When will we ever see the Sun again?

    Just wanted to throw some updates out there, since I have gotten busy again. Went to that Amateur Radio club I mentioned in a previous post and sat in on their meeting, of course most of the people are of the older than me crowd but that's fine. They gave out some good information specifically what I need to concentrate on since I so have experience in radio, and of course it was all the schematics of the equipment and policy. I even got a really good study guide they hand out. I have been studying so when I feel I am ready, I will go take the exam.

     This past weekend was OK, wasn't perfect. I know here in SC, we need the rain, but damn can we get at least one day of the weekend to get out and do some stuff around the house. Well that didn't happen. Saturday, we set out to our local Cabelas. I have been eyeing a new two burner propane camp stove. They had the one I wanted for a cool $99.99 and it has a stand too. My old single burner finally died at the old age of 16 yrs old.
    I have been wanting a multiple burner mostly for canning. Before all the rain set in, we had been getting 3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket of green beans every 2-3 days. Here is JUGM sitting on her wheeled bench picking. I would much rather can outside than inside. At least this way, if something goes wrong, well let it blow. I also couldn't pass up another chance to get another brick of Federal Champion .22LR ammo. I also bought the boys their own Daisy Slingshots, and no they haven't shot themselves or busted any windows, yet.....

    Sunday, the weather didn't help me any better with getting over this sinus infection I have been dealing with. Leave it to me to get out yesterday in the rain and drizzle and cook some swine on the smoker. I also got plenty of time to watch football pretty much all day Sunday too. That is also fresh Okra from the garden too.

     Well other than that, not much else going on. House is underway and we just added a couple more days to the already delayed construction. Have a good week everyone. 

Senior
   

Cat 3 CASREP, House underway, and I am questioned on my loyalty and called a betrayer

      Well here we are, we all have made it to Thursday, September 10. Tomorrow is the 14th anniversary of the attack of 9/11/01. Please take a moment to pause and reflect on that devious day in our history and stay vigilant. I have experienced a CAT 3 CASREP.  I take good care of myself, and I have a well developed immune system and have not been sick for about 3 years even with Flu shots, but it happened. I ended up picking up a sinus infection. It started on Monday and thought it was allergies, but by Wednesday morning, I was awake at 0300 with three vises around my head compressing down. Well by 4:30, I called the after hours work number and let them know, I was not coming in. As of right now, I am still stopped up, been popping Mucinex like tic-tac's and its working and I am getting some relief.
       Since I took the day off Wednesday, I didn't wake up till around 1000, I was able to be here when they started digging the foundation of our new home. After four hours of digging with the Bobcat excavator, they had it done. Today they poured 30 yards of rock in the ground.  During the dig, we ended up with a nice souvenir, this will be a decoration in the front yard as visitors come to the house. We also have three other large white flint rocks that we intend on moving around for more decoration

There was a larger rock next to it in the ground, but since it was below the grade, they left it and poured over 2 yards of concrete in the hole. Hopefully Monday, they will be back with the masons and continue on with the foundation and pillars.

     Well it was brought to my attention that someone who has a website went on a rant about me and some others, and no Randall, it was not you this time. You have been good and I say thank you for being good. You are doing your rants on the VA and please, do your part to fix it. This person wants to call me out on my loyalty and label me as a betrayer. REALLY? That's all you can come up with? Listen, you have this group here in the upstate of SC, and you label me this after half of your group has left in the past year and a half? Maybe you should do a operational analysis of what is causing people to leave. Betrayal, nah that's not the case, it conduct unbecoming on your part and having someone who has been in more experienced groups wining over the confidence of other members, I have 5 times more experience than you do with being in a group in Fl for over 12 years. Also, by the way, your welcome for all the ideas and material I brought to your group. Its a shame that the others aren't seeing how you really are. They leave, they will be the next one's you call out.

     Now lets get onto the Loyalty comment. Ok, I got a 4 step process you need to go through then you have the credibility to criticize me on this subject:

#1     Go to a military recruiting office and sign up for one of the armed services. Hell, I will even include the Coast Guard as a option.
#2     Proceed to a MEPS station, and since you never served in the military, it stands for a Military Entrance Processing Station, and say the OATH OF ENLISTMENT or COMMISSION.
#3     Deploy to other countries or theater of operations and spend extensive amounts of time away from your family.

         * Underway and away from your wife for over 300 days in a one year period
         * Spending two weeks with your first born before having to leave
         * Spending one week with your second born before having to leave.

#4     Put on a damn uniform, get issued a weapon and stand a fucking post!!!

    See you don't realize what loyalty is, you haven't served with thousands of fellow sailors, soldiers, marines and airmen throughout a 20 year full time military career. You haven't been on the bow of a ship escorting ships through mine danger areas (MDA) in the Persian Gulf during a war strapped into a harness looking for mines as your going 7 knots through the water, knowing if you don't find one and it hits the bow, your ass is blown sky high and jeopardize the watertight integrity of a ship, and countless lives lost below decks.

      You also haven't served in positions that require you to have the tactical expertise to stand in positions above and beyond a pay grade. Explain to me how a Chief Operations Specialist is qualified as a Tactical Action Officer on a naval ship when this position is usually reserved for second tour department head officers, usually between O3-O4 and had weapons release authority by the Commanding Officer to defend the ship, yes defend over 275 lives. I think you need to go back and look at an email you sent to me on April 17th, 2015 from a contributor to your site, and I quote:

"Tell Senior I had once led a project that used the combined skills of a hand picked group of Seabees, all senior chiefs at the top of their profession. I eventually was invited down Pascagoula way for one of their ceremonies. An high honor that I shall always cherish. His skills are a decided advantage for your group."

     Let's put this out there, you need do some real soul searching, and realize what you are doing sitting behind you keyboard and your cell phone instead of voicing your concern face to face. You expect me to trust someone coming into a group after only meeting them for 2.5 hours? Really, then you have fits about not getting your way and going on rants, completely ignore my wife and only say two words to her "Cheap Ammo" and then don't shake my hand after leaving our last meeting. I'm sure you will get word of this and frankly, I don't care, really I don't. You can fix this to an extent, you need to figure it out, that's up to you...........

Senior

 

Where has the past year gone????

    Here we are, its been over one year since we made the move to SC and what a test of patience and discipline we have endured. As most of you may have known, I experienced the job hunting nightmare that many Americans faced under the Obama economy. It was well over 6 months after moving up here that I found a job here in SC with the USPS, and let me tell you this, what a fucked-up organization. They cant even hire people with benefits because of the career postal employees sucking up all the money, yes I was a Postal Support Employee (PSE) as a Mail clerk. The five weeks I was there, I did more than the other two mail clerks who had been there for a combined 45 years. What a shame that this great American institution has been destroyed by the Postal Workers Union. I tell you, I was glad the day I got the call. This call was what I was looking for. My current place of employment is so much better and I take great enjoyment in who I serve and talk to on a daily basis, except the drive I make everyday.
    
     So with the stress myself and my family endured, we had additional stress with one modular home contract falling through because the VA now appraises modular home the same as mobile homes. So when the appraisal came back, it was $20,000 short of what the appraisal was, so let's say I am not coming out of pocket for that. I had the money, but no doing it. JUGM and I regrouped and found a custom home builder that was actually cheaper than a modular home with what we wanted in a house. STAY AWAY FROM MODULAR HOMES, banks are starting to shy away from them. Got pre-approved and had the ball rolling until another road block popped up, a property owner who had a wife who was resistant on us getting a easement document signed by her husband who was the actual property owner. What he didn't realize was the property he had bought was a tract that my grand-father once owned. Also, my father had been using the easement for over 43 years, which the statue of limitation for easement use in SC is 20 yrs, well he had that doubled. I had been using the easement for over 28 yrs and JUGM has been using it for 20 years.
    
     Well we went to our family attorney here in town and he told JUGM that he couldn't help us because he was the closing attorney for the other property, but we did get a one hour free consultation from him and he said he would send him a letter. Well, by god he did as it was hand delivered. He basically told the property owner that you better sign the document because you are about to be lit up with a lawsuit, which you will loose and if they seek damages, this is something you don't want to spend money on. I was so pissed off, I had it already in my head to do a counter suit seeking no less than $500,000. Well after a month of multiple attempts from myself and JUGM and using all available means to show a judge our attempts, we finally got the document signed, but now we are a month behind schedule. I still have something up my sleeve for those MF's. More to follow.
   
     This past Saturday, the family I took of for a day together. We went to our new Cabelas and did some browsing. I managed to pick up a 500 round brick of Federal Champion .22lr. My Ruger 10/22 is smiling. Ask Stephen and Duke, that's all I shot through my 10/22.

     Next, we went to a REI located in a town near us. We are making another addition to the Hennessy Hammock Family, yes JUGM is getting her own hammock. If you get one, order it straight from them, you get extra stuff with it. These Back Diamond caribiners and omega rappelling rings make set-up so much easier. If it comes to the day that we have to bug out, we all can light weight and leave a minimal foot print in our travel.

 One of the good things we have up here is a very large garden. Saturday night we had some of our harvest from the spring garden.

Fresh green bans and fried okra

    Today, our neighbor came up to visit. This neighbor has done so much for me and his best friend, my dad over the years, we gave him 5 dozen eggs for him and his family. While he was here, he was able to watch me and NW do a review of the Survival Bush craft cook set. I was happy with the construction as it is made in Germany, but I do have issues with it. I purchased the smaller version and now I wish I had purchased the large version. It does the job with using twigs and pine cones for fuel, but I find the air flow to the tinder a bit to constrictive and the effort to boil water did have some human intervention. I will probably purchase the larger one and give it a try. I felt it took too long to boil water. See, when you actually purchase products to try out, you can be honest about their functionality without the bias of a company sending it to you and kissing their ass. There are to many sites out there that do this. 

   Well it is getting along into the night, I have to do my rounds of the property before heading off to bed. I know that I sit at a computer for 8 hours a day and the last thing I want to do is jump on and add to my keystrokes for the day, but I will make a honest attempt to let everyone know how things are going. Next up on my plate, going to my first amateur radio club meeting this week. With my extensive background using every available communication the U.S.Navy has to offer, I feel it should take me no time to get my technician license. Harry, Matt, Kymber, get ready because I will be talking your ears off.

Senior