Days 67 - 73

7 - 13 Dec. It seems like the days have screamed by in the last couple weeks. Not sure if it’s a Christmas thing or just my own poor time management skills. I just returned from Charleston, SC. It’s a very nice area and I can see why folks seem to be flocking to it. During my travel I did get to chat with the Bean on multiple occasions. Her spirits continue to rise directly with her ability to do what she considers a “good job”. It seems like her team is growing tighter, but her QA, John is preparing to rotate back to the world. Oddly enough, he works at the General Dynamics C4 Systems campus as me in Scottsdale. I hope to spend a little time with him when he returns to get a “real” debrief!! LOL. Kathy had a real nice treat on Friday. At FOB Fenty, the Special Operations contingent is a separate organization within the base. They have dedicated chow halls, etc. Remember, many of these troops are designed to look like the locals so they have long beards, wear local garb, etc. They invited the DCMA team (The DCMA team is Kathy and what I like to refer to as “The Boyz – the three guys on her team) to join them for lunch. As luck would have it, it was steak and lobster day. Had they known Beanie’s panache for pounding down lobster, they may have rethought their initiation. Beanie polished off three, count’em, three lobster tails. For those of you that know Beanie well you’ll quickly realize that Beanie’s love of lobster is directly correlated to the availability of drawn butter so I’m guessing a cup or two of drawn butter probably accompanied those lobster tails. In her defense, she was to shy to go for the third tail on her own, so one of the guys went thru the line and got it for her. I would love to have heard the conversation between “The Boyz”. I suspect it referenced a hollow leg and “for a little girl she can pack away some food!!” I LMAO when she told me the story. It’s a good sign of stress reduction. Unlike me who feeds a fever, feeds a cold, feeds stress (you get the picture!!); Kathy tends to not eat when she’s stressed out. Yep, I think she might have been chillin’ that day.

Kathy has received a couple of boxes from folks and if she hasn’t contacted you directly, she sends her thanks. Her mom & dad sent her a little Christmas care package that had a package of Christmas pot porri (like I spelled that right!). She loved it. She spread it around her office and said it looks great and the spruce/pine smell really brought Christmas to her container. Nice call ma!! I did the same thing at home, but I used beef jerky. Me and the kitties sit around with a content smile on our face. She’s also got books, hot chocolate, and a bunch of other nice things from many of you. Your thoughts and efforts really do make a difference. Nothing is nicer than a card or letter from home, even in the digital age.

I head out to North Carolina on Tuesday. I’ll be there till Thursday after which I am heading to Alabama to see Kathy’s Johnny & Judy (Kathy’s sister/brother-in-law), Bud & Jean (Kathy’s folks), and then down to Florida to spend a couple days with my brother Doug and his bride, Penny. I fly back to the valley on Christmas day where the kitties and I have a wild Christmas party planned for all the strays in the neighborhood. I hope to get a couple more blog entries in over the holidays, but in the event that I fail miserably, on behalf of the Bean, me, and the kitties, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and fabulous New Year. Once again, we thank you all for your continued support, friendship, and camaraderie. Cheers.