N is my middle name

N is my middle name, for Nature. Below are pics from our first fishing camp of the season. Ted, a seasoned angler, as seasoned as they get, was the lead for this camp, and had other staff, such as myself fill in to help wrangle the wildlings. Mostly, our jobs as assistant consisted of, "no running with the poles", "spread out so you don't hook each other" and then baiting their hooks, de-tangling their hooks, etc. If they caught fish, which they did, I could not bring myself to retrieve the hook embedded in their mouths, it made me too sad, so I let the kids do it as part of their learning experience or called Ted over. One of the kid's "caught" a turtle :( I as really angry but it was a non-native so I guess it'll help that population stay in check if it dies (we couldn't get the hook out), and serve as food for other native animals, namely fish. Sigh.

 I've found two ticks crawling on me so far this spring/summer. This one below was surely a deer tick based on the size. If you find one on you, keep it, put it in a sealed baggie and attempt to kill it, but keep it for a while as Lyme's disease symptoms can take up to 30 days to materialize. That' my pinkie by the way.

  I spent an afternoon on a day off in Thurmont visiting with Stacey (friend from college) and her babies. Nice afternoon and hilarious to watch these kids in the world.