Last week I foolishly went geocaching in a swampy area:
(This is actually within St. Paul city limits!)
To be fair, I didn't realize that the area was swampy until I got there. I mistakenly thought that the spot had trails. Turns out that area is further up river. Did I mention that the temperature was hovering around 100F with a dewpoint around 70? Yeah.
I was able to retrieve 9 of the 12 caches I had targeted. The two of the three I couldn't get were completely surrounded by water and the third one probably fell into the Mississippi. (I later asked
before about the hide and he told me where it was. Sure enough, that particular tree had toppled into the river.) I made the mistake of not wearing jeans or canvas pants during my hunt. I assumed that the worst I'd have to deal with was some brush so I wore a pair of cotton leggings under some cargo shorts. I hadn't considered nettles. Several times I had to plow through fields of the stuff. My legs were on fire from the stinging! I found a fallen tree branch with some leaves on it so I used that as a broom to sweep a path in front of me. That helped somewhat.
As I walked to one of the caches, I saw a 6'-ish snake slithering toward a tree. I'm no expert in snakes so I gave it wide berth, not even getting close enough to take a picture. I later learned that it was a harmless bull snake. I thought it pretty cool to see a snake that big in the wild. Heretofore I'd seen only wild garter snakes.
Since there were no trails, I decided to exit the area via the shortest route. That was a mistake. I wound up having to find my way across 3 pools of water. Two I walked around, one I went over by crawling on a fallen tree. I did get to see some loons swimming around. By the time I got out, every bit of my clothing was soaked with sweat, even my boots. I drank 2 liters of water while I was in there and sucked down more at the fountain near my car. Despite the high temperature and humidity, I felt great.
before and I went out caching later that night to pick up a couple that needed UV light to find.
This Saturday I'm participating in a showcase of short plays by local playwrights. I directed a farce about the privatization of public services called "Where's The Fire" by Adam Sharp. The script is excellent and I've been working with a stellar cast. My next directing gig is for Freshwater Theater's "Better or Worse" show in September. This show will be several short plays about different aspects of marriage. The piece I'm directing will challenge me because it's a monologue and a drama, neither of which I've directed before. The casting for that one is pending.
Fringe 2012 is just around the corner! Again this year I've been asked to be a paparazzo for MN Playlist. I've got a couple ideas for photo sets and will build on what I did last year. I've also started on my schedule. I made a list of "must-see" shows and then added shows that I think I might like. I started with 65 shows and am whittling it down to 56. The way the scheduling is working out, I may have to cut out two venues altogether. I've still got a few weeks to make tweaks.