Back on the Eastern Shore

After a long and grueling day of driving, I finally arrived back at Echo Hill Outdoor School in Worton, Md on Sunday. Being back feels really good. It's a bit weird because most of the staff that was here when I first started is gone, but all the new staff are really great. I was "in" all week, but the scheduling was pretty hectic. We were over programmed and under staffed, so I got to jump right back into things. We had a group of high schoolers that were here all week, and they were really chill and very smart. On Wednesday and Thursday I worked with some kids going into 4th grade, but I had to work with them like I would a first or second grade group. On Thursday one of the high schoolers went into a diabetic shock, so she ended up going to the hospital. It was pretty scary, but she was ok and got back to campus after lunch. Also on Thursday I had my first solo class of the summer and I thought it went well. I was with the 4th graders and they had a pretty short attention span, but we looked at a lot of bugs and went into the garden and played a few games. We had some extra time at the end of class so I even ventured into the swamp where we saw a big bull frog. On Friday I had a pond studies class with the high schoolers and Megan (who I live with and know from last spring). I think Megan and I had more fun than the kids, but the heat was killer so it was nice o just spend the morning in water. A couple of the boys found a baby snapping turtle that was born without a back right leg and had a stump front left foot. He was definitely a hardcore little turtle. Thursday afternoon, again with the high schoolers, we saw a Ichneumonoidea Wasp (one of the kids identified it) laying her eggs in an old stump. They're parasitic, so when they lay eggs a huge, long, black "stem" comes out of their butt and then they poke it into a log where other insect larve is, so when the baby wasps hatch they have a meal. I took a video with my phone, but I didn't want to get too close so the quality isn't too great.
Its also been insanely hot this week. On Friday the heat index was 124! After we got rid of all of our kids, the kids from camp came over and took over out dorms and office building because we have air conditioning. At first it was really frustrating because everyone who works for the school is like expressly forbidden to go to certain areas of campus during the summer because of the camp, and all of a sudden we were just invaded by tons of children and staff who started eating all our food and making messes. I live in the Green House, which is one campus, which had no air conditioning. So me and everyone else I live with had planned to sleep in the dorms over the weekend because it was literally 110 degrees in our house. But it actually turned out ok because the guys who owns Echo Hill offered to put the 5 of us up in Holiday Inn for the weekend. So it was nice to be able to take a shower and then not immediately begin to start sweating again as soon as you get out.
Yesterday me and some other folks drove up to Delaware to go to a rock climbing gym and a Moroccan restaurant. The rock climbing was tons of fun and after I figured out how to not rely on my arms I was actually pretty good at it. A couple of the guys who came were absolute beasts, but they were also helpful with tips and belaying. The Moroccan restaurant is great. You pay $25 and are given a 7 course Moroccan meal of pure deliciousness.
Today we had to leave the hotel, but its not quite as hot as it was last week. I'm already excited for this coming week. I'm working with the Little Explorers all week, which is a camp from 9-12 with kids ranging from bout 6-9. I'm not sure what we'll get up to, but I love kids that age so I know it will be fun. And then the week after this is Dragon Fly Heart Camp!!! So I'm sure I'll do a bunch of cleaning this week to get ready for it.
Haha, I've seemed to have left nothing to the imagination... But everything here is really great. The directors are already beginning to work on the fall season programming and I'm really jealous that I won't be here for it. God damned school and my "education."

Viva NashVegas!!!!

I have two dogs.
My dog is Obie. He is a pitt/lab/hound mix. He is neurotic, funny, smart and thinks with his nose. He is also allergic to fleas and sometimes sees imaginary bugs in the air which he tries to bite... He is a very good dog.

Then there is Huck. Huck is my parent's full bred Golden Retriever, or more accurately, my replacement when I went off to Asia. We got him the spring of my senior year of high school and he really was the cutest puppy ever. Well its been 2 and a half years since then and Huck still thinks he is about 15lbs and can sit in everyone's lap. My parents didn't bother to train him so he barks when he is excited, happy, sad, angry, frustrated, or breathing. When he's excited he also bites shirts. When Huck was 9mo old he was the average size of a 2yr old Golden Retriever.  Now that he is actually 2 and a half years old he is 115llbs of muscle. He would be an entirely different dog if he were smart, but Huck is dumb. Last summer when I first saw Up I was genuinely a little freaked out because Dug was so similar to Huck. Huck also likes balls.   Due to the tennis court and tennis playing brother at my house, we have a plethora of tennis balls. There are legitimate tennis balls and then there are Huck's tennis balls. It is not hard to distinguish between the two. A real tennis ball is fuzzy, hard and neon green. Huck's tennis balls are usually broken, neon brown, and slimy. His favorite balls are the ones that he has chewed completely bald. Huck has many nicknames, the most common being Huck-a-roo, monster-dog, and cow(because his bark can sometimes be similar to a cow).
Why am I going into so much detail about my dogs? Because I spent all of last week back in good ole' Nashville and for most of it I was alone with my animals. I got home on a Wednesday, but my mom left that Friday to go to Colorado. The following Tuesday morning my dad and brother also left for Colorado, leaving me and my animals and Sybil home all alone. My garage was quickly converted into a beer pong masterpiece, which even included a real ping pong table. I think Sybil spent every night at my house, but during the days I was incredibly bored. I, unlike all of my friends, do not have a Nashville based job, so while everyone else was out being productive I was bored as shit and left alone to endure the intense Nashville heat and humidity. I did go to the Frist Center to see an Andy Warhol exhibit that was very good. I spent a lot of time with Sybil, which was greatly needed and appreciated, and we spent all of last Friday at the quarry, which was perfect as always. Of course, the culmination of the week was the HP7 premiere. We went as a group and dressed up. I was a unicorn. It was great... minus the part when I got gorilla glue in my hair. That was not so great.
I actually was not too impressed with the HP7.2 movie. I thought it was good up until Harry died, but then it just kind of sucked. And the epilogue was just a joke! I do need to see it again though before I make my final judgement.
I'm currently back in Maryland working at Echo Hill Outdoor School and I'll be here for the next few weeks. Its good to be back and I'm ready for my schedule to get busier. Hopefully I'll be out on a trip all of next week and then its Dragonfly Heart Camp!
Visiting Nashville was fun and necesary, but I was ready to move on. I'm still not sure how my summer will be ending. Will I stay in Maryland? Go back to Utah? Or take some time in Nashville? I guess we'll just have to stay tuned to find out...

 Perfect Beer Pong Set-Up

 Snitch+Unicorn=BFFs   Duh....

Quarry

Can't Sleep

So Tuesday afternoon Danny and I drove up to Durango, CO. We were going to go to Crested Butte, but my plane left the next morning in Durango and the drive from Crested Butte to Durango is like 3hours. Durango is a actually a very neat, old cowboy town. I went there when I was 10 with my family to do a river rafting trip and also considered going to Fort Lewis College, which is located there. We stayed in a hotel that was built in the 1880s, so it was all decorated like that and with antiques and such. Our room was small, but very nice with a window that overlooked the main shopping street. It was also nice to have a shower curtain seeing as Danny's was destroyed in the "shit coming up the drains" incident. We walked around town for a bit while I desperately tried to find I dress that I could wear out to dinner, because silly me, I didn't think that when I packed to go work at a vineyard for a month that I'd ever need something nice to wear. Before dinner we went back to the room to drink some wine and get changed. Dinner was excellent and we were going to see if any of the saloons had music, but since it was a Tuesday they didn't, so we retired for the evening.
Wednesday morning my plane left at 9:56am (according to the ticket). It was not a happy occasion. The following plane ride was even unhappier.
By the time I got to Denver and got my bags checked with SouthWest, I decided I needed food. I've mostly been "eating-in" while in Utah, so the cartoon panda mascots from the  Panda Express seemed to be calling my name. I think I misheard them. My so-called "food" was so unappetizing that I think I'll be good to not eat Chinese food for a while.
I go into Nashville about 6:30. My animals were all very happy to see me. Huck bit and slobbered all over me and Obie peed in excitement. Even Chrysanthemum didn't pretend to be mad for too long, although she did throw up a hair ball on my bed in the middle of the night, so I guess she considers us even. I was generally unhappy and moody all of today, but I did some serious retail therapy at Target and Publix. Who knew shopping for food could be therapeutic?
I also began watching HBO's Game of Thrones earlier and it is really good. I just finished the second book last night and the show does  not disappoint. Huck has some gross, pussy/gooey spot on his head, so I'm taking him to the vet tomorrow. Right now I obviously can't sleep. Chrysanthemum is sleeping next to me. Being a cat is so easy. I would gladly sleep 18hours a day with only getting up to move sun spots and eat. Maybe I should start killing people so I can be reincarnated into a cat. I see Sybil next week for the first time since January! I wonder if she's gotten fat? I hope she's  gotten fat...

The End

The alleged newcomers made good on their word and appeared Friday night. They were 2 guys and a girl from Massachusets who were making their way across the country after graduating. On Friday night a friend of Danny's and his girlfriend also came down from Salt Lake City for the weekend, so the house was once again full. it was decided not to go to Arches again, but that we would go to Canyonlands on Sunday, which I was very excited about.
On Saturday we just hiked around the canyon rim, but to get to it we had to drive up this incredibly steep and narrow road. It was mostly unpleasant, but probably more so for the people in the back of the truck. We went to several different ruine sites and after a while we decided to go to a lake. We went back to a lake in a state park thats very pretty and fairly secluded. This time the water wasn't nearly as freezing and Danny's friend was able to catch 8 trout. We got back to the house and just hung around while the coals in the fire were burning (we grilled the trout and pork). I went to bed right after dinner, which was close to midnight.
On Sunday we woke up late and decided to try to go to Canyonlands on Monday. Instead we just hung at a different lake all day, which was perfect. We brought out the kayaks and canoes and stayed there until a storm started to roll in.
Monday brought another day of late sleeping, so by the time we got up it was already too late for us to go to Canyonlands, which was disappointing. It was the only nearby National Park that I didn't make it to.  Instead we went back to the place in the canyon with the incredible pictographs and then we returned to the midden heap and looked for more pottery shards. Two of the guys found arrowheads, which inspired us all to really try and get one for ourselves. I, of course, was not lucky enough to find one. On the way back to the ranch was stopped by some other ruines that we had been to before so we could show the new group. Just as I was walking along I saw what looked like a claw under a bush near the ledge. I picked it up and thought it was just part of a skeleton although the rest of it wasn't around. I called up to Danny and asked if this place had ever been professionally excavated, and he said it hadn't. When I showed him what I found he said that it was a talon or claw pendant that was at least 1000 years old. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. Its without a doubt one of the coolest things I've ever found, including that driftwood/oyster shell from the Chesapeake. We went back to the house and got a snack and changed, then Danny's friend left and we all loaded up into the truck and went to some guys house were we could get a good view of a local firework show. The house was about an hour away, but it was tons of fun. The owner was very nice, although a bit of a gun fanatic. Danny's neighbors Bill and Bob also came, who turned out to be quite characters. Right after we got there we decided to go to a nearby river to swim. Joe and I rode an ATV to it. The ride was longer than expected and incredibly dusty, but it was fun. The river we went to ended up being at the bottom of this absolutely gorgeous canyon. Unfortunately I didn't think to bring my camera, but everyone said it looked like whats in Zion National Park. We expected the river to be freezing since the water was just snow melt, but it was actually warmer than the lakes we were at. I hated that we hadn't spent all day there and that I was leaving soon so I couldn't go back. On the ride back Joe and I got to take the lead, and with my fabulous sense of direction we raced back to the house without going under 40mph once. Then we just hung around the house and talked and ate pizza and snakcs until the fireworks began. We got to talking to Bill and Bob and they are really something else. They're in their 60s, twins, and are both ex-military special ops. They have incredible stories, but both alos happen to believe that it was aliens, not the Anasazi, who left all the pictographs and such in the canyons. To say the least, the conversation was anything but boring. The little town of Dove Creek put on a very elaborate firework show for being so small. It really was a very great day, however it ended on a shitty note. After the fireworks were over we began to clean up and round up the dogs, we realized that Jack, the confused spaz dog, was missing. We spent a good hour looking absolutely everywhere for him, but we were in the middle of farm land and he seemed to be no where. We ended up having to leave without him, with the reassurance that the guy who owned the house would call if he showed up. It was a very sad trip home.
Danny left early Tuesday morning to take Joe to Green River so he could catch a train to Chicago. I woke up about 9 and began to pack since Danny and I planned to leave early and stay the night in Durango. After several hours passed Danny still wasn't back. I kind of began to worry, but he showed up eventually with a very happy companion. The guy called to say that Jack showed up at his front door, so Danny went to pick him up on his way back to the ranch. I had hoped thats why it was taking him so long to get back, but I honestly didn't want to get disappointed. Jacks a dumb and submissive dog, but also happy and lovable. Jack basically fell out of the car and started half running around, half flopping on his back to kick his legs in the air. It was a very happy scene.
Now I've got to get on this damn plane that will take me back down south. I'll write about my last night out west later.
I would also like to end this post by saying Panda Express should not be allowed to be categorized as food. That is all.