We tried using our ice cream ball for the first time. The concept is great: You fill one end with cream and sugar, and the other end with ice and rock salt. After rolling it around for a long while it is supposed to turn into ice cream. But the ball didn’t work.
We got milkshake. La la-la la la, the boys are waiting.
We are back from our Labor Day camping trip a day early.
On Saturday morning, after much packing, we drove to the Navy Recreation Area near Solomons Island. It is the Navy’s largest recreation area and had many good reviews but we we found it somewhat underwhelming.
The other week I joked how last time we went camping locally and it would be nice this time to get away from the sirens. They found us, as did every motorcyclist in southern Maryland. Maybe it was because out of a huge area they put the tent camping sites closest to the highway. As in, on the other side of the fence.
The place was packed, which we expected, but we thought it would be a little more rustic. Plus, as Elysia and Citrus were walking to the restrooms someone threw a bottle out the window of a car. It smashed in front of them. For that to occur on a military installation is pretty unbelievable. We reported it but it was hard to judge if we were taken seriously.
On most bases if you do not come to a full stop at a stop sign or exceed a 20 mph speed limit you are likely to be pulled over. When my dad visited the Pentagon a few years ago and casually leaned against a pole outside, a guy with a machine gun quickly approached. Then again, my dad looked suspiciously like he had been living on a beach somewhere. Which he had basically been doing.
We left after the first night of smores (Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3) and headed to Annapolis. We found a local park with the GPS and had a picnic, got some ice cream, and headed home.
Last night was Barack Obama’s historic speech to the nation. And on Elysia’s ride home yesterday she was told “Why don’t you go back to your country?”
That would be New York City.
She was entering the Pentagon’s Metro station at the same time as an African-American woman and her daughter, who was about 8 years old. The woman was smoking and Elysia asked her to put out her cigarette as they descended the escalator. This prompted an angry barrage, probably because she had been called out and knew she was in the wrong.
Since the woman kept smoking in the station, Elysia asked a Metro officer for assistance. He said he would look into it in a minute but clearly did not. In Washington DC you get occasional news stories about Metro police handcuffing children caught eating in the stations but the one time I complained about someone smoking on the platform I was told to go tell someone else.
The woman wound up on the same train where she continued her tirade.
We wonder if it would have made any difference if Elysia was still in uniform. She says that often the uniform is an equalizer that trumps other identities. On the other hand, maybe it would have been the same.
Here I am in classy apparel that Elysia brought back from a work-related trip a couple of years ago.
My wife visited death row at Fort Leavenworth and all I got was this t-shirt and a bottle of barbecue sauce.
That’s just not right. I would expect that from a prosecutor, but not from an appellate defense attorney visiting her clients.
She visited the prison at Fort Leavenworth three times. At the time there were six service members on death row, with no one executed since 1963, and at least two were her clients. In addition to the historic Army post, there are at least three other things to see in town: a Buffalo Soldier statue, the High Noon Saloon, and the gift shop (they have Elvis nesting dolls).
I learned yesterday that there is a one-year job opportunity at the Army Command and General Staff College in Leavenworth. Since I am pretty much willing to live anywhere for a year to see new things, I reminded Elysia of the barbecue potential given that Kansas City is only 45 minutes away. She countered with another food fact: Kansas has been proven to be flatter than a pancake.
Being married to a lawyer often means I am outwitted when I try to be persuasive. Fortunately, in this case, truth is on my side. Years ago I read Calvin Trillin’s “Tummy Trilogy”: American Fried; Alice, Let’s Eat; Third Helpings. The premise, or excuse, of the series was to determine if food described as “the world’s best” truly is. My kind of public service.
I figure that multiple PCS (Permanent Change of Station) orders over a military career provide the opportunity — the obligation – to follow in Trillin’s footsteps and uncover new territory. A modern-day Lewis and Clark expedition but with only one of us in the military. Times have changed.
As a start, when I drove to Washington DC from Seattle in 2001 I took a southern route (I-40) for its food potential. In 3,300+ miles I managed to try spicy Tex-Mex shrimp in New Mexico, Texas barbecue (if Amarillo counts), as well as good stuff while going through Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia.
But we are not going to Kansas. Elysia insists that there are easier ways to get barbecue. I am convinced there are bigger prizes out there.
The car was being repaired today so I had no way to get Citrus to daycare on base. Even if we borrowed or rented a car it would not have had the proper decals and getting a visitor pass would have been a minor pain.
So instead I took her in to work and she joined me for a two-hour meeting with about 15 people discussing operational plans. She managed to make it all the way through with the help of lunch and toys without being disruptive! About midway through she announced that she was going to say hi to Abigail’s mommy later and she pretty much adjourned the meeting after 1 hour and 55 minutes by declaring, loudly, that there had been enough talking. Everyone agreed.
For Labor Day weekend we are going camping at the Solomons, formally known as the Navy Recreation Center Solomons. It is located on the Patuxent River near the Chesapeake Bay and is only about 90 minutes away from Washington DC.
Every time I hear about the Solomons I think of the Berkowitzes and the Moose, part of a Woody Allen stand-up routine from the 1960s, but I digress.
A couple months ago we camped overnight in a local park to introduce our daughter to camping, so this time it should be nicer without the police sirens. Like many recreation areas open only to service members and DoD contractors, the Solomons recreational area is located on a military base. In this case the base is the Naval Surface Weapons Center, a site of much amphibious landing training in preparation for D-Day. It has an ominous sound to it but if you look at the Google terrain map you can spot the RV’ers. They appear to be harmless.
We once stayed at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, known as Barking Sands, on the island of Kauai. It was great: They had several beach cottages for rent and the missiles were decorated to look like palm trees.
Just kidding, but when the U.S. shot down that errant satellite a few months ago it must have been one helluva wake-up for the people in the cottages or hanging out on the beach when the missile launched.
We anticipate no such excitment this weekend. The Navy searched part of the site for unexploded munitions last year and found nothing.
Passed the test and am now a Basic Keelboat Skipper certified by the United States Naval Sailing Association. Woo!
Tomorrow I take the certification test to become a basic keelboat skipper. I think I have memorized about 95 percent of what I need to know plus I can tie five basic knots reasonably quickly.
If someone fell overboard, I know what I am supposed to do — turn around! I cannot imagine how an aircraft carrier does this with 5,000 people on board needing to be accounted for but they do the drills regularly. I will keep that in mind as “Oscar,” most likely a seat cushion serving as our victim man overboard, floats away toward the Washington Monument.
As anyone who does writing or studying can tell you, it is good to have a routine to put you in the right frame of mine. The same desk each day at about the same time.
This past week I tried studying at the marina at a shaded picnic table with a cold ESB amber beer. Other than a few airmen kayaking and the planes taking off from National Airport it was almost too peaceful. I will have to make a few adjustments. A pillow would be good.
A popular military tradition is collecting “challenge coins” from the various commands you work with throughout your career. There are a few unconfirmed stories about the origin of these coins involving bravery behind enemy lines, but there is much more certainty about their use to determine who has to buy a round of drinks.
In general, they are given in recognition of good work that does not rise to the level of receiving a medal. Each has a story. In the case of the coins shown here, a story about a lawyer in the military.
For example, the coin on the bottom right is from the Navy-Marine Corps Appellate Review Activity Defense Division, where Elysia worked on the appeals of convicted service members. It has a picture of a snake and ducks and the Latin phrase Latet anguis in herba, anates ad aquae, which translates to Like Snakes in the Grass, Like Ducks to Water.
Apparently this has something to do with the defense lawyers finding errors in the trial records like finding snakes in the grass, and taking to the civilianization of military justice like ducks take to water. I could not make this up if I tried.
The other coins are from COMPHIBRON FIVE (Commander Amphibious Squadron FIVE) in Bahrain, two from the Navy JAG, one from the Naval Legal Services Command, and one from the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MPA. For everything from escorting a Real Admiral on a trip, organizing the JAG Corps holiday party, and participating in policy discussions on POW/MPA issues.
Yesterday, Elysia brought home a coin for me. I believe this means the next round is on her.
I spent this weekend in a sailing course and after 12 hours on the water, the room is still rolling up and down. Other than one or two times years ago, this is really the most I have ever spent on the water. (The Staten Island Ferry does not count.)
The first thing we did was nearly sink. One of the drain tubes was cracked and we took on about 3 feet of water by the time we limped back to the dock pumping out water frantically along the way. After that it was easier and we cruised back and forth on the Potomac across from National Airport.
There must have been an airshow somewhere because several giant military helicopters flew overhead, as well as an Osprey tiltrotor. It is a controversial aircraft but pretty cool to see in flight. The Marine One fleet also kept flying overhead as well, making us bob all around in the wake.
Being out on the water definitely gave me a better perspective of the geography of Washington DC. From one vantage point you could see the Capitol, the Washington Monument, Bolling Air Force Base, L’Enfant Plaza, Nationals Ballpark, National Airport, and Alexandria.
Plus we sailed past the National War College at Fort McNair, which I never knew about. It is the oldest active Army Post and was originally designed to protect Washington from river invasions.
Hopefully by the end of next weekend I will have learned enough about sailing and how to tie enough knots to get a basic keelboat certificate. For those of you keeping score, with all of my certificates I will be able to decorate cakes, provide financial planning services for individuals, and sail up and down rivers. And why would I do them all at once?
Because I can.