Kentucky Derby

Every table was decorated with a unique horse head

 Believe it or not the Kentucky Derby is kind of a big deal in Kentucky. The Kentucky Derby is the longest continuous running sporting event in the United States it has been ran every year for the last 138 years. Up in Louisville, there is a constant party for days leading up to the derby. Schools and offices are closed the Friday before the race because everyone is too busy having fun and getting ready for the derby. Fancy hats are sold everywhere. Cakes are made to look like jockey silks. (Silks are what they call the jackets that jockeys wear.) 

Some of the "seasonals" enjoying the Derby fun

Kelli and I were invited to join in the derby festivities at the campground. There is a group that gathers from all over every year to come to the campground and celebrate the derby together. They have been making this trek for over 20 years. There is an all day potluck and everyone enjoys the races on TV. They even have computers set up and people taking bets for all the races.

Horse head and mint julep

 Mint juleps are also part of the derby tradition and the official drink of the Kentucky Derby.. A mint julep consists of bourbon, crushed mint, sugar and water and is typically garnished with a sprig of mint. They sound really gross! Kelli and I really had fun getting to know more people and we even learned a little about betting on horse races.

Kelli and I holding our ticket

We bet $6 on the Kentucky Derby itself. We chose 2 horses and bet $1 "across the board" on each of them. That means we bet $1 for WIN, SHOW, and PLACE. Win is of course if the horse wins. Show is for 2nd place and place is for 3rd. One of our horses did okay but ultimately didn't make the top 3. Our other horse was at the back the whole time and then at the very end came from the outside to place 3rd.

Kelli collecting our winnings

It was fun betting just because it actually gave us someone to root for during the race. Our winnings came to a whopping $17.25. It was a lot of fun just being a part of it all.

Here, There and Everywhere

Start of our hike at Saunders Spring

This past month has gone by really slowly. Kelli and I are having fun and keeping ourselves busy but for the past month we have been doing it without sugar. I miss sugar!  Saturday we  completed our month without sugar and celebrated with some Slutty Brownies. They are cookie dough topped with Oreos and Peanut Butter cups with brownie mix poured on top. They turned out a little gooey but still YUMMY!

This past weekend Kelli and I helped with the campground clean up. Every year the campground has a big clean up to get it ready for the camping season. Everyone is given assignments and works hard around the campground clearing out dead branches, cleaning signs and bathrooms, power washing picnic tables, landscaping, etc. We helped plant flowers by the pool. It was hard work but a lot of fun. That night everyone got together for a potluck. I love living at a campground and having so many wonderful neighbors that I actually know and hang out with.

The flowers we planted

We have also gone on a few hikes this past month. Kentucky is so beautiful and there are several places to hike and enjoy the beauty.

Beautiful trail

The last hike we went on was at Saunder's Spring. It is located very close to Fort Knox and I have actually driven by it several times. From the road you can see 3 cabins that are at the entrance.

Cabin at the entrance to Saunders Spring

Me being silly

Kelli being silly

Once you pass the cabins, there is a little road that leads back to several hiking trails and picnic areas. It was a lot bigger than I realized (26 acres) and a lot of fun to explore.

 

 

Another place I have been meaning to go to is Jailhouse Pizza in Brandenburg. Brandenburg, KY is about 45 minutes away from where I live and is located on the Ohio River.

Kelli standing by the Ohio River. Kentucky on one side and Indiana on the other

 Jailhouse Pizza is a pizza place operating out of on old jail built in 1906.

 They encourage you to wander the restaurant and explore the old cells.

 You can even see the trapdoor where they use to hang people.

Kelli standing over the trap door

It was pretty interesting and the pizza was really good. It will definitely be visited by us again.

Despite the pizza, Kelli and I have been trying to get into better shape (hence the no sugar) and prepare to someday run in a Tough Mudder event. We started the P90X workout 2 weeks ago. It is kicking our butts but we are really enjoying the results we are starting to see. Though there are several times I would like to punch Tony Horton in the face. (I like him just fine but he pushes you and I am violent.) We have several more weeks until we complete this program and then we will start P90X 2! Yes, we are a little insane.

Meric is doing well but is a little ready to come home. He just wants to be a part of all the fun Kelli and I are having. We get to Skype every night which is a huge blessing. It is fun because he is doing the P90X program with us. Even though we are so far apart we still have something we are both working on at the same time.

This Just in From Afghanistan

So Mandy has been harassing me to write a blog about my deployment so far. Normally she writes them all and I proof read them so this is a change for me.

Well I started my deployment by going to Ft. Benning GA first to attend the CONUS Replacement Center(CRC). CRC is where they make sure that all your medical stuff/vaccines are up to date, you have completed all the required training, and get issued all your deployment gear. It is for military, other government employees, and contractors who are going to combat zone.

Mandy stayed the first two nights with me. We booked a cheap hotel room that had decent reviews online. When we got to our room it reeked of cigarette smoke even though we had requested a non-smoking room. So we called the front desk and asked if there had been a mistake. The front desk person said that was a non-smoking room but changed our room for us. The second room smelled even worse and the window wouldn’t open to let fresh air in. So we called back and the front desk person again was surprised by it but said there were no more rooms and that we could go back to the first one. Needless to say we went back to the first one and bought a couple of bottles of Febreeze to make it smell a little better. You can’t trust everything you read on the internet. Mandy dropped me off the first day and I checked in and got my room but stayed at the hotel with her that night. It was hard to say good bye to her when she dropped me off again the next day. 9 months can seem like an eternity at the beginning. I do look forward to the end of my deployment and going back home to her.

The rest of that week was actually pretty boring. My home unit had made sure I had pretty much all my pre-deployment stuff done before I got to CRC. So I ended up doing a lot of sitting around and waiting while everyone else got all their pre-deployment stuff done. I did get meet some great people and we did go to the shooting range one day which was fun.

At the end of the week we flew out of Ft. Benning to Kuwait with a few hour lay-over in Ireland. I can say that I have been to Ireland although all I really saw was the airport. The flight was a civilian run airline contracted by the Army. We had to keep our firearms on us(with no ammo) but any knives or sharp objects had to be placed in our checked luggage(because all the military folks are going to hijack their own plane). It was late at night in Ireland when we got there and we were only supposed to be there for 2 hours so we deplaned and hung out in the terminal. Well, 4hours later we still hadn’t re-boarded yet. There was free Wifi which kept crashing so trying to use the internet was a major pain and most everyone gave up after a little while. They fed us some food and several people tried to get some sleep on either the uncomfortable benches or hard floor. We finally flew out at sometime around 8am for Kuwait. I was exhausted by the time I got there.

Kuwait is called tent city because it is full of tents and is just a transient post for people going to and from deployments. I was worried that I would get stuck in Kuwait for a few days but they had a flight in a few hours to Bagram Airfield(BAF). The flight to BAF was on a military C-17. Last time I was in one of those I fell out(go airborne). C-17s are big and enclosed so there are no window seats and the chairs didn’t recline. We arrived in BAF in the morning and from there I was put on a stand-by list for a flight to Fob Fenty. Unfortunately, there was some bad weather in BAF and a couple of flights got cancelled so I got push way down on the stand-by list. I ended up staying 3days in BAF. Luckily the Concussion Care Clinic(CCC) in BAF only had 2 patients so they allowed me to stay there. Otherwise I would have been stuck in a tent for 3days. The CCC in BAF is nice and had its own MWR internet café. I was able to skype with Mandy everyday and MAJ Brown the chief of the clinic showed me how she ran things there. Most of the day I spent running back and forth between the CCC and the airport seeing if I got on a flight. Finally I got on a flight late at night and arrived at FOB Fenty at 3am.

My clinic at FOB Fenty

FOB Fenty is nice and smaller than BAF which was nice but it is still a larger base here in Afghanistan. MAJ Gray the OT that I replaced showed me around and introduced me to everyone. We had planned a 3 day overlap so she could show me everything but that turned into almost a week as the weather interrupted flights and she had to wait to get on a flight to BAF and from there to Kuwait. She was also leaving the same time as the major unit here was pulling out and being replaced by another unit. So there were a lot of people coming and going. That made the FOB very congested and busy. Hopefully I will miss some of that when I leave because the new unit is only here for 9 months as well. 

The first while here was very slow and I didn’t have any concussion patients. I would help the aid station out by seeing people that had an arm injury or tendonitis. I was very bored and tried to find things to fill my time. We say that it is good for me to be bored because it means that people aren’t getting hurt. But, it sure makes the time go by slowly. When the new Physical Therapist got here we started traveling to the different smaller FOBs to assist the medics and Physician Assistants by seeing any patients that fell within our scope of practice. We go to the different FOBs by helicopter which is fun(I wish I could go everywhere by helicopter). The following month started to pick up a little as the new unit got settled in and started to go out on missions and the fighting season started(the insurgents don’t like to fight when it is cold so they don’t do much over the winter). The war here is in a transition phase as the Afghan National Army is being required to take a more active role in suppressing the insurgency and the U.S. troops take on a more mentoring type role. Hopefully, it stays quiet here. Well that is all that has occurred so far.

One and One

Beautiful Kentucky

Meric has been gone for one month and April 1st is my one year anniversary for living in the trailer. One and one.

Having Meric leave was really hard. I miss him all the time but I am actually handling it a lot better than I thought I would. The hardest part was when he was traveling to Afghanistan. He could only send me a quick email once and a while and we weren't able to talk at all for two days. I was so happy when he was able to call me again. Since that time we have been able to Skype or IM everyday. It is still hard but we have one month done!

Also the first week without Meric was very interesting. My washer/dryer door broke and we had not one but two days of tornado warnings. The washer/dryer door ended up being an easy fix since it was under warranty. They sent me a new door and I was able to fix it no problem. The tornado warnings were very interesting. The first days the tornadoes went right through our area. Kelli, the dogs and I went to the campground restrooms to wait out the storms. It was pretty bad but no damage so that is a blessing. A couple days later there were more tornado warnings. They went above us and below us. It was really windy and rainy but not any damage to us again. Considering how much damage there was after the tornadoes went through we were very blessed not to have any damage.

Kelli being here has helped a lot too. It is nice to have someone to talk to and do things with. I would probably be talking to the dogs even more than I do now if it weren't for Kelli. (The dogs would probably be answering me back now too.) We have had fun hanging out and Kelli has shared her love of Doctor Who with me.

Kelli striking a pose

Kelli and the duck in her hand

We are also getting into the habit of working out and trying to get into good shape. The weather has been really nice and warm lately so we have been getting out and enjoying beautiful Kentucky.

Kelli and her friend, Stick



More beautiful Kentucky

On Sunday Kelli and I are going to celebrate my one year anniversary in the trailer. I wish Meric could be here to share in this milestone. Kelli and I will just have to have fun for him too. :-)

Kelli and the Powell parents come to Kentucky

Last Wednesday my little sister Kelli came to visit. She is planning on staying with me while Meric is deployed. Then on Thursday Meric's parents came to visit. It was a full trailer but we made it work just fine.

On Friday we started the sight seeing with a visit to Lincoln's birthplace. 

Meric and his dad

On the steps of the Lincoln monument

 

It's a Kelli size cabin!

Notice the window by the chimney.

After that we headed to Danville. (Danville, KY, not Danville in the "tri-state area")

 Meric's dad served his mission in the Kentucky/Tennessee area and Danville was one of his areas. As we reached Danville we asked Meric's dad if he knew where the house he lived in was located. Without hesitation he rattled off the address like he had lived there just yesterday. We went to the house, which was still standing, and Meric and his parent went to check it out. The house had been remodeled and the door that Meric's dad use to go home to as a missionary no longer existed but they got some pictures of where it use to be. 

Standing right in front of where the door use to be

Saturday Meric and his dad headed out early to do some work on his truck at Fort Knox. I know that doesn't sound like much of a vacation but I was glad Meric got to do some automotive work with his dad. It was some good father-son time.

 After Fort Knox we all headed to Glendale for some antiquing and good food at the Whistle Stop.

Sunday started early for all of us with church. After church we got together with the campground owners and there kids to do some shooting. In Kentucky it is common to go shooting on your land out in the country. Since it is off season for the campground we just did the shooting there.

Meric and his mom

Kelli's 1st shot

Kelli waiting for her next turn

Meric instructing his mom

Which is bigger: Kelli or the gun?

Say hello to my little friend

 

Kelli and Meric cleaning the guns

 We all had a lot of fun shooting and even got Meric's mom to try it once. Once we were done shooting we all had an impromptu potluck and enjoyed talking and telling stories. Meric's mom really enjoyed listening to every one's accent and southern talk. 

Monday we set out to try and find some Amish shops and people. Meric's parents really got a kick out of asking the locals for directions. They loved the accents and how open and friendly everyone was. We found a little shop ran by the Amish. Half of the store was a regular looking hardware store and the other half was a gift shop/grocery. Some of the things in there were homemade or locally canned.

Amish horse and buggy sign

 Later that night Meric received a blessing from his father. It was one of the things Meric really wanted before he "went off to the war". After the blessing there wasn't a dry eye in the house. It has been getting harder and harder for me to keep it together the closer we get to Meric's deployment.

Meric's family flew out on Tuesday. I was really glad they were able to come visit us. Our original plan had been for Meric and me to drive up to Washington but at the last minute we changed our mind. I was glad the Powell parents (as I like to call them) were able to have a good visit with Meric, see Kentucky and visit Meric's dad's mission.

Now I have just a few days to get ready for Meric's deployment.

Winter... in a Trailer.

Even though Meric and I bought our trailer in January, we didn't move into it until April. So as November approached we got our trailer ready for our first winter living in it. One of the first things we did was "winterize" our water spigot and hose. We got some heat tape and wrapped it around the spigot and along the hose. Then we covered the heat taped hose and spigot with pipe insulation and wrapped the whole thing with duct tape. One particularly cold morning we woke up to no water. We checked the spigot and discovered that a section that the heat tape wasn't touching had froze. After an easy adjustment we fixed the problem. We also covered the spigot with  a plastic bag just to help trap some heat around the whole spigot.

We also wrapped some heat tape around some of the hoses housed in the underbelly of the trailer. Our trailer is designed to keep those hoses from freezing by the heat ducts that run along next to them. When the weather is freezing the under belly stays warm as long as we run our propane heat often enough. We have a fireplace electric heater in the back section and a portable electric heater that help heat the trailer, but we keep them on low so that the propane heat will still turn on from time to time. Between the electric heaters and the propane furnace, we stay pretty toasty inside.

Since the weather has turned colder I also like to heat the house by cooking more. The oven like the furnace runs off of propane. Our trailer comes equipped with two 30 lbs tanks for propane.

30 lbs is equal to about 7 gallons of propane

Heading into winter Meric and I knew we would start going through propane a lot faster than we had been. Since April we had only used about one and a half of our tanks. We asked the campground owner were the closest place was to get our tanks filled and after she told us she also told us about a local propane company. She told us that for $50 and the cost of propane they would rent to us a 100 gallon tank and keep it full for us. We got the tank installed just before Thanksgiving and have used about half the tank so far. It has been really nice to not have to make several trips to get our tanks filled. It has also been nice to not worry about running out of propane.

Another thing about propane is that it is a moist heat. Also, cold weather plus trailer living equal condensation. Even though we were aware that condensation is a product of wintering in a trailer we were not fully prepare for how much condensation there would be and all of the issues that come with it. We were starting to find mold and puddles of water around the window sills. At the beginning of the winter there was a period of time where everything just seemed damp. We have found a few solutions that seem to help.

1. Shrink wrap/bubble wrap over the windows: Some trailers come with dual paned windows. This is a great feature because it decreases the amount of condensation greatly. Our trailer doesn't have this feature. I got some shrink wrap to put around the windows. It works okay but the tape doesn't stay 100% and it isn't easy to put on all of my windows because the blinds get in the way. So I got some bubble wrap and covered some of my windows with that. It doesn't look as nice but they both serve the purpose of creating an extra barrier between the warm inside and cold outside.

You can kinda see the shrink wrap plastic on the top window and
totally see the bubble wrap on the bottom.

2. Dehumidifiers: Towards the beginning of the winter we bought a small dehumidifier. It worked great but after a while we realized we needed another one, a bigger one. Now we have two, the small one for the bedroom and the larger one for the living room. They are quiet, don't take up a lot of space, are easy to empty and work great.

3. Damp Rid: The dehumidifiers help but there are some nooks and crannies that need more to get rid of the condensation. We use Damp Rid products to help that extra little bit. There are several option to choose from too. For the closets they have hanging bags that collect moisture. There are also little packets and bucket type containers to draw in extra moisture.

4. Keeping things open: Even with all of these measures there is still some condensation to deal with. Ventilation is important. We keep our closets open and a few cabinets too. Also we keep our ceiling vents cracked. It seems a little counterproductive with it being cold outside, but it works well and we stay plenty warm.

All of these measures have helped us survive our first winter in the trailer. Winter isn't over yet but we have gotten a good handle on the issues cold weather provides. We have learned a lot and continue to learn better ways of doing things.

Happy Holidays!

Our first Christmas in the trailer turned out to be really nice. The Wednesday before Christmas Meric and I decided to make cookies and candies for goody plates for his home teaching families, co-workers, and some of our neighbors. We made almost candy, 5-chip cookies, and soda cracker candy. I have really gotten use to how my oven cooks things and have no problem using it but it  is small. I can't fit a regular sized cookie sheet in the oven so instead of baking 12 cookies at a time, I can only do 6.

Once the cookies were started, I decided I wanted to decorate the trailer for Christmas. We decided to decorate our back "TV room". I draped strings of lights around the room and from the ceiling and hung our stockings next to the fireplace. (Meric actually got his own stocking this year thanks to Lissy's Christmas present.) Then Meric decided he would go out and try and find me a little table top Christmas tree. He came back with a little potted living tree covered with fake snow and sparkling decorations. It was perfect! We hung lights from the tree too and piled presents around it on the table. It was nice to have one room that looked like Christmas. 

Friday before Christmas we went out to give our neighbors the goody plates. Our last stop was to the owners of the campground. They invited us in and offered us some goodies that they had made. They had peanut butter no bake cookies, just peanut butter. I had never heard of doing those cookies without the chocolate. They say you make them just the same as regular no bake cookies but you leave out the chocolate and add more peanut butter. The cookies were really good. Then we sat a chatted for a while, 5 hours! I really like the owners and their family. They are good people.

On Christmas Eve we decided to try making cornish hens. I have never had them. We got 4 and made them in my roaster pan. They turned out really good. I even made gravy from the drippings, another 1st for me. Later that night we tried to talk with Meric's family online. I say tried because it was kinda crazy at Meric's parents house in WA, we couldn't always hear Deric's family in AZ and Briton's family in the Marshall Islands were having troubles getting on to oovoo with the rest of us. Briton's family was able to get onto Skype so Meric and I decided to switch over and just talk to them. It was kinda nice to see and talk with them again.

On Christmas morning Meric and I opened our stocking presents and watched Forgotten Carols while we ate fruit flautas. We then talked with my family online and watched as everyone opened presents. Later we called Meric's family again and chatted with them and opened more presents. I love technology and the fact that Meric and I in KY can talk with all of our family wherever they may live. It really was an enjoyable Christmas holiday.

Meric took the whole week after Christmas off. We spent most of the time eating and playing games. The owners of the campground told us about a Christmas light display in town that we went and checked out. There is a lake recreation area in Etown that puts on a gigantic light display you can drive through every year. Buisnesses and churches all contribute their own displays. It was really a cool display. One even had you tune your radio to a certain frequency and their light display flashed insync with the music. It is definitely something we will do again next year.

For New Years Eve some of the seasonal campers came back for a get together. We spent the evening hanging out by the fire and talking with our neighbors. It was a lot of fun and nice to get to know more people better. I can't believe that 2011 is gone, it went by so fast. I know that 2012 will hold some challenges but I look forward to the adventure!