Yep. I spent the day filling in for the janitor. While cleaning toilets, I kept having this strange compulsion to march, which I blame on the fact that high school marching band members were practicing their drumming on the field nearby. Unfortunately, it is impossible to do these two things at once, both physically and psychologically.

Later, after spending a good chunk of the money we got for the van on food at Trader Joe's, we came home to find a new snake on the doorstep. It was in the cage that I'd transferred the Bullfrog tadpoles from. I'd left the cage outside because it belongs to the school, and I have yet to return it. Being a procrastinator, I haven't gotten around to actually putting it in my car or anything. Good thing too. After going inside and checking the messages, we, as I suspected, found out that K had gotten a call from her old neighbors about a snake in their yard. She'd gone to check it out and found a California Kingsnake, not her sister's python like she had been expecting. I suspect this particular Kingsnake, native though it is, probably escaped from somebody's house. Some kid probably caught it, and being inexperienced, put it in an improperly secured cage. It would be unusual to find a wild snake that far into suburbia on its own. Unusual, but not impossible, of course. Anyway, I'm going to let it go up in the hills.

Life's little surprises...

Today I got paid for hanging out at a barbeque. Okay, I actually had to drive various barbeque-related items over to the hostel adjacent to our site, and I had to light the grille. Poor me. I also got to eat barbequed veggie burgers and help myself to soda and cookies. Poor, poor me. I am so overworked.

This was the first time I'd been inside the hostel. I've been walking past it for years, but have never before had a reason to go inside. It has a beautiful, log-cabin exterior, and as my co-worker said, "it's kind of like visiting grandma's house." It really takes you back in time. In the trees, a pair of ravens held a long-winded conversation. On the ground, some doofus blocked me in with his SUV. When I asked him to move, he drove to the other end of the parking lot and blocked in the lady who runs the hostel. She called him all sorts of unpleasant names, but not to his face since by that time he was off galavanting around out of earshot. If people still rode horses instead of these steel monsters this sort of thing would never happen.

Then I spent the afternoon being a janitor because the real janitor had hurt his foot. Perhaps he hurt it kicking members of the band camp who don't seem to get the concept of recycling.

After I got home, we went to the park for a birthday celebration for Jen's stepdad. The kids had fun. The cake had inches of frosting. The sunlight slanted through the trees. Night fell. Home again, home again. I don't think the coffee will help much tonight.

This may look like a ghost wearing a lampshade, but it's actually Willow bouncing on the couch, something she does incessantly, giggling all the while.

(Short break while we scramble around trying to find all of the various paperwork and keys for the van so one of the 7 million people who responded within 20 minutes or so to the ad Jen just posted on Craigslist can buy it when he gets here)

I'm tired this week. We've still been staying up too late watching Six Feet Under. I participated in another rehearsal on Saturday, and worked half a day on Sunday, moving shade structures and lugging stuff around. When I got home, Jen went to her friend's birthday party and I hung out with Willow, who stayed up until eleven or so. The weekend passed like a half-seen insect darting past a porchlight.

Today, before we got down to the business of sorting out the summer camp stuff from the outdoor school stuff, the facilities manager took me up to the old Pick estate, which is where our school got it's name. It's been fifty years since the old geologist Vernon Pick occupied it, although I hear tell that the government had some secret doings on the site afterwards. Sounds like a tall-tale, and maybe it is, but it does lend the site a certain mystique. Mysterious past or not, I really love poking around inside dilapidated buildings. The estate is up on a hillside, with stone courtyards and stairways, now overgrown with juniper bushes and littered with leaves. Most of the original stonework is under a healthy layer of duff now, so one can only imagine what it must have looked like when it was in use for something other than a place for park rangers to dump broken or unneeded stuff. The roofs are bowed under half a century of pine needles, and the windows gape blackly. Inside is a darkened jumble of shattered glass, broken wood, and other unidentifiable detritus. Somewhere out back there is a bomb shelter, which is apparently walled off inside, hiding deeper and darker recesses. Lovely. I bet it's full of bats too. I'll have to hike up there with a camera sometime. Trees hide many details. Stone and rotted wood peeks out here and there. Beautiful.

(Oh, and by the way, a guy just stopped by and handed us $500 for our old van. He's picking it up tomorrow. I get to park in the driveway again! We can buy groceries too!)

We also stopped by the water tank, which is fed by a well. The pump was off, indicating that for once it was full. We climbed up on to to see for ourselves. I don't get to do that when I hike up there with kids, so I enjoyed the view from the top for the first time. The tank is important to us because it's where we get all of our water. We share it with the hostel and the ranger station, but their total use amounts to around 15%.
The rest of the day was less interesting, with more cleaning and lugging and sorting. Oh, and helping campers from previous weeks sort through mountains of lost and found items. After some fruitful searching, one mom bought five of our little fundraising packets (for the construction of a new lodge and general site overhaul) for $200. It's great to be appreciated. I'm proud to be a part of something that has this kind of grass roots support (okay, so it also has non-grass roots support, but the little individual gestures are more pure somehow).

Tomorrow is the last day of summer camp for the season. Time to put away all of the craft supplies, sunscreen, and pool equipment. Time to gear up for the Fall.
Tonight it doesn't feel like summer. The fog drifted in before eight, smothering the rising moon as it cleared the trees. Bats flitted here and there, decimating the insect population as they went. The last campfire and barbeque went well. It seems so out of time somehow - the families sitting together on the concrete steps of the amphitheatre, the camp songs, silly skits, and raffle. Like a slice of childhood. Of course, many of the items that get raffled off to unsuspecting campers look like they have been sitting in somebody's garage since my childhood. Well, except maybe for the baby shower sign recently uprooted from the side of the road leading up to camp. People are always forgetting to take their signs down. Have an event at the park? Put up lots of signs so your guests can find the way. Afterwards, conveniently forget about your damn signs. When Jen and I got married nearby, you'd better believe that we remembered to take the signs down. Maybe some sixth sense was telling me that if we left them up they'd end up in a summer camp raffle.

The last couple of days have started out with fog and overcast skies, but by noon the grey blanket has been drawn back, revealing the stark, warm blue of August. It still seems a few degrees cooler than last week though, which makes me happy.

I did some teamwork challenge exercises with my group yesterday, which is always interesting with seven year olds. After one particular challenge, during which the kids were supposed to work as a team to get everybody across some "hot lava" on a Tarzan-style swinging rope, I had a group meeting so the kids could air their grievances. More than half of the kids had complaints, such as, "he pushed me," and, "they weren't letting me help," and, "people were cutting in line!" After everybody had gotten a chance to talk, I asked if anybody was willing to fess up to these crimes. The ensuing silence was the quietest I had gotten the group to be all week.
It's the same thing with most adults too. People are always quick to complain, but it's always much harder to look at our own behavior. In the hope that the next generation will be braver at self evaluation than the current one, I have been trying to emphasize solutions over griping with the kids who enter my circle of influence. Solutions often start with some serious self evaluation. Complaining is so easy. Solutions are sometimes impossible.

Speaking of self evaluation, we finished season two of Six Feet Under. Three more to go.

The little guy in the top picture caused a lot of consternation today when it had the bad judgement to hang out near the door to the girl's shower room. It now resides in the grassy area past the pool.

Finally! A cloudy day! A few errant raindrops even found their way down far enough to mar the dust on my windshield while I was driving to work this morning. At around 11 am, the wind picked up too, which can be a scary thing if you're underneath a bunch of trees bone-dry from lack of rain. Sure enough, we could hear loud cracking and snapping underneath the roar of the wind. Up the hill, I could see large branches plummeting down. I think one of them knocked over a small Tan Oak tree as it fell. I was too busy to look closely. The kids, mostly 7 year olds, were all looking around them in wonder at the sudden snowfall of leaves, making it harder to get them out of the forest quickly. Get them out quickly I did though. Later, I found out that another group had actually been struck a glancing blow from a large branch. Thankfully, nobody was seriously hurt.

It never really did get hot today. I took the three older kids and one of their friends on a hike after dinner, leaving poor Willow behind. It's just too hard to watch both The Dickens and Willow around Poison Oak and other wilderness pitfalls. The other kids had fun though, although I had to carry The Dickens for a large portion of the hike. The boys spent a lot of time pretending to see various animals in the bushes. All we actually saw were a few rodents, some lizards, and a large piece of Rattlesnake skin. Nice hike though. The smell of sage is quite strong up there - much more than it is at work. I love it.

The summer is whipping by so fast that the imminent collision with autumn is likely to result in property damage. In less than a month, G, M, and I, with a little help from some friends, are set to participate in a music festival in Seattle. We managed to rehearse yesterday, which will be helpful. After rehearsal, we went on a mission to Rhythm Fusion in Santa Cruz. I had hoped to buy some more nose flutes, since I keep breaking mine. No luck. I was also on the lookout for jaw harps, since I'm also quite adept at breaking them and I'm down to my last one. They had some expensive ones and some cheap ones. I bought a cheap one. In fact, it was a Snoopy jaw harp. It's actually quite rugged, and looks like it can withstand quite a beating. Lastly, both G and I bought soolings, which are a type of Indonesian wind instrument - basically, a long section of bamboo with finger holes and a tricky little mouthpiece. Very relaxing tone though. We got the big ones, around three feet long. As we walked down the street with them, a guy wished us good luck at the gig he must have thought we were walking to. I guess it's not too odd to see guys with long hair carting around strange instruments on the streets of Santa Cruz. Most of them are downtown, playing them, with hats, baskets, or instrument cases placed hopefully nearby. Busking is alive and well here. I hope they all walked to their favorite spots, because if they drove they'd have to earn a lot of money to break even.

I've always said that we'll never really run out of oil, because nobody will be able to afford the last barrel. Hell, most of us probably won't be able to afford gas decades before it comes to that. Part of me hopes that gas goes up to five dollars a gallon so all of the large, gas-guzzling vehicles will be forced to gather dust and bird poop in their driveways. We really do need to find alternatives, don't we? Drilling in Alaska doesn't count. It's like adding another tablespoonful of broth to the soup that is supposed to feed your family for the next generation or two. And, I might add, a dearly bought spoonful of broth indeed. Let's hear it for hybrids, bio-diesel, and this new innovation called walking.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the final week of summer camp for this year. Today, realizing that I hadn't taken any pictures in awhile, I took out the Trans Pecos Ratsnake and let him climb the big, messy palm tree in our yard. He sure has grown. When we got him, he was not much bigger than a pencil.

If you're sitting there saying to yourself, "well, I could really watch some cool scandinavian folk music videos right about now," then you are in luck. Just follow this link.

I took the boys to see A Midsummer Night's Dream last night. It took place in the cafeteria at the old location of Lexy's old school. Lexy, ever the dramatist, shuffled along quietly lamenting, "so many memories, so many memories..."

The cast of the play ranged in age from 6 to 19, and included a couple of good violinists and a gymnast (in the role of Puck). A girl that was in the Nature's Drama camp I taught back in June had a small role as Cobweb, which was how I found out about this performance in the first place. I found it inspiring that there are still kids this age who spend their summers doing this kind of thing. It makes me want to reinvestigate Shakespeare as well. Not sure if that will actually happen, but we'll see.

At the first intermission (the play was about two and a half hours long, with two intermissions) both Lexy and Nate fessed up that they had no idea what was going on. Nate claimed to really enjoy it, but looked crestfallen when he found out that there were two more acts to go. At that point, I explained the story to them a little and told them to watch what the actors were doing. Actions speak louder than words, I guess. By the end of it all, they were having a great time.

I got to sleep in today as well, since Jen needed me to watch the kids so she could go to a dentist appointment. When I finally got to work, it was to discover that one of the big, walk-in freezers behind the dining hall had failed. I helped schlep all of the food over to the other freezer. Unfortunately, the dead freezer was the one with the ice cream. Fortunately, we had milkshakes instead of cones today, mixing the half melted glop with milk.

Next week it's back to doing the summer camp thing. There's actually a cool breeze coming through the window right now. Wonder of wonders!

The Dickens is currently sitting in the bathroom refusing to have her butt wiped. By me, anyway. "I WANT MAMA! YOU GO WAY"

My work day was less strenuous today, but somehow I feel more tired. I think I should start going to sleep earlier than midnight. Oh well, at least I got to spend the morning driving around in the school's air-conditioned van doing errands instead of weed whacking. The rest of the day was given over to helping the janitor cope with the onslaught of the two summer camp groups. Most of the symphony people don't seem to get the concept of recycling, so I'm constantly having to fish around in the trash to rescue bottles and cans. There's always all sorts of other nastiness in the garbage as well. You see people in a much different light after a few days of sifting through their trash. I have to admit that I lost interest in working around 2 PM today. Too hot. Send me on more errands in the van!

We have another large spider living with us. This time it's a Wolf spider, courtesy of Jen's friend K, who is sort of a clearing house for critters. This one was found underneath a desk at a business that her husband's cleaning company was cleaning. It's kind of cute. Willow, who went with me to get it, was really excited about it. Since she was so interested, I got out the other spiders too. She softly petted the Tucson Blonde tarantula, and exclaimed in wonder at the sight of the Costa Rican Zebra tarantula. After a moment, she toddled over and got her Dora the Explorer doll, telling it, "look Dowa! See spider!" Dora didn't seem impressed. But then again what does she know?

Another day of manual labor. I got to use one of those giant, gas-powered weed whackers today, which worked much better than the little electrical one that up to this point was the only weed whacker I had ever whacked weeds with. Almost a tongue twister, that. Anyway, I mowed down all the star thistle in the garden, which would have been quite dangerous if I hadn't been wearing a large, orange pair of chaps and goggles. Imagine thistle heads propelled into the air faster than bullets. As it was, I managed to cover myself in plant juice. I have to admit, it's kind of fun using a weed whacker. It sure does scare the local rodents though.

Afterwards, not feeling quite manly enough, I busted up some wooden pallets with a sledgehammer so that future campfires will have kindling. I stopped when I broke the sledgehammer. It's stupid to do this kind of labor in August. I had to keep raiding the ice machine in the dining hall, my plant- spattered appearance earning dubious looks from the violinists practicing nearby.

When I got home I actually had the place to myself, which is weird. Jen and the kids are off visiting friends on the other side of the hill, where she informs me it's 20 degrees cooler. They should be back soon though. I love having time to myself occasionally, but I miss them. I spent a productive afternoon watching the second season of Six Feet Under on DVD, thanks to Jen's sister who keeps sending such things our way. I glanced at the site when I was looking for the URL to link to, and I think I read a spoiler. You have been warned. Do not follow the link. Ha ha.

When I'm teaching outdoor school or leading a summer camp group, the school/camp site seems relatively small. There are miles of trails branching off from the site in all directions, many of which leave the average 5th or 6th grader gasping for breath. My office is indeed the trails and the trees. Of course, as you can see, our home office could also be classified as wilderness.

This week, however, I find my perceptions turned on their heads. I'm basically working as an assistant to the facilities manager - the guy in charge of making sure everything is working and put away properly. My main task, as I think I've mentioned already, is to make sure the symphony camp and the day camp aren't intruding on each other's territory. Easier said than done. Today there were little clusters of musicians around every corner, dragging chairs from the dining hall so they wouldn't have to sit their musical butts down on the lawn or in the dirt. Imagine, if you will, a large orchestra fractured into little sections and scattered about. Imagine the din as each little cluster of people practices different bits of music, completely independant of what other sections are practicing. After awhile I decided that they should collectively be called "cacophony camp." It actually has a nice ring to it too.

Oops. Went off on a tangent there. What I set out to say is that one's perception of distance increases when one has to carry bulky things like old TVs, rickety tables, food, and large piles of milk crates all over the place. I did some sweeping and whatnot as well. A lot of the kids who were at camp during previous weeks kept asking my why I couldn't take then down to the pond. Some of them were curious about how much I was getting paid for what they obviously perceived as an odious job. Sometimes I find it hard myself not to perceive this type of work as somehow beneath me. I think because of this it is important that I do this type of work when the opportunity presents itself. It actually can be pretty mentally, as well as physically, demanding sometimes. It definitely causes me to look at my work environment in a different way.

For instance, out behind the nature lab there are more fleas per square foot than I've ever seen before. I'm not sure if they had recently jumped ship off a dead or dying animal, or whether they were in town for the flea market, or what, but they sure liked it when stopped to contemplate all of the broken aquariums littering the area. Very itchy. I never would have known this little secret if I'd been off doing summer camp stuff.

I brought home the Bullfrog tadpoles that we caught last week too. I'm not sure what we'll end up doing with them, but the kids were pretty excited. Willow just laughed and laughed and kept grabbing my hand and pushing it into the water so she could watch all the frenzied activity as the tadpoles (and one small frog) rushed to get out of the way. Maybe I'll call the Youth Science Institute and see if they want them. The last thing we need around here is more pets.

We shared our site with another summer camp group last week. It made things kind of crowded, with nearly 300 kids all coming and going. It was a good program though. Apparently the kids were all children of migrant workers - not the kind of people who usually get the opportunity to go to camp during the summer.

This Saturday, I got the opportunity to get some overtime pay by cleaning up the site for the symphony camp that is going to be there until next Friday or so. One of the biggest messes I had to clean up was left behind by the migrant camp leaders. Apparently, they left a box of miscellaneous stuff behind - folders, rosters, craft supplies, posters explaining about the hazards of Poison Oak, Black Widows, and venomous snakes, and a number of bag lunches. Perhaps somebody should have made a poster explaining the hazards of leaving bag lunches outside over night, but then again they weren't the ones who had to clean up the mess. As anybody who has ever spent any time outside camping will tell you, there are animals out in them thar woods who love bag lunches more than campers do. I'm guessing it was Raccoons. The bag lunches, of course, were all torn open and scattered all over the place.

That wasn't the most noxious mess though. The refrigerator in the staff room gets that prize. The staff room changes location from week to week, based on what other camps are sharing the site. The staff room we use during the school year is currently full of cubbies for campers to put their belongings in. We had been using the rooms reserved for the classroom teachers during the year, but the other camp took it over last week, so now we're in the room used by the teenaged "cabin leaders" during the school year. Confused yet? Anyway, somebody brought the refrigerator from the old staff room to the new and didn't plug it back in. It sat in there like that for a week until we carefully put it outside, deftly avoiding the brownish liquid dripping from the bottom of the door. This weekend, feeling brave and looking for something to do, I opened it and, waving the suddenly appearing cloud of flies away, cleaned it out. Most of it went into the compost pile. I feel that I really earned my overtime pay. It makes me think about all of the people out there (including myself at times) who just figure that somebody else will come along and take care of things.

"Hey, don't worry, Bob, the trash fairies will clean that big ol' mess up for you overnight. Hell, they'll even brush your teeth for you if you forget. Take it easy. Relax. Responsibility is for suckers."

At home, it's quiet, except for the constant hum of the fans.

Afternoons at camp bring lots of free choice for the campers. Come to think of it, they bring lots of free choice for the staff as well. We basically just write down what we want to do and somebody eventually transfers it to a big dry-erase message board. Kids read the board and choose whatever they want. Whether or not they'll miss a chance to buy ice cream is usually a big factor in deciding what to do. Ice cream is important. Visiting the swimming pool is important too. I think some kids probably just eat ice cream and lie around the swimming pool. How decadant.

Nine kids and two counselors opted to go on a hike with me today. I decided to take them down a trail that I had never followed to the end before. It passes a huge landslide area that was closed off for most of the winter due to the possiblility of another such event occurring, so I didn't have a chance to hike it during the winter. Anyway, we made it to the end where we found a nice fixer-upper (see photo) and a cold, clear creek. One of the counselors found a Pacific Giant Salamander under a nearby log. That's always nice. We also saw lots of perfect little spider webs glittering in the sun. I pointed one particularly nice one out to the group. One of the boys looked at it with the appropriate reverence, making me feel like I was instilling in him some much needed reverence for the natural world.

At least I did until he looked at me and said, "it looks kinda like the Death Star."

I took a little hike during my break at work today, with the intention of taking photos. I ended up not taking any. I watched a Dragonfly alternating between gliding and darting after insects above my head for awhile, enjoying the way the sunlight made its wings glitter. Much too quick and small to take a picture of, of course. That's why I'm typing this here. There's more than one way to take a picture.

The rest of my time at work involved water. In the morning, we hiked up the same creek I've been taking kids to for the last three weeks or so. In the afternoon, we did some more pond cleaning. Afterwards I hosed myself down (the pond is sort of smelly) and jumped in the pool. I even managed to get soaked again during one of the skits we performed for the campers and their parents. My only consolation is that I also soaked the front row.

It was kind of a long day, but then again it's the sort of job where one doesn't mind long hours. Half of the staff is still there, taking the kids on a night hike and then camping out with them on the field. I'm on Friday duty this week, which means I'll be getting to work just as the staff who camped out are preparing to leave. I think I prefer camping out, because as I've mentioned before I love being able to look up at the night sky as I fall asleep. I also love having my Fridays free. I can't have that schedule every week though.

Remember to only put recyclable materials in the containers. If you don't, somebody has to go through the extra effort to sort it.

So the monitor (computer, not lizard - the lizard is fine) died and was resurrected. Jen noted that it was probably a sign that she was spending too much time on the computer. This is probably the case for both of us. It's not like we don't stuff plenty of other things into our days though.

For instance, today I took my group of campers to the makeshift archery range that we've set up in the lower field. Most of the kids had a great time shooting at the targets. Especially the Barney one. A couple of the girls decided that their time would be better spent braiding my hair, and then putting it into a bun, which I let them do only because otherwise they would have been bored waiting for all of the budding archers to finish up. I sometimes leave work with my hair done up in some crazy fashion. It's easy to forget about if I don't happen to pass a mirror. After archery, we hiked to the creek and around the pond. Later, after lunch, we went down to the high ropes course so kids could climb trees and inch their way across cables and logs 35 feet above the forest floor. The reward at the end of this is the zip slide, a cable-guided plummet through the trees. Most of the kids did fine. A few had to be coaxed across. A couple didn't make it. It sometimes takes time for these kids to realize that they really haven't failed at anything. The terrified kids are performing acts of courage, while the others are merely having a good time. Trying to do something that scares you, no matter the outcome, can only end in personal success.

At home, it is hot and sticky. Crickets are chirping. Coincidentally, I'm listening to a band called Bug Guts, who angrily sing about the state of our world. Sort of like a musical version of Earth First! Sing loud!

Todays pictures are of a Hazelnut tree, still managing to catch some sun under the towering Redwoods, and an Anise Swallowtail butterfly with the duckweed covered pond in the background. I almost stepped on a Garter snake while inching forward to get this shot. I think it was the same snake I caught yesterday, but couldn't really tell because it slid over a Poison Oak festooned drop off towards the pond. Speaking of Poison Oak, I seem to have it again. I've got itchy spots all over my knees and arms. It's not summer without it.

As I walked home from the grocery store a few minutes ago, I saw a guy cleaning the graffitti off the back entrance. I thought about asking him to follow me home so he could clean up all of the new graffitti Willow has bestowed upon every surface she can reach. Here's a picture of the artist herself.

Today might have been a few degrees cooler than yesterday. We did another pond cleanup during the afternoon, during which I caught some tadpoles and a small Garter snake. I spend an additional, completely useless, amount of time trying to net some adult Bullfrogs, which will allow themselves to be lifted slowly out of the water on a net, but then fling themselves into the water like olympic divers immediately afterwards. It was fun to try though, and it captivated the kids.

One of the other instructors saw a large Rattlesnake nearby, but it was gone by the time I went to look for it.

We have a new van, a Nissan Quest. I'll let Jen take over this part of the story on her blog. It is really nice to not have to rely on that old piece of crap we were driving.

Well, I'd better go read some Harry Potter to the boys now. The natives, as always, are getting restless. Time to go calm them down so they can get some rest.

Three years ago today I sat down in front of our old computer and typed in the first entry here. I'm a creature of habit.

Holy crap! Go visit Yat-Kha at their website. They've recorded an album of cover songs that must be heard to be believed. You can listen to their versions of Motorhead's "Orgasmatron" and Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart". Very odd. If Albert Kuvezin's voice was any deeper it would be subsonic. I can't wait to track down the actual cd.

Tomorrow is the third anniversary of this blog. When I started it, I had no idea that so many other people were doing it as well. Jen just got back from the blogher conference, and reports that there is apparently a blog pecking order, the bottom of which includes "mommy blogs." So what the hell are the other people blogging about? Sure, there are political blogs, music blogs. corporate blogs, PTA blogs, and shoe blogs... but what else? A random stroll through other blogs doesn't reward me with much, except possibly some insight into how the english language is mutating before our eyes. Maybe I'm just getting old. Anyway, despite all of this, Jen had a fun time. She'll write about it soon. A lot of people who attended the conference were writing about it right then and there on their laptops. I'm still to much of a luddite at this to be able to keep up with all of the technological advances and what they have to offer me, but I'm content for the time being...

It would seem that people who are so ready to discount a whole group of blogs based the fact that the writers are mothers are missing the point entirely. Mothers don't get paid, work long hours, and are already almost completely discounted by society at large. But the job is much more important than any corporate or political job out there. Much more real too. Remember, personal is political. If you want to change the world start at home. How better to do this than parenting? How better to spread the word than blogging about it? How better to connect with fellow parents than sharing the day to day frustrations of an oftentimes seemingly thankless task? Mothers who blog are very punk rock- discounted by the mainstream but very full of insight and content, with strong community ties. I seem to remember from a sociology class that this can be explained by "conflict theory", which states that people will band together and form stronger ties when they are attacked from outside their borders. Okay, now I'm rambling...

Also, until relatively recently history has been interpreted for us by "authors", "documentarians", and "official biographers". Because of this, world events have been filtered through the minds (political leanings, agendas, and personal opinions) of a relatively small number of people. This is no longer the case. The well-connected and the wealthy no longer have a monopoly on things. Just about anybody can enter the fray. Sure, a lot of it is still crap, but at least we'll be left with a broader perspective. Crap can be used as compost, after all. People everywhere can now publish their journals on the internet and leave records of their personal struggles (or lack thereof) for all to see. The distinguished elite no longer have a stranglehold on fame. The guy who delivers your newspaper or pizza probably has a blog. Centuries from now (unless things change drastically) there will still be a record of this. Imagine feudal Europe as seen through the eyes of a serf. There you have it.

That's why I do this. Hell, I would probably forget a lot of life's little details if I couldn't rummage through my archives now and then. My brain is full. May I be excused?

As Jen mentioned in her blog, we are sans van for a couple of days. The old one squats in the driveway, immovable as a statue, and the new (to us) one is still in use by the people who are selling it to us. Until Monday, anyway. Jen and Nate are out watching the the finale of Lexy's music camp week at the moment. Later, Jen gets to go out and have fun with the Blogher convention folks while I watch the kids. I'm so glad that she gets to do this.

I camped overnight with the campers again last night. I lay on my back in my sleeping bag listening to music (David Maranha's "Musica #2) while stargazing. Unlike last week, the moon wasn't up and you could actually see the white smear of the Milky Way stretching across the heavens. I counted six meteors as well. My thoughts turned towards the space shuttle being up there somewhere and about how small we all are. Then I fell asleep. When I awoke in the middle of the night it was foggy and the quarter moon was a hazy white spot above. I love my job.

Earlier, I once again relocated a Rattlesnake which had been hiding in the garden near where we were soon to camp out. It's eyes were milky, signifying the onset of molting, and based on its size I would say that it probably came from the same batch of babies that all of the other ones we've found over the last half a year belonged to. It rattled a bit as I moved it, but other than that wasn't aggressive at all. Most of the kids who saw it thought it was pretty cool. A few were worried that it had been found so close to camp. There was another Rattlesnake in the garden as well, but it had managed to get itself caught in some nylon netting behind the shed, and had died there. I'm thinking of trying to boil it down and preserve the skeleton, but probably won't. We'll see. I'll at least move that damn netting so no more snakes die.

It also looks like I'm now going to be working all of the summer camp weeks up through the end of the season. There's always more work than I expect there to be. This is a good thing. Plenty of overtime opportunities watching the early arrivals and late pickups as well. This usually means getting paid for playing ping pong or chess with campers. Nice.

The top photo here is of a Madrone tree. You can make tea out of the bark. It does taste a bit like wood though.

Jen just got back from securing us a new van. We're going to pay for it and pick it up on Monday. I'll let her fill you in on the details. I'm really glad that we're getting rid of the old one because it's an unreliable, stalling, lurching piece of shit.

It's still hot. A girl in my camp group fell and hit her head today. She's okay, but a boy in one of the other groups managed to break his finger. He's going to take a bit more mending. I've noticed that many of the kids show up each day unprepared for camp. Lot's of them are under the impression that they don't need water bottles for hikes. Come on kids, it's July.

There's little else to report. I'm falling into the summer camp routine and loving it. I'm doing one more week after this, and then possibly the last week of camp sometime in August. In between all of this I'm supposed to do some odd-job maintainance work around the camp. I practiced today by painting a small corner of the nature lab, which is being overhauled by the Leaders In Training (L.I.T.) kids, under the direction of a couple of my coworkers.

I came across a salamander I couldn't identify today. The larvae usually look different from the adults, so there's a slight possibility it's just the larval stage of something I could easily identify as an adult. Maybe even a California Newt, but I don't think so. It doesn't look like a California Newt larva to me. After I finish here, I think I'll go research it.

Oh, and the kids. There are a few kids from last week still at camp, and bunches of new ones. Most of the kids at this camp are old pros, having been involved for years. It makes things pretty easy on the instructors. Less explanation time needed. As for my group, I'm not sure what this week's dynamic will be like. There is definitely a contingent of smartass boys, who have picked names for themselves like "Roadkill" and "Beached Whale", but so far everything has run pretty smoothly.

Still too hot though. I'm probably going to say that every day until sometime in November.

Each Thursday at summer camp, the kids have the option to camp out on the lower field. We give these campers the whole deal - a barbeque for them and their families, songs, skits, stories, a night hike, marshmallow roasting, and of course, camping. As a staff member, I can choose to stay overnight and go home at 8:30 in the morning, or go home and stay until 4:30 on Friday. I chose to stay overnight this week. There was a bat flying around in the hallway outside the staff room for awhile. The moon was full. The kids on the night hike I led were pretty well-behaved. I slept pretty well too. In the morning, one of the kids found a small bat crawling around by the basketball court. One of my co-workers put it in a box and we moved it out of the way so the kids wouldn't bother it. Bats seen during the day can be sick, and one of the diseases they carry, as most people know, is rabies. This particular bat may have just been young and confused though.

Speaking of young and confused, one of the other groups ran afoul of a Yellowjacket nest on Thursday, and predictably, chaos ensued. I think four or five kids got stung. Not too bad, considering...

This weekend we were supposed to rehearse for the upcoming show in Seattle, but M was ill with the flu, so I took my mom up to Berkeley to see the new Central Works play, featuring G in his usual role as sound designer. The play, The Grand Inquisitor, uses a segment of Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov as a jumping off point, and was really well done. It was especially nice to see Gary, who usually confines himself to writing and directing these things, in the role of the Grand Inquisitor. He managed to transform himself quite well. Too bad about the loud wedding party nearby though.

The Tucson Blonde Tarantula molted last night too. Tarantulas achieve this end by flipping on their backs and looking quite dead. It's a very stressful time for them as well, since they are completely helpless until they have successfully molted.

And it's too damn hot. Again.

I didn't muck around in the pond today. We were too busy doing archery (shooting arrows at a target painted with the likeness of a certain purple dinosaur) and scaling the climbing wall. One of the counselors even ascended blindfolded!

I got phone and e-mail notification that I'm one of the four people to make it to the final stage of the interview process for the environmental educator position I applied for awhile back, but the benefits wouldn't cover Jen or Willow so I have just nicely informed them that I'm no longer interested. The commute would have sucked too.

It's still hot here. The older kids are at their dad's. Jen is at the gym. Willow is watching Winnie the Pooh. I'm typing and thinking that it's time to go eat a lemonade popsicle.

I took this picture while the kids were on the climbing wall. It's a Cicada resting after molting. You can see the cracked molt underneath it.

I spent another afternoon in the pond today. This time several campers came in with me, and we removed lots of invasive plants. We even caught some Bullfrog tadpoles and brought them back to camp with us. They'll probably end up in various backyard ponds. The problem with Bullfrogs is that they're so voracious that in a very short amount of time they can wipe out local populations of smaller animals.

I read another couple of chapters in the new Harry Potter book to the kids. Nate is unable to remain still. It's very distracting to discover that fifty percent of your audience is performing gymnastics while you are reading.

The moon is almost full again. It was rising through the trees as I walked back from the grocery store earlier. I always have to stop and look at it for a moment.

The photo at the top shows how much work we still have to do if we want to completely clear the pond of duckweed. The other photo is of a pretty little Alligator lizard that we encountered in the meadow. You can see a tick in front of his front leg. That must be really uncomfortable.

I spent a good part of the afternoon in a pond. It proved to be a pretty decent way to cool off. Of course, then you have to walk around smelling like a pond afterwards, but that doesn't bother me too much. I saw lots of crayfish and bullfrog tadpoles while I was sloshing around, but the turtles all made themselves scarce pretty quickly. Later, I was discussing with one of my coworkers whether or not we should remove some of the bullfrog tadpoles, since they are non-native and damage local animal populations. The problem is what to do with the tadpoles. Anybody out there have a backyard pond or know of a place where bullfrog impact would be minimal?

This week I have slightly older kids than last week. They seem calmer too. Time will tell. A couple of the girls said they'd been hoping that they would end up in my group. It's kind of funny how kids make snap decisions about us. Or maybe they just said that to be nice. Who knows?

Over the weekend, M, G, and I started trying to piece together the music for an upcoming show in September. A lot of rehearsal is needed, but everything is down on paper at least. That's a start, anyway. While up in Berkeley we came across an itinerant tarka salesman, but I didn't buy one because of a lack of funds. First time I've ever seen tarkas for sale on the street too.

I did a party on Sunday. Most of the kids were dressed up as Harry Potter. With the tip I got I went out and bought the new Harry Potter book. I started reading it to the boys last night. When I talked to my mom, she was about 250 pages into it as well. At work today, several people were reading it. Several others were already done reading it. When I got home, Jen was reading it. No, don't tell me what happens. I'll find out soon enough. That's the one problem with a book as popular is this. I feel compelled to read it quickly before some blabbermouth can ruin it for me. I wonder how long my voice will hold out tonight?

My first week of summer camp #2 is over, with three more to go. We went down to the climbing wall and let the kids clamber upwards like monkeys (safely helmeted, harnessed, and belayed, of course). In the afternoon we went back to the pond and cleaned more plants out, taking some time to contemplate Bullfrogs as well. It was really too hot to be doing all of this, but we did it anyway for some reason.

At home, the kids are all in bed and resisting sleep. I don't blame them. It's too damn hot for easy slumber. I'm ready for autumn weather. I'm also ready to stop typing and go get another popsicle.

I spent a long, hot day at work today, during which we ran through sprinklers, played games in the shade of the redwoods, and scooped unwelcome plant matter out of the pond. Of course, then we had to sort through the piles of plant matter to make sure we weren't stranding any aquatic creatures. Many tadpoles, damselfly larvae, aquatic snails, and crayfish were returned to the pond after being discovered in amongst the piles of elodia and duckweed. Afterwards, I took a wheelbarrow full of the spoils of our labors up to the compost pile.

Thursday evening is the barbeque and campfire program, so I stayed to eat free food and help out with songs and skits. The campers were joined by their parents and other relatives for the festivities, making the little amphitheater quite crowded. There are a lot more staff involved for these summer campfires than there are during the school year, so things are very relaxed. Actually, the whole program is very relaxed. We choose what activities we like to do, and like minded campers follow along. Oh, and there's ice cream every day. And a swimming pool. A lot of the time, people just sit around and relax. And I get paid to do this. It's quite different from the Youth Science Institute summer camps I've taught, which are structured like a week long lesson plan with crafts and hikes thrown in for good measure. Both have their merits of course, so it's good that I've gotten bounce around this summer. It keeps things from getting stale.

The cute little creature above is a Jerusalem Cricket. They're nocturnal, but pretty easy to find if you spend as much time looking under logs as I do. This one is living under an old mattress in the garden. I found a Garter snake nearby too, but it slipped away under some debris. I must be getting slow in my old age.

I was actually kind of excited that the space shuttle was going to be launched today - which meant of course that it would be delayed. My father in law is somewhere in mission control, so there is actually a tenuous personal connection to this particular launch. Perhaps over the weekend it will happen, they say. And yes, I know that there are a billion and one better ways to spend the money. Still, as expensive as the space program is, the scientist in me thinks it's kind of cool. We humans can be so inconsistent.

The scientist in me also thinks that the article in the paper this morning about the possible discovery of a Mammoth fossil in San Jose is pretty cool too. They say, "possible," because the "authorities" haven't examined the bones yet. Could be a cow.

Today was even hotter than yesterday, which is pretty damn hot, especially if one happens to enjoy winter more than summer like I do. The kids were wilting on the hike, so in the afternoon they had the option of swimming, soaking counselors, hanging out in the Nature Lab with snakes, or exploring the creek. The photo of the meadow was taken on the way back from the creek. It's right on top of the San Andeas fault too. The beetle, however, was right on top of our driveway. I see about one of these a year. The last two have been in the vicinity of the driveway. I think they're eating the molding around the garage door. They're still pretty exceptional looking beetles though.

I shouldn't have said anything about the nights still being cool, because now they're not. I'm not enjoying this. Of course, it's cooler than it was earlier, but that's not saying much. During the heat of the day, I took some kids hiking on a trail that I think should be re-named Mountain Lion Outhouse Trail due to the amount of scat we found. Most of it was already pretty dried out, but we did find a few fresher chunks, although those were small enough to have been processed by a Bobcat. We also saw a Ringneck snake, which gave me the slip.

That's it for now.

I got to spend a lot of time hanging out with Willow this weekend. We went on a nice walk around the block on Saturday night, just the two of us. There were a surprising amount of clouds for mid-July, and a bit of a breeze too. The moon is a tiny sliver at the moment, but Willow still recognized it for what it is. She babbled happily for the duration of the walk too, which is just too damn cute.
Yesterday, we went to the park and rode the little train for $1.50. We followed this up by playing on two different playgrounds and going down the slides way too often. Nice moments. Willow had a great time.

Today, I started in at the other summer camp, which is twice as long each day, half the work, and several dollers more per hour. It's on the site that I've been working at during the school year, but all of the routines are different, so I'm still getting used to it. A few of the parents recognized me as they dropped of their kids, due to the fact that just about every job I've had for the past 7 years has involved working with kids. I've taught and/or entertained thousands of kids during that time, so it's not too surprising that I get recognized on a regular basis. This week, I've got a group of 19 kids, all 7 and 8 year olds, plus 4 teen volunteers to help out. The volunteers could just about run things themselves at this point, I think, but of course they're really not that much older than some of the campers, so that's probably not a good idea.
In the afternoon, another instructor and I took a few kids down to the pond to scoop out duckweed, which grows so thickly across the surface that the water resembles a lawn. I took the pictures of the feather (Heron, I think) and the Bullfrog while we were down there.

It's supposed to get hotter later this week. I'm not looking forward to that. The nights are still cool for the moment, so I'll just enjoy it while I can.

Jen finally made it to the gym today too. The girls and I stayed home.

I went up to San Francisco last night to see Faun Fables at the Bottom of the Hill, with a quick detour to Aquarius to spend my tip money from yesterday. There was some nice fog drifting through the city as well, which was very welcome after all of the sunny South Bay weather we've been experiencing lately. At the venue, I found out that all of the advance tickets had sold out. Fortunately Dawn put me on the guest list, which was nice. The opening band, The Lonelyhearts, was quite good, consisting of a keyboard player and a guitarist who both sang as well. Delicate, with nice harmonies. Too bad the audience thought it was social hour and talked through the whole set. Faun Fables was excellent as usual, with M joining in on a handful of songs. Pretty short set though. The headliners, who were the major reason for the sold out show, were a Swedish band called Dungen. Strange that I hadn't heard them before. Very unlike me. Using borrowed equipment, they played a set of early 70's sounding psych rock, complete with tambourine and flute and catchy swedish melodies. It was good enough to keep me there till 1:30 in the morning, tired though I was. I overheard a couple of audience members, no doubt influence by the 70's vibe, have the following conversation:

Guy #1: Do you have a bong? I miss bongs.
Guy #2: I have a stainless steel bong!

There you have it. When I got home, Jen was still up sewing. Yesterday, I fixed the camera (sort of) by taking the batteries out and putting them back in. Low tech, I know, but it seemed to work. That means Jen can photograph her new sewing projects and that I was able to take pictures last night. The python picture is from the other day because he'd just shed and he was looking pretty. Enjoy.

Currently listening to Bohren & der Club of Gore "Sunset Mission" (finally reissued!)

My last week of teaching at the Youth Science Institute is over for the summer. Next week I'm back at my other job, although in a slightly different, less educational summer camp role since it's more of a "social" and less of a "science" camp. That means more swimming, archery, rope climbing, and the like, and fewer science lessons. Sounds relaxing. The camp days are twice as long as the ones I have been doing though.

We ended on a good note this week though. During our snack time at Ghost Rock (aka Jabba Rock), a curious deer wandered up and circled the group several times, coming within ten feet of us. The kids were thrilled, and actually managed to keep relatively quiet while this was happening (very hard to do if you're 3 or 4). After awhile, the deer satisfied its curiousity and wandered off. We moved on as well, and found a large, hairy pile of scat with some vertebrae and a claw in it. I couldn't identify what kind of animal the bones came from, but the claw looked large enough to come from a Raccoon. Most of the kids were fascinated, but a couple were grossed out. Towards the end of camp, we all ate cupcakes because one of the girls turned 5 today. I even got a cool, hand-painted card with feathers (a raven's and another one possibly once belonging to a turkey) attached to it from the little 3 year old, and another card with 20 dollars stuffed inside it from one of the older girls (and her parents, of course). It's nice to get tipped, since working for non-profit organizations is definitely not a get rich quick scheme.

Time seems to compress as we grow older. The days are often a blur, with no time to stop and reflect. I did manage to lay down for a moment today, but I fell asleep instead of reflecting on anything. I probably wasn't asleep for more than a moment or two, but this illustrates the point that I'm pretty damn tired most of the time. The way I usually stave this off is to keep busy, but I often find, like Jen does, that most of the time the work we're doing has little substance. We flail around trying to keep the house in some sort of order, but it always returns to chaos while we're not looking. Jen did manage to start a sewing project today, so I guess occasionally there is some substance to our endeavors. We also got the van back from the mechanic today, all nicely tuned up, but it still stalls if the air conditioner is on. Lemon. $550 more transferred beyond our reach. Earlier, I took my mom to drop off her old station wagon at the Pick N Pull in San Jose. We waited about 45 minutes in a little air-conditioned office while they inspected the car, which is a small amount of time to wait for the $1000 dollar check they gave her. I think I'll bring my car there some day. Earlier still, I led small children on a hike through the woods and tired them out. I noticed at one point that my legs were actually longer than most of them were tall. They managed to hike pretty far considering their shortness though. Tomorrow I think we'll stick closer to our meeting spot.

Currently listening to the ominous, yet relaxing throbbing of Nurse With Wound "Salt Marie Celeste".

I went out wandering the streets with the three older kids last night in search of fireworks (and so Jen could stay home with the sleeping Willow and work with her cornucopia of quilting supplies). We managed to find a block party several blocks away, with the ends of the street roped off and everything. The kids quickly found a number of familiar faces in the crowd, so we sat and watched an endless succession of fireworks. Things were winding down as we left. On the way home, we saw a bunch of miscreants aiming fireworks at power lines and nearby, disgruntled neighbors mumbling about calling 911 on them. It seemed like people everywhere managed to sneak fireworks into a county where it is now supposedly illegal to light them. I guess some people, like the ones at the block party we crashed, had permits, but I'm sure most didn't. Still, the kids had a great time, and Jen got a little break. She's been going kind of stir crazy lately due to the van being temporarily out of commission. As I write this, she's driving it over to a mechanic's house to get it fixed. Also on the list is the camera, which keeps flashing a big red, "lens error", message everytime we try to turn it off. That's irritating. Not sure what's wrong with it. I hate finding that something I once did without has become indespensible. Like microwaves, computers, and cd burners... the list goes one. Technology really has its claws in us now.

Anyway, it's now the 5th, and I still occasionally hear fireworks going off somewhere in the distance. Any excuse to blow things up or light them on fire I guess. I taught a camp today up at Sanborn park, and the place is pretty quiet this week. There's my camp, which is actually a combination of two different animal-themed camps because there weren't enough sign-ups for either camp to have enough kids to make having two teachers worthwhile, and there's a chemistry-themed camp. The kids are pretty cute though. They range in age from not quite 4 to 7 or so. I predict short hikes and more crafts. Their legs are just too short for long hauls, and it takes them a long time to do crafts. Add to this the fact that it's a four day week and it will almost be over before it has begun.

Currently listening to Cordelia's Dad "Jane" single... oops now it's just switched to Popol Vuh. I love having the music on shuffle.

People have been lighting off fireworks every night for the past week or so, making me wonder if anybody will actually have anything left for tonight. Jen's cousins came over last night and it was really nice to spend some time just hanging out and talking with them. It's rare that we get to do that. After awhile, we migrated out front to watch the neighbors setting off illegal fireworks in the street. They shared some of their sparklers with the kids too, much to their delight. It's definitely a holiday for the kids, since any real examination of the meaning behind it leaves me dissatisfied. Sure, it marks the birth of this nation, but I can't wholeheartedly get behind any celebration of this nation's existence. Like just about every other type of organization, it sounds pretty good on paper, but the reality falls far short. It's not really a democracy. We're not really free. Willing slaves maybe, but slaves nonetheless. That said, there is a lot of beauty on this continent we call home. Now, if we can only stop the government from destroying it in its indiscriminate search for profit and prestige.

Yeah, I know it could be worse. But it can always be better too.

Tomorrow it's back to work to try to make it better. Will it be enough in the long run?

Damn it's hot! The pretty orange sunset light filtering down through the atmosphere and painting the wall above the desk kind of makes up for it though. Kind of.

The kids at camp who have been working all week to perform their plays saw their efforts come to fruition today. The three plays were brief, but the kids all enjoyed taking part in the experience. Two of them were structured like myths, with one being about why there are white and brown doves and the other being about why the octupus changes colors. The third one was more of a moral lesson about why fighting will get you nowhere. The kid who had been misbehaving all week played a hobo, and actually did a really good job. Of course, before the play he was running wildly after a frightened wild turkey, and after it he was puking on the walkway. Maybe the upset stomach was karmic payback for scaring the turkey. It mellowed him out for awhile at least.

And now for a long weekend. I don't start the next camp until Tuesday. Time to recover from whatever it is that ails me.

Hey. The light on the wall is gone already.

Here's another picnic area thief. A little punk bird called a Stellar's Jay.

I went to that job interview today. They have a very nice facility there, with a little zoo out front that houses mostly native animals. The Bobcat lazed away the day in the sun. The Raven flew down to the fence near me and proceeded to methodically tear apart a cardboard box. The Golden Eagle huffed in an antisocial manner and hopped to the far side of its enclosure. The interview itself went well, and the three people conducting it seemed happy with my answers. It was conducted in a little room under assault from a window washer who forcefully sprayed water at the windows from the outside, creating a bit of a distraction. The problem I encountered was that the benefit package wouldn't cover Jen or Willow. They said I could add them on, but at a cost of course. I think the extra expenditures combined with the 45 minute commute (more during rush hour, I'm sure) make this a job that I'm probably not going to pursue. Too bad though, because it's a cool place. Maybe another time, under different circumstances... I'm still going to see if I make it to the second round of interviews though. Just to see...

Still sick. I think I have bronchitis.

G just called to tell me that the Dax benefit made $1400. He's a little closer to having what he needs now. I'm glad.

Here's a picture of one of the opportunistic Ground Squirrels that patrol the picnic areas, waiting for things to drop to the ground so they can ravenously devour them.

Whenever I'm outside in a park with a bunch of kids I dread hearing the words, "hey look at this weird balloon I found!" It always turns out to be a used condom. We were at the top of an Oak-shaded hill today, at a trio of benches and a jumble of lichen covered rocks called "Inspiration Point," when the least well-behaved boy in the group said the fateful words. I told him to put it down immediately, which he didn't because he's not well behaved. After he put it down, he picked it up again because that's the kind of boy he is. While this was happening, his brother, who knew what the dusty little piece of rubber was, was laughing. After all was said and done, I think the boy picked it up three times before it finally sunk in that it was something that he really didn't want to be touching.

Well, I guess it is evidence that somebody found some inspiration up there. Probably not the kind of inspiration the person who named it had in mind.

The creek at Alum Rock Park is full of interesting little critters. We found a Dobsonfly larva, Mayfly larva, Predacious diving beetles, Backswimmers, Sculpin (I think), and best of all, a couple of large Giant Water Bugs (aka "Toebiters" - don't wade around here without shoes) with egg cases on their backs.

By our camp table, a grumpy lady and her kids were feeding the Ground squirrels, which really isn't smart because they carry various diseases and feeding them just enboldens them. It's because of people like this that the damn things tried to eat my tablecloth yesterday. A couple of the kids in my group asked her to stop, and she told them to mind their own business, so I went over and asked her to stop. She basically told me the same thing. At that point, I let my kids chase all the squirrels away. Problem solved. Rude, ignorant people begone!

I'm still feeling kind of sick. My chest hurts from coughing, and my nose has been getting really stuffed up at night. Each cold I get leaves the door open for the next one as it goes. Maybe if I actually stayed home from work and rested I'd get better. I can't afford to do that though. There are some drawbacks to being poor.

The weather is still pleasant, but it's supposed to get hotter towards the end of the week. Just in time for my job interview. Yay.

Still sick. Now, in addition to the cough I've developed a stuffy nose. This never used to happen. I guess it's one of the hazards of working with kids...

Friday's benefit for Dax raised some money, but I'm not sure how much. The venue was damned hard to find, thanks to the incorrect Yahoo! map directions. M and I got lost enough to end up driving along the harbor road in West Oakland. I careened over a speed bump without seeing it, causing a nearby, evidently bored security guard to shout "Idiot!" at me. Seeing an opening, I promptly turned around and asked him for directions. The help he gave was vague and incorrect, but I guess it was helpful in the end because we managed to find the venue.

The inside of the venue resembled a construction zone, with junk lying all over the place. Sort of like the outside, I guess. Hours later, after much plugging and unplugging and lifting of tables and various other bits of equipment, the show started. At that point there were more musicians there than audience, but that is mostly because the first act was Moe!kestra, which for the evening consisted of roughly twenty individuals spaced somewhat evenly around the inside perimeter of the space. Moe conducted them through a rousing improv set which was very enjoyable even though the theramin player had wandered off somewhere and only remembered to come back about halfway through the set. Next up was Barely Human Dance Theatre with some nifty soundwork by G and all sorts of other oddness. French Radio followed. Jim's contact miked bicycle wheel was fun, but they suffered various sound problems throughout their set. We followed them, and also suffered numerous technical glitches. The sound in the space was pretty awful. Drew closed things out with a DJ set which got some people dancing. I was so tired at this point that I wasn't paying much attention. Oh well, it was fun anyway. The main thing is that money was raised for Dax.

The next day M and I went to see Land of the Dead, which I must say I thought was really cool. There's just something about zombie movies. Especially George Romero zombie movies. Okay, there were a couple of corny lines in there, but overall a worthy follow-up to the first three films.

I started another week of camp today, and it's a drama camp. I've never taught this one before, and I've never taught in the park it's being held at either. The kids are mostly pretty cool, and seem to be creative in various ways. There are a couple of smartass types, but that's to be expected. I saw lots of animals too. Driving in this morning, I saw rabbits, deer, and truckloads of squirrels (they would later try to eat my tablecloth). During camp we found a baby Kingsnake, which was pretty cool. Afterwards, I went on a hike up to a lookout point from which I could see the whole South Bay. I'm not sure if I'll take the group up there though. It's kind of far and the trail is really exposed to the sun. I saw a Whiptail crossing the road on the way up. You know it's hot when you see Whiptails.

The Dickens doesn't believe me that there are rules against going outside without pants. She is now in her room. Sigh.

I still have a cold, and I'm getting kind of annoyed at the fact that every night at 12:41 I am awaked by an uncontrollable coughing fit, despite repeated ingestion of various cough-reducing medications.

I'm almost done with the second week of summer camp. Tomorrow is the show up in Oakland. I also plan on going to see the new George Romero film this weekend. Yay!

At left is a Red-eared Slider from the sag pond near the hostel. It was a bit snappy, no doubt because we interrupted its lazy basking with our net.

At the top (because they've monkeyed with the system and it seems that now I have less control over where I can put the picture, but then again if I took a little time I could probably figure it out but I'm rambling and you've probably forgotten that this is a parenthetical aside here...) is a crayfish who was also less than happy about being caught. Both animals were later released, even though they are non-native. It's amazing how many of the little plants and critters around here were actually introduced through human activity. Oh well. The kids had fun anyway.

I've got a persistant cough and possibly a fever, but I've been stubbornly going to work anyway. Being out under the trees is very healing. Walking along a creek looking for aquatic insects may also be healing, but the jury is still out on that one.

Now, one day removed from the longest day of the year, the evening sun is painting the wall behind the computer yellow, soon to fade to a dirty orange and then to nothing. Jen is trying to get Willow to sleep in the other room. It will probably be peaceful here for about another minute, since the older kids are due back at any time.

Here's a deer.

Happy Summer Solstice! I was thinking of marking the occasion somehow, but I'm in a kind of creative slumber at the moment. Probably because of all this extra sunlight or something... These holidays used to be more important to people, back before we all became so disconnected from natural cycles; back before the invention of electricity and automated factories and cars and planes... the list goes on.

I guess something to think about today is that the natural cycles keep quietly cycling along underneath, inside, and around all of the clutter our lives are filled with. We should all go out and appreciate a cycle. Have you hugged a cycle today? Perhaps a bi-cycle? They go both ways.

As for myself, I'm sometimes struck by the nutrient cycle. Everytime I walk in the woods I'm amazed by the sheer volume of plant detritus on the ground, and by the myriad organisms that consume it (The F.B.I. - Fungus, Bacteria, and Invertebrates), turning it into rich soil which in turn nourishes the trees and other plants so they can grow tall and strong and drop loads of new detritus on the ground... and on and on and on.

Humans who compost know this well.

Jen and the kids got me a toaster and some shorts for Father's Day! Now I can toast things without having to wedge down the lever with the kitchen scissors. Now I can wear different shorts every day! Very good!

I hope nobody got spray on mud for Father's Day. I read an article about this stuff - apparently it's for wanna-be testosterone junkies who desire to appear like they take their SUVs offroading and cross-countrying rather than fess up to the shameful reality they actually inhabit - the one where they drive their large, tough-looking vehicle to their job at the bank or grocery store or wherever.

Nobody would actually buy this stuff, right?

Wrong. Apparently the guy who thought it up is having trouble keeping up with demand. The apocalypse is coming.

Before the apocalypse gets here though, I've got more science camps to teach. Today, I spent a lot of time eating the yummy cupcakes that Jen made (not the horchata ones that she originally intended though - apparently the stuff goes sour if left out overnight. c'est la vie) and rehearsing for the show next Friday. Tomorrow I start teaching a camp called Creek Week, which should be fun because we get to explore creeks. That's always fun.

Okay, The Dickens is yelling at me for some reason, so I have to go now...

Clouds are gathering and it's cooling off outside. Bliss. No tsunamis happened last night. It's always interesting to stumble on a breaking news story before anybody has any real information. Kind of exciting, really...

M, G, and I rehearsed for an upcoming benefit show for Dax Pierson today. The event is taking place on Friday the 24th at LoBot in Oakland and it would be good if everybody who reads this goes because it's for a good cause. Dax is a very cool guy.

I'm also saddened to report that sometime O.A.C member H had a death in the family this week. His feline companion Sutekh, aged 14, passed away after an illness. I remember being bitten on the nose by Sutekh while visiting H in Manhatten, and I remember it fondly. His passing leaves a void.

Think of cats tonight...

Still warm. There's something just plain disagreeable about being sick when the weather is sticky. I thought I was getting over this cold, but this seems not to be the case. Jen's still feeling pretty awful too.
At least there's a bit of a cool breeze coming through the window now.

I applied for another job today, just because it's similar to my other jobs and has benefits. Benefits are important. I'm not sure if I'll get it or not, but having three jobs already takes some of the pressure away from any job hunt.

With all the care of an archeologist, I entered the garage today and dug down to the purple, plastic, elephant-shaped pool languishing there in the gloom. The girls had fun splashing around in it. Of course, they have fun splashing around in anything.

Speaking of splashing around, I just read that there's a tsunami warning for the whole California coast. I think I'll go check and see if there are any news updates...

The two men behind the curtain are m s Waldron & j b Haynes. They sure know how to make a mess.




In addition to making a mess, they created pleasing noise for around an hour. And it's not often that audience members are treated to live carpentry. How nice.

I got home early enough to almost get a full night of sleep. Today, beneath a warm sun, the first day of the summer camp season commenced. My group consists of 8 kids because the ninth, even though she was signed up for the camp, is still in school this week. Despite still feeling vaguely unwell, I gave it my best and we had fun. I invented a new game called "save the Earth" which involves me bouncing a rubber Earth super ball as hard as I can so the kids can run after it. Whoever gets if first saves the Earth. I love my job.

We spotted a Soft-shelled turtle in the reservoir too. How non-native! Still, it was kind of cool to see it.

Willow's most recent project involves moving all of the dirt from one side of the walkway to the other. It is ongoing, with no completion date in sight.

Jen really got nailed by the cold currently circulating through the family. She's got a really bad sore throat and an ear infection. This particular illness also comes with eye goopiness. The left one. The girls are slightly goopy too. We would all dearly love to curl up in bed and do little or nothing, but this is never ever possible, so we get up and drag ourselves around the house scrubbing and picking up things the kids have carelessly flung here and there.
I've got the milder version myself. Just a mild sore throat and one of those headaches that only becomes noticable when I bend over. Oh, and phlegm. Despite this, I still did a couple of birthday parties today. I broke a beaker at the first one, and arrived at the other one without the gift bags I was supposed to bring. Maybe I should have stayed at home. Then again, between the two parties, I got tipped sixty bucks and got to eat homemade samosas (very enjoyable), vegetable pastries, cupcakes, and cookies.

I was just trying to get The Dickens to calm down so she would go to sleep, and she shouted, I DON'T WANNA HEAR YOUR STOWY PAPA! Willow keeps popping out of bed too. The boys, not to be left out, are furtively playing with flashlights in their room. I have these little fantasies where everybody happily gets into bed at the end of a long day, like sailors battening down the hatches... (hold on, there's some sort of loud thumping coming from the other room... okay, I'm back. Of course they denied everything) As I was saying, I wish bedtime wasn't like pulling teeth from some large, unwilling carnivore.

The cool weather spell has broken. The hot weather has taken over.

Here's a picture of the Pueblan Milk Snake. In the last couple of weeks, both The Dickens and Lexy have had their pictures taken with it for some sort of school reason. It usually hides under its water dish. The girls like looking for it. Willow shouts, "snake! hide!"

Over the next month I'm going to be working in three different parks. This coming week I teach a camp called "Science Sleuths" at Vasona park, then it's up into the redwoods at Sanborn park for a week before going to Alum Rock park in East San Jose for a week. It's kind of funny in a way. To reach Sanborn park I have to drive through some pretty affluent neighborhoods (the kind where the mansions have gates with callboxes and the calls are answered by hired help) and to reach Alum Rock park I have to drive through some pretty impoverished neighborhoods (the kind where the cars all look worse than mine, which is saying something). I'm not sure where I was going with this post, but I'm sure it had something to do with the inequitable distribution of wealth.
We're geographically a lot closer to the wealthy neighborhoods here, but financially a lot closer to the impoverished ones. I'm not sure where I feel less comfortable.

It rained today, which was nice. There are still dark, brooding clouds outside, and a cool breeze coming in through the windows. Hard to believe it's a third of the way through June.

The apocalypse won't be sudden. Instead, it will advance upon us in small, barely noticable increments.

Yesterday I went to a six hour ProjectWET (Water Education for Teachers) workshop at the water company offices down the street. It proved to be interesting, and I have a few new ideas that will be useful at summer camps and again later on when I'm back teaching outdoor school groups during the fall and winter months. We even got to walk around an inactive percolation pond, which differs from an active one in that it hasn't been drained and "scraped" within three years. Apparently sediment build up hampers water percolation after awhile.

The demonstration of what an aquifer looks like was pretty cool. I'd read or heard about this one before, but seeing somebody do it was enlightening. It's so simple, really. All you have to do is get a clear water pitcher and fill it with large rocks. Next, get everybody to agree that it is full. Prove them wrong by pouring some gravel over the rocks. Again, get everybody to agree that the pitcher is full. Prove them wrong by pouring some sand in. Full? No. Pour some water in. There's always room in the spaces between. This illustrates perfectly how aquifers store water. It is also a perfect tool for time-management workshops. The rocks represent the priority tasks, those that must be done. The gravel, sand, and water are those that can be done if time permits. It shows how it really is possible to find the time for more things. Feel like a member of the 21st century yet? Good. Manage that time. Find ways to stuff more activities into your day...

Today I went up to Alum Rock park to learn some trails and visit the visitor's center in preparation for teaching a week of summer camp there later this month. Nice park, although I wish I'd been informed that they'd moved the entrance since the last time I'd been there. Oh well.




This little alcove contains a mineral spring. Mmmm... the lovely smell of sulfur.




Gazing out over the South Bay, I realize that the damage doesn't look so bad from way up here. Except for the ever-present haze of course.

Lexy just called Nate a "pisspot wiener boy," which has just got to be one of the funniest things I've heard all week. We both tried not to giggle as we reprimanded him for insulting his brother.

I just finished reading Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and was quite impressed. I guess the fact that I managed to find time to quickly read a whole trilogy in the space of a couple of weeks should say something about the page-turnability (hey, I made up a word!) of these novels. I like the anti organized religion stance found within as well. Pretty cool for trilogy aimed at young adults. I had originally thought it might be fun to read them to Lexy and Nate, but after finishing them I think I'll have to wait until they're older. Lexy would be too disturbed by the children-in-jeopardy threads that run through this and bind it together. The ghosts and some of the other revelations would probably send him over the edge as well. Too bad though, because I'd really love reading this out loud.
Apparently some christians want these books burned. Typical. Don't agree with something? Set it on fire! A little extreme, I think...

In the real world, today we went to that rat pizza place for The Dickens' 4th birthday party. I chased Willow around for two hours as she visited all of the different arcade games and little coin operated vehicles again and again. All of the whirring and beeping and mechanized voices of the machines provided a backdrop of sensory overload that kept gnawing at the base of my skull like a persistant parasite. Willow didn't seem to notice. She didn't actually seem to be interested in playing or riding anything either. Just running. The Dickens got to hug the rat, and everybody ate the limp, tasteless pizza and the cake with the 150% sugar content. A couple of hours later we escaped back into the sunlight.

Rented some DVDs to watch tonight. Waiting for the little people to descend into slumberland.

Oh, and I've started posting photos here. Check it out.

Today I went on my last long hike of the school year. I'm looking forward to working summer camps later this month. It will also give me some time to step back and take a breath. During this breath, I plan to make some new, laminated cards to go along with the games I play with my classes. At the moment, I'm still using either hand-me-down cards, or non-laminated ones that I made up quickly. I've been busy cutting out pictures from the stack of calendars that I've amassed over the years. Soon they will be turned into various game and solo-hike cards for me to use over the summer and into the fall.

And here are today's pictures. A small Pacific Giant Salamander found hiding under a large log. It moved pretty quickly for a salamander...




And a large Banana Slug, folded neatly in half for convenience.

Yay! I puttered around and got my comment thing fixed. Not that I get a lot of comments, but what the hell...

I did my last night hike of the season tonight. Not that it was actually at night. The 7 to 9 window lets in to much sun this time of year. Add to this the fact that we still aren't allowed to let the kids do solo walks in the evening and you get a much different experience. I doubt our resident Mountain Lion would actually eat a kid anyway. I read somewhere that people taste pretty nasty. Especially if you think about all of the junk most people eat.

We are what we eat, I guess. That means most kids are lunchables. Overly packaged and shot full of preservatives. Yuck.

Oh, and the Tarantula likes me again (see picture from three weeks ago). I guess he forgot that he was mad. Spiders have such short memories.