The annual outing...

Nope, it's not ecologically "sensitive", green in even the tiniest way, "sustainable", or a celebration of any type of homegrown goodness, but it is our livelihood... the military aircraft!  This weekend was the annual air show here at the base, and we go every year, rain or shine.  This year it rained the whole time, and although we were a bit wet it was still fun.  For one day we enjoy eardrum splitting noise, sonic booms, flames, the smell of jet fuel and hydraulic fluid, and fuel consumption numbers that would make you cringe - that's our life and we're sticking to it, for another 8 years, anyway!

Finn taking a break from the rain...

How often does a kid get to stand here?

Finn loves helos, much to hubby's dismay :)

 Finnegan again...

In the evening the kids hooked up with their friends easily, since most of the crowd willing to attend in the rain involved the Navy families.  They are enjoying the fireworks...

After the air show out on the tarmac, we were treated to our own private one courtesy of hubby.  We walked down to his hangar where incidentally he had to actually work on real squadron stuff all weekend, and he was able to give the grand tour to my parents.  My brother flies C-130's so being in a hangar isn't new to them, but F/A-18 SuperHornets are.  It was nice to be out of the rain, although hubby is currently working on a few jets in there and the lovely chemical/fuel/hydraulic scent in there was a bit overpowering with the hangar doors closed.

The "non-air show" real deal - hubby's hangar! -

He got to work in here all by himself all weekend, instead of being out in the rain with us!

Kids love bombs.  You know it, even kids who say they don't like bombs, love bombs :)

You mean you don't let your kids play with bombs?  Hubby never gets the memo on these things.

  

Finn making his fist of fury... not sure if it was hydraulic fluid, jet fuel or testosterone I was smelling in there! 

All right, I won't subject you to any more of this, I'll return to my normally scheduled posts on the finer points of homesteading and family managing next time, I promise.  But if you are ever out our way and want to admit that you want to touch a bomb, I'm your girl and we'll hook you up! :)

Look, it's a mom!

Even better... it's MY mom!

She got here just in time... after raining all weekend the sun is now out and I need some help in the garden :)

Dad will be here on Thursday for a long weekend and I'm sure we'll do some fun things but for right now I'm looking forward to turning the kids over to her for a few days :)

A Good Day...

...right when we needed it most!

A manageable harvest day -

Tomatoes enjoyed on hamburgers while we still can -

A very good mail day, thanks to Apple Pie Gal! -

  

Finn is a huge fan of honey, so he got the honors of opening the package...

It wasn't even a minute before we were sampling spoonfuls of honey goodness!  Tell PigPen it's fantastic!  Thank you so much for the honey, and what timing - we needed a good spoonful of honey this week!

A follow-up to yesterday's post as well... there was a really neat "paddle-out" where surfers all lock hands out in the ocean and toss flowers into the surf to honor one of our fallen yesterday, check it out, make sure to click on "view all 3 photos", they are awesome!

American Loss

To follow the last post, another reason I haven't posted in a couple of days is emotional shock.  I'm sure all of you have heard about the RPG attack that took the lives of so many of our forces this past weekend.  It has hit our community here very hard, 22 of them are from right down the street from us, many wives and children were awakened by that dreaded knock on the door Saturday.  Most all of the Team members were husbands, fathers and sons, I know a couple of the Team members and their families and even though I am fully aware of the sacrifices they are willing to make and knowingly do so, it still comes as a shock.  If you met any of these Team guys the first word that comes to mind is indestructible - that's the feeling you get from them, they make you feel safe beyond any doubt, but I guess that's why they are so good at what they do.  Truth is, families have been destroyed, some are still waiting, and we are all anticipating the tears that will come tomorrow as we watch all those caskets being carried off the jet in Dover, DE.  I can't help but think of how terrible it will be for all their kids to start back to school in just a month and be around all their friends again talking excitedly about what they did this summer...  

I don't like to get political very often because of the very fact that I am highly opinionated and I'll admit, biased, but maybe now eyes will open to how much we are not ready to pull troops out overseas.  For many of us military families, pulling out before the job is truly done to allow these countries to fall back in on themselves makes us feel that our sacrifices were in vain.  I know most of the opposition comes from a very good place in peoples' hearts in the basic need to have our members home, but they are doing a very important job, and they don't want to do it half-a$$ed.

Please keep these families all over the country that lost a part of themselves this weekend in your prayers, and if you aren't the praying type, send healing thoughts their way, I know they are appreciated.  

via: http://short-sharp-shock.blogspot.com/

 http://www.patrickjhughes.org/

http://www.patrickjhughes.org/

http://www.upi.com/

I hope everyone takes a minute to look at these photographs of dignified transfers, I was shocked to learn that many Americans never see these images.  From Dover, DE these heroes will be flown to their respective families all over the United States using regular airlines.  If you ever fly and are asked to remain in your seat "for a few extra minutes", please tell the impatient people complaining around you to be quiet, and look out the window... some amazing heroes were traveling with you, most passengers never know, although there are many pilots that are prior military and will be proud to announce their special added mission on the flight.  I only say this because I nearly knocked someone out for their ridiculous behavior in an airport while a flag draped casket was being wheeled out of a cargo bay of a plane.  I have hope though, that the majority of Americans are respectful and emotional about such things the way I am.

Memorial Day Weekend - Day 3!

The Staycation is going well!  Beach today...

If the kids would put half as much effort into helping me as they did digging this hole, I'd be on easy street!

Here's Finn happily digging before we decided to surprise-bury him...

In true "bad parent" fashion, we buried him up to his neck and said "bye, don't let the ghost crabs eat your face tonight, we'll be back in the morning"...

After realizing we were kidding, we got this smile.

It didn't stop there, after dumping off the beach gear, we headed to the Y to their outdoor pool, more low cost fun!

Eureka, I think he's got it!  One thing I make sure of is that my kids know how to swim.  Not only is an essential life skill in a family that loves to kayak and canoe, it makes my life a whole lot easier.  Finn's a little rough still, but he's getting it, and they have been in swimming lessons for a year now.  Loch needs to be swimming more than once a week, since he has expressed an interest in joining the swim team here.  Lots of work to do!

 Cheap "staycation" dining tonight in the backyard.  Along with brats, I made up a quick potato salad and on a whim threw in some extra snow peas, it turned out really good, the peas seemed to fit well.

We are now finishing up the evening by burning some of the debris collected after the storm. 

It's now 7:15 pm and they are still doing something involving water out there, as I just saw a kid run by the back door soaking wet LOL, no doubt they will collapse into a heap pretty soon!  One more day of this....   :)

***

coming back to amend the post with a follow up - apparently they aren't done yet, since they tore through the house with a bag of marshmallows... went outside to take a photo and from the looks of their faces they will fall out any time after the sugar rush LOL...

Memorial Day Weekend, Day 1

Hubby's squadron had a picnic today at the base, so I showed up at school early to pick up the kids, who were overjoyed to get out of there early!  Headed over to the base for some food and fun...

The First Class Petty Officer's were in charge of cooking this afternoon, and that's hubby, so hot dog #1 was cooked by him :)   (and yes, that's me, and no, I didn't purposely cut my head out of the photo LOL)

Temps today in the 90's again, perfect for the water slide...

We had to drag Finn and Loch out of there after awhile to put on some sunblock, I had forgotten to put it on them for the first hour, ooops!

Loch really was here today, I just couldn't seem to keep him in my sights!  Here's daddy showing Finn the cornhole game -

There's Loch!  Finn was now the pro showing him the ropes.

Hot Dog #2

There's hubby on the right...

Hot Dog #3???

The party culminated in a "pie in the face" auction.  Several members of the First Class Association were "nominated" to be bid on for pies thrown at them.  These are basically all the supervisors, so lots of junior personnel were eager to bid, although they didn't quite get the "pool your money together" idea to raise more money... apparently last year one guy got a $300 bid but this year you could just hear 20 here, 40 there... I guess that's the economy for you, but some of them need to get wise and pool their funds together for a big bid, it's a fundraiser after all!  I told hubby to make sure he "schools" all his guys for next time LOL!  Hubby must fly under the radar well enough as he didn't get nominated for a pie, there's always next year to make enemies, haha!

So enjoy some pie in the face moments:

This one I love - not only did he get a pie thrown by his wife, he had to pay for it as she was the high bidder!

I might add that this was "Mandatory Fun".  Before the holiday weekend starts, they have a Safety Stand Down in the a.m., where they are warned about the dangers of fun, you know mixing chainsaws and liquor and the like LOL, and then made to go to a squadron picnic before they are let loose for the holiday.  "Mandatory Fun" is quite painful for the younger sailors, but for those of us old, "been there, done that" boring families who have accepted the fact that the Navy is our family actually enjoy it and noticed the families were the only ones remaining after the pie contest, all the young single sailors took off pretty quickly LOL.  There was also a reenlistment ceremony this afternoon, I never get tired of attending reenlistments, I know the oath by heart still after all these years of being out of the military and I still get teary :)

Tonight?  Mandatory Fun for the kids - we are taking them to a hoedown at the Farmer's Market.  We love it, them - not so much.  That's their penance for us letting them do the water slide all day.  Our Farmer's Market has a hoedown every Friday night in the summer, live bands and an outdoor dance floor set up, and some of the vendors stay open late for it, like the Creamery, yum!  It's free and fun, what's not to like? 

Did I mention I'm sooooo tired already?! 

can't think straight...

Warning, I need to rant to get on with my regularly scheduled day...
I'm trying really hard to not dwell on things I cannot control, but it looks like we will need the garden more than ever this year, and maybe a tent!  An agreement has not been reached on the spending bill as of right now, and it appears to be too late for the military pay due to us on the 15th.  I just checked, it's already been submitted to our banks and is less than half the amount due to us.  The latest news coming in is that the survivors' death benefit to our fallen service members will not be paid either.  I am angry, worried, stressed and now distrustful and ashamed of the government that my husband and I spent and are spending years to protect.  It is unbelievable to me the feeling that comes from putting your life on the line for NOTHING, truly nothing - no pay and a government that we no longer trust for allowing this to happen.  The average enlisted member makes between 20-45K a year, and has a one-income family, let that sink in.  Not because the spouse doesn't "want" to work, but who wants to hire a military spouse when they may be leaving soon or has an upcoming spouse deployment and must be available to raise the family?  Most jobs that will hire spouses are in the high turnover retail and service industry and only pay minimum wage, certainly not enough to pay for daycare and still allow the extra care and attention that children of deployed parents need.  I have never complained about this, nor do I know many other spouses who have, it's simply what we do and we accept it and make it work and even love supporting our spouses by being at home so they can concentrate on whatever task is at hand for them.  I am so tired of hearing about how people with family incomes of 40-60+K a year have such a hard time making ends meet, I would feel rich if I had money like that!  Our service members put their lives on the line yet many are on public assistance programs as well.  


Here is the bright side of things - we have family that will love and support us whatever the future holds, we will never be homeless - but I can't help but think of the thousands of military families who for whatever reason joined the military to get away from family/childhood/relationships that were destructive, they joined to make a new life for themselves and do not have the same people they can rely on that we do.  At least I can pack up the kids and go home, not sure how my parents would feel about the crowded house LOL, but I know they are there in any way we need.  As for hubby, well, he'd be sleeping on the ship, I would think that's the least the government could do to keep him working for free is to give him bunk!


I understand many of you are affected in many ways, I can only muse about our thoughts being  a military family, and the fact that there is no furlough for us, no daddy being home to take care of the kids while I go try to find a job, only that he has to go to work tomorrow morning and every day after that, surrounded by hazmat, weapons, a dangerous flight line and possible deployment for no pay...


I hate hearing the news reports but can't seem to switch off the t.v....


One more thing and I'm done ranting... if I hear ONE MORE person interviewed complaining that they are having to cancel their vacation because of this I'm going to scream!  I feel badly for our park service employees this is affecting, but I am tired of the wanna-be vacationing morons on the sidewalk they are interviewing.


Okay, I feel better now...  on to another subject!

the seedlings really need to be planted - I'm kind of rushing their hardening off!

Below, the Hosta are up!

I can't wait to stop pacing long enough to catch up on some of your blogs, I really need some good news and pictures of farm babies!  :)

Just heard of a free concert at the Performing Arts Center here this evening put on by our area's youth... we'll be there!  Sounds like an excellent coping strategy for the time being - music, kids playing music, listening to music with my family, and free!

Post #2 News in case you were wondering...

I've been asked a few times about the possibility of the military not being paid as a result of the what looks to be imminent government shutdown.  I don't like to speculate about such things as I was in the service the last time this happened in the 90's and we did indeed get paid, with a budget pass at the last minute.  It appears though, that this time things may be a bit more serious.


Here's the latest on what's going on:


Report: Shutdown would hurt military families - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times


Basically, military personnel would indeed get paid next payday, but it would only include pay through April 8th, and no pay after that.


What the government is doing is absolutely insane.  The military must report to work just the same every single day, no furlough or any other stuff that other government employees get.  Let this sink in... that means we have personnel that will die on active duty fighting a war and not get paid for work that day - not only will their families have to deal with deployment, but also their sacrifice will get them the pleasure of having to call the mortgage company to say they can't pay, or not be able to buy groceries.  Most of us live paycheck to paycheck, we don't have "matching" plans in our 401K's, things that many take for granted.  Please send your good thoughts and wishes out to the military members and the families they support.  We need them!  They have til Friday night...Pass that budget!

Christmas in Minnesota - Part One!

Bear with me, there's LOTS of photos!  I always feel the need to post them all since we live so far from family.  An extra reason this year is that one of my brothers is still in Afghanistan and I know he will appreciate them.

The first half of our vacation we spent in my home state of Minnesota (oops, that's 15 mins over the border in WI now... I'll never be okay with my parents being cheeseheads now that they moved to town!).  I'm from Southeastern MN, where the farmland is rolling hills and grew up near the river bluffs of the Mississippi.  We are about an hour southeast of the Twin Cities of Mpls/St. Paul.  Heaven, if you ask me!

When I see these, I feel most at home.  Pardon me while I subject you to blurry barns taken while driving at sunrise!  They are among my favorite subjects for photos but we were in a hurry and couldn't stop driving so they were taken from a moving car!  Here's an idea of exactly what my part of the state looks like: 

Someday, I hope to be able to have enough time and the right equipment and knowledge to do these farms justice, I just love them.

Arriving at my parents' house, my kids were relieved to see one undecorated tree waiting for them!  (I didn't do a tree since we were leaving VA!)

Hubby promptly got to work shoveling my mom & dad's deck.  Mom might be horrified if y'all thought she asked him to do that, so I'll tell you that I suggested it and he jumped at the chance!  He would much rather be doing "real work" outdoors on dry land than at sea!

Hubby putting his new boots into action, he loved the ones I picked out, thankfully!

Finn and Loch got their wish of being able to do a Gingerbread House, even if it was a kit!  Mom and I kind of gave each other that look when Loch said he wanted to "bake" one... HA!  But I totally respect the heck out of you moms that have the patience for that!

Loch found the bag Santa had dropped into the backyard.... he took issue with the gas fireplace and wasn't fooled for a minute that Santa would use a "fake" fireplace!  The kid is a wood snob already...

Daddy and Finn dug a fantastic snow cave in my parents' yard... it was about 4x4 feet!

My adorable niece!

I really liked what showed up in this photo, it was by accident since I was only going for a shot of the snow.  Taken from my mom's front window, you can see the Welcome Home sign for hubby in the front yard along with her Blue Star flag in the window for my brother in Afghanistan and the candle in the window for their safe return.  I think the candle thing was unintentional, but it made for a great photo!

Who remembers my obsession with Cheese Curds?  I went down to the local Creamery (yep, the actual creamery has a shop!) on Christmas Eve Day and was pleased to see that not only were they open, I had to park way up the street in this tiny town and walk in... what a crowd!  Lots of people picking up fresh curds for parties and gifts.  Lots of people were back in their hometown for the holidays and it wouldn't be the same without curd from the proclaimed "Cheese Curd Capital of the World"!

Fresh curds come out at 11 am sharp daily still warm and squeaky!

Established in 1910... here it is:

This is my youngest brother... all I have to say is "really"?  LOL....

 This photo made me laugh since I remember my parents tsk-tsking the commercialism and piles of presents under some trees when I was little.... HA!  Look what happens when you become a grandparent - you need to trim the branches several feet up I think to fit all that stuff under there!

My niece with the blankie I knitted for her

And here she is again... if you listen you can hear her exclaim "perfect!" when she opens the gift from her grandparents - her current obsession is horses :)

My dogs can sleep anywhere!

 Gosh it's hard to tell that Sprocket is a dog in every photo I take of her!  She is one strange speckled specimen.  Here she has her knitted neckwarmer and new stuffed loon she got for Christmas :)

These are most of the usual suspects on my dad's side on Christmas, my brothers and cousin are missing, I guess I am too - I was taking the photo!  Mom's on the left in the green shirt, dad's on the far right in the fleece vest.

Random but very cool... near my parents' house, there is a guy that taps into the artesian wells on his property at Christmas and then spotlights them.  You have to drive way out into the sticks, then you round a bend on a gravel road and WOW!  This covers about 2-3 acres, I was only able to get this much from my angle.

Plenty of snow for our nightly walks-  it was up to my waist!

I just love icicles, as long as it's not my house LOL!  This is my brother's house.  They bought a wonderful bungalow in Saint Paul.  They owned a smaller one in Saint Paul and then upgraded to a bit bigger since I'm going to be an aunt again soon, yay!  This one has much of the work already done and it is just a fantastic example of the beautiful old homes that are available in old cities.  Sadly, Virginia Beach didn't even exist til the 60s pretty much so there is no "architecture" to speak of.

I was in soup heaven all through vacation.  Dinner at my brother and wife's house included delicious soup and homemade bread.  It was very yummy and my brother is a pretty good cook, who knew?

Nothing matches the beauty and coziness of an older home during the holidays.  It helps that they don't do tv or have electronic devices all over the place, their home is so welcoming.  I probably looked like a child wanting a puppy while we were getting the grand tour!

A "real" kitchen!  I fell in love with this, it had a great farmhouse feel, and they have red countertops which were fantastic.

And who wouldn't drool over this?  This is the pass-through from the dining room to the kitchen, a lovely walk thru pantry with built ins and glass cabinets.

 Upstairs, I was in love with my niece's bedroom - what little girl wouldn't want this?

Complete with a nook under the eaves for playing, and built-ins.... oh, this place is lovely, and I think they will be very happy there.

Finally, the first part of our vacation ended with a great shot of the cousins.  This is it, as my brother and myself are the only ones on mine or hubby's side with kids right now. They boys think she is the greatest thing ever and I can tell they are going to be looking out for her when they get older!

And oh yeah...that's Marley & Sprocket's cousin - "Sonny"  :)

Part Two to come soon, that's the part where we left family behind and headed "north-er" to have our first vacation that didn't involve the rest of my family.  I felt bad about cutting our time short with them, but we really needed to have some self-planned time with the kids and the outdoors.  If you are military you know what I'm talking about, every vacation is a whirlwind of driving and staying in your parents' house all the time and we rarely get to just go somewhere "for the heck of it" because it means using up your leave time and sacrificing family time. Luckily, my parents were a military couple too so they understand.  We just decided to combine the two, and it turned out great!