Olympia Area Rally

From the folks at Operation Support Our Troops, a reminder about the Friday afternoon rally in Olympia:   Please join us for a sign and flag waving event to encourage support for our troops and our country this Friday, September 1st (and every Friday), from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm, at the corner of 4th Avenue and Water Street in Olympia.   We will be on the south side of 4th Avenue.    If you cannot make it at the start time, come late and join us when you can.   Who:             Those who support our troops and our country and want to encourage others to do so! What:            Fly our flag and signs encouraging support for our troops and country. When:           Every Friday from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm.  If you can't make it at 4:00 pm, then                       join us when you can.  Better late than not at all! Location:      4th Avenue and Water Street in downtown Olympia.  See maps and directions below. Why:             To show that there are people in the south sound area that support our troops and country.   Please join us for whatever time that you can.   If you cannot make it at the start time, come late and join us when you can.   If you can only stay for an hour, then join us for an hour.     It may be hot, so if everyone could bring at least one bottle of water with them it would help a great deal and be appreciated.    I will bring a small cooler with some water for those that stop by and do not have water with them.   I am tied up this Friday, but I encourage anyone close to Olympia to join the OSOT folks to join in.  Help to demonstrate to the troops that we care!

Home again

In the past 13 days I played some very mediocre golf at some decidedly non-mediocre places. In fact, I can say with confidence that I've recorded triple bogies in some absolutely stunning locales. Luckily for the Hubster, his scores were generally 20 strokes lower than mine! Here is a picture of the type of awful surroundings I had to endure. (click for larger image) Bonus points to anyone who correctly identifies the locale and golf course. Alas, I missed several birthdays while traveling, and will have to 'deliver' some virtual gifts. Having visited the lovely Okanagan wine country, I think a few bottles for the discerning palate will be perfect for Boquisucio. For Bill, how about this pair of happy creatures. For Cricket, I discovered a new (to me) lovely white wine called Ehrenfelser, which will be a delightful accompaniment to your gourmet summer cooking. Bon Appetit! Now that my project is winding down, and vacation is over, I hope to post a bit more regularly than over the last few months -- including more pics from the travels. I am pleased to note that John has added another blog to the Denizens list. Check out The League of Disgruntled Majors and submit an entry for the Caption Contest. The only downside of all this is that I fall further behind in my blog reading daily!

Golfing for Memories

While listening to the radio on my way to work a few weeks ago, I heard the word Golf mentioned in the same sentence with Special Forces, and my ears perked up. The First In Asia organization provides support to family members of First Special Forces Group Soldiers who are killed or injured while serving our country. A few years ago, a new Memorial Wall was dedicated to the memory of those who have fallen. "On September 11, 2001, Major Cole Hogan died in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. On January 4, 2002, Sergeant First Class Nathan Chapman died from wounds received during combat operations in Afghanistan. Later that year, on October 2, 2002, Sergeant First Class Mark Jackson died from a terrorist bomb in the Philippines. The common thread that binds these men together is that all were members of the First Special Forces Group. Members of the First Special Forces Group are currently serving, with distinction, in support of the Global War on Terrorism around the world. Members of First In Asia are building a new memorial to honor members of the group who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in defense of this great nation. Our wall recognizes the men who served from Vietnam, Haiti, Bosnia, and in the Middle East with a monument befitting their commitment to the defense of freedom." In order to finish the wall park, the First In Asia group needed to raise some more funds, and that's where the golf entered in. So we donated our registration fees, bought nice shirts with kewl logos, and 'purchased' mulligans - mostly used by the folks who Really wanted to win the pick-up truck in the hole-in-one contest. Donating the truck turned out to be a very safe bet, since no one even came close to popping one into the cup from 191 yards away (155 or so for the ladies) - even with the use of extra tee shots! Luckily I didn't care if I scored well, since I dragged our team down mightily. The point wasn't to win, it was to gather some green for the fund - and this mission we accomplished ... Hooah! And for a bonus, we got to chatter with some active and veteran Soldiers of the First SF Group, as well as from other local units ... And some units that weren't so local. Three of the guys I talked with were from the land down-under, members of the Australian Defence forces, here in the US to take part in training at Ft. Lewis! So, thanks to SFC "B" for getting us our registration and pass, and thanks again to the Soldiers of the First Special Forces Group and their spouses. Y'all sure know how to host a shindig, and I'm glad I got to meet you. I've never felt so safe on a golf course ... Heh! Oh - If you feel the urge to push a few bucks into the kitty for the Memorial, there's a Paypal button on the donations page. Or, you can send email to info@firstinasia.com to make contact and find out more.

Happenings

So, for the few folks who still actually stop by here … Thanks! I've been buried deeply in a work project that I'm trying desperately to finish this week, and have had several family obligations, so blog time has been severely curtailed (obviously!). But I have had some fun recently to relate … The weekend of August 4th I hopped a plane to Southern California to join baby sister, Becky, in celebrating her Natal Day at the Del Mar Racetrack, as mentioned in the next post down. Immediately upon exiting the airport, Becky and I headed directly to Disneyland to partake of both the Magic Kingdom and the California Adventure. They finally shut off the rides at midnight, but no one even tried to shoo the visitors out of the shops, so we didn't end up leaving till about 12:30 am! I hadn't been to the California Adventure, as it was under construction when I moved north in 1997, but I adore the Soaring over California ride … perfect for those of us with no desire to ride roller coasters. Give me a virtual ride any day!! So we stumbled off to bed at 1am, and crawled out again Saturday morning to drive from Costa Mesa to Del Mar. Our ride was slowed by traffic here and there, but at least we didn't participate in any accidents, unlike SOME people I could mention! We arrived at Del Mar around Noon and nailed down our picnic space and pulled out the goodies to start munching and plotting our race picks. Much fun was had, several bottles of … um … Juice were consumed (that's our story, and we're sticking to it!), and nobody bet enough to lose big or win big on the races themselves. All that would have made for a special day, but I had an extra special event as part of the gathering as well. I had buzzed Fuzzybear Lioness before hopping the plane, and goaded her into joining the crazy gang for the day at the track. Yahooo!!! I got to meet another Castle Chick! I had apparently confused her on the location of the infield that we intended to stake out as our own, so once she arrived at the track and came through the infield tunnel, my cell phone rang. Since I had previously configured it with her phone number, helpfully tagged as "Fuzzybear Lioness", I knew who was calling immediately. She was near the exit from the tunnel, maybe 50 feet from me, but facing away. As we talked, I walked towards her and said "Turn around …" – and then I waved Hello … *grin* As all who have met her know already, she is a hoot to spend time with, and made friends very quickly with the rest of the party, including the youngsters in our group (who have been accompanying their Mom and Dad to the event each year since they were born!). We all had a great day, and had plenty of time to visit betwixt the races. At the end of the day, though, we were all ready to head for home. I finished the weekend off with some shopping at Downtown Disney, and a viewing of the new Disney/Pixar movie Cars. If you enjoy light-hearted animation – go see it! Even the insects were cars … bugs, of course … heh! Then it was home for a week of rest at work (Not!). I had some more adventures this weekend, but that will have to wait for another time. If you're looking for something interesting to read, make sure you check out the rest of the Denizens of Argghhh…

Where the Surf meets the Turf

I'm heading south in a few hours, to spend the weekend with little sister.  Tomorrow is the annual Friends of Becky fun day at the Del Mar race track ... where the Surf meets the Turf, as the saying goes.  Picnic time with friends and family, a little betting on the horses, and a chance for a good sunburn - a perfect Saturday. Not to mention, a chance to meet up with Fuzzybear Lioness! WOOT!!  Since Del Mar is a stone's throw from her current hideout near Sandy Eggo, I invited her to join us at the bash.  I'm gonna have So Much Fun this weekend ... *grin* Any other Sandy Eggo folks (Hi, Lex!) who like to go watch horses run around the track should be able to find us on the infield near the first turn for the turf races.  Email me if you need contact info!

Catching Up

Catching up is hard to do, but I've finally updated the Bloggers I have Met section of the sidebar. It now includes all the great folks I got to hang with a few weeks ago. I also got to add Francis Marion of Where I Stand to the list, since I had the pleasure of meeting up with him at the shootin' range on Saturday last. He was our original inspiration for the original blogshoot, and we hadn't given up on meeting up for some lead slinging. It was probably our last target of opportunity, so Bad Cat Robot and I took it! Since the meet was at the range, and it's hard to visit real well with the sounds of shooters doing their thing, it was mostly a working visit -- but nice to put another face with the name, as always! While I didn't have a fancy Kimber like BCR and Francis, I did get to try out my recently installed rubber grip for the Ruger .357. The Ruger was originally my father-in-law's, and I've always liked it, but it didn't fit my hand quite right... During the blogshoot adventure a few weeks ago, I spotted the right grip at the gun shop, and was itching to try it out! I installed it Friday night, and was ready to test it out... (Hi-Res) I have one word ... Suh-Weet!