"Poof"

We had our softball party this past weekend. We won the over 35 state women's softball tournament this past summer so it was time to celebrate at our sponsors place "Boomers!"

It is always fun to get caught up with the "old players" and just BS a bit and throw back a few beers which always makes things more interesting! One word sums up the whole evening...................POOF! I will not elaborate on the story behind the word as it would incriminate one of my friends on the world wide web...do I really care?....HELL YES!......(unless there is a pitcher of beer, with a unique cooler cylinder, in it for me then maybe I will give up some info)....hahaha......am I really that shallow?......HELL YES!!............hahaha........LOVE YOU MAN!!!

What a Weekend

Off to Pierre we went for a fun filled weekend of celebrations for the Vietnam War Vets Memorial and just time to get away that we all know that is well deserved and over due in our lives at times!

The start was great we got there and my roomies brother-in-law had the cooler waiting for us and in a blanket if ice was Newcastle (nectar of the Gods) and other brand beer........................
...AAAHHHH!

We got up on Saturday and headed out to the parade route. We were right at the beginning of the route and just missed all the motorcycles at the start of the parade but that was ok....lots more to come later! The parade was about 1 1/2 hours long and was well worth the viewing. Lots of well deserved recognitions for the Vietnam Vets!

Saturday afternoon we watched the dedication of the memorial at the house. We felt it was going to be really busy down by the capital and also we thought that veterans should be there and that we didn't want to take space so that a vet didn't have room. While watching the ceremony I saw my God parents!! I later asked for their autograph and told them they were on TV and of course always good for a laugh my God mother replied "Glad I was not scratching my ass when the camera was on me!!!".....hahaha....

We hit the concert they had that night CCR and Steve Miller band. CCR rocked and of course it was fun people watching. There was one lady that seemed to think that all of us enjoyed her dancing...little did she know we all had a HUGE laugh over her dancing..not that it was all that bad but it was VERY sugestive and all we could think about was how many chiropractor visits we would need to get things back in place if we had been dancing like that plus they didn't have a pole for me to dance by so that took me out of the picture right away! The Steve Miller band was good but they played only one of their songs in an hour otherwise it was songs from people he toured with. By this time it was getting REALLY cold so we headed back to the house to have Chili and more beer!

Sunday we went to the memorial to see the staue and of course it was still busy with a line to walk up and see it. It is an awesome site. I went down to see the WW1 and WW2 memorial statues and there was a Vietnam Vet there that wanted a picture of the statues. I asked if he wanted to be in the picture that I could take it for him. Of course he said yes. I snapped the picture and then told him I was not sure if I got the last statue in the frame but he said he didn't care that it was an honor to stand with them and of course he was very emotional and thanked me numerous times. That really hit me. You couldn't help but wonder what he had been through in Vietnam and how he was treated when he got home.

This was a LONG OVER DUE tribute to men and women of the Armed Forces!!!
www.sdvietnamwarmemorial.com

CERT Drill

What a fun day I had on Saturday! I am a member of CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) all my friends call it my "breath mint club".....anyway CERT is a voluntary organization that helps out in any sort of disaster natural or man made. We train under the local fire department.

Saturday we had a drill at the fire training tower. I arrive as per the time shedule and was let in to the airbase (fire tower is on the airbase / airport property) only to be stopped by the MPs at the one gate to get to the airport perimeter road that takes you to the fire tower. He was nice and didn't give us too much hassle but questioned us on what the hell we were doing there! I guess I should have taken my Osama mask off but I thought it would be fun.....hahaha......Anyway we got to the tower and had a disappointing showing of CERT members....whopping seven of us! Our CERT had also invited the Boy Scouts to help out with the exerciese. I think there were five of them and three leaders.

Our fearless leaders (2-Fireman) showed us a few things on tying knots and using a compass on searches before we headed to test what we had learned out in the field. They split us up into two person groups and away we went. Lucinda was my partner for the day. She is good partner to be teamed with.....not a know it all like some seem to think they are.... but a regular person with enough knowledge to make her dangerous...like me!!......haha....just kidding...anyway we headed off to testing our strides at 100 yards then headed to the first compass course. Once we found each point in the tall grass we had to flip the card listing a task we had to complete like tying a specific knot, triage a patient, splint a part of the body (fireman always get a kick out of that) and do a pressure dressing. We passed the course with flying colors!!! Then it was onto the search in the house. The boy scouts had tried to hide themselves in the training house (ranch house with windows blacked out and all sorts of booby traps set up inside) along with three plastic babies. To top it off they gave us a set of googles with obscured plastic over them to simulate THICK smoke....it was hard and HOT!.......anyway we made it through the maze of rubble, beds, chairs, sofas..etc and missed one kid. I guess everyone team missed that kid...dang it! ...MY POOR KNEES.....get this.....WE DID THIS SEARCH FOR FUN(acronym for F**KING, UGLY, NIGHTMARE!!)!!!!!! One kid I smacked on the head a few times to make sure what it was.....hard to tell with our glass and gloves on....then he started laughing so we knew I had a victim!!! We then headed off to our second compass course and passed that. Our group concluded with discussion and a pot luck lunch which was great!!!

All in all it was a great drill as the numbers were small so we got a little more one on one training and you didn't feel rushed!

I also found out that a few of us that had taken a class to be certified first responders need to do some continuing education...UGH...there goes a few weekends in October and November for that!!! Oh well...it's all good!!!

I am ready for anything!!!..................NOT.................you can never be too prepared!!!

Day of Birthdays!!!

Today is my best friend/roommates birthday and also my sisters birthday. They were born one year apart...kind of strange! Glad I will never be as old as they are!!!...hope you guys aren't reading this!...It will be a few years before I get my AARP card and it is just around the corner for the birthday girls!!......hahaha!!

Celebrate ladies!!!!....Kon-ga-loosch!!!

On a more exciting note we have made our reservations to go to Mickey's house ºOº!! I can't wait! We have a group of six going at this point so that will be fun. Good FOOD, Good Wine or Black and Tans at Rose and Crown and GREAT FRIENDS!!!...what more could a person ask for?

Golfing

Of course last night was golf night. It has been a while since I last golfed but it didn't go too bad. I have to say golfing is more social for me than anything. I don't take my game all that serious..YET!...I have been part of two tournaments that I have been teamed with two different people and we have won the first flight in each tourney.......Glad I could carry my teammates during the tournaments......hahaha......as it seems I am the constant in the both equations.....hahaha!!!.....Whatever! I am sure I have a few people that know how "well" I golf laughing at that one! At least our golf group plays for fun (well...ok some club throwing and breaking has been known to happen-not by me!!) and we do solve the worlds problems...well at least in "our world"!!!!.................................burp......oops...damn knob creek.....

Dirty Jobs

Ok, kind of a strange night last night. Had some friends over for GREAT carbonara and wine. We ended up watching Diry Jobs on Discovery. Can you imagine sipping on a nice glass of wine watching Mike Rowe digging "poo" out of an over run toilet from sewage back up?.....YUP.....I love my friends!!!

Great Quote

Not much new today but thought I would share a great quote!

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them" -----Walt Disney

Bike Envy

Saw my nieces new bike today....pretty dang nice. It is a Trek 1500 with Discovery Team paint colors. I feel the need to go love up my cannondale (older model-great shape-suntour groupo which is not made anymore) after flirting with the Trek!

Football-Baseball

One again it is that time of year when the fantasy football leagues come to life....UGH! I decided to try one more time after playing the last three years and doing ok. Last year I just could not put my heart into it. Not sure why...Maybe getting burned out, tired of all the "franchise players"-screwing things up?......I think it could be fun this year as I have contributed a few more teams to our ESPN league that are "family" members. There might have to be some bragging rights along the line somewhere during the holidays if things go right for ME!!!. We will see............

I am hoping that football will keep my mind off my ever loosing Cubs! Don't get me wrong I am not a fair weather fan but am very frustrated that they can not put a winning team on the field. I guess most of all when we have great players they tend to trade them off or keep players that have been hurt year after, year, after year!....Will this ever end? We will have to see what changes they can do during the off season.

Hello

Well, this is a first for me. Never thought I would be a blogger but here it goes...........

Might have to wait as I have so many things going through my head at this point! I think I need to refine it, filter it and then let it go...........will write soon!!!