MARY JO AND DEER COLLIDE

(Mary Jo and a deer collided. From what I understand, the deer came through her windshield and Mary Jo got hurt pretty badly. Let's all send her our get well wishes. Poor thing. Send her an e-mail at suchatailwind@yahoo.com)

Hi, Carron,

Thanks so much for the letter and concern. I am doing ok. Just got home yesterday from the second surgery. My mouth is wired shut. Some will be happy about that. LOL. I have a few more surgeries to go, but not sure when yet.

But you shouldn't be worrying about me. You have enough on your plate with your folks. Hope they are doing well with all that is happening to them.

Just thought I'd touch base quick and let you know I'm ok and just dealing with what that rotten deer did to me. I'll be myself again soon enough... could have been worse.

Happy to hear about you and Tony! You deserve a special guy in your life. Take care.

Mary Jo

PROM

Here are some pictures of Dean's and my kids, Wes and Ellyn, on the way to their first prom tonight!

IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY

A certificate from Senator Hancock of Dubuque County verifying Brenda's daughter, Kristin, is a genius just like her momma!!

ALMOST HOME...
Hi, Carron,

Sorry to hear about your Mom and Dad. I know they will both come through just fine. I also received your photos. Super.

I am anxious to head home. I am under two weeks now. Can't wait. We have less than 100 days left in theater also. It seems like forever. I am sure I mentioned this before, but it will be just 3 weeks shy of a year from the last time I saw my kids when I return home on leave. That is a lifetime. It seems that way.

Carol says the Labrador sleeps on my side of the bed now. I hope he remembers who owns the bed. He is a big fellow and I would hate to have to fight for my place.

I received an e-mail from Milt Luckstead today along with a couple of pictures. He is doing great and so is his son. I find it amazing how we all have grown and raised our families. Who would have guessed all those years ago?

Well, I better let you get back to work, assuming you are at work.

Take care.

Scott

MIKE x2

The two Mikes checked in last week. Hauser called one night last week. Deutmeyer rang me up on Monday afternoon. MH is trying to avoid fighting in Iraq and MD is doing his best to avoid bar fights. Best of luck to both of them. Thanks for the calls, guys.

BRENDA IS A GENIUS....

(Amazing intellectual information from Brenda Hanken....would we expect no less from her????)

"At three minutes and four seconds after 2 AM on the 6th of May of this year, the time and date will be 02:03:04 05/06/07.

This will never happen again."

FAVORITES...

My parents and my kids. Add Tony into the mix and my life is complete.

Life is good for me when those five people are with me.

Oh, crap.....I am getting sappy. Someone say something funny....

Hurry.

ADVICE FOR THE DAY

TOUCHING BASE WITH SCOTT W.

Hi Carron,

The internet police have once again blocked the class of 81 blog so my access has been denied. It is frustrating to say the least. You take so many things for granted back home. Simple access to websites would be nice. Listen to me complaining of internet access in a war zone. I think of what my Grandfather endured in the Philippines during WWII. He relied on the mail and it took weeks to get a reply, if at all. No internet, TV, air conditioning, etc. We are a spoiled generation.

I am looking forward to leave in a couple of weeks. I am at the burnt out stage. God willing, we have less than 100 days until we are sent home. That can all change, but odds are it won't. I submitted my retirement resignation letter. If approved, I will retire 23 days prior to my 23 year anniversary in the Army. The Guard is different from active duty. I can't draw my retirement until I turn 60 and then it is a small amount. It should cover groceries.

I have to run to a meeting. Take care and say hi to everyone back home. I hope all is well. I did see your engagement announcement in the blog before I was blocked. Congratulations to you and Tony!!

Scott (Weber)

QUICK UPDATE FROM BZ...

HE WILL BE AN IOWAN AGAIN SOON!!

Carron,

I will be moving our family & stuff up to Des Moines in 3 weeks. I am away for my initial job training for a couple weeks. My job will involve claims development for veterans. The VA rules & regs are complex, and the training takes awhile.

Regards to your family, I see they are on the mend.

Brian Z.

BIRTHDAY PHOTOS

The Miell/Bungum/Rickels family above.

Tony and Darcie below.

Taken at my birthday party Tuesday night.

LOVED the "happy ball", Darc!!!

And, I was quite "functionable" at work today!!

BRENDA'S SON, NICK

Brenda's son, Nick, getting ready to run.

Thanks for sending the photos, Bren!!

GREETINGS FROM DI
Carron,


So give me an update on your birthday yesterday. Were you lavished with gifts and such???

Also, how are things on the Pete and Ruth front? Your dad is such a strong positive person and I just know he will come through this fine. I hope your mom is getting better and will be able to get through all this as well. I did talk to my parents and they told me to tell you that they will do anything you need them to and not to hesitate to ask!

Must get back to all my Administrative Professional's Day feasting. We have food galore. LOVE IT!! I will NOT be loving my workout tonight, but life is for living and I am gonna eat snacks if I want to!!!!

Have a good one!


Di

I KNEW I WOULD HEAR FROM HIM AND I KNEW IT WOULD BE LATE....

Carron,

I am such a shit. I remembered your birthday on Sunday, but I thought, no, I can't send anything. It has to be on her birthday. Then, of course, I spaced it off. Bad, bad, me.

So did you do anything exiting? How are the men in your life? Any other excitement?

I am just trudging off to work everyday. Cardinal is proposing some re-structuring, so not sure what might happen. They are tired of the people in Illinois telling them how to run the business (the right way, I might had) so they may close this sight and move everything to the red-neck-hillbilly-hell known as Dublin, Ohio. They are so stupid in Ohio. They named 2 towns in the state Dublin. Go figure.

Well I must go to work for my keeper. Hope all is well.

Love you,

Mark (Lubbock)

DEB'S ALMOST A NURSE

Carron--
Congrats on your engagement! I LOVE being married to my bestest
friend in the whole world. He is so good to me......and it took
me 37 years to get the right one.........
What's been going on here? Not much........
New vehicle...........
Got tickets to the Pat Green/Sugarland/Kenny Chesney Concert in
Denver on June 30th..........
Dug up three old trees, planted five new ones.....(no pics of
that)
.......tornado warning......no biggie except we went into lockdown
at the prison while I was there dealing with some daytime
administrivia today........so I couldn't leave until they cleared
it.......(PITA)
..and thought I would send my crazy dog pics too.......
Just another day in paradise..........last unit test is tomorrow,
final is Monday......graduation is May 12th.......take boards in
June (hopefully I'll get an early test date) and then life will
get back to some version of normal.
Tell everyone "hi".....I'm thinking good thoughts for your mom and
dad with all of their illnesses/injuries. Getting old sucks...

BRENDA'S DAUGHTER, KRISTIN

Hi Carron,

I was sending these pictures to a friend, and thought maybe you'd like to see them also!

This is Kristin at her piano recital a couple of days ago.

Take Care! Bren

SLOW NEWS DAY

It's my birthday.

That's it.

Hell, I can't even lie about how old I am.

WORKING BACK INTO IT SLOWLY...

Our dog, Cookie, begging for cookies.

Hey, unless y'all have something better to send me, don't say a word.

OVERWHELMED...

Sorry, everyone.

I have been out of touch for well over a week. Life seems to be overwhelming me lately. Kids, work, the usual - we all go through it this time of year.

Also, my mom fell and broke her hip over a month ago. The ornery woman walked around for a week before the pain got so bad she thought it might be a good idea to get it checked out. She was in surgery three hours later. They inserted some titanium iron rod into her balljoint thingamajig. Sounds like an expensive golf club to me.

Then, my dad has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. His surgery is on May 15th.

Don't we love being a part of this "sandwich generation" where we get to take care of our kids AND our parents?

I'm looking forward to life returning to normal anyday now and y'all will be seeing goofy-ass pictures again soon. No cows or trees, I promise.

Send stuff.

CB

STAY OFF THE SIDEWALKS

The boy child turned 16 yesterday. And he got his braces off. Dean and I own those teeth. They're worth approximately $230.77 each.