I went for a hike with Willow and Alex last weekend, choosing the trails at the upper end of Sanborn Park as our destination. We could probably have fried eggs in the sun, and under the canopy it was still warm, but bearably so. Now, Nathan is the only one of the siblings who hasn't come hiking with me during the pandemic. When I started this blog, Alex was 6 and Willow was nearly half a year away from being born. Now, Alex is in his mid-twenties and Willow is 18. Not that I have either constantly or consistently posted updates, but still... (a quick aside, apparently one dates oneself when using an ellipsis properly - a volunteer counselor at camp this week mentioned that it appears ominous when received in a text, like the tension-filled pause before the other shoe drops)
It's always nice to hike with Willow and any of the old stepkids who are available to come along. I might be the least busy of the bunch these days, since I rarely make weekend plans, choosing instead to be free to act on whims, which usually means leaving the house before 8:00 AM and going birding. Oddly enough, I caught a gopher snake while birding yesterday, but only long enough to brush the spider webs from its head (it looked like it had crawled through some dense webbing). I let it go off the trail so nobody would accidentally step on it or run it over.
Week three of summer camp is behind us. Our iNaturalist project created to document the varied life found on and around our trails is currently at 779 species. I'm currently learning how to differentiate species of Yellowjacket (3 different species so far). At least one camper has created an iNaturalist account after seeing the project. He hasn't observed anything yet though.
The fire season is well underway, with reports of fires throughout the west, although none have hit close to home... yet (see what I did there?). The Pacific Northwest is sweltering under unreasonable heat, and the drought conditions are sure to make the coming months interesting.
Written to the languid strains of Boris "Boris at Last - Feedbacker"
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