Alberto is gone, the rain has stopped, and the sun is peaking out between the clouds.

As for the summer camp, the smaller children have a field trip to go on. They will be attending a puppet show. I had offered to put on a puppet show of my own. My puppet show would be a Punch and Judy type puppet show. It would consist of a puppet of me holding a stick and beating the crap out of the lazy employee puppet. Needless to say, my offer was turned down. I wonder why.

Anyway, the campers have a choice of two lunches. We identified one sandwich as turkey and cheese with fruit cup, milk, and juice. The other sandwich has been identified as a cheese sandwich. This also has fruit cup, milk, and juice.

The bus should be here shortly to pick the children up for the field trip, but is running behind schedule. I wonder if the bus driver forgot how to get here. It seems like they are always late or never show up. I don't think it has anything to do with our summer camp participants.

Does it?

I was commenting earlier about the weather and summer camp when I had to break up a fight between two summer camp participants. It has rained all day due to Tropical Storm Alberto. When over one hundred children are inside a neighborhood center all day due to bad weather, there are going to be some problems.

Unfortunately, our neighborhood center does not have a gymnasium. A gymnasium would be great for our recreation center, allowing children to play games during bad weather. Basketball, volleyball, floor hockey, and other games can keep children occupied as well as in good health.

Due to budget problems, our center has never been able to get a gym. Several other recreation centers have had additions built on, with the exception of ours. When your program is limited as to what it can do for the summer camp participants, boredom can set in easily. Chances are, the two that were involved in the altercation were most likely frustrated due to boredom. Counselors have to be involved with the children and keep them busy, giving them a variety of activities to do.

It is not a great way to start off the week when you have a sinus cold, the rain is coming down hard, you have to break up a fight, and you have to deal with a counselor who is lazy. Like I said in an earlier blog, some people expect to get a paycheck for just showing up. No wonder why some of the summer campers act the way they do.

As for the rain, that is from Alberto. We received just under two inches, and there will be more rain this evening. Tomorrow, Tropical Storm Alberto will land on Florida's west coast. Winds are up to 70 mph, and the eye of the storm has become more defined.

Since the forecast calls for more rain, it would be a good time to catch up on some rest and hopefully get rid of this sinus cold. I have a busy week ahead, and I hope to feel better tomorrow. And I also hope that I do not have to break up another fight.

I am writing this at home were it is nice and quiet. No noise, no fighting, and no kids sticking things up their nose.

Now if only I could get rid of a bad employee like a bad cold.

I also wonder what the mystery meat sandwich will be for tomorrow?

Rain has fallen all day, and the summer campers are singing a song about an old man who is snoring. Since it is a wet day outside, the children are staying inside. They will most likely watch a movie later, but in the meantime, they will probably play games or draw.

The government lunch was peanut butter and jelly pocket sandwich, string cheese, an apple, juice, and milk. Lunch was easy to identify.

It has been a bad day. I just had to leave the computer to break up a fight. I am not in a good mood. I cannot even sit down at the computer during break without a disturbance.

Here we are, just ten days into the 2006 hurricane season, and we have a tropical depression in the gulf coast. Great.

Central Florida is currently in a drought. The Orlando area is minus eight inches of rainfall this year. As you walk by the lakes, you can see how low the water level is by looking at the water lines formed on the cypress trees. Over eight hundred acres of forest have been burned by brush fires in central Florida, and the smoke in Osceola county today was thick. Parts of State Road 192 were closed, as well as parts of Toll Road 417 because the visibility on the road was hazardous due to the smoke.

The tropical depression will be coming through on Monday. Forecasts call for two to four inches of rain. With that rain, it should put out any current brush fires.

I guess you can say that every cloud does have a silver lining.



It looks like I will be staying in Monday. At least I have plenty of reading material.

And as I write this, another brush fire has started in Volusia county.

Come on rain!