I Went Out Really Far This Time

I wasn't sure about going out but I didn't want the Col. to be all by himself with a bunch of Army guys. They are really cool by the way, they are from Guam. I wanted to see the outside but didn't want to deal with the body armor and gun and helmet etc. etc etc. Here are some of the pics I took from the country side. There is some really neat places and some not so neat. I think I found a spot for my retirement home, don't tell Jen, but that is my surprise. And it only cost 50,000P! About $20 American!

This is us heading out we are delivering supplies to the outlying camps.

I actually made a Friend while I was here, yes believe it or not. This little guy was tethered to a little hut. He could jump around a bit but was limited on where he could go. I gave him some of those wheat sesame chips from the Costco brand rice cracker medley, he took them right out of my hand. As we were driving away from this camp I saw another one on the side of the road he was much bigger than this one.

This huge tree was so big beautiful I couldn't not show it to the world. I had to take two pics of it!

Here is a little vid of our trip.

Here are some of the local kids that rushed out to see the convoy and laugh and wave.

By the way just kidding on the $20 US. It's slightly higher (but not much).

Spoiled Aren't We?

You must realize as Americans we have many wonderful blessings. Here it is 2009 and we keep finding bigger and better things in life. Do you realize though, there are many people, might I say millions, if not billions of people that do not enjoy the luxuries that the rest of the world does?

Here are some pics to ponder...

Would you be frightened if you saw this on the way into the ER at your local Hospital? I would and quite frankly I was. But our armed escort helped with that.

I don't know if the ambulance in the foreground works but the one behind it is burned out literally.

This is why I am content on doing what I know is best and contemplate the words "Charity is the pure love of Christ". Not always does it mean giving large amounts of money but simply your time, consideration, help, ideas, in-put etc.

Unexpected House Guest

I finally caught up with one that wasn't dead, and not where I expected.
This morning while running I saw one and couldn't get my camera in time so I missed it.
When I first got here there were several on the road dead and I did not take a pic.
So I'm walking back to the rooms from the ER, I was following our anesthetist who if it was a snake would most assuredly have bitten him, but walked past it without noticing him. As soon as he passed I noticed it and freaked out.
They have alluded me too long and I finally got a good video. The pics didn't turn out but after we scooped him up we threw him outside. Makes me wonder where he came from and how long he was there. Although he was coming from the surgeons room!

The video is not for the squemish, if you get scared of spiders and mice lookout!

Visit to Jolo Hospital

I did enjoy getting out of the camp today, but it was a hot one. And we did have to wear our uniforms so needless to say I was sweating like...a guy in his uniform on an island on a very hot day with very high humidity.












These are some of the student nurses sitting around waiting for the sky to fall. The entire hospital has open air halls to the court yard. You would have to go into the ward, OB unit, OR, etc to seek shelter if it rained real heavy. There is no AC and power was faulty at best.

This is the entrance to the ER an armed guard sits there with a sign in front of him that says leave your guns here. The sign here in the corner says "Load or Unload you Weapons Here". I guess it all depends on what you want to do when you go inside as to whether you load or unload?

Here we have a cat one of the pregnant ones we say just wondering in and out of the wards. Probably looking for OB.

This one was making rounds I think.

And how can we forget the hospital goat? Fresh milk for the tots.

All in all it was a very eye opening experience to see the place when we went on the tour with the head nurse we walked in any room and every room no matter if there were patients or not. Our armed Army escorts were welcome to. We did not see the blood on the walls as was described to us the last time the surgeon went. But it makes me ponder how fortunate we really are to have been born in a country as ours that has modern conveniences.

I may change my plans to retire here after the AF. Jenn and I could live like royalty here on just my pension. We would have a maid for every room and be able to have a house with twenty rooms! Look for my next episode I'll have movies of the ride to the hospital. Wow what an experience, but not as bad as Manila.

This would be really great if you could actually see the Moon and the Bats. On the left of the tree right by the branch that looks like a ledge you might be able to see the moon. The bats are evident in the light. But can you beat this sun set? It is one of the best with the moon I have ever seen. To bad I wasn't able to share it with my Honey. I will though when I get back. Hope you enjoy and I hope you don't get sea sick as I meander around tracing the bats.

If you have been following my blog about packages to send here is one thing I thought of CHIPS! Any kind of chips we have some cheese dip and some salsa but nothing to put in them.

Thanks again.

Say Hello to My Little Friends Eaten Alive (by Mosquitos)

This is our Phil crew that has come over for a visit to get to know us. They are the trauma for the camp. They are really nice. I made a cake and we had ice cream and cookies. Sounds really corny but they went crazy for it. they really like ice cream. So the next day they and most of our crew went down town and did about a hundred circumcisions. The right of passage in their culture. I did not go because of some GI issues so I held down the fort.

It's been two weeks since I last looked at American soil. It's been fun here, but I thought I would get away from the giant mosquitos of Alaska, I was wrong just look what they are doing to me here. This is just the half of it. I have bites on my arms, and can you believe my fingers? If you can't tell that is my chicken leg. I really need to start spraying myself more often. I do spray but sometimes we just can't predict when we will be outside.

Thank You for Your Support

Thanks to all those that would like to support the troops and airmen. I told Jen today that she would have to give the address out on e-mail when she gets requests for it. I am happy to receive items of any kind. The bottled water here that we have to drink is very bad tasting too because of the minerals that they add to it, so the little drink mix packs i.e. Crystal Lite and so forth are like gold over here. We are not proud so you can get the generic brands to save a little cash. We also might have to coordinate delivery with Jen so I don't get a ton of olive oil. I have a comment on the last blog entry that a bottle will be heading this way, thank you very much. Wet wipes are not needed and little trial size snacks and the like are welcome. Oh I like car magazines too. I need to replace the girly mags that are here!! Thank you all for your support and prayers, but I think the prayers should be directed to Jen with all the kids. I hope I don't get home and find her locked in the closet from a child mutiny. She seems to be doing alright, but that's her life (the kids). That's why I love her so much. I am also glad she is doing this apron and purse thing I really think it is great. Maybe I'll be a stay at home dad some day. I don't think I could have done this with any other person. Again thank you and I look forward to the surprises.

Here is some coral and shells that is everywhere here.

More Birthday Wishes For My Love

I stole this pic from my beautiful wife's blog. You may recognize it. Hope you don't mind. I can't wait to get home, although I might have to stay till December??!! We'll see what happens. By then we will be going on our Anniversary trip I can't wait.

Happy Birthday and many more. I wish I could put a song on this pic, the one I would put to it is Rascal Flats Fast Cars and Freedom. Then put on Gavin DeGraw I'm in love with a girl. So put it on when you view this blog. I love you Jen.

By the way I'm going to win that apron. Ha Ha Ha Ha (laughed Sinisterically) (by the way I made up that word)

If You Care To

Like I said, I love to cook but we are limited on the things we can cook to supply on hand. If you would like to send a care package (large flat rate box) would cost less than $12 no matter the weight. I don't have any olive oil or the Montreal steak seasoning. If you can e-mail Jen for the address as I won't be able to display it here she will send it to you and you can send the stuff directly to the guys here. We would all appreciate it very much. There is a group that I would like to thank and that is the Blue Star Mothers they send stuff here on a regular basis if the names of those stationed here are presented to them. Thank you for the goodies. Well so long for now tune in tomorrow for my next adventure.

Lunch Hit

Well some of you know that I love to cook, (kitchen mostly). So I am somewhat bored over here and decided to in my free time cook for the guys. Here is what I started with...

This is the chicken that I had to clean they brought it to me on the rib cage and one of them still had the heart! Way cool.

That's its little heart in my hand.

This is the end result, broiled chicken Alfredo. I was able to have our house keeper get us some peppers and tomatoes. I cubed them and sauteed them then put the Bertolli's Alfredo sauce in, warmed it up and spread it over the pasta.

This is the surgeon and the anesthetist cleaning up. I think they all enjoyed it.

Happy Birthday Jen

I will be the first to wish Jen a Happy Birthday seeings how it is the 23rd today for me and still the 22nd for you all. I trust she will have a good time. Kadie is helping out with that. Of course I can't spoil the supprise if she reads this, so we will have to wait till tomorrow for the results of her 29th birthday bash. I Love You Jen. Happy Birthday!

Earth Date 21 April 2009

Well it is two days before Jennifer's 29th birthday!! She can't wait till I get home with her birthday present. I can't wait either! I think she is having a party (don't get too crazy).

Here is what I woke up to this morning. When I worked out at 0600 it was 79 degrees F and probably around 90% humidity. It was not cool in either respect.

Can you imagine this is what we pay for breakfast and dinner (two meals a day) for a week? It's outrageous. Not really it works out to about $40. It is ok for the surroundings. But is nothing like the Hotel in Manila.

This artist guy on the camp is really good he painted this warrior in less than one day. It's pretty good.

I don't know who did the Red Cross that has been here for a while.

I am so glad to see I have quite a following. That is so nice. I don't know any of you but that's ok. Just kidding.

An up date on the dead goat it was killed Chuck Norris the dog. He killed one a while back and we had to pay 1000P. This time maybe more, because of the baby. They didn't even put him down they evidently took him to an outpost. There are way too many dogs here. Yesterday I was bit by a Flea. Hope I don't see to many of them, because of my allergy to them.

Dead Goat Wake up Call

This morning when I went to work-out I walked the back way off the main road and ran into a dead mother goat. I thought oh, how disgusting, and kept walking then I saw its baby; dead too. It must have been the dogs last night they were barking for about a half hour. It started with a couple then all twenty started in. I went to go take a pic of the thing and it was gone. I really wanted to show you, bummer!

Any way I had a good work out on the elliptical for an hour. I'll probably run this afternoon with the other guys. I'm going to have to cut down on the food in-take though.

Also a side note I haven't set my computer to the Philippines time so when you see a blog it will be in Alaska time I am a day ahead. So today is Monday, you may see it as Sunday and so on.

It would be fun without a pic so here is the water tower on the camp.

Beautiful Sunday

OK you saw Saturday rainy day...look at today it is beautiful I should have layed out and soaked up some sun. I took a walk and found some kids begging for money and food. They said I was extremely white and made fun comparing my skin to theirs. I kept walking around and found in the sun that my skin IS extremely white. I will have to work on that while I am here.

Just Another Day In Paradise

Well, this is the way the morning went and early afternoon. It never got sunny just cloudy all day. I was able to get some movies in and lounged around.

Monday I'll start my work out and get some awful before pictures so you can make fun.

Enjoy the video it is footage of right outside the back of the Hospital.

Oh, by the way, did I tell you about flying over the volcano that blew by Clark AFB in the PI years ago? This is it! The whole right side is gone. Surprisingly the vegetation has grown back quickly, it doesn't look like there was an eruption other than the side of the mountain is gone.

Having Fun in the PI

You can't tell but these are some wild Turkeys on the camp. They go wherever they want. They are the typical turkeys too, they will ruffle their feathers and attack passers-by. This is the jogging road that is not easy to run on because of the large rocks.


For all you military folks this is base housing. Consider yourselves lucky to have what you do. There is no doors windows or facilities with running water. There is our Doc running on the road his first day, you can see how humid it is in the pic.



This is a papia (not sure of the spelling) tree I did not know how they grew it is pretty neat. One of the officers from the Phil AF took one down and cut it up for me, of course they teased me about the side affects that it has. I won't have to worry about that here.

This is me before the big game I went over to the court to play B-ball with my Nine. We won the first game and then I had to sit out. I couldn't catch my breathe.

Hello from the PI

Here are my five star accommodations! I feel like a king here in the PI. From the pics you can see my room and massive bed, my shelving unit and desk/closet.

The hall with all the doors are the other rooms. At the other end is the ER/OR.

We actually have running water now in the kitchen. Of course we can't drink it or brush our teeth with it.

This is the day room and the big screen, it was great for watching Wolverine!

Out side the front entrance to the ER is this huge tree. It is so big I want to climb it, but I was told it is bad luck for some reason. I took some pics of the coral and shells on the ground.

Everyday so far it has rained a pretty good thunder storm and has cleared up a little the sun is covered by clouds most of the time. But it still gets hot and is always muggy.

Hope you enjoy I'll have more pics on the way. Keep a look out for the housing here on camp! WOW!