So You Want to Know What We've Been Up to???

October 2009

2009-12-04T13:44:00.005-05:00

September 2009

2009-12-04T13:28:00.004-05:00

August 2009

2009-12-04T09:24:00.005-05:00

July 2009

2009-12-04T09:14:00.004-05:00

June 2009

2009-12-04T08:56:00.003-05:00

A Stinking Amazing Recipe Experiment

2009-06-22T11:06:00.001-04:00

Okay, so the other night I got a little creative (which doesn't always work out to my advantage; ask Debra) and decided to "make up" what I thought was going to be a marinade for barbecued pork chops, but instead ended up being a topping that I put on the pork chops after they were cooked. Here is the jist for the whole thing; the pork chops first, then the topping:

4 - Six to Eight Ounce Boneless Pork Chops (thawed)
1 tbsp. Butter
1 tbsp. garlic, minced

sea salt and ground black pepper

Preheat grill/barbecue to 450F. Sprinkle a light coating of the salt and pepper on the chops. Preheat a skillet large enough for all four chops on a medium flame for five minutes. Drop in butter and melt, turning back flame to 1/4. When butter is almost starting to turn brown, drop in garlic and quickly mix with butter. Garlic should immediately start to brown. Quickly put the chops in the skillet and sear, seasoned side down for about a minute and a half, at the same time sprinkling salt and pepper on the unseasoned side. Next turn over and sear for a minute and a half on the other side. When both sides have been seared for a minute and a half, remove from skillet and put on the grill on an upper rack. If you don't have an upper rack, reduce the cooking temp to 400F, and keep an eye on it so the fat doesn't catch on fire. Cook five minutes on a side, for a total of 20 minutes. Remove from grill and top with the topping below.

1 - Large Hothouse Tomato
1/4 - Large Brown onion
1/4 cup - Cilantro
2 full stalks - Green Onion
1 tbsp - garlic, minced
sea salt
ground black pepper
1/4 cup (?) - olive oil
1-2 tbsp.(?) - balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. - brown sugar
1 tbsp. - red chili pepper flakes

In a processor, puree the tomato, brown and green onion, cilantro, and garlic. Pour puree into a skillet and bring to a simmer over a medium flame. While simmering, add roughly 1/2 tbsp sea salt, 1/2 tbsp red chili flakes, and 1/2 ground black pepper. After adding salt mixture will become runnier; this is normal. If mixture starts to boil or burn, turn down the flame; you don't want toasted puree, you want a puree reduction. They're different. Add brown sugar and continue to turn and stir mixture while simmering. Once mixture becomes slightly thicker, add about 2 tbsp of olive oil and 1/4 tbsp of chili flakes, and blend with mixture. Wait about two minutes, while continuing to stir, and add 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar. Continue to stir for about two to three more minutes and then taste. If the mixture is too spicy or peppery, add 1/2 to 1 tbsp more of balsamic, depending on your preference. If it is too sweet, add a little more salt, pepper, and/or chili flakes, depending on your preference. If, at this point, the mixture is too dry or thick (serving consistency should be slightly thicker than pickle relish) add just enough olive oil to thin it. By now, the pork chops you were making above should be just a couple minutes from being done and when they are, this reduction will be just right for topping the pork chops. You can also use this reduction white meat chicken, especially grilled boneless chicken breasts, but I haven't tried that yet.

North Carolina Zoo and Sprinklers

2009-06-21T20:34:00.004-04:00

Last weekend, I had a three day weekend, so we decided to go up to Asheboro to see the North Carolina Zoo. We hadn't been there yet since moving out here and it was easier than going camping. From these two pictures, you can see how early we got up to get to the zoo when it opened.

When we first got there we saw a sign that directed you toward the Polar Bears but also past a number of other exhibits before getting to the Polar Bears. Needless to say, NK didn't have a lot of interest in anything until we had visited them. On the way there, though, we did see the Harbor Seals and the Sea Lions.

NK thought that this otter looked like his Emma Lou.

Finally, the Polar Bears. This one was called Willy and it apparently has a favorite jug that it sleeps with.

NK looking for creatures. He didn't find any.

NK asked me to point out that this was not a real spider web, just a fake one.

Nor is this a real eight-foot long insect.

A couple of pictures of NK looking cute.

NK getting ready to pilot a helicopter over the Serengetti looking for bad guys so that he can shoot them with his lasers.

It was really stinkin' hot on the day we went to the zoo, something like about 100F with 73% humidity, so once we got home from the zoo, NK cooled off in the sprinklers.

Not sure what this one was about.

Trying to get around video limits at work...

2009-05-07T18:48:00.002-04:00

So, I am trying to see if I can embed a video... did it work?

Hiking at Raven Rock State Park

2009-04-18T14:29:00.004-04:00

Hello to all. Today we wanted to do something fun. We had thought about going to the mall, but the last few times we've gone there, Nehemiah has chosen not to play well with others, specifically mommy and daddy. So, today we decided to go over to Raven Rock State Park (http://www.stateparks.com/raven_rock.html) and hike down to the Cape Fear River. Being that it is outdoors and the weather was so nice, we took Kubota the Wonder Dog with us, as well. Below you can see some of the pictures we took.

This one is Nehemiah demonstrating his skills as a crazy jumping boy. Notice the technique.

This one is called "Daddy and Nehemiah Breaking Mommy of Fear." Of course, the fear is probably justified and possibly rational.

Daddy: "Nehemiah, do you know what that is called?"
Nehemiah: "Water."
Daddy: "No, I mean where the rocks are."
Nehemiah: "Oh, those are bubbles!"
Daddy: "Yes, that too, but they are called 'rapids'."
... continued in the next photo.

Nehemiah: "Look, Mommy! Rapids!"

This one is Nehemiah in the post-meltdown phase.

And this one is pre-meltdown. He could not understand why we wanted him to catch up, so I had to tell him the joke about the baby tomato who lagged behind whose daddy went back to get him but stomped on him instead and said, "Ketchup!"

He didn't get it either.

These are dogwood blossoms. We have a dogwood tree in our front yard, except this year it didn't seem to bloom as well as every other dogwood in the state.

Pictures for the G-Ma's

2009-04-11T23:56:00.008-04:00

So, here are some pictures for the Grandmas and whoever else likes to keep in touch through blogger and doesn't use Facebook. This weekend was packed with all kinds of fun stuff, much of which was just Nehemiah and I, while Debra did stuff on her own. On Friday, NK and I went to the park in Wade, while Mommy went to the doctor and sat in a waiting room for some inordinate amount of time. Later that night, though, she got to go to the day spa for a massage and facial. Today, I went out to the drop zone to get a jump in while NK and Debra went to an Easter egg hunt, and then we all met up at the drop zone to watch parachutes. Then to end the day, NK and Debra colored Easter eggs, while I sat in the dining room praying that Nehemiah didn't spill egg dye.

Pictures for the G-Ma

2009-04-11T23:56:00.001-04:00

The New Goats

2009-03-16T21:17:00.003-04:00

So, as many of you have heard, we got some new goats this weekend. By "we", I mean Nehemiah and I. Debra was out of town with some friends, so Nehemiah and I went over to Trinity, NC, about two and a half hours away, and tried to pick out the best goats possible with our limited goat knowledge... Nehemiah was just happy to pick out goats that didn't try to climb on him. In the end we chose these two Alpine kids and have named them Ashley (after Ashley Thiebaud, Debra's sister) and Lucy (after Lucy Pevensie, from the Chronicles of Narnia). Ashley is the predominately black goat and Lucy is the one with more white in her markings. As you can see, Nehemiah has taken to them quickly and is even learning how to feed them, although, we are pretty sure that this won't happen when it is time to clean the pen.

The Faces of Nehemiah

2009-01-20T21:37:00.002-05:00

The Buzz Lightyear Face

The Happy Dinosaur Face

The Happy Nehemiah Face

The Sad Nehemiah Face

SNOW DAY!!!!!

2009-01-20T11:29:00.005-05:00

How To Remove a Beard 101

2008-12-27T07:40:00.004-05:00

Okay, so I am sure this is much to the enjoyment of my wife, but it was time to shave the beard. I am soon to leave here (where I can have a beard) and go there (where I am not allowed to have a beard), and since it was just beginning to become annoying, I figured I'd just get it over with. Of course when you have a nice big beard and you are going to shave it off, you might as well have fun with it and see what you'd look like with other sorts of facial hair manipulations...

First, here is what it looked like before today; actually about a week ago.

Then you have what I would look like had I been growing a goatee for about eight months. Serious, it is a thing of beauty.

Then you have these sweet things! I'm not sure which is scarier, the goatee or the handlebars...

Actually, I liked these so much, that I put up two pictures. Right after I took this picture, one of the Czech guys came in and told me that I looked like a "motorbiker"... that's funny because Debra asked me last night, "Why would you do that? Do you want to look like Paul Sr. from American Chopper?" If only, that guy is huge!

And then there is this sad picture. Look how sad this face looks without the warm and wooly coat it has become so accustomed to. Oh well.

Christmas in Afghanistan

2008-12-25T07:50:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas to anyone who is taking time out of their Christmas to check the blog! We just got done with all of our festivities with all the military efficiency that one would expect from high speed commandos and the PSYOP guys who support them. We had a very tasty meal prepared by our Afghan cooks under the expert guidance of Ericka (one of our medics) and Joe (one of my guys). They whipped up all the stuff you would expect to have, turkey, ham, mashedapatoes, stuffing, veggies, and salad, plus some fresh fruit that just came in the other day. Afterward, we went and opened up presents in the TV room. Back in November we exchanged names to do a secret santa gift exchange, so just about everyone got at least one pretty cool present. Some people didn't, like the person I was suppose to give a gift to, because our wonderful mail system over here is broken and the people at KAF don't seem to place the importance on all the mail that they have on their own. Anyway, they'll get here eventually. Joe and I also went around yesterday scavenging up stuff from around the camp that would make good Christmas presents and wrapped them up in PSYOP propaganda and newspapers. See photos below!

One of the guys, Erick, got me this sweet Colombia jacket, which fits perfect, and as you can see, is also my favorite color!

This is Erica, the medic who made dinner. Here she is sporting the awesome Afghan fashions that we provided her for a Christmas present. We asked her to put on her Burka, but she said it was serving as the Christmas Tree skirt.

Some of the other guys unwrapping their presents.

This is Laquisha, our other female medic, showing off her equally stylish Afghan fashions!

A few weeks ago, we received a dozen of these Dollar Store GI Joes with the title "Extreme Edition Special Forces", that some rocket scientist thought would be good to give to kids in an attempt to improve the image of the Afghan Regular Army and Commandos. However, GI Jihad, as we called them, more closely resemble Taliban jihadist extremists than they do Special Forces from any known country, so we gave them out as presents so that the guys could remember their experience here for years to come. I think I saw one of the guys attempting interrogation techniques on one of the action figures.

One of our other medics showing off his GI Jihad right before he began waterboarding it =)

Our weather guy seems way too happy about the bottle of Sparkling Cider!

Our wonderful selection of beverages and fresh fruit... no, sorry, the can in the bottom left corner of the picture is only Beck's Non-Alcoholic Beer.

Our awesome Afghan cooks!

Enjoying the spread

The December Update

2008-12-10T07:23:00.006-05:00

Hello there to all. Again, as is usual for my writing habits, I haven't written in about two months. Things are going well here and the weather is beginning to turn toward winter with the temps getting colder and a little bit of weather turning up now and then. We haven't had any snow yet, but there is some snow on some of the surrounding mountains. I am not complaining though because as cool as snow looks, it sucks if you have to do any kind of outdoor work or drive in it, which takes on a whole new dimension here when you figure in driving in snow and off-roading and all. I am also looking forward to going home soon. I can't say when but it is soon enough that I can start looking forward to it and that is a good thing. Christmas is coming up and we don't have any serious plans or anything, but we are doing a secret santa, which was planned a little late so who knows if anything people ordered for other people will get here on time.

Well, here are some pictures that I have taken over the last few months with some little tidbits of information about them:

A couple of weeks ago, we went out to a nearby village and delivered a bunch of relief supplies to them, stuff like food supplies, winter coats and hats, and fuel. We also held what we call a MEDCAP, where we have a couple of medics available to examine anyone who is sick or hurt or whatnot. This was picture that Mike took of me while I was taking pictures of the distribution. We try to be as "hands off" as possible and have the local police and Afghan army guys hand the stuff out because we want it to look like all this stuff comes from the Afghan government, which is, of course, a load of crap and everyone knows it, but whatever.

Taking pictures... not much more that I can say about that.

This is Mike giving directions to the Mayor and police officers, pretty much reminding them that it is there job to do this, not ours, and explaining for like the tenth time, exactly what is to happen and how. They got the idea after the tenth time and ran with it.

Mike playing the ever popular high five game with some of the little kids while they waited in line to fill up their jugs with fuel. There were a whole lot more kids than adults there, most of which were in line to get fuel.

This was our team pic that we took around Thanksgiving.

This is Fannie the Dog. Her job is to sniff for bombs in the road and get blown up instead of us. Kind of sucks for her.

A girl waiting to get fuel. She is wearing one of the winter hats we gave out.

Some other girls at the give away. I thought this looked like one of those National Geographic shots.

More pictures of me sitting around watching the haps. That's pretty much my job in these situations; we plan it all which takes days, but then once we get it rolling we step back and let the Afghans take it.

Little girls in their cute little dresses covered in sequins.

A cool sunset picture I took the other day before a big storm came in.

Same sunset.

This was the next day as we were trying to get back to base before the storm actually hit.

This was a lesson learned about paying attention to instructions. When crossing a river there are two things you need to do. First is to listen to the instructions of whoever is willing to give them to you, especially if they have more experience than you or outrank you, because then if something bad happens, you have someone to blame. Second and more important is you always watch the truck in front of you and notice where exactly they drove through the river; basically, if they made it through and you do the exact same thing they did, your odds are pretty good that you will get through just fine. The problem in this picture is that the guy driving did neither of the smart things above. He was told to enter the water gently, in four wheel drive and not let off the gas. Just enter the water and power through, but don't speed through. He didn't do this, instead he went too fast into the water which sent water into his air intake which flooded the engine and stalled it. He also did not do what the other five or six vehicles in front of him did and that was to avoid the deep spot on the far right, but hugging that rock on the left edge of the bend in the river. What ended up happening is that one of my guys, Mike, had to drive the truck he was driving, a much bigger truck, back into the river, then they had to connect the two trucks and Mike had to pull out the hummer backwards to the other side. After they were on the other side, it took about half an hour to get the engive started because it was full of river water. Our truck on the other hand, was behind them and now had the pressure of not getting stuck, but because I am the worlds greatest off road hummer driver, we were fine.

North Carolina Aquarium

2008-11-13T23:45:00.003-05:00

Fun times with Hannah

2008-11-13T23:11:00.007-05:00

Dunn Cotton Festival

2008-11-13T23:00:00.002-05:00

The nice but wierd talking dog

Hanging out in the fire truck...we had to have them get out quickly because the truck had to respond to a brush fire!

Hannah

At the end of the day...

Pumpkin fun with Hannah

2008-11-13T22:44:00.004-05:00

Auntie Ashley and Hannah Arrived a few days before halloween. We wanted the kids to have fun with pumpkins without handing over a knife so Auntie Ashley carved them for us and we set the kids loose with sharpie markers and cotton (picked fresh from the field next to our house).

Hannah's Pumpkin

Nehemiah's Pumpkin

Random Pictures

2008-11-13T22:23:00.005-05:00

Fayetteville Mommy party

Nehemiah's "Scary" Pumpkin

Building a Church

Building a race car

Another Church

Drawing buzz lightyear

Playing outside

Pumpkin shirt

Pumpkin patch field trip

the corn maze

Suprise Husband!

2008-10-21T23:32:00.002-04:00

Here is your other Christmas present...I mailed it with the last set of packages.

Preschool field trip to Jambbas Ranch

2008-10-21T23:16:00.002-04:00

All of the pictures from "The wedding of the Year"

2008-10-21T22:11:00.007-04:00

A long time since

2008-10-17T02:13:00.006-04:00

So, I was thinking today that I hadn't done anything with this blog in a long time. Being that I use Facebook for nearly all my communications with the states, I sort of neglected anyone that doesn't use Facebook, so here is a little Afghanistan update for those people who are uninformed. And that is not to say that this is only for Karen, since I know many other people who do not use Facebook; however, I did try to set up a Facebook account for Karen but when I asked Ashley to assist her in confirming the account and show her the basics, Ashley's response had something to do with focus groups and reverse psychology, but ended with, "she'll never use it." So, we'll just stick to the blog for now.

This is one of the kids who live on our drop zone and her name is Kafja (kahf-yah). She is also the resident food tester for all the other children who come to the dropzone when we have resupply missions. In the past she tried a mocha flavored Clifshot Energy Gel, packed with 50mg of caffeine (about two regular sodas), but the flavor was not to her liking and she promptly took it and buried it. In this photo she is tasting black licorice for the first time. The soldier who gave it to her is the only one on our camp who eats the gnasty stuff. After a little nibble, she promptly spiked it into the dirt, where it was picked up by her little brother, Matiullah. After he tasted it, he quietly put it in his pocket and walked away. We weren't sure if he was going to discard it or just wanted to horde it for himself, although, either could be the case here.

This is a picture of me driving a really big 7-ton International that belongs to the Afghan National Army. The reason I am driving it and not the ANA is because it only has 2400 miles on it, and if we let the ANA use it, it is not likely it will make it to 3000 miles. Basically, they were driven to our camp by some ANA who were at least trained to drive them, and then those goes flew back to where they came from, leaving them with ANA who had no idea how to drive a truck this size. The guys who drove it up were so incompetent with this equipment that they cut the wires in the wire harness for all the electronic transmission functions and attempted to hook up a car stereo in its place! Hmm, let's see, 6 wheel drive and being able to lock the rear differential or having tunes? I'd go with the one that is going to keep me from getting stuck in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, now we use them to help recover all of our supplies from the parachute drops because you can fit a ton more in the back of these than you could in the back of our little hummer trailers.

This is what a resupply looks like. On this particular drop, we received an abundance of pallets containing various beverages and meat. One pallet is approximately 27-30 cubic feet, so if my math is right, that is 432 cubic feet of goodness. For those who are curious, the beverages vary, but include gatorade, coke products, pepsi product, red bull, joos boxes (yes, they actually say joos), milk boxes (the kind Debra refuses to drink because they are irradiated), and so on. Sometimes we just get water and fuel, and unlike this particular drop, the pallets do not always stay intact, either coming out of the airplane (you've never lived until you've experienced a hailstorm of 20 oz. water bottles) or when they hit the ground. The latter tends to affect the fuel drum more significantly.

This is just a picture I like a lot because of the layering between foreground and background, and the compound in the foreground gives good perspective to the size of the mountains in the background.

This is me getting my boredom on in the bazaar. We had a little foot patrol going on in the bazaar, so I was having the Afghan police hand out our nifty flyers telling everyone to be nice and rat out the taliban to us. I think we had also hooked up a radio to the loudspeaker and re-airing our radio broadcast.

Here is another picture of me with my big truck. It's okay to be jealous.

This guy is actually a semi-pro racer of ATV's back in the states in his free time. After I took this picture, he pulled up next to one of our terps and asked, "How do you tell him to slow down!" I especially like the look on this kids face; his look really isn't fear, but I can't quite pinpoint what is.

This picture was taking by Kafja, who fancies herself as an up and coming photographer. Anytime she sees a camera come out, she immediately tries to take it away from you and starts snapping pictures of anything.

These were some little kids that we past one day up in the mountains. The only thing I don't like about this picture is the little boy next to the girl, who has a strangely crazy look on his face as if to say, "Haha! My daddy's a Talib and he just left to go set up an ambush, but I'm too cute, so you can't do anything to me."

I had a great caption for this picture, but I've already used it twice and if I do it again, Debra may begin suggesting marital counseling. Think about it enough and you'll figure it out.
And no, it isn't uncommon to see random livestock roaming. They put what is called a "hobble" on the animal which is a piece of rope tied around the animals ankle tightly. In the short term it keeps the animal from moving anywhere too quickly, but in the long term causes poor physical development so that the animal can never move too quickly.

Another image of the contrasting layers in the landscape here between the mountains and the valleys. The point where the picture was taken and the elevation in the valley below are a difference of about 2000 feet.

You do what you gotta do when it gets cold. There is a reason that people in certain parts of the world have big scarves and wrap them around their heads and necks... it keeps you warm. Also, notice the not-so-tasty breakfast of Veggie Burger in BBQ Sauce, thanks to the makers of MRE.

This was a fuel truck that came in a convoy to our location. For some reason in this country, the truck drivers like to "pimp their rides" so that they end up looking like a circus car from the movie "Dumbo". This one is not even one of the more elaborate ones out there, although I do like the painted sheet metal decor on the side which includes the likeness of the British Harrier fighter jets. Many of the cargo trucks, which are mostly stake-side flatbeds are also ringed at the bottom of its sides with little chains with flat pieces of metal at the ends that jingle together as they drive, thus giving them the name "Jingle Trucks." And I didn't make that up, that is what the locals call them too. Also, I would be remiss not to give honorable mention to this particular driver's good use of planning, because he brought a little extra food for the journey on top. Can you imagine being that sheep, having to ride on top for hundreds of miles?

Let's see, what else to say that I don't have pictures for. Oh yeah, I received a whole bunch of McCain-Palin '08 propaganda in the mail the other day that I requested from San Luis Obispo County. They sent a whole mess stickers and buttons for us, so those are now properly adorning our hummers. I also have one of the buttons on my body armor that states, "From the coldest state comes the hottest VP". I almost thought about making a yard sign to put out front of our camp for McCain, but then I thought, in my warped sense of humor, that it would be funnier to make a sign that said, "Taliban for Obama '08" and take pictures of it and send it back to the states, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

It was like Christmas here last night as one of our guys who had gone back to Kandahar for a week to acquire some equipment came back and with him came two ice chests full of real Subway (Eat Fresh) sandwiches and about four dozen Tim Horton's Doughnuts (the Canadian version of Krispy Kreme) and two cases of Rockstar Energy Drinks. You should have seen it, it was like a bunch of fat kids in a buffet in Bakersfield.

I also wanted to throw these in for those who hadn't seen them yet. Nehemiah got to be the "Lord of the Rings" in Mandy and Tim's wedding in August (I think it was August), and according to Debra he did very well. He actually stood up there for the entire ceremony with the best man and didn't talk except when Mandy came down the aisle and he wanted to say hello.
I also wanted to throw these in for those who hadn't seen them yet. Nehemiah got to be the "Lord of the Rings" in Mandy and Tim's wedding in August (I think it was August), and according to Debra he did very well. He actually stood up there for the entire ceremony with the best man and didn't talk except when Mandy came down the aisle and he wanted to say hello.

I thought this last one was classic because I had made the comment to Debra that Nehemiah looks as he usually does when "zoning out" with a TV. Debra replied back that he actually was, except that the photographer was using a portable DVD player with a screen to get him to look at the camera. If only they had invented such devices when I was a kid.

Well, I guess that is about it. For now.

Fun Pictures of Nehemiah

2008-09-08T16:06:00.001-04:00

1st Day of Preschool

2008-08-27T13:10:00.003-04:00

Pictures from CA

2008-08-26T18:14:00.002-04:00

Nehemiah sleeping in Mandy's bed

Nehemiah sleeping with Renee

A Joyful Christian

2008-08-21T23:01:00.004-04:00

This past weekend, I got to spend time with Elin, a friend from Cal Poly. Elin recently came to Christ and her husband soon followed. My heart leaps with joy that i have 2 more friends that I get to spend eternity with. Spending time with Elin reminded me of my early Christian days, days that i now find myself longing for. The days when you just couldnt wait to get away to spend time to pray and read your Bible instead of having it be one of the things that you "need to do". How thoughts of God consume your mind and your heart and are spilled out of your mouth. Elin and I spent alot of time talking about how God works in our lives. I loved to hear how God has changed her heart about things that she once felt strongly about. When she left to go home I found myself praying, God i want THAT desire I once had for you, back. What do i need to do? God spoke to me today when i asked Him again. His answer was simple.

"Let ME consume you."

ok God Consume me...

Some Wisdom from Ireland?

2008-08-07T02:22:00.002-04:00

I got an email today from a friend out in Cali that I thought I'd share that sheds a little bit of wisdom and insight into our current elections. It's a little bit old but still humorous...

An email from Ireland to their brethren in the States...a point to ponder:

'We, in Ireland, can't figure out why people are even bothering to hold
an election in the United States
On one side, you have a pants wearing lawyer, married to a lawyer who
can't keep his pants on, who's in a long and heated primary against
a lawyer who goes to the wrong church who is married to yet another lawyer
who doesn't like whites or even like the country her husband wants to run.
Now...On the other side, you have a nice old war hero whose name starts
with the appropriate Mc terminology married to a good looking younger
woman who owns a beer distributorship.
What in Lords name are you lads thinking over there in the colonies, acting like
there's a choice?

2008-08-03T10:00:00.004-04:00

Okay, so I thought that I would put up a post showing exactly what I meant in the past about "how the modern man catches his dinner." In retrospect, it is more how the modern soldier (not the ones you see on TV at big bases like Kandahar or Bagram who have "boring" jobs) goes about getting his groceries. Very close to our base is a little valley between two ridges roughly the size of about six to eight football fields. Not very big but big enough to do what we need to do. At the predetermined time, or in most cases twenty to thirty minutes late, a big plane will fly over and eject anywhere from 12 -16 pallets of whatever they are delivering out it's backside. As it does this, parachutes deploy and gently deliver the precious cargo to the ground. Of course, by gently, I mean quickly and in some cases it involves parachutes getting tangled and not doing their job, or even a pallet full of Afghani Evian bottles coming completely apart and falling at full speed from 2000 feet above. That's only happened a couple of times though. Generally, this is how we get our fuel, food, and water; anything else comes by helicopter.

There are also some other pictures I put up because I had mentioned that the plane is sometimes (by sometimes, I mean rarely) on time. There are these local children (by children I would like to insinuate demon spawn, but I won't) that are very cute, but would steal the tires off the truck when your back was turned if they could find a way. The other day, this one girl, the one beating the living crap out of that cow above, had climbed up into the turret of Mike's truck, found a Dole fruit snack cup, and was eating it before he knew what was going on. She is also the one to whom we fed the Mocha flavored, caffiene enhanced Clifshot Gel.

I think there is another post of pictures that I have yet neglected to put up, but I have to figure out what that is, then I'll post it. Otherwise, word to your mother.

Something I came across today

2008-07-25T12:02:00.002-04:00

So, I have another example of why we should all be wary of the internet and its absolute inability to protect itself from being absolutely corrupted. I received a message on my Facebook from a friend in NC, asking me my opinion on an email she received. Here is a copy of the text of that email:

Hello everyone,
As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to 'The War Zone'. I wanted to share with you what happened. He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the commander here at Bagram. As the Soldiers where lined up to shake his hand he blew them off and didn't say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the General. As he finished, the vehicles took him to the ClamShell (pretty much a big top tent that military personnel can play basketball or work out in with weights) so he could take his publicity pictures playing basketball. He again shunned the opportunity to talk to Soldiers to thank them for their service. So really he was just here to make a showing for the American's back home that he is their candidate for President. I think that if you are going to make an effort to come all the way over here you would thank those that are providing the freedom that they are providing for you. I swear we got more thanks from the NBA Basketball Players or the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders than from one of the Senators, who wants to be the President of the United States. I just don't understand how anyone would want him to be our Commander-and-Chief. It was almost that he was scared to be around those that provide the freedom for him and our great country.
If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry but I wanted you all to know what kind of caliber of person he really is. What you see in the news is all fake.

In service,
CPT Jeffrey S. Porter
Battle Captain
TF Wasatch
American Soldier
(married and father of 6 children)

Other than the fact that, as a military officer, CPT Porter should have a little bit better grasp of the written English language, I agree with his opinion about Barak Obama. Someone else, I think it was my mom, asked me about this the other day about the senator's visit to Afghanistan and I gave a similar response, although, I don't have first hand knowledge of what happened at Bagram Airbase. I am stationed in the middle of nowhere on a tiny base I am not allowed to name. As far as I could tell from the news reports, Obama's chief reason for visiting Afghanistan was to meet with the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai; however, it wouldn't be prudent for him to come all the way here and not stop at a military base to show "support" for the troops. I doubt that he was genuinely interested in seeing the troops, but more so in appearing to be in tune with the world situation and the global war on terror. However, I was not there, so I cannot attest to his sincerity or to the actual specifics of his visit.

That being said, I did a little research on the good ole internet, something everyone should do when receiving something like this. I tend to be very wary of when something like this hits the email. What I found was that this "CPT Jeffrey S. Porter" is a military intelligence officer in a Utah National Guard unit, but not the "battle captain", an official position, that he cited in the email. The press release about this email says that Obama never went to any clamshell tents to play basketball, nor did he "blow off" soldiers and not shake hands. In fact, troops from his home state were invited to come and meet with him during his stay. I don't like Barak Obama and I won't vote for him, but it is this kind of nonsense that makes people look down on the military and if you are going to attempt to discredit someone, then your information needs to be above reproach. This is one of the first laws of PSYOP. Anyway, I just wanted to pass it along, so that if, or more likely when, you receive this email, please reply to all and let people know that it is not true. Again, I have no desire for the election of Barak Obama as our next president, but I also have scruples and do not see this as playing fair.

God Bless and Have a Good Night.

Fun With Horses

2008-07-24T14:37:00.002-04:00

Little known to most people, we have on our camp about 19 Afghan horses. They are not too unlike American Quarter Horses, except that they are not near as big. As you can see in the pictures, they are not much taller than six feet, although I couldn't tell you what that is in hands (unit of measure for a horses height). After I put these pictures up on my Facebook page, I got a lot of questions from people about why we had horses and why I, specifically, was working with them.

Without going into too much detail and giving away a lot of information I shouldn't, suffice to say that I work with a unit that "thinks outside the box" and does things a little differently. The main purpose for these horses if they were in shape, and they aren't, is to use them for military purposes. Why would we need horses if we have trucks? Trucks make a lot of noise, a lot of dust, and require a lot of maintenance. Horses are generally quieter and much less overt if you wanted to get from point A to point B, without a great deal of notice. But, like I said before, these horses aren't in the appropriate physical shape to do that sort of thing. The unit that was here before us, either lacked the knowledge or the motivation to take care of the horses in a way that would keep them in shape and mission ready. So, now, we will spend a better part of our deployment doing that, and hopefully pass on that to the next unit.

When I say "we", there is much more emphasis on the other people in the "we", than "me". Prior to working with these horses, I knew how to mount and dismount a horse that was already saddled and could ride it if it was docile and not prone to being rebellious. However, some of the other guys here grew up around horses and have a good idea of what they are doing and have experience in handling horses that are less than agreeable. One of the big parts of these horses being out of shape is that they were rarely handled or ridden prior to us getting here, so some of them are quite against the idea of being ridden. They're nice enough to let you mount them, but they have no intention of letting you tell them where to go.

Some of the other things that we have been doing with them beside exercise is health maintenance. The pen that the horses are kept in is pretty big, maybe about one quarter of a football field. It is all dirt, though, so their hooves never get worn down requiring a fair bit of work regularly. There is a furrier (sp?, guy who shoes horses) in town but from I hear he is overpriced and doesn't do good work. So, every once in a while, each horse has to have it's hooves cleaned out and trimmed, much like what Debra would do with goat hooves.

Another thing that we learned about horse maintenance is called floating the teeth. By the way, I think I forgot to mention that we got a veterinarian in a couple of weeks ago to teach us a lot of this stuff, but he is leaving in a couple of days, which is why we have to learn it because he has to move on to the next place or something. Anyway, teeth floating. Horses are much like cattle or goats in that they grind down their food, which for horses consists of hay, grains, and feed corn, before they swallow. After a while, their teeth become sharp to the point that they can no longer grind the food properly, so you have to take something that resembles a large dental mirror with a "float" or metal file on the end and grind down the points on their teeth until they aren't sharp. The horses are not fond of this and like to fight it, so we had to sedate a few of the horses while doing this.

That is where another learning lesson came in and that was how to IV inject a horse with fluids or medications. Pretty cool stuff really, basically you just stick a few fingers into the horses neck to pinch their jugular vein, which inflates the vein higher up. Once inflated you insert the needle until you get blood flow, connect the syringe to the needle, and in goes the horses cocktail.

The reason you need a ruffie for the horse is because when floating the teeth, it is best to put a speculum on the horse, otherwise it will bite your arm, like one of the horses did one day to the vet, causing a very nasty mark. The speculum holds the horses mouth open so that you can stick your hand in to check the teeth for points and not get bit. It doesn't put the horse completely out, but it does look like its had too much to drink.

The last thing we learned how to do, was to castrate a horse. Seriously, I thought that it was going to be a lot bloodier and a lot more disgusting than it really was. This time we gave the horse a cocktail to start, and then gave it something else to knock it out for about an hour, although the whole procedure only took about half an hour. After it was all done, the horse woke up, and started walking around; I am not sure how that is even possible. A few people had asked on Facebook why I was learning to do this and why the army was spending the time, energy, money, etc., to castrate horses. First of all, these are our horses, they don't belong to random people in our area where we have arbitrarily decided to go and emasculinate there animals. It is for the same purpose that people spay or neuter their animals. We have 19 horses here and if the males were not fixed, we would have many more horses. At one time this base had almost 30 horses, which were admittedly too many, but about nine or ten of those died when the Taliban, who has absolutely no concept of aim, shot a rocket at our base and it landed in a feed trough. Also, just for FYI, there have been no rockets fired at our base since I got here; apparently, my reputation preceeds me and they are afraid. Anyway, you have to fix your animals if you don't want them to breed. That's just how it works.

Another question I have been asked is why I am doing this. Well, I have a specific job that I do, but I don't do it 24 hours a day. There are some days when my job requires about an hour of the total day; however, I can't just do my one hour and then go back to bed. On this particular camp with its particular personnel numbers, everyone has to pitch in to do various "camp work" so that everything runs smoothly. Basically, there is a lot of efficiency going on here. So, a lot of the time, when my time is not consumed by my job, I help out with the horses because it is interesting and it is something that I can actually post stories about on the internet, unlike some of the other things I do.

So, there you have it. We have horses, they are getting healthier, I ride the docile ones, and we castrate the horses out of necessity, but only our horses.

Updates from the 'Stan

2008-07-20T06:11:00.003-04:00

Okay, so my mother-in-law, Karen, was concerned that I am giving an unequal treatment to my Facebook audience and not really keeping the Blogger audience as informed, so I am going to put up a few posts here to let you know what I've been up to. Also, because the Blogger format is more conducive to journal writing with a few pictures, I will put up the best pictures, and then if you want to see more, you will have to go to Facebook and see the rest.

For this first one, I have some various "field trip" pictures. Most of them are just various places we went throughout the area in which we work, mostly from where we stop and talk to people. We also had one day where a bunch of kids came around and we got one of the little girls to try a ClifShot Gel, in mocha flavor. If you don't know that is, they are little packets of thick syrup that contains calories for energy and, in this case, caffeine. From the picture you can see that she didn't like it much. There was also one very early morning where we had to drive up a big hill and park on top. I'll leave to your imagination what we were doing up there... no, it wasn't sleeping, although the though had crossed our minds. It was a very early start to a very long day. Also, sometimes people ask how it is that we get our supplies, whether they are driven out here or brought by some other way, so there are a couple pictures of how the modern man hunts his dinner.

Our Adventure at Clark Park: Spiders, Lizards, frogs and... Buzz Lightyear????

2008-07-13T17:35:00.015-04:00

This is the spider that I found when i went to get the wagon out of the garage that morning.

The nature center at clark park...lots of fun creatures to look at.

Jessica, Connor and Victoria

"Look! A turtle!"

"A Dinosaur!"

"Whats in here?"

" What does that sign say?"

The Bridge

Snack Time

"No Mom you stay there."

"Whats in here?"
The big grass area

"Look mom a turtle."

The Status of the Beard

2008-07-12T08:52:00.003-04:00

a

Just thought that I would drop everyone a quick note to let you know how my secondary mission here is going, and that is the growing of the beard; kind of like the running of the bulls, but without the risk of getting speared by a horn or the expense of traveling to Spain.

As you can see, it is coming in quite well. I am trying to see if it will get any lighter as it gets prolonged exposure to the sun, something we have in ample supply. Not that I am self-conscious about it, but there are quite a few grey (nay, white) hairs on my chin and I just think that, overall, it would look better if the whole thing were lighter and they all matched.

Of course, there is also the sub-task to this mission and that is to not cut my hair until I leave my currently undisclosed location. This won't be near as drastic as the face hair, since the hair on my scalp doesn't grow very fast.

Previously, Debra has expressed concern that she doesn't like my beard, and that it makes me look like "a scary man." However, these pictures were not actually taken by me in my room with bad lighting, and she thinks they look a lot better. Let me know what you think.

Hanging out with The Dean's (minus Mike) at Chick-Fil-A

2008-07-09T09:09:00.010-04:00

Nehemiah and Victoria, the stars of our show...

Theres only one way to get these next few pictures...

View below: Jessica and Connor

Connor, Loving the new maya wrap

We traded in the toys for ice cream.

The Sandbox (our $8 craigslist find)

2008-07-09T08:58:00.002-04:00

Tacos and Swimming...he likes them both.

2008-07-09T08:43:00.004-04:00

Nehemiah loves his Daddy...

2008-07-09T08:37:00.002-04:00

Nehemiah is the best kid ever!

2008-07-09T02:19:00.002-04:00

So, I have some quotes from Nehemiah that I would just like to share with everyone because I am biased and he is the best thing ever.

Quote #1, I was chatting with Debra on Yahoo Messenger yesterday and here is the conversation:

Debra: "You want to know what Nehemiah said to me today?"
Casey: "What?"
Debra: "He comes up to me, hugs me and says, 'Mommy, I'm so proud of you.' Then he says, 'I love daddy so much.' "

Is that not the coolest thing ever? I mean, aside from the fact that he is only two and a half and came up with that all on his own, that is just too cool.

Quote #2, I was talking to Nehemiah on the phone a few days ago:

Nehemiah: "Daddy? Are you still working in Afghanistan?" Yes, he can actually pronounce it.
Casey: "Yeah, Buddy, I'm still working in Afghanistan."
Nehemiah: "Good job, Daddy. When you're done working in Afghanistan, you come home, okay?"
Casey: "Alright Buddy, as soon as soon as I get done working, I'll come home."
Nehemiah: "Good job Daddy."

Again, how cool is that? I mean, honestly, I'd like to think that I have the smartest kid in the world, Japan included.

Happy Independence Day - 2008!!!

2008-07-04T14:14:00.003-04:00

Well, Happy Independence Day to everyone out there in America and elsewhere! Just thought that I would post a few pictures up from our little barbecue we had today. It was pretty awesome because a lot of the food we have been eating here is Afghan food. For those of you who didn't know, our dining room and kitchen building burnt down a few weeks ago due to an electrical fire. The Afghan food is actually pretty good, but after a while you get tired of rice and beans, so the steak, corn on the cob, mashdapatoes, and pie was a welcome treat! We actually cooked up way more steak and corn than we needed, so we gave the leftovers to the Afghan guys who work here on the camp.

So, I need to take an opinion poll. Debra says that she does not like my beard because "I do not look like me" and that she thinks it does not look "pretty". I think that I look like me except that I have hair on my face and have no idea what pretty has to do with anything. What do you all think?

Happy Independence Day - 2008!!! More pictures...

2008-07-04T14:08:00.001-04:00

Here are the rest of the photos from our awesome little barbeque...

The best way to dig a ditch...

2008-06-24T13:25:00.003-04:00

Have any of you had to do a hard labor-intensive task before and thought to yourself, "Self, there has got to be an easier way to do this?" Well, here on our little plot of real estate that we call home, we were helping out the electricians dig a trench to bury a new power supply line. The problem is that the surface is covered in gravel and underneath that the dirt is really hard. They even hooked up a backhoe to the Bobcat, but the hydraulics went out and we were back to shovels. So, here is what we did to "soften" up the dirt and make it easier to dig in...

Painting Playdate

2008-06-20T16:59:00.004-04:00

VBS 2008

2008-06-20T15:15:00.007-04:00

Nehemiah just completed his first year of VBS! I just put all the pictures and videos into a slide show so i wouldnt have to upload them one at a time.

The storm from a few nights ago...

2008-06-15T20:42:00.003-04:00

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

2008-06-15T08:59:00.006-04:00

Take 1:

Take 2:

Just another day in the 'Stan...

2008-06-12T13:04:00.003-04:00

Hello out there in America land! Well, I thought that i would drop you all a line to let you know that I am still posting here on this grand media extravaganza that we all know as the internet... you know, that thing that Al Gore invented. Well, here are a couple of pictures, one of which is of me out on the road. It isn't yet very apparent by the photos, but I assure you that my beard is coming in nicely, despite the gray hairs that are so clearly visible in person. Things are going well here. I learned that I can make free phone calls to Debra through Yahoo! Messenger on the computer. That is pretty cool. And once it gets here, I'll have a web cam, too, thanks to DK. I don't actually have much to write about today. Usually I like to write about the stuff I do from day to day, but right now, for security reasons, I don't get to. Maybe when I get home I'll tell you all my grand stories. Oh also, the second picture is just of the mountains around here, and the third picture is of Bill the Donkey... actually, I'm the only one that calls him Bill, but that doesn't really matter.

Birthday Update...

2008-06-10T16:26:00.009-04:00

Nehemiah and Mommy made cupcakes together!

If you look closely at this pic you can see he didnt make all the water in the bowl.

After naptime, we put frosting on.

Nehemiah's is on the left and mine is on the right.

Happy Birthday Debra!!!

2008-06-10T06:05:00.002-04:00

Yay! Today is Debra's Birthday, so I want everyone to leave a comment telling her to have a Happy Birthday. Then when you are done with that, send her an email wishing her a Happy Birthday, as well as a phone call if you know her number. Also, if you get on Facebook (you know, it Myspace for grown-ups) you can leave her a message on her wall.

Okay that is it.

Happy Birthday, Wife!!!

-me

You Are Amazing God

2008-06-07T20:32:00.001-04:00

Little Einstiens

2008-06-07T20:14:00.001-04:00

Nehemiah sings Daddy's favorite kid song

Its Really HOT Here, So We Got A Pool.

2008-06-07T19:41:00.004-04:00

A few pictures...

2008-06-04T00:08:00.000-04:00

Here are some photos from the last few weeks.

I'm not sure in which order they will actually post, but you will get the idea. First of all, their is Nehemiah helping me pack some of my gear the day we left. Actually, he was popping bubble wrap while I was packing and entertaining everyone else by talking about random stuff at the same time. Then there is the one of the sunset. It would probably be a beautiful sunset were it not for the dense layer of dust in the air that makes a SoCal summer afternoon with no wind seem like a breath of pure oxygen. They say that the dust in Afghanistan is approximately 20% fecal material. And then there is a picture of me, enjoying a tasty beverage at the Grean Bean here at Kandahar Airbase. Again, note the aforementioned drink that, if I were staying here my entire deployment, would cause me to be broke at $4.25 a piece. Also, just to point out, I am not staying at Kandahar Airbase for my entire deployment, and in fact should have been out of here a long time ago, but because of reasons that are no fault of my own and way out of my control, I am still here. I am actually quite bored and without much to do. I do have a lot of movies on my computer and some video games for my PSP, but you can only do that so much. Soon I may have to start reading books for entertainment again. I did buy a CD yesterday at the PX by a band call "Anberlin" put out by Tooth and Nail Records. I had heard them on the radio back home and liked the one song that the radio played, so I got it. It's pretty good. If you like bands like Keane, Snow Patrol, Watashi Wa, then you would probably like it. Interestingly enough, one of the band members, in his "thanks" section of the CD jacket, says hi to Seth Roberts... I say that because I thought it was cool and I like Seth's music and sometimes his wife reads this blog, although, more because of my wife than because of me.

Well, I guess that is enough rambling for now. Take care and don't forget to write.

casey

Hello out there...

2008-06-03T04:33:00.000-04:00

If you read this blog, please feel free to respond... unless J. Cheatwood and Mrs. Thiebaud are the only readers out there, which in that case, never mind.

ck

The Do's and Don'ts of Fish Feeding

2008-06-02T22:13:00.000-04:00

Do feed the fish FISH FOOD, Do NOT feed the fish chocolate milk!!

So evening time is hard at our house. There are a buch of things that need to get done all around the same time. Tonight i needed to put clean sheets on my bed (nehemiah threw up on them at nap time) and clean up the bathroom from bath time. I came out of the bathroom into the dining room to see Nehemiah standing on a chair at the fish tank, with his cup from dinner that was now empty. He looked at me and said "Mommy the fish were hungry, I just gave them my chocolate milk." I told him fish dont like chocolate milk they only eat fish food. I made him go in his room and read books while I cleaned the fish tank. He came out a little while later and said :Mommy, the fish, they don't like chocolate milk, they only like fish food." I hope he remembers this lesson, i really do.

Still no movement...

2008-06-02T08:37:00.000-04:00

Well, hello again from the land of dust... no, the other land of dust. I am still writing from Kandahar, but we have still, as of yet, been unable to gain transportation to our final destination. Yes, we have been here for over a week; I think we got here on or about the 22nd? I don't remember. For those of you who unaware, I am in Afghanistan, and Kandahar Airbase is where we landed, but thank goodness, not where we are staying for our entire deployment. Sure there are amenities and such here that make it comfortable at Kandahar like the PX, the Green Bean (sort of like a Starbucks knockoff), and an assortment of fast food franchises (I had Subway the other day), but what I do is not in Kandahar. What I do is out and about, and is based out of a little base that is no where near here. Again, as of yet, we have not been able to get there because the organizational and logistical "processes" here are broken.

Okay, enough whining - let me tell you about someone with a real reason to whine. One of my guys on my team who we'll call Joe to save on confusion, got sick this week. Not just like sick with the sniffles, but really sick. At first he started with a sore throat which the docs diagnosed as strep throat. They gave him antibiotics and told him to check back if it didn't get better. Well, after a couple of days it got worse and he was having a hard time swallowing his spit, so he said. The part he left out to me at the time was that it was also harder to breath. Anyway, about three days after he originally went in, they took him to the hospital to have his throat x-rayed, and admitted him to the hospital. What we came to find out was that he had contracted mono from somewhere, but then got a sore throat that turned into both tonsilitis and pharyngitis, and they were about that close to giving him an emergency tracheotomy (see WebM.D., if you don't know what that is). Anyway, they kept him in the hospital for about three days, kept an eye on him, and pumped him with antibiotics just to make sure that he was okay. In addition to all that, they had all dozen or so of us who lived in the same room start taking penicillin for a week to make sure that we don't get mono too.

Other than that, not much going on here. I did see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and it was very good. I would recommend it to everyone.

Well, I am going to head out now. Take care and let me know if you need the address.

casey

Nehemiah's Daddy Doll

2008-05-28T10:36:00.000-04:00

Greetings from Aghanistan

2008-05-24T22:17:00.000-04:00

Well, I am here now. There isn't too much to tell you yet, since we are just sitting in Kandahar Airbase awaiting a flight to go elsewhere, which is of course somewhere to remain nameless. We've been here for a couple of days now, having left Manas Airbase in Kyrgistan with light showers and temperatures around 70 F, to come into very dry conditions and temperatures near 120F here. At least it isn't humid. Yesterday there was a lot of dust kicked up by the wind which was a pain, but today seems to be a lot more calm. The food here is pretty good on the camp we are in within the base, and there is a PX (army store) right across the street from our camp, as well as a Green Bean right next door to that... The Green Bean is the Army deployment version of Starbucks. Luckily I am not staying on this base or I would blow all my money there because it is so stinkin' good. I had a Spiced Chai Frappe last night. It was tasty. Where I will eventually be going, there is no Green Bean or PX or anything for that matter.

Well, I guess that is about it. I would write more, but seriously, there isn't much to write about at this moment.

Word.

Gee i wonder where he gets it from...

2008-05-23T08:48:00.000-04:00

Nehemiah's Room

2008-05-23T08:28:00.000-04:00

Its not totally organized but you get the idea.

Still on the road...

2008-05-19T11:34:00.000-04:00

***Editors note - The kezboard in Germanz has the z and y kezs mixed up and i onlz have five minutes left to tzpe so i am not going to worrz about it. Also the shift kez is much smaller so i maz miss it or intentionallz not use it. Whats the worst that could happen? Someone would think that Jessie Cheatwood tzped this for me?

Okaz, so here i am in Germanz, as i alreadz said. We are here on a short lazover for fuel and new crew and then we will be back on the road... figurativelz speaking. I did see a movie on the plane that i thought was going to be good, but was dissappointed. It was the one where Steve Carrel plazs a columnist who accidentallz falls in love with his brothers girlfriend, before he found out that it was his brothers girlfriend. He also is having a hard time raising his three daughters four zears after the death of his wife. It was rather depressing and I stopped watching it about half waz through. It was Steve Carrel, so it had funnz parts, but i didnt like it.

Well, i have one minute left so i have to go. ill write more later

me

On the road again...

2008-05-17T20:50:00.001-04:00

Well, I am soon to embark on another grand adventure to "exotic locations" but I just wanted to assure you all that I will still maintain my standard of writing on this blog as often as I have thus far... oh wait, I haven't ever written on this blog before. Okay, well, I will start now. For those of you who don't know, I am leaving soon, and by soon, that is exactly what I mean, to go back to Afghanistan and do whatever it is that I do. I could go into a long dissertation on what exactly that is, but most of it is at least somewhat classified and so I'd have to make you no more, and we don't want that. Suffice to say, however, that I will do my best to do a good job and come back with all of my parts that I left home with.

I have had a few days in a row off to spend with the family before departing and that has been nice... all except the part where Nehemiah is in the full throws of the "terrible Two's". He is in bed now and I am sitting here with my faithful writing companion, Jesus (the cat, not the Son of God... actually He's here, too, although, I was referring to the cat) relaxing on the couch while I wait for the rest of my laundry to dry. I'm not sure why I included that part, since you really don't care about my laundry, and are probably confused at the least in regard to my ramblings about the cat and God. The point is that I am taking some of my last few relaxing moments in the states and sharing them with you, our valued reader.

While I am away, though, be sure to check the blog regularly, as I will be sure to write ever once in a while, sharing some little bit of wisdom or witty banter that will, no doubt, invoke your emotions to either laughter or nausea. I'll have to edit my stories somewhat in order to post them on the internet because as we all know the Taliban guys also have Blogspot and Myspace and more than likely Facebook by now, and every little bit of information we post up detailing our really cool stories of action and heroism are bound to allow them to paint a more specific picture of how we, the American Military, does its business. Fear not, though, I will send back many a cool picture of where I sleep, what I eat, and, if you are lucky, where I relieve myself (not the excrement you sicko, the facilities!), so that you, our faithful and intelligent readers, can have the best picture possible of "how it is".

So, until next time, I bid you farewell. And if you want my mailing address so that you can send me cool stuff, let me know.

-casey

A post for Grammy and Aunt Jean...

2008-05-14T08:51:00.000-04:00

At breakfast this morning.

Mommy: Hey Nehemiah did you have any good dreams last light?
NK: Yeah i did!
Mommy: What did you dream about?
NK: Grammy and Aunt Jean...at Uncle Ricks house. I ride in the big helicopter and pushed the buttons.
Mommy: Wow. =)

I must add, whenever i ask Nehemiah if he had any good dreams, he always says Grammy and Aunt Jean.

Hi favorite cousin

2008-04-28T22:26:00.000-04:00

Making Friends

2008-04-28T22:23:00.001-04:00

This weekend we had Casey's team and their families over for lunch. The two 2 year olds enjoyed playing with the loud speaker, bubbles and playing with cars.

Dancing Fool

2008-04-28T21:59:00.001-04:00

The toddler

2008-04-22T10:36:00.001-04:00

He has had his new bed for almost a week and has done excellent in it. So much better for mommy's back!!!!

We have added to our family...

2008-04-22T10:27:00.000-04:00

He's a purebred short haired Border Collie. He wont be as pretty as Kubota but he wont have the grooming $$ bill either. Casey was kind enough to let Nehemiah name the puppy. So I would like to intoduce you to...

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE...thomas for short.

So far he has been a great puppy and Kubota is being a good big brother.

Hello family...

2008-04-14T22:14:00.001-04:00

Help Me! SCARY DIRT!

2008-04-10T23:22:00.000-04:00

Nehemiah and his first insect friend

2008-04-10T23:10:00.000-04:00

Playgroup with Fayeteville Mommies

2008-04-10T23:05:00.000-04:00

FYI

2008-04-04T10:05:00.000-04:00

So I haven't been posting because we have been without our camera for a little while. Casey ran it over with the montero. But anyways we had a fun time with our very first visitors, Grammy and Aunt Jean. But of course I have no pictures to show for it. I'm counting on Aunt Jean to share hers.

A boy and his dog

2008-03-12T20:44:00.000-04:00

2008-03-12T20:38:00.000-04:00

our bedroom

3rd bedroom
Nehemiah and Kubota
Kubota and his ball
Kubota hanging out in the back yard

more pictures part 2

2008-03-12T20:34:00.000-04:00

Dinning room

Nehemiah's room
Nehemiah's room
Living room
Living room -front door and door to our bedroom

More pictures

2008-03-12T20:29:00.001-04:00

backyard again

Back door- Laundry room
Kitchen
Kitchen
Bathroom

The Pictures you've all been waiting for!!!!

2008-03-11T22:26:00.000-04:00

Front of the house

Side of the house
back of the house
back yard-yes all of it

Singing the ABC's...sort of

2008-02-17T21:56:00.000-05:00

Checking Out Some Cool Ships In Morro Bay

2008-02-17T21:49:00.000-05:00

Our Visit With Mandy And Tim

2008-02-11T15:11:00.000-05:00

Nehemiah and Mandy

Nehemiah pretending to cruise on the bike

Hanging out in the chicken pen
The snail

Nehemiah on the pony

Nehemiah and I had a super fun weekend hanging out with Mandy and Tim. Nehemiah Loved the chickens, the snail and the bike. We can't wait to go back in August for the wedding.

My first sewing project

2008-02-01T21:17:00.000-05:00

Please note that this is my first project EVER. So don't look too close

Buffalo NY

2008-01-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

Sleeping in between flights

Hannah and Nehemiah walkinh with Thomas

First morning in Buffalo

It was cold...notice last nights Jammies become bottom layer the next day.

Second day in Buffalo and every day after

Wearing Hannah's sunglasses...Hey some guys can wear pink.

Look what Hannah taught Nehemiah in the bath

On the way home

Christmas Day!

2007-12-26T11:27:00.001-05:00

The Boy's Big 2nd Birthday!!!

2007-12-11T00:20:00.000-05:00

So, I am surprised that it took us so long to get these pictures up; after all, the party was a week ago! Usually, Debra is spot on with putting pictures up here. Well, anyway, here they are. The boy had quite the time now that he is a year old and had a bit of time to mature and all.

Debra put together a pretty good little party with a Tonka truck theme, although, once the presents began being opened, you'd swear that it was a Thomas the Tank Engine party. Debra and her mom made little cupcakes with construction vehicle cutouts stuck in the tops and we scattered all of Nehemiah's little Tonka type things all over the place for decor. We even used a big Tonka dumptruck as a chip bowl!

Lots of people showed up, which made it all the more fun. Most of the Lopez family showed up; that would be Chris and Christine and their kids, and Sam and Norma and their kids. My mom and Chuck came down from Las Vegas, and Grammie (Karen's Mom) came all the way from Buffalo, NY (not nessecarily for the party, but we'll ignore that). The whole Dutcher family was there, to include the Thiebauds, and Frank and Connie, who is sort of lumped in with the Dutcher family. Debra's best friend, Jessica and her daughters Cassidy and (insert blank thought here). I think that I am forgetting someone that I will greatly feel bad about later, too. It was a packed house, but as Karen assured us, she can comfortably feed thirty in her house, so there was no worry.

There were games and beefy sandwiches and cupcakes and blindfolded games and present openings and by the time that Nehemiah was done, well, look at the last photo. It was a good time had by all. Check back in soon, as Debra will soon be putting some of the videos on here, too.

Some pics from the party at Aunt Sara's house

2007-11-20T23:06:00.000-05:00

Field Trip

2007-11-08T17:28:00.001-05:00

Sleeping in the big boy bed...

2007-11-06T19:00:00.000-05:00

An Unplanned Family Picture

2007-11-05T10:10:00.000-05:00

Mean Daddy...

2007-11-04T22:34:00.000-05:00

The New Arrangement...

2007-11-04T22:27:00.000-05:00

Nana gave us the idea to try the toddler bed, but i was a little concerned about the fall, so i put my old twin feather bed on the floor. Not only did he sleep in his own room for the 1st time in months (he did wake up twice, but a little pat on the back was all he needed) but he didn't fall out of the bed! Nap time was great today too! So we will see if the trend continues...

Happy Halloween

2007-11-01T10:53:00.000-04:00

Ok, so our little rooster, had a meltdown in the begining because he wanted to go out walking and daddy wasn't ready yet. But apparently he had a blast, impressed lots of people, won a cake (cupcake) walk at our community center, he got lots of candy, a veggietales book and i don't know what else. Daddy did pretty good with him and he made it through the event with out giving him a single piece of candy. I on the other hand had to work, and for some reason all of my old people friends, just wanted to go to bed, and could care less about all the cute kids dressed up.

Playgroup

2007-10-30T10:44:00.000-04:00

Some of the North County Moms got together to celebrate Colton's 1st birthday, which is on october 31st! Colton, is wearing the orange shirt and he is also one of Nehemiah's favorite friends along with Kensington who is the blond little girl with the black and white striped shirt on. We sat all of the kids on the blanket and started sing the wheels on the bus and they all STAYED!!!

2 year old and Halloween

2007-10-26T02:04:00.000-04:00

So we got Nehemiah's costume in the mail today...He going to be a rooster. When we get in the house he says "hold it?" So i give it to him. He then says "mommy rooster, farm!" Yes Nehemiah roosters do live on farms. He walks up stairs with his costume, and i follow him 2 minutes later. I get to his door way and he says "Look Mommy Rooster farm" I look and he has shoved the costume inside the fisher-price farm toy.

One more story...
We went to the SLO farmers market tonight to trick or treat at the downtown stores. We were very unsuccessful to say the least. Yes it was very crowded but the problem was... Nehemiah doesn't understand the concept of trick or treating yet. He would get a piece of candy and would have to hold it till we got to the next store, when that store offered him a new piece only then would he put the one he had in his hand in the bag. I think we got a total of 4 pieces of candy before we gave up. I have a feeling he's not going to bring much candy home for me this year.