When I opened my email, I had a long letter from Dave! He has been in Kuwait for 2 weeks now. I have pictures of what he has been doing and seeing this week.

"Pictures One & Two are our helicopters packed on the mid deck of a Bob Hope class vessel."
(Looks like a parking garage to me!)










"Picture three is a Chinook helicopter going up through the hatch taken from the mid deck inside."











"Picture four is taken from outside the boat and shows a Chinook coming down to the dock. It gives you an idea of just how large the vessel is."













"Number 5 is a row of Chinooks after we towed them to the helo marshalling and assembly area"

"Number 6 shows some Black Hawks 'dense packed' in that same area. We had to stack them up while we assembled, ran up and test flew the first ones."


"We had to wait while more than a hundred of the new armored convoy vehicles were unloaded before we could start pulling aircraft off the boat. Those vehicles each weighed over 42,000 pounds and are about the size of a utilities service truck, except they're completely armored. There was also a huge fleet of up armored Humvees on board the boat. Amazing."

A Baby, A Beauty, & Two Dogs

Hello all of my dear family and friends!! I thought I would give you an update on ME. I am about the same as far as good days and bad days; however, I have done a couple of fun things outside of my little box (2912 Lovejoy). Sunday, Carrie & Mike had a small get together and I actually drove for the first time, out to Readlyn. That was the day I decided I'm not ready to drive. Anyway, I even spent the night. Guess who was there? Corina. Okay, so I'm posting pics of that cute little doll on my site too but who can resist? Say hello to Holly! Holly was there too. For those of you who don't know Holly, she has been friends with the girls since Carrie and her were 3. It was really fun to have her by herself and talk with her some more. She's an ambitious college student and a very sweet young woman. It's so much fun to see since we watched her grow up with our girls. I also got out and went out for lunch at Applebee's with my two lovely daughters. This is what we had to drink with our "little lunch".
Thank you to all of you for offering your assistance during my recovery. I promise, I will call if I need you! (you'll be sorry!) Thank goodness for Netflix!
Last but not least: This is what we hear every month when they test the defense sirens, two dogs:(Play Video)

Carrie's Big Baby??

See a very happy Carrie? She tuned it and it sounds great!

Big Baby Taylor that is. When Dave was leaving for his second deployment (supposed to be Iraq) he couldn't see taking his favorite guitar to a place with temperature extremes, sand, and unpredictable shipping. He bought a big baby Taylor. After he came back, Carrie adopted it because it was just a bit smaller than a dreadnought and fit her so well.

Fast forward to Iraq 2008, Dave wants to take his big baby again leaving Carrie with only regular sized guitars. Weds night I was browsing the ads and found a big baby complete with gig bag, tuner, stand, and strap "nearly new".

Congratulations on your new Big Baby Carrie!

From Dave

Dave actually got an internet hookup for a little bit and sent these pictures. His descriptions of the pictures: "Me in our big ol' tent. There are about 40 people living here. The others are the outside of our area and my favorite, the locals sucking out the port-a-john."
Here is what he says about the temperatures there: " I thought I knew what hot was - whoa..... Well, I'm getting acclimated - slowly. I don't even want to know the temp today. The folks here think it's the hottest day so far, but it doesn't matter. I've heard people say it feels like a hair dryer, but it's more like an oven - a Convection oven."

He may not be able to access his blog all the time so I will share what I can to keep you all updated on Dave.

He Called!

Dave called from Kuwait this afternoon! He couldn't hear me very well but I could hear him just fine. He said he has already been in a sandstorm and a very unseasonal summer rain. He was just letting us know he made it over there okay. Sounds like he will be in Kuwait for about 2 weeks and then will head up to Ballad (sp?). It's already lonely without him here.

As far as my recuperation is concerned, I have good days and bad days. When I have good days, I try to do too much and then I have a bad day or two. Carrie & Mike come over fairly often and last night, Carrie cooked supper. Mike is helping me by taking my ripe tomatoes and peppers from my garden and canning salsa! It's so good I could just about drink it. Laura is back in school full time and she also has her internship at the groomer. It'll be a while before her schedule settles down.

I hear Ranger calling me. He's on the wrong side of the door again. Later...

The Big Question?????

The Answer is? YES

Sorry about the sideways pic, I'm still figuring this stuff out.

Hello everybody! I think today is Saturday...I have had a hard time keeping track of the days & dates since last Friday. How humiliating! To buy my bike on Thursday and wreck it on Friday...there are no words. I remember most of the details up until they started injecting morphine, and then things get a little fuzzy.
This was the 2nd and 3rd ambulance rides I have taken. They need to put better shocks on those things, it was terribly bumpy. They took me to Allen Hospital and something was up with their MRI or CT machines so they transferred me to Covenant. Turns out I have 4 fractures in my pelvic bone. Guess what? It really hurts!! I was so ready to come home Thursday and they were still evaluating my skills on dressing myself, bathing myself, getting in and out of bed (the hardest). I showed them; once I was dressed in my own clothes, there was no stopping me! I walk with a walker (no snickering!) and have to take it easy for a while. My bike will probably be healed before I am.
Dave was able to stay home for another week to get me taken care of and settled at home. That was a wonderful surprise because I thought he would be gone before I got home. Carrie has been a tremendous help too. We had Laura's b-day party the night of the accident and Carrie tore herself away from the ER to help make it happen. We made Laura stay home and enjoy herself. Thank you to everyone who came to the party and helped Laura celebrate.

Thanks to all who have visited, called, sent best wishes, etc. I'm thankful for all of my family and friends who are there. I'm also thankful that I had great nurses and CNA's at Covenant Hospital who were so kind and careful with me.

Oh, the big question is: "Will Lois ride again?" (see answer at the top of thie post)

I'm sitting here looking at my blog trying to think of what to write first. Dave got home at noon Tuesday and we have been doing fun stuff and family dinners and motorcycle shopping. The promised pictures of Dave aren't on my camera but will be soon. The focus has been on the motorcycle shopping and the motorcycle.

Once we signed paperwork and got the bike on our own, I relaxed and the riding went quite well. For those who are concerned: I wear a helmet & jacket when I ride. The hat is for helmet hair, you have to hide it somehow!

Here it is: 2009 Harley-Davidson XL Sportster 1200 low. It's very shiny with it's vivid black paint and lots of chrome. It's fuel injected so I don't have to remember to turn on/off the fuel valve. The turn signals are self cancelling so that's one less thing to worry about. I've gotten it all the way up to 30 mph and in 3rd gear!!