Getting more Troops

Today, and for the next two days, I will be at Sea-Tac Airport picking up soldiers to depoly with us. Today, there are 40 something other soldiers coming in. Over the next two days, there will be over 150 other soldiers coming in to "Beef up" are numbers.

It is kind of funny-since I arrived here over a month ago. I am already over the shell shock of the move and I have my own groove going here. These soldiers will just be getting use to things here when it is time to deploy.

I am still trying to figure out what to do on the 4-day weekend. I wonder if Laura and the bank account would let me go to vegas???

What a beautiful day.

It's a beautiful day in my North West neighborhood - the temperature is in the high 60's and not a cloud in the sky.

I spent part of the day geocaching. It is basically a scavenger hunt conducted with a GPS, with prizes at the end. Check out www.geocache.com for more info. {Jeep is currently sponsoring an opportunity to win an all-new 2006 Jeep Commander, the first 7 passenger trail rated Jeep 4x4.} I found one cache with a travel bug, but couldn't find the another cache. The coordinates kept leading me to some guys yard. Either I was off, or the coordinates were. Toby and Jen, I sent you a message through the geocache web site - I hope it works.

Work is picking up. I’ll be working next weekend, but I will have a 4 day break the following, Columbus Day I think. No plans yet.

Hey, thanks for all who are calling and looking in on Laura and Molly. They are my most prized part of my life. Again, thanks for looking in on them.

Oh, and by the way. Did you know it was: "Spouse Yard Work day" at Ft Lee? It was a great success sponsored by the Bataan Rd Yard of the Month club!

Lord, take me downtown, I'm just looking for some tush!

I must start this posting with a story Laura told me on the phone. I was at the Post Exchange on Ft Lewis when my cell phone started ringing - to the tune of "Another brick in the Wall". It was Laura. She asks me did I know why she just marched Molly out of the bookstore. Of course I didn't know so I asked why. {Bad idea. When your spouse or significant other asks you a question like that, try to distract them with a slight of hand or something else.}

Anyway... Laura begins to tell me the story, it goes something like this:


Molly was playing at the Thomas the Train table with another little girl. All was well; the girls were playing, Laura had her coffee, Molly had her chocolate milk. The other little girl decided she wanted to play with Molly's train. This did not sit well with Molly. Molly, being the innovative thinker that she is for a three year old, decides to turn around, drop her pants and shake her hiney at the little girl saying: “Hiney, Hiney, Hiney!" Of course, Laura was mortified and took a screaming Molly out of the store, leaving the milk behind.

Now, Laura is telling me all this while I’m in the PX at Lewis. Of course, being the man that I am, I busted out laughing to the point of tears. Laura then firmly stated that it was not funny. I am sure, at the time, it wasn’t. However, I think if she removed herself from the situation, she’d find it extremely funny ~ our daughter dropping trou and chanting hiney, hiney, hiney! I don't want Molly to do it again, but I do have something to embarrass her with on her wedding rehearsal dinner!

"That's no moon, that's a melon. A giant death melon!"

Laura says this is hilariously funny, but you know Laura. Just click on Darth Tader and judge for yourself. Me, I can't see the link because of all the damn filters they have on these Army computers.

I have never been so wet...

Today we did a Convoy Live Fire exercise. Basically, we were acting as though we were driving along the Iraqi countryside and were ambushed. This is a fun range where we get to fire our weapons from the vehicles as well as dismounted. Today made for a good training day. In the Army, the saying is: "If it ain't raining, then we ain't training." Well, it was a misty rain all morning; and we did a hell of a lot of training. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast out there, but even my underwear got wet and I hate wet underwear.

The pic is of some of the soldiers engaging targets off of the vehicles. In this unit, there are a lot of soldiers who are normally not in a combat unit. I took great pleasure in introducing one soldier to her "War Face". She will now, on command, don her war face, growl and show the enemy what she is made of.

The worst part of the day was at the end-the sun came out. I spent all day with wet underwear and now the sun is out to say "Hey, it's Friday. Enjoy the weekend!" Now, all I have to do is dry my underwear.

Sweet!

Climb to Glory!

OK, I did it! I'm smoked, but I did it! I hiked up from Paradise (elev 5400) to Panorama Point (elev 6800). It was only 2 miles-but a very hard two miles! Going down was far easier than going up. That was of the hardest four miles I have ever hiked.

The weather was this: 49 at Paradise, with a little snow on the ground. Up at the point, about 4-5 inches of snow. I couldn't tell you the temp, I was sweating a little from the hike. We hung out up there, messed around in the snow and ice, then headed on down. If the weather had been clear, I would have been able to see Nisqually glacier and almost to Camp Muir (elev 10,030 ). The pics are of me, the elevation sign at Panorama Point, and a foggy tree on the way down. I am planning to do this again. I learned from the ranger at the visitors center that Camp Muir, the highest elevation camp, was only about a mile and a half beyond where I was-across an unmarked snow field and glacier! This hike is not for little kids, but a must for Toby and JP!

We stopped off and had a bite to eat right outside the park. It was the tastiest burger I have every had. A huge hamburger patty, lettuce, tomato, onion, topped off with a fried egg. Tasty!

I, the tour guide.

I took two fellow officers up to Seattle for the morning. We headed to Pike Street Market to get some coffee at the 1st Starbucks, and to grab a pastry at Piroshky's. We then walked the market, saw the fish throwers. They wern't really doing much fish throwing. So we decided to walk to Pioneer Square, by way of the Lusty Lady. Happy to report that the sign saying it was to be torn down is no longer on the building. Perhaps the city of Seattle has decided to keep this landmark. Here's a pic that Laura took while we where there in June. Popped into the Magic Mouse toy store, but it wasn't the same without the Doodlebug. We then drove by the Seattle Center.

The weather today was not supporting are sight seeing operations. Yes it was raining in Seattle. Mind you, that this was the first time that I have ever been in Seattle and have it continuously rain on me. So we made our way back towards the S Tacoma Mall for some indoor shopping. It was a good little outing.

Tomorrow, I plan on going up to Paradise to do a little back packing. The forecast is for sunny skies. Lets hope so.

Joy

I have the palm pilot hooked up and working. Here is a pic of me in my new, empty office. I am not going to bother sprucing it up since we will be leaving here soon. The pic is not my best, but hey, I took it myself with my new toy - a palm pilot/digital camera/MP3 player. ~ This thing rocks!

More stuff is being added to our schedule that I think is a little too much. Things are getting done, but in a hair on fire sort of way. We are knocking down targets for deployment but not in a coordinated effort. We have a common schedule but there is so much to squeeze in to it that some things are left undone for a later time. Will they get done? They must. How? Probably on the weekends. I already know that I will be at a range next Saturday. Joy.

This weekend? Saturday in Seattle for coffee and sight seeing, and Sunday at Paridise to do a little backpacking. If you do not know, Paridise is a ranger station on Mt Rainer. It is the highest point to drive up on the Mt, about 5400 ft. There is an overlook of one of the Glaciers at 6200 ft and I think it would be a great way to break in my new boots!

Huh, who knew?

Brewtoid

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase mind your P's and Q's.

Back to the grind.

Well, I'm back at work and the train is flying at 100 MPH! Before I didn't have enough to do-now I have a lot to do! It will get done-maybe not to my standard-but it will get done.

The weather here is beutiful. Mt. Rainer is looking so nice in the afternoon. On the news this morning-the frezzing level was 10,000ft. It is suppose to rain this weekend-so I might just hang around the market in Seattle and have some good coffee.

I will be finally getting an office this week. A phone and computer are in the works too! The unit commander is the most common sense, practical boss I have had in a long time. I hope to become the same someday. I wish I had a picture of me to send, but not until my office is running and my computer.

Toby-->The Alaskan Summer Ale is going down so smooth!



Later

Molly in Ocean City

Molly is truly a travler. We were on our way to the mall to pick up some shoes when she ended up at th eboardwalk in Ocean City NJ to visit Pop Pop Dennis.

We really have to keep our eyes on our little girl or who knows where she will end up.

My vacation is going well. Doing yard work, playing computer games, watching TV. I go back to Lewis on Monday. From there, back to work.

Stu, Stacy: Laura opened the Moon eternal on Katamari! It was over 824M big! Laura thinks she has Carpul Tunnel Syndrome from playing!!!

Molly and Marty Feldman

News Flash!!

Molly has been infected with the Marty Feldman syndrome. It is so horrible. Only pictures can describe her condition. See below.