Major Mom

My name is Patricia, but in the blogging world I became known as "Major Mom" thanks to a friend in the Air Force Reserves. As soon as he had said it, the David Bowie song "Space Oddity" went through my mind. I am a mother and wife first - an Air Force wife, that is. My husband proudly serves in the Air Force as a weather officer. I also continue to serve my country as a Major in the Air Force Reserves. It's a wonderful double-life I lead. It was a very difficult decision for me -- I had our second son in early 2005 just before the 10-year-point in my career. It was already tough having to turn my oldest son over to a child care center every duty day -- 50 hours per week. So in spring 2005 I took advantage of a Reserves job opening for which I was qualified in Norfolk, Virginia -- my hometown! It's truly wonderful getting to see my sons grow up, and be able to help out at their school, on their sports teams (I've coached soccer before) and as a Cub Scout den leader. I'm not sure I'd have had time for that if I had remained on active duty. We currently live in Navarre, Florida, while my wonderful husband is assigned to Hurlburt Field, Florida. We've also lived in the following locations since we graduated from Penn State University in 1995: Fort Polk, Louisiana, 1995-1998 Yongsan Army Installation, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 1998-2000 Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, 2000-2002 Patrick AFB, Florida, 2002-2005 Raleigh, North Carolina (Dave was assigned to North Carolina State University), 2005-2008 Offutt AFB, Nebraska, 2008-2010 Hurlburt Field, Florida, 2010-present I started this blog in December 2007, thanks to suggestions from friends. We're in our third home since I started the blog. I used to send out captioned photo albums -- from AOL Pictures to Shutterfly albums to Picasaweb albums. Instead of flooding everyone with photos, now I can use this blog to send out the highlights. I'll talk about anything on here -- usually I'm talking about the kids, but I'll also delve into the local scene wherever we're living, and you'll also see some great posts about the two military moves (PCS: Permanent Changes of Station) we've had. Sometimes I talk about utter nonsense, such as finding a product called "Piggies in Pancakes" in a grocery store in South Carolina. In my spare time I write for the parenting blog GeekMom.com, I serve on the board of the Hurlburt Spouses' Club, and I'm a Cub Scout den leader. I also enjoy running and playing the violin.

Colorado Discoveries 35: The U.S. Mint in Denver

15 August 1424 July 14 by Major Mom

The Denver Mint is an interesting place to visit, but the security requirements are pretty stringent. No photography inside the facility, so I took a couple photos outside.

My sons have always been interested in money. Not only saving money, but also how money is manufactured and distributed. I have memories of looking at U.S. paper money and seeing the Federal Reserve Seal. The letter ties in with a location, with “A” being Boston, Massachusetts in the northeast and “L” signifying San Francisco in the west. When I was a kid, most of the dollars circulating in my part of the country had an “E” for Richmond, Virginia.

We enjoyed the trip to the American Numismatic Museum in May where we learned all about the history of money and coin collecting.

Getting to the U.S. Mint in Denver is much more difficult. Not only is it farther away, but the word on the street was that we needed 90 day advance reservations. So not long after moving here in June 2013 I hopped online at the U.S. Mint’s website to try to get a reservation. It always seemed to be filled on the days that our family was available to visit. I got on the website in October to try to get reservations for the holidays, but the mint was closed to tours during the holidays.

My Garden Has Been “Featured”!

15 July 14 by Major Mom

My friend, former GeekMom writer, and fellow gardening fan, Kris Bordessa has a really informative blog called Attainable Sustainable. She blogs about tips for a simpler lifestyle, whether it’s via recycling, living off the land, or reducing your personal energy consumption. I encourage you to follow her online community on Facebook, it’s a hopping place … Read more

Flowers, Too!

15 July 14 by Major Mom

I forgot to talk about the flowers in front of my yard. Here are a few, and I’ll photograph more tomorrow.

I’m Finally in the Mood to Do a Little Writing….So I’ll Talk About My Garden!

14 July 14 by Major Mom

My backyard garden. It isn't big, but it's been a great time seeing what can (and what cannot) grow in Colorado. — My backyard garden. It isn’t big, but it’s been a great time seeing what can (and what cannot) grow in Colorado. See the sprinkler in the lower right? That’s on a timer to run for 15 minutes every night. In this climate, you will never have too much water for your garden. A far departure from Florida.

This may sound strange, but now that we’re done with all of our June/early July travel, our lives will be calming down. We will still be busy, but things will be less chaotic.

I have so much to write about, I’m thinking, where to begin???

The boys’ never-ending baseball season?

The Denver Mint?

Our trip to Pennsylvania and West Virginia (with a little side trip to Penn State in there)?

My returning to work full time?

How about our travels to Durango, the Grand Canyon, and Moab?

I’m going to start with my garden, because that’s been quite the adventure in itself.

We need to go WAY back in time, to late March/early April. That’s when I started working on a seedling plan. The growing season is so short here, one has to start seeds indoors, particularly those plants that aren’t frost tolerant: tomatoes, peppers, squash.

Meet Ranger, Our New Family Member!

15 August 1412 July 14 by Major Mom

I have a solid 6 weeks worth of adventures to write about, but for now, meet Ranger, the newest member of the family (pictured here).

It’s been about 3 months since we lost our beloved Howie, and the house just isn’t the same without a four-legged friend to keep us company.

He’s a ~2 year old smooth-coat border collie, and he’s so smart! He was found as a stray in Garden City, KS and was rescued from a rural Kansas shelter in mid-June. He had been fostering with a Denver family through the Western Australian Shepherd Rescue since then.

Colorado Discoveries 34: Colorado Springs Sky Sox with Timmy’s Little League Team

14 July 1427 May 14 by Major Mom

The first weekend of May, Timmy’s Little League baseball team did the Little League fan experience thing** with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, the AAA Minor League Baseball team that plays right up the street from us. They’re the Colorado Rockies AAA affiliate team.

**It took me a second to sleuth around for the name of the program that Timmy participated in. It’s called the “Junior Sky Sox“.

This is very similar to what Timmy’s team did in Florida last summer with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos “Field of Dreams” experience.

This was also one the Sky Sox’s multiple Military Appreciation Nights, along with Timmy’s free ticket, the rest of us got discounted box seat tickets with our military IDs. That was nice.

Timmy’s team got to run out on the field with the Sky Sox players. It was very cute and I’m proud of how well the boys did. Alas, the Sky Sox didn’t win that night.

Today…We Remember: Memorial Day 2014

26 May 14 by Major Mom

I know I’ve been scarce lately. I did a couple weeks of Air Force Reserve work in mid-May, and now we’re wrapping up the boys’ baseball seasons and their school years. I have several great places in the community to write about, and I’m looking forward to all the great places we’ll be visiting this summer, including the long-awaited trip to the Denver Mint next week!

But today, we remember.

I grew up not far from Washington, D.C. I visited several times with my family, and also took at least three school field trips up there to see numerous attractions. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Mall is the most emotional place I’ve visited in Washington, D.C. I’ve been there several times, with the first time probably in the mid-80s not long after it was dedicated. I think it was a middle school field trip. My feelings about this are in part because my father served in the conflict, but mostly because of how bitter it is. The pain and suffering emotion is palpable, not just from the starkness of the black marble, but from the other visitors who you will never see smiling or laughing. It’s raw silence.

Colorado Discoveries 33: American Numismatic Association Money Museum, Colorado Springs

26 May 1409 May 14 by Major Mom

The American Numismatic Association Money Museum is located on the campus of Colorado College near downtown Colorado Springs. Here, Timmy is looking closely at the "error notes", bills with mistakes. — The American Numismatic Association Money Museum is located on the campus of Colorado College near downtown Colorado Springs. Here, Timmy is looking closely at the “error notes”, bills with mistakes.

On a day off of school on May 1st, the boys and I took a short trip down to Colorado College near downtown Colorado Springs to visit the American Numismatic Association Money Museum.

Colorado Discoveries 32: Western Museum of Mining & Industry, Colorado Springs

26 May 1408 May 14 by Major Mom

The Western Museum of Mining and Industry is a fun 1/2 day trip in the Colorado Springs area. We learned so much! Here’s Timmy posing at a headframe with the Rampart Range in the background.

The boys had some days with no school in April and early May, so we did some sightseeing around the city. I have a list that I keep of things to do when the kids have no school, and this year we are working our way through the list quite nicely. It was a lovely day on April 21st, so we visited the Western Museum of Mining and Industry, which is right off I-25’s Exit 156, which is also the North Gate of the Air Force Academy.

It was a great time for Jacob to take the trip, since he is currently in the middle of his first research paper about geology. He had a chance to learn about the valuable minerals that exist in the Rockies, and what is done to extract them.

Howie Slideshow

28 April 14 by Major Mom

This is a work in progress, but I’ve been consolidating Howie photos from my Google photo albums into one location. For those photos that are already in Google, this has been quite simple. Select the group of photos, and select “Copy into New Album”. However, I didn’t start using Google photos until 2007, halfway through … Read more