Oh, Yeah...I Almost Forgot!

Okay, so there I was, checking out a couple of my favorite blogs (such as Moving Parts & The GNOME commentary) when I realized that I have my own blog. Now, I'd like to blame it all on being too busy to update it. The truth is closer to this: I forgot or I'm lazy. Not certain which is closer to the truth over all (probably equal doses of each).

Many things have happened since my last post in 2006. For one, I deployed to Iraq for nearly five months. Ultimately, five months is a lot shorter than what the Army does (the Army deploys you for 12 months and keeps you there for 18 months...they never could count). I then spent two months at home before going down to Mississippi for a month and a half. Well, it's been nearly two months since I got back and I'm getting close to going back to Mississippi (this time for three short weeks). By the time I get home in September, I will have spent nearly seven months away from my family in a one year period. Makes the military life hard. Since 2000, I have spent over 2 years away from my family. Try to be a father and a husband with that much time spent away. To really seal the deal, though, consider that once I get home in September I will be eligible for six month to one year long deployments. Is it any wonder that my wife wants me to retire once my twenty years is up?

Last week I spent two days camping and canoeing. If you've never spent time on the Niobrara River in Nebraska, well, you haven't lived. It's a really pretty river (most of the time), it's shallow (it never got above my waist level...of course, I'm approximately six-two...your mileage may vary), but it is deceptively swift. Well, not really swift per se, but it was strong enough to push a grown man down the river at a leisurely two or three miles an hour. With the slippery rocks, sand, and occasional sharp rock it was no wonder that I lost my footing and ended up about ten feet from where I slipped. Once I planted my feet in the soft sand and stopped myself, I was able to get up and push my way upstream.

The trip was sponsored by Royal Ranger Outpost 1, Rapid City. You would never guess how fun it can be to camp and canoe with a bunch of third to fifth grade boys. If you want to learn something new, go and spend some time with someone that young. Unfortunately, my canoe partner tired very quickly and occasionally would stop listening to my directions. That made the first part of my river trip a bit difficult. I managed to get a righteous, splotchy sunburn on my legs (yes, I used 30 SPF sunscreen, no it didn't really help after I got dropped into the river twenty minutes or so after we started our trip). I also managed to pull something in my forearm...I would go to the hospital but I don't want to and that's the end of it.