Re-engage Maverick!

Its 5:33 pm

    What started as a cool and rainy day has turned into a humid one with some thunderstorms rumbling across our area. The storms have kicked up to my north and I haven't heard anything but the sound of a drizzle.
  The couple of days have been slightly better...my neighbor Al broke out his grill and smoker yesterday and made a feast of ribs,burgers,brats and a pork loin. His kids and his special lady all came over to enjoy a good meal. I came over and "helped" him out,all I did was move a piece of fencing out of his way. Once we got the smoker going,we made coffee and talked for a while. We checked out the new neighbor's dogs as they romped across the lawn with each other.



 As we chatted,we heard a rumbling in the sky and pretty soon we saw what was causing it...the Yankee Air Museum was open and running for Memorial Day. They were offering rides in of their restored planes,a B-25 medium bomber. The B-25 Mitchell was made famous during Col. Dolittle's daring raid on Tokyo.






The museum has between 1 and 3 Mitchell's in it and for a fee of between 400-600 dollars,you can get a ride around the area. They also offer the same ride for a B-17 but we didn't see that plane yesterday.
 As a matter of fact,we don't if our annual airshow will even happen this year because of the budget cuts. I takes a LOT of money to put a Blue Angel team in the air and with the Republicans screaming for budget cuts,well the airshow will be a casualty of that. We can only hope enough private owners can offer up thier planes to help keep the interest going. As much as I love the old prop planes,I'm going to miss watching F-18s scream over our house leading up to the show.

  Came home long enough to grab my keys and make a run to Dollar Tree where I got a couple of mini phone books. I posted on my FB wall about our phone book being misplaced and having to replace it. I also got more trash bags as well. Then it was off to Meijer where I got fresh milk and some bread. I told Deb,our regular cashier the news. She was saddened by the news and asked if I doing okay...I said I was doing alright and came home. Basically,this what I need to be doing right now...re-engaging back into my life. Making two small runs was a good start....
  But it still comes up...I made some coffee and prepared mine and then Lori's. I don't know why that happened only that it did and it hurt like a mofo. I ended up drinking water instead and put my items away.
Went over and had dinner at Al's. Watched the Tigers hold on to beat the Pirates,6-5. Justin Verlander looked pretty good as he struck out 13 while throwing 97 mph. After the game,I came home and started for the 3rd time to put away the laundry on the bed....which I again failed to do.
   Got a phone from my old friend Monte in Arizona. His brother has cancer and we talked about that and how I told him to tell his brother to "ask questions,just don't accept every answer". Monte and I talked about various things,he let me talk quite a bit. I now also have a open invite to visit Arizona. I haven't there in about 25 years.



Monte,during his One Step Beyond days.

Went to sleep early for a relative change...slept well for the first time in months. Only woke up twice during the night....

  Today I got up and called the exterminator that Lori and I used three years ago when we had a nasty case of carpenter ants. JC Honey is his name and he is a master of pest control. I had not seen a single ant in the house until Saturday night when I saw a little sugar ant. I called JC right away because I just can't afford a out of control ant problem,this was another tiny step forward.
   Called my job and spoke to my FES/HR guru,Pam,who said to come on down and talk. I cleaned up,brushed my teeth and drove down to the job.
After asking how I was doing,Pam and I talked schedule while waiting for our store manager to clear his call,he too,wanted to talk with me. After talking to both of them,I headed out...talking to several folks who asked how I was doing. (Sorry again,Kayla....coffee this weekend if we work together,I promise)
  I felt a little lighter on my feet,I need to go back to work,ASAP. Because bills wait for no man.

Lori's brother is selling Comet for me. We are using the proceeds to buy the headstone for the burial plot...we each are contributing 1,100.00 towards that which is very fair. My share will come from the sale of Comet...so I had to make a run to the Secretary of State to let them know I was transferring the title to her brother. That was a hard thing to do....I think I'm going to hold off my yard sale idea until August,I am not in any hurry to lose any of her things right now. I am just not ready...
 
  I drove home feeling uneasy....at my job,our HR person is a very nice man named Justin. He has a family and he is a Naval reservist who trains firemen. He has served two tours overseas and is very proud of his service as he should be. He is the man I wrote about whom I teased last college football season when San Jose State shut out Navy,12-0.
  He and I enjoy a lot of the same music and he loves Stevie Caballero,the pioneer skateboard legend.
He really is the soul of our store,he is liked by everyone.
 So why am I uneasy? Because he is now on active duty in Afghanistan...manning a security check point! Think about this for a second and know that the Pentagon is even more fucked up then average citizen realizes. You have a Navy reservist manning the most dangerous job the military has going today. 12 hours a day,during a troop withdrawal and some dumb ass brasshat decides to put Justin in a job that a far more highly trained Army infantryman should be doing. You don't slap 4 weeks of basic on a man and stick him in a hellhole and in a front line position like that. What made this worse was he was told he wouldn't have to go and he was scheduled to rotate back...but he was smart enough not to tell his son. For wouldn't you know it,the day BEFORE he was supposed to come home,he was told he was once again heading back overseas.
 What a total FUBAR this has turned out to be.



We are waiting for his information to be posted at my job,when it is,I will post it here so the folks here will take the time to send him a letter or care package.

Started work on the next installment of "8 Questions with....." I think this interview will be quite fun and just a reminder....we still have 2 free CDs of Carl Henry to give away as with 3 free 3-books of romance writer Jan Romes.  All you have to do is leave a comment on their interviews (and have a Amazon account if you want Jan's book). So I hopefully will have that up and running very soon....

To those of you who have started sharing my blog with your friends and family,I'm very thankful. I know a new chapter is about to start for me but for now,I like to linger in this for a little while.

You can find on Twitter @Jinzo_2400