|
Posted on 01/04/2005 8:02:18 PM PST by dutchess
|
|
|
01-03-05...Military Monday 01-04-05..."A Few *MORE* of FR's Finest" |
 |
 1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar. |
Happy Birthday (((Dansy))) - finally. ;)
I must say that is the *finest* toothpick I have ever received! :-)
Or, from your point of view, it might even be a 2x4.
Thank you for thinking of me (((((((skinny dood))))))))
:-)
Thank you ((((((dutchess)))))))
Purple is *my* color!
:-)
Thank you ((((((Aqua)))))))
Hoping you are feeling just fine today!
:-)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY.......
Thank you for the beautiful angel globe (((((Nan)))))))
I shampoo the area with carpet shampoo the kind used for pet stains. Then I put fabreeze on the spot.
We most assuredly are privileged to have and participate in so wonderful a community, and appreciate the dedication of the hostesses and hosts and all participants here at The Finest.
dutchess, I enjoyed reading all of the offerings on this list until I came to "Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon."
Afraid I process this as "abandon cooking whenever possible" (right, Sistah Nan?!) !!
Based upon something related when my son and his son were here for Christmas, I feel compelled to add for the younger ones with children here:
"Realize that events with children that cause gray hairs at an early age can later be viewed with a quite different perspective -- can one day be chalked up to a "Spirit of Glorious Adventure!"
Flash back to 1963 and our arrival in Fairbanks, Alaska, my husband stationed at Eielson Air Force Base, 30 miles south. For a family to accompany him, a sponsor there had to secure affordable housing, and ours had found a nice apartment in town.
AFTER we arrived and moved in, we discovered he had 'fibbed' to the landlord, withholding the fact we had two dogs, not allowed in the complex. We were told we had 30 days to find another abode.
There we were with no money, on half pay for 6 months to repay the travel advance, in an area with an astronomical cost of living beyond the means of the enlisted and the woefully inadequate Cost of Living Allowance.
With the boys 7 and 8 in school, a baby girl 3 months old and one car, there was no way I could work.
Fairbanks then was a small town, and my husband scoured ads posted in laundromats for possible places to rent. Checking in one, he was reading an intriguing ad for someone with carpentry skills when the woman who'd placed it walked in.
Mary had moved to Anchorage, but before leaving had invested in a property west of Fairbanks near the Airport -- had bought and moved there in the woods half of an old military barracks building. The upper half had already been renovated into a spacious 3 bedroom and large living areas apartment, and she needed someone to live in the unfinished bottom half and finish it - rent free!
Fortunately, Bernie's father was a master carpenter (although a foreman in a GE plant in Dayton) and passed skills to his sons.
We thus for 6 months lived a half mile from the Chena River, he happily plastering the bedroom walls, finishing the panelling in the main rooms, istalled the ceilings, and me assisting with all things and being the official painter.
Even with no rent, we existed much of the time on donated from hunter friends moose and caribou meet, lots of macaroni and cheese, and old Korean Conflict C-rations from the base (great canned chicken and tin of fruit cake). We shared them often with another younger military couple in worse circumstances.
Oh - did I mention we also took in Mary's teenage son so he could finish high school there? And her ex-husband lived in the unfinished basement and sometimes ate with us?!!
After that apartment was finished, Mary had us finish a 3 bedroom house a block away she'd moved there -- I painted the whole interior with a heavy coat on in 35 degree weather in May, the heating system not yet installed.
Military wives have to be versatile..:))
LOL
At any rate, where in Florida when my boys were little they dodged snakes when they went out to play, there were none in Fairbanks -- Mommo's Admonition became "Watch out for the moose and caribou and foxes and wolves going through the yard to drink at the Chena River and returning to their territory."
They had the fun of there being a cache on stilts in the yard as the perfect place from which to leap after a heavy snowfall fell on the already several feet on the ground; and also a rare one wet enough to build a monstrous snowman with Dad's help, taller than he was. (I have photographs)
Now - as for "The Glorious Adventure" that a week ago we related to Steve's son, Ryan (21), Bernie told him something his Dad had not!
One day Dad drove down the road (about 2 miles) to the Fairbanks airport to watch the traffic, having flown planes as a teenager. Driving parallel to the fence, he saw a B-25 parked, with one engine firing up. Stopping to watch, thinking it soon would taxi to the runway and take off, he saw a little hand wave at him!
With horror, he recognized the small face with it as just-turned-9 son Kevin - and the "pilot" was just-turned 10 Steve!!
They'd walked to the airport to watch planes, too, and climbed aboard the B-25 to see the controls -- and Steve somehow figured out how to start the engine!!
Kevin was looking out the window to watch the other engine fire up, saw Dad, and waved to invite him to join them!
Dad naturally sweated Security descending and explaining to Feds his sons would not really hijack the plane (would they have tried to take off??!!), and being in serious trouble with the Air Force.
Needless to say, Ryan enjoyed the tale enormously -- as we did in retrospect.
Ah, the things we survive as parents, and there are dozens of other escapades that at THIS end of life we can savor, and laugh, the culprits turning out smashingly well.
By the way, both fly, and Kevin went with the FAA, now in his 22nd year of government service (starting in the Army), although now with the TSA in West Palm Beach, and ready to retire in 5 1/2 years if he chooses. Still maintains his pilot's license, and used to co-pilot Angel Flights to take ill children to Gainesville for treatment.
May you one day be able to look back with warmth and glee, too ---
Good afternoon and thank you, dutchess...I have so many blessings..The Finest is one of them.
Louie, Louie - U missed yer Cluie!
That is a "devil's" food cake for Dans"ANGEL??!!"
LOL, and a very happy birthday, dansy ---
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANSANGEL!
*smiles*
This is a Great Thread, Dutchess, Chock Full of Good Advise. Thank you for it!
(((((Maggie)))))
You are absolutely right, Sistah. Cooking is for sissys. No self-respecting adventurer would be caught slicing and dicing vegetables. Give us blizzards, floods and windstorms to survive and let us figure out a way to do it. My new hero is the young man who floated for 8 days on a tree in the sea. He managed to open coconuts to eat and used the shell to catch rainwater. The very thing I had thought was the thing to do if one could find a coconut tree to cling to. I also liked the island tribe that shot arrows at helicopters who flew by to check on them. They let it be known that they didn't need rescuing. They have lived and died by the sea for generations. They understand it.
Sistah, your tales remind me of some of our hard times. Winter of 85 was such a time. Temps 27-30 degrees below zero and all the heat we had was one small kerosene heater to heat the whole house. Hubby unable to work and me waiting tables at the Cracker Barrel basically for tips to put food on our table. Had to sell off most of our years of collectables, and stand in the commodities line for gov. cheese.
I'm off soon to tackle the flood waters to get to church. Wish me safe passage.
I Pray Betty is doing Better every day, Texagirl! I'm still Keeping her in my Prayers.
(((((Nan)))))
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
