Weird weekend

This weekend was one for the books. Jan was in Hattiesburg on business and was supposed to catch the AmTrak back to Birmingham for me to pick her up at 2:30p Sunday afternoon. Pretty straight forward, right? WRONG!

On Saturday, I decided to go to Dad's and spend some time with him and check on the status of the house add-on. I took some pix of the progress on the add-on and they can be viewed on Flickr. We spent about a hour or so just sitting and reminiscing about me growing up and some of the stupid stuff that happened. We were both laughing our butts off. It was a thoroughly enjoyable time for both of us.

Then came Sunday, today.....

I got a call about 10:00a. It was Jan pleading for a ride home. Apparently, "someone" overslept or didn't pay enough attention to the clock. The train was scheduled to leave at 9:37a for Birmingham. At 9:30a Jan glanced at the clock and basically said, "Oops!!!!" They made a made dash to the train station. The train left on time, Jan was NOT on board!

Sooooo, her phone call to me was to politely ask me if I would like to take a nice Sunday drive to Hattiesburg to pick her up, ONLY eight hours, round trip! Yikes! Well, I came to the rescue (again) and left on the mission at 10:30a. We got back at 6:.30p. A nice drive actually, just not what I was expecting for today, LOL.

San Diego

Aaron had to report early on Saturday to the San Diego Naval Base for guard duty prior to leaving on three weeks of sea trials tomorrow. He's moved into his decidedly cramped quarters on board the USS Boxer for the duration. He says the Navy guys are pretty cool guys, and has picked up a lot of good info from them already. They gave him a heads-up on the port calls for the upcoming deployment next year: Hawaii, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Persian Gulf, Perth, and Sydney. Though not necessarily in that order. He'll definitely be well-travelled upon return. Now if he can just figure out how to get a Mediterranean deployment in as well, he'll be all set. He put some pix on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/espanol/ of the ships in port in San Diego.

The kitchen is now 99.9% complete. Next up: replacing the attic stairs, updating/repairing the back deck, and backyard clean out of dead trees & overgrowth. Beautiful fall weather: clear, 60's during day, and 40's at night. The leaves are just now beginning to turn. They'll be just right in another couple of weeks.

Fall is here!

The weather has been gorgeous the last few days. No rain in the forecast until next week. I've been working longer shifts since Gustav hit LA. Guards were sent down to LA on temporary duty and the ones left (me included) are filling in as needed.
I'm getting used to listening to music on the iPhone thru the earbuds. Actually, pretty good and not intrusive at all. I ordered an armband for the iPhone to use when I got to the Hoover Rec so I can listen to the tunes while I'm doing my thing. I've downloaded a few arcade games and a Bible also. Works like a charm.
Jan's now using the AT&T Tilt phone that I had. We're gonna send Aaron the retired Palm Treo 750 this weekend to use as a backup for his Blackjack II. Actually, I think he's gonna use the Treo and have the Blackjack II as a backup. The Treo has the touch screen and is easier to use. Aaron's bound for the open seas in a couple weeks for training and to earn his "sea legs", lucky dog!! He passed the Marine Corps brand new Combat Fitness Training test with flying colors this week. He's DA MAN!
Check out the new pix on Flickr.

Snake!

Jan is deathly afraid of snakes. Bugs and other crawlies don't bother her but don't even mention a snake! Our neighbor was over yesterday with his house key (going to Phoenix, AZ on vacation). He noticed a snake's newly shed skin in our front yard in a tree stump hole. It apparently was a garden snake about 3.5 ft long. The skin was in excellent condition. I had her take what I thought were pix of the skin for Flickr with my cell phone. They turned out to be two movies, each about 2-3 secs long. They have been posted on Flickr for all to see: http://http://www.flickr.com/photos/gvincent1/