The new school year starts on Mon. I am mostly excited about this.

Weather permitting I'm going climbing today, rafting tomorrow, and camping in between. It should be a fun weekend.

Ok, so I'm only half awake and this coffee hasn't kicked in. That's all I got.

Summer '07

It's been a great summer.

I started the summer off by climbing to the south summit of Seneca Rocks. If I knew what I was doing I would insert a great picture of Seneca here- it's a really cool rock formation. For those of you not familiar with Seneca, it is a multi-pitch trad climbing area, with a 900+ foot summit. The crazy part about climbing there is the exposure. I sat on a little ledge for almost 2 hours at about 250 ft. SCARY. When you climb the last 30 feet to the summit you aren't even tied in properly. You just scramble to the top of a 900+ foot rock fin hoping to God you don't fall.

Oh yeah, before the Seneca trip I tried to do the "maryland challenge" with my friend Meghan and her sister. The challenge is this- you hike the entire 41 mile segment of the Appalachian Trial that runs through Maryland in under 24 hours. We made it 27 miles before we had to pull out due to Meghan's sister's knee injury. It was a fun hike though. I also visited Shepardstown, WV sp? on this trip and fell in love with the town.

I spent the last 2 weeks of June at a mountain nature camp earning the easiest 6 hours of grad credit in the world. I went on morning bird walks, and spent afternoons learning about insects, plants, streams, rocks, etc. I got a lot of great hiking in at Dolly Sods, Otter Creek Wilderness, Coopers Rock and the North Fork. The highlight was a fast and furious 21 mile day hike that my friend D.J. went on in the Otter creek Wilderness area. After the hike we went to the Purple Fiddle and ran into my friend Meghan who I had been playing phone tag with for a month (since our maryland challenge). It was so cool randomly running into her and hearing about her preparation for Africa- check out her blog the link is to the right.

After mountain camp I spent a weekend catching rattle snakes and copperheads in Terra Alta, WV. At one time we had a timber rattler, a copperhead, a black rat snake, and I think 2 other rattle snakes on hooks-all within 20 feet of each other. It was crazy!

Next I was off to New York to attend/volunteer at most favorite bluegrass festival- GREY FOX. Michelle (my sister), my friend D.J. and I enjoyed 6 days of camping in perfect weather, with perfect music, and amazing people.

The day I got back from New York I unpacked and repacked for Junior Nature Camp. I left the next day at 7am to spend a week as a camp counselor. More bird walks, insects, plant and stream study, and good food and company. I even got to canoe down a section of the Yough.

Last week I taught the Ohio County Strings Summer Camp here in Wheeling and had a great time.

Over this past weekend I climbed at the New River. It is now my favorite climbing area. I had such an awesome time. Saw lots of cool salamanders, toads, insects, and even saw an owl in broad daylight. I climbed HARD and felt awesome...until I got to my car on the second day and discovered it had been broken into and my wallet was stolen. There was only $5 in my wallet so it wasn't a huge loss. A friend lent me $20 so I could get home and so I had enough money for gas and food. I came home and cancelled all of my credit cards- except one. I couldn't cancel the card because no one would take my call. Last night a machine called me and told me that someone has been using my credit card and they didn't think it was me. So last night I tried to return the call and just waited on hold for 50 minutes. Today I tried to call again and have been on hold for 3 HOURS!!!!!! It is so annoying because someone could be using my card, but no one will pick up the phone to cancel it.

Anyway, if I become more computer savy maybe some summer pics will follow.

I'm looking forward to seeing Shelter friends here in the U.S. in September. I also hope to enjoy more climbing at Seneca, and the New River. Once school starts up I'll be helping to lead a bible study. That should be cool. Until next time.....

I switched to the "new" blogger a few weeks ago, but I haven't been able to remember my new password. But, here I am now.

Today is Easter. Our church had an awesome service at Oglebay's Pine Room this morning. My mom is making a yummy meal right now and our whole family (which is pretty small) is coming over for Easter dinner later. Last night I played for a catholic mass that was over 2 hours long! Over 2 hours of gregorian chant, readings, recitations, etc! I went home and had a solo dance party to the Avett bros. afterwards. The cool thing about playing for the mass was that my arm didn't hurt afterwards. I thought it would be throbbing for days after that mass, because my arm was in a lot of pain this past week. But here I sit typing away pain-free. Thanks God.

I only have 7 or 8 weeks of school left. This year has been trying. I've threatened many times to quit after this year and get a job at Cabela's. Really, I think I'll stick it out for atleast 2 more years. Speaking of teaching, my older sister Jessica was just named "teacher of the year" for her school.

It has been snowing here since Wed! I actually had to scrape a few inches of snow off of my car before church this morning. Usually I'm happy about snow, but this week it's been kind of a bummer.

Have a happy Easter!

The Perks of Teaching

Last week I did not have to work on Mon, or Tues due to cold weather or something. This week I got Tues, Wed, and Thurs off because of snow covered roads. Tomorrow is an in-service day, so I only taught one day this week. We get Monday off for Presidents' day, so I won't be going back to work until Tues. Woo Hoo!

Tomorrow I'm flying to Philadelphia to spend the weekend with my little sister Michelle. A few of our favorite musicians-Chris Thile of Nickle Creek, and Brian Sutton-are playing at the World Cafe in Philly, so we're going to check them out. I'm so excited.

I went to my 3rd Kayak rolling class on Sun. I can almost do a C to C roll, but not completely. When I am almost finished with the roll, I flop back down into the water unexpectedly. It is very annoying. Especially because sometimes I don't even have enough time to take a gasp of air before I go all the way underwater again. I think I will get it at my next class which is in March.

Hopefully I will have some cool pics from Philly to post. Have a great weekend.

2 posts in one day!!!!

I have updated the links to the right...

Michelle's link will now take you to the blog she is currently using. You can read about her first year at an ivy league school as she becomes a communist.

I added Meghan Baird to my list, so she will be known as American Meghan, so you don't get confused with the Canadian Shelter worker Meghan. You can read about her life in the eastern panhandle of WV as she prepares to be sent to Africa for humanitarian work
(mainly in the realm of salvation).

Finally, I added Adeleida Klein to my blog. She is an amazing dutchie that is now studying at YWAM's SBS school in the NL.

If you have a blog, and I like you, I'll add you to my links. Let me know.

A Fantastic Fall

Let me tell you about what happened last Friday.

My friend just left my apartment and I decided I should go down into my creepy crawly basement to get my clothes out of the dryer. I put my winter coat on (which I've never done to go to my basement) and grabbed a flashlight. I grabbed the flashlight because a stray cat decided to make our basement his home, and I wanted to make sure there wasn't cat poo on the stairs. I had never seen my basement stairs because there isn't a light down there, so when I turned my flashlight on I was transfixed by seeing my stairs for the first time. I went to put my foot down, and it rolled instead, which caused me to fall face first down the entire flight of stairs. I mainly rode the stairs on my shoulder, and hip. I landed on my head at the bottom on the cement floor. I had dirt in my mouth and was a little in shock. My roommate came running down and checked to make sure I hadn't broken anything. I was amazed that I hadn't broken anything and I thought I would be ok. But then I started acting REALLY WEIRD. Crying hysterically, then laughing hysterically, all the while feeling very weird, and totally detatched. So, I called my mom and she took me to the ER. Turns out I was "fine". I'm convinced I had a minor concussion. I had some really great bruises all over my legs, my hip, and a huge bump on my head. I have not gone down those stupid old, dirty, dangerous basement steps since the fall.

It is really amazing that I was not badly hurt from that fall. I think my muscles protected my bones, as did my winter coat, but what about my wrist and head that I landed on? But if I'm really honest it wasn't any of those things. It was by God's grace alone that I am still in one piece.

Remember me?

So I am the worst blogger ever.

I'm not going to Montana this summer. After I had been training for a month, Outward Bound contacted me and offered me $500 instead of the $4000 I asked for. I actually thought about going majorly into debt to go on the course, but my family talked me out of it. That was a big bummer. Other opportunities have come up locally though, which in a way is much cooler. I just started going to pool sessions/roll clinics at Wheeling Jesuit University to learn the basics of kayaking. It costs $20 for 10 weeks. I'm meeting local paddlers that I can hit the open water with this spring. Last night I tried to learn how to roll. Doing anything when you are suspended from a boat upsidedown underwater is difficult. Especially when you start to panic and stop thinking about what you are supposed to do- because then you just do everything wrong. I can roll as long as I don't have a paddle in my hand. But as soon as you put a paddle in my hand I do everything wrong. I'm sure I was entertaining to watch.

I'm practicing my violin every day- which is amazing. My playing has a long way to go before I even reach the level I was at 4 years ago, but I can see little improvements which is enough to keep me motivated.

Where is the snow? Where is winter? I know, it's all in Denver. Winter has not yet arrived in Wheeling. Our weather has been in the 50s and 60s all "winter". It's so crazy.

Ok, I'm blank. I don't know what else to write.
Later.

Over the past month...

I can't believe I haven't posted for a month! The past month has been crazy busy. I conducted 3 Christmas concerts at my middle schools two weeks ago and this past week I conducted on the Festival of Sound concert- which was a high school concert. The Festival of Sound was so fun to be a part of. The governor and his wife were at the evening performance and there were at least a few thousand people in attendance. Directing on that concert was one of the best experiences of my life.

I started training for a 50 day Outward Bound Semester Course that will take place this summer in Montana. I requested a rather large scholarship, and I'm hoping O.B. will pull through. Here are some of the course details: First we'll backpack a section of the Continental Divide Trail in Montana, then we'll climb at Humbug Spires for a week, next we will paddle down the Yellowstone for a week or two, and then we will finish with an extended expedition of the Absaroka-Beartooth Range. The last part is the scariest part because the Beartooth area is home to tons of grizzlies and wolves. I am really excited to overcome all of the challenges that this course is going to present. I've been feeling way too complacent lately.

I almost have all of my Christmas shopping finished. My sisters are coming in town later this week. It will be so cool to see them again.

8 days till Christmas! Woo hoo!