Twas a Good Day

I learned a few good lessons today. First lesson involved the intricacies of a riding mower. Having always used my two legs to push a mower there was a bit of a learning curve involved. I learned that the higher gears can make the mower go much faster then my two legs. Even with the riding mower I was out there for a couple of hours, I can only imagine if I had tried using the push mower. Another lesson I learned is that the girls love the mower when it is off but are terrified of the mower when it is running. These are the same knuckle heads that will kick a fire ant hill while wearing sandals.

Another lesson was learned today about my gun. I was able to break in my .45 Desert Eagle (Baby Eagle as it is commonly referred to) today. I was worried about the recoil being to strong but those Isrealies sure got it right when designing the Baby Eagle. After the first 20 rounds the B.E. became smoother and is really pleasent to fire and not to mention fairly accuarate. I can credit the weapon with being accuarate and not myself since I was hopped on an energy drink. Needless to say, both Katie and I had a good time squeezing off a few rounds today.

Oh, and before I forget, who doesn't love Pee-Wee? (C'mon Pen, you can do better then that) :)

Another Boyhood Dream Realized

Within the last week I have seen two childhood dreams come to fruition. First I purchased a handgun. Even though I haven't had a chance to go shooting yet I am really happy with the fact I have a gun. And now today another dream has come true. Katie located a guy selling a riding mower on Craigslist for a pretty good price. We managed to get $200 bucks knocked off the price so this morning we drove to Tallahassee and picked the mower up. I must say for the price and condition of the mower we got a pretty good deal. I am just excited about not having to use a push mower to mow an acre. I thought that it was going to be fun mowing the lawn with Bethany or Heidi on my lap but shortly after getting home, when test driving, I learned Bethany is deathly afraid of the mower when it is running. I suppose that is a good thing. Of course, I'd be remiss not to mention our journey home from Tallahassee. About 40 miles out on a small winding road I hear a weird noise coming from the seat behind me, almost like a sippy cup spilling. However, the sippy cup was intact and in fact the noise was Bethany puking. We stop on the side of the road in front of somebody's house and got Bethany all fixed. I could not help but think that Karma sucks.

Back to Work

And I use the term work rather liberally. If Katie reads this (my Katie) she may not understand what I mean when I say work since I usually refer to work with terms such as "Hell", "Inferno" and "Hell-Hole" just to name a few. Can I just say that I am excited about being ten months away from starting my terminal leave. My goal for the next ten months is to not get into any trouble that may cause me to get demoted or lose my security clearance. Shouldn't be a problem since I don't even speed. Over the next ten months I am planning on working towards going Active Army as an Officer. However, I am not naive to the fact that there are other jobs out there. I may talk to the FBI or some other law enforcement agency with three letters. Being able to carry a gun everywhere is also appealing.

Finally Home...and Supporting the 2nd Amendment

So after a long month in Vegas I finally returned home. Thanks to the excellent planning of the Air Force we finished working last Thursday at 8am. Then, we turned in our rental vehicles at 11am only to get on the plane at 7pm. Thank goodness we had 8 hours before leaving, I don't know how the other guys could have gotten drunk if they did not have that much time. But I digress, I got home at 3am and needless to say I was pretty tired. The girls were really sweet. Heidi I don't think knew I had left whereas Bethany was giving me hugs and kisses all the time.

Even though I had not gotten in until 3am I was still up early enough to head to the gun shop and pick up our newest baby. A new .45 Baby Eagle. I will not go into to much detail but I have attached a photo of our gun. I have not been able to shoot her yet but hopefully this weekend I will be able to break her in.

So Much for a Journal

So almost a month ago I thought that this blog was going to work as a journal entry while in Las Vegas. My plan didn't work for a couple of reasons. First, my Internet connection is absolutely lousy. Just to get on the Internet I have to sit in the door way of the room to pick up the wireless signal. Second, nothing has been going on to talk about. For the first two weeks we were on 12 hour shifts. I guess I should say that I was on a 12 hour shift and that my boss worked whenever he felt like it. In addition to being at work forever, there was nothing to do. I sat in the vehicle for hours on end. Thankfully I have my PSP and that helped pass the time.

Other then that watching the planes take off can be cool, except that the F-15's, 16's and 18's are so cotton pickin loud. The ground just vibrates every time they take off. The other night I was at the "End of Runway" (where the planes park and get armed right before take off) and got stuck behind some 15's and 18's. You need to stay at least 200 feet away from the back of the jet engines for a reason. I was in a truck and about a 100 feet away. I am quite surprised the back of my neck wasn't burned. That was my exciting time.

In Case You are Wondering, 12 Hour Shifts Suck

Here we are in Las Vegas. Less jets then we had in Iraq, with jets that are not broke and less sorties to fly. But someone has a bug up their...nose. Anyway, I am now working 1800-0600 that really sucks for trying to sleep. Especially when housekeeping will want to come by at 0800. So right now you may be thinking "Boy Jake is whining a lot." If you are thinking that, you'd be right.

On Sunday it was nice to get out and go to church. I managed to hitch a ride with Bro. Oaks, son of Elder Oaks (from the seventy). He is a really good guy and it was nice to have a normal adult conversation. At any rate, I look forward to this week ending because that means I am one week closer to going home.

Week 1 in the Bag....Almost

The end of week one here at Nellis AFB is almost done. This last week has been pretty long and annoying. Not to go into to much detail but the supervision running the show here are working us pretty hard, and I use the term "Working" rather liberally. To put it in perspective, we are working longer hours here, with less jets, then when we were in Iraq. Not to mention the jets aren't even having as many problems as in Iraq. So there, I have officially vented.

On another topic, seeing all the jets here has been really cool. The F-22 is one mean looking aircraft. What gets frustrating for me is the little boy inside of me. Standing next to a jet as it launches makes me really jealous that I don't get to fly one. Last night a pilot taxied down the taxiway but had to come back due to his canopy not locking in. After trying to troubleshoot the jet they had to shut down the plane and cancel his flight. Well, I got to help trouble shoot the jet by sitting in the cockpit and lowering and raising the canopy. When the canopy was closed I had to try my hardest not to grab the stick and make machine gun noises. And I don't care who you are, any guy that sits in the cockpit would have been tempted to do the same.