Home Improvement

The infamous Red Green always says, "If the women don't find you handsome, at least let them find you handy." Mom and I are so lucky ... we have a guy who is both handsome AND handy! Dad is busy again working on a new project, totally renovating our basement rec room. Mom is helping him too, and I just like to hang around and supervise everything.

We've been busy the last couple weeks just getting the house and the yard ready for winter ... raking the last of the leaves, cleaning out the rain gutters, cutting down all the plants, and sadly, putting the trampoline away. No more "signorinas on trampolinas" until next year again! Luckily we had unseasonally warm weather up to now, although there were a couple of hellacious wind storms that knocked a lot of branches off our trees. Here I am hanging out while Mom does her Campfire Girl thing. We love fire!


That pic was taken last Saturday, and then Sunday we had an even better day as we watched the Packers beat the Falcons 33-25. Whoohoo! Life in Green Bay is good again! We haven't had any snow yet, but we might see some tomorrow morning. Mom and I braved the pouring rain to go for a walk today because it was still relatively warm, but tonight a cold front is supposed to come through and turn the rain into snow.

Hopefully this basement project will go quickly, because Mom has no hope of parking her car in the garage until the construction is done and the table saw gets put away. Most of the messy work of tearing out the old walls is done, the new window is in place, and later this week a guy is coming to check out the gas line and set up a date for installing the new gas fireplace. Then it's finishing the walls and shelves and we'll have a toasty warm new rec room. Dad notes that the bar is still open during the construction phase, but be warned, if you stop by for a beer or a cocktail you just might get put to work!

It might be awhile before we can post the "before and after" pics of the basement, so for now here's a pic of Dad's most recent home improvement project. He decided to take up a new hobby while Mom was gone to Iraq last year, and he's now a licensed ham radio operator. This was his old "War Room" when he was in the Army, but now it's our computer room/ham shack. (Mom made this pic using a really cool panaramic photo software called Autostitcher.)


Other than hiring a professional to refinish the wood floor, Dad did all the painting and built the work stations and shelves himself. When Mom got home she only had to put up the posters and Roman shades, and she finished it off with the rug she shipped home from Iraq just for this room. I think it turned out really neat. My Dad is a handy guy!

My Home Away From Home

This is a shameless plug for our friends Rod and Lynn who own Pine Tree Kennel. They are such nice people and they love me like I'm one of their own dogs. In fact their daughter has grown to love me so much that she bought a red nose pit bull puppy of her own just a few weeks ago. Her name is Nina and she is going to grow up to be a beauty, just like me!

The coolest thing about this family is how much they support the troops. Last year when my mom was in Iraq I stayed with them a lot because my dad still had to travel for work and family stuff, and they wouldn't even let my dad pay. That was literally hundreds of dollars in boarding fees that they just waived, and they still gave me exercise time outside every day and lots of extra attention because they knew I was missing my mom. Aren't they great?

I stayed there again this past weekend because mom and dad went to Illinois for the annual fall reunion of the Old Farts Club. That's the old timers from the 139th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, a joint unit of the Wisconsin and Illinois National Guard. They have been all over the world so they love to get together a couple times each year to drink beer and tell war stories. This year it just so happened that the Wisconsin Badgers were playing the Fighting Illini there in Champaign and our friend John got tickets for the whole gang, so mom and dad got to see some winning football for a change. It wasn't a total blowout, but the Badgers easily beat the Illini 41-24. That was definitely cause for celebration!

My mom also got to inform all the old timers that the 139th MPAD was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation for their service in Iraq from February 2004 to January 2005. The 139th has a long standing reputation for being one of the best public affairs units in the entire Army, and they really kicked ass in Iraq so this award was well deserved. Mom was happy to be the one to announce the news to all those who served in the unit in the past but have long since retired. She's been an honorary member of the OFC for several years already, but now that she's retired too she's official! In the photo below she's posing with the guys and the new unit shirt. Pretty cool, hey?