Summer

Today felt like summer was here. We don't have any photos at the moment (the author was stuck on high ropes all day), but we had some great programs. Groups caught Musk Turtles, Crayfish, Fairy Shrimp and Frogs in all stages of development. We had a hawk hanging around camp and an Osprey caught a fish in front of our class. To top it all off, two of our groups got to visit Coonamessett Farm. Here's hoping the weather holds tomorrow.

Campfire

Getting started.........
....and they're started

Sharon Alternative School

Today was the first day of Sharon Alternative School's visit to Camp Burgess. The weather was awesome and set us up for a great afternoon of Low Ropes. Right now everyone is munching away on BBQ chicken and corn before heading to our opening camp fire. We will try and get some photos of that up later. Okay, got to go light a fire.

OEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

The Outdoor Education season has officially begun with the arrival of eight new staff to begin their transformation into Outdoor Education Gurus. They bring with them an array of skill and talents that gives them a head start on the road to Gurudom. We start Monday morning and plan on spending the day taking a big hike around getting to know our classroom, so expect some pictures soon.

Spring Clean

We have promised a new Spring look for The Electric Spectacle, and it will happen, but we have had a few more pressing things to do. A couple of days ago we decided it was time to give Rafiki and Nala's sleeping area a Spring clean. Over the winter we used a deep litter system, to keep the pigs warm. This involves adding clean bedding regularly without clearing out the old stuff. The old stuff underneath starts to decompose and give off some warmth. It did the trick but meant we had a lot of shoveling to do. Here is a picture of the nice clean bedding and the old stuff that we piled on the compost heap.

Pinkletinks

This weekend the Spring Peepers came to life on camp. Spring Peepers are a small frog, called Pinkletinks on Martha's Vineyard. They "spring" (sorry) to life in March and April, whenever we get the first warm rain, and they meet up in pools to mate and lay eggs. You can read more about them here or here. There isn't a good place for them to hang out at Burgess because they like pools with not many fish. The swamp at Hayward is a good place to hear them and they also like the vernal pool near Kitteridge (not far from High Ropes). They'll still be making noise during summer camp if you want to hear them.

UFO Spotted at Burgess........

Spring look coming soon.....

Sorry for the break from posting, we've been out enjoying the Spring. The plan was to give The Electric Spectacle its new Spring look with some new photos, but the weather got all crazy and cold again. Hopefully things will look up by the weekend.

Happy Vernal Equinox

Today is the Vernal Equinox, which means lots of fun things.
- The sun is directly above the equator today.
- There will be an equal amount of day and night today.
- We can look forward to more day light and less dark.
- SPRING is here!!!
- SUMMER isn't far behind!!!

Camp Friend

Marty stopped by to visit the other day with his wife and baby girl. It was great to see them all. Marty, from Ireland, worked here for a year and a half as Lois' Assistant in the kitchen. He has mad skills with the food and Lois misses his greatly. We tried to coax him into the kitchen, but he wasn't having any of it.