Transitioning

The second week of June is usually a week of transitions, this June was no exception. At work, this week is referred to as "summer camp set-up week", and we were all hard at work putting away the science camp things and wiping the dust and cobwebs from the summer camp things. There were an alarming number of mice nesting in corners of sheds and storage rooms. One was molding at the bottom of a bucket, and another was mummified in a trap. The week, of course, had meetings and updates of various sorts, including a meeting addressing changes in our routines brought about as a result of the topic I addressed a couple of posts ago. This year, there will be a security guard on duty during our Thursday camp-out, and the Rule of 3 (no staff members or counselor volunteers are ever allowed to be alone with campers) is now in place as a policy. We also have a new bus stop, which is over at the local high school rather than at the elementary school we've been using up until this summer. This is good news, because the additional space in the parking lot and the general layout of the area we'll be using means we can spend less (or no) time directing traffic and reminding parents that no, they're not entitled to run over traffic cones or send their children running into traffic. In short, summer is looking good.

The other transitions that happened this week were the middle school graduations of both of my stepdaughters. Eva's graduation happened on Wednesday afternoon, and it actually rained for the duration of the ceremony, meaning that we were soaked to the skin by the time it was over. Many parents at the ceremony displayed the class and refinement of the kind of people usually encountered at Walmart (this is based videos I've seen online, since I've never shopped at Walmart and never will). Their lack of situational awareness was such that we couldn't see the stage due to umbrellas and people crowding to the front in the aisles. I can understand people wanting to take pictures of their kids, but at least a couple of women simply stood up in the aisles and recorded the entire ceremony while the people behind them stared at their backs. Despite getting soaked, it was great that we got some rain.

The next evening, it was Sophie's turn to graduate, this time under the hot sun. Finally, I thought, I won't be stuck behind a bunch of umbrellas! Wrong. There were a number of people who brought umbrellas to keep the sun from their patrician countenances. Thankfully, before the ceremony began, they were told to put them away.

The ceremonies were similar, although Eva's was perhaps a bit more rushed due to the rain, and shorter due to the smaller number of graduates. Heartfelt speeches were given by students and administrators, and people were generally in celebratory moods. One chapter has ended, and another has begun. In two years, it will be Willow's turn.

At work yesterday, I discovered that the hole at the edge of our lower field is once again home to at least one rattlesnake. I didn't move it because it was inside the hole, and thus harder to catch, but I plan to try to relocate it on Monday. Just as I was leaving though, I was told that there was a rattlesnake in the garden, eating a mouse. By the time I got down there, it had gotten nervous, abandoned its meal, and vanished under one of the rock borders separating pathway from plants. The counselors who had been working in the garden showed me where it had gone, and in short order I had captured it. I left it in a bucket with its meal, in the care of one of my coworkers, with the hope that it might resume eating. I'm betting that it didn't, but I figured it was worth a try.

Later, at home, Jeanine found a Black Widow in the process of making a web in the kitchen, between the dishwasher and the cabinets, right at ankle level. We now have a pet Black Widow. We're calling her Agnes. Later, I realized that California has two dangerously venomous native species, and yesterday, I had to catch one of each. What are the odds of that? With me, actually pretty good, apparently.