Friday Roundup

I'm already thinking about autumn. It was hot and muggy today.


This has been a productive week here at Rancho Ramirez. I visited a couple of schools as my alter ego Doc Ed. Today I spent a couple of hours at Fuentes Elementary in Kyle, Texas. I was impressed by the level of interest in the aquifer and the environment in general that the children of the school demonstrated.

They're conducting water quality tests of some nearby waterways. Wow! They also participate in clean ups at local parks. The faculty is doing an amazing job educating the students on the water conservation and preservation and the kids really seem to have a genuine interest for the subject. Science is a very important part of the curriculum at Fuentes. It's really great to see that because I don't see that level of interest often enough.

I've also started working, once again, on a children's book that I've been writing and rewriting and rewriting for the last few years. I reached a point where I was just stumped about trimming it down and making it an easier read. So I just decided I needed to leave it alone for a while and got on with other projects. Once I looked it over again I was able to approach with with renewed enthusiasm and a fresh perspective making it easier to make the edits that were needed. I'm very excited about it.

Over the last few days I've also been making minor repair on some Doc Ed props and preparing to build my next prop for the Doc Ed kindergarten show: a Texas blind salamander puppet. I've also been working on some excercises in ventriloquism because the puppet will be used in a ventriloquist routine in the show. I think the biggest challenge,though, is developing a character for the puppet that will be funny and engaging for that age group. I'm still not sure sure what characteristics he'll have. This probably one of the hardest things I've had to do in a couple of years but I'm enjoying the challenge and I'm grateful for it.