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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And it's too damn hot. Again.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's it for now.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hey. The light on the wall is gone already.

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

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

Still sick. I think I have bronchitis.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's a deer.

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

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

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

Humans who compost know this well.

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

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

Nobody would actually buy this stuff, right?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Think of cats tonight...

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

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

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

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

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




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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




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




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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




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

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

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

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

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

After a long weekend during which very little was accomplished, I'm working my last week of outdoor school before the summer camp season starts.

Tonight, we all went up to the school so the kids could see the campfire program. It was still warm after sunset, and swallows flitted here and there, looking like bats. Willow ran around a lot, trying to climb fences and poles. The Dickens, who had fallen asleep in the van on the way up, groggily woke up about halfway through the program. Nate darted here and there. Lexy sat and watched the program. One out of four isn't too bad, I guess.
Jen and I switched off caring for the girls, trying to keep them quiet. With little kids it's more about damage control than everything else. At least this time the damage was controlled, and everybody had a good time.

At home, it's uncomfortably warm. The snakes are all crawling around in their cages looking for ways out. I think I'll go read for awhile. Goodnight.

It's partially cloudy today, after a week of sunshine and warmth. There's a squirrel sitting on the fence outside my window, chewing on a nut or some other food item favored by squirrels. Okay, now it's just staring at me. News update: now it's gone. Ah, the transitory nature of wildlife viewings...

And now, a small, improperly lit picture of a Dobsonfly nymph.




Lovely little creatures.

And here's an old, overturned Redwood stump big enough to crawl through. If you crawl through it nine times you enter faerieland. Maybe.




Magic is what you make of it. Celebrate the unexpected.

(this is Jen, commandeering the blog to bring you this important information. and because the people it's intended for DONT READ MY BLOG not that I care or anything.)

If you live in the SF bay area, you can buy tickets to see our friend M perform in August. Surprised?

Also, we keep seeing toronto-related things and we hate you.

xoxoxojen

We went slightly farther than I've ever been before on a Thursday hike today, deeper into the Redwood grove a thousand feet in elevation above the school. By the time we got back, most of the kids were dragging their feet and complaining. There's this one girl that just smiles and thanks me at the end of every hike as she bounces past me. Today was no exception. In general, I've got a very good group of kids this week.

Next week is my last week of science school before summer camp madness sets in. The trails are all much more dry and the mosquitos, flies, and gnats are swarming. Instead of the 50 newts we saw on the same trail a few weeks ago, we saw one. The Alligator lizards are everywhere too.

There are still millipedes out and about. This is the kind that glows under a black light.




One of the girls found a Dobsonfly nymph in the creek too. Very strange looking creatures. I took a couple of pictures but they didn't turn out too good. I might post one anyway. We'll see. I also took a picture of a dead shrew the kids found on the trail, but it turned out blurry. Oh well, you probably didn't want to see it anyway.l

Nobody got eaten by a Mountain Lion on the night hike tonight. Perhaps this is because we lit a candle at the Jabba rock.
Jabba rock is a large, sedimentary rock that has been weathered away to look sort of like Jabba the Hut. Or like Elvis, depending on your point of view. I lit a candle in the mouth and one of the eyes, making it look a bit like a Jack-O-Lantern. It made the atmosphere in the twilight woods even more mysterious than it usually is. The possibility of a large predator lurking somewhere nearby added even more spice to the hike.

At home, the kids are getting feverish again. Nate has an ear infection. Here we go again...

After I go home from work in the evening, the campers are under the care of the night host. He's a gentle guy with a calm voice who has been doing this kind of work for years. His job is to be in charge of the camp when everybody else is sleeping. One of the things he occasionally has to do is scare Raccoons away from the area near the dining hall. Last night he heard some sort of commotion in the bushes near the dumpsters, which he thought might have been Raccoons fighting. Then it sounded more like a Raccoon dying. He went over to investigate and heard something large moving through the bushes in the darkness beyond the dumpsters. He made some noise to scare it away and was answered with a low, rumbling growl.

Needless to say, he didn't stick around to see what the growl belonged to. Perhaps a Mountain Lion upset at being interrupted while having a Raccoon snack.

We've decided not to let kids do the solo walk on the night hike tomorrow. Some of these kids aren't much bigger than Raccoons.

Here's a large Pacific Giant Salamander nymph. It's the size of an adult, but it still has gills. Apparently, some of them never go through metamorphosis.




And here's some sun kissed Poison Oak. Some time last week I touched some. I itch a bit.




Someday I'll figure out a way to stop kids from calling it "Poison Ivy." Someday.

Without warning, summer has descended upon us. The windows are all open to cool down the house, and the kids show no sign of getting tired. All of the late light and hot heat is making them restless. We don't really get much of a break around here when the kids keep the same hours as the grownups.

G and M, fresh back from a trip to Vienna earlier this month, are departing for Toronto later this week. I must confess to being a bit jealous. I miss travelling.

I did see a coyote towards the end of last week. Trickster spirit? Seeing wild animals, regardless of what legends/mythologies they're associated with, is always a spiritual experience. They are reminders of a time when people were more connected to natural cycles.

Speaking of animals, one of my coworkers who sleeps up at the school was awakened over the weekend by the cry of a Mountain Lion. She said it sounded like a woman in ecstacy. I've also heard that they can sound like a baby crying. I may decide against letting the kids do a solo walk during the night hike this week, just to be safe.

The kids this week are much more well-behaved than the bunch we had last week. We have better teen volunteers watching over them as well. That's not to say that last week was all bad. There were some really cool kids in my group, at least.
Today I found a family of mice and a small tarantula co-existing under a section of corrugated iron siding. I caught the tarantula and then spent a good deal of time chasing it across my own body as it decided to hide under my backpack and in my hair. I finally caught it when it took refuge in the crotch of my jeans. Good thing it didn't try to bite.

Time to go get the boys to bed now.

I went and saw a couple of shows this weekend, which turned out to be a wonderful way to recharge my batteries. On Friday, M and I went to the Great American Music Hall in S.F. to see Dot Dot Dot (ex Ninewood), Faun Fables, and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. SGM's set included a ten foot, benevolent sun god puppet which swayed and danced its way through the audience. Shinichi was also on hand for some flawless butoh dancing during most of the set. Just beautiful. G, M and I even got to be part of the procession that forced its way through the crowd to the stage. We all chanted in unison with the strange christian cult blather coming over the PA system as we advanced through the bewildered crowd. Aim to confuse.

Saturday saw me in a park in Sunnyvale, making slime. This was in conjuntion with the Hands on the Art festival - some sort of child friendly city-centric arts/crafts festival. More than five hundred cups of slime were made during the morning and early afternoon. I left when we ran out of materials.
That night I drove up to the City again to see Om and Six Organs of Admittance. I got there early enough to wander up the hill under a waxing moon and get a tasty mocha at a little coffee shop called Farley's. The show itself was at The Bottom of the Hill, which is one of my favorite venues in the City due to the availability of parking and the fact that Farley's is up the hill. Pretty mellow neighborhood too. I ran into some old friends inside the club, including one who I went to high school with. We reminisced about getting into trouble and complained about getting old for awhile. Of course, the fact that he was both drinking and chain smoking wasn't helping him any. I think I've had my yearly allotment of second hand smoke now. In the distance, towards the bay, there was a massive fireworks display illuminating the sky and shaking the air. Not sure why. Soon afterwards, Six Organs put on a stunning set, which was much more varied than the one I saw in Toronto last year. The music ranged from delicate, fluid acoustic guitar to savage bursts of noise produced by electric guitar and drums. At several stages, the sound was either looped or provided by backing tapes, providing some interesting interplay of sounds. Their set ended in a massive, hypnotic chant that left me wanting much more. Soon Om hit the stage and I could literally feel the sound waves wash over me. The air vibrated. Pretty good for just bass and drums.

Today we're trying to clean up the house and yard. Almost time for another week to begin.

It misted again all day today, making the long hike (a Thursday institution) quite beautiful, with groves of Coast Live Oaks made indistinct by fog. Down at camp, lots of kids got in trouble and had to be sent home, making this one of the most difficult weeks so far in terms of behavior problems. These kids are paired up with some pretty ineffective cabin leaders as well, so chaos often reigns. I kind of lucked out with my group though. The most difficult kid I have to deal with is this girl who does nothing but whine, sometimes contradicting herself with her own complaints. It's kind of amusing, really.

Here's a small picture of the Alligator lizard who tried to hide up under the van.




Here's a big picture of the Gopher snake I caught today.




I was surprised to see it out in this kind of weather. I guess it is half past May, but it sure doesn't seem like it.

More later.

It's warm and stuffy inside, but outside it's cool and the moon is bright. Sometime around the full moon, later this month, I'll get another cd in the mail because I get one every time there's a full moon. How clever.

It was supposed to rain today, but while I was at work, only a light mist fell. This was a welcome addition to the uphill hike we took this afternoon.

When I got home from work, there was an Alligator lizard in the driveway. I jumped out of my car and attempted to catch him but he ran under the van. In short order, he was up inside one of the wheels. After some persistant poking and prodding from me, he abandoned this vantage point and started running along the undercarriage. About ten minutes later, with my hands and arms black with oil and grease, I finally caught him.
It's strange to see an Alligator lizard in our neighborhood. Suburbia is unkind to reptiles. Cats love to kill them. With this in mind, I'm trying to decide what to do with him. I'll probably end up introducing him to the organic garden at work. It'll prolong his life and help control our bug population. Then again, he survived to adulthood around here, so maybe I should just let him go again in the backyard or something. What a dilemma.

Oh, and here's a picture of another sort of reptile I have to keep relocating.

This week I'm back at the other site. We've got a camp full of kids with behavior problems too. These kids just don't listen very well, and often just wander around aimlessly until they're reminded about what they're supposed to be doing. Some of the kids cuss and throw things at each other. This is all expected behavior. I was the same way when I was that age. Unfortunately, the majority of the cabin leaders (teenaged volunteers) this week are ineffectual. Some of them have gone so far as to allegedly misbehave right along with the kids in their cabins.

This made my night hike much easier tonight, because all of the boys in my group were busy explaining to their teachers why there was so much chaos in their cabins. So instead of having 21 kids, I had a mere 11 girls to lead through the twilight.

I also ended up having to relocate a couple of Rattlesnakes today. Two babies were found in and around the camp. They are now a more comfortable distance from the cabins.

Here's a photo left over from last week. More to follow.




S is for snake.

At home, we finally got DSL. No more spending precious time waiting to get a connection. Jen's got a bad headache right now, which just isn't fair. I wish George Bush had it instead. The kids are all asleep. The sky is cloudy, with the possibility of rain looming. Much more to do everywhere. How I ramble...

It's now warm enough to have the windows open in the evenings. The cool breeze feels good. We have to keep a close watch on Willow though, because she likes licking the screens, a habit no doubt learned from her sister.

I'm well into the final month of teaching outdoor school for the season. Summer camps start up in June. We're still juggling finances a bit, but hope to have things running more smoothly soon, barring unforseen money pits.




When you're feeling troubled, pick up a leaf and stare at it for awhile. Reflect on it. Make a wish. Sing a song to it. Notice that everyone else is staring at you. Put the leaf down.

Big picture thinking. That's what we need.




I can't custom size these photos anymore, and the next smallest size is too small. I kind of like them this size though. Above is a small adult Pacific Giant Salamander. I was pretty excited about it, and so were the kids. The salamander itself was less than thrilled, and quickly ran back under some bark after I finished playing paparazzi.



Speaking of less than thrilled, here's the resident tarantula exhibiting some classic defensive behavior, rearing back and displaying some formidable fangs. I think it's getting tired of my weekly visits.

More soon.

The new computer sometimes decides not to let us online. Tonight it was merciful.

I've seen a couple of new things this week so far. Yesterday we stopped near an old landslide area in a place known as Overlook Grove. On the ground was the biggest pile of scat that I've ever seen. The kids were very excited. I whipped out my measuring tape and measured it (over six inches long) and the kids got sticks and dissected it, finding a lot of animal hair and a foul stench in the process. It could only be Mountain Lion scat. Either that or there's a Bobcat with a sore butt somewhere nearby. It looked pretty fresh too. Kind of exciting. It was really cool to see the kids so enthusiastic over what was essentially a big pile of crap. Future wildlife biologists, every one.

I finally found another adult Giant Salamander too. The last one I found was a California Giant Salamander. Today's find was a Pacific Giant Salamander. As soon as I figure out how to resize photos with the current software I'll post pictures.

The weather has turned sunny too, with occasional fluffy clouds drifting over the hilltops. Tonight's crescent moon was outlined by earthshine, giving the kids something nice to look at as we finished our night hike (not really a night hike a this time of year, due to the fact that only the last ten minutes of it are after dark...)

How crepuscular.