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.

Major Mom’s Favorite Holiday Cookie Roundup

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I’m a one-trick pony: I make the same cookies every year. I’ve written pretty elaborate posts about them in 2008 and 2011, so this year I just want to round them up for you. Today is the day I plan to address all of my Christmas cards once and for all. This year’s card list … Read more

Those Things That You Don’t Find Out Right Away When Buying a House

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I’ve discovered a couple things about our new Colorado Springs house that we would never have found out when we were house shopping in May.

1.) When the winds are >20kt, there is whistling all over the place. It wasn’t windy when we were house shopping.

2.) Our south-facing windows flood sunlight into family room and kitchen. This wasn’t an issue in the summer when the sun is higher in the sky, but now the sun doesn’t leave the southern sky at all during the day. As much as I love a sunny house, it’s tough to watch TV in the afternoons. Lots of glare. And I understand this will pay dividends when it’s really cold outside, but the sun will warm these rooms.

3.) The house came with a Bosch dishwasher. We needed a repairman recently for it and I had to call 3 repair companies before I could get someone who would work on a Bosch. I didn’t realize they were so complicated.

Being that this is our eighth home since we got married (10 if you count the two other places I lived when we were at Fort Polk), we’ve resigned ourselves to accepting some of the “glitches” we get when we only have a couple days to pick out a residence. Often you can’t know everything with such a short time, when you’re juggling upwards of a dozen houses in one weekend.

Enjoy some anecdotes of things we’d discovered after the fact in our assorted houses.

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Colorado Discoveries 19: Eagle Peak, USAFA

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Even though it’s mid-November, we have had a nice spell of pleasant weather here, and I’ve been enjoying some hikes in the area. Over Veteran’s Day weekend I did two nice hikes along with another trip up the Manitou Incline. One of the hikes was the most challenging I’ve experienced in over 15 years, back … Read more

A Chill in the Air

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Winter is most certainly on its way! Here in eastern Colorado we’re now experiencing days where the high temperature doesn’t exceed 35F, and the lows are dipping into the teens. Colorado Springs is well known for its very mercurial weather, it could be 70F one day, 20F the next. Dave and I are working with … Read more

Colorado Discoveries 18: The (Tax Exempt) All Colorado Beer Festival

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This past Saturday night Dave and I joined some friends for a fun evening in Colorado Springs celebrating Colorado craft beers at the All Colorado Beer Festival. I didn’t take any good pictures during the evening, unfortunately, but I did want to show off our take of stickers that we collected. Dave and I want … Read more

Colorado Discoveries 17: Spruce Mountain Open Space

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Colorado basks in their “open spaces”. I’m not sure if it’s a special category of park or what, but there are many in our community, and there are several between Colorado Springs and Denver.

That’s where my latest adventure took me.

Just north of the towns of Monument and Palmer Lake, Colorado is the Spruce Mountain Open Space. Last Friday my friend and her sons invited me on a hike at Spruce Mountain on the boys’ day off from school. My sons were in school so I was joining them solo.

Don’t let the word “mountain” in the name fool you. It’s more of a mesa, and we took a very similar hike at Palmer Park in the heart of Colorado Springs. Just the same, Spruce Mountain gives you some beautiful views that are much more peaceful. I’ll take Spruce Mountain.

The parking lot was packed! You can see that it's not a huge "mountain".
The parking lot was packed! You can see that it’s not a huge “mountain”.
A map of the trails available here. We started in the upper right and headed towards the lower left.
A map of the trails available here. We started in the upper right at the parking area/trailhead and headed towards the lower left to Windy Point.

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Colorado Discoveries 16: Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center

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You'll see all of the wolf pictures with the grid of a fence in front of them. You had to pay some big bucks to get better photos.
You’ll see all of the wolf pictures with the grid of a fence in front of them. You had to pay some big bucks to get better photos.

I have a lot of catching up to do on my personal blog, as well as with GeekMom, as well as a guest post for my friend The Country Cook’s blog later this week. We’ve been quite busy with wrapping up our basement finish project, and the typical kids’ activities are cruising along nicely too.

Later this morning I have my annual Air Force fitness test. This year I’m taking it at the AF Academy, which should be interesting: the fitness center is at 7000′ elevation. I know I will pass, at least.

In the meantime, let’s get going on our latest Colorado Discovery trip to the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center.

Jacob’s BFF-in-Colorado had a birthday trip to the center, which is located in Divide, Colorado. Divide is about 40 miles west of Colorado Springs. It took us about an hour to get there on U.S. 24 west of the Rampart Range.

The Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center trip was very similar to our October 2012 trip to the Seacrest Wolf Preserve in Chipley, Florida…except for the much colder weather in Colorado.

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