The full moon Saturday night was the biggest and brightest of the year. We were up in Winters visiting Diane. Matt and Bree (and Brian) were there too so it turned out to be a mini family reunion. Spent the afternoon watching football and catching up with each other, then had some great tri-tip sandwiches for an early dinner. After dinner we went for a little walk around the ranch and danced by the light of the moon!
Niya has been like a mother to Bruno and Mali. Well, sometimes, mothers eat their young. Ever since the pups came aboard, Niya has treated them well. One thing that both Bruno and Mali like to do is to lick Niya’s mouth. It must be a dog thing, because, if Niya is in the mood and lets them, they will be all up in Niya’s mouth, licking away at her teeth, gums, slobber, everything! YUK! All the while Bruno and Mali’s tails are wagging away. When the pups are doing this, Niya is “talking” to them and making them be submissive. The untrained would say she is growling, but its all for show. There is no anger or fear here, just “communication.” The last couple of days Niya has been limping around like an old lady, really hurting. We gave her some anti-inflammatory and she really bounced back and was feeling good. This morning she was her old self and the pups caught the vibe. They were all being so cute so I thought I’d take a couple of pictures.If you look at this without explanation, you’d think that Niya crushed Bruno’s little applehead with one powerful chomp, when in actuallity, this was a loving moment between dogs.
Tomorrow marks the half way mark for Kate’s recruit training! Its hard to believe that Kate has been gone seven weeks already! We continue to receive letters on a regular basis, as well as follow the training schedule on-line, and communicate with other recruit parents online. This week and next she is doing rifle training. The recruits have been carrying and cleaning their weapons since day one. This week they are at the rifle range learning the proper technique. Next week they finally get to fire the weapon! She is very excited.
There is so much that she has done. In addition to the daily exercise, combat conditioning and drill, she earned a tan belt in Marine Corp martial arts and passed the required combat water safety course. She went through the gas chamber and repelled down a 5 story structure. They also were fitted for dress uniforms and had there picture taken in dress blues. Kate writes some great letters that really give is a feel for whats going on there. She has a couple of good buddies who help eachother through each day.
The coolest info from that last batch of letters is that she received her desert camouflage fatigues with US MARINE over one pocket and FLAHERTY over the other. THAT is REAL exciting, for her and all of us!
Today marks day 30 for Kate as a Marine Corp recruit. She is doing GREAT! We have received a few letters and she reports that, other than some minor aches, pains, bruises, cuts and scrapes, all is well! Her day starts every morning at 4am and ends at 8pm. In between its filled with daily exercise, training on Marine Corp Martial Arts, drill (marching) , Combat conditioning, fighting with pugil sticks, as well as many hours of classroom time, learning the way of (and history of) the Corps. You’d be amazed at the amount of data that these recruits have to memorize.
In her latest letter she says: : ” I am getting a lot of cards from people. Please let everyone know that although I don’t have the time to write everyone back, I want to THANK EVERYONE for the love and support they are sending me…..its really motivational and it REALLY HELPS!”
So please, keep those cards and letters coming.
This week is swim week for Kate, spending her time in the pool learning combat water safety. Basically jumping off the high dive and treading water with all your gear on. She should do great! After this week she will be 1/3 complete and done with phase one of training! Her March 6th graduation is getting closer and closer!
We are proud!
YOU GO KATE!!
It was another kick back weekend for us. Too cold and rainy for a bike ride (at least for me), so we just started an early fire in the fireplace and stayed home. Staci came late morning. She brought along Jackson and Milo. Jackson is her dog and Milo is a gentle giant. Pit bull / great dane mix, with a head the size of a basketball and zero body fat. The biggest , friendliest dog (aside from Niya) that I have ever met. Needless to say, when she showed up it was like a day in dog town, with our three and her two, it got pretty crowded in our little living room! After the initial reaquaintance (Niya and Milo did get into a little growling match – not a fight that anyone wants to get into the middle of) all was good.
Staci also brought along her newest toy, the Wii. So we ended up playing it the rest of the day. Barb was the first to try it out and enjoyed most of the games that she did. Funniest part was when she almost fell into the TV while doing ski jumps. Staci, who could immediately go to the Wii Olympics (if there were one) showed us (schooled us) on all the various games. After she kicked ass in bowling, tennis and golf, we all got used to it and played a little better. Wii is pretty amazing and fun to play. Ended up playing 27 holes of golf and a few games of bowling. Kelly got into all the other games, boxing, running, tightrope walking, and all sorts of other stuff.
I guess I’m out of shape when it comes to video games. Mario brothers and Donkey Kong only gave my thumbs a workout. But the next day my shoulders were aching. Kelly was “spent” from all that boxing. All in all a real fun day!
Sometime around midweek I received a flurry of texts on my phone, Five rapid fire texts from the Kahuna, setting up a Saturday bike ride on the creek trail. Sounded good to me. I could tell by the texts that the Kahuna was sending to , not only Vandenbusch and I, but also his cousin Lenny and a couple of his brothers. I guess there was a baby shower in town and all the Kahuna’s family were in Fremont for the festivities, so the boys figured they’d do a ride whilst all the lady’s are at the shower. The plan was to meet at 1pm at Isherwood Bridge, then head out the creek trail to Coyote Hills. With record temps all week long, we knew we were in for some perfect riding weather. Unfortunately, before we even got out of bed on Saturday morning, we had our first “scratch”. The Kahuna caught the cough that most people have been battling, and figured it best to rest and heal rather than chance fate. Probably a good choice. I know Mike is not one to take the “chicken exit“, but the thought did cross my mind! : )
So Vandenbusch and I met up with “2 brothers and a cousin” of the Kahuna’s, and began on our ride. The weather was fabulous! 71 degrees and not too much wind. We cruised out to Coyote Hills, Where Vandenbusch and I climbed the “dirt heart attack” then met up with the rest of the crew and took a break over looking the bay. SPECTACULAR!!! Before we headed back, we did stop for a picture so send to Mike, who had set up the ride, then couldn’t make it. After the first, “formal” pic (which reminded me of the boys from Bonanza), it was time for the “lets let him know what we really think of him” pic. Ahhhhhh. Family. : )
