Rach and My Date

It's been absolutely nuts around here the past few weeks. Rach and I got back from the Honeymoon and I started right into training with the RAs. I've been working for 20 days straight now. I will get my first day off next Sunday, which means by the time I finally get a day off, it will have been 27 days straight. I usually get up at 8:00 or 9:00 and meet my staff downstairs. Then I sit through training exercises until 2:00 or so. I then get a break until 5:00, and it's back to training until 10:00 or so. Then Rach and I meet with students to play board games in our apartment. So, you can imagine, it's been pretty nuts. About a week ago though, Rach and I decided to take two hours off. I made pork chops and corn on the cob for dinner.


After dinner, we went to Dairy Queen, and then I found a path that went down to a creek next to campus. I had never been down there before, and I don't know why. The sun was starting to set, and with the dusk starting to fade down on the creek, it felt like the most quaint and picturesque place on earth. There was a teenager walking in the stream with his bike parked on the rocks, and across the river stood a skinny blue heron. The whole experience was very simple, but there was something about taking a creek walk at dusk with my new bride watching a heron wait for a catch with a butterfly on some Queen Anne's Lace... it was beautiful. Anyway... here are some pictures:

This is the path that runs next to the creek. I thought we would walk along the path, but we ended up taking the road less travelled.

Just a shot of the creek from the bank. It really was quiet and calm. The crickets and spring peepers had just started singing so it was extraordinarily wonderful.

Here's a shot of the stately Blue Heron. He stood there for such a long time just waiting for a fish. When none came by, he just walked clumsily up that dirt hill there and disappeared.

Rachel standing next to this wonderfully big tree that spread its branches out over the shallow creek. And an army of poison ivy just begging for Jim to get naked and roll around in it.

When we got down to the creek, I thought Rach wouldn't be interested in getting dirty. Much to my surprise, she walked right down the three foot bank and started wading through the creek. I think my favorite part of the walk was just being three paces behind her watching as she looked down and slid her feet onto the smoother stones.

I stopped with her for a while to watch the crane on the other side of the creek. Then, I took a shot of our feet in the water.

Rach took this picture of the flowers her friend Allie had brought over. I put this photo in so you could see the new kitchen set up. We now have shelves and a long wooden table for our pots and our glorified toaster oven.

Later that night, we took a tour through the female residence Hall so Rachel could become acquainted with it. On the way out, I came across this amazing spider spinning her web. I sat out there on the back stairwell watching as she finished spinning her web, and then a mayfly got snagged up. She jumped off and fell like a shot onto the little bug and tore him from the web and held him in mid air as she bit down and then wrapped him up using all eight legs. It was absolutely amazing... I have so much respect for God when I watch his creation do such beautiful dances of life and death... it's macabre, but it ends up being beautiful. The natural order must have been authored by God. It could never have become so beautiful on its own.

I warn you, neither of the following are all that great,
but I think they're cool.

Here's a video of the spider spinning her web.
You can actually see her pulling the threads out of her body.

Here's a video of the spider catching and wrapping up the mayfly.
It's not very good quality, but you get the idea.

The next morning I made eggs and hashbrowns with orange juice and coffee for breakfast.

The end.