Merlin

M. insists on visiting and taking carrots to Merlin every evening no matter how warm it is. I think he may be beginning to associate her with the treats she brings. He often looks up and comes close to the fence when we get near. Recently, however, she spooked him by holding up and shaking the plastic bag that she'd brought the carrots in. Merlin is typically pretty sedate if insistent in looking for food. He'll nuzzle at pockets, hands, and anywhere that might conceivably hide food. He also likes to check our hands two or three times just to make sure we aren't holding out on him. The  sound of the plastic bag rattling, however, made him rear up on is hind legs for a minute. He was skittish around us for the rest of the night. Although he wasn't too nervous to take food from us.

Hotter than goods bought from the back of a van

Today we took the kids to the creek in the morning but had them back into the air conditioning by 11am because the superintendent's injunction was still in force. The heat index put today at 115 degrees. Even down near the creek shaded by many large trees the humidity and heat were oppressive.

There were surprising numbers of visitors at the park today. The visitor center was busy all day and at times was virtually packed. Many of these tourists didn't seem to mind the heat and even went on somewhat long walks around Battery 5 or Fort Morton. I can only conclude that these people are crazy.

Hotter than a Fist Full of Jalapenos

About midway through camp today we received a message from the superintendent that urges us to limit all outdoor exposure for the campers and ourselves. Tomorrow we are not allowed to take the kids outside after 11am. The heat index is going to make the temperature here feel like 115 degrees. A little before noon today we had the kids sitting outside listening to the sounds of the forest, and sweat was streaming down their faces (mine too). The humidity is so high that even at 8pm last night I broke a sweat walking to feed carrots to Merlin. It feels like breathing water.

We spent quite a bit more time inside than we originally intended to.  That was somewhat disappointing. Tomorrow we'll take the kids out much earlier in the day. Hopefully after a few hours spent at the creek we'll have enough filler material to keep the kids inside the rest of the day.

Pictures of Wednesday's Bug Hike

One of the kids captured a wolf spider despite my injunction to leave it alone. Thankfully wolf spiders are fairly harmless.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_spider#Toxicity

Looking for insects hiding in old stumps.

Hotter than the Devil's Barbecue

I biked to work this morning before it warmed up, but by the time we too the kids out looking for bugs near Fort Stedman it had become oppressively hot and humid. The ambient temperature today is about 94 degrees. Tomorrow it will be 100 and the day after will be 103. We will be taking the kids outside every one of those days. The challenge today on our short but hike was to keep them drinking water. They ran around chasing grasshoppers but complained when I told them to stop and drink water. 

I'm sort of looking forward to moving back to Pittsburgh in a few weeks where the temperature seldom gets above the cool 90s. Here the grass is getting crunchy and dying. The only marginally cool places on the battlefield are deep under the pine trees or down near the streams (some of those are starting to dry up too however). Most tourists sadly ignore the park's many wooded trails and stick close to the tour road where they broil but the walking is easy and they can make a dash for their air conditioned SUVs. 

I remembered an idea from class this past year that I put to good use with the kids today. I printed lots of paper butterflies and colored them to match various parts of our classroom. If the kids could find a butterfly (and some were very well camouflaged) they could turn it in for a ticket. At the end of the week we draw tickets to give out small prizes. To my astonishment they found all the butterflies today although they did have a hard time with a few of them. They seemed to genuinely enjoy the game though. I intend to re-hide them tomorrow with a few extras. 

I'm still working on writing that Night Hike program. Not telling if it will get final approval or if anyone will sign up for it even if they do.

Preparing for Camp

We start another environmental camp tomorrow and today has been spent setting up for it. I've been fielding questions all morning about how many kids we have coming, will we need coolers with ice, can a parent sign up her child today for the camp tomorrow. Things like that. I've also been trying to work on a night hike program that I'd like to do. I have most of it written, but I have to get a date and time nailed down before it can be submitted for approval. The Chief of Interpretation has tentatively approved it, but I still need to go through all the formalities. All in all its been a fairly productive morning at the office, but now I'm finally going to get to head out side to set some more things up and I can quit staring at this computer screen.