What Day is it Again?

Well here I am at a midpoint in a long 13 day stretch of working. I get to work seven days in a row beginning tomorrow, and am strongly considering taking another day off at the internship, just so I can keep some mental clarity. I've noticed on six day stretches that my days begin running together, and by the time I'm closing the pharmacy on Fridays, delerium has made everything funny to me. Delerium is not a good thing when you are dispensing medications.

I really don't want to take another day off from the Parks Department, though, because my map is finally finished to the point where I can begin implementing our no-mow project. We'll be expanding and enhancing existing vegetation plots, wetland and streamside buffers, and allowing more meadows to grow in the county parks, using Willis Tucker Park as a test site. Once I get our measurements and crunch the numbers showing how much money we can save on mowing labor, gas and fertilizer I may be able to justify the purchase of some wildflower seeds for the meadows. I'm thinking of donating some lupine and digitalis seed from my personal seedbank, and even holding a work party in late August to dig and pot other native plants on our land such as elderberry, vine maple and various ferns for the enhanced sites.

Today we're leaving the sun up here in the mountains and going "down below" to the foggy beach at Kayak Point for my step-dad's family picnic. I really have a hard time relaxing there, because I see all the litter and feel like I need to start picking it up. Not just out of habit because I worked there for 3 years, but because we're expected to do that at all park sites when we visit despite your position. Actually, I'm sure I'll end up picking up litter, I can't help it.

Speaking of Parks Department Administration, I've been catching up on all the Thursday night shows I missed because of class. I'm not a big tv buff, but there are a few shows I like to catch when I can, and one of them is "Parks and Rec" on NBC. My favorite quote so far? "I think all government should be privatized. Chucky Cheese could run the parks department. Drop in a token, go down the slide. Drop in a token, take a walk. Drop in a token, look at the beach." Seriously - LMAO!!!

And on the Seventh Day - They Still Couldn't Rest

Ever feel like you work your butt off, but can't catch a break? The hubby and I have been trying to spend a little quality time together between our insane work schedules, but lately we've been thinking that we've somehow pissed off Aphrodite. The kids were all gone for a week, but that was my 60 hour week between my two jobs. Then, when we think we've scheduled some time together, his kiddo comes home unexpectedly.

I'm not sure if it was random, or if he just didn't listen to the schedule, but if the kid had come home 10 minutes later, we would have been down the trail. I was mad because, miscommunication has changed our plans before, but not too mad, because I went to happy hour at the Irishman with my schoolmates and our program director earlier that day, and was in a pretty good mood. That and there were some awesome falls on "Wipeout" that night, and you can't help but laugh at people tumbling into the water.

The crazy work schedules have prevented us from camping this summer, too. The tents and tarps are still bundled from my Mt. Rainier trip, placed efficiently together for a summer camping trip. Summer is half way over, and I still can't see any opportunities in the near future. It's been a strange one anyway, with the cruddy June weather, working insane hours, and traveling across the mountains to check up on grandparents. The latter is tough on the hubby emotionally, but I've been through it with all of my grandparents, and will have plenty of support for him.

We have been able to landscape the front of the house and grow an amazing garden with what little free time we've had. I have snow peas and snap peas coming out of my ears, and the green beans and blueberries are about a week away. I'm really looking forward to all of the corn in September, though. There is nothing better than a fresh ear of corn from the garden with dinner.

Luckilly we've had a couple of days to catch some good hikes with the kids, and found a "private beach" off of an old path on the Sauk. The river no longer traverses it unless it's flooding, but it's a great place for a picnic. The kids skipped rocks in a old flood pool and climbed boulders, while we rockhounded and found some gnarly gneiss. I found two ten pounders both with mixed with black, but one was layered with greys and white calcite, and the other with blues. I can't wait to cut and polish them.

Here are some pictures from last week.

What the F*** America?

It's been hard to do anything with my free time lately, because I really just want to rest. I know that sounds insane, but I'm ready to admit that working six days a week is really hard. I have a new appreciation for Americans who have to work two jobs, seven days a week in order to make ends meet. I'm working at the parks department office for school credits and job experience only, I can't imaging having to work like this every week of your life just to pay the bills with no end in sight.

Okay, now that I've depressed everyone, you can all join in my sorrow in my recent discovery that all Americans are pretty much global jerks, each in their own individual way. I'm no exception, as I keep eating seafood, knowing that the oceans and fisheries are on a critical tipping point from overconsumption and acidification from pollution. But there are a-holes of every aspect across our country who use the Constitution to justify their right to be one.

There are those who think it's their right to overharvest the land, whether it be trees, minerals, oil or fish, as it's all for the taking to them. There are others who think it's their right to throw their trash wherever they want, or others who think it's their right to be unemployed and sit around getting high all day from prescription medications at the expense of the tax payers, and yet others who think they should water their lawns in the dead heat of summer, despite water shortages.

What has happened to the country who saved the world twice in the Twentieth Century? Why is the first country to go to the moon now trying to ban science in their school curiculums? Why are we encouraging people to have tons of children by giving them tax breaks? Why do we think it's okay to to become bankrupt because you got a severe injury or illness? Why do we think it's okay to throw our grandparents into "rehabilitation centers" where most of them are overmedicated and succumb to deadly illnesses or abuse? Why do we think it's okay to sue anyone over just about anything?

I really don't understand this new evolution of America, and I really am not liking it. It's time people pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and snap out of it. This division needs to stop, and we need to stop the "I'm proud to be ignorant" attitude, because this is not the time to allow a "Great Slack-off." We are at a critical point in the world where we may have to prepare for mass migrations within forty years, and we're still arguing over whether we should do anything about Climate Change. Our excuse?

Well there are many, but the biggest partisan one is that we don't have enough information on whether it is anthropogenic (human caused) or natural? WHO CARES?!! If we all agree it's happening, then who the hell cares what it's caused by? Let's do something about it!

And this crap about science being offensive and not worthy of teaching?! Well, without science you would have no electricity, doctors, pharmacists, engineers, roads, sewers, space program or defense system, cars, or oil for your cars. What kind of America would that be? I wouldn't want to live there. So shut up about science being scary and encourage your kids to excel in science and math. And stop arguing about our environment and religion, and just make America a nice place to live.