Theater Fail

Geoff did a 4 week summer session at a local theater camp, new to us this year. 

After 3 years at Rebel, driving him to Salem every day would have been a soul crushing nightmare for me with the state of mind I've been in. I simply knew I couldn't do it every day and there is no one else from around here who goes that I could carpool with.

Technology Class

Once again, I am sitting in the very freezing cold computer lab in the school of arts and sciences at a local college, ahem... excuse me... university, thankyouverymuch. Each summer, I get asked by my good friend Professor CM, to coteach/tech support a course that he teaches to grad students getting their MAT in History. We show them how to incorporate technology into their classroom and teaching style.

What I Saw Yesterday

Hiking the dogs to a semi-algae free swimming hole (seriously, all our favorite spots are filled with green this year) in Georgetown, MA behind the water department near the West Soccer Fields, I saw a perfectly ordered snake skeleton on the ground. Skin still surrounded the bones, the vertebrae, in a few places. It was in perfect snake-shape, like an S with extra curves. The skull portion was a bit out of order, but the tiny little jaw with its tiny little teeth laid there in a v.

I bent over to examine it and called Doug to me. He got a small twig and lifted the skin a bit. We estimated its length at over two feet. It was a good sized snake, based on the skin remaining in the dirt.

How did he die? Was he dried out and baked to death after not finding anything good to eat for several days? It has been ungodly hot here, so I didn't doubt that as a possibility. Or was he an eagle or hawk's lunch? Passed through the bowels and deposited there in flight? Certainly not an option because that would result in more of a pellet cluster than a perfectly arranged skeleton.

We stood and talked about it for a while, and then Jack dog came and flopped himself down, right on top of it, and rolled about. The attempt to bring delicious smelling scents back to the pack is still ingrained in this dog, even though the entire pack was already WITH him and knew about the remains.

The skeleton was disrupted, disassembled and scattered, and I had to pick a piece or two out of his fur.

But for a few fleeting moments, I got to see it there on the trail, the way it was, for God knows how long.

Vandalism, and my thoughts on Hometowns

Thanks to my girl C who gave me some cleansers and scrubbies, and thanks to the fact the trailer is under the trees in the shade and there was a wonderful breeze, I was able to tackle the graffiti and the trailer can go to summer camp tonight and not be an embarrassment to our Scoutmaster and the troop.

Vandalism of our BSA troop property

It seems that over the weekend, some kids from our town took it upon themselves to vandalize our Boy Scout Troop Trailer. When it isn't being hauled behind a truck, going to awesome places, it sits behind the chartered organization that sponsors our troop. We have a storage shed, and the trailer, and both items have been graffitied and damaged.

The church noticed the damage, and contacted us and the police immediately. The police claim they have a really good idea who did the deed, and are pursuing that lead.


I have a problem with is the fact that there are kids the same age as our Scouts who have taken it upon themselves to senselessly damage someone else's stuff, and to do so in what I understand is a vile manner. There are obscenities and other comments written on the trailer.  There's no need for that, really. Come on.

These kids are on a different path, it seems, than our boys.

Now, our boys aren't perfect. We've had behavior issues, we've had problems. We work together with the families and the committee, and sometimes the district council, to rectify these problems. Not just to keep boys on the path to Eagle, but to hopefully instill in them a good and right moral core, a balance of conscience, so that crap they've done won't get done again. My guess is that the kids who did this do not have more than a parent or maybe two parents working in their lives to raise them. Maybe that parent, or parents, are doing the best they can, but they do not have a "village" behind them to help raise the kids.

In a lot of ways, these kids have a greater need for Scouting or a program that will help them grow and evolve, more than some of our boys. I would love to find them, and invite them. Invite them on a trip, show them what the trailer is for.

My guess is, they're not going to like that or want to do it, or give a shit. It's sad really. I don't like to think about how they may end up, with the next organizational entity they get to work in will be an institutional one, if they don't find their feet and win the future for themselves.

I'm headed down later today with recommendations from my girl C on how to clean that up and fix it... she had some good suggestions and talked to her auto detailer, and I am hoping to clean it up a bit so they don't have to cover the sides with duct tape before driving up this weekend.

Pictures to follow later.

The Shenanigans with Dave blog

So, after long consideration, I decided to start a blog outlining the Shenanigans with Dave that I have. The blog is here, if you would like to read it (I only have 2 entries, and I'm too tired to keep going tonight so I'm heading to bed. But there will be more tomorrow!!!)

I think I am mostly going to focus on the shenanigans when I had my camera with us, because pictures tell a nice story. And the writing and the visuals will help Dave remember where we have been. Sometimes, he forgets.

This week, we had shenanigans on Thursday and Friday. And I made Dave laugh and beer almost came out of his nose. It was awesome.

So these great moments are precious to me... and they are sometimes lost to him due to his short term memory issues. Having a written record of the lunches and fun sounds like a good idea to me.

Think of it like Tuesdays with Morrie, but without the death and a lot more beer.

What I Saw Today

Today, I stopped for ice cream.

I had a half hour to kill before picking Geoff up at camp, and a book in my hand, and felt a little peckish for some soft serve twist in the shade.

A little blonde girl and her mom joined me at the shady table.

And I saw Jessica and myself, 16 years ago, as the ice cream was enjoyed. The little girl dripped chocolate all over her lavender t-shirt, and wispy strands of hair stuck in the corners of her mouth. Her mother wiped them away gently, and we talked about ice cream and how wonderfully happy it makes us.

"Ice cream doesn't make me happy," she said. I told her I didn't believe her.

"Ice cream makes me ... very happy!" was her response.

The Obsession with Casey Anthony

So a skinny white, allegedly hot (not according to me - I think she looks like a monkey elf) woman was accused of and then found not guilty of murdering her cute little urchin child. And everyone I know (almost) is obsessed to the point of frothing over this case.

Pretty much, I figured she was guilty and walked away from paying attention to it, and pretty much, I was surprised that she was found not. But here's the thing -- my life does not hinge upon, hang upon, concern what she did or didn't do. And I'm not losing sleep over whether or not she killed her daughter.