right now

right now

Apr 6, 2012

We are OK!

My phone is dead and I know I've had a few voicemails, so this will have to suffice for now...


You may have heard about our jet crash at 12:15 today, I know it's national news now.  We are ok.  Terrified for sure for a few moments, but ok.  It was close, but not close enough to affect us.  A little less than half a mile from our house, it's a fear we push to the back of our minds because if we didn't we could never live here.  The really sad news is that the jet went down into the middle of an apartment complex.  The area is so built up there I have the feeling the news will be terrible.  We happened to be on the road near the site on our way home when it happened, the ground shook like an earthquake and then explosions and dark smoke from the jet fuel.  I have lived here long enough to see this happen 3 times now, but the other two were ditched in an unpopulated area right near the airfield (even closer actually with fuselage on our street!), this one is horrifying because of where it went down.  Of course my phone was almost dead in the car and from where we were stuck in traffic it looked like the smoke was coming straight from the apt complex where a friend of mine lives, and I knew she would be home with her baby.  I texted her and prayed like I never have before I think and within a few minutes she called me - it was the complex right across the street from her, only about 50 yards or so but she was safe!!!  That's when I went from sheer panic to crying, which probably spooked the boys in the back seat who didn't realize that I was worried about anyone other than the pilots - ah, to be that young and have your parents do all your worrying for you!


Here's some photos:


that's the tail end of the F-18, it did not land in the parking lot as you might gather from the photo, there was an apartment block under it that completely disintegrated, and the front half of the jet is also disintegrated



This is what we were greeted with as we made our way to our exit...


plumes of smoke this color over our house area is never a good thing to see, since it indicates JP-5 (jet fuel) and we are right in crash zone 1, there was about an hour of tense gridlock while the freeways were shut down


an aerial photo of the complex shows how bad it was, looks actually like several buildings now that the flames have been put out


you can see how populated this area is in these photo:




The pilots are from hubby's old squadron, he wouldn't tell me over the phone who it was but I can say VFA-106 now since it's already all over the news.  This is a training squadron, where pilots come to learn the F/A-18 after they have already completed flight school and have earned their wings.  This squadron is where they go to learn how to actually land and take off on aircraft carriers.  No word on the whys or hows of the accident, although it does appear from their angle that they tried a last second effort to avoid the populated area, something that is foremost in every pilot's mind.  As of right now we are hearing that both pilots ejected, both have been recovered but we don't know anymore about where they are or their condition.  Right now everyone is focused on anyone in those apartments, and prayers are needed!  Authorities are just now being able to go door to door in the apartment area since the flames were too much earlier.  I'm worried about hubby when he gets home tonight, if he comes home... I have a feeling this will be a long day for him.  As a jet mechanic and a supervisor, he will be lost in his own head today I think, even though he had no hands on this particular aircraft, you can imagine how that might be if that was your profession.  Well, I'm off to listen to more news and try and find out if hubby will be home for dinner or not.  It's eerily quiet out there now without the constant scream of jets, air operations have obviously been shut down for the day, all we hear and see is the helicopters now.  What an emotionally exhausting day so far...


Apr 4, 2012

All work and no play...

That's what it's been like around here.  I'm going to do a favor for all of you and make you feel better about your own gardens, go ahead - take a good look:


Hey, you can't accuse me of never showing "the real deal"!

Doesn't that make you feel better knowing however bad your garden might look, mine is worse?!


The mess finally got cleared out this past weekend though, that's Sailor/Farmer/Husband and Finnegan spreading the mulch out that will hopefully slow the weeds down a bit.  Hubby spent the past two weekends pulling weeds and using the stirrup hoe in this area so I agreed to splurge for some mulch so his hard work might last a bit this time :)  Luckily, not too much Bermudagrass here, yet.


Finn scored big points this past weekend!  And LOOK... that's one of the artichokes in the foreground that were uncovered, woohoo!  Finally, I have successfully established the darn things.  Only 3 of them came back this year but whatever LOL.


And this... I'm over it!  They are all hardened off and spend the whole day outside, I'm having to water twice daily since they are getting dry out there, but I can't plant since the past 2 nights were down to 38º.  Today was 82º but severe thunderstorms, wind and hail expected the rest of the afternoon and evening.  They need to go out!


Speaking of being out, I am happy to report that Gordon Gecko is back from his 2 day walkabout.  We were all but sure Sprocket had gotten him but as I walked into the kitchen this morning to pack the kids' lunches there he was in the middle of the kitchen floor.  Looking at me as if saying "hey it's a big scary world out there and I'm tiny and I'm hungry, you can put me back now".

Back into the enclosure he goes (actually a she LOL)... mom it's safe to come visit again :)


Here comes the lighting, time to power down!








Apr 2, 2012

Things that make you go hmmm....


Nope, still not Armageddon...


...it's Trader Joe's!  Ouch, I bet this guy had a good sob when he walked out from the store!  

It's a RANGE ROVER, gulp!


The other day a new Volkswagen actually caught fire in the parking lot and a total of 5 cars burned, but this one was the only one left for several days, because the tires had melted into the pavement, yikes!

Spotted at pet supply store...what do we have here?


I'm not sure if people are feeding these to their reptiles or if they are growing them to the moth stage, but all I could think of was that this would be a nice revenge idea for the neighbor gardener that calls the police on your illegal chickens.  For $10.49 you could literally let loose a can of whoop-a$$ on their tomato garden, bahahahaha!

Now on to the serious stuff...

Have you seen this lizard?


MISSING:  1 Leopard Gecko Lizard named Gordon Gecko (any 80's Wall Street fans out there?)
*LAST SEEN sporting a CamelBak with an iPad tucked under his arm making a break for freedom Sunday night


 Seriously... there is a gecko running loose somewhere in my house - mom, do you want to come visit now?

I set up a "trap" consisting of a heat lamp on the floor and a cookie sheet decorated like Arizona, keep your fingers crossed!  I also had to "feed" the mealworms to make them appetizing and wiggly to lure the guy out of hiding, first time for me doing this, enjoy...

ewwwwww!

Strangely, I'm okay with the possibility of waking up with a 4 inch gecko next to me, who 'da thunk it? This is obviously the reason I was only given boys to raise :)

See the crazy stuff that keeps me from blogging with any regularity lately?!