Happy Birthday Dad

What a difference a year makes - I remember last year you were just recovering from having surgery. Now this year you are better than ever. This quote from the TV show The Six Million Dollar Man says it all.

Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin (Norm Roden) will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.

Happy Birthday from Hillsdale

It's all about timing

(our very ugly pig)
One of the down-sides of living in the country is having a propane tank. It is VERY expensive to fill this every month. This past summer our neighborhood association decided to make the switch to natural gas.

(our new gas supply)
Tomorrow our heating and cooling guy is coming out to switch over our piping from propane to nat. gas. Then (hopefully) on Tuesday morning the gas company will be out to hook us to the meter. We have to switch over the furnace, dryer, fireplace and most expensive of all get a new hot water heater.

If all goes according to plan we will be without hot water and heat on Tuesday morning, but by the time we get home from work we should be comfortably warm, while saving money!!

Sunny Fall Saturday

Another great football weekend - we were again 3-0 with the Hornets winning on Friday, the Chargers and Bulldogs winning on Saturday. Dan and I did the split shift on Saturday - he, along with Busia and Papa, and Allen Sarah and the girls, watched Matt play at Albion College. I was able to listen to the first 15 minutes of the game on the computer. On the opening kick Matt ran down the field and lit up the return guy for Albion. Dan said it was an awesome play, and from what the announcers were saying it sounded like it.

I went to Nate's game with a few of my friends. After last week's asthma attack episode Dan and I were a bit worried about how Nate would do. He did just fine. He said after the game that he was still tight in the chest, but no where near where it was last week.

One of the fun things about going to the Hillsdale College game is cheering on all the Hillsdale High School players on the team. Drew had another awesome game, and Brad was able to get in and score a touchdown. This picture is of Nate and Joe getting ready for kick off.

I do do girly things

You would think that with all the guy type stuff on my blog that I don't do any girly girl things. Well last night I did. Every Sunday night there are coaches meetings; the football coaches get together and go over things for the upcoming week. Well this week we decided that we needed a coaches wives meeting. Eight of us got together and watched Sex and the City. I have never seen the show, so that part wasn't all that interesting to me. But the laughing, drinking, eating, talking, and laughing some more was wonderful. Here are just a few pics from the evening.





(For those of you who have seen the movie the crayon will make sense, for those who have not seen the move-not so much. By the way, I will never look at this painting-done by Nate-hanging in our basement the same way again)

Win some/lose some

We were 2-1 this weekend. Dan's team and Matt's team both came out victorious. Sadly, Nate's team did not. The Chargers lost 24-17 to the Ashland Eagles yesterday. I guess what makes this lose so difficult was that the defense did everything it could do. On the offensive side of the ball there were 6 turn-overs in the red zone. As Nate came to me after the game his comment was, "If we would have kicked field goals each of those six times we would have won." I don't envy the young men on offense this week!!


This lovely woman with Nate is Mary Clare. She is from Scotland and is visiting friends. Mary Clare has never seen American football so my friends brought her to the game. Nate let her check out his helmet; she couldn't get over how heavy the thing was or how big Nate is. She was quite taken with the sport. I was quite taken with Mary's accent. I haven't heard a Scottish accent like hers since my grandmother, and I didn't realize how much I missed hearing it. We were so taken with each other that we are planning on communicating via email.



Dan and Matt had a wonderful time with Busia and Papa. The game went well and the four of them had a lovely time at dinner after the game. Next week is homecoming for both boys. We will be doing two games, since Nate's game is in the afternoon and Matt's at night. We will start the tailgate at HC around 11:00 and finish at AC after Matt's game.

Another great weekend-weather wise

I wonder how many more of these gorgeous weekends we have left? Instead of looking in the closet deciding which sweatshirt to wear, I'm looking at shorts to wear.

Today Dan and I are doing a split shift. I am staying in Hillsdale to cheer Nate and the Chargers to victory and Dan (along with Busia and Papa) are traveling to Cleveland to cheer Matt and the Bulldogs to vidtory. We will be 4 hours and 215 miles from each other. Thank god for text messaging!!

If anyone is interested you can listen to the Adrian game - start time 12:45

Guess what I did this weekend!!

I'm sure that wasn't hard to figure out. Friday night Gloria and I traveled to Leslie to watch the Hornets beat the Leslie Blackhawks. Saturday Dan and I traveled to Adrian to watch the Bulldogs pound on the Bluffton Beavers. Saturday night Dan and I hurried home to listen to the Hillsdale Chargers battle it out against the Indianapolis Greyhounds. Happily all three games were in the win column.


Matt had an awesome game. He switched over to defense two weeks ago. WOW - he's loving it. He hits like no other. He is on three special teams and is now second string free safety. The Bulldogs were beating the beavers so badly, Matt saw tons of playing time. After two years of struggling on offense, I think Matt has finally found his place as a defender.


Nate is also on three special teams. It was hard telling how much he played from the radio's broadcast. We weren't able to make both games - so we thought. There was a 90 minute rain delay in Indy. If we would have known that at 3:30 when Matt's game got over with, we would have had time to drive to watch Nate. We did hear that he had a tackle and then we heard the announcer say, "Nate English is leaving the field." We didn't even know he was on the field. We felt bad for Nate after the game though.

Hillsdale College travels with a lot of fans, and Nate said he felt a bit lonely standing on the field after the game without a parent there. Luckily for him the Yassay's adopted him that game, and made him a part of their family. Because of this, Dan and I have decided to split up for next week's games. I'm staying in Hillsdale to cheer for Nate and Dan is going to Cleveland to cheer for Matt.

Let's see before next week here's our schedule:
Tonight Dan has football practice; then he is going to Spring Arbor College and guest lecture in an education class.I have to read Oedipus for my class.
Tuesday I have class from 6-9.
Wednesday there is a middle school football game and volleyball game that I want to get to. There is also a hs volleyball game that I would like to stop in and watch.
Thursday the JV football team is at home and we both will be there. I also have a doctor's appointment - maintenance on my back.
Friday the Hornets travel to Albion for their game.
This is Fair Week in Hillsdale - we would like to get to the fair one night this week. The kids love it when they see their teachers out and about - especially at the Hillsdale County Fair.

I hope you all have a wonderful week - enjoy the summer like weather.