back 40 hike

The "Back 40" refers to 40ish (I assume) acres of property around the school. It has wide trails and a couple of streams that make it a fun walk. Steve was technically on duty, but Randy and I tagged along for fun.

Here's a shot of most of the group that went. The girls in the front thought that we were really hiking to the "bed springs" because a sign in the dorm said so. [I'm rolling my eyes]

The first stop is always at the pond behind Don & J.P.'s for the dogs to chase sticks. Steve brought Marley and Randy brought Abner.

I used a thing on Picasa to take the color out of this picture of Abner on the edges. I think it looks interesting. Will have to experiment more.

This is Marley ridding herself of excess pond water. Look at those jowls! Marley wasn't her usual pirate self, but it was fun to watch them anyway.




We followed a couple of different trails to go down to a creek. The streambed is solid rock. It almost looks like someone put a sunken sidewalk there and is running water down it. The dogs like to jump off the rocks to fetch sticks, or logs, in Abner's case.




This was right before a couple of guys tried to climb trees too small for them. The trees just bent over and the guys had to let go.

I'm gonna go take a short nap, hopefully, before I have to be on duty again at 6:30. The Senior Benefit is tonight for their mission trip. We're having Italian food and a show in the gym. Should be fun!

rainy night

It's been raining here. It is raining here. It will continue to rain here.

I made 2 trips to the music building to make assembly announcements, 2 trips to the gym to deliver messages and talk to senior sponsors, and one trip home to get the scratch art picture I donated to the senior class auction . . . all in the pouring, blowing rain.

These are my cat neighbors practicing to be jack-o-lanterns for next week. I hope they stay hidden on Halloween! (Copy in the back, Bob-Tail in the front)

Anyway, today wasn't all boring. Nikie and I went to Subway for lunch. Don't tell J.P., but we took her car while she was gone with the seniors!

I'm putting this picture up for Jaclyn so she can see my new reversable curtains in my red room. So here ya go. I don't think the lava lamp fits in as well in a room with actual curtains. ; )

this one time, on band tour...

These are some of my pictures from the weekend in Memphis. Jeff Massey drove the bus for us and had fun knocking me over by swerving while I was taking pictures. We left on Friday morning at 7:30 and got to Memphis Junior Academy in time to set up and do a program for the school at 1:00. After that, we got to go to the mall for a little over an hour (not enough time) before heading to the church to unload and eat supper.

This is the concert band, minus me and Robin Hawkins, the directors' wife. We were taking pictures. They got their baby, Bethany, a black shirt and khakis for the tours. Robin printed an iron-on transfer of the logos and put them on hers.

After we ate supper, the families took all of us to their houses for the night. Heather, Amber, and I went with Jepthae Calkins. She went to Southern with me and teaches 1st and 2nd grades at MJA. We went with 2 other groups to Casey & Lisa Hann's house and played with their Jack Russell terrier, Bruiser (in this picture with Heather, our bass clarinet player), and the black lab Chico. We watched End of the Spear, a movie about Nate Saint and the missionaries who were killed by Waodanis in Ecuador.



The program went pretty well Sabbath. Between us and Sole Voce, we covered the sermon time plus some. My butt was pretty sore from sitting on the folding wooden chair for over an hour! Amber took this picture of me with my camer when we were warming up and tuning in the daycare area.

This picture of me is from today when I was talking to Ryan on the phone. I went to take pictures of the trees. Some other ones came out better as far as the exposure, but this is the only one I'm in!

too many good pics

enjoying the overlookposing?waiting for everyone to come backwe let them lead?shower from the fallsa picture of our snackand here are s'moreall good things must come to an end . . .
(I like that this picture makes it look like jaclyn did the pushing!)

we survived the cold!

Friday, I headed over to Corbin, KY to meet Ryan on his way down from Ohio to go camping. Jaclyn and Ryan drove up from Collegedale and so did Randy and Mary Jane. We all stayed on one site - the best one in the campground - that was on the edge of a cliff!

The four of us prepared for hiking Sabbath morning by testing out the playground equipment. We had to gear ourselves up after not having much quality sleep. We're not used to 29 degree weather. (I checked weather.com and that's what it said the temp was for both nights!)

We had to deal with pesky critters running around at night. The worst part is being able to hear them and not wanting to look and see what is out there! This raccoon was sunbathing out by the big lodge. The second picture is us standing on the ledge where we saw the raccoon.

This is Cumberland Falls. It's 125 feet wide and 68 feet tall. I got my stats from a magnet in the gift shop, so they must be true!

Our hike Sabbath took us past Cumberland Falls and out to this waterfall, called Eagle Falls. It was quite the steep walk and included lots of stairs. The views were worth it though.

The Heilmans at Eagle Falls and my friend the cat laying on a log

The sparks really flew every time Randy poked the fire. Jaclyn and I dragged a whole tree up the hill and Ryan K. cut it into pieces.

After looking at the falls from far away, we walked to the top of the falls. Ryan had fun skipping rocks along the edge of the river. You have to hold your mouth just right to get the most skips.

Ryan and Ryan shared a 27-person tent. (Ok, it was probably designed for about 6-8.)

Here you go mom, a picture of us worms hopping around in our sleeping bags.

See how close we were to the edge! Those leaves are the edge of the cliff. Jaclyn looks scared, don't you think?

This is Ryan following me on the road out when we went to Subway for lunch. I took the picture out the sun roof! : )

bring your snorkel!

Yesterday was pretty fun. I went to Mathis' house for lunch and Michael brought Olivia and Gabby and Randy (our registrar) came too. The girls had fun dog-piling Tyler and playing with him in the basement. We ate spaghetti, which is always fun with little kids! I took my Fiji scrapbook over there and everyone looked at it. Nikie went there her senior year here - to the same school. Randy recognized Matt & Marca because he went to SAU with them.

At 3:00, I was on supervision for going to the park. Jeff drove the yellow school bus and we took 19 kids. Five of the kids brought guitars because they're all pumped up about practicing the songs for Youth Rally.


It was REALLY nice out and the kids wanted to sit outside on campus when we got back too. The kids in the picture are all seniors. The girl in the red shirt is Toni and her brother Chris went to MPA. The hand on the guitar is Rachelle's and she's a new sophomore this year.

The kids weren't told where we were going for the Sat. night activity. All we told them was to bring socks and a sweatshirt. They all assumed, for some reason, that we were going ice skating. I told them to bring ear muffs and a snorkel too. Let's just say they were thoroughly confused. Most of the kids were happy when we pulled up to the bowling alley.

We got to bowl for an hour before heading out to our next stop. I bowled 105. The best I did was 3 spares in a row, no strikes. : (

We drove the bus to Sonic and bought everyone milkshakes before heading back to campus. A lot of the kids had bought caffeinated drinks at the bowling alley, so the bus ride back was quite loud and crazy. I'm so glad we got them ice cream to add to that. I'm glad I'm not a dean!

morning walk

Today is as nice as a fall day can get. I went outside this morning around 7:45 and watched all different kinds of birds on campus. I went over near the trail that leads to Don & JP's house and saw lots of warblers, a couple of catbirds, cardinals, lots of white-throated sparrows, carolina wrens, chickadees, titmice, and a rose-breasted grosbeak. I finally had to leave there because I was getting cold standing in the shade.

This is what I'm pretty sure was the rose-breasted grosbeak. it looked kind of like a female, but had the red on it's throat and chest. I think it must be immature.






I saw quite a few yellow-bellied sapsuckers out in the woods too. I got a picture of two males fighting over a tree.

I also saw and heard red-bellied woodpeckers, but wasn't ever close enough to take a picture.






I like having white-throated sparrows around and these were the first I've seen here. I like listening to their call. I think my apartment is too far away from the woods to ever see these in my yard.





I like these little "cabins" they use for campmeeting. They're about 10'x12' I guess, and are in a row down the road. I've never gotten to see the inside of one, but I probably have a key that opens them! There are also concrete pads for tents on the hill too. All of this is behind the gym and boys' dorm. There are lots of big, pretty trees back in the campmeeting area. Today I found a stream too.

After I jumped across the stream, I finally got to the big sycamore tree in the field next to Butler Rd. It's really huge! There were lots of warblers in it too. During the rain two weekends ago, the boys' dorm came down and slid down the gradual hill into this field. **That would be the guys that slid down the hill, not the actual building!** Carlyle took pictures that are on HA's event pictures site if you want to see them.

Well, I've gotta get off of here so I can get ready for church and be down there in an hour!

on the edge of fall?

The weather today is really, really weird. We have this stagnant cloud hovering over us and it's making the air incredibly humid and thick. At least it's kind of coolish though. I hope this front passes through tonight so we don't have another day like this. The trees are starting to change colors on campus. I think it will be pretty having all the woods around during fall.

I took some pictures of my office a couple of weeks ago when I actually had the time to clean it. Now it looks like a tornado came through and left no survivors.

My office has windows that face kind of toward the northwest. I usually keep the blinds shut because the light makes it hard to read my already dark LCD monitor. I probably need some curtains to make it look better in here, but oh well. I did buy a 24"x36" print to put on the wall across from my desk. I matted it and framed it yesterday for only $38. I just have to put some mounting hardware on it now and hang it up.

My desk is fully stocked and I hear that I have quite the substantial budget. I think Salli used to buy software with it, in addition to all of the other normal supplies. I have an inkjet printer, laserjet printer, scanner, copier, postage scale, copier, and shredder. The only bad thing about the setup at this desk is that my neck is cranked to the right all day looking at my monitor (to the left in this picture).

Olivia came to see me this afternoon. Her normal babysitter, Beth, is on Junior History Trip. Olivia and Gabby have been hanging out with Lauren in the ad. building in the afternoons while Becky has class.

Olivia took my keys, sat in my chair and tried to lock my desk with the desk keys. She locked Don's office and tried to lock his desk too, after he came back.

When my picture is hung, I'll put a picture of it on here. Check back for updates.

Same bat time; same bat channel.