Strawberry Run 2016

Strawberry Run! We had a good time, Terra and I ran the 1 mile fun run. It was great, there were lots of kids from Terra's school there. We ran best we could and then skip jumped when we needed a break. It was a fun time.

After the run was over, Terra and Mary rode one of the carnival rides, which Terra did not like at all while she rode, but afterwards couldn't help but tell everyone how awesome the ride was.

After that we got a little bit of lunch and headed home. It was a full morning!

Brewing and Smoking

Was looking forward to brewing and smoking when I got back. I decided that we wanted to find a good cut of meat that was somewhat humanely raised. It was difficult to find, but I was fairly satisfied with the result. I also had some pork to smoke that was left over from before I left that also turned out well. All of the leftovers I turned into Tamales, hooray for freezer foods!

The beer was a much more interesting time. I brewed 10 gallons, five gallons would be turned into a summer ale, and the other five would be a cardamom wit that I tried making once before in Okinawa. Unfortunately, when I made the Wit in Oki, I had a problem with my keg lines and it all leaked out into the keezer. Very sad day. 

Well, wouldn't you know it, I basically did the same thing again. The wit was fermenting in the kitchen but I had attached the lines incorrectly so it blew almost all of the beer out into the kitchen floor. I had a heck of a mess to clean up. But now I sort of have this crazy beer that I have to somehow brew right. Its my "wit" whale. Haha, I'll have to have someone whip up a label for me to use for that one. A badger on a boat trying to harpoon an angry white whale, haha.

Hey Sammy!

We got some smokey meats.

What a big sweetheart.

Slowly, slowly.

Sadly, half of this ended up on the floor. *sigh*

Man that pork turned out delicious.

Summer Play

It's the end of the school year! Wooo finally! Terra and Mary both are excited to be done and ready for summer. Lots of great things on the horizon to look forward to, I'm glad to be home and be a part of it.

Here is our Bunny, top row.

And here we go with a good old hoe-down. 

Terra practiced and practiced for this play, daily! It was funny watching her perform, because she seemed to have a hard time of it. But there was no way she didn't know her lines, she did them for us several times. I think she gets a bit overwhelmed sometimes. She really did a great job though and I was glad to be there to see it.

Never Again

One thing that I learned during this deployment, is that I did not inherit any of my fathers genes for facial hair.

I have terrible facial hair. It doesn't grow in any sort of predictable pattern. It forgoes any sort of established form or fashion and even has strange colors that do not normally appear on me. At one point I swear that my mustache had green tint to it. Some sort of strange off blonde that the florescent lights tinged green.

After 6 months, you would be hard pressed to even tell I had been growing a mustache at all. I had several pictures that I took of it before shaving it off, and either by some trick of the light, or just some level of sentience in the damned hair growing off of my face, it remained mostly hidden in almost all of the pictures.

 I am posting all of the pictures. Not because they are good. But as a testament to my folly. I shall never again fall victim to the allure of facial hair. The evidence will haunt me until my dying day.

I pray humanity forgives my hubris.

There and Back Again

It has been a long time coming but Paul is home and we have not really left the "honeymoon" period. I'm not sure what has made this homecoming more special but for me I have grown so much more appreciative of all the small things. Feeling complete is such a wonderful thing. I can't really explain it and you probably won't understand it unless you've experienced it. But that is how I feel. Complete.

Other than a few outings here and there (that we didn't bring our camera too) the only exciting thing we've done lately is attend a Beltane Celebration at our UU Fellowship. This was our first time experiencing a Pegan Celebration and it was a lot of fun. Terra had a great time Sufi Dancing with Paul and dancing around the May Pole with me. There were two May Poles; one for kids and adults then one for adults only. The Adults Only Pole turned out so beautiful, ours on the other hand is beautiful in it's own right. haha! There was also the fire pit, Sacred Circle rituals, and then a fire dancer. The dancer was amazing!

We have a camping trip coming up that we are looking forward to. Escaping to the mountains and back to nature. We're bringing our dog with us and that will add an extra entertaining facet. Our long term camping trip we're sort of planning is a trip up to Sequoia National Forest and then Yosemite. Maybe that will happen in the Fall. If we leave California before seeing Yosemite we will have failed! I also really want to travel up to San Francisco or other northern California town but that will have to wait.