Jim Garner and I went across the road to the range the other day to test fire a tank….. Well, he went to test fire and I went to take a picture of it….. Missed the actuall shot by a millisecond or two ( camera was too slow at 3 frames per second, should have had my other one at home it shoots 5 per second and the odds would have been better)

Anyway here are the pictures….

First Frank Morales Jim Garner and Joe Neilko at the Motor Pool before we went to the range.

Pretty day isnt it?

Now to the firing line, since they were remote firing (no one inside the tank for safety) I had a guy give me a countdown, when he got to 1 I pushed the shutter and the camera started shooting at 3 fps. Here is a few of the 8 pictures.

Do you like how all the dust gets shaken off the tank? I was using a wide angle lens so was very close to the tank (maybe 50 feet) Amazing amount of noise and shaking!

O well, short, sweet and to the point, besides they just called to say our generator is being shut down for servicing, so the network will be off in about 5 minutes……

Here is the sunset shot from Feb 15th….

Hope everyone is doing alright……

Later

Been a fairly busy week, lots of broke stuff to be worked on,,,, and have been getting stuff fixed lately, not the “slump” I was in a couple of weeks ago.

Did not realize it had been so long since I posted,,,, that how busy its been…

Got a few pictures, Jim Garner took a couple of me working with the guys on a ROWPU (Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit, for those that dont want to google it). These things provide the fresh water we use for everything from showers to brushing the teeth, the unit needed a couple operational to ship to another location,,,, so yours truely gets the call….. We got three of the four working, had to sacrifice one for parts…

This one is me and SGT Z working on the valves and the next one is venting the system

Hey machines need to “vent” just like humans do!

Think it gets muddy around ROWPU’s? especially when they are being repaired and are leaking all over the place?

Here is one that the guys were trying to move,,,, no luck in this greasy mud the truck was going nowhere!

Well, gotta go eat, just wished Jo a “Happy Valentine’s Day” so now I will wish one to all you too….. Especially Chelsea, Sarah and Olivia (My Trio of Little Valentines)

Here is a nice sunset from the other day, one of the best lately!

Later

Was a pretty busy day and week, lots of broke stuff requiring my special “pixie dust”… Although I may need some new dust cause I ain’t fixed CRAP lately…. Keep plugging away though….

Anyway back to the point of this post…… what was the point??????? O yea the B’day thing….

Well I was trying to keep this kinda hushhush…. but made the mistake of mentioning it at a motor pool about a week ago,,, thought I was “among friends” there,,, but NO… Next thing I know I am walking in the chow hall,,,, and SGT Davis says “hey I hear your birthday is coming up” Well me being kinda sly like that I think to myself “self maybe you can throw her off the scent if you play along”

So I say,, “why yes I do (just as SWEET as I can say it) but it sure is a good thing y’all dont know WHAT day it is!

Know what she does???? Looks on a piece of paper at her headcount station and says ” 30th of January”…….

Well, I figure if the “cat is out of the bag” I might as well play along…. So that brings us to tonight….. Go to chow and see the cake

GOOD NEWS! I am not the only VICTIM tonight! CPT Ewa Garner too….. You all may not remember CPT Garner, she was in one of the “Mothers Day” pictures on the other blog site in the spring….. Nice lady, one of the Brigades Doctors…. So I find Ewa and wish her a “Happy Birthday” the get my dinner…… As far as the get my dinner part…. I had told Chief Magras that since I was roped into this birthday stuff,,,,, I wanted to be served by the Queen! Believe she would have done it too,,, but she had traveled out to the forward bases today and didn’t get back til I was already eating…… She did run and get me some ice for my tea though…. Of course as she was returning with the previously mentioned cup of ice I kept a real tight hold of my collar…… Not saying she would have poured that cup’o'ice down the back of my shirt……. But “better safe that sorry” (and cold and wet!)

So anyway,,, the call comes out on the bullhorn “Mr Boothe and CPT Garner come to the front please!” So doing this right I go to Ewa’s table and escort her to our shared doom! There we are introduced.

And everybody does the Happy Birthday song

Then someone yells out “How old?” Nosy, nosy……. She is much too old to tell anyone that!

Of course you all see I was telling them I was THREE….. I think, since this is a “family site” that I am real glad her hand was BLURRED at that moment!

Anyway then we had to cut the cake,,,,

What did I get for my birthday,,, well a card and some peach tea (what Magras was getting the ice for) and O a can of SPAM!

Eat your heart out JIM!

Couple of shots end the post, first Ewa and I with CW4 Magras, “DFAC Manager Extraordanaire”

And finally me basking in the “glow” of the undisputed Queen of FOB Hammer…

So you can see a full evening of merrymaking….. Now time for some sleep!

Later

Notice the boards and the obvious footprints of everyone (including ME) that slipped off them suckers!

Been driving the truck in 4 wheel drive all over the place,,, trucks have been getting stuck on the streets (or at least what go for streets) We stopped in one of the worst areas to give you all some perpsective as to the quality of the slime….

Finally here is a view down the “main drag” the mud here is very watery as there was a lot of standing water mixed in along with plenty of traffic to keep it “souped up”

O Hell…. it is not as bad as I am making out…. kinda fun actually…. the “mud ball” fights are a hoot….. And I hear there is going to be a mud man building contest……. may be a rumor, but if there is one I will be sure to give you a full report…

Later

Not that boring is a bad thing, just doesn’t make for good posts… The only picture I have taken lately is of the sunset the other night…. pretty nice will post it here

If it don’t work Chris will fix it…. (Ed: He fixed it)

Most of my “buds” in the brigade have returned from R&R…. Christmas time was a big season for visits home…. So most of the folks I wrote about last spring are here now….. Makes for a bit more pleasant conversation around the table at chow…. And I have been spending my evenings looking at “kid pictures”…. The champion pictures were taken by Chief Magras,,,,, but she had an unfair advantage….. Since she spent her R&R at home in St Croix…… hard for Columbus to compete with the Virgin Islands for views!

Anyway she brought me a 2008 Virgin Islands calender,,, so I have ocean views everytime I look at the date,,,,

Need to get back there sometime,, Jo and I visited St Thomas on our cruise in 2002…. pretty place for sure..

Well, like I said, not much to report…..

Later

Here is the picture

Later

Yep, the weather gods are being really good to us today,,, rain overnight, cold this morning and to top it all off SNOW! The mud is bootlace deep (and that is inside my room!) even deeper outside…..

Beside that we are fine, thought you all would like the see the pics…. Also got one of some guys (in better weather) showing some ingenuity and making a pingpong table with some wood (notice the 2×6 net!)

And just for the heck of it the sunset from yesterday evening…..

Hi to all,,,,

Later

Actually Chris has done a pretty nice job with this site and we probably SHOULD use it more to exchange news and info.

So anyway since this is my first attempt here, I dont know xactly how it is going to turn out. Actually havent figured how to get pictures in yet.

Well lets get caught up, I left home on the 15th of December and got to Kuwait on the evening of the 16th. Spent the night sitting around hoping to get on a flight to Baghdad which I accomplished at around 6 am. Rode on a Japanese transport plane, pretty funny guys too. Pilot looked like one of those Prison camp Commandants from a WWII movie,,,,, all he was missing was the stick to pound on his pants with…. Good flight though. Got to Baghdad around 10 am and hung around there til about 6:30 pm before I got a helicopter to good old FOB Hammer.

Right when I got to the living area Chief Magras (remember her the DFAC Queen) walked up. Took her to the flightline the next morning so she could go on her R&R………. So she missed the “big doins” at the chow hall for Christmas and New Year….. Big parties both days……. Took pictures of the soldiers with Santa, forgot to tell ya I carried the Santa Suit over in my suitcase…… Took about 300 pictures and emailed them to the soldiers so they could send em home.

Got a couple of pictures of the decorations and cakes that were baked for Christmas so you see we weren’t totally strugglin to get a bit of celebration….

Really dont know if this is gonna work, cant seem to get the pictures to appear properly in the Preview window. May have to talk to Chris before I publish this. Here is a group of ladies representing the US Air Force at the Shindig, we let just ANYBODY in, HAHA!

Here is another,,,, this guy was REALLY getting INTO the Santa Thing!

And, of course I always have to have a coupla of “CUTIES”

So that was pretty much Christmas, like I said I processed about 300 pictures and sent them to over 200 email accounts (with only 5 rejected email…. so not too bad)

WHEW, Now for New Years……. Wasnt going to go to the New Years Party,,, since It IS WAY after my bedtime,,, but got talked into it by these picture grubbers…… Actually didnt take TOO much persuasion!

So again with the BIG Cake,,, this time with the bakers…

Well the party kicked off about 11:00 pm and started a bit slowly, but by 11:30 we had the beginnings of a pretty respectable crowd….. Midnight came and the Non Alcoholic Champagne started flowing and the party really got serious….. Corks flying, dancing, Karoke singing (didnt remember that as a New Years tradition but what the hey!) Even a Conga line got going…. Quite the event….

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dance Lesson

Well that is enough,,, the weather has been pretty spotty, a couple of nice days and some cool ones and some that are downright chilly…. Trying to rain today and if you all remember last spring…. It dont take much rain to make quite a MESS!

Well its been a couple of days since I actually wrote this,, the images didn’t work right but Chris figured out the problem so we should be ready to post. It has been COLD here the past couple of days. Had to get the ice off the truck yesterday morning before we could go to eat….. And I got a BAD COLD,, so I am trying to avoid everyone else to keep from spreading it….. Here is a sunset from New Years Day

LATER

Got home and repaired, cleaned and stained my back fence. Tough couple of days work but the results are very nice. Chris brought the girls over to visit this past weekend so have a couple of pictures to post. I am also going to post a couple taken at Hilton Head Island last couple of weeks ago. So here goes a picture parade. Hope you all like them!

What a pain it is to get pictures into this space and get the aspects correct!

Ed: For the record dad added all these pics into the picture gallery as well here’s a quick link for you guys: http://www.boothenet.com/mygallery/index.asp?CatID=5

First stop was in Gaffney South Carolina,,,, just a pit stop…… Next morning we left for Harpers Ferry, WV.

Got there and did the tourist thing Tuesday afternoon and evening. Slept there and drove to Sharpsburg, MD this morning and spent most of the day at Antietem Battlefield today then drove on to Gettysburg, PA this afternoon.

We toured the town and the Cemetery this afternoon. Tomorrow we will tour the battlefield for most of the day and then drive to Trenton, NJ in the afternoon. Will be at Mike and Judy’s this weekend.

Been a really nice trip so far, except for the cool cloudy weather, hasn’t rained on us but has threatened constantly….

Jo and I ate in marvelous spot tonight,,, a tavern that was built in 1776 and was originally built by a preacher who ran a school there, read that he had 19 kids by two wives,,,,, apparently wore out the first one after ten kids,,,, she died (a blassing!) so he remarried and had 9 more……. so i figure the school was pretty much just educating his own family!!!!

The tavern was used as a hospital during the battle of Gettysburg and really became a tavern in 1866, has been in continuous use since…. neat……

1776 the year it was built,,,, I believe that was approxiamtely the same year the cow died (of OLD AGE!!!!) that they made my roast beef sandwich from!!!!! LOL…… Just kidding it was good….. Served by a wench in period costume,,,,

Enough shop talk. I want to throw my heartiest congratulations out to the lovely Erin, who, I believe, gets her Masters Degree in Education today!!!!!!!

She has a lot of drive and makes me proud!

The weather continues to be weird, still raining, not a lot but enough to keep it more humid than I have ever seen here,, hell the 100+ temps and dry would be better than this,, feels like Alabama on steroids!

We are in the middle of a mini turnover of troops as old units go home and the replacement arrive, makes for longer lines at the mess hall and laundry, o and the PX, Subway, coffee shop, and Burger King (see we are not completely with out the comforts of home, fine dining and all. I however have not visited any of these establishments. (heck if the mess hall across the street is willing to feed me free why waste my money!) O there is also a Pizza Hut, fergot to mention that one. I keep figuring since papa Sam gave me the nice ride (1982 Chevy Blazer that came from a junkyard in Korea where it resided from 1999 til 2002) I should go over to Pizza Hut and make a bit of extra spending money riving orders around!

Actually dont feel so bad about my ride, it starts most of the time (once you learn the secret, which also makes it pretty much unstealable) and most of the soldiers are pretty jealous of my nice vehicle. The AC blows pretty hard when I roll the back window down, even if it is pretty warm, dusty air hitting you.

Liked todays picture three female mechanics working their tails off and the Sergeant dinking his coffee and watching.

Well gotta go, til next time

Hi to all

Been traveling around to the units, shooting the crap, fixing something occasionally. Kind of started taking pictures of people doing their jobs, or fooling around during a bit of free time. Dont know if any examples would interest anybody, but may post one just to give you all a look at the weather yesterday.

Chris, I cant post images on your boothenet blog site! I moved the blog back to my site so just click on the “Tom” in the upper right corner for my image….

Later all