So Close

After nine long months of Iraq, my time has finally come to go home for some R&R. The last possible day they will let people go home for leave is 30NOV. My date is the 20th. It was really hard to wait so long and see everyone else go home but now it is my turn and I can hardly stand these last few days.

A lot has changed since I last posted. I have been moved from JSS Istiqlal to COB (Contingency Operating Base) Taji. I am still an FDO like I was at the hot gun site on Istiqlal. I have moved back to doing the night shift which I prefer. However, when I first got to Taji, I was pulling double duties. The battery executive officer (XO) went on leave a couple days after I arrived here. Of course, I was chosen to fill in for him while he was gone. I basically got up at 1400 every day and worked XO stuff like maintenance, supply, and personnel. Things are starting to get hectic in those areas due to the upcoming redeployment. I would do XO duties until 1800 when my shift as the FDO started. I work in the Taji base defense operation center (BDOC) where I am in charge of the FDC and the howitzers. I worked until 0600 and then went to bed.

Yesterday, the XO finally came back. I was so happy to see him. Now my life is easy once again. All I have to do is my 12 hour night shift. My battery commander had the great idea to start doing PT in the mornings, which is good but kinda sucks. Other than that, its pretty much life in Iraq as normal. Since I've been here, there has been one mortar attack on Taji and one stray bullet came through the roof of the BDOC. Istiqlal also had another rocket attack just days ago. Every thing is fine, though.

My job has changed a lot since first getting to Iraq. When I was an FSO with 1-7 CAV at Istiqlal, I went out very regularly. Then when I moved to 1-82FA to the Istiqlal hot gun site, I never left the wire. The conditions were still pretty crummy, though. Now that I'm on Taji, life is pretty good. The building I work in looks like those command and control rooms you see in movies with rows of computers on auditorium type rows with big screens in the front with maps and radars and stuff. I really went from going out all the time to sitting in an air conditioned office with computers.

I'm pretty much used to the long hours and no days off thing but I am so ready for my 15 days of freedom. I absolutely cannot wait to see Rebecca. I know we are going to have a lot of fun. Sorry there are no pictures, I havn't unpacked my camera since I left Istiqlal almost a month ago. I promise I will take some pictures soon and post them shortly. Thats all for now, hopefully our next post will be a recap of our R&R adventures.

Harvest Happenings

Well some of you might be wondering what I have been up to since I finished out fire season. Once I was done with work I packed up my truck and moved in with the Krogers. I know there has been some talk going around about what I have been doing and I just want to squash the rumors right now. No, I did not go into hibernation I just took a two week hiatus and did whatever I wanted, which was generally nothing. I am sure you are wondering how I can write about nothing and well even though I have been generally doing nothing, there have been a few things going on. This is my first apple harvest as a Kroger and I just had to make the most of it.To kick things off I talked Karen and Rich into hosting an apple cider pressing party on October 3rd with most of my family and a few close friends. Everyone showed up around ten and we all got ready to pick some apples. Everyone got their picking sacks, a quick lesson on how to wear them, and they were off picking like crazy. Once we had some apples picked Rich showed us how to wash the apples, use the apple press to grind them up and then press the chunks into cider. The cider press is really cool. Rich isn't sure how old it is, but is guessing its from the 1920's. The little kids had a lot of fun throwing apples in to be ground up and the adults had fun working the press. We took a break around noon to have a yummy BBQ lunch with hot dogs and hamburgers and lots of yummy extras that everyone brought to share. During the BBQ, Rich gave the little kids rides on the three wheeler and they also had a lot of fun riding around on Nathan's old tractor and trike. Actually, I don't think Gibson left the tractor except when he had to leave to go home. Once all the cider was pressed and put into assorted containers everyone packed up and headed home. It was so fun to hang out with friends and family, especially since I hadn't seen any of them since I started work in early June.


After I was done with work and finally got my rear in gear, and got out of bed before noon, I had the chance to hang out in the orchard a little bit. I got to pick apples in the Grandfather Tree, it is a Johnathan apple tree that Rich's Grandfather planted, I believe 100 years ago. Every year Rich's sisters and cousins come out and make a day of picking the apples from the tree. I missed out on the fun this year because of work but I still got to pick some of the yummy apples on my own. I also picked some Red Delicious and some Rome apples for my sister.
Karen and I made a lot of yummy treats with the apples. We made applesauce that is so yummy I don't think I will ever be able to eat store bought again, we made apple crisp, and even apple cranberry crisp. I got super excited about the applesauce and wanted to make tons of it. Karen has never canned, but my sister told me if I brought the apples she would show me how. My sister and I canned three gallons of the apple sauce at her house when I went up for Halloween it was so much fun. I think I got bit by the canning bug!

Rich also showed me the ropes when it comes to apple harvest. He taught me how to check bins for bruises when the pickers are picking, he showed me what water core is, he taught me how to level the bins so the apples don't get crushed when they stack the bins to be trucked off to the warehouse, and he even taught me how to drive the forklift, although he didn't let me move any bins that were full of apples. Rich did let me move around stacks of empties so they could take them to the pickers. I had a lot of fun driving the forklift around even though I got it sort of stuck a couple of times, and it took me an hour to do something Rich could have done in maybe ten minutes.

Rich was so nice even though I probably drove him crazy with all of my constant questions but he was a good sport and took the time to answer all my questions and trust me I had tons of them. I learned a lot about apples and a little about what goes into running an orchard. It's kind of funny that I grew up surrounded by orchards and never really knew anything about them. Rich even took the time to take me to the warehouse where his apples are sorted, boxed, and shipped all over the world. I saw the process from start to finish it was really neat. Some of the stuff they have in there is really high tec but they still rely on people to do a few things like sorting and packing the boxes. I had a lot of fun learning all about the Kroger's orchard and spending time with friends and family. The only thing that was missing was Nathan and so I can't wait for next year when he can be here to enjoy it with me.