Ernie's Lil Corner

A new Home!

2007-02-04T23:54:00.000-04:00

FINALLY!!
So this is where we'll be living....a little farm in a little town way outside Denver. It has barns, a stable, a corral, pastures, fruit trees, and a bunkhouse. What more can we ask for? Oh, and a house, there's a house. And a horse. The owner is a great guy, a retired Master Chief, and we're already great friends, I think.

I tried putting up a couple of pictures, but Blogger's not cooperating. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow before work.

Toga Party!

2007-02-04T05:17:00.000-04:00

Cap'n Lex has added a sort of open forum for regular readers to post to his blog. It's called "The Flight Deck", and I'm sure it will be great fun for those who know Lex and his regular commenters, and should prove interesting even for those who don't. Go take a look, all both of you.

BRRRRRRRR!!

2007-01-18T23:34:00.000-04:00

OK, it's cold here! I got here last Tuesday, left Thursday for Jax and the truck, got back Monday, after driving through more cold and snow and ice in Missouri and Kansas. The Bronco don't like cold! It was 4 below last night. But I'm getting used to it. And it's not so bad when the sun is shining, which is most days. At least I get to experience most of the day, since I'll be working from 3 til midnight!

Adios, Isla Encantada

2007-01-08T22:11:00.000-04:00

So tonight's my last night in Puerto Rico. Tomorrow I board the Freedom Bird, bound for Denver at last. I'm going with decidedly mixed feelings. We've been here eight years, and man, what a ride it's been. I can't say I love this place, but there's a lot here I'm gonna miss, besides the weather. Most especially I'm going to miss the people I've gotten close to. The folks I've worked with at Roosey, my shipmate and drinking buddy Butch (love ya, no shit, Senior Chief!), and most of all my Seabees. I've invested a lot in the Seabees of Det 14, and they've brought me a long way since 1999. We've gone to war together, and we all came home together. They played a big part in me earning my anchors, and I like to think I had a little to do with a couple of them earning theirs; at least they honored me by letting me pin them on. Fair winds and following seas to you all.
OK, that's about all I'm gonna miss about this place, except the weather. It's about 85 degrees right now; in Denver it's 37, the highest it's been since Christmas, I think. And I'm kinda cold. I guess I'll get acclimatized; I once went (in February) from here to Mississippi to New York to Kuwait to Iraq. Major temp changes at every step, and I lived. I'll miss the ocean, but I haven't been to the beach in months and haven't been diving in over three years.
I'm looking forward to fishing in the rivers and hunting (GUNS, I miss GUNS!!!!), and driving on roads that don't rattle my teeth. And speaking English, though I hear that my (barely passable) Spanish might come in handy around the Mexicano-Americans.
OK, enough rambling, I've got to pack.

Happy New Year

2007-01-01T01:08:00.000-04:00

It's been a good New Year here. We decided to celebrate the New Year at home, to avoid the prospect of DUI tickets or stupid accidents. I am fuked up as a football bat, but I'ved said Happy New Year to my kids and other folks that count, so I feel like I did my part. I would like to say Happy New Year to our troops out there doing what needs to be done in Iraq and Afghanistan and wherever else our guys stand guard against stupidity. Ya'll know we have your back, and we believe in the job you're doing. Stand fast, guys, we're with you, no matter what you read in the "news".

Merry Christmas, ya'll

2006-12-24T19:47:00.000-04:00

So I'm sitting here, watching the kids open their presents, having a few drinks, just basically enjoying Christmas; and I think about our guys in Iraq. I searched the Innerwebs, looking for a way to send them Christmas wishes, and found lots of ways for the troops to send good wishes home, but nothing to send anything their way. I even made some phone calls, and looked for my old wheelbooks, looking for a phone number that I might use to get in touch with folks I know over there. So I'll post something here, that the'll probably never see, that very few people will see, but it'll make me feel like I did a little something for them. So, Bogey, Rick, Skipper, if you see this, I hope you guys have a happy Christmas, stay safe, know we're thinking about you, and come home safe. We're praying for you, and all our guys, and we hope to see you soon.

Update: The Multi-National Force-Iraq OIF website has a "Messages for the Troops" link in the sidebar. Check it out, and let the guys in the field know you care.

Christopher Walken, Mickey Rourke, and Santa

2006-12-22T08:49:00.000-04:00

Walken's at it again; don't miss this little Christmas story. Look around while you're there, you'll hurt yourself laughing.

Merry Christmas, ya'll.

HOGolanche!!

2006-12-20T11:17:00.000-04:00

So I posted an innocent comment on Steve's classic car post , and I forgot to include my URL in the little box that makes your name a link to your blog. Realizing my error after I posted the comment, and knowing how much Steve despises linkwhores, I had to add a second comment: "Ok, didn't get all my URL in there before. Gotta get links where I can." fully expecting a nasty but extremely funny comeback from Steve. Didn't happen. I made the front page!!! With multiple links, even. I probably have traffic up the wazoo today, or I will when Steve's multitudinous followers wake up. I can't tell because I don't have a clue about site meters and traffic tickers or whatever, but I have faith. Steve is the King, and when he slaps you down, I'm sure everybody comes by to look and laugh.
Thanks, Steve. I feel like the little kid who has to get in trouble to get noticed; that wasn't the plan, but what the hell.

It's 27 degrees right now...

2006-12-18T20:44:00.000-04:00

in my soon-to-be new home, that is. Frederick, Colorado, or as near as I can find a decent house. Job's in Frederick, home doesn't have to be. But it's a very nice little town, on the FrontRange, close enough to Denver for the womenfolk can go shopping, far enough away to avoid the big city rat race. I think we're gonna like it, and I'm ready to go! 22 more days, and I'll know.

2006-12-09T12:26:00.000-04:00

Dennis Miller gets it (watch the video); better late than never Dennis,I knew there was reason I liked you, even when you weren't funny. Thanks for speaking up.

Why we Serve

2006-12-06T10:03:00.000-04:00

Cap'n Lex has a story everyone needs to read. Better have a tissue handy. It's because of Sailors and Marines, shipmates, like Chris Walsh and the Marines of 1/25 that I stay in. How can I possibly put in retirement papers and go home while people like that are fighting and dying?
Semper Fi and RIP, Doc.

Updates

2006-12-04T15:47:00.000-04:00

Ok, I finally got the MilBlogs banner & links thing right, thanks to a lot of help from Mrs. Greyhawk, and after about three hours of trying to get BB to save changes. Decided to try a new look while I was under the hood.

An Act of War

2006-11-30T18:23:00.000-04:00

That's what this would be in the real world. I don't know what world we've morphed into, but in my version of the real world, any country supplying arms to the people I'm fighting are my enemy. I'd be launching bombers, not inviting Ahmadinnerjacket to "help sort out the problems in Iraq". What the hell????

Which Bond Are You? I'm the Best!

2006-11-28T15:48:00.000-04:00

Got the idea from Denny

Your results:
You are Sean Connery

Sean Connery		56%
Daniel Craig		45%
Timothy Dalton		42%
Pierce Brosnan		42%
George Lazenby		41%
Roger Moore		34%

The original actor to play James Bond in a movie is generally regarded as the best. Sean Connery has always been the epitome of sexiness, suaveness and sophistication.

Click here to take the James Bond Personality Test

A Christmas Poem

2006-11-27T10:49:00.000-04:00

Got this from Jaybear, over at Misha's place. Some of us (most of us) fight for things Chuck Rangel and Nancy Pelosi will never understand.

A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS POEM

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I c rept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
“What are you doing?” I asked without fear,
“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out there!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light.
Then he sighed and he said “Its really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.”
“It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ‘Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘Nam’,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue… an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.”
“So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”

Moving In

2006-11-22T11:05:00.000-04:00

OK, I think I've got the living room arranged. For now. Until the Lovely Bride sees it and tells me what's wrong.

Update: This living room! OK, since nobody saw it, nobody know's I changed things, so....never mind.

Update 2: Had to change the name, just too much weirdness connected to the Stickname. And all these years I thought I was the original Stickman. Dammit, man!

I can't believe I just did this

2006-11-22T07:39:00.000-04:00

Like I have time for a blog!

Just because I needed a Google account, to leave a comment on Crittenden's blog, cause I thought he needed correcting? WTF?

OK, maybe a word or two now and then, but don't hold your breath.