Of Moons and Scorpions

Week 7 of Summer Camp is winding down. Willow has been at camp this week, climbing, creating, and playing. In the air, there is a palpable fog of disbelief that August has arrived. Many kids are due back in school well before the end of the month. We old folks have been reminiscing about the days when school didn't restart until after Labor Day.

The week flew by without any real distinguishing marks. Nobody got attacked by Yellow Jackets, although I did note a few new locations. More accurately, what I did was confirm a couple of nest locations I'd heard about, and a camper spotted another one. Last night, there was a glorious moonrise, which happened in conjunction with the start of the night hike. This morning, when I opened my eyes, it was to the sight of the moon softly sinking beyond the hilltops to the West. All this and a paycheck too.

The most interesting critter find of the week was a freshly-molted Forest Scorpion under a rock, which is something I hadn't seen before. Uncomfortable in its vulnerable state, it whipped its stinger around in a miniature frenzy, so after taking a few photos, we left it alone.

Currently listening to: Monolyth & Cobalt "E.Co - Boxset Vol. 1-4"

10 Years

Ten years ago today, I sat down in front of an old desktop computer and typed out my first short post for this blog.

Now, I'm typing on a laptop, two residences removed from the one I lived in a decade ago, and searching for something profound to say about it all. Much has changed around me. When I started this blog, I was childless and preparing to get married. Now, I have a 9 year old daughter and I'm preparing to get married a second time (we're looking at November).

Sometimes months will go by without an entry here, but I always come back. It's almost like a responsibility - something I've started and must continue. Not many people read this, but I feel like I can't abandon what I've begun, if only for myself and my own reasons. I actually get a kick out of going back and reading the older posts - they're like a message from the past.

How long this will continue is anybody's guess.

Currently listening to: Monolyth & Cobalt "Eilean"

Caves and Graves, Trees and Wasps

Like last year, this year we ended up spending our summer vacation week visiting an amusement park and a succession of caves. In fact, it was the same amusement park as last summer, mainly because it was on the way to the caves.

The caves were closer to home than last year, and unfortunately all of them were the guided tour type of excursion, rather than like the Lava Beds caves we visited last year, where one is allowed to wander at will. That aside, the caves were fantastic. We went to Black Chasm, California Caverns, Mercer Caverns, and Moaning Cavern, even finding the time to do a night of car camping and Sequoia-ogling at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. I got to do a tandem zip line ride with Willow at Moaning Cavern, zipping down the 1500 foot cable over the dry scrub below. We also checked out nearby Natural Bridge, which featured a creek that had worn a tunnel through the limestone.

While in town of Volcano, which is where Black Chasm is, we wandered through the old Catholic cemetery there, finding a letterbox as we did so. We soaked up a lot of history at every stop, seeing a Cave Bear skeleton at California Caverns, and piles of bones on display at Moaning Cavern (not to mention some still in place on the cavern floor, left behind by people and animals who took the quick way down). There was one skull said to be from a Chinese girl who fell the 165 feet to the bottom of the cavern around 12,000 years ago. In Angels Camp, we checked out the museum, which was full of artifacts from the Gold Rush days, not to mention plenty of history related to the famous frog jumping contest, instigated by the Mark Twain story. The girls generally seemed to like the places we visited, although I think they both enjoyed the amusement park part the best. Ha.

Oh yeah, we also went to the Jelly Belly factory and went on the free tour. Needless to say, we bought some jelly bellies before hitting the road again.

The trip was well documented, of course.

We've been back a week now. At camp this week, Sophie came along and had a fun time. She got to be in my group too, which was nice. The Hognose snake wasn't in his cage on Monday (somebody needs a lesson on how to properly secure the top), but when I was getting food for the other animals on Wednesday, I discovered him crawling across the floor in the Nature Lab. I put him back in his cage, and the first thing he did was get a drink. It has been a parched summer.

Speaking of dryness, I think this is a contributing factor to our Yellow Jacket problems this year. There are so many more of them around than I've ever seen before. One group of kids got attacked on Wednesday as they navigated the narrow trail that follows the creek. I knew where that nest was, because a group I was leading stumbled over it several weeks previously. Then, on Friday, while on a "critter hunt" (an activity that I love to lead), we were looking under some old sections of brick wall that pepper the chaparral area. I had already looked under a few, finding a pretty little baby Rattlesnake under one, when one of the kids pointed to another and said, "I have a weird feeling about that one." It was set in the ground pretty well, so I really had to yank to free it from the dry dirt, and of course when I did, the Yellow Jackets were already boiling out of the ground. 10 people got stung, including a boy that got stung 5 times. Once I got all of the kids to safety and swatted the wasps off of them, I had to go back and get the plastic cage I'd dropped a few feet from the nest. By that time, the wasps had stopped boiling over, and were settling back down. I managed to grab the cage without getting stung again (I had initially gotten stung twice). It took awhile to calm down the boy who'd gotten stung the most, but for the other kids, it proved to be no big deal. One small girl, who couldn't have been more than 7 or 8, was particularly inspiring, shaking the whole experience off with a smile. Some kids are cool that way.

I'll add the location to our ever-growing list of areas to avoid, and the next time a kid says he has a "weird" feeling about something, I'll ask if he means good-weird or bad-weird. I guess he must have meant bad-weird, which is interesting because, as far as I know, none of us actually saw any Yellow Jackets flying around until I pulled off their roof. The kid had a bona fide psychic moment.

Currently listening to: Various "PM50"

Cautionary Tale For Naturalists

Week 4 of summer camp is over and done with. It was a hot one, with temperatures nearing the 100 degree mark (or perhaps surpassing it, depending on which thermometer I choose to believe).

Last night, a kid got stung by a Forest Scorpion while on the night hike. He wasn't with my group, but with the only other group leader who uses a UV light to look for scorpions and millipedes. The kids in my group were a bit older, and our scorpion and millipede viewing went off without a hitch. Apparently though, younger kids are a bit like magpies, grasping anything shiny within reach. Scorpions look pretty shiny when reflecting UV light, so the kid, who I believe is eight years old, reached for the shiny object and got a rude surprise. Fortunately, the local scorpions don't pack much of a punch, and the site of the sting didn't even swell. It hurt though.

When she was informed, the boy's sister (who was hiking with me) sighed and said that she wasn't surprised at all. Later, she told me that he had thought it was a shiny nut.

The lesson is, when hiking with younger kids, be aware of this tendency.

Go figure.

Currently listening to: Common Eider, King Eider "Worn"

Summer Love

Later, I told some kids that I put the frog back in the pond. One kid opined that it would have been funny if it had turned into a prince before I dropped it into the water. It's true. That would have been funny, in a "dignified people getting messed with" kind of way.

Currently listening to: Evan Caminiti "Night Dust" LP

Take Everything and Put It In A Smaller Container

This weekend, I've been pawing through boxes of National Geographic Magazines accumulated by my parents over a decades-spanning period starting before I was born and ending sometime in the nineties. My goal was to set aside issues that had articles I might actually read, and jettison the rest. The bulk of the collection is now on the front step, just waiting for whatever Freecycler responds first. I've decided to keep somewhere between 20 and 30 issues, plus most of the maps and other foldouts. I couldn't convince Willow to hang up any of the maps in her room, so I might have to hang some of them myself. I might also use some at work, either as geography contest prizes or as teaching tools during the school year.

It actually pains me to get rid of so many magazines. The photos are exquisite, and there is so much interesting information in those thousands of pages. It occurred to me that much of the contents of those magazines probably isn't available anywhere else. Not on the internet, in other words. I remember sometime back reading or realizing that every time there is a big technological change (I think I read an article about a lot of movies on VHS not making the jump to DVD), a lot gets left in the dustbins of history. Of course, where National Geographics are concerned, a lot just gets left in closets and garages. Hopefully someone will be able to take the magazines put them to good use, perhaps in a classroom or some other similar place, because realistically, I'm never going to read decades worth of old magazines. Information overload.

Currently listening to: Pentangle "Cruel Sister"

One Third Gone

I realized sometime last night that the 2012 summer camp season is already one third over. Today marks the end of week three of summer camp, with six more to follow.

This week, like the two previous ones, went relatively smoothly. I caught the same Gopher snake three times, which is unusual for a Gopher snake. They're usually not as sedentary as the local rattlesnakes have proved to be. One co-worker landed a dream job at a school over the hill, tons of kids became separated from their belongings, adding to Lost & Found Mountain, ex-campers appeared on the scene as counselors, including Alex, who worked with the Wild Things kids (that's the 5 and 6 year olds) and contributed to the Thursday evening festivities with a song (Heart of Gold by Neil Young) while ex-camper and fellow counselor Sausages accompanied him on harmonica. It's amazing seeing these kids grow up. They all have so much to offer. This is still one of the main reasons I love my job.

Willow just peeked in and said it's time for ice cream, so I'll end this post here. Ice cream is calling.

Currently listening to: Neil Young & Crazy Horse "Rust Never Sleeps"

Strange Wildlife and Cool Kids

Week two of summer camp is behind me now. For two weeks, the kids in my group were mostly ten years old, and next week I'll continue this trend. Some of my favorite summer campers attended camp this week. One of them has gotten so good at spotting animals on critter hunts that he occasionally spots them before I do. A couple of kids spotted a Mountain Kingsnake in the lower field parking lot on Thursday night too, so despite drier than usual conditions we have been seeing some wildlife. The rattlesnakes continue to be everywhere, but we did find a very unusual one on Thursday, with the usual blotches of darker coloration replaced by bars, making it look a bit like a Ball Python. This is the first time I've seen one like this.

Currently listening to O'death "Daytrotter Session 6/28/2012"

Summer

This is the first day this week I didn't get stung by wasps. That's something, at least.

Actually, agitated insects aside, it has been a good week. The second week of Summer Camp has been relatively cool so far, much more so than last week, when temperatures ascended into the uncomfortable nineties for a day or two. At one point, around a week ago, the readout on top of a local Bank of the West branch declared that it was 97 degrees.

Last week went very smoothly when one considers that none of us had run a week of Summer Camp since last August. No big snafus occurred, except for Friday morning when the sprinklers came on at 6:00 and watered a bunch of sleeping campers and counselors. I don't think that's an effective way to get kids to grow faster.

I've hiked to the reservoir both weeks so far. The water level is as low as I've seen it, and everything else is dry too. Today, we found a pile of dead bullfrogs with missing hind legs. Somebody has been expanding their culinary horizons at the expense of our local (although invasive) frog population. Some of the kids were a bit creeped out. We also saw a Rattlesnake in about the same place I saw the same snake slightly over 2 years ago. I've seen him a couple of times over the past month or two, but tonight I compared photos, and it looks like the same snake. Rattlesnakes are much more sedentary than the other local species, but I think this is the first time I've seen a snake in the same location after 2 years.

I got some great pictures in 2010 by taking them upside down over the lip of the rock the snake was under, but today's shots were poor. Here, you can see the rattle as the snake disappears into the darkness.

I wonder if he has lived there all his life, a mere 2 or 3 feet from the main path around the reservoir. He looks old, like he would be in a rocker on a porch if he had the anatomy to fit in one properly.

Currently listening to: Forrest Fang "Seeds of Memory" EP

The Breath Before the Summer Plunge

Summer Camp starts on Monday. I think we're ready. I only worked three days of the set-up week, reserving the last couple of days for a quick trip to Sacramento so Jeanine could see her friend Kim, who was in town from Hawaii. Kim and her husband Dave (who both went to the same high school that Jeanine and I did) were clearing out Kim's mom's house. That was deja vu for us, since we cleared out my dad's apartment in nearby Citrus Heights less than a year ago. I remembered Dave from high school, but didn't really remember Kim. It was fun hanging out with them on the front porch. It was a pleasant way to pass a warm afternoon, with cats underfoot and wasps in the air, disturbed from their nest inside one of the gate posts. There were some impressive Black Widows in the backyard shed too. The next morning, we had an hour to kill before converging on a restaurant to meet with some of Jeanine's other Sacramento-based friends for a balloon jam (no, it's not something one puts on toast, but rather an idea sharing session for balloon artists). As for the hour, we drove aimlessly until I spotted a record store, necessitating a sudden u-turn. We entered and purchased stuff. Eva even bought a couple of records - AC/DC and Edgar Winter, the latter because Eva thinks albinos are cool. She showed her "child of the digital age" ignorance of vinyl when I asked her what AC/DC album she had purchased by responding, "I don't remember, but it has two sides". I like that having two sides is a novelty now. For the record (pun intended), it was "Let There Be Rock".





As for set-up week, the most useful thing I did all week was save a snake's life. While returning a shovel to the garden shed after shoveling out the campfire pit, I spotted a large Gopher snake in the corner, sprawled across the floor like a corpse. Its front end was well entangled in a roll of plastic garden netting, so tightly that sections of it bulged outwards. I was so certain that it was dead that I was surprised that it hissed when I touched it. I found some scissors and took about 15 minutes to cut it out of the roll, and when I finally finished, the front of the snake was still hairy with jutting bits of plastic, making it look like some sort of laboratory experiment gone awry. With the help of a coworker and a pair of fingernail clippers, we finally managed to free the snake from the remaining plastic. After smearing some antibiotic on it, we kept it overnight for observation, and after ensuring that all of the garden netting was safely put out of reach (this is an ongoing issue, but when so many people use things, it's sometimes hard to ensure that everything is consistently put away), we released the snake in the garden. It eventually disappeared down a gopher hole. I'm going to enlarge and laminate a copy of the the photo I took and put it on the wall of the shed as a reminder.

Currently listing to: "Victrola Favorites" 2CD

Transition

The 2011/2012 Outdoor School Year ended on Friday with the usual lines of kids disappearing into the yellow mouths of waiting school buses. I worked in the field the final week, and did the usual sorts of things. There are turkeys everywhere these days, something that has gone from being a rarity to a common sighting over the last year or so. In fact, I don't think I saw any turkeys at all during the first 6 or 7 years of employment at camp. This week, I often found myself being interrupted by insistent gobbling from nearby bushes. One turkey brazenly gobbled his way right past us while I was trying to set up an ecosystem comparison lesson.

Summer camp set-up begins in earnest tomorrow, and summer camp begins the week after.

Our bed arrived, and I only got one blister putting it together. The mattress is perched on top of a 14 drawer dresser, which is kind of neat. The house is still in a state of some disarray, although every day sees a new element click into place. Today, the framed pictures that had been leaning against the wall in the living room found places on the walls. I mowed the lawn with the push mower too, feeling like a stereotypical suburbanite as I did so, sweating under the warm June sun. The push mower is picky. It only cuts grass, leaving all of the weeds standing proud and tall in its wake, giving the freshly mowed lawn a mangy look. Oh, well. We'll have to do some weeding.

Last night, one of my favorite co-workers (actually two of them, come to think of it) got married up at camp. We had a van load, with Willow and Eva being joined by Sophie, Nathan, and Alex. It was one of the rare times that still owning a mini-van came in handy. The wedding was beautiful, and it was nice to see a number of people I hadn't seen in awhile. Happy future to Scooby and Moonlight.

Also, taking the advice of a woman at the local pet store, I tried feeding baby food to the turtle, and she actually ate it! It's strange to have a pet that only eats worms and baby food. Next, I'm trying tofu.

Currently listening to: Agalloch "Whitedivisiongrey"

A New Place For Our Stuff...

When sitting in a rocking chair on a hardwood floor, one must make faces. It is the law.

My apartment is virtually empty of my stuff now. Still remaining is a small pile of dirty laundry, some cleaning supplies, and a few miscellaneous items destined for the dumpster or recycling bin. We're still working on emptying Jeanine's place, but hopefully that will be accomplished by the end of the day. The end of the month is upon us.

At the house, things are magically settling into place while the girls, unconcerned with the piles of boxes, play video games.

Dexter the cat arrived howling, and spent the better part of a day with his tail all poofed up. He's better now, and is making the house his own.

More to follow...

Flux

Boxes pile up both here and there, and at the moment we're waiting for the tent to come down. The fumigators put it up on Wednesday, and apparently neither Jeanine nor I are trusting, because we both drove by at different times to check to make sure that the job had actually been done. It had, but they didn't give us one of those colorfully striped clown tents. Instead, we got a black one. If you're going to tent a house, you should try to make it look like a clown house. I'm not sure why. It just seems like the right thing to do. The world needs more clowns or, at the very least, places that look like they could be clown residences.

Yesterday, since we couldn't move anything, we went for a walk at Hidden Villa. It's Horned Lizard season, but we didn't see any. We saw fewer Whiptails than last year too, although we did see a few, like the one pictured above. Early in the hike, Jeanine spotted a Jerusalem Cricket scuttling across the trail. That's a strange thing to see in the middle of the day. I wonder what disturbed it enough to inspire this atypical diurnal activity. There were fewer ticks along the trail than last time, although we did find a few of them patiently waiting on some trail-side plants. Later, I found one attached to my chest near one of my nipples. Sneaky little bastard. Its meal was cut short.

Currently listening to: The Iditarod "the Ghost, the Elf, the Cat and the Angel"

And So It Begins In Earnest

For me, the act of moving is like going on vacation. It doesn't seem to have any weight or reality until the hour is nigh and the routine of living is shuttled off onto a new track, or to put it another way, until the suitcase (in my case, usually a hastily stuffed backpack) or first box is full of my stuff. It's a sad commentary on my tendency to hoard that some of my belongings only get handled when I'm moving them from one residence to another, but that's a whole other subject. I'm working on it. Really.

I stripped a bookcase of its stories today, and filled a number of boxes with books. I came across one book (Swine Lake, by James Marshall) illustrated by Maurice Sendak, and I plan on sitting down later today and reading it in memory of his passing, the news of which greeted me when I woke up this morning. Lets all hold a wild rumpus in his honor.

The new house is scheduled to be tented tomorrow, ensuring that the dry wood termites discontinue their gnawing. I'm not a big fan of using poison gas on insects, but I think I'd be even less a fan of having the house collapse on top of us at some indeterminate point in the future.

Still to be scheduled is the chimney work, and some plumbing repairs. Right now, if there was an earthquake, the chimney would probably fall on the neighbor's house.

Currently listening to: Accept "I'm A Rebel"

First Photos

The empty house awaits our clutter. Hopefully it will wear the extra pounds well. Jeanine is better at getting rid of things than I am, but I've chucked a few things myself. We're going to have to start a list of things that we need to buy though, so the next month will see a frenzy of jettisoning and acquiring. We're especially lacking in the yard maintenance equipment department, since the postage stamp-sized patios attached to our current residences can't be graced with the word "yard". A new bed will also have to be purchased.

Here then are a couple of photos. Over that last couple of months spent viewing hundreds of online photos of houses for sale, I've been amused to see the various tricks of the trade - photos stretched to make the house look more expansive, low angled shots to make the house look more mansion-like, and other similar bits of trickery. I can't now recall what the "advertisement" photos of our house looked like. I learned to more or less ignore those photos anyway.

Currently listening to: Bowline "s/t"

More Than A Month Has Passed...

My last post was on April Fool's Day, and this one falls on the day after Cinco De Mayo, which was also the evening of the so-called "Supermoon", a moon which my 2012 moon guide (courtesy of the wonderful Nebula Girl, who mails them out for free at the beginning of each year) calls Big Leaf Moon. It was noticeably closer than the average full moon, even though I missed the moment when it first peeked above the East Bay hills.

In addition to all of the home buying activity, this period of silence has been full of activity. Perhaps most importantly, my brother Greg, Willow, and I finally got off of our isolationist butts and visited relatives. This meant traveling to Cape Cod to see my mom's sister and her son, Peter, and then on to Minnesota to see my dad's sister and her family. I had reconnected with my mom's sister, Marilyn, and my cousin Peter, when Jeanine and I were in Boston for a balloon convention in February, but Greg and I hadn't seen our relatives on our dad's side of the family in decades. Willow had never met any of them. I'll not recount the entire week here, because it won't be that interesting to the casual reader, but the trip was definitely a success. Our Aunt Marilyn even got us into the Edward Gorey house before it was open for the season, and while we were on Cape Cod, we visited our friends Matthias and Carla, who live in a pleasingly rustic house right near the beach (although everywhere on Cape Cod is right near the beach). The trip was well documented.

After coming back, I hopped in the car with Jeanine and we headed for Big Sur, where we took in a Godspeed You! Black Emperor show and camped under the redwoods. That week, Sophie's class was at camp, and since the kids' school always attends our second site, I switched sites and worked days. We wrapped up the week with a second Godspeed show, and the next morning, Greg and I flew to Seattle to see the newest Bela Tarr film, The Turin Horse. Perhaps this is how my second childhood has chosen to manifest itself - plane flights to see films. This also meant that we were in Seattle on Record Store Day, so we bought lots of music while we were there. I came back with quite a variety of sounds, from bird songs and a double CD/book collection of old 78 recordings, to Ennio Morricone doing bossa nova and neoclassical sounds that used a previous Bela Tarr film as inspiration. As for the film we had gone to see, it was everything we expected it to be, although at least one audience member must have been expecting something different, because she walked out and didn't come back.

I've started another walking challenge as well. Somebody who is even nerdier than me has figured out that Frodo and Sam had to walk 1779 miles to walk to Mordor. Since I started the challenge, I've walked a mere 11 miles. Only 1768 more to go.

I did a reptile/bug party yesterday, and in preparation for the party, Jeanine and I went on a short bug hunt Friday, which netted me a little California Forest Scorpion and a Jerusalem Cricket, not to mention a Garter Snake (I found two under a board, but only caught one). In addition to the two Garter Snakes, we saw eight Rattlesnakes. After the party, when I went to release the Garter Snake, I discovered that the board under which I found it still had two Garter Snakes under it. Nature hates imbalance, I guess.

Here's Rattlesnake number eight. He was still there the next day.

As for the house, after lots of last-minute craziness involving the lenders, yesterday we finally got the keys. I went over in the afternoon, and when I arrived, our realtor was sweeping the floors (talk about a full-service realtor!), and the sellers were bundling the last of their possessions (and their cats) into the car. They were leaving for Oregon. They left behind a few things for us, including the patio furniture and some yard tools. Later, Jeanine and I converged on the house and thoughtfully wandered through it. Jeanine brought out her tape measure and did a few calculations, and I hauled a few things in from my van. We're having the house tented for termites on Wednesday, so we won't be moving a lot of things over there until after that's done. We have the whole month to be out of our current residences, so there isn't too much of a rush.

So now we're homeowners. I guess I'm a grown-up now. I've lived in my studio apartment for nearly three and a half years now, and while there are some things I like about my apartment, I'm ready to step into a larger space again. I'm ready for our new yard, with its towering avocado tree, garden, citrus trees, artichoke plants, and expansive lawn. There is a compost area and a worm bin too.

Currently listening to: Natural Snow Buildings "Shadow Kingdom"

Another Long Silence...

My last post was on February 22nd, a handful of days before Willow turned 9. A lot has happened since then. The times when I am most prolific with my blog writing always seem to coincide with long stretches of routine, when very little news of excitement or importance occurs.

Jeanine and I, sometimes with Willow and/or Eva in tow, have spent the last month or so looking at open houses. A realtor that we met at the first one we went to has been showing us around. The houses have ranged from dumpy and forlorn to interesting and appealing. Our first actual bid was rejected, mostly because we wanted the owners to take care of a rather sizable termite problem. Our second bid wasn't even in the top 3, despite the fact that we bid $15,000.00 over the asking price. It seems that the low interest rates have encouraged a vast number of people to buy homes. For the third house we bid on, we bid $15,000.00 under the asking price, and the sellers didn't respond by the time the bid expired. The fourth time was the charm. We bid the asking price, and it was accepted. The fourth house is the only one of the four where we actually met the owner, and I think the fact that we're planning to occupy it with our children instead of using it as an investment worked in our favor. The house has been in the seller's family for half a century, so its fate seems important to her. More on the house in future posts.

Needless to say, all of this searching and bidding has taken up a lot of time. Not to mention the fact that I've been working days for the last couple of weeks while Willow's mom has been in the hospital for a planned surgery. While working as the night supervisor at camp, I tend to take for granted my daytime freedom, so now that I'm working days, I'm surprised at how little time I have. I have two more weeks of hiking with kids before returning to my nocturnal schedule - one because my boss asked me to, and one because Sophie's class is coming to camp. Sandwiched between those is a week off which coincides with Willow's Spring Break. Tax day looms as well. In short, much is happening in a short period of time.

We've finally seen a bit of rain too. March had a few rainy days, including yesterday when I led a "reptile safari" along some of the trails near camp. This was for the son of a woman who hired me through Jeanine's website, and despite the rain, the party was a success. Most kids don't mind mud and rain, as long as they don't have to stay out in it too long. The parents were good sports too. The reptiles we found were sluggish due to the chilly temperature, so the kids caught some lizards and I caught a couple of Rattlesnakes. Fun was had, cake was eaten, and I even got a $40.00 tip.

A lot of my childhood literary interests have factored into recent weeks as well. Willow has finally started being interested in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, thanks to the Retro Dome, which has showed the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy on its screens recently. She is currently reading The Hobbit. We saw the Tintin movie too (which was very good), and Willow has started reading the Tintin books. I was so excited by this that I dropped $120.00 for a box set of the entire Tintin series (I reread mine until they were shedding pages). We also saw the John Carter movie (based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian novels, which I happily read and reread as a child) and I quite liked it.

Welcome Spring. This is definitely a Spring during which many things are happening. I feel more or less caught up now.

Currently listening to: Dead Can Dance "A Passage In Time", and looking forward to seeing them play in August.

Overheard

As I was walking yesterday, I overheard two conversations. The first was one half of a phone conversation, overheard as a loud guy was walking towards me on the sidewalk. It went something like this: "THE DOCTOR DON'T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT CHILD SUPPORT! DON'T YOU EVER CALL ME IGNORANT, BITCH! FUCK YOU, BITCH!". The man, if you can even call such a character a man, angrily ended the call and huffed on past me. I feel sorry for his kid, who is stuck with a deadbeat asshole for a father, and for the woman who was such a poor judge of character to let things get so far with this guy. That is, assuming I read the exchange correctly. It's amazing to me that some people seem to exist with such a complete lack of dignity, as evidenced by their angry public tirades. Mobile phones sure have dragged a great number of private conversations onto the street, and a lot of people seem to be too dumb to notice the difference. It's sort of like people who pick their noses while in their cars, as if the fact that they're in an enclosed space makes them invisible. Being on the phone does not soundproof your conversation, especially if you're yelling like an enraged hyena.

The second overhead conversation took place inside a store, between a little girl and her dad. The girl, who couldn't have been more than two or three years old, gleefully proclaimed, "I are a dummy!", as she toddled along the aisles. Her dad kept trying to correct her: "don't call yourself that! You're silly, not a dummy". The girl kept insisting though, "no! I are a dummy!"

I couldn't help but think that the person who should have been saying this was the first guy, but he was too self-righteous and full of himself to ever admit such a thing. In fact, he got angry when he was called on it, responding with trite insults delivered at excessive volume, as if he subconsciously wanted to broadcast his ignorance as far and wide as possible.

Currently listening to: Espers "III"

Winter?

This is the bluest, driest February I can remember. There was a bit of rain last weekend, just enough to entice some green from the parched soil up in the hills, but now the sky is boring and blue again.

At the beginning of the month, Jeanine and I went to Arizona for the 2012 Twist & Shout convention - several days in a Sheraton, playing with balloons, eating pizza, and in general, having a fun time. Arizona felt like Spring, with blue skies and temperatures in the seventies.

Other than that brief vacation, I've been working. There have been more homesick kids at camp than usual, and nocturnal incontinence has been an issue with more than a few campers. This week, in a failed attempt at egg theft, a camper filled his water bottle with pond water and newt eggs, but dropped it in the evening, during the astronomy program. A cabin leader, feeling thirsty, retrieved the bottle and took a swig. Unsurprisingly, he was unhappy to discover that he'd ingested pond water. I'm glad that he didn't swallow any newt eggs. California Newts contain a poison called tetrodotoxin, which can kill humans if ingested in sufficient quantities. I did some quick research on newt eggs anyway, but still don't know if, or how much, poison is contained in the eggs. I'll add this to the growing number of cautionary tales in my repertoire. Look before you drink.

The most significant thing that happened this month is that I finally asked Jeanine to marry me, and she said yes. I asked her while we walked the trails at Rancho San Antonio, where around 2 and a half years ago, we went on our first date. I'm excited at the prospect of looking for a home together. Both of our daughters seem happy about this too. This should be an interesting and exciting year.

Currently listening to: Greg Weeks "The Hive"

Work Continues Under Dry Skies

Gray light filters down outside, but despite the clouds, everything remains dry. Other than a tiny bit of rain a week ago, there has been no rain for at least a couple of months.

I'm nearing the completion of a lot of the tasks associated with my dad's passing. It has been almost 3 months since he died, and there has been more than enough to keep me busy during that time, but very little time for mourning or reflection. I still have his taxes to figure out over the next couple of months, and I'm not messing around with it. I'm hiring an accountant.

Today marks the beginning of the fifth week of science camp this year. I'm only working the first 2 nights though, because I have other plans for the last half of the week.

Currently listening to: Isengrind "The Stone Breads of Golden Bankets" from "Menagerie 3" compilation

Two Years

Exactly two years ago today, I spent an afternoon in Oakland in small photography studio. I had with me 4 snakes, who were kicking off their reptilian modeling careers on the shoulders of members of the Oakland metal band, High On Fire. The photos eventually surfaced in the April, 2010 issue of Decibel magazine. The Burmese Python used in the shoot died this Monday.

When I arrived home from the shoot, it was to the news that my mom had died suddenly, so today marks an unpleasant anniversary. I remembered her by drinking a cup of good tea. The tea, Peet's Ancient Trees Organic Pu-erh, was in one of her cabinets at the time of her death, along with lots of other types of teas. My brother and I often gifted her with interesting teas, and truth be told, she had more tea than she would have been able to drink if she lived for decades longer. I think that she would have agreed that it's nice to have a variety though, because like me and my brother, she loved to surround herself with excessive amounts of the things she loved. I didn't actually try the Ancient Trees tea until yesterday, when all of a sudden I felt compelled to get it out and brew some. So, today I raise a steaming cup of tea in the memory of my mom.

Additionally, I think she would have felt she was in good company if she'd known that the week of her passing would one day be shared by Theo Angelopoulos (see previous post).

Also, R.I.P. Riot guitarist Mark Reale, who passed away yesterday. This week is not a kind one.

Currently listening to: Ordo Equitum Solis "Paraskenia"

"What Am I, If Not A Collector Of Vanished Gazes?"

This morning, soon after I got up, I read an announcement that Greek film director Theo Angelopoulos had died. According to the news article, he was hit by a motorcycle while crossing the road near the film set of what was to be his new film, "The Other Sea". He was the same age as my dad.

It's not often that the death of somebody I didn't know upsets me this much. The world has lost a filmmaker who can't be replaced, someone with unique vision. It looks like his newest film is stillborn, which is a shame indeed.

Earlier today, Jeanine and I watched his 1995 film, "Ulysses' Gaze". It seemed like the thing to do. "Ulysses' Gaze" was the first Angelopoulos film I saw (at a sold out screening at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, no less), and it's still one of my favorites.

As long as their are archives and collectors, Angelopoulos' gaze will never vanish. Even when his physical form is dust and nothing, we can still look through his eyes. There is some comfort in that.

Currently listening to: Eleni Karaindrou "Music For Films"

A Day In the Life...

Nearly five years ago, I randomly chose a day during which I took careful note of everything I did from the time I woke up to the time I crawled back into bed. It ended up not being the best of days, which of course made it much more readable. Nobody wants to read stories in which everything goes according to plan. That said, my primary motivation behind this kind of writing is selfish. I like to go back and look at these little slices of life, these little verbal time capsules. Because of this blog, I know exactly what I was doing every minute of February 22, 2007. Now, years from now, I'll be able to look back and know exactly what I was doing on January 23, 2012. Like the 2007 post, it ended up not being the best of days. In fact, death figures into it. Read on.

6:30 - Alarm goes off. I flail at the alarm clock until the noise stops. I keep doing this every 9 minutes until shortly after 7:00.

7:10 - I manage to become vertical and shuffle to the kitchen, where I brew some coffee and pour myself a heaping bowl of 9 Whole Grain Crunch with almond milk. While consuming coffee and cereal, I check e-mail and recent news stories.

7:20 - Willow wakes up. I make her toast with butter. She gradually gets ready and makes her toast disappear, except for the crusts, which sit forlornly on her plate.

7:20 to 7:55 - We finish getting ready. Willow makes sure to put her stuffed monkey, Monkey, into her backpack. Monkey, along with stuffed animals belonging to Willow's classmates, is having a sleepover at school this evening. Willow wonders if he'll be homesick.

7:56 - We drive to Willow's school.

8:10 - Arrive at school. I walk Willow to her classroom.

8:16 - I get back to the van and start driving home.

8:25 - The cop who has been following me for several blocks pulls me over. I have to open my door to talk to him because my window is broken. He asks the usual cop question: "Do you know why I pulled you over?" I reply that I don't. It turns out that one of my brake lights is out. Sigh of relief. At least it wasn't a moving violation of some sort. He doesn't give me a fix-it ticket, but tells me to get it fixed.

8:35 - I arrive home.

8:40 - Check e-mail, download new Jolie Holland Daytrotter session.

8:45 - Decide to chronicle my day. I start list of what I've already done while listening to Far Black Furlong.

8:50 - I start "watching" a couple of Natural Snow Buildings auctions on eBay.

9:07 - I do the dishes and gather stuff to put in storage. A couple of boxes of my dad's stuff will be joining the others in the storage space that my brother and I share.

9:16 - E-mail Jeanine, wishing her good morning.

9:23 - Finish listening to Far Black Furlong and get ready to go.

9:30 - Eat banana and discover that when I play with the round magnets on the fridge, they make interesting sounds. Think about recording them.

9:35 - Leave. iPod on shuffle.

9:40 - Once on the freeway, I see a rainbow.

9:43 - Arrive at auto parts store, buy brake light bulbs, replace the dead one, and then discover that I'd actually already had a spare in the glove compartment.

9:49 - Head for storage space.

10:06 - Arrive at storage space, drop off boxes and get wheat bag (one of those microwaveable bags, most commonly used to warm sore next muscles, but in this case slated to be portable heating unit for my python, who I'm taking to the vet).

10:28 - Arrive at work and check on python in the Nature Lab. He's in a bad way, in fact at first I think that he's dead, but he is moving slightly. Late last week, it was discovered that there was blood around his mouth, and after observing and treating him (for possible mouth rot) for a day, I decided that he had a respiratory condition and needed to see the vet. Unfortunately, the soonest I could get an appointment was this morning). It's not quite time for his appointment, so I wander up to camp. I chat with coworkers for awhile, finding out that there was a half hour power outage over the weekend, which when one considers the condition of the python, was really bad timing. I microwave the wheat bag and get the python into a pillowcase for his ride to the vet.

11:04 - I leave for the vet. iPod on shuffle.

11:26 - Arrive at vet and check in.

11:40 - while sitting in the plastic waiting room chair, I check on the python and realize that he is dead. The vet double checks and confirms this. I talk with the vet, and he asks if I want them to determine cause of death, although given the symptoms he agrees that it was due to a respiratory condition, most likely pneumonia. Whatever it was, it sure acted quickly, because a week ago the python exhibited no symptoms. I decline. I also decline their offer to take care of the corpse, preferring instead to bury him at work. I am not charged for the visit. R.I.P. python (No, I never gave him a name, since snakes don't come when you call them). He was 20 years old, give or take a year. In 2010, he was immortalized on the April cover of Decibel magazine. The photo shoot took place on the day that I was told my mom had died (which will have been exactly 2 years ago tomorrow). Strange coincidence.

11:50 - Back in van.

12:15 - Back at camp. I eat lunch and talk with coworkers and the teachers who have arrived with the kids attending science camp this week. We discuss classroom pets, and the fact that most districts have banned them.

12:34 - I bury the python in the garden. While collecting rocks to place on top of his grave (so local scavengers don't dig him up), I startle a small Tree Frog.

12:50 - I go back to Nature Lab, feed the Tegu some cat food, feed crickets to the Scorpion and Tarantula, get some blackberry leaves for the Walking Sticks, and give some insect food to the Hissing cockroach. I give water to the animals that need it.

1:07 - I head for home.

1:28 - Arrive home. Check mail.

1:32 - Read mail.

1:40 - Go online, check e-mail, reply to Jeanine and Paul Roland, first spending some time looking through my Paul Roland collection as I try to figure out what I'm missing so I can take him up on his kind offer of a free CD. I decide that I'm missing the most recent reissue of "Duel".

2:24 - Come up for air from the murky waters of the internet.

2:28 - Gather clothes and quarters so I can have some laundry fun.

2:30 - Stop what I'm doing to read an entertainment news article on the film speed of the upcoming Hobbit films (speed doubled to 48 frames/second to make images more lifelike. Cool!)

2:33 - Back on track.

2:39 - Laundry is now in, and I'm listening to the Far Black Furlong bonus disc while cleaning the apartment.

2:58 - I'm still cleaning. Willow, home from school, calls about softball from her mom's house. I need to sign her up for a slightly younger team because she misses the age cut-off by about 2 months.

3:05 - Finish cleaning (more or less) and go put laundry in dryer.

3:10 - Check phone messages and call back bloodsucking creditor (who is after money that my dad owed when he passed away). She is shocked to learn that I'd already mailed a check.

3:18 - Check e-mail (because, you know, there could be new ones).

3:20 - Pour a tall cup of ice water and drink.

3:21 - Update list of executor expenses and assets (because I'm executor of my dad's estate)based on new information gleaned from today's mail.

3:28 - E-mail Willow's softball league in an attempt to get her onto a slightly younger team.

3:34 - Get sucked into internetland for a minute or two.

3:36 - Put on a Valravn cdr (sent by a certain Mr. Potter with a recent CD order because we share an interest in Scandinavian folk music). Valravn sound like the bastard child of Bjork and Hedningarna. This is a good thing.

3:37 - Start week 3 of the 100 Push-Ups challenge.

3:48 - 46 push-ups completed and e-mail checked again. Willow is now on the proper softball team. Sitting and resting for a couple of minutes.

3:55 - Pause Valravn so I can get laundry.

4:08 - Valravn back on. Laundry put away.

4:09 - Check Facebook and Failbook. Laugh.

4:15 - Put on pants, still warm from the dryer. Read e-mail from Jeanine. Turn off computer.

4:17 - Go for a walk, with the intention of checking out houses for sale in the neighborhood.

4:25 - I see a nice little house for sale. As I pass, a kid leans out of the front door of the neighboring house and shouts, "Hey! You're the guy from camp!" I say hi and keep going, thinking that it would probably blow his mind if I were to buy the house next to his.

4:37 - Still walking, I notice a tree, a light pole, and a fire hydrant decked out in colorful macrame outfits. I wonder if it has something to do with Chinese New Year, or if I've simply wandered into a strange neighborhood.

4:40 - Hundreds of silent seagulls fill the sky overhead.

5:22 - Back home.

5:24 - Glass if ice water, turn music back on, check e-mail, then log miles on DailyMile (3.91 miles today).

5:29 - Rest for a minute. Read some news.

5:40 - E-mail Jeanine. Continue relaxing. Put on Fovea Hex CD.

5:45 - Cook vegetable fried rice with fake beef. Add lots of pepper.

5:53 - Dinner is served.

6:02 - Dinner is done. Continue listening to Fovea Hex and farting around on the internet.

6:15 - Preorder expensive Fall Of Efrafa box set reissue from Alerta Antifascista records in Germany. Chastise myself for being a spendthrift.

6:27 - Put on Fovea Hex remix disc. Nice.

6:28 - Feel cold. Put teakettle on.

6:35 - Sip Dim Sum Bo Nay tea (which is great for making Bod Jha, or Tibetan butter/salt tea). Listen to Fovea Hex remix.

7:04 - Replay Fovea Hex remix. Put away clean dishes, clean dirty ones, and wipe down counter and stove.

7:18 - Finding and reading my blog from 2/22/07.

7:32 - Put on Natural Snow Buildings CD and start getting ready to go to work.

7:38 - Interrupt myself and clean off framed photos of Willow, salvaged from my dad's apartment last November. Think about hanging them, but can't figure out where. Put them back.

7:42 - Turn off laptop and put it in bag to take to work.

7:44 - Reluctantly turn off CD.

7:47 - Put on hat, scarf, and jacket, then leave for work.

8:10 - Get to work, check in with Hub Host (it's Meadow this week), turn on heater to cabins, turn off some lights, check to make sure pool bathrooms are unlocked, and take a moment to listen to the frogs singing out in the darkness.

8:25 - Meet with cabin leaders, discovering that all but 3 of them are return volunteers. Meeting is short. Spend a minute talking with Meadow, Moonlight, and Bunny. Congratulate Bunny on his recent engagement.

8:45 - Sing closing song, "I Wish You Well", with campfire staff and kids.

8:50 to 9:10 - Do introductory night talk for campers, include some bad puns for my personal amusement, and end it with a quick question and answer session. Kids mostly ask questions on subjects that I just covered during my talk. cluing me into the fact that not everybody was listening very well.

9:15 to 9:40 - Supervise campers as they're getting ready for bed, talk to homesick kids (there are two of them, one boy and one girl) and convince them to go to bed. Play music on my tarka.

9:40 - Ring five minute warning bell. Check in with teachers.

9:45 - Ring final bell. Camper gets sent to me for talking after the bells have rung. I explain to him why he shouldn't be talking (as if I didn't cover this several times during the night talk). Teachers start night patrol (checking to make sure kids are quiet and cabin lights are out).

9:50 - Plug in laptop and clock. Get book out ("House of Windows" by John Langan).

9:53 - Talk with a teacher for a moment.

9:57 - Check e-mail. Send e-mail to Jeanine.

10:05 - A girl gets sent to me for making noise after lights-out. I find out that she is also homesick. I counsel her for a few minutes and send her back to bed.

10:08 - Go make myself some mint tea in the dining hall. Have brief conversation with a teacher who is also getting tea.

10:13 - Arrive back at the Hub to discover a whole group of boys waiting for me. They got sent over by their cabin leader for making noise (knocking on wall, fake farting, etc.). I find out which one was most at fault, and proceed accordingly. I send them back to bed after sorting things out.

10:17 - I drink my tea and read.

10:24 - A girl comes in and, while leaning over me, tells me she feels like throwing up. I tell her to go to the bathroom, because I'd rather she throw up in the toilet than in my lap.

10:27 - The girl is back. She informs me that she threw up "a little bit". I quickly discover that she is nauseous because she is feeling homesick. I counsel her for a little while and send her back to bed. Then, I resume reading.

11:23 - Check e-mail. Back to reading. Discover pretzels in the staff room. Eat them.

11:55 - Turn off heaters so it doesn't get too hot in the cabins. Surprise raccoon in the trash.

12:11 - Finish book. E-mail Jeanine, noticing thematic similarities between her last e-mail and the book I've just read.

12:20 - Briefly look at Facebook. Shut down computer.

12:32 - I crawl onto the top bunk in the Hub, and begin my several hours of light sleep. The alarm is set for 5:30 AM.

If Only We Could Banish the Bureaucrats

It's the second work week of the new year, and I feel like I'm doing more work at home than I am at my actual job. It all has to do with the undue importance that certain financial organizations place on arcane procedures and convoluted paperwork. Some of them aren't so bad, but at the moment I'm stuck in a bit of a catch-22 situation with another. I filled an entire afternoon with meaninglessness, and I don't even have anything to show for it. Finally, I stopped and put on some music. Music makes almost anything better. It's frustrating that I can't just be done with all of this bureaucratic nonsense, although I guess it's necessary as long as I continue to be a functioning member of society. I can still rant about it though.

The kids at camp this week are really nice, although in general they seem even younger than they are. For example, a kid came into the Hub last night sometime after 1:00 AM and told me that he'd lost his sleeping bag. "It's on the floor next to your bunk," I told him. His response was, "really?". I knew it was without even looking of course. There hasn't yet been a case of a sleeping bag growing legs and running off.

Things are currently being made better by: Forrest Fang's Sans Serif "Unbound"

Do the Math and Then Forget It

I helped out at a rehearsal for the musical Annie today. Willow and Sophie both have small roles in it. Of course, most of what I did involved helping to lug ungainly bits of stage from a shed over by the kindergarten rooms to the "cafetoriunm" where the rehearsals take place. I also briefly helped one of the girls with her math homework because her mom, who was sitting nearby, had forgotten how to do elementary school math. This inspired me to reflect on the purpose of learning math in the first place, and outside of some of the more obvious reasons to know basic math (all having to do with money), I couldn't really think of much, other than the inevitable necessity of having to help your kids with their math homework. Of course, I'm sure that many people are like this particular mom. They've forgotten how to do it, making all of those hours they spent learning math a complete waste of time.

Thinking about money, I reminded myself that math is important in a society where quantity is increasingly more important than quality. Continuing along the rails with that train of thought, I have to conclude that massive debt, whether it is personal or national, is as pervasive as it is because most people are like this particular mom. They've forgotten elementary school math.

Or maybe they done been raised up wrongly.

Currently listening to: Efterklang "Daytrotter Session"

First Night Of Work This Year

I'm drinking a cup of Earl Grey tea before heading to work. This is my first night back since mid December, and it just so happens to coincide with the Quadrantid Meteor Shower, so it looks like I'll get a lightshow in the middle of the night. Sometimes it's the simple things that make me happy. Sometimes it's little bits of flaming dust.

It will be nice to get back to work though. Kid energy always makes me feel more alive.

Currently listening to Simon Finn "Through Stones"

A New Year...

This is the view of the sky at sunset on the last day of 2011, taken during our very last walk of the old year. I've logged 1007 miles since April. Here's to the next 1000.

I spent the final hours of 2011 at the India Gate restaurant in Sunnyvale, making balloon swords and braids for excited young partygoers. Jeanine was next to me, painting faces and arms. One of the great things about working at this particular restaurant is the free buffet. This is the best Indian restaurant I've been to in the Bay Area, and we both ate until we were stuffed. We hung out together as the minute hand passed the 12 for the final time in 2011, and everybody whooped it up. Lots of people came up and shook our hands, wishing us a happy new year. It was nice.

As for 2012, I've made some resolutions. I don't believe that anything changes at exactly midnight on December 31st. Time is a spectrum, not something that happens in discrete movements. Nonetheless, it is nice to imagine pushing the reset button and looking forward to the next chunk of time. Most of my resolutions concern consuming less and producing more, which I'm sure is quite common. My rather vague goals, made around 365 days ago, for the most part didn't come to fruition. This year, I've decided to try being more specific. We'll see if it works.

Later this year, I'll see the 10 year anniversary of this blog. It has already seen me through marriage, the birth of my daughter, the ending of my old job(s) and the start of my new one, divorce and the resulting move, the earning of my teaching credential, the start of my relationship with Jeanine, and the recent deaths of both of my parents. In fact, most of the major changes in my life have happened during the last 10 years. It makes me wonder what the next 10 years will hold.

Happy New Year. I truly hope that it is a good one for all of us. Yes, even you. The year will be what we make it.

Currently listening to Tenhi "Saivo", which is one of my very favorite albums of 2011.

The Final Week Of The Year

I have this perception of the final week of the year as a week when nothing much happens. I'm aware that my mindset creates a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, guaranteeing that nothing gets accomplished during this week, but since many people share this mindset, it's hard to accomplish anything that involves getting hold of other people. They're all "away from the office" in whatever way that trite phrase applies. For me, that means the head of steam I built up before Christmas has now somewhat dissipated. That's okay though. I'm enjoying the evenings spent hanging out with Willow or reading, and I'm enjoying waking up to discover that it's already mid-morning.

Willow is spending her time with her new toys. I wonder how much longer she'll get enjoyment out of that sort of imaginative play. Yesterday, I spent around 2 hours putting together her Playmobil hospital, and now I'm thinking that I'm going to have to move to a bigger place just so we can have room for her toys. Right now, Willow is using her digital camera to photograph her Playmobil people. At least that's a step up from taking pictures of the TV screen. This year, she requested and got a CD player too, which is an almost retro gift for kids these days. Maybe my adherence to physical media inspired her in some way. She only has one CD here, but since she's a kid, she is content to listen to it over and over again.

Christmas without parents was weird, but I think we managed quite well under the circumstances. I couldn't have been happier with the company and the gift exchanging.

As the year winds down, I'm working on lists, both "to do" lists for the future, and reflections on the past. I plan to make some important things happen in the coming year.

Currently listening to: Bloody Panda "Summon: Invocation"

Yuletide Greetings

Up until almost the last minute, I didn't really feel prepared for the holiday season this year. I've been using my time off to trade e-mails and phone calls with bankers and lawyers, which for me is sort of like trading phone calls and e-mails with Martians. Still, the things I need to accomplish as executor of my dad's estate are slowly getting done. In honor of the holidays, I've given myself a few days off from those tasks, using the time to make sure that there would be a tree with presents under it for Willow. She's at her mom's this morning. We trade off on the holidays. I'll be picking her up a little later, walking as usual. I've pretty much given up driving to get her, instead enjoying the 35 minute walk, and then enjoying walking and talking with her on the way back home. The best conversations always seem to happen when we're walking. She has walked well over 100 miles since we've started keeping track, and I'm closing in on 1000 (although to be fair, at least a couple hundred of those miles were done on a bike). If I've accomplished nothing else this year, at least I'll be able to say that I traveled 1000 miles with only my legs to power me.

There is a comforting blanket of gray over the sky today, although the cloud cover may burn off before afternoon rolls around. I'm hoping that the gray stays though.

Currently listening to: Tim Eriksen "Star In The East"

Hollow Holidays

Holidays lights, like nighttime flowers, are blossoming in the dusk. There seem to be more of them than usual this year, but that might just be because I'm spending more time walking than I used to. I just got back from a 5 mile walk through the surrounding neighborhoods, during which I watched the sun set and halfheartedly wandered through a few stores, looking for Christmas presents.

This will be my first holiday season with no parents. I'm still in the middle of dealing with all of the financial and legal matters surrounding my dad's passing, and I'm finding it's a slow process. It might be that I'm making it slow, only dealing with a certain number of things a day, or it might be that others are making it slow, taking their time to get back to me. As usual, I'm sure the truth takes the middle ground. The legal and financial worlds are alien worlds, and they speak strange languages there. I'm sure that in time the dust will settle.

I'm off work for the next two weeks, and there is much to do. I feel like I'm in a bit of a slump today, and I'm hoping that will wear off when I head out the door to go see Marissa Nadler perform in San Francisco tonight. Live music always helps.

Currently listening to Syven "Aikaintaite"

A Rainbow For My Dad

Leroy Henry Scharpen, 10/15/1935 to 11/2/2011

My dad passed away Wednesday afternoon while we sat at his bedside. He went quietly and as far as I know, painlessly. He was diagnosed with lung cancer last December. Early this year, he went through radiation treatment, which seemed to have helped for awhile. He was admitted to the hospital on October 21st, and kept his good humor right up until the end. Everybody who took care of him during that short time really liked him. Willow got to see him the day before he passed away, and they had a good visit together.

I haven't yet told her that he is gone. I'm not looking forward to doing that.

For now, I will only add that on the way home from the hospital, I saw a rainbow. Back in January of 2010, while on the same freeway, I also saw a rainbow. Less than an hour later, I got the phone call informing me that my mom was dead.

A rainbow for my dad, through the permanently closed driver's side window of my van:

A rainbow for my mom, a few miles to the north on the same stretch of asphalt:

I think they would have been pleased by this.

The Wheel Keeps Turning...

My dad is in the hospital, and his outlook is not good. I'll say no more at present. Over the coming weeks, there will either be lots of updates here, or none at all. I'm not really sure which way this whole process will drive me. This is a time of transition. The outcome is certain, but when it will come is not.

Currently being comforted by the sounds of: Tom Waits "Bad As Me"

Linguistic Generation Gap

The other afternoon, while I was walking down the street, a boy leaned out of the window of a passing vehicle and shouted, "SICK HAIR!", and then , realizing that I was old and presumably unaware of current slang, translated: "NICE HAIR!". How thoughtful of him,although no translation was necessary. Working with kids keeps me abreast of changes in the slang world. It's funny how each generation takes words and does 180 degree turns with their definitions. I can still remember people using the word "bad" when they meant "good". I'd love to see this type of linguistic playfulness translated to the dreary adult world of boardrooms and cubicles. "That's a shitty tie you have on today, sir."

It's overcast this morning, although according to the forecast, it unfortunately won't last. Still, Autumn is definitely in the air, and on the ground in the form of colorful drifts of leaves. I'm drinking pumpkin spice coffee and enjoying the morning coolness while it's here.

Currently listening to: TwinSisterMoon "When Stars Glide Through Solid" LP

Dangerous Visitor

After the Monday night spider stampede, during which I relocated an imposing yet harmless spider, I would have thought it unlikely that any more animals would show up inside any of the cabins this week. It's actually pretty rare for interesting animals to find their way inside at camp. Imagine my surprise when I found out that in my diurnal absence a small Northern Pacific Rattlesnake was found in somebody's shoe inside the cabin next to the one from which the spider was evicted. You'd think that everybody on the planet would be able to identify a rattlesnake, but apparently the cabin leader in charge of that particular cabin is from another planet, because he picked the little snake up and took it outside, only later finding out that his day might have ended in a hospital visit had the snake been more irritable. Yet another thing that I previously thought "goes without saying" has now been added to the "I shouldn't have to tell you this, but I'm going to anyway" list. We're adding yet another minute or two to the cabin leader training session so we can tell cabin leaders NEVER TO PICK UP ANY ANIMALS THEY FIND IN THE CABINS.

As I was dismissing the campers into breakfast this morning, I overheard a kid from that cabin mention that seeing the snake was the highlight of his week. I can relate. If I was a fifth grader, it would have been the highlight of my week too.

Currently listening to: Counterblast "Nothingness"

Rising

There are nights when the moon is a frozen oasis, a centering point untouched and untouchable by the constant motion of my surroundings. Yesterday evening I looked up and saw its profound glowing disc being born above the east bay hills, tinged an orangish brown by the intervening layers of spoiled atmosphere but nonetheless beautiful. It bathed the hills in fairytale light, making them seem worlds removed from the street I was driving down.

The moment is perfectly captured in memory, and less than perfectly captured by my point-and-shoot attempt at photography while driving.

Currently listening to: Common Eider, King Eider "How To Build A Cabin"

During summer camp, we held a series of silent auctions to raise money for the ongoing updating of our site. My part in the process was to donate my time and efforts toward a pair of on-site "critter parties", and this weekend I facilitated the second one, starting with some hands-on reptile and arthropod interaction in the nature lab, and ending with a short hike to look for their wild counterparts. There were 12 girls, including the birthday girl, plus a couple of siblings and a few adults. In our short hike, we managed to find 7 snakes, some lizards, and a few interesting insects. That's a pretty good critter hunt by any standard, I think. The breakdown was 4 Garter Snakes, 1 Gopher Snake, and 2 Rattlesnakes, so I think it's safe to say that this particular girl's family got some real value for their donation to our cause. Plus, I love to do this kind of thing, so when I actually pocket the money myself I consider it an added bonus. In this particular case, it helped that the temperature was somewhere in the low to mid seventies, just right for the local reptiles. Any hotter and they get more difficult to find in the afternoons.

Yesterday was just as warm, if not more so, but it was overcast and drizzly, with the humidity levels high enough to produce a sheen of sweat as I walked to get Willow. Every animal I saw along the way was black. I saw a black squirrel hanging out with a trio of crows, and several black cats lounging in front yards. I did hear a tree frog or two, croaking from the shrubbery, and I assume they weren't black, but I can't confirm this. There was also a tree full of boys, which powerfully reminded me of my own childhood. What I overheard as I passed definitely reminded me that I'm no longer a child though: "That's not a teenager! That's some 50 year old guy!" I guess they'd thought I was a teenager from a distance. Maybe it was because I was wearing all black. You see, I'd gotten the memo about the dress code for the day.

I have to remind myself that to the average child, anybody over 30 is "old".

The camp week started out with the usual assortment of homesickness, vomit, confusion, and minor scrapes. At one point, a whole cabin-full of kids came pouring out of their door, screaming and yelling. I soon discovered that they'd all been terrified to discover their cabin-mate for the evening was a Calisoga Spider. I went in and removed the spider, finding it a more peaceful place to spend the night. This morning, an eagle-eyed camper spotted a dusty Arboreal Salamander hiding behind a support column. I moved it too, mostly because it looked unhappily dry, but also because I didn't want to find its sad, flat carcass later on.

I prefer animals to be three-dimensional.

Currently listening to: Ruby Howl "Heaven Hides There Too"

I went for an eleven mile walk in the hills yesterday, and it was only later, when I started wondering why I felt so wiped out, that I realized that I'd spent more time walking than I had sleeping. The recent rain had sharpened my surroundings, especially in an olfactory sense. The powerful smell of Bay Laurel leaves cut through everything, but other, more subtle scents made themselves known too, combining to powerfully remind me of childhood. The late summer dust had disappeared, and in sunny spots, there were upward flurries of winged ants, rising en masse into the blue. Towards the end of the walk, I heard Stellar's Jays kicking up a fuss, and stopped to watch them drive off a small hawk, either a Cooper's Hawk or a Sharp Shinned Hawk. During the entire 11 mile walk, I only saw two other human beings, one jogger and one hiker. I guess weekday mornings are the time to hit the trails if you don't want to share them.

Currently listening to: Johnny Kask "Sluten Anstalt Blues"

Rain, A Gunman, and An Owl

The first real rain of the season arrived yesterday, making the sidewalks slick with a pasty brown mulch of leaves and mud, and making the asphalt slippery with a mixture of water and several months worth of accumulated oil. I spent most of last night worrying that the power was going to go out at work, especially since they've rerouted the backup generator to only supply power to the main office building and science lab construction site. That means that, if the power goes out, the building I'm in and the buildings that the campers are sleeping in are without power. I ended up not having to break out the battery powered lanterns though.

At our second site there was some concern about a deranged gunman headed their way, but evidence now points to him heading in the opposite direction. This started when early this morning, a man showed up for a meeting at the nearby quarry and opened fire, killing 3 and wounding others. He has also been implicated in a carjacking. The last time I checked, he hadn't been caught and most of the area schools were still in lockdown mode.

It's hard to segue away from that one, so consider this my attempt. I'm still trying to walk every day, and one of my goals this month is to finish walking all of the trails at Almaden Quicksilver County Park. It won't take me long because I've nearly walked all of them already. My most recent hike there was with Willow, when we went on a twilight hike over the weekend. We hadn't intended it to be a twilight hike, but the combination of our tardiness and the early autumn sunset made it so. It's a good thing too, because if we'd been earlier or the sunset had been later we wouldn't have gotten to watch a Great Horned Owl hanging out in a tree near the trail. The city lights, as viewed from the darkened hill, helped set the mood as well. I've always enjoyed looking down at the glittering constellations of street lights, although to properly enjoy them I have to stop thinking about things like electricity and suburban expansion.

The forecast today calls for thunderstorms. I haven't heard any evidence of this yet, but my ears are open and ready.

Currently listening to: Sand "Desert Navigation" and Opeth "Heritage"

I've now walked over 200 miles this month, and ended up being on the same trail at mile 200 that I was walking on when I reached 100 miles a couple of weeks ago. This time, Jeanine was with me. She has walked a little over 100 miles this month, so that brings our combined total to over 300 miles. We found a couple of snakes too, the first being a tiny little Gopher snake stretched out in the middle of the trail, and the second being a little Striped Racer. Jeanine spotted it off to the side of the trail, and I caught it to take a few pictures. I haven't seen one of these in the wild in over 20 years, and I think I've only ever caught one or two of them, so I was pretty happy to finally get to take a few pictures of one. It was a nice 200-mile present.

On my evening walk yesterday, I saw at least 10 Night Herons, all patiently waiting for dinner along the shores of Vasona reservoir. The last one I spotted suddenly thrust his head forward, looking intently at the water for a moment before striking and snapping up a 3 inch fish. Nervous about being observed, it hopped into some nearby low branches to finish its meal. Earlier in the same walk, I spotted the little brown face of a mouse peering at me out of a little brown hole. It froze when it saw me, before some tiny movement on my part caused it to vanish as quickly as it had appeared.

I'm tired today, mostly because our morning walk preempted my morning nap. I split my sleep schedule during the school year, catching a few hours of light sleep at work (if the kids are all snoozing) and usually coming home in the morning to sleep until noon. My apartment stays nice and cool on hot days, and retains warmth pretty well on the cold ones, so sleeping during the day is pretty easy.

Currently listening to: Comus "East of Sweden"

Unseasonal Slump

It's another warm week this week. After a couple of cloudy days, the sky has reverted to a bland blue. It's not quite as warm as last week though, so the kids at camp are sleeping more soundly, if occasionally a bit weirdly. Yesterday, as I was waking up the kids, I noticed that one boy was sleeping through the bunk bed ladder, with his head and chest on the floor. That couldn't have been comfortable. This morning, his bunkmate on the top bunk was sleeping under his mattress. I asked him why, and he responded that he was cold. His sleeping bag was on the floor at the foot of the bed, but rather than climb down and get it, for some reason he thought that using his mattress as a blanket was the best way to go.

I'm nearing my goal of walking 200 miles this month, with only 12 more miles to go. Yesterday, I lanced my blisters and bandaged my feet, which made walking much easier. I even walked a couple of miles chaperoning for Willow's field trip to the Youth Science Institute, where I got to see several of my old co-workers. Willow had a fun time, liking the nature hike the best

I'm not feeling very motivated this week, possibly because of the warmth. Next week the forecast mentions the possibility of rain. That will set things straight.

Currently listening to: Simon Finn "The Distance Between Stones"

Things I've Noticed While Walking

There is an orange cat who seems to live on top of the sign of the Seventh Day Adventist church. I've seen him a couple of times now, and he always lifts his head to watch us walk by.

A while ago, a bunch of "lost turtle" signs went up around the neighborhood. There was a $200.00 reward for its safe return, but I would have kept my eye out for the turtle even if there hadn't been money involved. I worry about turtles. Their little shells don't protect them from cars. Willow has been worried about the possibility of the poor turtle getting run over too. Yesterday, I noticed that somebody had taken the time to write "FOUND!" in red marker on every single one of the signs. I can't help but wonder why they didn't just remove the signs, but I'm happy that the turtle has been found.

There was a guy sitting by the Los Gatos Creek Trail yesterday, his fingers flying so quickly across the frets of his acoustic guitar that they seemed a blur. Maybe he was playing for the tired groups of runners training for an upcoming leukemia event, or maybe he was simply playing for himself. Either way, it was nice.

Today, while out walking with my friend Les and his daughter, we were told by a couple of women on horseback that they'd just seen a bobcat the size of a coyote. I figured that since I'd forgotten my camera, we'd see it too, but we didn't.

I have a blister the size of a silver dollar on the heel of my right foot. It's squishy, and I keep envisioning it popping if I stomp my foot hard enough. The one on the side of my heel popped yesterday. I need better shoes, and I've just purchased some insoles and moleskin as a stopgap remedy.

I've now walked 175 miles this month.

Currently listening to: Steve Von Till "Breathe" from "If I Should Fall to the Field". Happy Autumn. Don't forget to breathe.