Pigeon poop

Pigeon poop.

It occurred to me today that everything negative in life can be summed up in those two words. Remarkable, isn't it? Now that I'm semi-retired I have time to reflect on these things.

But it makes a weird kind of sense of you'll just bear with me for a moment or two.

You know how it is, you are in an awesome mood, you're running along having a great day at work, the weather is perfect, you're enjoying your favorite hobby, spending time with your loved ones, whatever, and you come back to your car and there it is; pigeon poop.

The balance of your day is done. Right there. One small, yet heaping pile of pigeon poop has just set the mood for the balance of your day.

Heading to lunch with co-workers? I think not. Headed to the hairdresser for that monthly trim? Not likely. Headed to the grocery for last minute stuff for dinner? Uh no. You see, no matter what you had planned, even if you intend to do it, you'll only be thinking of one thing. Yep. Pigeon poop.

The whole rest-of-the-freaking-day pigeon poop will be in your head. It will consume you.

For most of you, the sane and literate among my friends, you're asking yourself, "why is he going on about this pigeon poop stuff?". Ahhhhhh, you are the few, the good people in life, those who have been blessed with the "ignore the pigeon poop and life will go on" gene. Alas, that's not me.

For some, the solution is a quick trip to the car wash, a handy hose, or tipping that homeless guy standing at the highway bypass a buck to wash the offensive substance away. For some of us, those who shall we say, have some time on our hands, we can devote part of our day to cleaning pigeon poop ourselves.

The point, if I have to make it, is that pigeon poop disrupts life's peaceful and carefully structured harmony; and we can't have that, now can we?

I have a simple solution. As I sat this afternoon contemplating yet another day of semi-retired bliss (without the presence of pigeon poop), I realized that the all mighty RedHead in the sky had blessed me with superior intellect, reasoning, the ability to plan, and perhaps very important in this regard, all my digits, including thumbs. Living in Texas (where gunfire doesn't sound out-of-the-ordinary) doesn't hurt either.

With those digits, I can open boxes (think ammo), clean and service weapons (think 12 ga pump), and reason out my very own solution to the problem of pigeon poop. That manly tingling you get while racking the slide isn't a bad way to earn man credits for the day either.

Once employed to, ah, shoo away the pigeon offenders, I'm pretty sure the lesson won't have to be repeated too often around here.

Unfortunately, even in Texas, I can't apply this solution to all matters in life where someone, or somethings, version of pigeon poop effects my day. But who knows? I may be on to something here.

I can't wait to see what revelations appear to me tomorrow.

Pigeon poop. A scourge we can wipe out together!

Been Down & Out

Well, I've missed a few days after being down with the flu bug since last week.  I just knew I should have made time for that flu shot, but just kept pushing it off.

Anyway, I've used some of that time being confined in the house to do some pre-travel chores, and finished completing some small tasks and modifications that have piled up.  Now they're all done.

Tomorrow the HHHB goes into the shop for it's last appointment (changing out a hydro line for the pumps) before the trip home.  That means that the only thing keeping me in Texas after that is waiting for the Tahoe to be picked up for shipment back to Hollywood. Hopefully that will occur within the next few days.   Frankly, I'm ready to hit the road.

The weather is changing now, today our high is in the 60's and tonight the low is supposed to be in the 40's...not what we've been used to at all, and I took the time to dig out the portable heaters today so that I don't wake up as a partial ice cube in the AM.    Yes, I miss the hot Texas weather already.

More later....I have some catching up to do!

Long Delayed Retirement

Yesterday, October 13th, 2011, I took off my uniform for the last time and officially began my transition leave to being a civilian.  Although my retirement doesn't begin until November 28th I have no meetings, appointments, or scheduled check-ins with anyone related to Army green.  In short, I'm a freaking civilian for all practical purposes!

I'm staying in New Braunfels for a little more than a week more than headed back to South Florida before beginning whatever comes next in life.  And no, I have no idea what that may be. . . Hopefully I'll grow up soon and make some decisions.

The Hula Hut & Hog Barn (can I just say HHHB? from now on?) is almost ready to travel, and frankly, I've been more than ready for weeks now.  I'll be updating daily from now on (what else do I have to do?), and - or more accurately when - I become too boring, please let me know.

Attached is the picture of SGM Dan Thompson, my old USSOCOM boss, at the retirement.  The absolute best guy I've ever worked for in the Army.  Hands down.

It's Up!

Both the flags are up.  I think they came out pretty well.  They're on 12' extension poles so that I can set one higher then the other.

Rain in Texas!

Woohoo. The rain has finally stopped, but man has it been nice these last 24 hours. The storm front came through about 0330 this morning and, although heavy at times, it was mostly just a constant light rain. They said on the local news that the San Antonio area had 4-5 inches of rain from midnight thru 5 pm today. I'm a little north of there, but that seems about right to me. The river, the Guadalupe, however, doesn't look like it raised an inch...they must be keeping what they can in the lake above the dam.

At any rate, the good news is that it gave me an inside reason to clean and reorganize some of my cabinets, pack away some summer stuff, and dig out a few winter items. The Hula Girl is coming together nicely for the upcoming trip, and I have to admit, I'm looking forward to going, not necessarily Florida, but just "going" - the road under my feet and all that nonsense.

Tomorrow I'm scheduled to get new shoes (tires) for Bandersnatch. Another chore being checked off for the move. The list is getting shorter, and I'm actually revisiting some things previously done to see if I have to make any improvement. Gawd, is this what retirement will be looking, doing make work for myself?

I hope it never gets to that. ;-))

The broken wing of the SEGWAY

I've never figured out how it happened, but when I came back here to Texas a few weeks ago, I discovered that one of the wheels on the SegWay had been slashed rather badly.  (picture below)  After it was looked at by the local dealer, I contacted the SEGS4VETS people to ask about help in getting a replacement.  Unfortunately, and completely understandable, thier funds are a little tight, so I ended up calling my Insurance for a claim.  Ouch.  Yeah, you can file a claim, but that pesky deductible gets you every time.   Anyway, the wheel is replaced now (had to order one from Houston).  The sick part?  The damn thing cost more than two of the tubeless tires on my Mini would cost.  Oh well, as soon as the rain stops I'm going for a ride!

Last weekend in Uniform!

Well, I'm starting my last weekend with some chores around the Hut today. The second flag pole is mounted and ready to be weather sealed. I have to get with my TELCOM neighbor to make a list of supplies for adding a telephone box and line (prep for Internet service back in Hollywood), and do some other clean up and pre trip related organization stuff. All in all it should be quiet around Texas this weekend.

Yes, I'll post some pictures of the flags. Soon. I've been lazy about that.

I've also been putting the finishing touches on the travel itinerary for the trip back to South Florida. At this point it looks like the first night around Lake Charles, LA (there's a casino with a campground there), then on to Milton, FL for the second night, followed by somewhere (yup, not known yet) around Tampa, FL, then into Hollywood by 28 November. If that works I'll be home in time for a Holloween party on Saturday night and my first ride with the Iron Warriors Motorcycle Club on Sunday morning. I can't wait to see those guys!

More later as I progress through this getting-shorter-by-the-day things to do list!

The flag is flying!

Got one of the flag kits mounted this afternoon and will wait a couple days before the next one to see if anything unexpected pops up from the installation. I have been known to overlook things in the past. For now, I think it looks pretty good, and "no" it's not a flag from Puerto Rico.

Out-processing continues

I didn't realize the depth of detail associated with retirement from the Military. These past two days, which already feel like a week, have been filled with briefings, pages of documents (some of which I actually had to read), and Army personnel full of self importance.

Yet, I'm getting through it and things are falling into place. Just a couple more meetings, sign a few more forms, and I should be on track to officially leave here after Oct 13th.

I've had no time to work on the Hula Hut - gawd knows I'll have plenty of time starting the end of next week! So, no updates there.

Day one of Army Retirement

Today was the 1st day where I actually started the real, honest to god, retirement out processing. I made it through quite a bit in four hours with just one small hiccup in one department where some moron tried to quote me the old version of a regulation that was updated 2 weeks ago. . .I tried to be to nice. Honest, but after the fruitless reasoning got me no-where I finally lost my temper and gave him the benefit of my many years in uniform. What my NCO friends would refer to as standing him tall. It felt good finally being able to act on something and get some of that emotional baggage off my plate.

I suspect he'll be more careful in the future.

Anyway, I'll continue tomorrow going through the process, it's all downhill from here!

Flying her colors

Spend part of this weekend obtaining a flag set and mounting hardware to add my US Flag to the Hula Hut.  Not rushing the process so did nothing more then modifying the brackets and extension poles, and locating and marking the side of the Hut for the actual mounting.  I plan on sticking to the original verse of "mark twice, cut once" (or drill, in this case).  Hopefully I'll have it complete in a day or two and will post pictures as soon as it is done.