Category Archives: Fallen Warriors

It ain’t a Dry Heat.

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It’s been, finally, much like a DC summer for the last couple of weeks. The rain stopped coming, except for pop-up thunderstorms that miss us, north or south. Heat and humidity are the order of the day, every day. We were supposed to have a front through last night, and cooler temps behind, but there was no rain for us, and it was 90+ by nine in the morning.

However, finally, some significant amounts of tomatoes are coming out of the garden (though mostly still cherry, but you won’t hear me complain, they’re yummy):

Cherry tomato haul

Cherry tomato haul

A couple of other tomatoes, some cucumbers, and a few peppers round out the day.

Most of the last week, outside of work, has been a march to get the finishes on the two cabinets. I think I’m done with those … but I have a problem. I used up the last of an old batch of poly on the drawer/door fronts. A new can of poly (same brand and type, but new) is going on the carcasses. Sadly, the fronts are a LOT yellower. Frantically different. I’m either going to have to live with it, or strip the finishes and start over. Right now, my vote is “live with it.” If I change my mind later, I’ll take the drawer fronts and door off, and redo them. Later. Much later.

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Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

Lance Cpl. Benjamin W. Tuttle, 19, of Gentry, Arkansas, died July 14 at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center following a medical evacuation from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68), during a scheduled port visit in the 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility.

Staff Sgt. Sonny C. Zimmerman, 25, of Waynesfield, Ohio, died July 16, in Mushaka, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his vehicle was attacked by a rocket propelled grenade.

Summer Doldrums

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The heat and humidity have properly settled in, here in the formerly malarial DC Metro area. I’m trying not to let it slow me down. I took a few hours off work on Friday, and spent most of them working in the wood shop. I final-sanded all of the carcasses, drawer boxes, and fronts. Then I hauled all of those out into the “junk” area just outside my woodshop, so that I could clean the shop up.

Carcasses and boxes

Carcasses and boxes

I always build for a while, then clean massively before starting to apply finishes. It’s a bit of a pain, but it keeps the shop cleaner than it might otherwise be. I draped the saw, and started painting the drawer/door fronts.

Saturday, I continued with the finishing at intervals, but spent most of the morning and early afternoon hours doing yardwork – weeding and lawns, front and back. The best news from that angle? Starting to be some proper joy in the back yard, Tomatoes!

Finally: 2013 Tomatoes

Finally: 2013 Tomatoes

With such a late start to the planting this year, I guess I’m not surprised that we’re only getting tomatoes out starting in mid-July … but only cherry tomatoes so far, not even a hint of red in anything big enough to start making salsa or red sauce with. Sad face. By evening, we had a big storm blow through, and when it was done, we didn’t have phone or Internet service. TV, yes. Same pipe for all three, but #WTF! A long phone call and a bunch of power-cycle events later, the VZ bloke determined a truck roll was necessary, but that wouldn’t be happening until Monday.

Hmmmm. I’m on call, AND I have weekend production system patching that needs doing! I sloughed off the on call status to my boss, and shed Saturday night’s patch and reboot onto the junior admin. I then set my alarm for 0615, and was at work by 0700 this morning, patching the rest of the systems that needed attention. Back home, a spot of breakfast, then off to the shopping. By the time I was home again, and down applying coats of poly in the shop, when I heard the house phone ring. Huh? I looked in my wiring closet, and the WAN link was back on my router. I called. VZ didn’t have an explanation for how they were able to remotely fix a problem that had needed a truck roll twelve hours before … but I’m just happy to have comms and connectivity back.

The balance of today was spent cooking a big pot of chili (serrano and habanero chilies from the garden for that), and alternately sanding then overcoating with poly for the drawer/door fronts.

Finishing up door/drawer fronts

Finishing up door/drawer fronts

I still have to distress those, and apply a bit of tactical staining, but they’re nearly done. By Tuesday I should be able to start applying finish to the boxes, and those don’t need a lot. It’s times like this that I wish I had enough room for a spray booth.

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In yet more pleasant news, I have no new casualty reports to pass on from the DoD news release site. Still, it’s a good moment to stop and think about the dedication and resolve that our fighting men and women out at the pointy end of the stick display as they face the world on our behalf. You do us proud!

Happy 7th of July!

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I celebrated Dependence Day (‘All the freedom the NSA will allow’) by doing house cleaning, working in the woodshop, and slow-cooking a pork loin roast on low in the grill, with some applewood chips. Overall, we had a good four-day holiday weekend, mostly indoors since the temps and humidity were in the mid to high 90’s.

Sadly, though, I suffered from a brain cramp when I was setting up the hinges for the cabinet door this morning. The door is nearly square. I laid out the drilling centers, did all the work on the drill press, mounted the hinges, and went to seat them on the face frame. Horrors, I was out by 90 degrees. So I re-drilled on the correct side, and filled the wrong cups with plugs:

Fixing a bad hinge layout

Fixing a bad hinge layout

After the glue was set, I filled the remaining gaps with a sandable putty. It’s set aside to cure overnight. Tomorrow, I can sand, drill the last screw hole, mount the door onto the face frame, and mark/drill for the pull. That’s the last of the hardware pre-fitting. THEN I can take everything apart again, final sand, and start applying finishes. A week or two of that, then the only remaining piece is the countertop, which should go quickly.

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Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

  • Spc. Hilda I. Clayton, 22, of Augusta, Georgia, died July 2, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, of a non-combat related incident that occurred in Qaraghahi, Afghanistan.
  • 1st Sgt. Tracy L. Stapley, 44, of Clearfield, Utah, died July 3, at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, in a non-combat related incident.
  • Pvt. Errol D.A. Milliard, 18, of Birmingham, Alabama, died July 4 in Farah province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with a rocket propelled grenade while on dismounted patrol.

Half Over

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What? The year’s half over already? I don’t recall seeing 6 full months go by!

I did get a lot done this weekend. Yesterday in the yard: edging and mowing the lawns, and weeding the garden boxes. It was the only good day for the outdoor chores, as it was the only rainless day likely in the next week, and we’d had rain for the prior 8 or 9 days straight. Today, thunderstorms and downpours started before noon.

Today was mostly filled with shopping, cooking, and woodworking.

Building drawer boxes

Building drawer boxes

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Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

  • Spc. Javier Sanchez Jr., 28, of Greenfield, California, died June 23, in Sar Rowzah, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his unit was attacked with an improvised explosive device while on mounted patrol.
  • Sgt. Corey E. Garver, 26, of Topsham, Maine, died June 23rd, in Zormat, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
  • Sgt. Justin R. Rogers, 25, of Barton, New York, died June 28, in Bagram, Afghanistan, from a non-combat related incident.

Summer daze

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Shedloads of yardwork and housework yesterday, leading up to Linda Rose and Mike over for supper and a couple rounds of Ticket to Ride. Much fun had by all, good food, exhausting. I overslept this morning, so was shopping late, then working remotely on some patching late, and so on. I never really caught up.

Oh, hey, one bit of yummy: we had freshly killed zucchini from the garden with supper last night. Sliced, steamed, then sprinkled with Parmesan cheese: superb!

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Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

  • Lance Cpl. Jared W. Brown, 20, of Youngstown, Florida, died June 16 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
  • Sgt. Justin R. Johnson, 25, of Hobe Sound, Florida, died June 18, in Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with indirect fire.
  • Spc. Ember M. Alt, 21, of Beech Island, South Carolina, died June 18, in Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked her unit with indirect fire.
  • Spc. Robert W. Ellis, 21, of Kennewick, Washington, died June 18, in Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with indirect fire.
  • Spc. William R. Moody, 30, of Burleson, Texas, died June 18, in Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with indirect fire.

A goodbye, and a garden

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Barbara Thompson’s dad died this morning. I had the honor of meeting this retired marine a few times, he was a kind bloke with a good sense of humor. Sad to see him go, but everything in its time. Goodbye, Dutch.

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The garden is progressing nicely, given the late spring. I’ve got tomato sets on nearly all the plants, the zucchini is starting to be productive, and I expect great things from the peppers and potatoes this year.

Bilbrey garden - June 20, 2013

Bilbrey garden – June 20, 2013

I got the lawns mowed after work, weeded a bit in the garden beds, and roasted some coffee this evening. Overall, a good day. Time to go, ciao!

Powerful storms … crap predictions

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The news leading into Thursday was designed to instill fear … only 10 times in the last 30 years (or was it 5 times in the last 10, but whatever) had the mid-Atlantic states had such a powerful storm prediction laid on in advance. I noted at the time that the article had neglected to mention the success rate of those prior predictions. I, however, predict that based on the overall low impact of these current storms on our area, the prior prediction success rate was also low. I indict the MSM as a messenger that tries to instill terror in our population.

Thursday I was in the District at a VMUG conference. I bailed out a bit early and got home in time to fire up the generator when the power went out – a tree had taken out a power line nearby. Two hours later, the power was back on. There had been a tornado, an EF0 that had been on the ground for a fair stretch, and damaged a few houses and cars by knocking trees over on them. Last year’s derecho was much, much worse than what we had this week. Oh, yeah, another tree fell in about the same place today, and we were power-out again for another two hours.

I got some more herbs installed this weekend in the garden, did a fair bit of weeding, and got the face frames and backs fabricated and installed on the last two cabinets, down in the woodshop.

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Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

  • Lt. Col. Todd J. Clark, 40, of Evans Mills, New York, died June 8, in Sharana, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered from small arms fire received at Zarghun Shahr, Afghanistan.
  • Maj. Jaimie E. Leonard, 39, of Warrick, New York, died June 8, in Sharana, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered from small arms fire received at Zarghun Shahr, Afghanistan.
  • Staff Sgt. Jesse L. Thomas Jr., 31, of Pensacola, Florida, died June 10, in Helmand, Afghanistan.

Rainy days and Mondays

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Or both, as the case surely has been. In this back yard, we’ve had 4 inches of rain in the last four days. Locally around the area, lots more, I hear. But everything is pretty squelchy outside. It’ll be a few days before I can mow again… But the garden, it grows like topsy, and the first small tomatoes and peppers are making an appearance.

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Sorry for the delay. Saturday was building cabinet carcasses in the workshop. Early Sunday morning was upset gastric bits and lost sleep, followed by patching work at 0700. It turned out to be a distracted, dead day for me. Seemed like a good choice not to go back downstairs and work with fast-spinning bits of metal, so I didn’t. In the evening, issues at work kept me focused outside myself, but I missed being here. Today? Feeling better, resolved the technical difficulties, and made progress on a couple of projects.

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Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

  • Spc. Ray A. Ramirez, 20, of Sacramento, California, died June 1, in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, from injuries sustained when his unit was attacked by an improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Kyle P. Stoeckli, 21, of Moseley, Virginia, died June 1, in Maiwand, Afghanistan, from injuries sustained when his unit was attacked by an improvised explosive device.
  • Pfc. Mariano M. Raymundo, 21, of Houston, Texas, died June 1, in Sharan, Afghanistan.
  • Warrant Officer Sean W. Mullen, 39, of Dover, Delaware, died June 2, in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
  • Staff Sgt. Job M. Reigoux, 30, of Austin, Texas, died June 1, in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with a rocket propelled grenade.
  • 2nd Lt. Justin L. Sisson, 23, of Phoenix, Arizona, died June 3, in Tsamkani, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his unit was attacked by a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Robert A. Pierce, 20, of Panama, Oklahoma, died June 3, in Tsamkani, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his unit was attacked by a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.

Garden doings…

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I’ve been pretty good about weeding out the garden, while preserving volunteers for replanting around the beds. I’ve got three volunteer tomato plants and several peppers. I have no idea what specific variety of either is likely to result … but yummy is as yummy does. Here’s the garden in progress, from a couple of days ago:

Garden on 30 May 2013

Garden on 30 May 2013

As I write this, the wind is up, lightning all around, and rain the size of small hatchbacks is falling. The good news is that the garden is young. Big wind when the plants are large tends to blow things over, or even out of the raised beds altogether. The rain is good, though – the lawns are thirsty.

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 Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

  • Spc. Christopher R. Drake, 20, of Tickfaw, Louisiana, died May 26, in Bagram, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his vehicle was attacked with a rocket propelled grenade.
  • Staff Sgt. Joe A. Nunezrodriguez, 29, of Pasadena, Texas, died May 30, in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, from injuries sustained when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device.

Memorial Day Weekend

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A three day chore marathon, closing with the annual remembrance of those lost to us in active military service. I choose to be a bit more OCD about my duty to honor our losses. (Or, as @xeni noted the other day on twitter, CDO, because it SHOULD be alphabetized!)

Saturday: I got the table apron and legs completed and assembled:

Table apron and legs assembled

Table apron and legs assembled

Next on Saturday, but without any photographic evidence at this time, I got our hanging baskets populated and hung up on the front porch. The watering outlets are in the baskets, but that isn’t set up with a supply yet, that’s held for Monday.

Final Saturday task – I applied gel stain to both surfaces of the cherry table top, to even out the look of the wood:

Staining the cherry top

Staining the cherry top

Sunday was a power run: I did the shopping, then applied a first coat of polyurethane to the bottom of the table. I mowed the lawns, with a dog walk as the halftime show. I evened out the first coat of poly with #0000 steel wool and a bit of 320 grit sandpaper, vacuumed, cleaned, and dried, then applied a second coat of poly. I watered and weeded out back, and took a little break. I then prep’d the bottom one more time, and applied a third coat of poly. That’ll cure overnight, and I’ll flip the work piece and start coating the top surface tomorrow. That and watering system setup will fill my Memorial Day, as will my thoughts of our fallen warriors…

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Our condolences to the families, friends, and the 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team on the deaths of these fallen warriors:

  • Sgt. Eugene M Aguon, 23, of Mangilao, Guam, died May 16, in Kabul, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with a vehicle borne improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Dwayne W. Flores, 22, of Sinajana, Guam, died May 16, in Kabul, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with a vehicle borne improvised explosive device.