I have been fighting a cold this weekend. I have been using a different version of Ziacam, a gel you spray in your nose, I like the nose swabs much better. Anyway it has settled in the upper part of my lungs so I always feel like something is in my throat. Took some Tylenol Cold medicine last night, the non-drowsy kind that the pharmacist told me would not keep me up, it just didn't have the stuff in it that causes you to be drowsy. Anyway I think I was awake half the night tossing and turning. Now I feel really drowsy. I have Jason because his school is delayed 2 hours and I won't take him because that tends to be more trouble then it is worth, especially with the icy roads. So drowsy it is.

Finally some good news about housing. We moved up to 4th on the list. The person right ahead of us is gone. Don't know what the story is but he is no longer on the list. First person on the list is on some sort of lease hold, I have no idea how long he is on hold, but he can't take a house at the moment. #2 is our friends from KS and then #3 is someone moving from house to house on post.

I decided if we were going to wait for housing on post that I was going to choose which housing area to live in, actually it is more choosing what school the kids will go to. If I pick A6 they will attend the same schools that they are attending now. So I let housing know that I only wanted a new 4 bedroom in A6. One of the people in front of us will take a new house in either area, the other person wants one in A7. Right now we believe that two houses in A7 will open up around the first part of May. Hopefully that will take care of the two people in front of us. The good news is that puts us as the first person to be offered a house in A6.
All this could change if someone "key and essential" moves to Ft. Drum. They will automatically go first on the list. Key and essential is usually Commanders and the likes.

So I am very confident we will get a house on post this summer.

When the sheep have grazed and thinned the grass in the lower regions, the shepherd will take a little lamb in his arms, carry it up the mountain where the grass is green, lay it down, and soon the other sheep will follow.

Every now and then our Lord takes a lamb from the parched field of a family up to those heavenly green pastures, that the rest of the family may keep their eyes on their true home and follow through.

Fulton Sheen

Terry wasn't overly fond of the Cat so to make me feel like maybe Spring might come someday, I picked this beautiful sunflower. Wouldn't you know we woke up to another inch of snow this morning. It is suppose to warm to the mid 40s and maybe even 50 next week so that will make some progress on melting the 2 feet still on the ground.

Yes our temperature is starting to rise above freezing and stay for more than 5 minutes. What happens as 2 feet of snow melts, well it makes mud. As I hear Spring around here is very muddy. Not only is the snow melting, but it rains. Maybe the snow was a better deal.

Happy Easter

Today we went to eat at TIN PAN GALLEY in Sackets Harbor. Oh my goodness everything was so tasty. Terry had Smoked Salmon Bagel Benedict. Kids had tasty regular French toast and I had Chocolate French Toast with strawberries and Grand Mariner sauce. Wow was that incredible. Here are some photos from Sackets Harbor and my French toast. This is a narrow part of the Lake, and much to our surprise it is still Frozen. I didn't get a picture, but all the boats are up on docks, who would have thought you couldn't leave a boat in a lake all year. Can you tell I am from the Southwest?

Today is the first day of Spring, although looking out my window you wouldn't know as it snows huge flakes. So I guess I should say I am thankful to know that Spring will come someday. Local people keep assuring me that it will happen. Even the locals are tired of the snow. I guess it usually doesn't last this long.
Spring is my favorite time of the year. I love the first warm days when you can start playing outside again without 3 layers of clothes. I love watching everything start to turn green and all flowers start coming back. I can only imagine that someday it will be very green and pretty around here.

I was wondering this and just haven't taken the time to look it up. Today Foxnews.com had this article on their website. The Easter bunny comes early this year - But Why?

My sister in law Liz, went back to work today as a teacher in the same school where I graduated and where all her kids graduated. She spoke to the students in grades 6th thru 12th and this is what she said.

I have had two very difficult days in the month of February. The first on being February 18, the day I found out that our son Kirk had died as the result of a pick up accident. The second day was February 22, the day we buried him never to see his body again until we meet him in heaven.

Today is my third most difficult day. Some of you may wonder why I say this. Today is the day that I ask all of you as teenagers, sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, nephews, nieces, cousins, and friends to please think before you get into a vehicle if you have been doing something you shouldn’t have been doing. Please think to buckle your seat belt. Please think about the speed you are driving. Please just think.

This is what Kirk did not do. He did not think about what would happen to him that night as he took out on the back roads late Saturday night and did not let anyone know where he was going. He did not think to buckle his seat belt. When we tried to call him on Sunday morning his phone first said he was out of the area so we didn’t think much about it, later it just gave that funny ring and we started to get a little worried, but when it rang and rang and he didn’t answer we were very worried. By Sunday evening his friends were out looking for him. But where, no one knew where he had gone. On Monday morning we started searching the back roads. Jimmy said, “Let’s go down this one and I said, No he probably went to Logan so we took the other road. Around noon we received a call that Kirk had been in an accident and it wasn’t good. We also found out it happened on the road Jimmy had wanted to take. We arrived at the scene to see Kirk trapped under the pick up from his hips down. He came upon a sharp curve and probably stepped on the brakes a little to hard and the 500 pounds of feed in the feeder shifted forward the pick up took a nose dive and rolled over on its side. Kirks foot was trapped in the steering wheel when he was found. We thank the dear Lord that he was taken to heaven instantly. Kirk had laid there for almost 36 hours before he was found. It wasn’t until Thursday that we found out why Kirk was on that road. When the funeral director brought us Kirks bag of clothes. He said what was he wearing this bag is very heavy. In the bag was the chaps Kirk was wanting to buy, they probably weighed around 20 pounds. Then we figured it out because Kirk was also wearing his shoes. He was trying to come home a safe way to get the boots he had forgot to see if they would look good with the chaps he was wanting to buy. On his cell phone he had 42 missed calls and many texts. But Kirk didn’t think, because if he had he could of waited until the morning.

So now you know why this is my third most difficult day and this is why I ask you all to take the time to think about what you are doing. Maybe if Kirk had done so he would still be here with his family. In losing Kirk we lost our son, the son that wanted to run the ranch some day, Derek and Ashlee lost their brother, Kirk’s grandparents lost their grandson, Kirk’s Aunts and Uncles lost their nephew, Kirk’s cousins lost their cousin, and Kirk’s friends lost their friend.

So I ask all of you again to think before you get into a vehicle if you have been doing something you shouldn’t have been doing. Please think to buckle your seat belt. Please think about the speed you are driving. Please just think so your family doesn’t have to grieve the way our family has had to. Life is to precious to not think about you actions. Please think, think, think.

Today a month after he died, I am thankful for the 22 years we had with Kirk. He was a constant source of entertainment. I am thankful that even though we traveled and lived far away we saw him grow up into a fine young man. I am thankful I saw him as an excellant cowboy, a force on the football field or on the basketball court and good friend. I am sad I missed many things, like the basketball game in Clayton where he played so well, the Ranch Rodeo where he rode a saddle bronc and his last Christmas on earth. I am thankful to have a heart filled with fond memories of Kirk holding all my babies, and sad that he never held his own newborn for the first time. I am thankful that the love of my life was such a roll model for Kirk, I only wish he would have found the love of his life. Today I am thankful for my time with Kirk, all too brief.

Today I am thankful for my kids and all the crazy things they say, but especially Jason who always comes up with the good ones.

Like the time he walked into my neighbor Jenny's kitchen and asked her "What the hell are you doing".

Or at Liam's baptism party when he walked into a room full of adults drinking and eating too much and said "There is a baby playing in the toliet".

Or today when he looked at me and said "Did you put watermelons under there?" I say "under where?". By this time Dylan is about to fall off his chair laughing when Jason starts to grab my chest. I am taking this as a huge compliment as he could have said golf balls or worse yet marbles....

Today I am thankful to have a wonderful Priest that I can understand (no accent). I am also thankful that he can get his point across. He is also very good with children and likes to involve them and everyone else in Mass. I feel blessed to be in such a strong Catholic Community. I am also thankful for the Priest that said the mass at Kirk's funneral. He wanted us to celebrate Kirk's spirit and to continue living it.

I am thankful for my wonderful family and my friends around the country who have been praying for us. We have very strong family ties on both sides and we love you all. We have also been fortuntate enough to meet some incredible people in our 17 years of travels, in every place we have lived we have met some of the bravest, kindest, most sincere people. It is truely a blessing to have you all in our lives.

I am so thankful that the kids, Terry and I have stayed healthy this winter. So many people have gotten nasty bugs and have been sick for weeks. Our lives could have been so much more miserable had we been battling the bugs. So today I thank God for keeping us healthy.

Since all my posts for the past few months have been on the grouchy side, I thought I would spend the next week, the week before Easter, the most important event for Catholics being more thankful. So everyday I will post at least one thing I am thankful for. I challenge each one of you reading this to do the same. Just click on the comments and add something you are thankful for.

So much crap has happened in the past 3 months that I finally have to throw up my hands and say "I give up." If you haven't read my earlier blog about housing here is a brief summary. When we got back from NM after attending my nephews funeral, we found out we had been bumped on the housing list. After visiting with the housing welcome center we found out that housing had sent out a letter to all the people living in old houses that have not been renovated telling them if you will pay to move yourselves we will put you to a priority 2 (normally moving from one house to another on post is priority 4)on the housing list. After a phone call to the Associate Director of Property Management asking them to review it I was told sorry we have to do that in order to get all the houses on post renovated. We have Garrison Command to do it. We are now #5 on the list for a new house (when we got on the list in Dec we were #3). One person is on lease hold so we will be offered the 4th houses that becomes available. Are you asking if 1 or 2 places really makes a difference, well yes when you are talking about 4 bedroom homes that are in short supply, yes there is a huge difference, if not enough homes go on notice this summer when do you think any will come open this winter???? I know many of you are wondering why we just don't give up and continue to live off post. Here is one answer we have paid over $1200 in propane and electricity to live off post. I don't even want to know what the commute is costing us at over $3.30 a gallon for gas. So I guess we are here at the money pit in the middle of no where, where my neighbors don't even know I am here for an indefinite amount of time.

It is still extremely hard to believe that Kirk is gone. My mind wants to believe that when I go back this summer to visit he will be there. Anyway this is a nice little news piece about him. If you click on the picture I think it will get bigger.

Recently a friend made dinner for me and loaded it into a reusable bag from the commissary. I was amazed how easy it was to carry and decided to look it up on www.commissaries.com. Turns out they are $.70 each and available at your local commissary. Next trip to the commissary I bought some and now I think they are the greatest thing ever. They are so much easier to carry than plastic or paper and they are sturdy. It handles 2 gallons of milk with ease. And there is that little thing about "being Green" (doing things good for the environment). Try them and let me know what you think.

We have had a few storms where and it rained then froze. This week it was a bad one. It came Tuesday night and continued thru Wednesday. Terry had chipped some of the ice off my car, but Thursday morning I had to do the rest to get to a 7:00am doctors appointment. It came off fairly easy in large chunk. I left the majority on the hood thinking I would never get it all off and it will eventually melt off. The ice on the hood was a good inch thick. I meant to take a picture when I got home from the doctor, but while I was in the doctor the ice had melted the bottom layer (engine heat silly) and while I was driving down the road the whole sheet lifted up and flew behind me and smashed into a million pieces on the road. This would be a much more interesting story had a car been following me. Honestly it had to be at least 3 x 3. Can you imagine that coming towards you as you are driving. Thank goodness no one was close behind me. Lucky for me my drive way is in the shade, it is a skating rink and I don't know how I haven't fallen yet.

I know there are some people out there that don't take pictures, Terry and I have always been pretty good at getting the camera out and taking those shots. Right now these pictures are priceless.
Kirk, Jason, Dylan, Derek and Tyler (Tyler's 4th birthday)

Don't go to housing when you are having a bad week. No news is better than bad news. Went to chat with housing today. We have been bumped to #4. I guess housing is getting nervous about renovating all the older houses so they sent out a letter saying hey we will put you at the top of the list for a new house if you will move yourself into it. So I have no idea how many of these people might decide to move bumping us even further.

The other wonderful bonus of waiting off post for a new house is that they will only give us a week to two weeks notice that a house is available. I have to give my landlord a months notice. So in the end I will pay double rent for at least 2 or 3 weeks. Great!!!!

So I guess my greed in wanting a bigger house is kicking me in the butt about now. We were careless in not asking questions about who could bump us. We thought 3rd on the list looked pretty good. The Army certainly isn't persuading me to encourage my spouse to stay in past 20 years.