Tough, Busy, and Some Fun Times

The training hasn't become easier with time, in fact it is just the opposite. However, there have been some high points in the last two weeks. Most all of my time is spent studying or spending time with my wife and son, hence the absence of a post last week. Not to mention, my mother was in town last week, so I didn't want to take my ten free minutes to update my blog. I know, I know I am a selfish person.

Candi and I enjoyed having my mother in town for a week, but we quickly got the impression that she was here to see her grandson more than us. It first became apparent when she got in at 1:00 AM and as soon as we pulled in the driveway, she ran out of the car, through the door, and into JJ's room. She then proceeded to rip him from his crib and deep sleep and parade around with him, while kissing him twenty times per second. Ok, I might be embellishing things a bit, but she did enjoy seeing her grandson.

We spent time seeing some of the sights around here, to include Tombstone. Tombstone was actually better than we thought and well worth the hour drive. JJ watched the reenactment at the OK Corral and didn't even cry during the shootout. I guess he is already desensitized to violence...which is probably due to his mother always yelling and breaking things. Tombstone was worth the time and turned out to be even bigger and more interesting than we had thought. It is weird to see placards all over that state someone was shot to death right where you were standing. Then you go to the old cemetery and find out they were shot for things, such as wearing an "ugly" shirt or for arguing about how to raise cattle or about how to water a horse. I am afraid I wouldn't have made it very long back in those days...or I would have learned to keep my mouth shut with my "smart" comments.

On the work side, I had the worst flight of my career, to which I was told to quit taking the weekends off and study and really got scolded for going to Tombstone. I rallied though with the next flight, in which I got to shoot the gun for the first time. Something about sitting on 12 foot barrels while they are turning to spray out 50-70 bullets a second, is a pretty cool thing. The GAU-8 shoots 30MM and here is a picture of the shell of these death pills.

I am studying more than ever and now don't even take the weekends off. Hopefully it will get easier, but I really don't think it will for a long time. Anyway, I continue to study and work 12 hours a day and get to see Candi and JJ very little. I know Candi isn't a big fan of it, but it can only last three more months. Free time is at a premium, which is why I haven't posted for awhile and this is a compilation of three days of trying. Anyway, back to studying, but if you want to see pictures of the cutest baby ever, with the best mom ever, go to Candi's website.

Oh, and the weirdest thing is that we got snow yesterday morning. It quickly melted with a 60 degree day and was totally forgotten with a 75 degree day today. Tomorrow is supposed to be over 80...go figure. Until then, see ya!