Slacking

Sometimes, it's okay to not get anything done.  In my carefully thought out plan for the weekend, today was supposed to be the day I pulled the old straw mulch off my raised beds and then mixed in some compost to get them ready for this year.

Then my daughter asked me if I would take her to the gun range so she could practice everything she had been learning while taking her online hunters education course. 

We had a good time at the range.  The only negative is that it was kind of busy(beautiful spring day), and the only bench available when we got there was between tow guys sighting in new toys, one a 10.5 inch barreled AR, and the other an amazing looking .338 Lapua.  That gave my daughter and I a chance to talk about the advantages(to the shooter) and disadvantages(to the bystanders) of a muzzle break.  After about 45 minutes, she was hiding in my truck in between strings to avoid getting a headache.

She is getting better...and more importantly, more comfortable with the guns.  I finally have her convinced that she doesn't need to put the safety on and then back off again in between pulling the trigger on a semi-auto.  She had also decided that she likes the red dot on the 10-22 better than the open sights on her Rossi. 

After getting home, I'm sure I could have still gotten some things done in the yard, but...screw it.  Instead, I started making up a pot of this highly recommendable beef and lentil soup. 

It's starting to stay lighter later...I'm sure I can move straw around during the week after work.

Thank you, Drive Through.

Sorry...y'all will have to come back by later.  My daughter asked if I would take her to the gun range so she can practice some of the things she has been learning in hunters education class. 

I'm even blowing off cleaning the straw mulch off my raised beds for that.

A good idea, in theory.

Since we don't traditionally go out for dinner on our anniversary(long story short, I screwed up some timing on our Wedding Night, AND out first anniversary, so we made it a tradition to eat pizza at home), we did decide to run out for a few hours in the afternoon.  This being able to run out for an hour or two and leave the girls at home is a welcome addition. It's one of the few not-sad things about your kids getting older.

I had kind of made the decision that we would head out to do some wine tasting...and that we would try some of the newer/smaller wineries in the area that we had not previously hit.  There are two problems with that...most of the smaller wineries hide themselves behind terms like 'Estate' or 'Boutique'.  To call itself an 'Estate' Winery, you just have to grow all the grapes in the wine on your own vineyards.  To call yourself a 'Boutique' Winery, I think you just have to be willing to charge over $40 a bottle.  Color me cynical.  I like wine, but I'm not a 'Wine Guy'. I'm willing to admit that my unsophisticated pallet often times prefers a $12 drinkable wine to a $40 Fancy Wine.  I'm also a sucker for the fact that a lot of these wineries will waive their tasting fee(often a very reasonable $5-$10) if you buy a bottle of wine.

Famous last words from my wife, reassuring me it's okay to go visit smaller wineries: 'We don't NEED to buy a bottle wine at each place'.

Yeah, sure.

Now...in her defense, I know it can be done.  I have friends that do it...go to a winery, and happily pay the fee with no real intention of ever buying a bottle.  I just can't do it, because I'm a broken person.

The other problem with the smaller wineries is that sometimes their tasting rooms have...inconsistent hours.  That was the case with the first winery we tried going to.  Their website said they would be open, but the lights were out, and no one was home.  Luckily, another of the smaller ones had their signs posted on the road saying they were open, so we dropped into MonteScarlatto Estate Winery. 

First things first, MonteScarlatto proved me wrong on one thing...their wines(with the exception of one varietal which is only grown on a half-acre) we very affordable...under $20 a bottle on site. Rumor is, now that they have started being carried in stores, it's even more affordable at Yolks. 

It's also very representative of the 'newer' wineries popping up in the Red Mountain American Viticultural Area...this used to be someone's house, that just happened to be on 10 acres of land. Then, with the local growth of the wine industry, it made sense to plant grapes, which they did in 2008ish, with their first bottling in 2011.  That's quite a risk...3+ years of investing before getting your product to the people. So far it looks good for them.  They converted their garage into a tasting room(with a REAL wood fireplace...nice on a damp day like yesterday), and they have added a nice outdoor sitting area, which is going to be upgraded as the summer rolls along.  It was a nice place to visit yesterday, and it will be interesting to visit in 6 months to see how they continue to improve.  We walked out of their with a bottle of their very tasty Malbec based Rose.  I stated before I'm not a wine snob, but if I was, and you put 'Malbec' on the label...that would hook me.

After that, we decided to head back into town, and stop at Barnard Griffin, one of the 'not smaller' wineries here in town. The crank out about 70,000 cases a year.  By comparison, MonteScarlatto produces about 800(with a gold of closer to 1200 as their vines mature) a year. 

Barnard Griffin is located in Richland, nestled in between Tagaris and Bookwalter wineries.  This can be an expensive road to visit, and while Tagaris is our favorite, it was nice to bop into Barnard Griffin yesterday.  The co-owner of the winery is a glass artist, and offers fused glass making classes, and the opportunity to make your own ornamental glass items, and the price isn't bad for some of the smaller things, like fused glass garden flowers.  Also, we found out that at the end of April, they are doing an Asparagus tasting...Yes, an Asparagus Tasting!  One of the local farms is coming in with TWENTY varieties of asparagus, and Barnard Griffin is releasing their newest Rose at the same time.  Who even knew they were 20 types of asparagus.

And yes, we ended up leaving BG with two bottle of wine also.

But, it made up for my wife not wanting me to get her an anniversary gift. 

Who's scared of a little rain.

So, I woke up this morning, all kinds of motivated.  Since my wife had told me she didn't want anything for our anniversary(it's a trap!), instead I headed off to Home Depot to buy everything necessary to turn my 4 raised beds into 6 raised beds. 

Of course, Mother Nature then decided that today should be one of the 11 days this year it's actually going to rain here in Richland. 

It wasn't raining hard...so rather than sit inside and mope, I decided to put on my 'I was Raised in Western Washington, so Rain Doesn't Bother Me' big boy pants, and make some progress.

Yeah...once again, I came up short on enough gravel for my walkways.  That's fine, I have to go out tomorrow to get the soil anyways, so I'll get a few more bags of gravel too.  

After that, the next big step is pulling the straw off the other beds.  At one point, I thought I would just plant through the straw, but there weeds growing up through it, so, I believe I will have to rake it up and dispose of it, then turn the beds(it will give me a chance to add more compost)...and then I will cover the beds with black plastic for a few weeks, make sure I kill everything off before starting to plant. 

Lucky 13.

Thirteen isn't always an unlucky number...especially when it was 13 years ago today I got married to a truly amazing woman in a little park in Virginia Beach.

There have been a lot of miles, and a lot different houses between now and then...but each one has been a home because of her. 

A few years ago, she revealed to me that about two weeks after we go married(after we had driven from Virginia, to Connecticut to load up my Ranger and a U-Haul trailer, and then headed west), she had cold feet.  When I snuck out to pick up Subway across from a motel in Montana, she had called her mom and asked if she could come home.  Her mom told her she was home...and that was that.

I still owe her mom big for that.

Obviously, even after 13 years, I can't read my wife's mind, but I have to believe that was the closest we have come to not making it.  Oh...not every day is perfect...but most of them are amazing...and I can't imagine things without her.

Which is nice, because I do not think it's exaggerating to say we are both like fine wines, getting better as we age.

Not my best look, but...

Hey, not every picture around here can be flattering...but I'm still kind of proud of this one.

My older daughter has repeatedly expressed an interest in wanting to go hunting this fall, and so the first step of that is completing hunters safety class.  What with my being all involved in my musical the last few months we haven't had time to go attend one of the all day classes, but luckily Washington offers an online option.  You can complete the training online, and then take a proctored written exam, as well as passing a field exercise where they grade you on safe gun handling...how to take it out of the car, check it empty, step over a fence...that kind of stuff.

Anyway, tonight we started the online portion of the class, and while I might be sitting behind her, she really hasn't needed any help so far.  I just thought a 3-D example of different action types might help her out.

Of course, when doing hunters safety class with a kid, it's not all fun and games.

'Daddy, you are pointing that gun at the cat.'

'No I'm not...I'm pointing it all the hallway...the cat just walked in front of it.  Besides, it's not loaded...I just showed you how to check it'.

'Daddy...we are supposed to treat all guns like they are loaded.'

Smart kid, and a fast learner. 

I'm okay with Mary Kay!

My wife is a Mary Kay sales consultant(if that's what they call themselves...it sounds better than 'pusher')....but the fact is, she isn't a pusher.  She is in no danger of every driving a pink car.  I believe she originally signed up to help out a friend(who IS a pink car driver now), and because it allowed her to get HER makeup for cheaper than she would otherwise.

A few weeks ago though, she kind of decided to become a little more active.  I'm not sure if it's because she really desires the sales, or because she is just looking for other groups to be part of...but I am highly supportive, if only because it is expected that you wear a dress/skirt to the monthly meetings.

So yes, this whole post exists just to brag about my wife a few days shy of our 13th Anniversary.  Mother of two somewhere north of 30?  I don't think that is most peoples first guess.

I don't wear makeup(much)...but if she's selling, I'm buying. 

Long Distance Delivery

Had some friends come and visit this weekend from Western Washington, and they came bearing gifts.

That is a 32oz 'Squealer' of the Aporkalypse, from Slippery Pig Brewery, in Poulsbo.  They are a small place(you could probably even call them a Nano Brewery(although they are expanding into a more traditional Micro Brewery size facility soon.  I first tried their beers last year when we went to visit our friends back in Kitsap County...and I am smitten.  They are makers of very unusual beers...containing things like mellon, and thistle, and ginger and rhubarb.  Some of these work, some don't work(at least not for...everyone likes something different), and some work PERFECTLY.  Their White Chocolate Stout I had last year is quite possibly my favorite beer I have ever had. 

This one is pretty good.  The lack of head is my fault...I've been run, run, run, and so it stayed in the 'squealer' a day or three longer than it should have.

Didn't effect the flavor though.  I'm not sure how they would describe it(the ONLY thing lacking about Slipper Pig is a great website, theirs is pretty basic(spend more time making beer)), but it's a tasty amber/brown, with some light smoke to it, and a peppery finish. 

And if you will pardon my French, it's a bit of an ass-kicker, at 9% ABV.  

Get ye' to Poulsbo!

Is a jet fighter equal to an Archuke?

I don't even pretend to remotely know what the political situation is over on the Turkish/Syrian border, but I do know that when countries start shooting down other countries planes, it's not good.  It's even more Not Good when there are serious arguments developing over what side of the border the plane was actually shot down on.

Finally, and this might just be me being a Gloomy Gus, but as international tensions begin to rise of the Crimea(Sudetenland) situation, I think it's a time everyone should stand back and take a deep breath, and the last thing a politician should say is ' Because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard,", like the Turkish Prime Minister just said.

It's beginning to look like snapping up a bunch of bomb shelters back in the early 2000's wouldn't have been a bad investment. 

Like you could say no to that

Girl Scout Cookie booth sales started her earlier this week, and yesterday I ran into this fearsome looking specimen outside of Safeway.

I mean, heck, I even live with her, meaning I've built up some resistance to her powers of persuasion, and I still walked away with two boxes of cookies to stick in the green room for the show last night.

Just in case you live in area with no Girl Scouts(like Mars), we can ship to you!

Wish I knew which it was...

Well, I am feeling better this morning...I can at least breath through my nose.(For some reason, back in my Navy Days, mouth-breather was one of the worst insults you could hurl at someone...thus, to this day, I always feel lame when nasal congestion reduces me to having to breath through my mouth.

I just wish I knew which of the 4 pills/cocktails that I threw at this thing was going the trick.  Since I had watery eyes/itchy nose earlier in the week, I thought this might be more allergies than cold, so I took some Alavert, and then asked my wife the nurse if it would be okay to start taking Alka-Seltzer cold/sinus pills before the 24 hour run time on the Alavert was up.  She said it should be okay, so...I did.  But, we have Alka-Seltzer Cold/Flu and Alka-Seltzer Allergy/Sinus...so I've been splitting the dosage.  All while drinking so Emergen-C and Airborne that my liver probably looks like a grapefruit by now.

Those seemed to be at least not making things worse, so last night, after rehearsal, I pulled out the big guns...I made a cup of tea, and added as much honey as I felt would dissolve into it, and then added a medium size slug o' whisky. 

I slept good,  I'll tell you that...and that might be the real secret to beating this thing...a few hours of sleep uninterrupted by wheezing, hacking and sniffling. 

Ugg.

The good news is that over the last three weeks of dress rehearsals and shows, leaving the house at 5:45 in the morning and not getting home until 10:30pm, skipping dinner and not drinking beer,  I have lost 9 pounds.

Yay!

But...that finally seems to have caught up to me...yesterday morning I woke up feeling like lukewarm dog poop.

I think it's because I allowed my blood alcohol concentration to sink too low...my pickle jar is running out of brine.  My wife has some other theory about 'lack of sleep' and 'poor nutrition'...but my scenario gives me an excuse to add a slug of vodka to my 'Emergen-C'. 

You aren't helping.

I'm trying to split up the various boxes of cookies into easily deliverable batches.  Dahlia is helping by inspecting each box that gets opened, and then each box that is loaded. 

At least she thinks she is helping.

In other news, if the Girl Scouts which make each of their different types of cookie boxes the same size,  this would be much easier. They must work with the same folks who make each type of vegetable can have a different shaped bottom. 

Suck it, Snoqualmie.

Well, this feels like a proper use of tax-payer money from the Spokane Spokesman.

As Palouse Falls. . .

                                                                   

OLYMPIA – Palouse Falls is officially the state water fall.

In a ceremony this afternoon with the Eastern Washington falls as a backdrop and dozens of Washtucna Elementary students around the table, Gov. Jay Inslee signed the bill that bestows the title on the geologic feature. The students came up with the idea as a way to draw attention to the falls and a handful of them traveled to Olympia to testify on behalf of the bill.

It was one of two successful efforts to name an official state something in the last session. The Legislature also named the Olympia oyster the official state oyster.


Well...at least they got it right.  I'm kind of surprised that Snoqualmie Falls, given it's proximity to Seattle, hadn't already been named the Official State Water Fall.  I mean...it's nice and all, but look at that construction, and that Inn...it's a tourist trap!

 

 

Yes, Snoqualmie Falls is higher than Palouse(268 ft. vs. 198 feet), and moves more water...but it doesn't freeze every year!

 



 

 

Plus, I mean...look Brown!

 

Close enough.

What with St. Patrick's Day being on a Monday, I didn't really see a way to do corned beef all day on Monday, so, instead, I prepared the meat yesterday(brushed it down with mustard, and then poured some beer around, covered it with tin foiled and braised it at 275 for about 5 hours). 

Today, we used the sliced corned beef to make up Reuben's for dinner.

And yes, that is just a normal Guinness Draught in the glass...no need to get all fancy. 

Staying Strong

I helped my wife unload these from the car yesterday, and so far, 24 hours later, I haven't had a single one yet.

Tonight, we get to sit down and start dividing them up into bags for delivery.  I think actually handling the cookies might make it tougher to resist. 

If we keep the individual boxes sealed, I should be okay.  Once a single plastic sleeve get's opened though...I sense bad things will happen. 

Treating myself.

Had a pretty good weekend, even if it wasn't as relaxing as I like my weekends to be(minimal time in the Al Bundy pose on the couch).  We had two great shows of Les Mis this weekend, with 550 folks Friday night, and almost 800 for the Saturday night show. We expect we will get at least that many for next weekends shows, which is nice.  Ticket sales have already covered our budget, so everything from here on out pads the Mid-Columbia Musical Theaters coffers for the future.

There was wine, and time spent with my Mom, and a great Sunday brunch at Sage Port Grille.

I also decided to buy a new book this weekend.  I rarely buy new books, especially hardcovers, because I can pickup 5-6 2nd hand paperbacks for the price of a hardcover, but I make exceptions when the new Patrica Briggs book comes out.  The newest book in the Mercy Thompson series came out last week, and while dress rehearsals kept me from attending the book signing at Hastings last Tuesday night, I was able to get in the weekend and pick-up one of the extra signed copies she leaves behind. 

We'll see if I make this book last a few days or not.

There was one discordant note involving one of my chickens this weekend, but I am still trying work through what went wrong there, and just how much of it is my fault. 

More on that later, I guess.

Can't wait any longer!

With last frost usually falling in mid-April, we are finally at the point that I can get serious about gardening...I used a few free hours yesterday afternoon to get some seeds started.

I've never tried these little 'starter pellets' before.  I did some research to see if there were any real result difference between the peat ones and the coconut fiber ones, and couldn't really find anything, so I ended getting the peat ones, just because I liked the convenient little trays they came in.

I don't have a huge variety there...5 different kinds of tomatoes, and then zucchini and a type of winter squash. 

There will be more than that in the garden, but, everything I've read says cucumbers don't transplant well, and well, neither do carrots...and I have NEVER had good like trying to start pepper plants myself.

It's all so hazy!

Had a pretty good afternoon wine tasting with my wife and mom...I think. It's kind of a blank right now.  Time for a little nap, and a shower before heading off to do Les Miserables tonight!

Kicking back.

Holy Moly...I actually have a few hours this morning with nothing on my schedule.  It's a Friday off, and I actually managed to sleep in a bit this morning.  It's been a rough/long week of rehearsals, but we are finally getting to the pay-off.  Last night we had our final rehearsal/first show.  It was a bit of both, because we actually had our first audience last night.  One of the local arts groups donated $3,000 dollars to cover our royalty fees last night, and so we were able to have local area students come to the show for only $5 a head, and I would guess we had about 250-300 in seats last night.

It was kind of funny, because at least 50 percent of our male cast is music teachers...and you could tell who they were by the reaction they got from the audience...not that most of them didn't deserve it. We have some really good singers in the show.  Tonight is the first real crowd, and our Official Opening Night. 

Before that though, some kick-back time.  The Worlds Greatest Mom and Nana has come out for the weekend, to see me in the show, but also to visit.  After taking care of some chores in the morning(cleaning chicken coop, turning compost pile) I believe we are going to head out for a bit wine tasting.  Not too much though...I get flushed when I drink too much red wine, and I am still an amateur at applying stage makeup.

Tired leads to sloppy, sloppy leads to mistakes.

Yeah, sorry folks.  It's been quite the week so far. The show opens tomorrow night, and we are in the middle of dress rehearsals. I am leaving the house at 5:45 in the morning, and not getting home until 10:30ish, and the only reason I saw my kids yesterday is because I had to leave work early to get some closure on an issue.

My truck was kind of broken into Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

I say kind of broken into, because, well...I left the door unlocked.  Not much 'breaking' is required when all you need to do is pull the handle.

Terminology aside, there is no doubt my truck got a thorough ransacking.  The center console and the glove box were both left open, and the contents tossed about. Several things were missing, although the first one that caught my attention was my work neck lanyard, with my little neck knife, and flashlight, and my TLD, and...my security badge. 

That right there lead to a lot of stress in my day.  Nothing like having to admit 14 times in different interviews with Central Badging, and the Hanford Patrol, AND City of Richland Police(potentially stolen badges require a police report #), that yes, you left your truck unlocked, and yes, you consciously left your badge in an unlocked truck(or at least, consciously failed to bring it inside).

As the day went on, I noticed other things missing...a broken digital camera, a simple Gerber folding knife, and the big grimace inducing one from a money standpoint...a decent set of compact Nikon binoculars, and also...my garage door opener.  I've already performed the procedure to clear the garage doors memory.

We weren't the only ones...sounds like a regular 'car prowl' happened last night, with at least 6 cars on my street being gone through.

That a lot of trusting people who probably feel at least slightly violated now.  I know I do. 

Just have to butch it up a bit...

So, one of the things I had kind of forgotten about in the 20 years I have done any kind of on stage acting is makeup.   Back in high school, the makeup was provided for us.  Now, we need to provide our own.

Sure...not a huge problem, although quality stage makeup is not something they sell at the local drug store, I was able to find a party/costume store in Kennewick that carries the Ben Nye brand of Theater Makeup. 

The only quandary left then, was how to transport my makeup.  My wife had several little bags(purses if you will) she was willing to let me borrow...but then, I had a better, more manly idea. 

The Pelican 1020 case my wife got me for Christmas!  I pictured using it to keep my wallet and license stuff safe while hunting, but...this work too.  Not a lot of chance of it being confused with anyone else's stuff, I hope. 

Motivated, but not quite that motivated.

Asparagus is on sale at Safeway for 99 cents a pound, and the prices don't get much better than that.

However...I'm filling a bit lazy.  Not so much lazy, but greedy of my time.  This Sunday was my last day with nothing scheduled for just about 3 weeks.  We have 4 night of Full Dress Rehearsal this week, before opening night on Friday, then shows the next two weekend.

So...I really didn't feel like breaking out the pressure canner like I did last year when I bought a 20 pound box to pickle up.  Instead, I bought about 9-10 pounds, and decided just to blanch it, and freeze it.  We like asparagus in our stir-fries and quiche, so, a couple of bags of frozen asparagus will come in handy.

It's always kind of depressing, when you realize how much of the asparagus you are throwing away...from what I bought, I had just over 4 pounds to put in the freezer.

All is not lost though. 

 

 

No...it's not slaw...close though.  I ran all the 'woodsy' ends of the asparagus through my food processor, along with a leftover quarter head of cabbage.  While researching compost piles, I came across one lady who maintains a separate blender just to shred stuff up before she composts it...give nature a head start.

 

I'm not quite that crazy, but shredded asparagus and cabbage aren't too hard to clean up. 

 

Yup...I spoil my compost pile just as much as I spoil everything else around here.  

It has sprung.

Friday Morning, the city resumed collection of Yard Waste containers.

Friday afternoon was flat out beautiful...sunny and 63-degrees.

Saturday, my daughter had her first soccer game of the year. 

Dad got his first lecture for not making sure my daughters hair was put up for playing soccer.

And then this morning, I saw this:

 

 

My first container of kale has begun to sprout! 

 

Just think...only two month until I'll be complaining about how bloody hot it is!

Cue laugh track.

Season 4 of Archer is now available to stream on Netflix. 

That is all.

Engineering in art.

So, this evening we didn't have rehearsal, but we did have a bit of a work party, assembling the stage we will be working on.  One of the primary features of Les Miserables is that it supposed to take place on a rotating stage...it keeps the show flowing smoothly, with no need to swap out backgrounds for different scenes. 

Well, rotating stages don't put themselves together. 

Yes...for all intents and purposes, it's a 26 foot 'Lazy Susan', but, in reality, it's slightly more complex than that.  Especially for someone like me...I'm not exactly mechanically inclined, so watching something like this come together is impressive. 

One week until opening night! 

Just like that, only the opposite.

Last week, I showed two movie trailers that had Done it Right...Guardians of the Galaxy, and Godzilla.  They either built on an interest I already had, or in the case of Godzilla, sparked a non-existent interest.

Today the full length trailer for Transformers 4 hit the internet, and I've got to say, it left me kind of 'meh'. 



Now...let's face it...it's not like the first three Michael Bay Transformer movies were high art...but I still paid my hard earned cash to see them at the movie theater...just like I will this one. 

I'll just feel a little guiltier do so than when I see the new X-Men movie.

All bubbles pop at some point.

Here I am, once again displaying my ignorance...but I never knew that there was an 'Alpaca Boom' back in the mid-2000's.  I can't imagine paying $30,000 for a male, or god-forbid, $70,000 for a female.

Then again, I'm one of those who can't imagine paying more than $40 for picking up a cat at the pound...but still...authorities are saying that boom, and now bust, are what led them to have to shutdown an Alpaca Farm back in December...and now the State of Oregon is trying to nurse 175 alpaca's back to heath, so they can find them homes someday.

It's kind of sad...the couple in question didn't set out to abuse a bunch of animals, it sounds like they moved to fast to get into an industry they didn't fully understand, and things went bad in a hurry.

I have a co-worker that raises a few llama's(much bigger than alpaca's)...and he likes them...but he is careful to keep his herd at only 5.  He does swear by the manure as a fertilizer...he has a waiting list of folks willing to come to his house and help him fill wheel barrels of the stuff.

We are already fairly maxed out on animals around here, what with chickens, and two cats, and a snake, and a tarantula...but I wonder if I could convince my neighbors that an adopted rescue alpaca is really just an ugly dog?

Oscars.

Watching the Oscar's with my wife, I shared a confession with her, and it might cost me my 'Child of the 80's and early 90's' street cred:

I don't really like U2. 

It's not a new thing...I just never really have.  Never once have I said 'Ooo...don't change the radio station...U2 is on!' 

I have done that with the three ladies who also sang on the Academy Awards tonight...Idina Menzel, The Divine Miss M(although, I do have to say that her version of Wind Beneath My Wings was not the best I have heard her do), and my current(and really, she has been for the last two-three years) favorite woman in pop music, Pink.  She may not be Judy Garland, but she did a very nice version of 'Over the Rainbow' tonight. 

Other than the music, I didn't pay much attention to the show.  It seems like Gravity is not a bad movie...and 12 Years a Slave did pretty good also.  Best of all, at least out here on the west coast, it got over right at 9, so we could catch all of The Walking Dead.

Next week, we have a tough choice...The Walking Dead, or the new Cosmos.

I forgot my training.

Back in my Navy days, we used to joke the NAVY meant: Never Again Volunteer Yourself. 

It seems I have forgotten that.

Today, we are having a moving party for the show I am in.  We are less than two weeks out from opening night, and we need to move the set pieces and the fancy turn-table stage into it's performance location.

It's possible I didn't realize what I was getting in for.  The e-mail in support of this is asking for folks to show up at 7:30AM, and states that 'Lunch Will Be Provided'.

That's usually not a good sign for my ability to use my Sunday in a productive manner at home(or more realistically, drinking beer and watching NASCAR). 

Accuracy?!??!? Who needs that?

So, let's look at this headline that appeared in the Seattle Times(and several other papers) yesterday.

Women could soon begin serving on Navy submarines

Now...the clarifying sub-header gets it right, saying that enlisted women may begin showing up on submarines in 2016...but it still fails to point out that female officers began reporting to submarines back in 2012, and so far, there have been no major complications.  Nothing major enough to make it to the papers, and heck, nothing that an ex-submariner has even heard a peep about from old friends.

I didn't think there would be problems though.  The fact is...the way our navy works, people are on submarines because they want to be(well, except during drills and field day).  They may be strange, and they may be creepy, and the boredom may drive them to occasionally do weird things...but deep down, they are professionals.  I knew if the women that showed up operated as professionals, their sex wouldn't matter.

Oh...I'm not saying that the men folk don't crack jokes about them, or make what most of society would say is 'inappropriate comments' when they aren't around...but the fact is, the guys do the same thing to other guys on a submarine. 

What is going to lead the biggest problem as they integrate more women on subs is the separate berthing/showering spaces.  The female officers all share a stateroom, but there are the same number of women in the stateroom as their are male officers in their stateroom.  They use the same shower/bathroom facilities as their male counterparts, also.

With enlisted women, it's not going to be that easy.  They are going to ask the rest of the crew to sacrifice some of their precious space(the crews lounge, which we didn't have on fast-attacks, but pampered boomer sailors did), to give the enlisted females their own berthing/sanitary spaces.  And...standby for the high pitched whining if those spaces aren't equivalent down to the square-inch per person.