Happy Veterans Day!

Once again it's that day where we remember our Veterans. On a whim I pulled out my "Cracker Jacks" out of the closet and tried them on. Here are the results.

Not too shabby if I do say so myself...considering I retired in 1994 (24 years ago)! The picture I'm holding is my boot-camp picture taken when I was 18 years old....FORTY YEARS AGO!

I am however out of uniform here...no ribbons, medals or hat. I could have taken apart my shadow box for ribbons and medals, but that would be a lot of work. I was just interested to see if I could still fit, and I was (not saying I didn't stress-test those bell bottom pants buttons tho). I will be down in Los Angeles (for work) most of January and into Feb most likely, and will make a trip down to San Diego Naval Station and pick up a new Dixie Cup hat, and maybe a set of ribbons so I don't have to take apart my shadow box. Then NEXT YEAR I will do a fully uniformed shot.

Anyway, HAPPY VETERANS DAY to all those out there who have worn a uniform, and especially to those wounded or killed over the centuries...they are the ones who MADE AMERICA GREAT!

(on a side note, Jeannie took me out to Denny's for breakfast today.....woo-hoo!) I've been teasing her like FOREVER as she sleeps in every Veterans Day while THE VETERAN gets up and goes to work...so I FINALLY got a V-Day breakfast out of her! Oh, I know what you're thinking....what did I order you ask?

The Cinnamon Bun pancake slam! This is ALMOST a before shot...my pancakes were late so I had already started on the bacon, eggs and hash browns. The pancakes have the cinnamon bun crunchy stuff baked right into the pancakes...YUM!!!!

And this is of course the After shot. Done and DONE! 

(and I STILL fit into my dress uniform after this!)  

Sadly Denny's doesn't offer their "Free" Grand Slam breakfast to Vets TODAY (actual Veterans Day), only tomorrow. That just seems wrong...but I guess they won't have to give away nearly as many that way, as MOST vets are still working. We WERE going to go to IHOP as THEY were giving the free vet meal today, but of course they were "slammed" so we called the audible and went to Dennys and Jeannie bought (thanks again Jeannie!).

After breakfast we ran around stopping at other places giving free things to Vets...I got a free cup of coffee at Starbucks, a free "Hot and Ready" pizza and a soda at Little Caesars, and a free donut (which I will take to work tomorrow for my break snack) at Dunkin Donuts. There are likely a few other places but I have things to do today. Anyway it was fun to actually get to partake in a few of the "thank you to vets" specials for a change!

OK. I'm off to do my Sunday chores. Veterans Day or not I've got things that need doing today.

Later gaters!

Cheers!

Happy Halloween!

Well, another Halloween has come and gone. It was a pretty good day at work, which I left an hour early to slip in a Mt bike ride, get home and shower, and get ready for our Trick or Treaters! It was a BANNER YEAR for us....173 kids between 6:12 and 8:15pm (when I ran out of candy and turned off the lights). That's a new record...I THOUGHT we had plenty of candy (I give 2 pieces to each kid...nice pieces such as the little candy bars, etc). The babies had a BLAST hanging out at the door, hoping for the kids to pet them and make a general fuss over them (which they mostly did). Abbey especially was great...Sophie got scared at a few of the costumes and barked...the scariest was a kid dressed up as the clown in the NEW version of Stephen Kings "IT" (it was pretty scary actually, and it was a bigger kid too, not a tiny child!) She was NOT happy with that costume whatsoever!

And so...being as I haven't posted pics of them in a while, here are a few pictures of the babies.

 Here's Abbey trying to get closer to the candy-pot. She was hoping I wouldn't notice 

(she's got her front legs on the table).

Sophie is dressed up as a "dog" (hot dog-bull dog...get it? Sometimes I kill myself!)  

A side view of Ms. Abbey being BAD. She is a cutie tho and gets away with a lot.

Side view of Sophie. She was really calm this year, except for the few costumes that startled her...otherwise she was really great! A lot of kids pet them both (which they LOVED!)

Abbey keeping a sharp eye out for kids (before they started, our first kid was at 6:12pm). 

Here she's again watching the candy bowl. She's really good at guarding things with food in them!

Here they're waiting patiently for the next kids to arrive.

Taking a time-out from door-guard, resting on the rug (guarding the door is hard work apparently!)

Sophie caught me taking their picture.

Nearing the end, Abbey is all tuckered out. Getting petted by a bunch of 

Trick or Treaters must really be draining!

 Our fireplace mantle decorations: Jeannie found a string of scary pumpkin lights, and we entwined them in a nice double strand of fall color leaves. On the right is her "Haggatha" witch that she got when she was in Salem Mass a few years back.

 

And this is what it looks like lit up (the camera kind of ruins the glow, they don't look that bright in real life...just a kind of soft spooky glow). This all comes down TOMORROW.

And so....another Halloween is in the books. We had really great weather (as usual, we ARE in California after all). Probably right around 60 when I turned off the lights...not too shabby. 

Hope your Halloween was scary fun like ours!

Cheers!