Well... I have not completely disappeared off the face of the planet. I took vacation last week and went to camp with 400 high school kids. Interesting vacation huh? I went to Glenlake - Methodist Camp and Retreat Center. It's in Glenrose, TX. It's a beautiful camp. I went last year and volunteered for a week when I was in the middle of my job search. It was a good experience and I wanted to go back. Volunteers are put in cabins with the kids and a staff member and then they lead a small group with another staff member. I enjoyed the week and I enjoyed getting to meet a whole bunch of campers.
I'm usually horrible at names, but for some reason it all stuck with me that week. Now I may not be able to tell you ten names now, but it's less important now. There are a bunch of pictures on the web site. I managed to stay out of all but a couple, but I don't see those listed. That suits me just fine.
I managed to come across a Cottonmouth and a Copperhead. Not fun. Especially at night.
One of the campers had asked to go sit outside. While I let him do that, another camper came in shortly and told me the first was chasing a snake. I investigated and told him to go back inside. When I found out what it was, we called the camp staff over to take care of it. It was hunting between the cabins. A very bad place for a venomous snake to be hanging out.
The Cottonmouth was under a walkway that was heavily traveled. Right next to the lake that is in the center of camp. From the markings, we thought it was a bull snake. Non-venomous, but still not something you would like to be bit by. Three of us were working on trying to find a way to get him out of there so that he could be removed and taken somewhere where he wouldn't' have the opportunity to bite a camper. While David A. was tap dancing on the concrete and trying to drive him out that way, Alan came up with a plan to stick a water hose under the walkway, turn it on, and drive him out that way. It sounded like a plan to me. Since I had the most experience catching snakes and the most interest in keeping him alive, I was the one who started feeding the water hose up under the walk way. I guess the snake could sense the gig was up, because he came shooting out from underneath the concrete. I just had a chance to get a good look at him and realize he wasn't a bull snake before he plunged into the water. He had a short fat body and a arrowhead shaped head. Bad signs when you're looking at a snake. Alan laughed at me for a good five minutes because all I could say when he came out was, "There he is! THERE HE IS!"
I got back about noon on Friday. Saturday I went to Celebrate Freedom with Dezi and two of her good friends. I think I was more tired from a day of sitting in the sun than a week of playing with the youth. It was a good day, but I could have done without the 2 hours it took to get out of the parking lot after the concert.
I'll get back to the routine at some point, but I'm not looking forward to having to go to work tomorrow. I'd love to have another day or two to rest.
While I was checking out the link for KLTY it reminded me that I wanted to go to see Beauty and the Beast with the Dallas Summer Musicals. So I found a time, called Desiree and woke her up to make sure it was fine and bought the tickets. We're going to have really nice seats too. I'm all excited. Thursday night. Muhaha. I haven't been there since I saw Phantom of the Opera. I'm all excited now. I guess I should really try to get some sleep though.
Maybe I'm just slap happy, but my spell check couldn't find "Muhaha" and didn't offer any suggestions as to what I should change it to. Oh well... Silly David
