30 July 2007. Well, it's been harder than I thought. Too many other things getting in the way of blogging and reading blogs. Luckily I finished one of the things Saturday night. No, not the bathroom, the last Harry Potter book, and an excellent book it was.
The bathroom is coming along, I finished laying the tile last night. My fingertips were sore from using the tile nippers to custom fit some of the tile. Ouch. Once I get the grout done it's just a matter of putting in the new vanity, shower door and hooking everything back up. Mrs. Dub then wants to give our bathroom a splash of color by repainting. She says that'll hold her for a bit. I might get to start working on the fence right after that and then maybe start mapping out the kitchen renovation.
What's happened at work this week.
Today's lesson is this: Always make sure the screen door is latched when there's a pit bull on the other side of it.
Lesson 2: If you watched Chris Rock's video about "How not to get beat by the Police", it's not just for entertainment, it's also valuable information. No, I didn't beat anybody, but the lesson's are still there. Never, have the cops come when you have an angry woman on your hands. The words, "He's got weed!" were used several times during our 30 minutes with this couple. Nobody was arrested today, but it would be wish if this young man moved in the middle of the night, like tonight, otherwise......
I've managed to avoid turtles this week. I also have not understood why cops "hide" behind objects when they want to run "radar" and catch speeders. Now, first, let me say that Oklahoma City does not have a quota set for officers to write a certain number of tickets....I can write as many as I want. I like to park in wide open parking lots that adjoins the street. I like to be visible by several blocks from either direction. That way, when I still catch you doing 41 mph in a 25 mph zone and you're only one block away from me, well, you have nobody to blame but yourself.
Yesterday, around 4 p.m. we had an alarm going off on a residential house. Officers, including me, responded. We found a trash can laid over against the back of the house and a broken window over the kitchen sink. Another officer and myself climb through the window. The younger, more fit officer made it look pretty smooth. Then it was my turn. I make it through the window and am now kinda stuck with my knees in the sink. I have to roll around a bit to unwedge myself. Yeah, glad it wasn't important or anything.
Well, better go for now, be safe and have a great day.

23 July 2007, Well, how many have given up their blogs this weekend to start and finish their Harry Potter and the Hallows of Death? I am not one of them. I "pre-order" my copy several months ago on Amazon. However though, my card expired this month too, and I didn't update my account soon enough that when it tried to make the transaction, it failed. So, I had to order it again, rather than go into one of the stores. It should be here today. We did manage to watch The Order of the Phoenix last night. I am disappointed in the fact that they have to skim so much of the storyline and leave so much more out just to make time restraints. I know they filmed more and yet they never add that additional footage into the DVD release either. Mrs. Dub left the movie last night asking a lot of questions because she hasn't read books 5 or 6.
We have been very busy during this set of days off, we now have two new baby goats, the girl, named 'Alice' and the boy named 'Jasper'. Two characters from the book series "The Twilight", I believe. I managed to finish the knock-down texture in Miss Dub's bathroom and have the floor ready for tile. We should be able to put on a couple coats of paint today. A side project that Mrs. Dub had me doing was turning the linen closest in the hallway into a DVD library. We put the final coat of paint on it yesterday and should be able to put the movies in their new home today.
We've managed several other projects too over this set of days off. Last night we took the time off to go see the movie, and today we are headed to the Cowboy Hall of Fame here in Oklahoma City. There are several new exhibits as this is the 100th birthday of actor John Wayne as well as the centennial of Oklahoma.
Well, better go for now, big day, be safe and have a great day.

18 July 2007, Ah, my first week at work is over. I have the pictures now I promised you from last week. SSG B and I were riding together on Thursday of last week. This next event is the closest I've come to being in danger since leaving Afghanistan. We saw him trying to cross the street and it appeared to us he needed some help. Help was the last thing he wanted. I approached him and started to offer assistance when he turned and lunged towards me. I quickly stepped back and pulled out my baton. My survival instincts now on high alert, I approach him again. Now, he is upset with us. The turtle just wants to be left alone. Yep, turtle.

He didn't like me very much, and I was only trying to help. That's not me flipping him either, that's him jumping. Everything else went pretty good. I'm rusty on calling in my reports, and I finally got the book I needed to work on the new paperwork for traffic accidents. I'll write more tomorrow, first day off and I've got a lot to do. Be safe and have a great day.

16 July 2007, Well, I was hoping to have updated a lot more during this set. I have one great story to tell, but I'm waiting for the other officer to send me the photos. During the last 7 days, this one incident has probably been the closest I've been to being injured, and no.....it wasn't a clothes line. Of course, Mrs. Dub and Wade would probably refer back to Reno 911. Now, my Army Lt. M has seen me in bicycle shorts and he believes it's one of the most memorable sights he's ever had. I do worry about him sometimes.
This weeks theme at work has been "domestics". Gentlemen, take notes. The Bible warns you about angry women, Chris Rock warns you about angry women, Lorena Bobbitt warns you about angry women. The key to a happy and success marriage takes no more than two words, "Yes, dear." Now, as Mrs. Dub mentioned, she does suffer from OCD, hehehe. Deep down inside me lurks an evil person, one who loves to exploit weaknesses. I just want to slap people sometimes when they make the statement, "You know what really bothers me....." These are words that just bring a warm glow to my heart. Well, I don't intentionally try to get on Mrs. Dub's nerves, but it isn't that hard. I was perfectly fine with leaving the boxes as they were in the garage, out of the way, and as I needed to get something out, get it and then put it up. Mrs. Dub had to have them in the house, "just put them in the spare bedroom, that'll be fine". Now, every time she walked by the room, there they were. Now, I packed them neatly the first time. And I packed them based on what I didn't need at that moment. So the boxes do have some rhyme and reason to them, it just when you have to pack it, unpack it, pack it again, inspect it before the post master, repack it again, you just get to the point you throw it in there. Used toothpicks?, how about a box of toothpicks opening up during shipping. Yeah, she is mean, isn't she, I mean, "Yes dear."
The driving course was great, and I had a lot of fun after the first lap around the track. I rode with two different officers for two days and was on my own Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Tomorrow is my Friday, yippee!, then I'm off for 6 days. Well, better get going for now. Be safe and have a great day.

10 July 2007, My first day back to work. Well, I had 4 felony arrests, how's that for a first day back? Of course, my day wasn't too bad. I couldn't do anything until I had qualified with my Glock 17 9mm pistol. I had to be at work at 7, and the range doesn't open till 8. Hmm, guess we have time for breakfast. I say we, because I had an FTO, (Field Training Officer), this is just so the department feels comfortable about putting me back out on the street. (I'm not sure they felt comfortable about it before I left, hehe). I shot 42 rounds out of 50 into the target, with two off the paper. Out of that 10 were left-handed. This was a new course of fire for me too, but I will be getting back out there and be practicing more. We then started our calls. After a false alarm on a business we responded to a bank reporting a man attempting to cash a stolen check. Besides the check he just found on the ground, he also "just found" a cell phone that was also reported stolen by the same person. We went to jail. I had to stop by the 911 center and thank the dispatchers for the packages they had sent to me while in Afghanistan. Our last call of the day was a police LT. following a reported stolen car. As we approached the 3 suspects bailed out and ran. We managed to get in front of one and caused him to change directions. I jumped out of the car and headed towards him. He was at least 60 yards ahead of me. Either my intimidating presence or just him feeling I might collapse if I chased him, but either way, he stopped when I told him to and I had him in custody quickly. I'm glad I didn't have to run. With several officers on the scene, Air One spotted the other two suspects and all three were taken into custody. We found a 12 gauge shotgun and bolt action rifle with scope in the back seat.
Tomorrow I have to go to Law Enforcement Driving Tactics. Yeah, this is going to be a great day. Drive hard and fast. I told them if they wanted to learn how to drive they needed to go to Afghanistan or Iraq. I'll let you know how it goes. Be safe and have a great day.

08 July 2007, or at least I think it is. I tried earlier this week to upgrade my dial-up connection and broke the whole darn thing. Not even Miss Dub could figure it out. Well, tonight, we sat down and were going over our bills, doesn't everyone love doing that? Of course, we did this and then went to bed. My brain wouldn't shut down so I got up and messed with the internet connection, just enough that I wanted to burn the computer down where it stands. Well, I'm not sure if I fixed anything or not, but I did manage to get on, so I'll update before it shuts down on me.
I did break down and called a plumber. I'm ok with PVC and copper. Apparently though, I have what's called PEX tubing and connections due to the well water. The plumber told me that it's difficult to mix PEX with anything else and that just one crimper for the binding rings runs $100. Now I know and can probably start doing it myself as I could have bought the connections and crimper for what he charged. We had it finished in 1 1/2 hours and as soon as he left I had the fiberglass shower stall back in place. We are staying with the fiberglass stall for now in her bathroom. I framed in my existing door to close off the wall and started the sheet rock.
I made Miss Dub groom the horses on Friday, and on Saturday, we saddled them up and rode for a short time. I don't have my seat yet so I just walked the horse around. Later, the Equine Dentist came by and re-floated their teeth. It is amazing the difference I saw when he came out during my leave in September.
I should be picking up my scout car tomorrow and getting it ready to go back to work on Tuesday. Yikes, my time is already up? That stinks. Mrs. Dub is upset that the goatee has to come off now. I could definitely stay home and be a full-time rancher/farmer on my 5 acres if she made more money, and then I could keep the goatee. However, she seems to think she is the one that needs to stay home, so I don't know how we would manage that.
Not much else to report at the moment. Hopefully, I can get some sleep now. Be safe and have a great day.

07 July 2007, Well, I've been home for three weeks now. And it's rained the entire time. We got a break yesterday but are expecting more today and the rest of this week. It's so soggy out here right now that we have postponed our 4th of July party out here because I can't get a dock built for the front yard. I've seen firework shows cancelled because it was too dry but never because it was too wet, till this year. But you know what, I'm home and everything is great.

We started on Miss Dub's bathroom this weekend.
We are going to replace just about everything and give it a spruce up along with a fresh coat of paint for the bedroom.

This door opens into my home office, so it goes away and I can use the wall space.

We are pulling up this vinyl flooring and will replace with 6" x 6" sage green tiles.

Mrs. Dub is ready for me to finish this project up so I can start on the kitchen, we have big plans for it, just haven't figured out how we are going to pay for it. I'll keep you posted.

Miss Dub has agreed to allow the public to name the soon to be born goats. Now the possibility of having two kids exists, so she will pick the top two boy and girl names to be used, so go over to her site and cast your vote.

Be safe and have a great day.

28 June 2007, Two days in a row! I woke up this morning at 4am and couldn't get back to sleep, so at 5am I figured I would check the computer. It does run a little faster at this time in the morning, and I was able to post a comment.
Yesterday was an exciting day, as Wade from Life Song blog and his wife, TC, were in OKC after dropping off a shipment in Tulsa. They are putting in the mileage across the country. Wade and TC are the first bloggers I have been able to meet. They live in North Carolina when not on the road. They are the first in a long line of bloggers I hope to meet.


For my little 5 acres, we managed to avoid rain all day yesterday. I meet Mrs. Dub in the city after dropping Miss Dub off at church and we had dinner with her parents. I have a great set of in-laws.
I don't have to return to the police department till July 10th, but I think we are all ready for me to start back up. I have to catch up on all the training I have missed in the last 15 months as well as go to the gun range.

Miss Dub is excited about the baby goat coming soon, and I'll see if she's interested in a naming contest. Well, I'll end this for now. Be safe and have a great day.

27 June 2007, Wednesday morning. I was excited Monday night when we retired for the evening. The place had finally dried out and I was looking forward to working outside Tuesday. Well, we woke up Tuesday morning to having about 2 inches of rain over night and it continued to rain all day. Our neighbors on the block to our east have to cross a low spot which crosses over a break in the pond. The water was rushing over it and several people just parked their cars until the water receded.
Sunday morning I had 2100 feet of 3" pipe delivered to the house. I'm hope to get started on the pipe and cable fence soon. We are still shopping around for a barn and tractor. I've decided on the barn, but we are waiting until I get back to work full-time and see how our expenses look before buying anything.
In other news our female goat, Bella, is expecting to deliver a kid any day now. yeah.
Being home with the family has been wonderful. Things are almost normal again, with the exception of I haven't returned to work yet. That will start on July 10th. Today was my last day of paid leave by the military.
If you get the chance, go by and cheer up Mrs. Dub, she would rather be home than at work.
Be safe and have a great day.

21 June 2007, Well, I haven't been updating like I should be. Most of you understand, and I appreciate that. So far the one thing I am not ready for is grocery shopping. I enter the store and am like a kid in a candy shop. Can I have that? What about this? Way to many choices for me at the moment. Everything else is going really well. Miss Dub is at camp this week so Mrs. Dub and I have been having a couple of date nights. hehe.
Being back home has been wonderful. The weather is certainly unusual for this time of year in Oklahoma and it's amazing how parts of the country are in floods and other parts are in droughts. We need to spread this out.
My dial up connection at home is certainly an issue for me. I have tried to read several of my regular blogs but can't get the comment section to work for me. I'm looking at some options that will hopefully pan out soon.
Well, be safe and have a great day.

15 June 2007, Happy Dance Friday! And a great day for dancing it is. I've been home now since Sunday. I'll go over the highlights for the last week.
Sunday, of course, we arrived here back in Oklahoma City, but 45 minutes earlier than we were expected so most of the families hadn't arrived yet. This did give us time to find our bags and get them situated before the great reunions began. As I had now been up for the last 24 hours, we went to breakfast and then I crashed in bed for 3-4 hours.
Monday. I took it easy until we headed out to Cattlemen's for dinner. I had around 20 friends and families there and it was good to see everyone.
Tuesday. We took Miss Dub to her piano lessons and then headed to Durant in Southern Oklahoma. We were given a two day pass before we had to be back at the armory to finish turning in equipment and final paperwork. We stayed at our cousin's house, had dinner and then stopped off at the Choctaw Nation Casino. After an hour there, I walked out breaking even, though at one point I was ahead by $60. I also missed Wade and TC who were driving through OKC at some point that day.
Wednesday. I spent most of it at drill and then loaded up the family and came home.
Thursday. Just drove around OKC, looking at tractors and having lunch. I haven't started on any projects yet, but the plans are in motion.
Friday. I am the only one out of bed so far, but it's time to feed the horses. As soon as I locate my camera, I'll post some pictures from this week.
Be safe and have a great day.

10 June 2007, I'm home! And in the usual Army standard, 45 minutes early. You would think that would be a good thing, except for the 65 soldiers arriving, maybe 6 families had shown up by the time we got there, so as the families finally started making it there, they realized they were late, but all is good.
We had a great reunion at the airport and then went for breakfast. We have been up for the last 24 hours, the Army planned stuff for us for each hour of the night before so we couldn't go to sleep. After breakfast we came home were I took a nap of about 3-4 hours. Miss Dub and I are planning on seeing a play tonight at the Civic Center called "Wicked" Originally, I wasn't going to be home and the two tickets we have were for Mrs and Miss. We haven't been able to secure a third ticket so Mrs. Dub is going to let us go.
I have a headache from hades from lack of sleep, but all is wonderful. I'll post more and start putting up pictures as soon as I get myself a little more organized back home.
Thank you all for your prayers and good wishes. Be safe and have a great day.

08 June 2007, ALMOST THERE!!
Well, I made it to Ft. Carson, Colorado on the 5th. As I last mentioned it took 55 hours to make it out of Afghanistan to Kuwait where we spent two days. Then flew out of Kuwait to Frankfurt-Hahn Germany where we stayed long enough to fuel up. Couldn't find Sanni anywhere. Next, we flew to Iceland, refueled, blew over Greenland, stopped in Indiana. Here we were met by Veterans and had our first chance of calling our families upon arriving in the beautiful United States. We finished up when we arrived in Colorado.
For the last three days we have been out-processing, briefings, medical, anything and everything. We are staying in the new barracks which resemble a prison compound to include a fence all the way around it. They have us out far enough that we have to take buses to come into the main base. (Sounds more like we might have something and are in quarantine)
I finally finished up all of our out-processing a couple of hours ago and found a cyber cafe.
The final flight will occur on Sunday and I should arrive at the Will Rogers Airport around noon. Yipee!
At one point yesterday, we almost turned on a Active Duty soldier as he was giving a briefing and told us we would be returning to our "weekend warrior" mode. The whole auditorium erupted as this guy hadn't seen a tour in a combat zone yet and many like myself have already had over 800 days of it since 911. This is still the mentality of some of the active components and from what I've seen we could go head to head with just about any active unit out there and shine well above what they could do. We bring so much more to the table(battlefield) with our civilian lives since we are more diversified in our backgrounds than just being trained in one job.
Anyway, it's wonderful being back and in less than 48 hours I will be home. I want to thank everyone of you for your prayers, blessings and friendships. You do mean a lot to me and my family.
Be safe and have a great day.

02 June 2007, if it can go wrong, it is.
Examples:
I buy a coke, have it in my sack, I swing my rifle to take it off and puncture my coke.
I've traveled 45 kilometers in 55 hours, and am still stuck in Afghanistan.
I have been without my baggage for three days now, it's in Kuwait.

I've adjusted the countdown, hopefully I won't have to do that too many more times, but with the government as my travel agent, who knows. Other than that, I'm doing really good, and will keep you in the loop as much as possible.
Be safe and have a great weekend.

01 June 2007, I'm in transit now, heading back to the U.S. I'm not able to give any more details than that, but will keep you informed as best I can. The only other thing I really need to do is change my countdown counter, as my seat for my school could not be confirmed and I'm not in the mood to mess with it any more. There's another school in August and I'll try to get a seat in that one.
Everything else is going well for the moment, minus any involvement by the U.S. Military. We are headed in the right direction and really, that's all that matters anyway. I could use Sanni or Sarge Charlie right now, as everything on this computer is in German.
Be safe and have a great day.

31 May 2007, Ah, where to start? I had to give up my luxurious accommodations this morning and leave my connex. By 1300 hrs (1pm) I had moved into a very nice b-hut made out of plywood. This is a story I will expound on later, but not today. Things going the way they did, I decided to take a nap this afternoon. We watched Denzel Washington in 'DeJa Vu' this evening in the conference room. A really good movie. My only problem with Denzel is his absolute refusal to make a movie that doesn't require you to think. Why can't he make something like (at least once) like "Elf " or "Hot Fuzz". But it was certainly a good movie.
My internet did expire last night, so I'm in the office after hours using one of the other computers, so don't tell the government. Not much else to report from my end.
Be safe and have a great day.

30 May 2007, Well, another day down. I was awake by 0530, up by 0600. Went to the gym at 0900, worked out for a bit and then went back to my room. One of the interpreters brought lunch so we ate in the conference room.

I'm pretty sure that my internet will be up today or tomorrow, so I'm trying to knock this post out quickly. I won't be renewing my service, but I should be able to go to the office to update any other days. Here is a picture of my room as of 1600 hrs, (4pm).

Here's a group picture of my section and Lt R. Lt R is the Navy officer kneeling, SSgt G, SrA W & W and LT M.

Be safe and have a great day.

29 May 2007, My apologies for being so late with today's post. You don't want the truth, you can't handle the truth as to why I'm late. Ok, fine, I'm trying to finish up the fifth season of 24. Since I don't have a personal computer thanks to the Military transport system, and I certainly will be doing other things once I make it home, I want to finish it up here. Remember, each season is '24' hours long. As for packing, would you believe I'm almost finished? Well, try to, will ya.
We had a sand storm roll through this afternoon followed by a small rain storm, it made things more comfortable as we've had blazing sun and warm temps for the last week. Things went pretty good today, still working on some paperwork for soldiers.
Good news to report. That computer that was missing made it's way back to camp and into the supply sergeant's hands yesterday. It seems my dear friends and fellow soldiers, SFC J and MAJ G had also signed for it and took it with them when they went on the training mission of the border police in the Herat area. Dirty dogs, but everything is straightened out on that matter.
Not much else to report on my end for today, please stop shaking your head at my watching that show.
Be safe and have a great day.

28 May 2007, Memorial Day

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag. - Charles M. Province



In memory of those of Task Force Phoenix V, Afghanistan, who gave the ultimate sacrifice:

SGM McLoughlin

SFC Fuga

SSG Lindsey

MSG Deghand

2LT Lundell

SGT Nguyen

SGT Hughie

Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, 'What should be the reward of such sacrifices?'...If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. - Samuel Adams



Before I went to Iraq, I looked at Memorial Day as a 3 day weekend, now I see it as a day that will honor these men who gave the ultimate sacrifice' - CSM Brunk Conley, 41 BCT, Task Force Phoenix V

27 May 2007, Well, I'm getting to sleep in till 0700 for the last couple of days, but that's the extent of my enjoying my time off. We are doing a lot of briefings for out-processing the country and they can't seem to be able to come up with a schedule and stick to it. I told my guys the first day to expect changes and not get wrapped up around any one plan of action put out. In this environment, you have to stay fluid. The packing is coming along ok. Not a whole lot else going on at the moment. I'll be more irregular in my posting in the coming weeks as things get closer to time.
Be safe and have a great Memorial Day Weekend.