Killing and Biting, Plus A Kitten

Over the last week, we have had a few days of almost-rain, with just enough water falling from the sky to pit the dust, giving it a cratered appearance somewhat like the surface of the moon. The temperature has been vacillating back and forth between unseasonably hot and crisply autumnal. Autumn is, after all, a transitional season, although it remains to be seen what kind of winter we'll transition to this year. The possible impacts of the current El Nino have been in the news, but it's all just talk until the effects are actually felt.

A couple of noteworthy events, both of which I found out about second hand due to my nocturnal schedule, have happened at work over the last couple of weeks. I found out early last week (or was it the week before?) that one of my coworkers found a dead Mountain Lion over by the creek. He initially reported that it had been shot, which is worrying, because that means that somebody was wandering around with a gun in the hills above camp. If a ranger or somebody else official had shot it (which wouldn't have been any better), the carcass would have been removed. The Santa Cruz Puma Project people were called in to investigate, and they reported that, no, it hadn't been shot. It had been killed by another Mountain Lion. Mountain Lions are very territorial, so this does happen occasionally.

Last Wednesday, one of the night hike groups heard a Mountain Lion, so it was probably the voice of the killer.

The other noteworthy event happened the same Wednesday, to a kid in the same group. Down by the pond, this kid started hassling a small snake, reportedly poking at it until it bit him. Unfortunately for the kid, he picked the wrong snake to hassle, so for the first time in our history, a camper got bitten by a rattlesnake. The incident was handled well, with an immediate 911 call being made. The camper got one vial of antivenin and reportedly will have no lasting repercussions from his little misadventure. From what I heard, the fellow members of his field class weren't surprised at his lapse of judgement, and didn't want to send him get well cards.

There is also a nest of rattlesnakes under a boulder near our front gate. I'm in the field again this week (another last minute staffing snafu - I awoke to an e-mail and a voice message this morning), so I'll check the area out at some point.

My own work weeks have been very routine, with nothing much of interest happening. I get to work, hang out with my swing shift friends, Weasel and Tiger Lily, and then share space with our security guard, Apple Juice, until it's time to wake the kids up. I've been waking the kids up with some poorly-played trombone music, although I bought a kazoo horn for a dollar at the Clown Club auction on Thursday, so on Friday morning I discovered that yes, it is possible to wake up 150 kids with a kazoo. What fun!

At home, we have a new resident. His name is Brian. He looks like this:

A friend of Jeanine's found Brain abandoned at a campsite. He was originally going to be part of a trade because Jeanine was trying to give away our young roosters. As it ended up, somebody else took the roosters but we got the kitten anyway. We have one possible rooster left. it's just androgynous enough that we can't tell the gender. If it starts crowing, it's going to have to move.