The Wind in the Avocados

My job is tied to the school year, although school has been in session for nearly a month and our first day of summer camp is today. Our inservice week was last week, and coincided with a mini-heatwave, with temperatures climbing into the triple digits. For once, it didn't really matter, because around 90% of the time, we were inside, listening to people talk. Now that the Office of Education has turned its gaze directly upon us, an attempt has been made (and I paraphrase a co-worker here) to "fit a square peg into a round hole" and make our jobs more traditional in structure. The job of a naturalist (or anybody who works at a camp) is by its very nature, flexible in terms of hours worked. Going forward, more attention is being paid to the administrative side of things, and our schedules have all changed to reflect this. My schedule is among the few that has actually improved, in that I'll be working fewer hours but still getting paid the same. Of course, in the past I'd sometimes be at work for 12 hours straight but only get paid for 10, a fact that I didn't complain about because on an average night, I'd probably only work for a couple of hours, with a vast swathe of free time in between.

So, this week we got information about mandated reporting, hashed out the schedule changes, got reminded of our duties as Disaster Service Workers (which simply means that if disaster strikes, we can't abandon the kids in our care), re-upped our first aid and CPR certifications, got treated to Ethiopian food for lunch (a highlight), weeded the garden (which was nice after all of the sitting), and hashed out the schedule changes some more. The humorous part was watching a room full of active people squirm through hours of inactivity. That included myself, of course, but it helps to see the humor in uncomfortable situations. It makes them more bearable.

Sunday was our open house, during which parents and students come up to tour the site. I brought Willow along, and she amused herself by coloring, doing homework (okay, that part wasn't too amusing), and coming along when I took a group of parents and kids down to the nature lab. From my perspective (and from the perspectives of everybody else I talked to), the day went smoothly. We're more or less ready for the school year now, despite some lingering concerns about the new schedule.

Willow had a soccer game this weekend too. Did I mention that she's playing soccer at the moment? Her team won, scoring the only goal of the game.

Today is windy and cool, and punctuated by the sounds of avocados hitting the ground. The tree was creaking so alarmingly that I went out in my slippers and did some quick pruning, pulling enough avocados from the pile of branches I created that we filled a box.

Shortly afterward, a different branch snapped off and hit the fence. Fortunately, the fence is strong and didn't get knocked over. Perhaps even more fortunately, nobody had parked on the other side of it.

All of these things falling from the sky are irritating the chickens, who especially kicked up a fuss while I was pruning. Four of the five chicks have proven to be roosters, and Jeanine has already found people willing to take them off of our hands. For now though, they are rampaging around our yard.