I win!!! I win!!!

Ding, dong! The mouse is dead
Which old mouse? The wicked mouse.
Ding, dong! The wicked mouse is dead!


I don't want to do that again without a cat!

I'm back . . . oh joy . . .

I had a great time down in Collegedale for break from the 6th until today. I picked up Ryan at the Nashville airport on Wednesday evening and we drove down to Collegedale. On Thursday, we headed out on the boat with Randy & Mary Jane and it felt like we had never left.

We went back out Friday afternoon after eating with Jaclyn & Ryan K. at Olive Garden for lunch and a little bit of shopping. I swear I was just giving Ryan a nice hug in this picture, regardless of what anyone else tells you!

Why do I get the feeling I'm about to have gloves thrown at my head?

Now I see why people invite my family members to go boating. I used to be the one to fall like this, but after getting hurt one too many times, I've toned it down. Mom reminded me of my "Carrie Knievel" nickname. Grant went big without having the ability to land or look graceful. We thank him for this wonderful photo opportunity.

Sabbath afternoon, the Heilmans, my family, Jaclyn, Stephanie, and Hollie, went to the Chickamauga dam for a good hot dog lunch. We managed to get in a good game of catch on the side of the slope too. I don't have any pictures of that because I was playing!

Saturday afternoon family and friends gathered in Talge Hall for a monster of a meal. Ethan kept everyone busy and laughing the whole time. He loves the camera and making cheesy grins.

Ethan loves broccoli. He likes hiding carrots in between couch cushions too. He can't be perfect, I guess!

L to R: me, Allison, Ethan, Jeremy, Tonda, Grant, Grandpa Rilea, Jason, Grandma Dut, Elsa, mom, Del, dad
I just realized that I don't know how to spell Pattons' names. Maybe Del has one "l" and maybe it has two?!? Maybe I should have put three just to cover my bases!

Grandpa got put in charge of cracking eggs again at the pancake feed at Southern this morning. I don't think he's usually allowed to cook at home. He said they lost 26 people last year from these guys cooking breakfast!

Mom finished my really cool quilt/duvet cover and brought it to me this weekend. She said it needs ironing, but I don't think she realizes that my covers get straightened out once a week, if I'm lucky!

weekly dose of birds

Instead of eating lunch today, I sat in my car and took pictures of the birds at my feeders. I took some pita chips with me, so I wasn't totally skipping the meal.

The goldfinches like to fight each other for the best spot on the thistle sock.

This nuthatch noticed me hiding in my car. You can see it staring at me, deciding whether or not to brave a flight to the bird feeder.

He decided to go for it! All of the seeds he took were carried up to the tree bark, where they were shoved in the cracks in the bark and then cracked open.

This a female goldfinch with non-breeding plumage. I think they look totally different from the other birds. Try to find one that looks like this in your bird book!

end of the week . . . finally

This week has felt really long. It's probably because this is the sixth straight day of work. And what am I rewarded with, but supervision duty for this weekend. No rest for the weary.

Sunday was our fall picnic, but you already knew that because that's my most recent post before this one. If you want to see more pictures, go to HA's website. Most of my work will end up going into that site, because it's what I'm responsible for.

We've been having our Week of Spiritual Emphasis (aka Week of Prayer). The evening meetings have been down at the church, until tonight, when we had to meet in the gym. I snapped this picture walking out to my car after Monday's meeting. I'll upload more of the pictures to HA's site on Monday or whenever I get to it. We had students and a staff member do testimonies each night. I ended up having to take my tripod and setting my camera on 800 ISO to get "clear" pictures. I didn't want to distract anyone with the flash. I ended up with funny-looking pictures of in-focus bodies, but moving mouths and eyelids!

Tomorrow, I'm on duty for Sabbath school, church, 3-5p at the park (the same one I took Ryan to), and then Junque Games at 8p. I don't think I'm on for supper. I'm confused . . . wait, maybe I'm not . . . I'm actually looking forward to Junque Games (Trash Night to all of you MPA people). It was one of my favorite events to go to. We have a "Nafie" situation this year, with Tyler Mathis as Freshman class president. We'll see if they can pull off a win over the older, wiser Seniors and Juniors. Don't count on it. I've already seen several versions of THE LIST floating around between the students this week, so they're gearing up for a good competition. I'll be there, camera in hand!