29 years!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, DAVID & KAREN ! ! !

Virginia Thanksgiving

Jill and I couldn't make it out of town for Thanksgiving due to my work schedule, so we did our best to put on our own little feast. The menu featured steamed carrots, stuffing, rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, roast turkey, apple pie, and chocolate ice box cake. We did as much of it homemade as possible, including the ice cream, pie crust, rolls, and even the fried onions in the casserole. I don't think either of us realized how much time would be spent not only cooking, but also doing dishes constantly, Quite an experience!

Then today we got our Christmas decorations in line, though I feel a little bit like a sell-out since we got an artificial tree. It's not my best move ever, but it's more practical for us these next couple years.

Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was great!!

Now there are a couple of November birthday girls!!

Happy Birthday, ladies!

You heard right!

Well I know Mom beat me to the punch on this one, but I'll go ahead and throw in my two cents anyways. But, just so you know, all that was said is pretty accurate, so I'll try not to repeat too much.

As she said, I'll be heading to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division in Camp Pendleton, CA. Most often you'll find it written "3/5" (which is said as "three five"). So if you ever hear anyone talking about Marines and they say two numbers like that (e.g. "one two", "three nine", "one six", etc) they're talking about the battalion and regiment they're from. Currently there are 27 battalions of infantry Marines on active duty, but plans are already in effect for downsizing over the next couple years.

Their nickname Darkhorse comes from a former call sign for the unit. It used to be Consummate Professionals, but that changed in 2005 when a Marine who commanded the unit while that was their call sign passed away, so the name was changed to honor him. Their motto Get Some was coined during Vietnam. The insignia has three fleurs-de-lis in the top right to represent fighting in Belleau Wood in WWI, and five bamboo canes to represent fighting in Vietnam.

Jill, Ledger and I will be back in Indiana and Illinois over Christmas/New Year's, and will also be around for some time in January, too. We're looking into taking a house-hunting trip to CA for a few days in January so we can find a solid place to spend the next 2+ years.

Anyways, I don't want to keep rehashing all that was said, so let me know if you have any questions and I'll be glad to fill you in! We can't wait to see everyone next month!!!

Happy Birthday Jenna Lee

Happy 17th to Jenna Lee

Head West, Young Man

Eric has finally found out his future plans (sort of) with the USMC.
He should finish his current class just before Christmas, so he plans to spend 5 days in IN and then 5 days in Chicago!! Then,he has to report to his new duty station at Camp Pendleton, California by Feb 1, 2012.
That's right, Eric and Jill are moving to sunny southern California! He will be assigned to the Dark Horse Battalion or the 3/5. This group is an infantry battalion that lost the most members in Afghanistan of any other group in the last 10 years. Luckily, when Eric joins, their assignment will be a little different. In August 2012, he will be deployed (for the last time, hopefully) as part of a Marine Expeditonary Unit (MEU) in the western Pacific. Their main job is to be available if needed in that part of the world. Pray that it will be only humanitarian, not war.
We are hopeful that since this group suffered such losses, they will be kept from more fighting unless absolutely necessary. There are several videos, stories, etc about this group on the internet if anyone wants to read about their past.
Eric and Jill plan to DRIVE all their possessions cross country. The marines will pay for the move and Eric and Jill will be reimbursed. They expect 5 days on the road. Personally, I can't imagine this, but I know it's probably been done many times. I guess I'm getting too old to see the adventure in it. But, maybe with a motor home.............
Anyway, Eric will be gone 8-9 months, then he will only have 1 year left!!!!!
I want to rent a house out there next summer and am interested in who all would like to come. I want to get an idea of how big a house we will need.. I was thinking maybe June or July since Eric will be leaving in August. Let me know ASAP so I can find a house.

Disaster Mitigation at Disney World

I bet y'all never knew the exciting, jet-setting ways of the housing policy world. This week finds me in Orlando for the FLASH Annual Meeting. (That'd be Federal Alliance for Safe Homes.) It's a fairly small affair, only around a hundred folks, but they've been showing us a great time. (It doesn't hurt that the main sponsors of this sort of thing are reinsurance firms. And, as one of our hosts explained last night, just one of their executives certainly makes more each year than our entire dinner table of 8 people put together.)

In any case! Yesterday we got to go behind the scenes at Epcot on our way to visit StormStruck! It's a ride/experience in 4-D (!! I'm still trying to figure out what the 5-D thing could have been in Gatlinburg, btw.) that replicates hurricanes and tornadoes to edutain guests about disaster mitigation in their own homes. Things like what's the best kind of roof for wind-resistance (answer: hip!) and that you shouldn't, actually, crack or tape your windows before a storm. It was actually a lot cooler than I thought it would be.

Then we had dinner and fireworks back at the Boardwalk Inn where we're all staying. It's a pretty nice place (I'm sitting on the veranda right now listening to jazz while I catch up on some work).

Later tonight we're being shuttled over to Animal Kingdom for a tour and dinner, then my big plan is to sit in the "quiet" pool (one of three here at the hotel) for awhile to properly vacation this up. (I have, of course, been sitting in a conference room all day, learning about disaster mitigation and preparedness. Really!)

Generally speaking, I am not a big Disney fan, but, oh, are they good at what they do: delicious food, helpful staff and a really great room (with a furnished balconey); I'll be kind of sad to leave tomorrow afternoon.

Happy Late Birthday Laura

Sorry, I am late with this. We were so busy packing, unpacking, and driving-I mean Mort was driving-I slept almost the whole way home that I failed to honor Laura with the traditional birthday photo.
Anyway, here it is. Laura, I love you and hope you had a good birthday pre-party since a bus ride does not seem like the way to celebrate (unless you drank both bottles of wine on the bus- in which case, I hope you found your way back to your apartment). I may
be slow but we will always have the Salt & Pepper Museum.

Birthday time!!

It's Carrie Ann's Birthday! 

Happy Birthday, sister!

Pictures

Jill has sent me the discs that have all the wedding pictures on them and a release for printing whatever we want. If there is anything particular you want, let me know!

Disaster Update!

So far we've had a hurricane and an earthquake in the last fortnight. Now we can add monsoon flooding to the tally.

I live on a hill. This morning our building had notices posted that we shouldn't venture into the basement, as it is flooded out. It hasn't really stopped raining since then, and we (DC) are not even getting the worst of it...this is nearby Fairfax County (just west of DC), where this evening they have apparently had up to three inches of rain an hour at times.

Luckily, aside from my basement (which rules out doing laundry on-site anytime soon), nothing but an overwhelming dampness for myself and my apartment. Which is a shame -- you'd think with this mess Metro could at least flood a little bit and be a reason to stay home from work. Maybe tomorrow.

Virginia - such a swell place to be!

Well it's been just over a month in our new place and so far, so good! When we moved in, we bought insurance for our apartment through USAA and have been just dying to make a claim, so this has been a pretty good week in Hampton. We had the earthquake on Tuesday of course, but that didn't do much except scare Virginians out of their minds (you should have seen how panicked everyone was when it snowed 4" here in 2010!). Now Irene is aiming to pick up the quake's slack and really do a number around here, with the rain projected to start tonight and actually 'hit' the Hampton Roads area early Sunday morning with 100 mph winds. Jill and Ledger are still in Chicagoland until Monday, which is probably not a bad thing, although no evacuation order has been given for this particular area yet.

Luckily my line of work lends itself to preparing for emergencies and dire situations, so I was "able to get" plenty of flashlight batteries, chem-lights, and canteens of water in case things get interesting around here. Sadly I anticipate only being able to watch one, MAYBE two movies (if they're short) on my laptop battery before it runs out in the event of power loss. And as far as DVRing anything good on TV this weekend, I've already forgotten about that one. I do have plenty of batteries for my iPod speakers, however.

Today I'm going to finish out the prep work, which should have been done a couple days ago but I was working at the shipyard until last night. This will include topping off the car with gas, reinforcing the windows in the apartment with duct tape, moving our deck furniture, running the dishwasher and washing machine so I don't have to live in filth if the water supply is disrupted, and putting some beer on ice. Nothing too extraordinary there I guess. Once all that's done I'll just get the guitar handy and watch the storm roll in!

Stay tuned for more!

Texas Ranch Round-up

Ranches from all over north Texas compete in the 30th Texas Ranch Roundup. 

Greg was a celebrity judge for the chuckwagon cooking competition.

Happy Birthday Kelli Jo

Happy Birthday Kelli Jo!

Who's Ready to Go to a "Do"?

Feeling "peckish"? Ready to have an "ace" time? You'd have to be "barmy" to miss this, so don't be too "fagged" to attend! Grab a bag of "crisps" and head on over to the Riley Resort!

It is time introduce Megan's boy from across the pond to the Foster family! Plus, it's always a good time when we all get together.

WHAT: Pitch-in, Swimming, Cornhole, ???

WHEN: Saturday, August 20th - anytime you can get here

WHERE: the Riley's backyard

Birthday Boys ! ! !

When you are over 50 (but who is counting?),

you get your picture on the blog ALL WEEK LONG !

Happy Birthday, Foster boys!

Our first home!

Welcome to Waypoint at Hampton! Here you can see one of the three ponds which are stocked with fish and home to many ducks and geese. There are also plenty of squirrels running around, too.

This is during the move-in process fidgeting with our TV and Ledger having a little rest break. He had the only furniture in the apartment for awhile. Yes, it's a real wood-burning fireplace there behind the TV! Too bad it hasn't been below 90 yet.

Here is our living room after placing our new furniture. We bought the sectional sofa, coffee table, and bookcase you see here as well as a dining room table, TV stand, chairs, headboard, dresser, and night stands, plus furniture for our balcony.

Our bedroom!

Here Ledger is pointing out all of the wildlife down below. He likes to spend most of his days sunning himself and watching all the activity from the balcony.

Happy 21st Birthday Megan!

Nice toes!

The Newlyweds

I just wanted to post the new address of our newlyweds. Jill is posting photos of the apartment later (I think).
Anyway,...

Eric & Jill Williams
101 Windy Cove, Apt L
Hampton, VA 23666

Happy 26th

Birthday wishes from Indiana to Utah -- enjoy yourself today !!!!!!!

Watermelon, anyone?

Happy Birthday, Pops!

Fixing the Fence

• Most of the new sections are up. Some new posts are needed before the remaining sections can be removed and replaced.


• As part of a project within a project; David cut down a tree that was dead. It needs to be cut into smaller pieces and thrown into the coal bin.


• The old fence sections need to be taken away.


• Final phase invovles sealcoating the new fence.

Well, that's one section of the fence replaced.

Stretch Parker can reach it, but can she read it?

You've got to have the right tools!

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

DC and beyond

This isn't DC but I did think it was really cute because Eric is riding a bike way too small. Kyle told him to so they could go on a bike ride together and they did.

This was one of our first side trips. This is the house where Becky lived the first few years of her life. It is on a farm and the grandparents lived in the main house.
Our second side trip was a visit to Becky's Aunt Betty. We took her out to lunch, then headed to DC!! Laura is an excellent guide!!
These were across the street from our hotel. Becky thought they were nuns.
We spent Saturday in Alexandria. Laura and Mort are going colonial.
This and several of the following pictures are from a pharmacy in Alexandria. It had been around since 1792. In 1933, the family just closed the doors and walked away. Bottles still have stuff in them, and it has hardly been touched since then. I would have like to see more of it.



I had to take the pictures below for obvious reasons.


The poor ducklings could not get out of the water. Their mother would get out and wait for them but they kept jumping into the cement side. The water level was too low. Some thoughtful person placed a piece of cardboard on the edge, but they couldn't figure it out. Becky was trying to get their attention so she could help them. They didn't fall for that either.
Becky was excited to be staying so close to the Capitol (3 blocks). She got yelled out once for being too close-she was trying to look in the windows.

The Reluctant Beekeeper; Part II