The Ramblings of a Crazy Acorn

Stuff...

2009-01-21T15:17:00.006-05:00

Hey!

We remodeled Riley's room over break (and a little into school). We stuccoed the walls, then gave them an antique wash over green. We put in some molding around the door and window. Here I am putting on some finish.

I have also been working on a shirt for our upcoming mission trip. Here is what the the print company sent me as a proof!

All is well, and I am feeling a quite a bit better. (I have been sick for 2 1/2 weeks...) We have been having a week and a half of glorious and pure sunshine! And will continue to have through Sabbath! It is so nice to see the sun again. I thought it had disappeared!

God bless,
Jonathan

More Pictures...

2008-12-14T20:20:00.005-05:00

Here are some more pictures from my walk just before it got dark. All this snow is staying for a couple of days. Once dark hits, it will stay below freezing for the next two days.

Snow Day!

2008-12-14T18:02:00.002-05:00

Well, we finally got some snow! Went to bed with it raining, and woke up to a winter wonderland! It is 3 in the afternoon, and snow is still drifting down. It is probably 33 degrees, but the snow is staying on the grassy areas and on the trees. Shortly it will be dropping down in the 20's, so it seems that the snow is going to stick around (ha, ha).

Views include our yard, school, one of our wood stockpiles, view of logging territory up on Granny Hill 2, and the bridge to my cabin. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Break!

2008-12-14T16:19:00.010-05:00

Well, this is the tale of my Thanksgiving Break!

Kiersten picked me up on Wednesday at noon. With great anticipation she told me we were taking the scenic route! We were going to the ocean! What could have been a four-hour drive took us five and a half hours, but that was fine with me! We stopped three times to see the ocean and it was incredible!

I knew that I was back in Oregon because there were rocks! We took a side detour to go see a tunnel/cave through a rock cliff.
It was incredible and we got to see the sunset. I made some awesome stir fry for dinner (I found Uncle Danny’s ginger!) We then continued the tradition of soaking in his hot tub. I also experienced the joys of a heated blanket!

Next up, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Uncle Duane’s house. I met Taylor there and we had a great time talking. We left and had a nice evening at Uncle Danny’s house. Again the hot tub!

Friday began with an early morning rise. We headed out the door around 8:30. We dropped Grandma off at Uncle Duane’s house and headed for the mountains!

First stop, Belknap Crater! We drove up top where they gather lava rock to pour on icy roads. I had to pick up a few pieces of rock as a souvenir. Shortly thereafter we stopped at a random pull of and went on a wild goose chase through the woods. Uncle Danny knows how much I love caves, so he brought me to some lava tub caves! We had fun exploring and romping in the woods with beautiful moss!

Next we went to Sahali Falls. Wow! Pictures can’t even express the magnitude! It was a fascinating place to be! The air was heavy with the smell of ozone! Uncle Danny read somewhere that fast water movement creates ozone. Anyway, this place was incredible!

We stopped by Bigelow hot springs on the side of the McKenzie River. We had to look to see if there were other vehicles. Sometimes unique people come to this hot spring and it might have been an inappropriate place to be. No one was there, so we hiked in. It was the neatest sight. Steamy water was coming out of a little fissure in the hillside and was flowing into the river. People had dammed up the water to form a pool. We decide though to continue on to a better hot spring. Belknap Hot Spring Resort.

Belknap Resort is run by some Adventist loggers. A very cool place indeed. We first walked the trails to get ourselves cool. We found the coolest “Greek ruins” area. One of the pools could be mistaken as a pool from “Magician’s Nephew”, C.S. Lewis.Then, we had a lovely lunch of rice cooked over a campstove. It was very delicious!

Then we entered into the 103-degree pool fed by a hot spring much, much hotter. They had to add cold water from the river to cool it down. This was a decent-sized swimming pool full of hot water! It was wonderful. We stayed for an hour, then continued our journey.

Our next stop was at Clear Lake, the headwaters of Sahali Falls. We met a very nice ranger who was somewhat lonely and gave us a personal tour of the area. The water stays about 32-33 degrees year around. Very cold… Uncle Danny decided to drink some. I declined…

Next up, we drove over Santiam Pass. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground. I saw a sign for the Pacific Crest trail. I was telling Uncle Danny that I have always wanted to hike that trail when he pulled off and told me to go take a hike! The trail passed over the road, and he let me get out of the car, and hike the eight of a mile to the parking area where he met me! I was walking on the Pacific Crest trail in over an inch of snow! Very cool! This was probably the biggest highlight of the day for me.

Next stop was at Camp Sherman, a little fly-fishing community. We found some carved cougars that were really neat.
We stopped by the general store and found some Dr. Bronner’s soap and some birdcalls. We met an interesting, and unique California gentleman there. Then we went to the headwaters of the Metolious River. It wasn’t overly interesting other than overhearing some interesting family conversations, and tales of smelly outhouses…

From there we headed to the town of Sisters where we reached high desert landscape. It was a very weird and dramatic change in plant life as well as land texture. When we reached Sisters, We immediately started running from store to store. Sisters is very similar to Gatlinburg, TN. We went into a log furniture store and found some fascinating and expensive rock lamps and some very cool furniture.We went to a Christian owned secondhand store, where I found myself a wonderful book. Then we went to a very eccentric art gallery. The curator was a snobbish man who would have fit in dramatically better in NY City or Boston. Consequently, this just happened to be the gallery that sponsored the artist who sculpted the cougars we saw earlier. We found a small carving of three foxes that was two feet long and found out it was $3,500. Uncle Danny was his usual, charming, and utterly blunt self. I don’t think that poor guy knew what to do with us.

Next up was the over-priced antique store. Didn’t spend much time there. Then we found a rock and gemstone store. Absolutely amazing stuff. Very price, but if you want a petrified chambered nautilus hanging over your mantle you could get one there. They had all sorts of beautiful fossils, rocks, gems, and crystals. We saw the same, unique California gentleman and his wife at this store…

Last stop in Sisters was the pastry shop, where Uncle Danny was sweet-talked (pun intended) into buying three types of pastries by a fast talking salesman. They were amazing! We then headed home to pick up Grandma and continue our nightly hot tub soak. Whew!

Sabbath, was also quite a day. For Church we watched a most incredible movie. It was Louie Giglio on the Chris Tomlin “Indescribable” tour. If you ever get a chance watch it and its sequel. Then we went to the Lund’s house for lunch. We had the most unique cauliflower ever. Some was naturally purple, some was yellow, and some was a weird spikey green that is a prime example of a fractal. It is called Romanesco Cauliflower. Check it out!

We went for a Sabbath afternoon hike in a park and began a conversation on soda (or as I am learning “pop”) can alcohol backpacking stoves. When we got back to their house, Mrs. Lund wanted me to show her how to make one. All went well until the stove dumped over, table cloth pulled, and bottle of rubbing alcohol poured over. And explosion happed in the kitchen. A flaming table cloth when flying through the living room, throwing flaming alcohol in the air. All said and done, it was an evening to remember. The poor dog was terrified of the can stove (for it went flying at it, and singed his whiskers). Fortunately everyone was in good spirits and laughing over it. It did startle me good though.

Sabbath night, I got to visit with my Great Aunt Myrna and my (second?) cousin Laura Maas. We had a fun evening watch the movie “Bodyworks 3”. Absolutely incredible…

Sunday came all to soon. We had to head out at 7 because Uncle Danny had to get back that evening. We drove across the Astoria Bridge separating Oregon and Washington. It is a beautiful structure!

Well, that was my trip to Oregon for Thanksgiving Break!

Peru! (our tickets are purchased!)

2008-12-05T17:26:00.001-05:00

This is a copy of my Peru letter that I have mailed out!

**********

This school year, I have taken some time off to spend in the mission field. I am working at a taskforce position through my school, Southern Adventist University. The Lord is working a lot of miracles in my life as he placed me here at Mission Creek Christian School. I have been blessed tremendously over the last few months. Mission Creek is a small one-room schoolhouse with ten students who come from various backgrounds, some of whom are Adventist some are not. This school is the only Christian school in the area and provides a wonderful outreach to the community. I am working as the boys’ dean for the two boys who dorm here, as well as being the PE and Work Ed. teacher and coordinator. I also fill in with tutoring, maintenance, and pretty much anything else that needs to be done. Many of our children come from some harsh environments and have rough histories. Each one is very special and is at Mission Creek for healing. Life is not without it’s difficulties, but I am continually amazed by God’s miracles in these children’s lives.

One of the major goals in our school is to provide mission experiences. Mission Creek has participated in countless community mission projects over the years. But, due to their small size and strong conviction, they have also participated in foreign mission trips for the last nine years. Two years ago, Mission Creek began an adventure with the People of Peru project that has changed the dynamics of the school dramatically. For two years the school has worked in Iquitos, Peru for two-week stints to provide support and ministry. This will be the third year that Mission Creek is going to Peru. There have been some challenges and setbacks, but the Lord is leading in some dramatic ways, and we are feeling compelled to make this trip happen again, but this time for three weeks. This very well may be our last trip that we can make out of country like this, and there is a sense of urgency in the air. We are seeing the Lord open previously closed doors, opening windows to the doors that have been shut. With this looking like it might be the last time we can go to Peru, we are preparing ourselves for the mission that God has set before, and planning on spending as much time as we can over there.

In previous years, Mission Creek has done a lot of varied work in Peru. Building projects, bridge repairs, eyeglass clinics, health and abuse clinics, suicide prevention seminars, door-to-door ministries, evangelistic seminars, prison ministries and children’s programs. Perhaps the most exciting thing for me is the children’s programs and the building projects. We will again be going door-to-door, running clinics and holding an evangelistic series.

I am very excited to be spending a year in mission work. The Lord has provided me with so many areas of growth that I already feel like a new person, and I am only four months in. The Lord is now giving me another opportunity for growth and a chance to learn to depend on Him even more. I am thrilled to be part of this Peru mission trip and eagerly anticipating February! What I am now asking you to do is to support me. The most important way that you can support me, my current and future mission work is to pray for our school and me. Prayer opens a whole other realm of power that so few people experience. God has performed miracles in the past, but He has promised to continue if we are only willing to tap into His power! I praise the Lord that my God still works miracles today!

The other way that you can help support me is on a financial level. If you feel compelled to help sponsor me, we are a 501(c)(3) organization so we would send you a tax-deductible receipt. A check should be made out to “Mission Creek Christian School”. I would feel honored to know that you are praying for us and ever so grateful for financial support.

Your brother in Christ,
Jonathan Adels

2008-11-12T19:48:00.021-05:00

UPDATE: I just corrected the pictures so that they will be linked to bigger ones.

Well here is the long awaited update to my blog. It has been a while…

Things have been going well, but not without problems. I am not sure that I will ever grow the fabled Washington webbed feet. Right now as I write this, we are in the process of being flooded, our cabin is leaking, and my caving light quit working. It is easy to get discouraged sometimes. But one thing that I learned at camp, and I am continuing to learn now, is that God always has the answer.

Life has been so busy, that I have struggled to find time to keep up with emails, much less blog. Hopefully though, I will be able to keep up a little better…

Here are some pictures off my phone, and a few, compliments of Lindsey.

Here is our one-room schoolhouse. It is an approximately 30’ diameter yurt.

Here is one very clean, freshly painted half of the yurt. It is definitely not that clean now…

Here is one of our views as we drive the couple miles into logging forest. A massive storm last December knocked down huge areas of forest that have now all been logged, opening up some lovely views.

Here is Teddy. He is our guard puppy.

Here is a shot of my new kaleidoscope that I made with our art class. Claire, one of our nearest neighbors (about 3 miles away) spent four days with making these.

Here is the typical view you might see driving Hwy 105 to the beach.

Wayne and Avery getting totally soaked!

A great place to gather driftwood.

It was this big!

A lovely playground made by a friend of mine. More on him to come…

A lighthouse I found on one of my adventures.

Lovely, stormy day…

Lindsey decided to stop by on her way back to SAU and was convinced to participate in one of our Peru Mission trip fundraising concerts! Here she is practicing.

Lindsey and decided to keep up with the tradition of blood donation. Let me tell you, it was very different from donating with Blood Assurance in Chattanooga. We were in a church on lawn chairs, with the bags simply hanging still. No free shirts either. They did have homemade blood sugar busters (desserts) though.

And a tiny portion of our current flooding!

Hopefully someday soon, I can get a real camera and take some good pictures.

Well, that’s it for now. Hopefully my next visit will be sooner!

Moving...

2008-08-20T14:21:00.000-04:00

Yesterday marked a new beginning in my life. It was the first full day at Mission Creek School. It was celebrated in typical Washington fashion, rain. Actually it is a little unusual to have this much rain this time of the year. Right now, I am sitting in the yurt where school will take place during the year. We have other visitors here right now who are staying in the cabin where I will be, so I am staying the next couple of days in the yurt. Actually one of my first projects here will be repainting the floor. This is pretty exciting, because they have given me a lot of leeway on how it should be painted. I still haven’t figured out what color or colors it should be or what type of paint. Right now it is red and green sponge with white on top.

Today we were going to see Mt. Rainer, but it is rainy again. I am hoping though that I will get to explore the trails here at the school. They are giving me a few days to rest and recuperate from the summer so that is nice.

I will be getting a cell phone in the next week or so! That is so very exciting. I will be able to keep in touch with everyone so much better.

Garlic breath...

2008-08-05T14:41:00.000-04:00

Well, for the first time in my life I have lost my voice. Around 3:30 Monday afternoon, my voice started cracking. Within 30 minutes, I had been whittled down to a hoarse whisper. Rob gave me some herbal tea for soothing my throat. It is my day off so I slept in until 8:30 I drank more tea and ate two raw cloves of garlic. I have drunk so much water that I make bathroom runs often. Kayla is making me some mystery tea that brews for an hour. She told me that it is spicy and I will recognize one of the ingredients by its smell, but she won’t tell me now. I am guessing that it has either pepper or cinnamon in it. I just hope I get my voice back by Thursday because I am a sub in a play and have a pretty major part.

Guide Dog!

2008-08-05T14:31:00.001-04:00

Well, I had a very interesting Sunday! Rachel Whitaker, associate editor for the Junior Guide, came to Sunset Lake. Not only that, but so did Guide Dog! Bart and Melanie Soper are good friends with Rachel, so Bart told Rachel that he would find some one to wear the suit. And he found me! We had to take some funny pictures, so here they are! Enjoy!

Rachel assured me that Guide Dog has never had this much fun before!

Camp...

2008-07-01T14:41:00.000-04:00

Well, yesterday was the first full day of camp! This week is Adventure Camp (8-9) and it is lots of fun. I had loads of fun running the nature center during afternoon activity time. Today is my day off, and quite honestly I was having a hard time staying away. My assistant, Hannah Schooler, booted me out of the nature center this morning. She told me she didn’t want to see me except for meals, and she said preferably not even then. I don’t have a car though, so I can’t get off camp easily. I suppose she is right though that I need to take some time away from work so that I am refreshed. I may be getting a ride into town though this afternoon. Wal-Mart is a hotspot for camp staff.

Things are moving along with my taskforce stuff! I went out to visit Mission Creek and think that it will be a wonderful experience! I actually met everyone again at the Washington Campmeeting. (Every night during staff week, we went over to Auburn Adventist Academy to work in the children’s classes and to sing and pray with people in the evening) The school is out in the woods down a long logging road. It is very peaceful and full of things to do.

For the rest of my day off, I am planning to finish tidying up my cabin, putting my hammock up in the tower, reading some, hanging out with Rob (the videographer), and go to Wal-Mart. I will probably join the kids for Recreation time even though I am off just because I sleep so well after running around. Technically I am off from the end of the evening program Monday night to just before the beginning of the evening program Tuesday night. So I get off about 23 hours…

Camp!

2008-06-18T18:37:00.000-04:00

My flights over here were long. Make that one short one and one long one. In any case my seatmates and row mates were grand company and helped whittle away the time. It took to long boarding the plane in Atlanta, so our plane was behind two other planes and that put us 30 minutes behind. It ended up fine though because Pastor Dave was running late and he walked up to the baggage claim two minutes after I did.

The drive out of Seattle to Wilkeson was a very scenic drive. It was beautiful, clear skies and Mount Rainer was looking its best. The Rockies are absolutely breathtaking. We stopped by Wal-Mart so that I could pick up a few items that I had to leave behind. Wal-Marts here are very different on the outside. They are a creamy, tan color with rustic beams and peaks.

Wilkeson is a little, old town that the camp is located near. It is an old coal-mining town. Apparently the camp has three coal veins in it. The town has had a rough history and if you look in the right places, you can see bullet holes on the old buildings back when it was the Wild West.

Things are very exciting at camp! First of all, Sunset Lake Camp is beautiful. The trees are big and tall, the air is dry and crisp, and there is a fresh smell. My only appointments this week are breakfast, lunch, and supper. I have spent quite a bit of time hiking and exploring. I have found some very neat trails and places to hike. I am finding out that even though I didn’t know anyone here, there are connections everywhere. There are three of us SAU students here, but I have found so many people that have connections to people that I know. One of my cabin mate’s sister is a friend of mine from SAU, people went to school with, or are dating my friends, etc. And I don’t think that even half of us are here yet. My roommate knows all the trails around here and is going to show me a lot of the unmarked ones. He is really into outdoors stuff and we get along great. His brother is coming in at the end of the week and will be rooming with us too.

Well that is what has been happening the last couple of days. I will try to keep things updated.

It has been a while...

2008-06-08T21:43:00.002-04:00

Well, I see I haven't kept up real well with my resolution to keep my blog updated...

Perhaps the latest news of my life is that things are zooming in real fast for my plans for the next year. One week from tomorrow, I head out to Washington State for one whole year! I will be spending just over two months at Sunset Lake Camp and then from there, the plans are to spend the next 10 months working at a small school on the Washington coast as the men's dean. This is a huge step in my life. God has taken me on a roller coaster ride over the last six months and I really feel this is where he is leading. But it is scary. This will be the first real adventure away from home, and it is making me nervous. That and a lot happens in a year, and I already miss my friends. But God will look after me.

Resolutions

2008-01-01T19:03:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a while since I have been here. Humph, it has been a long while. This past semester has been a hard one. Although it hasn’t seemed too long; quite short actually. This kind of leads into a classic New Year’s Day post. Resolutions. According to the Oxford American Dictionary, a resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something, the action of solving a problem, dispute, or contentious matter, and the process of reducing or separating something into its components. Not all of my resolutions will be written here, but I will give some examples. First to cover the first meaning of resolution (and relating back to this past semester), I make the unoriginal resolution to do better in school. Not much more to say than that. Except that this is one that I do every year and seem to always forget. I must think of some way to remember! The other to parts to a resolution in my case are directly tied together. The action of solving a problem or matter and reducing and separating something into its components. Through the course of this year I resolve to discover and analyze what I want to do for the rest of my life. This being my junior year in college, I had better start getting some sort of a clue as to what job or jobs I will be looking for the rest of my life. I have been seeing a career counselor the last month or so of school, and I will continue talking with him as I learn more about what I want. Those are just a few of my thoughts on the new year before us.

In other news, today I actually accomplished something while on break. My dad and I build my second vegetable garden today. We ran out of screws so we ran out to the store to get some more. This time it didn’t take long to build. The first one took a day because Brad and I kind of designed it on the fly and worked by trial and error. Today, I just told my dad what worked and minus the trip to the store, took us maybe an hour and a half. The hardest part was cutting the post points. I also “winterized” my other garden. It needs some more work, but it will have to do until later. I want to make PVC pipe frames for the beds, then when they need it, I can easily toss a plastic tarp over my plants.

While at Lowes, I looked at some paint samples. My dad has a new job beginning this next semester. He will be the guidance counselor for Ooltewah Middle School (a Hamilton County middle school ten minutes from our house). His new office is in desperate need of new paint. It is a dingy, dusty, faded grey-blue color with mottled cream and beige floor tiles. The ceiling tiles are in dire need of cleaning too. Granted right now it has no pictures or decorations, but it does not look overly inviting. For one, it is cold and dark. I want to paint it a warm color. My dad is interested in a green, but he is uncertain that the administration would appreciate it. I think done right, it would look great, and the non-bland color is very kid-friendly. Other color choices lie in the cream, tan, beige, or some other warm color in that line. Anything to give it a warmer and welcoming appearance. The florescent lights also need to be replaced with some full spectrum bulbs. The current ones enhance the over all worn out appearance.

Well that is it for today. Tomorrow is another cave trip. Maybe that will show up here. Oh, and one more resolution. To make more blog postings!

This is my neighbor's garden. He is trying the whole "winterizing" thing too. Tonight is kind of a test. Tomorrow night is when it gets down to 17 degrees...

Bible Springs Cave

2007-06-19T15:44:00.001-04:00

My dad had wanted to take me to Bible Springs Cave for quite a while now. Well...I had this past Thursday morning and afternoon free. (I have an odd tendency to go on wild caving trips the day before, or the day of a Pathfinder campout or some other trip) So my dad, sister and I headed out to the cave Thursday morning. From my house, it takes about 50 minutes, so I guess that isn’t too bad. My dad said that it was very possible that we would miss it as we drove by. Sure enough we did, but that was okay. He wanted to show me where another cave was a mile down the road. There was a nice gravel field access road that we could park on. The cave was right on the side of the road. The odd thing was, there was a black pipe running out of the tiny entrance, and water was coming out if it. Even odder, was the fact that this pipe was coming uphill. My first thought was “siphon”, but my dad said, “wait and see”. Come to find out, the hose is mounted to a waterfall further on in the cave, and it is higher than were it leaves the cave, so of course water is going to come out. The whole cave is pretty much water passage (which was cold), but the worst part is at the beginning. Hence the beauty of the cave formations is still present, as not many people like to brave waist deep cold water. The cave matches the stereotypical “look” of a cave. It is quite decorated and just looks “cavey”. Anyway, we got back in time for me to take a 30-minute nap and then rush off to work for the evening. After work, I then got to stay up late packing for our Pathfinder campout.

Me, as I make my entrance. Note the water pipe.

This is the very first thing that I saw as I came into the cave!

We came across of couple of these little guys.

Me, as I try to keep my stomach dry. It didn't work...

Formations in the one of the rooms. Note - the last picture was taken with a slow shutter, no flash, and a tripod. (we had to carry that crazy tripod everywhere we went)

I spilled the beans...

2007-06-04T21:52:00.000-04:00

Well, quinoa actually. Today I work at the Village Market. I was refilling the bins, and was putting the empty ones on a cart to take upstairs where we keep all of our bags and boxes of stuff. I don't know what happened, but some how I didn't put the quinoa on the cart right. I was pulling another bin off the shelf when I heard a crash. The thing is, no one was there that could have knocked it off. Quinoa (a tiny little seed) went flying everywhere. How embarrasing. Especially when people you know walk by. Anyway, my boss was gracious and actually helped me clean it up, and I survived. So that is the latest excitement in my life.

Camp stove!

2007-06-04T21:44:00.000-04:00

Here is my new Coleman camp stove! We found it in my garage. My mom said that it came from my grandfather, and that he gave to my parents many years ago. So now I know the special history. What makes it even better is that it was in bad shape. Well, that part isn't good, but what happens next is... I got some special heat resistant paint, lots of soap, sandpaper and elbow grease, and made it a shiny new stove! Not only that, but it actually burns well too! I took apart the actual stove mechanism and cleaned it well. I am quite proud of it!

Graduation...

2007-05-27T07:55:00.001-04:00

Laurel is receiving her diploma from Mr. Thompson, the principle. Well, a fake diploma actually. She has to pick up her real one from the Business office sometime this week.

This is Laurel with quite a proud brother during the Sabbath morning service.

Camporee!

2007-05-25T17:53:00.000-04:00

Well... here is my much delayed account of camporee!

Thursday evening, we arrived at Cohutta Springs Camp for the 2007 Georgia Cumberland Pathfinder Camporee! When we arrived, we discovered that we had an odd campsite. It was long and skinny, and right at the entrance. We had to play the game of “tent shuffle” until no one was going to be sleeping on roots. Ultimately though, we decided it was the best site in the field! Thursday night I stayed up for “teen afterglow” and thoroughly enjoyed it. It brought back memories of Bradley and I in New York City singing “Milk” down the streets. Except I learned a new way to sing it (thanks to Christina Dunn). “Silk, silk, silk. Drink that silk, silk, silk...” Friday, we spent the day doing various activities. One fun thing that we did with the teens is go on a wild edible hike. They learn some other uses for plants as well. Of course I would never teach them such things. Never! Our club ran the twisty ladder booth, which was much fun. Here is Brandon G. getting rolled off just before reaching the top. Later on in the evening was the food fair. Our club sold pizza (by tradition), pinacaloda and strawberry slushies, and best homemade ice cream ever! Here is perhaps the best mint chocolate chip ice cream ever created in the history of mankind.

Here is Shannon T. and Dustin Y. saying hi to Lindsey. “Hi Lindsey!”

Sabbath morning, Dustin and I spent some time getting the kids ready to march in the parade. Teaching the kids “eyes right” 20 minutes before we march probably wasn’t the best idea, but the kids did great! We got to march second in line, right behind a group with drums. I think that help the kids stay in step. It was so much fun. Terry and Shannon were up with the master guides as we marched by with “eyes right”. That was cool! Sabbath afternoon I taught the Dutch oven honor for two sessions. That was challenging but fun. This group of kids were great! They really got into it. (of course, by there T-shirts you can tell that they are honor pathfinders, so they by nature were going to be good) The other group I worked with was a little more of a challenge. Some things that happened without me getting a picture was the steeple chase Friday morning. I came in 6th place for male staff. Urggg... I need to practice more. Also, Josh F. broke is arm Friday afternoon, and he and Mr. Pratt spent 6 hours in the ER. How exciting! Well this year’s camporee was a blast! In fact, I think that it was one of my top favorites! They are starting to bring back some elements from old pathfinder times! Now I can’t wait till next year!

More dutch ovens...

2007-04-18T08:16:00.000-04:00

I just added a new thing to my dutch oven kit! It is an ID tag. This way no one will accidentally pick up my oven thinking it is theirs. I also finally put everything in a large Rubbermaid box (seen in the picture as what the oven is sitting on). This way it is all together, and my mom will finally be free of my stuff sitting around in the kitchen! Just a side note - photographing silver stuff is no fun. I could not make it focus, and you have to think about what is going to be reflected. Hmmm...

Dutch Oven Cooking

2007-04-16T18:25:00.000-04:00

Well, I am trying something new! Dutch oven lasagna. I did not really follow a recipe or anything. My mom gave me some basic hints, and I found some stuff on the internet, then I just sort of started concocting and layering! I did not boil the noodles first, so I am not sure that they are going to be totally cooked. Hopefully they will. I am trying this out so that I can do it on a campout sometime. What fun! I think though that I need to use a larger jar of sauce. I used a three cup jar with some water, and I did not really have enough, but I did not want to open another jar just to use a little. Anyway...I am going to give it another twenty minutes and then let it cool.

And just on an offbeat note - supposedly, adding a chocolate bar to tomato sauce will enhance the flavor of tomatoes. I'll have to try that sometime. (found this out while looking at recipes on the internet)

Well...I tried it and it was good! It was not quite as flavorful (Italian) as my mom's but turned out good. I did notice a hint of creole seasoning from when I did potato wedges in Louisiana. That was interesting. I hope that the flavor works its way out so I don't have to reseason the whole pot.

Passover Seder

2007-04-03T00:24:00.000-04:00

Tonight was truely amazing! My family was invited to join a Jewish family in the Passover Seder (meal served on the first day of Passover). It was so fastinating learning about Jewish culture and traditions. They also invited my to join them in their synagogue some Sabbath. And the mother is a special ed. speech therapist, and would love for me to shadow her and her colleagues for a day!

I plan to add more later, for the night is late and much studing is to be done. I will tell a brief description of some of the different steps.

Paradise Found? Not quite, but close...

2007-03-25T11:24:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a great day for exploration and fun. Brad and Jonathan Gautreaux, Joelle Williams, my sister and myself decided to go on a Sabbath afternoon hike. And it turned out that everyone else in the community decided to as well. It was a beautiful, sunny day with the highs in the mid-80’s. Last Sabbath some of us had found this place and had so much fun that we had to go back. It was the North Chickamauga Pocket Wilderness. There is a gorgeous river that flows down the middle of a gorge or valley. There are also hiking trails that go up to the various waterfalls that feed the river. Yesterday we decided to go look at one of the waterfalls and then go down to the river. Laurel and Joelle were a little hesitant at climbing up the side of the mountain to get to the top of the falls, but we all made it up and it was very nice. There wasn’t as much water as there was two winters ago when I was last there. But we continued hiking up just a bit farther and found the coolest little falls and pool. It was like a little bite of Heaven. After we spent some time there, we headed down to the river. We found a nice place with no other people around. (Near the trail head, there were loads of people playing in the river). After awhile we decided to go back and eat supper. Brad had brought his new tabletop gas grill, so we Laurel and I grilled hot dogs and PJ sandwiches. We then headed back to Brad’s house and made a big bonfire. He is trying to burn up some old rotting logs at his house.

Rope Tech. 1

2007-03-22T22:38:00.000-04:00

Well... Rope Tech. 1 was awesome! We spent three days in the most intense class I have ever taken. We took it from Bruce Smith of On Rope One. The first two days were spent in the classroom or outside tying things to trees and chairs. On Tuesday we set up two highlines crossing each other. We then enacted rescues and switch-overs all afternoon long. It was truely amazing! We were split into four teams that would work together as one team via radios. Each team was responsible for one rigging point (the ends of the highline). My team had the most amazing challenge! We got to do something totally incredible. We had a "floating focal". Basically, there was no tree inline to tie to so we had to make a "tree". We did this with a huge pulley. We basically did a high strength, tensionless rap (the name implies everything) around the pulley. But how do we suspend this pulley you ask? That is the cool part! We had "orbs" to create a three diminsionally tied-back focal. We suspended them using other trees to tie-off to. It was so cool. Probabley the best part was being rescued! It was a "white water rescue" so Daren could not touch ground. That proved very funny and painful. He couldn't tighten the rescue belt all the way, so I ended up sitting a lot lower. It was so cool actually doing it. I definately plan on taking Rope Tech. 2!

Et tu?

2007-03-15T22:22:00.000-04:00

"Beware the Ides of March!"
- Biddings of a soothsayer

Insomnia...

2007-03-02T02:43:00.000-05:00

Well, I am sitting here at almost 3 in the morning, and can’t sleep! Maybe it is the excitement of going on a trip (I did this all the time as a kid) or maybe it is my nagging little cough. I don’t know. All I do know is that I am wide awake. Hmmm, It also might be me thinking about my phone interview this morning. If I don’t feel sleepy anytime soon, I might as well finish packing, get my caving gear together, and finish cleaning my room. Or I could try counting sheep...

Rudolf, the Red-nosed Reindeer...

2007-02-26T18:54:00.000-05:00

Boy am I getting a taste of my own medicine. I am sure that Brad and the rest of the Gautreaux’s are at least a little amused at the fact that now I am having to do the very things I was making them do. “Drink lots of water, take vitamin C, drink more water, take echinacea, take more water, get some fresh air, come on you need to drink more water, go to bed early, more water!” Arggg...I hate being sick. I had to go to school today because I had two exams. Then I went up to work. I decided to ask Victoria if she could work out at the front desk for me. She was very quick to send me on my way (so were the patrons that were there). I drove to a quiet place and slept in my car with my windows rolled down. I had to wait so I could pick up Chris T. at 1:00. Then I came straight home, and besides picking up my sister, I have been home since. I even had to skip out on a really important group project meeting. Hopefully this will pass soon. I really need to be well by tomorrow, and especially by Friday. I don’t think a trip to Louisiana would work to well if I am sick.

It's a sick, sick world

2007-02-25T12:26:00.000-05:00

One of the biggest problems with this time of the year is that everyone begins getting sick. At Southern, it seems like a good majority of the students, and quite a bit of the faculty are coughing, sneezing, rushing off to the bathroom, or in bed sick. The same probably applies to the academy and elementary school. When I went in to the elementary school to tell the secretary that Jonathan G. was sick, I saw a little girl walking through the hall, hacking away with the classic bronchitis cough! Wow! What are parents thinking? With college and high school, it is harder to skip classes and keep up with school, but in elementary school, keep the child home!

I have been trying to take care of my friends through all of this, and avoid getting it myself. Luckily I avoided the most recent stomach bug, but I did pick up a cough and sore throat. Fortunately there is no fever. I have been trying to get good sleep, drink lots of water, eat healthy and take vitamins, but even still, I didn't get away completely clean. I am happy to say though, that I seem to be getting better! Now the problem is allergies...