower serves quite well as an echo chamber, and we spent about 45 to 50 minutes monkeying around inside it before calling it a night. At home, Jen stayed up with the boys and an ear infection. New Year's Day found us all hanging around and doing nothing in particular (besides cooking, eating, and going to the park). It was a good way to get the 2007 ball rolling.
The ball rolled right into the work week for me, and that work week rolled into the next. This week is what most of the staff refer to as "all saints week" due to the fact that five different catholic schools are staying at camp. We're teaching them evolution anyway. Some of them sure are homesick though. Tonight's their last night before getting to go home and see their families again, so if they can survive the below freezing temperatures (the picture at the top was taken at noon today) and lack of mommies and daddies overnight, they'll see their families tomorrow.
Oh, and a belated happy new year to all. Jen informs me that this is national delurking week, so if you're one of the handful of people who visits this page, feel free to say hello.
Okay, where was I? I started the year out in the usual way, playing music at midnight with Matt and Greg. This year we drove out to Almaden Quicksilver park and crawled up inside one of the old cement towers (damned if I can remember what their role in the quicksilver mining process was) left over from the mining days. The tower serves quite well as an echo chamber, and we spent about 45 to 50 minutes monkeying around inside it before calling it a night. At home, Jen stayed up with the boys and an ear infection. New Year's Day found us all hanging around and doing nothing in particular (besides cooking, eating, and going to the park). It was a good way to get the 2007 ball rolling.
The ball rolled right into the work week for me, and that work week rolled into the next. This week is what most of the staff refer to as "all saints week" due to the fact that five different catholic schools are staying at camp. We're teaching them evolution anyway. Some of them sure are homesick though. Tonight's their last night before getting to go home and see their families again, so if they can survive the below freezing temperatures (the picture at the top was taken at noon today) and lack of mommies and daddies overnight, they'll see their families tomorrow.
Oh, and a belated happy new year to all. Jen informs me that this is national delurking week, so if you're one of the handful of people who visits this page, feel free to say hello.