Over the past week, we had a third wave of haze, which wasn’t as bad as the last one. I often think about the birds and waterfowl here. How are they being impacted by the pollutants? In addition to the haze, the high temperatures have added to many deaths and hospitalizations across Planet Earth. The Wall Street Journal reported that the average temperatures on Earth were around 10 degrees warmer. Certainly, none of this climate change or global warming can be good for any of us.
Then, on Wednesday, we received an announcement to stay away from the benches by the horseshoe pit and one of the pickleball courts! Apparently a swarm of thousands of honey bees followed their queen to make home of one of the benches – oh, no, don’t mess with pickleball. I began thinking about why these bees left their hive. I could only surmise, but then, I wondered if the haze had anything to do with it. Smoke usually knocks bees out, which is why beekeepers use a smoke machine to collect honey. These bees made their home over the past few days until a beekeeper could safely collect them in an apparatus that looked like a cooler. She used smoke to knock the bees out, collected the queen, and broomed a bunch of bees into the cooler. Then over the course of hours, the other bees were able to enter the cooler, but they couldn’t leave. Since the weather was warm, they had to move the bees that night as to prevent them from overheating in the box. The overall experience helped to break up the week and at least cause a stir of excitement.
On Thursday, our band gave a concert for the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) graduating class. We performed four songs, which went really well – and Warden Bayless really seemed to enjoy the concert. The songs were Rock-N-Roll Hoochiecoo (ZZ-Top), Whiskey Rock-N-Roller (Lynard Skynard), Are You Gonna Go My Way (Lenny Kravitz), and Felony (an original). After the concert, we were served a strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting and a piece of fudge brownie cake. I had a nice sugar crash in the afternoon (followed by a quick nap).
I just completed teaching the Resume and Interview class, and popcorn was handed out along with the certificates, which was quite a surprise since popcorn hadn’t been given before. The new supervisor, Mr. Horner, really wanted to incentivize guys to finish programs and classes. Now, I am co-teaching a new subject: Self-Esteem. With my background, I’m certainly qualified to teach this course, but most of the guys taking the course have higher degrees in education (doctorates in medicine, psychology, etc.) so the pressure is on to really motivate these guys. The other guy teaching the course will be going home in a few weeks, so then, I will take over the rest of the content. Honestly, I wouldn’t have chosen this subject, but I’m happy to have the challenge.
On Saturday, my parents visited, which went really well 🙂 On Sunday, we didn’t have Mass but a prayer service since our priest was visiting his family back in India. The week came and went for which I am very happy about. As always, thank you for all the love, prayers and support. I hope you all have a fantastic week…stay hydrated…and remain vigilant for any little miracle!