So I have spent most of the last 2 and a half weeks spicing up the battalion headquarters. Here is a little taste of what I've accomplished.
Historic paintings in the conference room
The other half of the conference room
Dozens of trophies, many over a hundred years old
More trophiesMy parents came to visit us this past week, and it was wonderful to have them out here. They'd never been to Colorado and were welcomed with cool, but rainy weather- a nice change of pace from the 100+ temperatures we'd been experiencing. The rain definitely put a damper on the visit as we weren't able to get out and do a lot of the outdoor, tourist-y activities that the Springs has to offer. I had a few errands that I needed to run for school and my parents were nice enough to keep me company while waiting at the Admissions and Financial Aid offices. Also throwing a (happy) wrench into our visit was the early arrival of our household goods! We finally have all of our things, and we were pleasantly surprised with their condition. A few of our wooden pieces (china cabinet, dresser, and our bed) have some scratches and our couch has a small tear in the fabric in the back, but otherwise everything arrived in perfect condition. We are missing a small folding chair though, so hopefully that will turn up somewhere. The truck that carried our goods contained the things of three families, so it could possibly be at the other home here in Colorado Springs, or it could be in somewhere in California. Hopefully it's here, as it'd be pretty sad if my folding chair made it farther west than me! (I'll post some more pictures of the house after we finish unpacking, as it currently looks like a tornado ripped through a moving truck.)
We were finally able to get out this weekend with my parents. First, we took them to see Garden of the Gods. My mom took most of the pictures this day, so I'm including a picture of Tom and I from our first visit.
We finally caught a morning without rain yesterday, so we loaded up in the Jeep and headed up to Pike's Peak. The nineteen mile drive up the winding mountain road takes over an hour each way. It was a cloudy day, so we drove through some pretty amazing, dense fog and, unfortunately, couldn't get a good view from the peak. We're looking forward to returning, and perhaps hiking some of the distance in the future.
**Please excuse the bugs on the windshield, the Jeep has never been washed to my knowledge.**
Ready for the next 9.5 miles
Getting close
View from the top #1
View from the top #2
14,115 ft!Becky and I are lazing around right now...enjoying our new TV that we bought last week (just couldn't wait for our household goods to arrive). Her parents will be flying into Denver tomorrow, so my boss has given me the morning off to go pick them up at the airport. We're looking forward to some company around here!
Speaking of work, I'm currently doing some redecorating at battalion headquarters, while waiting for pre-deployment training to begin. My boss was going through a closet in the "Yellow Ribbon" Room (kind of a room for family members) when he found a bunch of battalion regalia dating back to the Civil War--very cool stuff. I spent the first day and a half just unpacking the closet, to find hundreds of trophies, plaques, paintings, and other miscellaneous items. Fortunately there's an army of guys who are getting ready to deploy who were able to help me put all trophies in the conference room and tomorrow we shall hang all the plaques and pictures. It's keeping me busy which I appreciate, but I'm hoping for some time off so I can enjoy being w/ Becky and her parents. I'll definitely need some time off when our goods get here--we can't wait!
Hope everyone is doing well--don't forget to leave a comment!
After getting the run-around from the on-post housing office (long story), we made the decision to look for a place off-post. We ended up falling in love with the first place we toured, a brand-new townhouse in the town of Fountain. The town is just a few miles from post and retains a small-town feel despite offering modern conveniences like Walmart, Lowes, Starbucks, Applebees, and a variety of other stores and restaurants. We're living in a subdivision called The Heights At Cross Creek, which ironically is neither very high nor does it contain a creek. Also ironic is the name of our street: Elk River View. (I'm not sure where the Elk River is, but I certainly can't see it.) So after 6 1/2 months of living out of a suitcase we finally have a place to call home. But here comes the bad news:
Our household goods won't be arriving for three weeks.
So we finally have a home, but have no furniture other than an air mattress for three weeks. Thankfully, we kept out a few kitchen items so we are able to cook. But three weeks without a chair to sit on, no television for entertainment, or an actual bed to sleep in still sounds pretty homeless to me. Hopefully we'll get some better news on Monday when we call to check on the status of the shipment. And in the meantime, Jasmine is loving all the wide-open space to explore.
Here's a few pictures of our beautiful (empty) house!
Front of townhouse
Living Room
After three long days of driving, we've finally arrived in Fort Carson, CO! Since we were both driving we were unable to take any pictures along the way, but don't worry- you aren't missing anything. Other than eastern Kansas and the last hour into Colorado, the the landscape and local communities were lacking in interest. Jasmine (and our butts) were so happy to finally end the monotony. We've been assigned a temporary house on post while Tom finishes in-processing: the Colorado House #605. It's a small duplex tucked behind a middle school with a great view of the mountains. We're so close to the mountains, in fact, that yesterday our neighbor witnessed the Military Police (MP's) cornering a black bear in the football field adjacent to our house. Here's a few pictures of the inside our our quarters and the view.
After three days of absolutely GORGEOUS weather (save a brief shower yesterday) we're finally supposed to be getting a spring thunderstorm. 2LT is out at the range all day taking his Bradley Gunnery Exam, so I'm on my own today. I've been slowly watching the weather approaching on weather.com as the storm has the possibility of having large hail and damaging winds. Fun! A few minutes ago I began hearing thunder and thought, "Here we go!" I pulled up the weather information for Fort Knox and saw...
nothing?????? Weather.com must be having problems, because the storm is certainly here!
Then I took a more careful listen. Nope that wasn't thunder that I was hearing, it was what I like to call "booms." I have no idea what the guys are shooting and/or blowing up today, but it definitely sounds like thunder.
Armor Lesson #2: You may find it difficult to distinguish thunder from booms.
