Blogging shouldn't be this tough

Apologies to all who read my Blog (both of you) for lack of updates. It's been since early June and here it is towards the end of June. To be fair, one week of June I was "deployed" to Volk Field, Wisconsin. The rest of the time, I was just lazy.

I wanted to write about taking my daughter to the mall and all the misadventures we had there, but alas, we didn't go to the mall and we had no misadventures.

I could write about the "deployment" but nothing too interesting happened to me there. I hung out a little with my friends, but found myself missing Lourdes more than I was enjoying myself. To sum up the trip, I taught CPR for five days and fought the most ferocious mosquitoes this side of the Mississippi. Within three minutes of arriving at Volk, I was bitten three times. Needless to say I fought back with some variant of Off with a twenty-something percent DEET that I purchased at the Tomah WalMart. I didn't really like the idea of wearing a chemical repellent but it was better than suffering the wrath of those blood thirsty insects. If I lived there, I would have to plant those anti-mosquito plants all around my house. The scent of citronella candles burning would lead you directly to my house. I would figure out a way to screen in my entire yard. I'm not exaggerating, those mosquitoes were thick.

But I'm a survivor. Hopefully there are no long-term effects from DEET exposure and the twitching will subside. Hopefully the half dozen bites I got won't result in West Nile virus. Or Lupus.

Hey, I celebrated my first Father's Day! Lourdes was kind enough to give me a Father's Day card..in Spanish! ¡Qué inteligente! She also gave me a big box of Hershey's candy (Pot o'Gold I think). What a little sweetie she is.

That's all I can muster right now. Maybe I'll be a little more attentive to my poor Blog in the future and not let down my reader(s) as well.

A cap in your a$$

I'm a lean, mean Air Force trained killing machine. Sort of. I'm not so lean at the moment. I'm not too mean most of the time, but I can get a little cranky. I'm definitely Air Force trained. And I can be a killing machine, especially if you are a paper target located 7, 15, or 25 meters away from me and my M-9.

Today at drill, I fired the M-9, nine millimeter handgun. I've shot a nine millimeter once or twice before, but this was the first time trying at a military firing range. To be considered "qualified" to shoot the M-9, one must put a certain number of bullets on the silhouette at the aforementioned distances. I think the number was 30 out of 36 but I'm not certain. However, to be considered an "expert", one must put 30 out of 36 bullets in a circle in the center of the silhoutte. Somehow I was able to put 33 out of 36 bullets in the center of mass making me an "expert" and eligible to wear the Air Force Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon. In almost 20 years of military service, I have fired the M-16 several times and I although I have always qualified with the weapon, I have never earned the Air Force Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon with the M-16 and now in my first attempt with the M-9 I've finally got it!

In other news, we are going to get another puppy. That's right Dover and Peanut are going to have a little brother. Actually this will be Peanut's half-brother and Dover's foster bother. Peanut's mom had a litter of five (actually six but one was stillborn)puppies recently and we are going to get the only male. This little guy is kind of a blue-gray color with black spots (a dapple) and is full-blooded dachshund. His mom is a long-hair dapple and his dad his a long-hair black and tan. It's still a little early to tell if any of this litter will have long hair.

Not much else to report at the moment.