MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #38

I'm excited I have time to fit this week's "Friday Fill-In" into our crazy schedule!  I'm attending the spouse's part of a "Squadron Commander's Course" all week with Dave.  I'm very glad we chose to attend the local course here (he was also offered the chance to attend one at Langley AFB in Virginia); it's been great meeting other commanders and their spouses that will be here for the next two years like us.

(I'll be writing more about the all-day tour I took of the Air Force Enlisted Village, a multi-level care facility for widows of Air Force members.  It's worth sharing what a wonderful organization it is!)

1. How many pets do you have? And what type? submitted by Life and Times of a Displaced Jersey Girl

One dog, Howie, and five male fancy guppies.  Howie is our "first baby", born in 2000.  He's celebrating his 11th birthday next weekend! It brings us such sadness that it isn't certain whether he'll be joining us at whatever assignment we have next (probably in 2013 sometime).  As for the fish, that's just a fun diversion for the boys.

2. What are your favorite projects to do while hubby is away? submitted by my-inspired-nest

I get to take over the house with SCRAPBOOKING while Dave is away.  I've been slow to break out my stuff here, but maybe this summer I'll get my mojo back...Timmy still needs a "first year" scrapbook!

3. What are the must-haves in your deployment care packages?  submitted by Christine’s Little Blog

I had the honor of helping run a mass-production line of care packages for all the deployed members of my husband's organization in 2009.  Based on my experience, the following items were the most popular:

• Tabloid magazines, muscle car/bodybuilding magazines, video gaming/computer geek magazines
• Single-serving beverage powders
• Snacks that won't perish/melt/crush in transit, such as marshmallow treats, nuts, dried fruits, individually wrapped hard candy
• New release paperback books

4. If you could star in any TV show, which would it be? submitted by Just a Girl

I'd want to star on Big Bang Theory!  Try to be one of Dr. Sheldon Cooper's many many nemeses!

5. What was the biggest hurdle that you faced during your/your significant other’s first deployment? submitted by The Pavlik Perspective

A few days after I arrived at my very first deployment location (Tuzla, Bosnia in 1997), Dave was presented with orders to Bosnia himself.  So a few weeks after I had signed my entire life over to him (which wasn't hard since he was my spouse), we had to arrange for his Mom to take on all of our bills, which meant my doing a couple powers of attorneys from my deployed location.  It worked out well...especially considering my mother-in-law is VERY good at money management and my eyes about popped out of my head when I saw the checking account balance after 4 months of nothing but bare minimum bills!

By the time I came home from Bosnia in 1998, I had orders to my follow-on base in Korea, and I had to arrange for household goods and auto-shipment before Dave had even come home from his own deployment.

The Fruits of Our Labors...Thus Far...

I was planning to be scarce from the blogosphere while Dave and I attend a "Squadron Commander's Course" at the base all week. The kids were going to the before- and after-school child care. But on Tuesday, Jacob came home from school looking and feeling pretty poor, and had a 101F fever. I kept Jacob home from school today so he could recover, and here I am with an unexpected day at home. I was able to catch up on a bunch of household odds and ends, including taking some pictures of my veggie garden so far! I'm so excited about how well things are going. I'm also prepared for everything here to be all fried-to-heck by late June.

It's been 5 1/2 weeks since we planted our seedlings. Let's start with a before and after:

March 13, 2011.

April 20, 2011.

Enjoy some close up pictures of the garden's progress.

Our first jalapeno pepper.

Our first bell peppers.

Grape tomatoes.

Yellow granex onions.  If they were growing in Vidalia County, GA, they'd be "Vidalia Onions".

Cucumbers-to-be.

Our first female pumpkin flower...blog followers from 2009 remember my pumpkin pimping days here, here and here.

From my previous blog about the fauna on the Panhandle, you'll know that when I see new friends in the backyard I'm ready to investigate.  {Running to search Google}  Okay, I'm back.  What we have here is a "Six-Lined Racerunner".  He was hanging out near our garden.

Here are TWO green anoles sitting under my upside-down tomato planter.  The one at the bottom has his pink "dewlap" exposed, but since he's head-on, you can't see it too well.  This picture shows the dewlap a little better, but you can't see the 2nd lizard as well, so I didn't feature this pic.

One of my two upside-down tomato planters, dripping with young green plum tomatoes!

I can't wait to make some "Grammy Vollmer Pasta Sauce" with these!