Neither Snow nor Rain nor Heat nor Gloom

For those of you who have ever been outside during the summer, you'll know that there is quite the variety of weather that one can experience. You have the very hot and muggy days, the cold and rainy days, and plenty of days that are in between. So far this week at Save the Harbor, it feels as if we've managed to fit an entire summers worth of weather events into only half of a week. While this may seem like it would throw a wrench in our activities, there's always a back up plan or a different way to do things than originally thought.

Playing "What Time is it Mr. Fox?" in the field at Blacks Creek!

We started off with a cold and gloomy weekend. When I was working the event in Hull on Saturday, I was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, as it was chilly! Thankfully we were in a corner, sheltered from the wind, or I might have ended up as frozen as that flounder. By Tuesday, things had warmed up quite a bit, and we had the opposite issue. It was so hot, that even just standing in the sun would be enough to cause us to start sweating. Thankfully at Blacks Creek we are able to go wading, and I must say that there is nothing quite like a dip into that cool water after standing out in the hot sun. Honestly, if I had not been working, I would likely have ended up swimming in the water. It seems I was not the only one with that idea, as one of the boys in our program ended up dripping from head to toe, after he went a little too deep in the water in pursuit of a crab. Good thing he was wearing his life jacket! While the heat was immense, all the kids, and the staff needed was copious amounts of water to drink, and we were all ready to continue hunting for animals and playing our favorite game, Gagaball. Of course, we played everything in this tiny patch of shade on the field, as it was too hot anywhere else!

Rain doesn't stop Garrett from fishing, until
we had to reel him in due to a boom of thunder!

The thing about weather in the summer, is that it can change with a flash, accompanied by some thunder as well. Wednesday was another hot morning at Blacks Creek, and by the time we made it to the Children's Museum for the afternoon, the air was sticky. That didn't last for long, as suddenly the skies opened up, and fat rain drops poured from the sky. It was almost as if someone had turned a faucet on full blast. In fact, it was raining so hard, that a flash flood warning was issued for the area. It was a mad dash to ensure that all of our property safely made it out of the rain and under the tent. We attempted to continue to show off the animals in our touch tank, including a baby flounder we pulled up in the crab trap! Unfortunately, yet unsurprisingly, not many people were walking whose attention we could grab. However, we ended up bringing our touch tanks inside, at the suggestion of Alyssa, a Childrens Museum employee. We set up right inside, and were able to attract the attention of many families, who were excited to see our animals! All in all, while weather can pose a threat to our activities, there's always something we can do to soldier on.

Until next time, where I should be safe and dry,
Zach