Been awhile but here’s a photo post. Getting to be nice weather so time to get out with the camera! So sit back and enjoy the first photo post in a long time… as always click on any photo to be taken to my Flickr account where there are more photos on the topic.
Until next time!
During the initial stages of dealing with Rappy’s injury (She did it right before we left and was hospitalized the whole time we were gone) we attended a joyous occasion of Aaron graduating from Basic Training. He’s in the ROTC program for the Army/Wisconsin Army National Guard. Part of this is he has to complete Army Basic Training. He did his at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Here’s the trip in pictures. As always you can click on one and go to my Flickr account where there are many more (yes this for the grandmothers.)
To get there we went through St. Louis.
Then we got to the base. Now I know why the Army guys called it Ft. Lost In The Woods because it’s in the middle of NO WHERE!
RHP – rank has privileges. Yet being an Senior Officer Mike reserved a cabin for us and his parents. It was nice with two bedrooms, full kitchen, living room, and bath. If you are really curious there are photos of the interior over on Flickr. We were on base and didn’t have a far drive to anywhere. Not that there was a lot to go to other than the graduation. We did spend time at the museums on base (another post for that) when Aaron was busy.
Needless to say I was thrilled to see him. (not at all thrilled to see myself in a photo it always makes me feel physically ill). We had to sign him and his friend out for the evening. It was nice and we took them to dinner on base. His friend didn’t have family coming in for the ceremony so it was good to take him away from the barracks to relax. It was their first time out since they got there in January. Which reminds me here’s a picture of Aaron talking with Mike as he waited to leave for Basic.
Always going through the ever present paperwork.
Any way we got the guys back to the barracks and signed in for the night. Len and Donna, Mike’s parents, arrived later that night and we all got some sleep. It was a long day and stressful dealing with Rappy’s medical decisions multiple times a day during the whole process.
There aren’t any really good pictures of the ceremony. It was dark. We were far away. It was packed crowded. Still the graduation consisted mostly of jodis (the chants they march to), slide shows, music, and speeches.
Aaron was one of three graduates to make a speech. He was the last and spoke on courage. The funny story to that is he got up to the podium to find his speech notes gone, they were supposed to be there. So he just had to give it off the cuff from memory after only doing it a few times before. He did excellent his time as a state officer in DECA served him well. He maintained excellent eye contact with the audience and didn’t faulter. Talk about courage – then again he’s like me performing in front of people isn’t too bad.
We did make more pictures of him in his dress uniform after. Here he is with his proud dad.
Here he is with his friends that came with us. They didn’t have family attending so we took them out to eat off base to celebrate. Where did they want to go? Buffalo Wild Wings of course! LOL! Then just hang out at the cabin enjoying seeing tv, having their cell phones, and internet available for the first time since January.
Really it wasn’t THAT serious of a dinner but I KNOW he got tired of having his picture taken. He was also anxious to get some private time to call and talk with Sara. Once that was done it was a quick dinner on base then back to the barracks for the boys (I guess they are men now being in the Army and all). We chilled at the cabin. I had a good cry about Rappy as her prognosis wasn’t improving.
The next morning was a bit more time to ourselves as Aaron had to check into his next training school. That was 88Mike a big equipment/truck driving school. We checked out the on base museums. Something to see and got lots of photos for another post. Rappy was stablizing but still didn’t know if shew was going to make it until we got home.
After that we got Aaron. First he ad to deal with some uniform stuff. Also had to get the internet repaired at the cabin so Aaron could do his taxes. It wasn’t fun but we got it done.
Yes there were more pictures posed for to avoid Mom taking candids. He likes his picture taken just a wee bit less than I do.
Under his new command he had to wear a water camelback at all times.
I teased him about he wouldn’t dehyrdrate while driving that way. Also they marched about wearing eye protection glasses. I asked if eye injuries resulting from marching had resulted in this new development (new since Mike went through his training *cough* 30 yrs ago *cough*) Aaron just laughed and said the Drill Instructors wouldn’t put it past new recruits to poke themselves in the eye while walking. LOL!
We took Aaron to lunch on base at the golf course then dropped him off at his new school. That was the trip. Now he’s finishing up that school. Scary thought my son could now be driving a big rig – the boy I taught to drive! He’ll be coming home in a week or so. Then it’s back to college a changed man from the experience I’m sure.
Really quick update – we are home from Missouri. Rappy took her fall just as we were leaving for Aaron’s graduation from Basic Combat Training (BCT) at Ft. Leonard Wood. The vet saw her quickly and had to keep her as you know. It was a good thing as mechanical meningitis set in from the injury.
Graduation was great – photos and such to follow. Aaron looked awesome as you can see. It was good to see him and spend time with him. Good that he got to have a chance for long private talks with Sara (his girlfriend). Also good that Mike’s parents joined us there to see the graduation.
As for Rappy, she’s improved. She stood up on her own and took a few steps Saturday. I called the vet and I can come pick he up at 9am after her PT treatment. I do have discharge instructions for her they want to go over.
THEN I have work today on the evening shift. So good thing I slept most of yesterday – 6 hours on the drive and all night. Yes, it was an emotionally exhausting week. However everything seems to be heading in a positive direction now.
If you know me – you know I hate snow. I despise it. I’ve lived in Upstate New York, Connecticut, Michigan, and now Wisconsin. Each time my hatred so snow has grown. I’ve been here going on 9 years – it went from being pretty if I was inside and warm to keep the blinds closed I don’t want to see the damn stuff. A friend here asked me when I was going to develop at least an appreciation for snow, I said “when it’s warm and dry.” “That’s sand.” she said. “Exactly, ” I replied, “I’d rather be a the beach.” If the truth be known I don’t like sand either. Having lived where it is sand – trust me sand gets into everyTHING best to have tile floors and throw rugs that can be shaken out. However having spent half my life where it snows and half my life where it doesn’t – I prefer doesn’t and will take sand over snow any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Yet I’ve got at least another decade in Snowberia… so I thought I’d share what it looks like to live where we are getting regular snow storms of multiple inches at least weekly. Heck we deal with them then the East Coast whines and names the damn things.
For the benefits of my friends who have never lived through real winters (yes Tennesseans this includes you) here’s what every day looks like.
Here’s what it looks like at home in the winter –
Then this year I added the joy of driving to work in winter –
Oh there’s posts coming up of Mike’s snow shoveling. Yeah that’s another joy. I’d rather have to mow three times a week like in Charleston than ever see anyone shovel or blow snow again… Until next time –
Sorry bad health day yesterday. I am better today thank you doctors. I am moving slow and will take it easy this weekend. However, my stockpile of posts fails me but have a nice photo of mine instead. I’ll be back on regular schedule Monday with posts M-F.
So here’s a turtle sunning itself in Silver Springs Florida.
Ahh doesn’t s/he look happy? Sometimes we have to slow down and enjoy ourselves. Turtles are built that way, sometimes humans have to be reminded.
So if Aaron’s done it Mike can’t be out done. That’s the rivalry between father and son. Back some time ago, Aaron went to Buffalo Wild Wings and took the hot wings challenge. He beat it and got his picture on the wall just after completing it – a smiling sweaty snotty saucy mess but victorious. Since then, Mike has wanted to go to the same place (the one here in Kenosha) and beat it to at least tie Aaron.
Well Saturday, February 16, 2013 was the day! We went to lunch there before grocery shopping. He decided it was time. The challenge is 12 wings in 6 minutes, one napkin, no drink, have to remove the meat with your mouth not your fingers. Here’s the photo post of the challenge.
He starts out well with a full basket of 12 Blazin’ Hot Wings
What I found most impressive is he wore a white shirt AND KEPT IT CLEAN!
Even his face was fairly clean…
They POURED on the sauce a lot more heavily than they do the normal order. Mike said it wasn’t that spicy (this from a man who eats habaneros raw) but the temperature hot got him more.
Here’s his victory!
Afterward he started turning pink as the spicy heat hit him. That stuff builds ya know…
What did he get for his victory? A great new T-Shirt
That’s the front and here’s the back
Until next time!
I grew up in Greene County Tennessee. The main town is Greeneville and their claim to history is being the home of Andrew Johnson the 17th President of the United States and the only impeached President until Bill Clinton. Both were aquitted at their trial, to be impeached is to be brought to trial while sitting in the office of President. Andrew went to fight for the President’s right to appoint and dismiss his cabinet at will (that’s it in a nut shell okay? much more political stuff going on) – Bill went because he’s a womanizer. Really which would you want to be known for going to trial about? LOL!
My family’s path crosses with Andrew’s several times on several branches. The biggest one was when he was governor of Tennessee he helped my 4th great grandmother Sarah Busick Bright secure her widow pension due her from her husband’s service in the Revolutionary War. That’s what brought Sarah and James Bright to Tennessee from Maryland – his Revolutionary War Land Grant for service.
Also I’ve got Andrew’s signature on several files as Vice President granting leave to Union Soldiers from Tennessee to attend funerals of family members. Don’t raise an eyebrow at that. Yes Tennessee did secede but East Tennessee where my roots are and Andrew was from – was staunchly Union. I’ve got less than 10 documented Confederates to over 100 documented Union service members in my family tree. Andrew looked after the loyalist there from the time he was military governor through his Vice Presidency and his Presidency.
Andrew settled in Greeneville when he was about 18 and opened a very successful tailor shop. He married a local girl who taught him the basic 3 Rs Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic. She supported his political bid. One interesting note was they were married by Abraham Lincoln’s second cousin. Thus the Lincoln connection went back to when Andrew was young knowing Lincoln’s cousin and father. Eliza read to Andrew as he’d sew and gave him her love of reading. His famous oratory skills were credited to his reading and hearing her read the great orators over and over.
In Greeneville the original tailor shop still stands inside a National Park building built around it to preserve it. His house across the street was always closed when I lived there but has since been restored and opened to the public. In 1851 which would have been while he was a Representative to the US Congress he built a large home that is now a National Park and is open for touring. A duplicate of it was built just up the hill from the original and is visible from the Nathaniel Greene Museum but is currently a private residence. I am curious how the layout inside was modernized.
Also a replica of Andrew’s birthplace in North Carolina was built just across from his first Greeneville house and kitty-cornered from his tailor shop. BUT DON’T be confused he wasn’t born in Greeneville he moved there. However when he returned after his tumultuous presidency the 1851 house held bitter memories of his son that had committed suicide. So he bought a farm out of town to make a home.
He’s the only President who went back to Congress in an elected position. After several failed bids he narrowly won the seat and returned as the Senator from Tennessee in January 1875. He was returning to Washington when he stopped by his daughter’s house in Elizabethton Tennessee to see her and spend the night. It was there he suffered a stroke and died.
Needless to say growing up near all these places we made many field trips here to see the President’s house and tailor shop. Other things like the museum at Tusculum College, the Nathanael Greene Museum, the Early Home of Johnson, the replica birthplace, and the statue all came long after I was gone.
So enjoy this photo post of the current Greeneville sights of Andrew Johnson. Oh and yes it is GreenEville being named for Nathaniel GreenE.
Until next time!
Mike is enrolled in this class on-line at the Joint Forces College in Norfolk, Virginia. As part of the course they meet in person for training two different weeks. One was just a few weeks ago in January. When Mike asked me if I was interested in going to Norfolk/Va Beach in January. You KNOW I answered yes with visions of snow piles at the end of the driveway feet tall and having endured winter in Wisconsin since before Thanksgiving dancing in my mind. I accepted my new job with the provision I had that week off to go to the beach.
Well, it didn’t turn out as I envisioned. First off this has been a great winter with less that 30 inches total for the whole season. Heck we even had some warm days in the low 50s in January. Those days happened to be the same time I was in Norfolk during a cold snap where they were – you guessed it in the 50s. No snow on the ground when I left nor when I returned. The real cold rolled in the next week when Norfolk returned to their pleasant highs in the 60s on good days touching 70. Outside my window as I write this sets 11 inches of snow. 8 of which fell while I was at work Thursday night. Even when I plan a get away from Old Man Winter I don’t get away.
However I did turn the trip into a writer’s retreat. In the mornings I made my breakfast and wrote in office there with our our. In the afternoon I enjoyed checking out beading stores and strolling on the beach. I ate good seafood fresh like you can NEVER get in Chicago. I slept in and was productive. So despite meeting my dreams of warming my bones after a Wisconsin below zero winter not being met – I’ll take this mild winter and a relaxingly productive week away any month!
First off I’ll show you our rooms. We stayed on base where Mike could walk to the Joint Forces College. Luckily that left me with the rental car to explore after my morning writer’s retreat.
Until next time!
One thing I noticed our first season here was the attention to yards. No really here and Michigan people on the whole tend their yards more than say in Tennessee, South Carolina, or Florida. Why I don’t know, but they do. I suspect it has something to do with the awful winters they generally have here and the Midwest ethos. I throw in the last part because there’s awful winters in upstate New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island (all place I’ve lived) but they don’t pay attention to lawns like Michigan and Wisconsin do.
This lawn attention carries on to holiday decorating. I showed you our neighborhood at Halloween, now let me introduce you to it during the Christmas season. There is a street here in Kenosha called Christmas Lane. It’s known for the over the top Christmas decorations. It all started as a friendly competition between two neighbors. They tried to out do each other every year. It got so competitive that tarps were put up so the other fella couldn’t see what was coming until the great reveal! Eventually the whole street joined in the spirit of lighting up the night.
What follows are highlights of our neighborhood and of Christmas Lane. You can click on any picture to be taken over to my Flickr account and there see even more photos.
Until next time!
Now that I’m up and running I’m looking back on my stay in the hospital. When you are in the hospital you aren’t at your best. Going in for planned surgery was better than being admitted for pneumonia but still anxiety was high. So things that I might get on the first take when I’m my usual self, in the hospital might take a bit longer or be greeted in odd thoughts. Then there’s the equipment – stuff I’m not familiar with and makes for new experiences.
One thing I remembered from my encounters with hospitals was being cold. No fears of that here. No I didn’t get a great warming/massaging bed like Dad had in ICU. But I did get a heated hospital gown called Bair Paws! I kid you not. My purple paper gown had ports that hooked up to a warm blower. Actually the blower reminded me of the old hair dryer mom used to have. You know the kind if you are a child of the 70s or earlier – the ones with the inflatable bonnet. So yeah you got a puffed out gown but it was TOASTY warm.
Next I was dehydrated so IVs were hard to put in. But what do you expect when you tell me not to consume anything including water for 18 hours? So they got one IV in and said they’d get the other in after I was out. Well the last thing I remember was we started wheeling out the gurney toward the nurse’s station and before we turned the corner to the door. BAM I was out.
The next memory was of someone having a damp sponge on a stick and swabbing my mouth. That was nice as my lip didn’t stick to my teeth any more. They also put lip balm on me. Not bad. I was relaxed sleeping well and someone was keeping me from being thirsty.
You know I never thought I’d have to be reminded to breathe. Even more than that – I never thought if I needed such a reminder I’d find it annoying. Still one of my memories is of a woman saying “Mrs. Eklund you have to breathe on you own now.” Well the first time she said it I thought “Oh, okay” and breathed. Then off to peaceful dreamland as a person who doesn’t sleep well – I was blissfully enjoying the dozing. Then she reminded me again. This time I thought ‘FINE I’ll do it go away! I want to sleep!!” Then about the fourth or fifth time I was getting beyond annoyed and onto pissed off. “Really lady bugger off your breathing thing I’m sleeping here!”
Next I was getting wheeled on the gurney into my room. Mike, Aaron, and Sara were there to greet me. They were asked to step out while the team got me settled. Don’t remember much until I woke and Mike was holding my hand. As I woke more I remember I no longer had on the purple warming gown. Well in most instances waking up to find yourself dressed in totally different clothes is disheartening but here it was par for the course, not as annoying as the breathe on your own lady was. For me it seemed just a nap between when I’d bid my family farewell and the waking in new clothes but it’d been about 5 hours or so.
As I progressed things made more sense but I discovered odd things about my post surgery body. It’s a bit disconcerting to think about people you don’t know dressing you while you are out. I know it doesn’t mean much to them, it’s a job they do and that’s that. But discovering say you have a scratch on the roof of your mouth from anesthetic intubation. Or finding I have a deep bruise on my right arm because of a failed attempt at the second IV. Or pondering did I have those scratches before? Good thing with the drugs to alleviate pain you tend to take it all in stride.
Speaking of stride – the first walk is always a dozy. I knew my abdomen would be sore I didn’t expect my hips to be so sore and stiff. The more I walked the better they felt so I wasn’t against doing the walks. The nights in the hospital are never restful. I mean why the heck wake me up in the middle of the night to do “dangles” to prepare me to walk the next day? “Dangles” are sitting up on the side of the bed with feet hanging off not touching the floor. They watch your blood pressure and stuff to make sure you won’t faint when it comes time to stand.
Oh, did I mention I loved the leg massagers? Okay I know that’s not what they are called. They are pneumatic compression boots that are to prevent deep vein thrombosis in the legs. I LOVED ‘EM. I’ll tell you my feet and legs always ache to some level or another. It’s just life after 40. But to have those on rolling pressure up and down my legs and over the soles of my feet. A dream come true – a leg massage all night long. The only thing that could have made it better was Hugh Jackman there doing it instead of pneumatic boots…
I have to take my hat off to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee. They were fantastic to make a difficult experience go as pleasantly as possible. They did all they could to make me comfortable and my family too. Everyone was beyond professional but genuinely caring and nice. Well except that faceless woman’s voice that kept waking me from the best sleep ever to tell me I now had to take the responsibility of my own breathing… Okay thanks to her too since because of those reminders I’m here but it was annoying when I was sleeping so well!
Until next time.
Mary Louise Eklund 