Nebraska Discoveries 3: The Pros and Cons

28. August 2008 · Comments Off on Nebraska Discoveries 3: The Pros and Cons · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

“So, Major Mom, how would you sum up Nebraska so far?”

I’ve gotten that question a lot this week. From neighbors and friends who have been calling to check up Dave’s surgery recovery.

So here are the pros and cons of Nebraska, and our new lives near an Air Force base.

Pros:

1.) Nice People. The people are SO NICE! Our neighbors wasted no time bringing us cookies and greeting cards, and offers to watch the boys when the movers were here delivering our stuff. In fact, today Dave received a card from his nurses at the post-surgery recovery ward at the hospital. Awwww…
2.) Cheap! The cost of living is much lower than what we were experiencing in the Raleigh/Durham area.
3.) Not as many SuperMoms here. There aren’t waiting lists for every activity/preschool/sports club that I’m interested in for my kids (yes, there was one for Jake’s soccer, but he still made it into the program and he was LAST on the waiting list!)
4.) No traffic to speak of. I don’t count the gate lines to get onto Offutt AFB in the mornings. And they aren’t that bad…not at all like Patrick AFB in 2002.
5.) Folks here drive the speed limit. I’m not sure if this is a pro or a con, since I tend to be an aggressive driver, this area has calmed me down quite a bit.
6.) Cheap gas. About $0.35 cents less per gallon than in NC (see CON re: gas below)
7.) We’re Near Our Local AF Base! The base gas station, commissary, exchange, post office and fitness center are all 10 minutes away. We’re renting a camper in mid-September from the AF base Outdoor Recreation center for cheap.

Cons:

1.) The endless corn and soy fields. While you might think, “Isn’t agriculture a good thing?”, I envision many of these fields are being grown for biodiesel and corn-ethanol. While I support our getting off of foreign oil reliance, I think other agricultural priorities (i.e., feeding people) are now taking a back-seat to it. That discussion is for another blog posting. You can read this for now.
2.) The cheapest gas here is the ethanol blend. This is why gas is so cheap here. The ethanol blend is a higher octane, so it sells as “Plus Unleaded”, but it’s $0.10 less than regular unleaded. A mindset shift.
3.) Odors. The STENCH in our neighborhood when the winds are coming in from certain directions. If the winds are from the south but light, we get the stench of the pig farm just south of here. If the winds are from the ENE and coming in at a good clip — 10 knots or more, we get the smell of some sort of rendering plant. I was checking my trash can on Monday when I was smelling what seemed like garbage — but really it was throughout the neighborhood (trust me, I walked around the corner and still smelled it).

Tangent: I remember living in Deridder, Louisiana in 1995-1996, I had a 20 mile drive northward to work every morning. I could forecast whether there would be fog at the Fort Polk base weather station when I arrived at work in the morning based on the smell I experienced when I walked out of my apartment. There was a paper mill to the west of where I lived — the stronger the stench when I walked out of my apartment, the worse the fog would be as I drove north in the morning.

I wonder if I will be able to predict the weather based on the smells here. Fun.
4.) Lines on the Road. The large intersections here don’t have lines painted on the road to tell you where to stop…and NO, this isn’t why I got into a traffic accident earlier this month! But no, no lines painted. I guess we’re on our honor to stop such that we don’t get hit by the cross traffic.
5.) The “N” is for “kNowledge”. There are NO major-league sports teams in a 3 hour radius of this area. So people have no choice but to root for University of Nebraska sports…sigh…and it’s fanatical here — almost as fanatical as Penn Staters!!! Many of the houses have block “N”s somewhere on it — sometimes it’s subtle, like a small block N on the front door. Sometimes it’s gaudy as hell, with a giant red-track-light-outlined “N” emblazoned on the fence.

This week is the Nebraska State Fair. While North Carolina’s is TOTALLY AWESOME, I’m sure Nebraska’s will be fun, too. Hopefully Dave is feeling well enough that we can go this weekend. Maybe we can see Styx in concert on Monday?

So What Else Could POSSIBLY Happen to Us Here in NE?

22. August 2008 · 8 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,

Dave went to the emergency room at about 4pm Wednesday with pains near his appendix. After a CT scan at 7pm, it was inconclusive whether it was really appendicitis, but Dave and the doctor made the decision at about 8:30pm to perform a “laproscopic appendectomy” Wednesday night. The surgeon (an Air Force doctor, actually, with privledges at the hospital) was able to look around quite a bit with the camera and couldn’t see any other problems, it’s most likely that Dave was responding to the earliest stages of appendicitis. They removed the appendix. At least that won’t bug him in the future!

Dave’s been in recovery since midnight Wednesday night/Thursday morning. He spent all of Thursday at the hospital with hopes of coming home Thursday afternoon. I spent several hours at the hospital Thursday over 3 visits (Timmy and Jake can only tolerate but so much time in a hospital room).

Unfortunately, he’s still at the hospital. The original pain that brought him to the emergency room in the first place is still present even after the surgery. He’s currently on Vicadin and that’s keeping the pain at bay (and his brain at bay, too!) His surgeon has elevated his case to the next level and on Thursday night a GI specialist is supposed to come in and do a consult.

The response from the families in Dave’s office has been astounding! It’s a little awkward since we just moved here, so in many ways I’m receiving all these offers to watch the boys and cook meals from complete strangers, but they won’t be strangers for long, and of course we’re all family: they’re all part of our Air Force Family!

Tonight Dave’s group commander (a Colonel, it’s his boss’s boss) and his wife brought over spaghetti with (bison) meat sauce that was TO DIE FOR! Too bad the boys took exception to the spaghetti and sauce already being mixed together, and also too bad Dave couldn’t taste it when it was fresh out of the pot. I’ve heard from several other wives asking how they can help out…the meals are great because I’m using the time I would spend preparing meals visiting with Dave.

So that’s where we stand: Dave’s appendix is out, but he’s still in a lot of pain in his lower abdomen. I’m trying to keep busy with the kids and the house — last night in the emergency room, and today while Timmy was napping and Jake was at school, I worked on stamping “We’ve Moved” cards. Cranked out about 50 of them!

Nebraska Discoveries 1: The Offutt AFB Airshow!

18. August 2008 · Comments Off on Nebraska Discoveries 1: The Offutt AFB Airshow! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

We didn’t want to fight the crowds, so we watched the show from the levee of Papio Creek on the bike trail near our house. We had a great view of the Thunderbirds show, Dave and I have seen it enough times that we didn’t need the narration anymore 🙂

Okay, I’m Officially Excited About Nebraska!

14. August 2008 · 4 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

The Thunderbirds are practicing and I can watch the show from my backyard!

Offutt AFB is having an airshow this weekend.

Taking Stock!

14. August 2008 · Comments Off on Taking Stock! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

I get to blog about cooking again, yay! Vegetarians, avert your eyes!

Incidentally, the Offutt AFB commissary just so happens to be the nearest grocery store to our house. How cool is that? There’s a store called Baker’s nearby, but it’s just a couple more traffic lights away. I take 4-lane divided highways to the base, and an exit dumps me out about a mile from the gate nearest the commissary in 10 minutes.

So I check out the selection — not the biggest commissary I’ve been to (that distinction goes to Ft. Bragg), but definitely not the smallest (NAVMAG Lualualei, where I lived from 1977-1980, wins that one). They carry local produce (sometimes) and has a sushi bar and a decent organic foods selection. I see that whole chickens are only $3-4 each, and they’re sized perfectly for our family. About 1/2 the price per pound compared to the Tyson “Whole Chicken Cut-up”. So I pick one up and dissect it for a couple of meals. The breasts went into chicken soft tacos, and last night I oven-fried the leg quarters. Yum.

I’m left with the carcass and wings. I stuck them in the freezer over the weekend and today I started to think about making a chicken ettouffee either Friday or Saturday. My favorite recipe in the whole wide world!

So I decided to break out the carcass and get it simmering on veggies for some homemade stock. I don’t do this often, I typically take the lazy route and use the Swanson’s stuff. I also delved into the blogosphere a bit to see what folks are saying about making chicken stock. Holy cow — who woulda thunk there was so much to say about it?

But I was particularly interested in this posting — everything you EVER wanted to know about chicken stock. Enjoy! It’s definitely rated PG-13 for some frank discussions of chicken parts.

Homeless

22. July 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,


Dave and I finally had a chance to work out the final routing…follow the pale blue line heading north, then west out of central NC.

We are stopping in Martinsburg, WV, Wright-Patterson AFB (near Dayton, OH), Scott AFB (near St. Louis), before ending our journey at Offutt AFB (near Omaha, NE). We leave this Wednesday and will take a week before we’re in Omaha on July 30th. But it’s really only 4 days of driving. We’re visiting friends and family during the week…

We moved out of our Apex, NC house and into a local suite hotel on Sunday, and this morning signed the closing papers. So we’re officially “homeless”. We’re also officially no longer homeowners and for once we don’t mind one bit!

Many thanks to the Warlicks, Goldmans, Bucklers, Hongs, Babas and Currivans for their wonderful hospitality and comraderie over the past several days. Thanks also to Susan Hagel for making the drive down to Apex this past weekend even though our house was EMPTY! Thanks to the Switzers up the street for letting us use their air mattresses and taking our kitchenette set off our hands. Thanks to the Waterford Woods Bunco Ladies for the restaurant gift cards and for letting me win Bunco for the first time last Thursday night!

The boys have certainly enjoyed their playdates, and Dave and I have enjoyed getting to spend our last days here with our friends and neighbors.

(Did that just sound like we’re on Death Row or something? Sorry!)

Don’t fret! We have our new house in Bellevue, NE ready for us to go into on August 1st, and Dave already arranged for the “Big Orange Truck” to come by on the 4th to deliver the goods.

Today Dave turned in his office keys and submitted his forwarding address to his department at NCSU and he’s officially finished there…last Friday he signed out of the Air Force base that manages his paperwork (technically, he was stationed at NC State, but there are no base services there). This morning Dave and I took some time to browse options for framing his diploma when he receives it in August.

We have some assorted errands to run before we head out, settling some paperwork at our church, getting one last haircut from my hairdresser, Lanie, all the while keeping the boys occupied with VBS and one last trip to the pool with their friends.

Stunned!

06. June 2008 · 1 comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

For the uninitiated in the Air Force/military lifestyle, Dave and I are what you might consider “middle management”. The tasks we do often involve having to tie Airman issues with “the bigger picture”.

Example: “Ma’am, I’d like to deploy to Iraq and work with the Army.” In this case, the Airman might never have been to Iraq or worked with the Army.

Me: “Well, the Pentagon just put out policy that all weather folks deploying to Iraq have to have Battlefield Airman training, so once you’re through that training, we’ll see what we can do.”

[What the #$%^ is she talking about?]

Here’s my point — lately I’ve been bringing a lot of bad news to my Airmen from higher-headquarters directed policies that all tie back to Secretary Wynne and General Moseley having to trade in people for aircraft parts.

1.) As a reservist, you can only be activated approximately 3 out of every 4 years. After you’ve worked 1095 out of the past 1460 days, you have to deactivate. This is an effort to save manpower. This year we’ve had to tell 3 exceptional members of our reserve unit that their honorable service to the Global War on Terror is no longer possible after September.

2.) Reserve officers now have to wait extra time before becoming eligible for promotion to the next rank. This is an effort to save money.

3.) About 2 years ago, the Air Force underwent a MASSIVE personnel chop exercise that resulted in about 40,000 Airmen getting cut. Dave even had to wonder briefly if his job was secure. Air Force Weather took a lot of their cuts through their Reservists. There simply aren’t as many jobs as there used to be. Another attempt to save money.

4.) With Active Duty taking massive cuts, the Reserves are so overfilled right now, a lot of opportunities for promotion and career growth are stunted. I’ve had to explain to 3 Air Force Sergeants why “now is not a good time to pursue that military commission you’ve been working so hard for”. There’s no room for new officers in weather right now.

At the same time, we’re trying to modernize our force. Keeping our eyes on other world threats, the Air Force has been very aggressive in purchasing the new F-22 stealth fighters…some of manpower cuts has helped fund that.

Unfortunately, two things have taken a big bite out of the potential cost savings of cutting 40,000 Airmen:

1.) Rising Fuel Costs. Imagine how much fuel our aircraft take!

2.) The Army and Marine Corps needing more personnel. Before they actually received that additional manpower that President Bush promised in the 2007 State of the Union Address, the Air Force stepped in and helped out with some of the ground requirements. The Air Force is STILL helping with tasks such as convoy vehicle drivers and third-country national escorts.

So, in this Airman’s opinion, we haven’t gotten very far with these efforts.

Over the past year or so, our Air Force leadership has really been aggressive in making their cases for more F-22s and trying to show that we can perform all these missions with 40,000 less Airmen and minimal increases to our budgets.

Between their bold rhetoric, along with other things that have shined an ugly light on the Air Force = resignations today.

I fear that things in our Air Force are about to get much worse. Here’s hoping the interim leadership exercises good judgement!

Off We Go…Into the Wild Green Yonder!

28. May 2008 · 1 comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

I subscribe to an e-mail US Air Force news service called “AIM Points” which comes from the Secretary of the Air Force’s Public Affairs office. It collects AF-related news articles from throughout the media and consolidates them into one reader. It also pushes messages from our Air Force leaders. For example, this week they’re pushing out the “101 Critical Days of Summer” safety campaign message to us.

Today I was pleased to read this article, which says that the Los Angeles AFB commissary will not only be able to significantly reduce their energy budget with their solar panels, but will be able to sell the excess energy to Southern California Edison and possibly return energy funding to the Department of Defense.

Los Angeles Air Force Base’s press release about their new solar panels is here. And the base did this energy-saving act last week.

I know, the LED and Compact Fluorescent lighting seems like a small simple thing to do, but I attest that every little bit counts, starting with individual acts.

Yay!

Grey’s Anatomy — My Soapbox

09. May 2008 · 7 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,


Grey’s Anatomy is my favorite show. Now it’s going to have to struggle to keep my loyalty.

Let’s start here.

I was very very shocked to see them put one of the gay lovers in a no-kidding Army uniform, complete with 2nd Infantry Division unit patch and combat patch (by the way, since there’s a brigade of the 2d ID assigned at Ft. Lewis up the road from the fictitious “Seattle Grace Hospital”).

The other soldier is a patient preparing to undergo a radical brain tumor treatment, and he isn’t in uniform during the episode.

The two share a steamy kiss, which has received all sorts of press already. Let me honest here, homosexual situations in movies, on television, in my life, really truly don’t bug me. One of my favorite shows, Six Feet Under on HBO, had one of the best gay characters on television and it was fascinating to see the character develop. I have several friends/colleagues in my personal and (civilian) professional life who are homosexual and it’s fine.

I don’t judge what’s out there, whether I agree with it or not. We’ll leave it at that.

But to have that guy in a real-looking Army uniform performing homosexual acts gives a very awkward perception to viewers. I don’t agree with that and I was not pleased with seeing that on TV. Homosexual conduct is deemed incompatible with military service. It’s the law. ABC should not have put it’s spin on their opinions of the matter when we’re a nation at war. I don’t know whether it’s really happening in the military now, and if it was happening in my unit/workspace I’d have to take appropriate actions on it. ABC should have left the uniform out of it. Really.

And I’m not the only one with reactions to this. Yes, even an hour after it happened!

I hope AFCYBER don’t come after me for saying these things. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong.

Need HTML Assistance/Advice

13. April 2008 · 1 comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

Hey — if anyone knows how I can break into the blog-format code so I can maximize the blank space on the left and right sides of my blog, please send me a note or leave me a comment. I’d be happy to send you the blog code and you can edit it for me.

I could be filling that space with so much more junky information, Air Force pitches, etc.

Ideally, I’d like a 3rd column on the left, the same width as the one on the right.

Thanks!

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