I'm outta here

In a bit I'll be checking the dogs into their hotel (sounds better than jail) and hitting the road for sunny Florida! Okay, it's more stormy than sunny, but where I'm heading, should be okay. I've got a full day of driving ahead of me. Wow, it's been WEEKS since I did that!

I'll post when I can!

Public Service Announcement

Fancy lighting, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

I switched out the regular dome light fixture in the entry with this three lamp number. My first foray into the land of electricity with the exception of hooking up the power cord on our dryer. This was the first with actual hard wiring. I only felt confident enough to do this having watched Brandon replace many of the fixtures a month ago. In fact, the one I changed out was one he just changed out. Sorry! I promise to put it to good use.

So, when he sees these pictures and asks where I learned to do that, I can honestly say,

"I LEARNED IT BY WATCHING YOU!"

(That's a reference to an anti-drug PSA from the '80s, in case you're wondering. And that's one to grow on.)

Through the kitchen window

In addition to the herbs I planted in pots, Brandon planted a tomato in the ground outside our kitchen window. We bought the plant with no identification and he hoped it wouldn't turn out to be of the cherry variety. His tomato palate is not without limits. Well, sorry baby, here's what we got.

The good news is that they are quite tasty. The tomatoes we grew last year were not. They had tough skins and were bitter. Not exactly qualities you look for in a 'mato. I sliced these guys in half, sprinkled with kosher salt, and enjoyed. Baby, if you closed your eyes, you wouldn't know they were cherries, I swear.

I'm sitting at the kitchen table now trying to get a picture of hummingbirds at the feeder. Brandon's mom, Chris, suggested we get a feeder, we did and the customers came almost instantly. Now they know we're open for business and when I brought the feeder in for refilling, a couple of them were hanging around looking for a fix. There's one guy who perches nearby and chases away others who come to feed. We get some ruby throats, but I don't know much more about them. When their wings are beating, the flurry makes them appear larger than their true tiny selves. They are also quite precise when placing their beaks into the feeder. Good beak-eye coordination. I wonder if they have to learn that when they are kids?

Okay, now it's POURING out and the birdies have gone for cover. Got a couple of snaps in, but not too hot, still waiting...

In flight-
At rest (after the rain, clearly)-
Wings? What wings?

Brandon called yesterday and we exhausted the balance of his first 1000 minute calling card. It only took three calls and about 90 minutes to do it! What a deal.

He says he's getting the hang of his job. Every day he's got reports to file and when he finishes those, he's done for the day. Some days are long, some are longer. He expects to be even busier over the coming weeks.

The care package I sent on the 13th arrived today. I sent it priority mail, but that's still better than I expected. Good news. Now he's got his computer and can begin getting us some photos. I anticipate a lot of beige.

I love the mailman

Today he brought me a letter. A letter from my husband. Nothing else was in the mailbox, but even if there had been, it wouldn't have mattered. I got a letter from my husband. I almost tore it open to read it right there in the driveway, but I decided to do it right. To put the milk away first. I quickly emailed him to say I got it and would be reading in just as long as it took me to get a beer - in his honor of course - and get out to the patio. I didn't need any dogs nosing in on my time with my letter.

I sat down with my beer and letter and began to read. And then, far too soon, it was over. Damn my exceedingly high reading level! Luckily, it is totally worthy of multiple readings. I laughed, I cried. You get the drift.

(Smiling.)

Live from CENSORED it's CLASSIFIED

Special Guest Post from the land of ex-dinosaurs. So the ride over was exciting. Okay, not really. It was actually quite boring. We left Cherry Point on an MD-11 from World Airlines (they are a contracted airline that the Air Force uses to move people to places they'd rather not be...like here)and went to lovely Bangor, Maine where we stopped for about an hour. All the smokers FLOCKED to the cordoned off, glassed in smoking section. In about 2 seconds it looked like that scene from Flash Gordon (w/ Max von Sydow as Ming the Merciless!) when he was being gassed. The air went from stale stinky smoke to white billowing clouds. You couldn't see across the thing. It was pretty funny to me, of course at that point I was feeling pretty low so almost anything to cheer me up was being laughed at. Anyway-if you get the chance to go to Bangor-don't.
From there we went to Shannon Ireland on the same plane. It was my first time there. Pretty country from what I saw...which wasn't much. I was in the middle row in the very front section. Don't get any crazy ideas of comfort-It wasn't first class, no, far, far from it. This whole plane was set up Cattle Car style. 300+ of us crammed in. Mmmmmm elbow to elbow for a 16 hour journey! They did feed us though. Every leg there was chow in some form or another. So after a quick stop, a 37 dollar call home (I am not making this up. 37 dollars-ask the wife. It's on the credit card bill) and some really snarky looks from the unwashed, European masses we herded back on the plane for the last leg to Kuwait. We arrived at about 8:30pm Kuwaiti time (which is noon EST) to a heat I haven't felt-ever. It was almost 9pm and it was still in the 100s. The sun had been down for an hour and a half, people.
After a long bus ride through and over Kuwait finest roads I arrived at a temporary camp fro the lucky ones "heading north". Stayed there for a while then finally, despite the air force's best efforts made it to where I am now.
Odd tidbit-the plane I flew on was a National Guard C-130. The California National Guard. From Channel Islands Airbase. AKA Point Mugu...I know! Weird, huh.
So now my life revolves around a routine schedule of meetings & paperwork. My only respite is chow. It's lunch time before I know it and then my day picks up speed from there. I try to leave here by 10pm. I figure with lunch and dinner breaks included my day from getting up to going to sleep is about 16 hours. Not too horrible, really. Could be worse, I could be living in a damn hole in the ground. At least we have AC.
On the very long list of things you can't bring here, pork was RIGHT up near the top, just below porn and alcohol. We have bacon with breakfast everyday. You can take the porn. We'll fight you for the beer, but NOBODY takes bacon away from Americans, nobody! I figure with our porky feet in the door, we can start slipping the locals some beers, maybe shit will relax a little. That's what's wrong. That's why they're so angry. NO BEER!
With that, I'm out like the slow kid in dodgeball. It's bed time and it's 99 degrees.
Love you all,
Brandon

Oxen

I got the dogs a yoke. It makes walks muuuuuuch easier for me. And that's mainly my concern. Don't worry about them, they can still wrangle their combined 100 pounds around my legs and reduce me to a screaching, flailing mommy. As far as I know, no one sees this.

We have a rule about sitting before crossing the street, so at the end of the driveway, we stop and sit. Then, we RUN across the street, and at the end of the leash, whack into each other! So fun! Shane loves to kiss Quentin on his one good ear. She does it in the house when sitting to get the yoke on, and just whenever she feels like on a walk. He can't get away - he's yoked!

I imagine their experience is something like being conjoined twins:

Q: "How many times do I have to tell you, when I am peeing, you have to STOP MOVING."
S: "Did you see that squirrel? Let's go!!!"
Q: "But I'm peeing ahhhhhhhhh yikes!"

It could be the other way around, but Shane's got 20 pounds on Quentin, so not likely.

He called!

And I felt like a teenager. The phone rang, my heart raced, I answered, "Hullo?" And it was him. And I was glad.

He said he's recovering from the small pox vaccination, feeling better, less grossed out by his wound. All good news.

Critters

I never considered myself to be scared of bugs. Until I moved. In California I was familiar with the spiders who might wander across the wall and the pests who might infest my garden. I knew how to deal with them. When possible, I would escort home intruders out rather than to an other world. I was no Jain*, but I did what I could. Then I left the state. Bugs are different now. I was sitting outside reading the other evening and gazed up at our tomato plant. It and the herbs I planted are going totally bonkers and I admired their growth. Then I noticed the tomato plant seemed especially dynamic. I walked over to it and as if from a scene in a movie complete with urgent chords from the string section, I focused on not one, not two, but FOUR caterpillars munching away. On my plant! Jerks! I tried to shake them loose but they reared their heads back and cackled. These were The Very Hungry Caterpillar variety guys. (Found out later they're loopers. Or JERK-loopers.) I didn't know what to do so I got scissors and snipped off the already devoured stems and tossed them feet away. Showed them. Then, I was examining my herbs and was startled by not a bug, but an amphibian. Just a cute little tree frog, right? Yet terrifying to me. I left this guy alone only to be greeted by him again today. That's him above. Heebie jeebies, that's all.

*Jain Monks strictly observe the following rules:
1- Principles of non-violence in its entirety.
2-A Jain Monk does not stir out to beg alms if it is raining because it may injure insects crawling on the grounds. in the process he may starve for days together but he does not mind.
3-They always stay without light, lest the insects might assemble and be scorched with the heat of light.
4-They always hold a strip of cloth against their mouth while speaking so that even minutest insect should not be tortured by their vocal vibrations.

More bits

I am happy to hear Brandon is not only feeling useful, but is also very busy. I've gotten just one email each of the last two days. If you've written and haven't heard back, give it a couple days. Here's a little-

-Nother busy busy day. Turnover is complete. I brief the General for the first time tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

-It's kind of dusty...

-I've moved out of tent into a much nicer shack with huuuuge barriers on all sides. I'll get some pictures. It looks like a tin roofed swamp hut...
6 of us living in it. Not too shabby!

-You should see my smallpox shot. It's gross. It's turning all black in the middle and red at the edges. I'm getting some of the fatigue and soreness too. Could be lack of sleep. I'm still not adjusted yet. (Ed. note: He rec'd a smallpox vaccination on the 4th.)

Glimpse of the life

Email from Brandon today:

Another long day but it was a fun one. Took a tour of the airfield. Pretty large. Lots of weird things, like broken airplanes, blowed up buildings and stuff. We have Marines scattered all over the dang place too. It takes forever to get from one side to tha other-unless you're the air officer and can drive on the airfield.

Luckily he IS the air officer.

Shane

Forgive me for taking so long to tell you more about Shane, but she normally won't sit still for a picture. She turns tail and mutters something about soul-stealing. We had a fun-filled bathing experience yesterday. Everything in the bathroom besides her was soaked. She managed to transfer water to the walls, sink, floor, me, all without getting clean. Well, eventually she got clean, but not without some strained muscles (mine). She was happy as a clam afterward - not sure if things will go better next time.

We brought her home on July 31 and introduced her to Quentin. They met outside on leashes and he was thrilled. Then we all came inside and he looked at her as if to say, "Who the heck let you in? You belong OUTSIDE. Okay, buh-bye." He vocalized his concerns over the next couple of days. Since Shane just came from a house of 50 dogs, she was unfazed. Her people run a rescue for primarily hound dogs and boy are they noisy. They called her Chien du Soir as she came to them at 9:30 in the evening. We decided to rename her Shane since it was easier to pronounce and wouldn't confuse her much. Turns out she responded to nothing, so we could have gone with any name we chose. She's learning though. She's an absolute pleaser and quickly learned to sit to get her leash on and is working on sitting to cross the street and come back inside. She learned to shake today. Tomorrow the world!

Want to see a
doggie slideshow?

Contact info

If you'd like to get in touch with Brandon, let me know. I have both mail and email addresses for him.

Grateful for email

I've heard from Brandon every day since he left. I don't have to wait for the mailman to come to see if anything's there for me. I just have to check my in-box, and I can do that anytime and, if I'm lucky, I get something more than once a day. So far he's still using his Hotmail account, but should get a work email soon, which will be better for him to use. I'll let you know when I get that. Here's an excerpt from a couple of emails from the last couple of days to give a glimpse:

-This job isn't too bad. I get a chance to help people and I actually feel like I'm doing something!

-I really do like my job..Odd. I'm glad. I'm just finishing up now. (10:45)
The heat is, well, hot but it's so damn dry that you don't know you're sweating until you get in the AC.

-They have near beer which is kinda nice. Beck's N/A, St Pauli Girl N/A and Amber Bock N/A. I've had a couple
and it really is frustrating.

His last job in California did not give him much satisfaction, so I am glad to hear he feels effective and useful. Can you imagine being there and feeling futile? Man.

Visit

Yesterday I had a nice visit from Liz and Bob, my dad's cousin and husband. They are New Yorkers who retired to the west coast of Florida devote themselves full-time to the golf gods. They were en route to Virginia to visit Liz's sister and were kind enough to make a detour over to me to take me to lunch and get licked by the dogs. Their visit got me thinking about the time I spent with them in New York in '98. While I was still with Lenox, I traveled east annually for a meeting and always extended my ticket a week or so to take advantage of free airfare to do some vacationing. That year, the meeting was in New Jersey, so I went a week early and spent the time in the Hudson River valley along with a few trips to The City, alone and with their daughter, Kate. It was a really nice time and we really enjoyed getting to know each other. I also saw my great-aunt, Jean, for the last time. Some years ago, Jean typed 50 pages of family lore. Included were experiences she recalled, family stories she was told, and dates of births, marriages, and deaths. This is truly an invaluable family resource and I am very thankful Aunt Jean did this for all of us. I learned of this written history while on that visit and Liz kindly sent me a copy after my return. She also sent a copy of a baby photo of herself that I found hilarious. Don't worry, she grew out of it. :)

News from the front

Well, not exactly the front, but you get the drift.

I've had two calls from Brandon and an email. He called from Ireland yesterday morning while on a layover and again last night from the Middle East. (Where, by the way, it was forecast to be 135 degrees today. cough cough.) He is not at his final destination yet, but should be there in a couple days and hopefully get an email address we can use. He was able to access his Hotmail account this morning and say hi and hopefully will be able to do that a few more times over the next day or two. We were given two 1000 minute calling cards by an associate of Rob's, enabling an occasional call home. Of course the 1000 minutes translates to about an hour and a half, depending where he calls from - phone type and location. But hey, I'll take a few minutes a week over not hearing his voice any time. Now, we'll have to work on using our few minutes for something of substance, since all I was able to do yesterday was repeatedly say, "I miss you. I love you. The dogs miss you. Okay, I miss you. Okay, I love you. Okay. Okay." Not the best use of time!

Thank you all for your kind words of support. No matter our politics or views on what's going on in Iraq and other places, we can all wish for the safe and swift return of all serving and working there as well as safety, security, and stability for the regions in turmoil and the people of those countries.

Belated thanks for birthday flowers

These fragrant beauties were waiting for me when I got home from my spa day, gift from Phil and Mary Anne. Thank you!



















Brandon sent these, adding to his treat of the spa for my gift. I spent five hours at the spa and really did not want the day to end, let me tell ya. I had a facial, warm stone massage, manicure, pedicure, and hair cut and color. Oh yeah, and three glasses of wine. I'm very happy to have found the place. I'll be going back often. ;)

Hurry home.

Me and ma hunny., originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

If all went as scheduled, Brandon is on a plane right now headed for points east.

Last night we went to dinner in Beaufort. It was a very nice night. Good food and wine and weather that dictated strolling.

This morning Brandon finished packing and after one of his great breakfasts, we headed to Lejeune to get things rolling. We said some goodbyes there, and had a few more minutes at Cherry Point after his bus ride there. He flew out from the base a few minutes from home, but had to go to the one an hour away first and take the bus back. Arguing is pointless. So, I drove back from Lejeune alone and had the second goodbye. That's enough for one day.

There are a few pics if you'd like to peruse.

Leaving on a charter plane

Well, the time has come. Brandon is leaving tomorrow afternoon for his tour in Iraq. Last Monday, he was finally able to find out when he was leaving. Unfortunately, it was less than a week away. Can you say scramble? We have had so many details to take care of we've not had much time to just sit and enjoy. We don't have the conveniences like Kinko's or Starbucks or most of what we're used to seeing on every other corner. This makes errands take much longer. Today we needed a notary mid-afternoon and were out of luck. Yesterday we went to the Audi dealership and to pick up something on base and were gone from home six hours. Yikes. Six hours away from the dogs. Yes, dogs. Here's the new girl-

Shane mugging with her new daddy. More on that later.

Brandon has spent many hours getting ready to go and after dinner, has many more to go. This is the scene in the living room today.

Quentin helping Daddy pack.


These aren't folded to spec!

I am not feeling particularly articulate at the moment, but will try to post more soon. Stay tuned.

Time

I just reset the clock on my computer to EDT. I had kept it on west coast time, mostly out of laziness, but also to feel connected. I could be sitting at the computer in the morning and think,
- Oh, my friends are just getting in to work, awww
- Hey, maybe my friends are having lunch together now, awww
- I know Sonia isn't having any corn and Sacha's probably putting feta on her salad right now. She puts raisins in there, Sonia wouldn't like that, neither would Kim, they don't understand the virtues of fruit in salad, awww
- Wow, I'm cracking open a beer and they still have hours to go, awww

So, I decided that wasn't helping anybody and I'd make the change. Now I have to subtract three hours to "awww."