Month: August 2005

  • Luke Air Force Base, Phx, Az.

    Me
    and Captain Quasar.  Of course Quasar was just a nickname, all
    pilots have nicknames.  This is from 1983.  I was the second
    enlisted dependant to ever take a ride in an F-15.  The first was
    my friend Gay and she’s the one who did all the work getting “spouses
    day” set up, so it only seemed fair.  There were two available
    rides and there were over 30 spouses there so we all put our names into
    a hat and my name got pulled out.  I was so excited.  We went
    thru a simulater first, did takeoff and landings.  (I kept scraping
    my tail on takeoff.)  Then we went to get our flight suits, you
    can’t tell but those boots are two sizes to big and I kept tripping
    over everything. 

    Then it was finally time. 
        He let me taxi down the runway and when he kicked in
    the afterburners we blew a brake stopping.  The g-suit kicked on
    and it was the best feeling ever, a full body hug from ankles to
    neck.   I wanted to go and keep going, I wanted to soar into the
    sky and never come down.  Those planes are awesome, if you ever
    get a chance to fly co-pilot in a fighter jet don’t say no.  It’s
    an experience you’ll never forget or ever regret.

    Oh and check out those 80s glasses, what the hell was I
    thinking?  I wonder where the Tallyho reporters were that day?
    hmm, maybe out having their own party!

  • Happy Birthday AllieMcNally!

    I remember feeling like the only walking whale on the planet stranded in Phoenix Arizona in August.  Praying to God to please just let me have this baby.  We were in the middle of a heat wave, the temperature was hovering at 112 degrees Fahrenheit.  Then after a day spent at what Arizonans laughingly call a lake it happened.  The first twinge.  At first I thought I imagined it, but it didn’t stop.  So I gathered my things, told my sister I needed to get going and without saying anything I went home.  I still wasn’t convinced it was true labor.  About 5 hours later I was a little more convinced.  Still, I never had those five minute apart contractions that everyone talks about, mine came when they wanted to.  Sometimes every ten minutes, then a minute, then 4 or 5.  Hmm, I thought to myself, is this really it?
    To this day I don’t know why I didn’t call one of my 3 sisters or my mom, but I didn’t, I instead went to a neighbors’ house.  She had 2 kids and I figured she would know what was going on.  Bear was working the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at Luke Air Force Base and I was to excited to sleep so off I went.  She confirmed what I thought……the dreaded labor.  I immediately started to get scared.  And the bargaining that went on in my head……..Dear God, I will gladly stay the size of a whale forever if you don’t make me go into labor.  Yes, I was that afraid of the pain I knew was coming.  But God in his infinite wisdom let the pain roll on. 
    Martha was the kind of friend that didn’t care that I showed up on her doorstep at 1 a.m. she sat with me and kept me calm until Bear showed up at 7:30, he had got home and figured out pretty quick where I was even though I didn’t leave a note.  We went home talking about whether or not it was true labor because I still wasn’t having the expected every 5 min contractions.  We decided it wasn’t after all.  So he jumped in the shower, I got ready for bed.  He was standing at the foot of the bed and I sat up and said “well I guess I fooled you huh?”  And as soon as the words left my mouth, my water broke.   So that settled the question of labor pretty quick.   Poor man, by then he had already been awake for 16 hours and here we were heading for the Base hospital. 

    Things went downhill from there.  I renewed my bargaining with God.   I went thru all the humiliations they used to do in the dark ages, you know shaving, enema, stupid stuff that women now days don’t have to go thru while having contractions.  Then finally I got a bed of my own.   Bear never left my side from that moment on, a better coach and partner could not be found on this planet.  Neither one of us had had any sleep since the day before and I still wasn’t having regular contractions so they hooked me up to a monitor and gave me pitocin to speed labor.  I thought great, hell yeah, let’s get this over with.  Ha,ha!  What they fail to tell you is it greatly increases contraction strength, thus pain is increased as well.  I stayed in third stage labor for the next 5 hours.  During this time we could hear from across the hallway another woman in labor.  She cussed her husband, the doctor, the nurses and every person that walked by the door.  I remember one good one clearly.  She said to her husband…”If you ever touch me again you son of a bitch, I’ll kill you.”  For some reason this embarrassed me no end.  I apologized every 5 seconds to Bear, I apologized to the nurses, my mom and both of my sisters.  Every time someone came near me I apologized over the wails coming from the room across the hall.  By 6:15 p.m. I was trying to push.  This time I was telling God, “please get her out of me, please, please!”  So he did.  At 7:14 p.m. on August 19th 1982 in Phoenix, Arizona the best daughter in the world was born.   A gift from God above, a miracle if I’ve ever seen one.  From the minute I laid eyes on her it was the deepest and truest love I’ve ever felt in my life.  The only thing that will ever match it was the day my second daughter was born.  I thought my heart couldn’t possibly hold anymore love and I was proven wrong.  They are the embodiment of all that is the best and worst of Bear and me.  And we see their flaws and we see their strengths and we love them all the more for them both. 

    My wish for her today is that everyone click on the AlliMcNally link at the top of the page and go wish her a Happy Birthday.  Spread a little cheer and celebrate!

     

    And to you Allison, I wish for you today what I have wished for you every day since that day 23 years ago.  I hope you find happiness and contentment in whatever  you choose to be and wherever you are.   I Love you! mom.

     

  • From our fourth president: 


       “I believe there are more instances of
      the abridgement of the freedom of the
      people by gradual and silent encroach-
      ments of those in power than by violent
      and sudden usurpations.”
    -JAMES MADISON


    If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”
      —  James Madison


     



    “If you establish a democracy, you must in due time reap the
    fruits of a democracy.  You will in due season have great
    impatience of the public burdens, combined in due season with
    great increase of the public expenditure.  You will in due season
    have wars entered into from passion and not from reason; and you
    will in due season submit to peace ignominiously sought and
    ignominiously obtained, which will diminish your authority and
    perhaps endanger your independence.  You will in due season find
    your property is less valuable, and your freedom less complete.”

    - Benjamin Disraeli-1804-1881 Prime Minister of England
           Speech in the House of Commons
      March 31, 1850


    So i say Hmm, what do say?


     



     

  • I feel terrible about being such a slug, slow, fat and lazy. not slimy and gross.  (No comment from the peanut section.)   But here it is anyway…the polite way to welcome new subscribers.


    Welcome to randumbness that is indigo.  And like I said sorry for the delay.  I’m pretty sure my middle name is procrastination and on my headstone it will say something along the lines of….scheduled for death Monday, but she was running late. 


    GcHsChEeR          Morgane          soonaquitter         Kallikrates          OneOddFrog     MysteriousKK         redshark1      richskitten


    Some of these fine bloggers I have known and read for a couple of years, some are new to me and I’m glad you found me so I could find you.  New friends are always welcome.


    Beginning randumbness…you were warned.


    Yesterday, Mike and I went to the post furniture store.  He was looking for a bed and I needed a microwave table.  Actually he needed more than a bed because he just moved into an unfurnished apartment and even though we all said we weren’t going to spend a lot of money furnishing a place for just three years we all have.  But I digress.


    We were trying out the computer chairs when who walks in but Chief.  He had just spent the last 18 hours being hopped from place to place trying to get from Kandahar, Afghanistan back to Germany.  We haven’t seen him for 5 months so it was a surprise to see him back.  He was looking for a bathroom when we ran into him and as we talked he mentioned he was only going to be here until Thursday and then he’s going home to Oklahoma permanetly.  Next thing I know, I hear the words “you can stay with us” coming out of my mouth.  Even as I was saying it my brain is screaming, “Oh God you should discuss this with Bear first”.  Chief was thrilled and immediatly said yes…..saves a week of gasthaus rent. 


    Mike and I both had left our cell phones at my place so I couldn’t call and let Bear know I was bringing home a big Indian, so I had to just hope for the best.  We get home and I ran thru the door cheerily calling out….”Honey, I brought home a house guest.”  He warily looks up from his book and then sees Chief behind me.  His face breaks out in a big grin and I knew then everything was going to be okay. 


    Why, oh why can’t I seem to find the pause button on my mouth so my brain can catch up.  That’s me though always bringing home strays and believe me when I say this, it doesn’t always work out this good.


    By the way not only does Chief have 30 years Aircraft experience he also has a masters in American history with a focus on the American Native Tribes.  Bear says that’s the reason we get along so well.  I like to think it’s because I attract intelligent people. 


    This morning it was 8 celsius.  For those of you who need conversion of the temperature kind that 46.4 degrees farenheit.  I’m starting to wonder if we are going to have a summer at all.  I wish, right now as I sit huddled under my blanket in my warmest pajamas, that I could split the temperature difference between us and Texas.  I hear it’s over 100 there.  We could add the two together and come out a cool 73 degrees both places.  Now that would be nice.  Mike has started calling me Nanette when we go out at night, cause I bundle up so heavy.  Nanette as in, the female version of Nanook of the North.  I admit that when I get cold it’s hard for me to warm up again, but really the abuse I am forced to put up with.  lol. 



    Bear and Nanette.  Since this was taken in late April I should have had a clue on things to come.  Like I said earlier, I’m a little slow sometimes. 


    Okay here’s some real randumbness for you.  File under  “Weird happenings at the house of indigo”.  We bought a Braun coffe pot about 5 months ago.  Very nice with a carafe like an insulated thermos so we could just bring the whole thing into the living room.  (portable caffeine ummm.)  Anyway, the other day Bear gets up has his coffee and goes off to work.  A couple hours later at a much more decent hour, I get up go in to make my coffee and find this. 


      Not laying on its side ready for me to take a picture.  It was sitting on the unit.  I assumed Bear had dropped it or banged it against something and then just forgot to leave a note.  When he got home from work I asked “what happened to the coffee pot?”  By his blank look I knew he didn’t have a clue what I was talking about.  So I showed him and we’re still puzzling over that one.  Weird huh?


    Take some time today to be the one to say I love you.  Or I appreciate you.  Or I’m glad your my friend.  Unless you just can’t stand’em and then say, “Skeev off!”    


     

  • My uncle died last night.  Please don’t send any notes or E-Mails, I just need a couple of days.  I really appreciate every one of your thoughts and prayers.  I know he is in a better place and I think I’m grieving for my loss, not his.  Bear with me just a little longer, and then we won’t talk about this again, okay!


     indie.

  • Normally I love to get E-Mail but this past couple of days has me on tenterhooks waiting to get the news that my uncle is gone. (2 points for using the word tenterhooks correctly in a sentence.)  He woke up for awhile last night, he was lucid and recognized everyone that was there.  Then he slipped back into unconsciousness.  He’s on a straight morphine drip, good no more pain, and really no need to worry about addiction.  I’d like to thank my friends for sticking by me through this incredibly depressing business.  I understand that you might not know what to say, but your hearts  show you care, no need for explanations.  The words that you and you left meant the world to me also, you know I love you guys.  


    Kat had me laughing like a loon at her Revenge of the Sith post. see here or on her site.  That felt really good, laughing like that.  Bear kept looking over at me like he always does when I’m reading and laughing.  Finally I slid the computer over to him and sure enough it wasn’t long before he was laughing too.  It helps that we just saw the movie on Sat. so everything was still fresh in our minds.  My favorite was Lord Grievous’ “snappy comeback”.


    I just heard about this kid.  Just my luck that he subscribes to over 30,000 people in a little over two minutes and he somehow skipped me.  This kid is some kind of genius.  Now that the xanga gods shut down his site and wiped his subscriptions he’s had to promise to be a good boy and subscribe the old fashion way.  One at a time, or they’ll shut him down for good.  I read a lot of his site and he seemed sincere to me.  I think he just has the general hubris of all 18 year old males.  (2 more points for hubris.) 


    In case your wondering the literacy is all Branns’ fault, thanks to her and KOL I have had to bow down at the altar of literacy.  Not to hard for me to do either.  If they had a book of the day club instead of book of the month I would be first in line.  Sometimes reading fast is a curse. And don’t even get me started on tH15,  L8ly it’s been my F8 to see it alot and I H8 it.  Can’t you just type a complete word.  If it’ not a complete word it slows me down and that’s just irritating. (mini rant)  Hah! I typed runt first.  mini runt, that’s redundant.  (2 more)   Anyway she got me hooked on that ridiculous online game, currently I am a level 10 Moose Harasser.  (don’t ask it’s just scary)  It’s amazing what a person with time on there hands is willing to do.  The crazy part is how hooked I got, this is why I stay away from drugs.


    Did three things today and only one was pleasant.  Can you guess which?


    #1 Went and got my yearly “well woman”.  Nothing like a cold speculum in the morning…better than coffee. 


    #2 Saw my physical therapist, she isn’t pleased with my lack of mobility, wants an ankle MRI to see what’s up.  Maybe if I get it they’ll find my brain.


    #3 Got about 3 inches chopped off my raggedy dead hair and got the sides trimmed and shaped. 


     


    The suspense is killing you I’m sure.  oh, okay whiney  drum roll.  #2…….not what you thought is it, she speaks English and she massages my leg.  I am a sucker for a good massage.  So a visit to her is always a little pleasant. 


    The haircut comes in second place. My hair looks pretty good, even though she couldn’t speak English and I was terrified she’d whack it before I could stop her.  I think she did good.  I taught her a couple English words and she taught me a couple German. I have sucessfully started a diplomatic relationship with a new hairdresser.  For you guys out there sniggering over how dumb that sounds……think back to your last REALLY BAD haircut.  Did the barber speak English?  Imagine trying to explain what you want and getting nothing back but blank looks.  Then imagine having grown your hair to a really long soft mane over a period of YEARS.  Then sit your ass in the chair I was sitting in today.  (Hey, I think that qualifies as another mini runt.)


    If you only visit one link in this terribly long rambling discourse make it the one from Kat about Star Wars.  You won’t regret it. 


    Smiles from me to you! 


    A little addition I found.


    There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on
    Alzheimer’s research. This means that by 2040, there should be a large
    elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no
    recollection of what to do with them.

  • My uncle is dying.  If you pray, don’t pray that he lives, pray that God’s will be done. Pray for my Aunt, and his sisters and brothers and his children who will be left behind to mourn his death.  Pray for a peaceful passing.  Last night he was taken to hospice care.  His lungs are filling with fluid and his kidneys are shutting down.  He has congestive heart failure.  He’s tired and ready to go, we’re just not ready to let him go.  Isn’t that always the way with the ones we love.  I sit here over 6000 miles away wishing I could make it better, wishing I could be there, but all I can do is pray.  This is the sound of loneliness.  He is in God’s hands now and truly what safer place can you be?