In the spirit of the season

A friend of ours and his wife just returned from Massachusetts on Christmas Day. He had been up to visit his brother but it wasn't for a family reunion.

His brother was very ill and struggling with failed kidneys and constant dialysis. Our friend went to donate one of his healthy kidneys to his brother. The procedure went well. The doctor said the transplanted kidney started working within minutes. Days later, his brother's pallor pinked right up after being a pasty white.

Our friend's son said "I hope my brother will be there for me if I get sick."

In that family, I suspect he will.

Merry Christmas from the Grand pup

The grand pup's first Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

Preparing for Christmas

One of the vestiges having three grown sons (two have moved on) is the tons of stuff they have left behind: rock collections, baseballs, and the like. For example, today I decided to charge the digital and video cameras in preparation for the weekend and pulled out a box of AC adapters/chargers. There were 26.

I spent about six hours trying to reunite the chargers with their devices, which can be tricky because they all have different power outputs.

Eleven were united to the proper cameras, hurricane lanterns and radios, etc. Nine are still orphans, including one car charger. One device, a remote controlled boat, has no charger. Six, all from deceased cell phones, are heading for hazardous was day.

I also found a Sony Walkman CD player that no one wants, three sets of ear buds and two sets of head phones.

But the cameras are charged and ready to go.

This week in summary

Saturday: News our first grandchild. Yippee!!
Sunday: Jaguars disastrous loss to Miami, putting playoff bid in jeopardy. Yikes!!!!
Monday: Found out that I have prostate cancer. Double yikes!!!!
But caught it early. Whew!
Tuesday: Army recruiter shows up at the door looking for SGT. Mark. Sigh.

I wonder what Wednesday will bring.

Soon to be's

From left to right: Soon-to-be grandpa, two soon-to-be uncles, soon-to-be dad.

Girl Gets Wish! Daddy Home From War!!

Tear alert

11-30-09 Aussie Puppies

11-30-09 Aussie Puppies

Where SGT Mark's pup was born. FYI, we have two rescue dogs and three rescue cats.....but these guys are too cute.

Pearl Harbor Day - honoring my neighbor

Mr. Ellis has been our neighbor for the last 26 years. See the video here

Individual ready reserves and the Afghanistan surge

Predictably, the mainstream media has been focused on the politics surrounding President Obama's Afghanistan speech at West Point Tuesday night. But there are many questions about which military families want to know:

• What impact will sending an additional 30,000 troops to have on the Army National Guard and Reserves?
• Will units currently deployed to Afghanistan be extended an additional three months as they were in Iraq?
• Will this surge increase the number of individual ready reserves who have already been mobilized after returning to civilian life?
• Will the surge have an impact on the dwell time that units receive once it has completed a deployment?

Currently, there are 104,659 National Guard and Reserves that have been activated, of which 4,379 are mobilized individual ready reserves, according to a recent Department of Defense press release. And that's just the Army.

Trying to find current information on IRR mobilizations is next to impossible. From what's out there on the web, there was a mobilization in October and another Nov. 17. About 14,000 former soldiers were called to a one-day muster this year to assess mental health and physical condition. No word on what will happen in 2010.