Here Comes Spring!! 10 on 10

Spring is nearly here!! And the weather today was beautiful!

The calm today, before the storm tomorrow!

First thing today is to try and get this baby working properly. Not terribly optimistic!

We see these guys once a year. Today was our day.

Makings for some great chicken salad for dinner.

These things always seem to be piled somewhere!

With today's weather, you'd never know we have a winter weather advisory hitting tomorrow! Thursday's gonna be great. *cue sarcasm*

Taking advantage of the good weather with an afternoon walk

Today was my little brothers 25th wedding anniversary . Such family celebrations call for text bombs!

And yes. He DID have his phone on in his classroom!

Mom's 85th birthday is a week away, so we're collecting cards from all over the country to celebrate. 

I have some "things" coming up in the next couple of days that call for cookies. This is how I spent this evening!

In that day, the mountains will drip new wine,

and the hills will flow with milk;

all the ravines of Judah will run with water.

A fountain will flow out of the Lord's house

and will water the valley of acacias. 

Joel 3:18

Linking up to: A Bit of Sunshine

A Quiet Day 10 on 10

It's already February 10th. Where does the time go!!?? Once again, it's time for the 10 on 10 project. Looking for the beauty in the ordinary things in your day with 10 pictures in 10 hours on the 10th day of the month. Nothing too exciting for me today. 

It was actually the perfect day to "hunker down" inside!

Started the day cleaning the drive and sidewalks. Again. Counting on the sun to melt off what's left.

Working on a book for my Father in Law. We're recording his experiences on Guam in WW2. Interesting project!

Always a need for this!

Lunch of home blend trail mix

And then some study time in the sun

Emptying the laundry basket, only to find........ the letters from the refrig??

Sort it

And wash it

Getting the letters back where they belong!

The flag goes out first thing in the morning, and comes in at dusk every day. 

So I said, "Wisdom is better than strength."

But the wisdom of the poor man is despised

and his words are not heeded.

The words of the wise heard in quietness

are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war,

but one sinner destroys much good.

Ecc. 9:16-18

Linking up to A Bit of Sunshine

Family Traditions

I grew up between two boys, and was actually born on my older brothers 4th birthday. My little brother came along 6 years after me, and mercifully stayed away from older brothers birthday. Interesting that I always referred to them that way; "older brother" and "little brother". Even now that my "little brother" has a full foot on me in height, he's still my "little brother". 

Because I was the rose between the thorns, I was never able to be prissy. There was no drama between us, no borrowing of clothes and not giving them back, no stealing each others boyfriends. Though my older brother, Ming, was known to steal my dolls at times. I never got them back without some kind of piercing, tattoo, or amputation but I don't remember ever being too upset by it. That's just what he did. 

Little brother, Bunns, preferred mind games. If it was quiet, he would start humming some banal television show theme song, knowing it would get stuck in my head. He still enjoys the mind games. He's a lot like our dad in that way. 

When we were growing up, we were just far enough apart that we didn't spend a lot of time playing together. We pretty much had different friends, and were into different activities. Our folks didn't really insist on any kind of family unity either. Dad worked a ton of hours, and mom was into her own things. They did it different for our generation. There wasn't the emphasis on "growing together" or "making memories". The goal was to survive and do your very best not to raise convicts. Rather than saying "I wish my child would........." it was usually "At least my child is not...........". Phrases like "robbing banks", "a drug addict" or "in jail" usually filled that last blank.

But even though we weren't terribly tight when we were younger, as we grew up, we began to appreciate and embrace each others differences. Ming was especially "different", if you know what I mean. Bunns had a very subtle sense of humor. Ming's was downright twisted. Bunns could do things with nothing more than a grin and then just walk away. Ming stuck around to watch your reaction and couldn't help but laugh uproariously at the result, which made whatever he had done even more annoying. 

After Ming began to drive, we spent a lot more time together. I wasn't stupid. I never turned down a free ride. Our cousin, Mitzi, introduced us to ice skating when we were very young and we spent HOURS each week at the rink. In fact, I don't even remember the first time I was on skates. Nor do I ever remember not owning my own pair of blades; usually several pairs at a time. It stood to reason that we would both go on to work at the ice rink so that at least we could get paid for being on skates. When I went to work at the rink, I had my own key to the ice arena where we spent so much time. That was pretty convenient, because Ming could drive the Zamboni and refinish the ice floor, so we would spend a good part of the night after closing time skating to our hearts content, and he would refinish the ice so that no one would ever know we were there. 

He was also often my ride to the beach. After skating much of the night, going to the beach and sleeping for several hours was pretty great. But it was on our way to a late night skating session that Ming introduced what would become a family tradition that keeps many members in fear during meal time to this very day. 

As was often the case, Ming was hungry on our way to the ice rink. He was always hungry. That's why groceries never made it from the bag to the cabinet; they were usually hijacked on the way across the kitchen with only the wrappers left to throw in the trash. So, we stopped at Carl's Jr. to grab a burger. "Eating healthy" was also something we never worried too much about. In fact, sitting across from Ming and eating was just something to be endured. He was just as annoying at other meals as he was at breakfast. I seized anything that would fill my belly and get me away from the table as quickly as possible. 

So we sat across from each other, eating big juicy burgers, while I did my best to ignore him, when he very matter of fact-ly, reached across the table, wrapped his hands around mine, and squeezed. "Oh, how nice" you might be thinking. Umm, no. The fact that I was actually HOLDING my burger in my hands, and had taken my attention away from him for a brief moment allowed him to turn my meal to mush. I looked down in horror as I watched my burger squish through my fingers and fall to the table. And there was nothing I could do about it. Nothing. Because he kept my hands locked in his own until he was finished. 

So, trying to maintain a little control of a situation that had been completely wrested from my control, I simply called him a jerk, picked up the burger detritus and ate it while he sat across the table and giggled. I secretly hoped he would choke on a fry. He laughed entirely too long.

It was "on". Food was no longer safe. And the trick was to stage a sneak attack and be out of reach before whoever was being attacked knew it was coming. It resulted in 3 children sitting hunched over their plates of food, glancing around suspiciously, always on guard against a hand, or finger landing in their meal. 

Bunns is still delightfully paranoid. He won't leave a plate unattended at the table for any reason. If he has to get up from the table, he takes the plate of food with him. And when any of us are within reach, he assumes the age old "hunch" position to protect what is his. The next generation are full fledged participants in this family tradition, and "gen-3" are nearly old enough to be introduced. Just another piece of anarchy that is a part of their legacy.

Now we command you, brethren,

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life

and not according to the tradition which you received from us.

For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example,

because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you.

2 Thess 3:6-7

Mitzi helping at our first birthday together

Christmas day 1959, just about the time Mitzi started us on skates. Bunns hadn't arrived yet. I don't know why there are 3 Christmas stockings.

Christmas day 1967. Me, Bunns and Ming

The Indians Get Warm

It's been awhile since the Indians have made a showing. They'll be going home soon, so I thought I'd show you what they've been up to. Even though they're from Cleveland, they really hate cold weather, so they appreciated the chance to head west and warm up!

It's just been too stinking cold!

So, it's on a jet they go.....

......to a warmer climate

Did a little swimming

Found a cactus that was just the right size

Learned about saltillo tile

And visited Williams Air Force Base, where we were stationed

(but it's no longer a base)

They were on vacation with us, so there are ALWAYS airplanes. 

The handsome half flew both of these

No matter where we take them, they're always begging for samples

Resting up before hitting the casino

They didn't really love the slots. They miss the handles you can pull,

though their lack of arms creates a problem!

But they LOVED "Weird Al's" guitar!

We introduced them to our friends

Then we took them on a train ride through the desert!

They met the conductor, Jan, and Frank ..........just Frank.

I think they had a pretty good time! And they got home just in time for more snow.

But He replied to them,

"When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, 

for the sky is red and threatening.'

Do you know how to discern 

the appearance of the sky,

but cannot discern the signs of the times?"

Matt 16:2-3

"Husband Speak"

I've been married a long time. I've known my husband for 41 years and we've been married for nearly 36 of those years. We met when we were both dweeby high schoolers. Well, that's not entirely true. He wasn't dweeby, but I had a corner on the market. He was fun to be around, and he liked all of my friends, so we got to spend a lot of time together. It took a couple of years, but he finally wised up and decided it was time to actually date me. Smart man. Ok, so I had to rid myself of a boyfriend too, but when we finally figured it out, we didn't act impulsively. It wasn't until we had dated 4 years that we actually walked down the aisle. That was ok, because I was only 16 when he asked me out the first time. We both had some growing up to do.

At the young age of 6 years old, the hubs decided what he wanted to do with his life. That's not unusual. Most little boys and girls can finish the sentence that starts with "I want to be a ....." long before they turn 6. But he never changed his mind. I'm told that randomly at Christmas of that year, he turned to his parents and enthusiastically exclaimed "I want to be a jet pilot!!"

He started flying lessons at 14 and soloed an airplane before he got his drivers license. He went on to major in Aeronautical Technology Management in college, courtesy of a full ride scholarship from the Air Force, and started active duty shortly after graduating. He's made his living sitting in the front seat of one kind of airplane or another ever since; both military and civilian.

Over the years, as a result of sharing life with this man,  I've learned to like new things, live new places, and speak a new language. We've moved a lot over the years and he's traveled extensively while flying all different kinds of "equipment". He comes home with different stories all the time. As he tells them, terms and phrases come up that I need to be able to interpret to follow what he's saying, so my vocabulary continues to expand the longer we're married.

Here's a taste of what I hear, because I know you can't live without knowing the drivel that fills my mind. You're welcome.

1. Acronyms - by the thousands. AC, FO, SO, FE, IP, PIC, SIC, OPS, CO, DO, ADO, CP, ACP, BAQ, BOQ, JATO, FBO ........ The list will grow. Give me time.

2. Pilot Pellets - Peanuts. On occasion, we've called donuts by the same name.

3. Mallet-tize it - As in beat it with a mallet. He had to mallet-tize a fuel something or other with a rubber hammer in order to get out of Bangkok. I don't ask. I'm just glad he made it home.

4. Mountain Wave - Turbulence. I guess the air stirs up over mountains. I don't know. I just take his word for it.

5. Bag Drag - An Air Force term. Every time they hit the ground, they might go into crew rest, but the airplane kept flying with a new crew. So they had to drag all their bags from the plane to their lodging for the night. On long international USAF trips, there was a lot of shopping that went on too, so by the end of the "sortie" the bag drags were huge.

6. Crew Rest - When the crew rests. Duh.

7. Bags - What most people call "suitcases".

8. Sortie - See "Mission".

9. Mission - See "Sortie".

On one of our first dates, at 18 STINKING YEARS OF AGE, he took me in a 2 seater airplane from Fullerton, California to Catalina Island for lunch. They served buffalo burgers at the Catalina airport, which was a rare treat at the time. I was 16 and had never flown before. There was a boat race going on out of Long Beach that day, so he turned the plane on it's side so we could see the boats. With all the pressure on young men to come up with unique date ideas and marriage proposals, meet my better half. He would be pretty hard to beat.

10. "Make sure you fly with the Goodyears down" - Should be self explanatory. If you end up flying with your Goodyears up, another term comes into play, but I don't use that language.

11. Equipment - Airplanes. Ask a pilot what equipment he's on, and he immediately knows you're in the business.

12. "Let the big dog eat" - Keep your airspeed up.

13. "Keep the brick in the boat" - I don't know. It has to do with some instrument.

14. "Pin your ears back" "Light your hair on fire" - Go fast.

15. Go fast pants - G-suit. A pair of specialized pants worn by pilots that go fast and pull a lot of "G's". These pants keep the blood in their upper body so that they don't pass out. FYI, passing out at the controls of an airplane is not the preferred behavior for optimum performance.

16. M-1 maneuver - Facilitates the performance of go fast pants. It involves non-productive grunting. Want to stop reading now?

17. "Feel it by the seat of your pants" - Just fly it.

Is this like reading a text book? No worries. No pop quizzes.

18. "Arming handles raise, triggers squeeze." - Recited exactly that way, including the punctuation. In UPT, the student pilots had to memorize a list of behaviors necessary in the event of an emergency. I also memorized it from quizzing him over and over. This particular phrase had to do with punching out of an airplane. If we're at an event, and are ready to go home, all we have to do is look at each other, put up our thumbs and quickly jerk them a few inches into the air. It's then understood that we want to "punch out" or "depart the fix".(Go home)

19. UPT - Undergraduate Pilot Training

20. Punch out - The act of being propelled from the cockpit of an airplane by a small rocket under your seat. Always a last resort, understandably. The only time to leave a perfectly good airplane is when it's no longer perfectly good. Sorry to all you wannabe sky divers out there. What you consider recreation is just wrong.  

21. "Depart the fix" - "Leaving the final approach fix outbound". Whatever. Go somewhere else. See #18. Go home.

22. B-4 Bag - The large green bag (see #7) he carried in the military. He managed to pack for trips that consisted of several weeks, not just days, though he didn't own that many pairs of "undergarments".  I don't know if he ever did laundry. Honestly, I never asked. Some things are better left unsaid. Though our children DO know how to get 4 wears out of a single pair of undies before they're washed.

23. Boom Ride - When you fly so fast you cause a sonic boom (which happens when you break the sound barrier). Note: Boom rides cause pilots to smile.

24. "Sucks, blows, goes" - Explaining in 5 words or less how a jet engine functions.

25. The whites of their eyes. Something you never want to see in the cockpit of another airplane while inflight. It means you're entirely too close. Yes, he has, courtesy of inattentive flyers in other equipment (see #11). We don't talk about this either.

Are you getting an idea of what our conversations are like? I think I need to be done now. Except to tell you how to get away with graffiti. When the hubs was in college, he and some friends painted correctly named runways on the sidewalks of the Aero Tech quad. They used to go up to the second floor and shoot paper airplanes out the windows to see if they could achieve a correct approach and "stick it" in the middle of the runway. The university never asked who did it, and in fact still maintains the original work.

Pilots are nothing more than children with very expensive toys. We wouldn't have them any other way.

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make His face to shine upon thee,

and be gracious unto thee.

Numbers 6:23-25

Lord guard and guide the men who fly

Through the great spaces of the sky;

Be with them traversing the air

In darkening storms or sunshine fair.

Thou Who dost keep with tender might

The balanced birds in all their flight,

Thou of the tempered winds, be near,

That, having thee, they know no fear.

Aloft in solitudes of space,

Uphold them with thy saving grace.

O God, protect the men who fly

Thro' lonely ways beneath the sky.

Amen

Mary C. D. Hamilton

1915



My Grandmother Called it "St. Vidas Dance"

My mom and I are very different. In fact, sometimes, I wondered where I came from. My brother, Ming, didn't help with that quandary either, because he assured me I wasn't normal and had questionable roots. There was a time that I truly believed everything Ming told me. He said that if the skin under your fingernails peeled, it meant that you had leprosy. I actually believed it into adulthood, and was always secretly thankful that my leprosy never progressed beyond peeling fingers. Until one day when I looked it up. 

He also assured me that he could teach me how to breathe underwater. He would demonstrate how easy it was, and I would see lots of bubbles popping on the surface of the water. When he came up, he was just fine and encouraged me to go under and take a nice big breath. Of course, I came up coughing and sputtering. I couldn't understand why I wasn't unable to figure it out when it was so easy for him!! 

Perhaps I was just simple minded. I think Ming came by those kinds of stories naturally. My dad told me a few things that I believed wholeheartedly too. And for entirely too long. Nothing malicious, just mischievous. I'm such a lemming.

Anyway, like I said, my mom and I are very different. I think she would have been very happy to dress up every day and take her briefcase to work. She really always wanted a career, and even to this day, when asked what she did when she was younger, she responds that she worked in a bank. Which she did, for a very short time before I was born. Actually, she was pretty much a full time mom. Interesting how we all choose things in our lives that define us.

But I never wanted a career. In fact, I never aspired to work outside the home. I just wanted to get married and have lots of children. I wanted to be a keeper at home and love my husband, and raise cool little dudes and dudettes. God, in His grace, gave me 2 grandmothers that were pretty good with domestic things, so they introduced me to sewing and a few home arts. I took the little bit they showed me when I was very young and went on to teach myself how to sew, and I do pretty well with it. But the problem is, no one was around to teach me how to cook or clean. As a result, my dear husband got to weather the "learning years" when I turned out things like "gravy", that was made from a package mix and was clear with little brown pebble like things in it. Not pretty. When he said "you don't need to make that again" I knew I hadn't been too successful. 

My biggest learning experiences came at the expense of my parents home, for it was there that I learned to clean. Mom wasn't too particular about the condition of the house, but I had a bent to keep things clean and orderly. I thought of myself as being very helpful. In truth, I'm a tad on the hyperactive side and don't sit still well.  So when there is nothing to do, I'll find something. My grandmother identified my inability to be still early on and often accused me of having "St. Vidas Dance". I don't know what that is, exactly, but I'm glad it's not terminal. Now, I tend to put my hands to things that I won't destroy, .........usually.......... but that wasn't always the case.

One day, I decided that mom's refrigerator needed to be cleaned. So, I emptied it out and thoroughly washed the inside. Then I went on to tackle the outside. It was in the days of earth toned appliances, and she was so proud of her new brown fridge with the freezer on the bottom. It was obvious that the outside had lots of fingerprints and scunge on it from the 3 of us kids. But when it wouldn't come off, I took a steel wool pad to it, and that did the trick. Kind of......

What I didn't know was that the paint was SUPPOSED to be darker around the edges of the door. ............um, oops. I also decided to clean the oven for her. So, to make it easier to reach inside to clean it, I pulled the door off. You can do that with some ovens and easily put it back on. Yeah. Not hers. My poor patient father labored for a couple of hours to get that thing back on. He was actually sweating and breathing hard when it finally snapped back into place. I also mixed all the sugar in the sugar canister with the flour in the flour canister, and put it back just as if it had never been touched. It went unnoticed until dad went to make coffee. My response? "I was helping!" I said that a lot. Usually when the parentals were bailing me out of the situation my 'helpfulness' had created. 

Some things never change, and often my husband has to bail me out to this very day. My delusions of grandeur cause me to take on projects that I can't always accomplish on my own. He shows the same patience as my father, thankfully. He survived my learning to cook. Maybe he thinks that if he sticks around long enough, I'll outgrow my inability to sit still too. 

Older women likewise are to be reverent 

in their behavior,

not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine,

teaching what is good, 

so that they may encourage the young women

to love their husbands,

to love their children,

to be sensible, pure, keepers at home,

kind, being subject to their own husbands,

so that the word of God

will not be dishonored.

Titus 2:3-5

Mommy's Excellent Adventure - An Old Email

Many of you have already seen this, but for those of you requesting a "read", here you go. Knock yourselves out.

This is an accounting, in email form, of one of the dumbest things I've ever done. It was a very cold January night and I was headed to the airport to pick Jim up after coming home from a trip. I had my watchdog, Doug, in the car with me and was on the phone with Abbey when it started. I wrote her later that evening to tell her how it all ended up. 

-----Original Message-----

To: Abbey J*****

Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 10:33 PM

Subject: Mommy's excellent adventure

So, here's what happened to me tonight while on the phone with you. It's now an established fact that I can no longer be trusted around small children and open flames. Good thing I'm rarely around either one!! 

When I was pulling out of the garage to get your dad, the garage door wouldn't close. It kept going back up, which it's been doing a lot lately. The remote seems to be a little temperamental. So I sat about mid-way down the drive trying to get the remote to work but the door just kept going back up. So, with the remote in one hand, and while still on the phone with you, I got out of the car and started up the drive to see if there was something in front of the beam on the door, and I look over and the car is going up the drive with me!!! So, I go to hop back in the car to put it in park only to find that the door has locked, which it does automatically when the wheels move, and I stinking CAN'T GET IN TO STOP IT!! In a panic, I see that the garage door is coming down and the car is probably going to run into it and at the same time, I'm pulling on the door handle trying to stop the car, which amazingly I'm doing!! So I figure if I can get into the beam of the garage door quickly enough, it'll make the door go back up and maybe, since I've been able to stop the car by pulling back on the door handle, I can also stop it by standing in front of the car. Obviously, these thoughts are going through my head rather quickly, while I'm chanting "oh crap, oh crap o crap, Abbey, I've done something REALLY stupid!!!" 

Well I managed to send the door back up and stop the car with it's nose just barely into the garage, only to think "what in the world to I do NOW!!???" SO glad I had the phone in my hand! So, I called 911, frantically explained my situation and begged for help. The operator informed me that I had the wrong 911 exchange, and so she transferred me to the Reynoldsburg emergency, where I got to go through the WHOLE STINKING THING AGAIN!!!

So after about 10 minutes, the cop sauntered up the drive, hands me a release to fill out and sign, and starts working on the door. She was expressing a little frustration that the dispatcher hadn't told her that the dog was locked in the car. ALL THE WHILE I'M STANDING IN FRONT OF THE CAR HOLDING IT BACK FROM DRIVING THROUGH THE HOUSE!! HELLO!! 

So, finally, when I started to shake because I had been standing like that for about 15 minutes and I was also freezing my gazorplatz, I asked her if she had anything in her car to block the wheels so that I could stand upright. I'm not sure what she was thinking about why I was braced against the car like I was. So she got a big jack to brace in front of the wheels of my car, and expressed yet more frustration about the dispatcher not telling her that I was actually holding the car back with my body!!! Like I said, WHY WAS I STINKING STANDING LIKE I WAS AND WHY DIDN'T SHE INVESTIGATE FURTHER FOR HERSELF!!!??

She finally had to call another car with a longer thingy to reach the door lock to trip it. The whole time she was working on it, she was talking to Doug trying to get her to stand on the door ledge where the lock button is so that she might press the button. I guess her dog had done that with her electric windows and choked itself when the window came up. At one point, the dispatcher called and said something to her, and she turns to me and asks if the voice was familiar, and if that was the one I had talked to. I told her I was a little distracted and couldn't be sure. HELLO LADY, I WAS TRYING NOT TO GET RUN OVER BY MY OWN CAR WHILE MY BIG BAD WATCHDOG BARKED AND PLAYED INSIDE!! ALL I REMEMBER DOING WAS BEGGING FOR HELP!!

She really did a good job, and I'm not busting her chops. It is kind of amazing that the dispatcher didn't pass along the nature of my problem. It took so long for the police to get to me that I actually called back to see how much longer it was going to be. I was getting kind of tired and really didn't want a car in my laundry room. At least not tonight. I'm really glad I wasn't pinned somewhere!! But just as my second call was answered, the police car drove up. It's kind of bizarre to look back on now.

Anyway, when she finally wedged the wheels so that I could let go of the car, I filled out her release and I was so frozen by that point, I could barely write. Her other cop guy came, they got the door unlocked, and she promptly proceeds to get in the car, with my big bad watchdog, and put the car in park. Yeah, my big bad watchdog didn't make a sound and I think they're best friends now. In fact, I think they're going shopping this weekend!! So much for the watchdog I take to the airport with me!!!

So, that was MY excellent adventure. What do you have to say for YOURSELF???!!! I've fulfilled my stupid quota for the week and it's only Tuesday!! I say I've done pretty well. I'm just so glad the car didn't run over me, or hit anything else. Thank you Jesus!!! In any game of "Can You Top This" for the foreseeable future, I say I win. Hands down. Feel free to tell all your friends!

I'm going now. I love you, and am so sorry that you have a special needs mom. Oh well, at least I'm fun!!

Kisses!

Bob

-----End of Message-----

You who are simple,

gain prudence;

You who are foolish,

set your hearts on it.

Proverbs 8:5