02. May 2011 · 1 comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

?”I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”

Dave and I got the news at the same time as most Americans who were watching “live” TV tonight.  We can’t believe it!

We knew something was up when Dave got a phone call during church this morning. I was convinced it was related to our killing Qaddafi’s son last night with a NATO airstrike in Libya. Dave’s commander was on vacation so Dave had to take the lead to get over to the base ASAP for a meeting. It was rather embarrassing to yank the kids out from the 2nd row pews in the middle of the hymn of the day, but I guess by now most of the folks will understand why.

We’ve been virtually “celebrating” with our Facebook and Twitter friends, first by posting this You Tube audio clip:

Then by posting that quote above by Mark Twain.

If it weren’t for our early mornings tomorrow, I’m sure Dave and I would be pouring scotch and tequila and toasting the victory right now. It’s neat to see the Americans celebrating in the streets in Washington, D.C.

I can’t wait to find out which great Americans were actually there during this mission, and which one pulled the trigger that actually took him out. As one of my Facebook friends declared in his status, that individual will probably never have to buy his own beer again!

But let’s keep our diligence America! Terrorist organizations are like animals that can regenerate lost body parts, they can regrow leadership and inspiration so we need to keep aware!

02. May 2011 · Comments Off on Mark Twain Said It Best… · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

?”I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”

Dave and I got the news at the same time as most Americans who were watching “live” TV tonight.  We can’t believe it!

We knew something was up when Dave got a phone call during church this morning. I was convinced it was related to our killing Qaddafi’s son last night with a NATO airstrike in Libya. Dave’s commander was on vacation so Dave had to take the lead to get over to the base ASAP for a meeting. It was rather embarrassing to yank the kids out from the 2nd row pews in the middle of the hymn of the day, but I guess by now most of the folks will understand why.

We’ve been virtually “celebrating” with our Facebook and Twitter friends, first by posting this You Tube audio clip:

Then by posting that quote above by Mark Twain.

If it weren’t for our early mornings tomorrow, I’m sure Dave and I would be pouring scotch and tequila and toasting the victory right now. It’s neat to see the Americans celebrating in the streets in Washington, D.C.

I can’t wait to find out which great Americans were actually there during this mission, and which one pulled the trigger that actually took him out. As one of my Facebook friends declared in his status, that individual will probably never have to buy his own beer again!

But let’s keep our diligence America! Terrorist organizations are like animals that can regenerate lost body parts, they can regrow leadership and inspiration so we need to keep aware!

(Click on the pictures to see closeups of the text in the pictures).

Several years ago I received this book from my father-in-law.  He got it from a friend who sells antiques.  Dad thought I’d be intrigued by it, and gave it to me as a tongue-in-cheek gift.

I read the book the same weekend that Dave’s dad gave it to me and it put a lot of smiles on my face.  The book has been sitting with our other “old books”, and I discovered it again last month when we were unloading/organizing our bookcases in our new house.  I’ll share some of the tips and tricks here, but know that my intent here is NOT to be like the infamous 15 Minute Lunch post from 2007 (<–click it, if you haven’t seen the old Penney’s catalog blog posts, they’re AWESOME!).

Amazon offers the book, as you can see from my link on the left, but I absolutely have to share with you the typeface of the cover of my own copy.  It’s pretty cool!

A look at the back cover to learn a little more about the authors…

….wait a second!  They aren’t even AIR FORCE wives????  Actually these two ladies brought in several USAF wives for the various chapters, and they’re credit inside the book.

The forward was written by Mrs. Nathan Twining, the wife of the then-Chief of Staff of the Air Force.  That’s very nice — seriously, it was nice of her to endorse it.  Not sure if I would have bought it otherwise, especially after learning the authors were Navy wives.

I didn’t feel like scanning in the whole book, so I took photos of some of the funnier topics to share with you…

First of all, there’s this notion of calling cards.  According to this book, you need to ensure you have the proper stationary made up at a reputable engraver.  The sizes of the cardstock, paper and engraving type are recommended here:

Here are some examples of what calling cards should look like.

The book then goes into page after page about where and when to leave calling cards (Hint: you leave them when you “go calling”), what to write on the fronts, on the backs, and whether or not to use envelopes.  And PLEASE, no children!!!

The next picture stunned me.  May women wear Air Force insignia?  My first instincts is “WTF?  Don’t you get put in jail for doing that???”  But according to the book:

And if you go calling and the servant answers the door?  The servant?  Wow, I am definitely an AF wife in the wrong era:

Here’s something I’ve always needed help with.  And don’t forget that hot bouillon on a cold day for the early-arrivals 🙂

Now, here’s a tip that I know is still true 60+ years later!  Many of these military spouse functions fall by the wayside when you’re stationed in Washington, D.C.  I’m definitely glad the President no longer requires officers to call upon him.

To me, this paragraph is timeless.  I’m even going to make the picture bigger for you.  This is precisely why is probably wasn’t in the best interest for Captain Honor of the USS Enterprise or General McChrystal of US Forces Afghanistan to do things they did.  Believe me, I’ve said my share of things over a few beers at the club that I would never wanted recorded!  I have my opinions about publicizing those things that were recorded. Nonetheless, the cat was let out of the bag and the general public was left with a poor taste about our military leaders, who are trusted with our nation’s sons, daughters, husbands and wives.

Fooling the enemy

For those military families, you know the routine…

You have a limited amount of time to pick out your new house, and there are things you just can’t know about the house until you’ve been in the house for a while…

…and then it’s too late. You’ve tranferred the deed…or you’ve signed the lease.

In Florida in 2002 it was evidence of prior flooding that wasn’t disclosed to us.

In North Carolina it was the woods that were sold to a developer that turned our quiet little cul-de-sac into a construction site.

In Nebraska it was the pig farm and feed lot to the south. And with a south wind, P.U.!!! Oh yeah, and the stupid mulberry tree 🙂

This house we’re in now is perfect in so many ways, spacious, well-laid out, good schools, nice neighbors, HUGE backyard, etc.

And then there’s the bombing range.

We are as little as 4 miles from this area of cratering on the Eglin AFB range. And during our first week in the house, we started to hear it after sunset. The plane practicing their bombing. I’m not completely sure what kinds of planes are out there, unless I hear the Howitzer cannon, which is unmistakable!

Most nights it’s in the distance. Like a dull roar of distant thunder.

Tonight it’s much louder — the house is even vibrating!

Honestly, this isn’t enough of an issue that we wouldn’t have lived here. But it’s pretty daunting to hear, let me tell you!

So here’s a map.  We live near the “H” in “Holley Nolf” towards the bottom of the map — I won’t go into detail — and I think the bombing is going on in that faint square in the upper right under the “Ter”/”Earth” buttons.  Zoom in there (go ahead, double click on that spot and it’ll zoom in on the spot!) and you’ll see that it’s an area of craters.  Fun fun!

I’m just glad those planes practicing their bomb runs are on MY SIDE! Thank you for practicing defending our freedom!


View Larger Map

14. October 2010 · Comments Off on 3 Times in 26 Months! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,
Okay, let’s all sing along (to the tune of Gene Autry’s “Back in the Saddle Again”):
I’m back in the O.R. again
Out under anesthesia, which I dread….
Where doctors take their knives
On what remains of my G.I.
Back in the O.R. again

I’m writing this corny little song from the surgery waiting room at University of Nebraska Medical Center near downtown Omaha.  Dave is in the middle of a basic hernia repair. This is a pretty common procedure, and for the most part I’m feeling pretty confident that everything’s going to be all right.

It’s worth discussing that there’s something about Nebraska that’s been driving Dave into the operating room every 13 months. First, there was his emergency appendectomy about 3 weeks after we moved here in August 2008. Then, in September 2009, Dave’s gall bladder removal. Which apparently I didn’t write much about, I was in a blogging drought in late 2009. Don’t know why.  I just looked at my blog posts from August/September 2009 and there wasn’t much at all.

Anyway, here we are, back again, for Dave’s 3rd surgery in 26 months. All of these procedures are pretty routine, and Dave recovers pretty nicely. You can’t even see his laproscopy scars from the first two procedures anymore. This one is an open procedure, so he’ll have a no-kidding incision on his lower abdomen, but that’s okay.

Dave’s health has been an absolute nightmare since we moved to Nebraska. We aren’t sure if it’s the air here, that our house is haunted, or the stresses of Dave’s job. Or just that his gastro-intestinal system was due to take a nosedive right about when we moved here. We don’t know for sure. It’s certainly frustrating, especially for a guy who didn’t really have any big medical issues right through age 30! The occasional twisted ankle, bout of the flu, etc.

We’re glad he’s getting this taken care of quickly, but it still takes away from the normalcy of our lives. But our life is anything but normal, right? Dave’s convalescent leave will take him right up to his trip to Florida to pick out a new house, then my Reserve 2 week tour in early November, and then we go right into the movers coming to pack up our house for our move!

We aren’t sure if we’ll be contracting with the “Big Orange Truck” company again for this upcoming move.  We’ll probably know this week.  They did a good enough job between NC and NE.
From 2008 07 10 Moving Pictures

In the meantime, I’m in “get ‘er done” mode at the house, wrapping up some projects so I can start preparing for the move. This is stuff I can do while Dave’s recovering at home. First off, finishing the boys’ Halloween costumes, then finishing up my HAP crochet projects so I can put away my sewing/knitting/crochet supplies with my other craft supplies. Then, I can get started on the garden: I have to disassemble our compost bin and dig up Dave’s hops. We plan to take rhizomes with us and get them in the ground as soon as we get to FL. I have to do it before Nebraska’s first hard freeze.

I’m dreading tackling the battery removal again.  Ugh…

27. September 2010 · Comments Off on Let The Games Begin — Vollmer PCS* 2010 · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

*Glossary: PCS: Permanant Change of Station

Don’t fret, we still have a few weeks.

Eight, to be exact. Almost exact: 8 weeks from Tuesday the 28th.

Yep.

My brain has officially shifted into “Prepare to Move” mode.

This is becoming old hat for me. Let me set the stage here. I grew up a military brat. This means I’ve experienced all or part of military moves 3 times as a kid. I was pretty young during those moves, but my sister can tack on the two she experienced in high school while I was in college.

In fact, I blogged during our previous move from North Carolina to here in 2008.

Since I joined the Air Force and married Dave, I’ve experienced 6 moves, and this move from Nebraska to Florida will be move #7. So goes life in the military.

I’ve developed somewhat of a routine to prepare the family for these moves. Today I will cover the first two of those items in my routine, and I’ll be blogging about the next several actions in the next 4 weeks or so.  Stay tuned for fun stuff like househunting, choosing/registering the kids for their new school, removing batteries from toys, getting the “do not pack” room ready, and arranging to transfer utilities/change addresses.

1.) Clear out the extra stuff. This meant meticulously going through clothing, linens, books, toys, and kitchenwares and purging the extra stuff. Clothing and toys are pretty easy…if it’s outgrown, it’s going. Same for books. Nothing breaks my heart more than getting rid of books…but it’s horrible on the weight (we have weight limits on military moves). So I have to get rid of all but the most popular books, reference books and professional journals. For linens and kitchenwares, I ask “Did I need this while we’ve been living in this house?” If the answer is “No”, it goes. The new climate needs to be considered too…obviously we won’t be needing space heaters, winter boots, sleds, snow shovels or 20,000 pair of mittens in Florida, so those items go also.

While I’m cleaning out the extra stuff, I’m also keeping an eye on out of place items. When the packers come through the house, they’ll arrange things by what room they’re in. So if one of the boys’ toys ended up in the kitchen, it would get packed as a “kitchen item”. I have to go through the house and get all linens in one place, all toys in one place, books in their appropriate places, etc. Especially the out-of-season clothing I’ve been keeping in our basement. I have to put it all together in their respective closets.

2.) Consider how to get rid of this stuff. Lots of options here. Take it to Goodwill, take advantage of one of those charitable organization’s trucks that will take items right off your porch, bundle it into lots and sell it on eBay or Craigslist, or have a garage sale.

I chose the latter. This is the 3rd home in a row where we’ve been able to have a yard sale to help get rid of our stuff, and I HAVE to give props to the Eastern Nebraska yard/garage sale subculture. They’re the most polite and most respectful of start and end times.

A week ago we marked off our garage into areas (i.e., “clothing”, “toys/games”, “electronics”, etc.) and set out all of the items we planned to sell. This past Friday and Saturday, I had a yard sale. In my opinion, it was very successful. We made nearly $600 and I had spent about $80 in advertising/signage and other supplies. This blogger has a great article with tips on successful yard sales. I just now read this blogpost and I can say that I followed many of these tips.

Day 1 (Friday) had fabulous weather and I was graced with several dozen parents who were dropping off/picking up their kids at the school around the corner. The only earlybird I had was only about 5 minutes before my advertised start time, and I had a steady stream of customers from 6:55am till 3:45pm. I was able to put about 2/3 of my stuff outside on the lawn and in the driveway and it made things really easy to show. We made about $450 of our money on the first day.

Day 2 wasn’t nearly as good. The day was plagued with thunderstorms and a chilling wind. My first customer didn’t show up until 90 minutes after my advertised start time! I could only put waterproof stuff outside the garage, and stuff everything else into the garage to keep it dry:

From 2010 09 25 Garage Sale
From 2010 09 25 Garage Sale

Only made about $125 on the 2nd day. I had marked just about everything down to 1/2 price, which was a contributor to the low total.

Today, I converted the garage back to its intended purpose…a place to keep our vehicles. I packaged up the clothing (about 1/2 of what I started with), housewares and books and stuffed it all into the back of the truck. I was thrilled that everything I needed to go to Goodwill fit into the truck (with all the back seats down, of course!):

From 2010 09 25 Garage Sale
From 2010 09 25 Garage Sale

Tomorrow I’m off to the Goodwill shop right up the street to drop off the remains of my yard sale, then to the bank to deposit all the quarters and singles I’d accumulated over the weekend.

Until next time!!!

We’ve done this two times before here and here, but it’s worth discussing again.

It’s late August at Offutt AFB — time for an AIRSHOW!

This year’s airshow lucked out with a last-minute booking of the Thunderbirds after the Coney Island Airshow was cancelled. (Don’t know why, message boards have speculated it was financial). Unfortunate for an entire airshow to be cancelled, but yay for us, right? When the airshow was first announced in mid-July, the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team was the headliner.

Like the past two years, the aircraft start to roll in around mid-week and we can see the air traffic from throughout my neighborhood as the aerial demo teams start to practice their shows. While the propeller planes and helicopters stay pretty close to the runway, the jets need more maneuvering space and often have to turn around over our neighborhood. Whoo hoo! So we were seeing the Thunderbirds, the F-22 and F-18 several times right from our yard! The kids at school had quite a treat during their recess on Thursday and Friday too 🙂

In 2008 we watched the Thunderbirds from the local bike trail. In 2009 we watched from a local neighborhood that offered a good view. This time, the boys and I watched right there in the middle of the action.

Enjoy some of our experiences from the airshow.

These KC-135s are Nebraska Air National Guard planes from Lincoln
From 2010 08 28 Offutt AFB Airshow
I’d never seen a Global Hawk UAS up close before, after all the times I’d forecast for them….
From 2010 08 28 Offutt AFB Airshow
More »
26. August 2010 · Comments Off on You’ll Wear It Well, Dave!! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,
I think Dave is going to look outstanding in these!!!!

Yesterday afternoon Dave received the news from his commanders that he has been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Yippee!

The family is so proud of Dave. Yesterday we went out to one of our local favorite restaurants, Quaker Steak and Lube in Council Bluffs for some wings and beer to celebrate. Nothing huge, since it was a school night.

I had bought a greeting card in late July, and even had the boys sign it along with Dave’s birthday cards about 4 weeks ago. The card had been sitting, sitting, sitting, while we waited, waited, waited for this list to come out. I got nervous that I had jinxed things by having everyone preemptively sign the card.

Dave has a line number of 833. Every month Congress and the Air Force designates how many of those selected for promotion will get to put on their new rank. It’s a budget thing. Currently about 130 selectees get to put on their new rank each month. At this rate, I don’t expect Dave to wear his new rank (or see his new paycheck) until at least next summer sometime. And that monthly increment can change according to budget needs…so folks don’t really know for sure what month until 1-2 months prior.

And the goober I am, since I wrote that title up there, this song has been stuck in my brain, so I figured I’d share it with the rest of you. Even though the song itself is totally unrelated to military promotions.

13. November 2009 · Comments Off on Contemplations on Laziness · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

I’ve been thinking….

“Great, here we go again!”

No…no…these are just some thoughts I’ve been having in general. About goal-setting, future plans, life in general.

Today a friend is taking her GRE. She’s in her 30s, like me…and has young sons, like me…and is an Air Force wife, like me. UNLIKE me, she’s gotten off her rear-end and uses the time while her sons are in school to go back to school herself and this spring will be graduating from college. She’s already submitting applications for a PhD program, location subject to where her husband gets stationed next.

Another friend, who I went to high school with, earned her PhD this past summer, while working full time and raising two young kids!

No, I don’t want a PhD. Contrary to popular belief.

Not too many people know this, but it’s crossed my mind to go back to school and start on a second career. It’s a quiet little goal I have, to become a secondary math/science teacher. I haven’t been motivated to start on this goal, unfortunately. I’ve been lazy. Way lazier than all these other Moms who are juggling jobs, raising kids, keeping up a household, moving with the military, etc.

My first excuse: “When Timmy starts school, I’ll go back to school.”

Well, with Timmy starting school in 9 months, by now I should have applied, or looked more into online programs than I’ve done so far.

My second excuse: “Why start a program now? We could be moving as soon as 1 year after I start school if I were to start here.”

No…of course my work can transfer, and if I choose an online program, heck — who cares where I am, right? People do it all the time, transfer their coursework.

I’ve told myself, “Patricia, you’ve already achieved a lot in life, aren’t you tired of school, additional stress, running around all hair-on-fire?”

So I’m thinking…

The answer is “Get my butt back in school and work on that new career!”. I need to set up some graduated goals related to that, with some research to back it up. My druthers is to do this online, I’ll need to learn more about it, I suppose. Dave can retire from Active Duty in 6 years, and I figured by the time he has 5 years left, if I wanted to go back to work full time after he retires I should be on my way. Especially if I want to take my time on this one. Some other options have opened up, such as teaching AFJROTC after I reach my 20 years in the Reserves. That might be nice…as some of my blogosphere friends have said “I’m one of those people who actually LIKES the Air Force.” Again, I haven’t looked enough into it to know whether it’s right for me.

And oh yeah, I have to balance this with my boys’ activities, my AF Reserve work, and some AF continuing education I predict I’ll be needing to do by late next year.

So there are my thoughts – somewhat messy, but it’s been on my mind. A lot.

Reality check: Might I be more motivated to do this if I truly “enjoy” those 7 hours per day I’ll have when Timmy and Jacob are both in school? Pedicures? Facials? Shopping trips? Coffee dates with girlfriends? Chick-flick marathons in my PJs?

I don’t know. I’m coming up on this crossroads and not even feeling motivated enough to say “Here’s what I need to do next!” I guess it was a lot easier when high school guidance counselors and Air Force Instructions made those decisions for me.

23. September 2009 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

I haven’t done one of these irreverent blogs in a while. This is an accumulation of about 6 months of frustration with automatic flushing toilets when I’m in uniform.

So here is the new Air Force “Airman Battle Uniform”. We call them “ABUs” for short.

In fact, let’s get up close and personal with that new fabric.

I’ve a lot of concerns about this new uniform…from not being able to wear Army support combat patches (well, any unit patches for that matter), to the heavy weight of the fabric that made it quite uncomfortable in the Middle East contingency zones. Many of those issues are being addressed, but one of the ones that isn’t is a pretty fundamental issue.

The Near IR capability of these uniforms cause problems with automatic-flushing toilets.

Defined by Propper, Inc., the official ABU manufacturer: “Near Infrared (NIR) Signature Management Technology is used by the U.S. Department of Defense to prevent detection by NIR Image Converters. These photocathode devices do not detect temperatures, but rather infrared radiation variances. NIR-compliant uniforms use a special fabric that allows soldiers to appear at the same radiation level as the surrounding terrain, thus making them more difficult to detect. NIR technology also make uniforms less visible in low-light environments by reducing the reflection of light.”

I won’t argue with the value of this feature, especially at night when enemy forces might be trying to look for Airmen and the protection that NIR capability might be life-saving. I understand that.

I don’t have to wear my uniform often, but when I was in Florida for some training last December, the classroom building I was in was outfitted with the automatic flushers. So every time I had to use the ladies’ room, in the middle of going, the toilet was flushing. I was annoyed, but it wasn’t a hideous mess (I’ll get to that later) so I just tolerated it for a bit. I tried to sit extra still, but that wasn’t the issue. I guess over time the fabric would fade the heat difference of my sitting in front of the sensor.

The solution? Take off my ABU blouse before using the facilities there.

This didn’t come up again for a while — no automatic flushing toilets in the combat zone. Then I started this new job here at Offutt. The bathrooms in that building also have the IR detector so it happened again last week while I was in uniform. Again, I know now to remove my blouse and again, it wasn’t a messy experience when the flush happened — just loud and water-wasting.

But YESTERDAY. I went over to the Offutt BX after running some work-related errands in uniform and it happened again. Sorry, I don’t usually take the time to check, “Hey, is this an IR automatic toilet flusher?” before using it. Like most Americans, I’m not concentrating that much on the actions required to go to the restroom. But this time — it was a very, um, spirited flush in the middle of doing my business. I got SOAKED…and it was doubtful that was totally clean water that sprayed up all over my backside and the back of my shirt. I was so incredibly grossed out, I cut short the rest of my time at the BX (I had planned to browse for some kids clothes) and came straight home.

I have to admit, for me, having to use the restroom, whether public or private, is usually as second-nature to me as breathing. As more restrooms are equipped with the automatic flushers, and as I’m reporting to work in a new location on a new base, I guess I have to take a moment to check for the flushers.