Sunbeams

Sunbeams, originally uploaded by Corbie.

I can imagine that people who weren't aware that an eclipse was happening might have been a little alarmed when the moon gradually turned to blood in the middle of the night last night. I, aware that an eclipse was scheduled, set my alarm and went out to watch it for awhile. Kind of eerie, actually - but eerie in a good way. Of course, I'm of the opinion that eerie is usually good. I shared the night with a garden spider who was busily making its web nearby, then went back to bed so I could get up a few hours later to help with the removal of kids from the house so they could go to their first day of school. Hard to believe that Sophie is in the first grade, Nate in third, and Alex in fifth. Willow had her first day yesterday. By most accounts the first day experiences were good, with only Nathan expressing the opinion that the kids in his class were, "annoying."

Yesterday was technically my first day of school too, and Jen's first day at the office. It seems though, that my financial aid forms are still floating around in the deep end of some bureaucratic swimming pool, preventing the final step of legitimacy from happening, and Jen is actually working at a cottage owned by her boss instead of the actual office. So.... almost!

My faculty adviser/contact person had arranged to meet with me this morning around the corner at the coffee shop. Of course, today of all days there was a handwritten note on the door stating that it wouldn't be opening until almost noon. We met at our house instead. She seems nice enough, but I'm definitely going to be working hard and sleeping little over the coming months. In addition to the assigned course work, I'm studying for the upcoming CSET test in early November. Right now I'm reading the social studies/history section in the big CSET study guide. It's sort of like relearning everything I was supposed to learn/learned but forgot in all of my classes from kindergarten through the eighth grade. It's actually more interesting than it sounds though. Just time consuming.

Over last weekend I didn't get much studying done because Jen's brother J finally married his girlfriend S in a lovely little ceremony up in the hills. Of course this meant that lots of out of town relatives were on hand too, including Jen and J's dad and stepmom, various uncles and cousins, friends, and lots of people whom I've never met. In other words, lots of restaurant dining and sitting around tables and talking. It was nice to see the far away relatives-in-law again, but I tend to get overwhelmed in crowds, I'm afraid - especially the rehearsal dinner with forty or so people all eating together. The wedding was a definite highpoint though. Jen and I even got to dance a bit. So did the kids, who all comported themselves with style (if not always grace) on the dance floor. They're already better dancers than I am.

The picture above is of the sun slicing through smoke from cooking food, over the unsuspecting heads of wedding guests.

That's it for now - posts may become more infrequent than usual as we all slip into our new routines around here. Next week is science camp set-up week (for which I might occasionally have to have at least Willow with me), followed by the beginning of the science camp school year, during which I'll be working as night host. We'll see how that goes...

Forked Tail

Forked Tail, originally uploaded by Corbie.

This is the forked tail of a Fence lizard, first spotted by a summer camp boy on a critter hunt at camp last Monday. Unlike, say, a two-headed snake, the lizard isn't born this way. If a lizard's tail breaks halfway off, a new tail starts to grow from the wound. In the picture here, the new tail is on the left. New tails are always less attractive than old ones. The lesson here is be careful with your tail. If you're not, you'll either end up with an ugly tail or, if you have the forked variety, attract unwanted attention from passing people.

Tomorrow starts the last week of summer camp. A lot of kids will already be in school by the end of the week. Jen is going to her new office for the first time on Monday, so I'm going to bring the boys to camp with me again while the girls go to a friend's house.

Summer camp has been going quite well. I've been leading a lot of critter hunts and pond saving expeditions. The snakes have started to make themselves scarce, with only a lone Gopher snake allowing itself to be found over the last two weeks. I did a couple of new activities over the last week though. One of them was a simple geography challenge. Every kid got a piece of paper and a pencil, and was instructed to write down as many countries as they could in a certain amount of time. At the end of it, most of them had written down somewhere between 15 and 35 countries. I got 89. One of the camp counselors got 121. That makes me smarter than 5th graders, but not, apparently, than high schoolers. Good to know, I guess... The other activity was labeled "elephant appreciation" and involved listening to the Thai Elephant Orchestra cd (music played by elephants on special elephant intruments), learning how to make convincing elephant trumpeting sounds, and finally, a question and answer session with yet another camp counselor, who just got back from Thailand where he had been working with elephants - perhaps some of the same elephants on the cd, since he recognized some of the backgrounds in the pictures gracing the cd booklet.

I continue to love the fact that we can do whatever we want at camp.

As for me, I got up at 5 AM yesterday and drove up to Santa Rosa (about 120 miles away) to attend an orientation for the teacher credentialing program I've enrolled in. It mostly involved the technological aspect of the program. This is important to know, since it's an online course, with only 4 or 5 mandatory "seminars" over the entire duration of the program. A lot of our work will involve online forums and submitting answers via e-mail. I came away being quite enthusiastic about the program, although I'll admit I'm a little worried about managing to fit all of this extra work in to an already tight schedule. Entries on this blog may become even more infrequent. We'll have to see how it goes...

On the way back, I crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge. San Francisco was uncharacteristically sunny, with sailboats dotting the bay. I stopped for dinner and cds before continuing home.

FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

The five year anniversary of this site came and went while I was looking the other way. My first post here was on July 31, 2002, and was inspired by Jen starting a blog a couple of weeks earlier than that. Since then, it has become a habit, although I've slowed down a bit. I no longer try to post every day during the week - more like once or twice a week, if that. This is due largely to life getting in the way of writing about life. I used to sit down at the computer after coming home from my night job, when the house was quiet and I did my best thinking (or reflecting, at any rate). Due to the diurnal schedule I've kept for the last three years, I no longer have a guaranteed quiet time every day. Jen and I are both working full time now, so there's not a lot of time for slumping in front of the computer and trying to compose posts. That said, most of my posts are pretty stream-of-consciousness anyway. I've never agonized over the quality of what I type here. I just sort of blurt it out and hit "publish". Not that it matters. I'm not trying to win any writing awards here.

As always, this site has no real direction other than the one that I follow in life. It goes where I go. My schedule is likely to change again soon. I'm gearing up to earn my teaching credentials, and I'm going to try my hand at being the night supervisor at work - if they actually get around to hiring for it (the process is trapped in some sort of bureaucratic spider web at the moment, it seems). Right now though, I've just started the third-to-last week of summer camp, so for the time being life is still relatively the same.

I still have fun going back and reading early posts. Lots of things have changed over the past five years. I wonder what life will be like five years from now?

Oh, I've decided to start entitling posts. Just because.

Due to the near-daily reminders from Willow, we ended up at the "summer fair" this weekend (actually, the Santa Clara County fair). We arrived around mid-afternoon, with Willow and Sophie in tow and a hundred bucks in my pocket, and left several hours later with three dollars and some change. There have been a series of articles in the local paper about the imminent demise of the fair, which hasn't broken even in years, and in my opinion the coffin is being nailed shut by prices that border on extortion. It gives one the illusion of single-handedly helping the fair break even every time a soda or water is purchased, not to mention parking and entrance fees.
Still, the girls had fun until the money ran out, at which point Sophie had a fit. Willow, for her part, was saddened by the fact that she isn't quite 42 inches tall and therefore too short to experience the ferris wheel.
Both girls liked the pony rides, even though one of the "ponies" was very obviously a donkey. They also liked the trampoline/bungee cord thing that propelled jumpers high in the air. I liked the... I don't know... the indefinable feel of history one associates with octogenarian quilters and pens of farm animals. Not to mention the midway, with its small-town carnival feel.

I can see why people are fighting to keep the fair alive for another year, but I can also see why any such effort is doomed to failure.

On a somewhat unrelated note, while I was talking to a family after our summer camp's barbeque and skit program (talk about another old-timey americana holdover), a Great Horned Owl flew over us, probably about thirty feet up in the darkening sky. Although we were in shadow, the owl was high enough so that its underside glowed orange with the light of the setting sun. We went quiet as we watched it disappear into the distance.

R.I.P. Michelangelo Antonioni. These things tend to happen in clusters of three. Who's next?

R.I.P. Ingmar Bergman. Proof that the good (or great) don't always die young.

Somebody Recycled A Perfectly Reusable Pair of Raccoons!

Somebody Recycled A Perfectly Reusable Pair of Raccoons!, originally uploaded by Corbie.

Friday morning, right in the middle of our end-of-the-week meeting, we got the word from one of the camp counselors that one of our recycling bins was full of raccoons. This must have been a hard feat to pull off because the bins are inside a supposedly raccoon-proof wooden box, with bungee-corded lids. For the raccoons, it ended up being a lot of work for nothing because the bin they were in was devoid of any recycled materials. We pulled the bin out and, without alerting any of the campers who were all gathered mere feet away for breakfast (with the exception of Sophie and Willow, who were with me and got to see the action), walked it over to where the forest begins. It took some coaxing and tilting to get the frightened little baby raccoons to leave the shelter of their bin, but once they were out, they wasted no time in scrambling up a tree.
Later the same day, I also relocated a large Wolf spider from the Wild Things (that's what we call the program for campers under 7 years old) room. Counting the Rattlesnake from a couple of days ago, we spent a lot of time moving wild animals this week.
As if that wasn't enough, While I was driving up to camp with Sophie and Willow (the boys spent the night, going on the night hike and sleeping in the field with the other campers) we saw a coyote walking right down the middle of the road. As we got closer, we could see that it had a deer leg in its mouth. It bounded up the hill to our right, and I stopped the van to try and get a picture - an utter failure, I'm afraid, due to the poor light and moving target. It did pause long enough for the girls to get a good look, and they were quite excited - in fact, they spent the rest of the day telling people about it, but due to the fact that they're at an age where fact and fantasy are often seamlessly blended, I had to confirm the story many times.

By Friday afternoon, the kids were all tired and kind of cranky, especially Nate. They all had a great time though, meeting other kids, hiking, climbing (Alex and C on the high ropes course, Nate on the climbing wall), archery, and just plain hanging out around camp or at the pool. Alex got in some more reading time on the newest Harry Potter book too. Once home, we ordered pizza and unwound a bit. Nate and Sophie fell asleep relatively early. Willow hung in there for awhile before falling asleep in the big bed. Alex stayed up late to read more Harry Potter.

I think it was good for the kids to see what I do at work. I hung out with Nate the most, since he was in my group. It was good for me too - I don't really do stuff with the boys as often as I should. This was a good chance to just relax and have some fun (while getting paid too!).

Jen is still in Chicago. She's working hard and not sleeping enough. Hope she makes it over to the art museum (and manages to stay out of the neighborhoods I found myself in the last time I was there - the kind of neighborhoods where taxis won't stop for you).

Today, Sophie is at the zoo with friends. The rest of us are going to go see the Simpsons movie later.

The Snake and the Spider

The Snake and the Spider, originally uploaded by Corbie.

I've been doing this activity at camp during which I take kids into the forest to gather ingredients for "Ohlone tea". We gather fallen Madrone bark, Douglas Fir needles, Bay Laurel leaves, and Yerba Buena. The secret to good tea is go heavy on the Yerba Buena and Douglas Fir, and really light on the Bay Laurel leaves (I put in too many the first time I tried this, and nearly melted my sinuses). Madrone bark is mostly for color, although I'm told that the Ohlone people used it to make compresses, as well as tea, so it must have some medicinal use. The other secret to getting kids to enjoy the tea is to let them sugar it to taste. Oh, and making it iced tea. It is summer, after all...
Yesterday, we had just started on our gathering hike (with Alex, whose camp name this week is Unpleasant Chicken, coming along) when I got a radio call from our facilities manager, Walrus, that there was a visitor at the new lodge who needed moving. "Does the visitor have a rattle?" I asked. I already knew the answer, and sure enough, I was told that there was a two-foot Rattlesnake near the front of the lodge. I asked the Ohlone tea gathering group if they wouldn't mind becoming a Rattlesnake relocation group. Of course, I got an enthusiastic and unanimous "YES!". On the way back up to the lodge, I grabbed a stick and an old recycling barrel. Then it was just a matter of encouraging the Rattlesnake, who had been hiding behind a stack of cardboard leaning against the wall of the nearly completed new camp entry walkway, into the container. This accomplished, we showed our captive to other nearby kids, and hiked it up the hill away from camp.

It was a beautiful snake too, lookng like it had recently shed.

I also, for the first time, found a cicada nymph. Usually we just find the molted exoskeletons or adults.

The kids are all having a great time at camp this week too. I'll admit, it's hard getting everybody out of bed before 8 and out the door before 8:30, but I managed somehow. The boys are going to sleep over at camp tonight, but I'm taking the girls home. We'll see how the boys fare.

The Best Way to Spend the Summer

The Best Way to Spend the Summer, originally uploaded by Corbie.

Jen is on her way to Chicago for the Blogher conference. I'm at work right now with all of the kids, plus Nate and Alex's friend C. I'm glad I work at a summer camp - it makes child care issues easy.

It seems that the new Harry Potter book sold in excess of 8 million copies during the first 24 hours after its release. Jen, thinking ahead, reserved a couple of copies at Borders. I went down there with Willow on Friday afternoon so I could get a wristband that saved me a place in line. The one I got was silver, meaning that I couldn't get in line until all of the people with orange wristbands had lined up.

Later in the evening, I went back and joined the crazy circus of people, many in costume, who waited for midnight to signal the great unboxing. I ran into a few people I knew through work, shopped around, and found myself in line for coffee when my wristband color was called. I had a moment of indecision then - should I forget the coffee and get in line for the book, or should I obtain caffeine. Coffee won out. This meant, of course, that by the time I got in line most of the other bearers of the silver wristband had already lined up. I found myself all the way across the shopping center, out by the road. I couldn't even read in line because they were going to be handing the books to customers at the registers, and since the line was outside the store, I couldn't bring out the other books I'd selected.

About an hour later I had two copies of the book and a free poster. The wait was interesting from a sociological perspective - the parents, some harried, some grouchy, and some joking with their kids, were fun to watch. The kids, some amped up on anticipation and sugar, some dazed and sleepy, some (like the small girl passed out in her grandma's lap, head resting on one arm of a chair, feet on the other) sleeping, were quite cute. The people who came out of the store with the first copies held them high and offered to sell them to the highest bidder. I don't think I've waited in a line like this since the original Star Wars movies came out. My tastes don't usually make it necessary for me to stand in lines.

When I got home, despite the fact that it was 1 AM, I figured I'd better get reading. We'd gotten two copies so we wouldn't all have to take turns. Anyway, if Alex finished first, it is very likely the ending would no longer be a mystery to anybody nearby. This weekend, he's got a copy at his dad's, and I've finished reading the other copy.

And I'm not telling you what happens.

Summer Camp?

Summer Camp?, originally uploaded by Corbie.

The last time it rained around here on July 18th, they weren't even keeping records yet, and they started keeping track of such things 150 years ago. Today it rained enough to shut down the camp's climbing wall for the afternoon. Too slippery. The moss was soaking up the much needed moisture, and beads of water shimmered on leaves and spider webs. The ground drank it up. The kids, for the most part, ignored it and did the usual summer camp things like swimming and eating ice cream. That said, when we went down to the pond today, I was the only one who actually went in all the way. One boy stepped in up to his thighs before thinking better of it, but that doesn't really count. One must become one with the pond. One must get duckweed in places that duckweed is not meant to go.

I caught a huge Bullfrog too. I think the cool weather slowed it down just enough to make this possible.

Oh, I'm also playing bingo all week this week - wildlife bingo. I made up little bingo grids with the names of local animals written on them. Kids have to see the animals in the wild to cross them off. Five in a row wins. So far, several kids in my group have gotten bingos. Kids are naturally enthusiastic about seeing wild animals, but this makes them even more eager to find them. It gives us one more thing to focus on during hikes too.

Now, the clouds have mostly disappeared. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer. It's too bad, really. I enjoyed the fog and rain.

inn.aff.(orchext.)

inn.aff.(orchext.), originally uploaded by Corbie.

Friday after work I made my way rather quickly up to Oakland to participate in the inn.aff.(orchext.) big band show at 21 Grand, for a which a dozen or so musicians/sound artists/whathaveyou from all over the bay area converged (and in some cases, met each other for the first time) and improvised a mass of textured sound. Most of the usual suspects were involved, including all founding members of the O.A.C. and all members of the first live incarnation of irr.app.(ext.) (actually, come to think of it, all members of the most recent live incarnation too), as well as the good folks behind Maleficia, NF Orchest, French Radio, Petit Mal, and many others.
Before the proceedings got underway, I learned the hard way that it's not a good idea to park my car on a dimly-lit sidestreet in Oakland on Friday the 13th. Before it even got fully dark, some crackhead decided to vaporize my front passenger side window and rummage through the meager offerings within my car. The offerings proved to be so meager that nothing was actually stolen. Stuff sure was strewn about though. I'm glad he (it's almost always a "he", isn't it?) didn't take any of my cds. This is one of the many times I've been glad that I don't have musical taste similar to that of crackheads.

Anyway, after some thought, I decided to use the broken glass during the performance. Contact mics are wonderful things because they make broken glass sound so interesting. Before that, though, there were four opening acts. I'll have to admit that I spent a good amount of time outside the club chatting with people and keeping an eye on my car so that nobody would take advantage of the missing window to do some furtive shopping, but I did see some of Tarantism, who were delightfully bizarre, and Rubber O Cement, who played with us (irr.app.(ext.) in Seattle a couple of years ago. After the Rubber O set, an older gentleman was heard to comment (and I paraphrase here), "I don't know much about music or art, but I do know a rampage through the audience when I see it." It is indeed a wonder nobody got knocked out by the bizarrely costumed character wielding an instrument that resembles an electronic two-by-four stumbled amongst the seated audience.
When we finally go on, things start out with a projected video of Nora, the piano playing cat. With this many people playing at once, and from my monitor-less vantage point from behind the P.A., I can't really comment on how it all sounded. People clapped at the end though. Special thanks go out to Jim Haynes and the guitarist whose name I've temporarily forgotten for giving me their share of the proceeds to help me buy a new car window.

On Saturday, I went and got a window. $140. Cheaper than I remembered. This marks the 4th time my car has been broken into over the last 20 years. That's about 1 every five years. Not too bad, I guess.

Took the girls to the Children's museum too, which is always free for me. The girls liked the new Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit.

Today we got things done around the house. I finished applying for financial aid for the teaching credential program I'm planning on doing. Finished applying for the program too. I feel a sense of accomplishment because It's sometimes hard for me to take the first step.

Tomorrow marks the start of the fifth week of summer camp. Hard to believe it's halfway through July already.

R.I.P. Kelly Johnson. I saw Girlschool open for Iron Maiden and the Scorpions at the Oakland Auditorium way back in 1982 (that's a quarter century ago!). I always like to think that musicians continue to live on, like their music. Sadly, that's not always the case. I haven't listened to much Girlschool in recent years, but I've always respected them for being one of the few all-female heavy metal bands in a male dominated genre.

Slipping Over the Eyes

Slipping Over the Eyes, originally uploaded by Corbie.

I had clipped an article about Butano State Park out of the paper several months ago, and Saturday I finally managed to drive out to the coast to check it out, bringing Willow and Matt with me. It proved to be lush and full of banana slugs, and pleasantly cool. So cool, in fact, that I ended up dressing Willow in some of my clothes to keep her warm. She thought it was quite funny. We went on a two mile hike, of which Willow probably walked 3/4 of a mile. Pretty good for her. We spent a lot of time investigating fungi and things under logs, as well as the great number of plants.
Afterwards, we went to nearby Waddell beach and watched the para-surfers (or whatever the heck you call people who allow themselves to be dragged around by inflatable kite/parachute contraptions while surfing) splashing through the waves. Willow, of course, got wet. I joined her. The water from a nearby river mouth was actually quite warm. There is still a lot of sand in my car. I don't care though. One day I might have a car I care about getting dirty, but for now I'll enjoy not caring about the state of my car.

We also managed to watch two movies this weekend, as well as go out to eat twice, the first time with Matt, and the second time With Jeremy and Jennifer. Will wonders never cease?

I'm into week four of the summer camp season, and my group this week consists of ten and eleven year olds. I found the hat I lost last week (it was under a board, dropped while I was attempting to catch a rattlesnake) and temporarily lost my walkie-talkie. The latter I found by going back to camp and getting another one so I could call my lost radio while I retraced my steps. It turns out I had dropped it while catching a Ringneck snake. I tend to get a little too focused sometimes, I guess...

This is week #3 of the 2007 summer camp season, and later on in the week the temperature is supposed to be in the mid nineties. I can't say I'm looking forward to that. This time of year, I much prefer the cool mornings. None of the kids have to get up early, so it's relatively peaceful. The roads are devoid of any school-related traffic, so the drive to work is easier. Not to mention me not having to drop any kids off at various schools on the way there.

Our camp has a bus that picks up kids at a school near the downtown area. Parents are advised to circle the block so they don't have to make an illegal left turn into the school parking lot. One day last week, I drove our camp van down to the school to oversee the bus boarding process. My job was to make sure the kids were safe and that their parents were obeying the traffic rules. I put cones out in the road to block any left turns the "specially entitled" parents might attempt to make. Jutting out of the top of one of the cones was a sign that read something like, "for the safety of your children, no left turn." Of course, at least one parent attempted to make a left turn AROUND THE FUCKING CONES! I effectively blocked his way, forcing him to make an awkward correction in the middle of the road.

This kind of thing really pushes my buttons. In fact, any time a person acts like safety rules and common courtesy only apply to lesser beings, I want to make them eat a traffic cone. Backwards.

On a more relaxing note, the other night, when the full moon was about to rise, Jen decided that it would be a good idea to go out and watch it, since it was supposed to appear extra large (yeah, I know it's just an illusion, but the effect is beautiful nonetheless). After failing to see it from our vantage point at the end of the block, all six of us hopped in the van and drove down the street.

Still no moon.

We drove here and there, eventually ending up back near home. Finally we saw it, rising beyond the houses, trees, and hills. We followed it, ending up at a park with a grassy hill, where we hung out for awhile while Jen took pictures. The moon was beautiful, but better yet, the kids mostly behaved.

It's nice not having a big TV in the front room. It makes it much easier to convince the kids to leave the house and do crazy things like driving around looking for the moon. Lunacy, indeed.

Would You Trust These People?, originally uploaded by Corbie.

On Monday evening, a bunch of us got together at the Berkeley City Club for some spoken-word fun. Greg, who regularly haunts the club in his role as sound designer for Central Works, put the whole thing together. The Club itself is a very elegant place, designed by architect Julia Morgan, and feeling like one of those places one would expect to find old men sitting in overstuffed chairs in front of the fire, discussing past exploits as they chew on their pipes. In fact, the upstairs room we occupied was called the men's lounge. Nearby was a sign that for the men's room, and we all hoped nobody would end up standing expectantly in front of the toilets, waiting for them to read stories or spout poetry.
As it turned out, being a Monday night, only a handful of people showed up. I read an old OAC story which I had extended over the course of the last week. Greg improvised some sound underneath it. The whole thing culminated in Matthias and Greg throwing a dirty garbage bag over my head and hauling me out of the room (pre-planned, of course - not a reaction to my story). Matt read a couple of short pieces (one OAC story, and an essay he had submitted elsewhere) accompanied by a backing cd. Greg read an OAC story, accompanied by Dean on guitar and Jim on bicycle wheel. Dean read/performed a very touching story about a corpse. Matthias very effectively read a section from an old John Cheever novel, involving the unfortunate demise of a dog.
Afterwards, a bunch of us went out for coffee and discussed silly names of teachers we'd had growing up. There are plans to do this sort of thing more often, schedules allowing. The next time a bunch of us get together will be on July 13th in Oakland. Expect improvised weirdness. More on that as the date draws near. Of course, Matthias won't be participating because one of his bands, The Book of Knots, is having their debut performance on the opposite coast.

At home, we've had some good news on the income front. Jen is going from being a contractor to being an employee, with an increase in salary and benefits to come. I can already feel some of that financial stress dissipating.

The kids have taken to staying up way to late, cutting in to any adult time the grownups might have. whenever kids are involved, summer is always so different from the rest of the year. Since I both live and work with kids, that means my whole routine changes.

This week, I did my first week of summer camp at my primary job. We have the option of spending Thursday night camping out with the kids (their one overnight stay during the week) or working on Friday. I opted to spend the night and have Friday off. Camp, in some ways, is like outdoor school, in that each staff member gets a group of kids to be in charge of. The differences are that we don't have to teach them the science standards, their ages vary more, and we only have them in the mornings. In the afternoon, we get to do whatever we want (within reason, of course) and whoever wants to do that particular activity shows up at the appointed time.
In the mornings, this week, I had a group of 7 and 8 year olds (much like I did last week at YSI), and in the afternoon I led a bunch of "critter hunts", during which we looked for snakes. The only snake I caught was actually during the morning (which makes sense, because that's when they're more likely to be out basking), but we did find some Alligator lizards and scorpions in the afternoon. I had an average of 20 kids on each of the hunts. On Wednesday, I did some "pond saving," during which a bunch of us went into pond to scoop out duckweed and catch non-native Bullfrog tadpoles. Afterwards, we fed the tadpoles to my Water Monitor lizard. He ate about 15 of them while the kids watched with rapt attention. I think I'll do this every week, since it proved to be popular and it's a good way to feed my Monitor for free.

That's it for now. It's getting late and pizza must be ordered.

Board Removed to Show More Snake

Board Removed to Show More Snake, originally uploaded by Corbie.

My reptile camp came to a close in fine style today, with the discovery of the largest Rattlesnake I have yet seen on the trails of Sanborn park. One of the kids spotted it first. It was resting under and between some boards piled up in the chaparral. The boards themselves form part of a large pile of wooden detritus which also includes some old doors, pallets, and various signs and bits of wire mesh. Rather unsightly, but, like the nearby panels of corrugated metal, great cover for any number of reptiles. The corrugated metal tends to become too hot during the summer though, so the wood becomes one of my favorite places to look. This particular Rattlesnake was content to sit still while I moved a board to get better photos. The one kid in my group with a camera also started clicking away. I wouldn't let him get too close, but I did take his camera and get him some close-ups. He was thrilled. I made certain that he mentioned to his mom later that the close-ups were taken by me. It wouldn't do to have parents thinking that I let their 7 and 8 year olds get within a foot or two of potentially lethal wildlife.
The section of snake I could see was nearly as big around as my forearm. And when it finally slithered back under one of the boards, I think I counted at least 12 buttons on its rattle.

And here I was afraid that the reptile camp kids wouldn't get to see any snakes! If I remember right, last year we found a Rattlesnake during the bug camp, but nothing of note during the reptile camp. I'm glad that trend was broken.

I'm glad that I continue to be excited by this kind of thing.

Solstice Sunset, originally uploaded by Corbie.

Yesterday, Jen had this brilliant idea of just dropping everything, piling a bunch of towels and snacks into a bag, and going to the beach to watch the solstice sun set over the water.

We ended up at Natural Bridges just north of downtown Santa Cruz, barely out of sight of the pier and the boardwalk. Since Santa Cruz is slightly set back in a bay, we weren't sure if we would be able to see the sun actually sinking beyond the ocean. Of course, once we got to the beach we discovered that the sun was fixing to sink beyond some trees and houses above the far end of the beach. Curse the unevenness of the coast! It ended up being just fine though. The kids all ran and giggled as they splashed in the surf, drew things in the sand with sticks, and practiced their acrobat skills. Pelicans lined the remaining natural bridge and occasionally peeled off in groups like fighter squadrons. I'll bet that's how the fish view them, at any rate. There was a fair amount of other activity on the beach. A photographer was busy taking portraits. A couple was attempting to do yoga on a sandy slope. Pagans were burning sage... the list goes on. I took pictures of Jen and the kids and then wandered off to get some shots of crabs.
After awhile, we bundled back into the van and went to eat at Saturn cafe, where Alex was dismayed to learn there was no meat on the menu. That said, the kids were pretty happy to discover a cache of anti meat stickers mixed in amongst the papers on the free paper rack. Stickers, apparently, are cool, even if they espouse ideologies antithetical to one's own.
As for me, I ate too much dessert. Longest day, biggest dessert.

Okay, things have settled down now, despite the fact that the boys have not one, but two, friends spending the night tonight. I can still hear them talking and bumping against the walls in the next room, but it's nothing like the mayhem earlier today.

I must admit that I added to the mayhem a bit. When the girls decided they wanted to play musical chairs, I put on a Dead Kennedys record to accompany the game. Initially, the boys refused to join the game, holding out for some Black Sabbath. I finally caved in and pulled out a Black Sabbath record (yes, I said "record" - the turntable still gets some use around here). You can imagine that 5 kids charging around a circle of chairs listening to Black Sabbath might get a little out of hand.

You'd be right.

But now all is relatively calm. I think I'll go to bed now.

Encore

Encore, originally uploaded by Corbie.

Shit.

I finally sit down to post something after weeks of being busy with other things, and the girls get into a fight over Sophie's near life-sized stuffed lion, which ends with Willow sitting in my lap. Of course, she kicks the computer's "off" button and shuts the computer down, causing my post to un-write itself.

Anyway, this is a cicada, who unlike most cicadas who know when to shut up, is singing happily away while clinging to my finger. The kids in my reptile camp were fascinated by it, and didn't care that it wasn't actually a reptile. We'd just found a couple of snakes anyway - a baby Rattlesnake and a young Gopher snake, both with lumps in their bellies from recent meals. Some poor mouse or vole is probably missing a couple of offspring.

This is the only week I'm working for Youth Science Institute, then it's over to the summer camp at my outdoor school...

Oh, by the way, we got a small pool, and there's another sort of altercation brewing concerning the whereabouts of various bathing suits. Silly me thinking I could sit down and write something. Bye for now.