It finally feels like spring in TN and I had some yard work that needed to be done. We planned 3 forsythias last year and 2 didn't make it through the winter so they needed to be replaced. I somehow ended up with 1 poor tulip in the front flower bed so I bought some more to set out with that one. I had 2 rose bushes in the bed under the dining room window and I decided to pull them out. One didn't bloom very much and the other grew so fast that I had to constantly cut it back. Every time I went to GA for a few weeks I would come home to it taking over the front walk way. I want something that's easy upkeep for when we sell the house next year and so bright day lilies seemed like a great choice. I had some bulbs and I finally got them in the ground. I think it will look great in a few weeks.

The new plants in. They are covered in buds that are hard to see in the pictures.

The front bed with the lonely tulip starting to come up.

Now it has friends!

The other bed sans the rose bushes. I forgot to take a before picture. In a couple of weeks I'm hoping to see some green peaking through and I can add some more mulch.

I'll probably add some bulbs to the flower bed in the back yard next week. Hopefully Kiowa won't dig them up this time like she did last year. Apparently she thinks she's part rabbit and I found half chewed bulbs all over the yard. Fingers crossed I'll have better luck this year. I had said that I planned to swear off planting flowers this year since I know I'll be in GA a lot but I just can't help planting a few things.

I finally heard from the boy!

Nicholas finally had a chance to get online today. He said that it has been insanely busy over there and he hasn't had any down time at all. It takes a lot of time to get all the aircraft tweeked to fly in the conditions over there (the air is a different density) so he's been working all day every day getting them ready to fly on top of a few missions and getting to know the area that they are flying before the other unit leaves out. This deployment is very different since he is a Maintenance Test Pilot (MTP), he has a lot more responsibility than what he's had in the past and that's taking a lot more of his time. Once all the aircraft are set up and the other unit is gone things will settle down a lot and his job will get easier. He is doing really good though and said the food there is actually great when he gets the chance to eat and their housing is SO much better than last deployment. He said it makes a world of difference to be able to take a hot shower every night and to have good living conditions. They are still waiting on a couple of parts for their satellite so the internet in their rooms isn't the best yet but it will get better.

All in all things are going really well and he said his hip actually hasn't bothered him nearly as much as he expected. One day it was hurting and he had some issues but other than that it's been ok. I was really glad to hear that.

If you have any questions please let me know!!

I'm babysitting 2 little boys this week and they need a little more exercise than my lazy girls so since it was pouring rain this weekend I tried putting them on the treadmill. That didn't work out too well for them but Pooh jumped right on! I've had that thing for 4 years and this is the first time she's ever walked on it and I was amazed! lol Things were going well until I mentioned "Daddy" and that got them excited. I know they miss him. Please excuse how the junk room looks. No matter how often I clean that thing it always ends up right back like that and we are trying to collect big boxes for the move next year and they are stuck in there too! Big mess!!

No internet

I found out today from a friend that the internet is down at Nicholas' location so that explains why I haven't heard from him since Saturday morning. This happens sometimes and anything could be causing it. I think it was during the last deployment that the internet was down for a few days because of a huge dust storm so the recent volcano eruption in Iceland could be causing satellite issues for them. Who knows. I'll update as soon as I hear from him again!

Mailing Address

I have Nicholas' mailing address now. He sent it to me today. He is at his final location and trying to get settled in. He said that all the parts of the satellite are there but they still need the wood to build the tower for it so as soon as that's done and he has steady internet he will be on here. I sent out the address to everyone I have email for, if you want it please email me at Heather_C_Hutchison@yahoo.com and I will get it out to you. He said the food actually isn't bad at all and he doesn't know what everyone was complaining about! He said it's much better than last deployment so that's great and they are in 2 man rooms instead of a tent or 8 man rooms like last time. At least so far things are more positive than last time and I'm happy for that.

The finished dresser

We were able to get the dresser moved into the bedroom on Tues with the help of a great neighbor! I kept the fan on all day with the window open and by that night all the smell from the poly was gone. I like the water based so much more than the oil based that we used on the table. The smell wasn't nearly as strong and it dried much quicker. Now I need to get all the clothes back into the drawers and off the floor of the bedroom. I think that will be a good project for tomorrow.

Doesn't it look AWESOME!!! I'm so happy with how it turned out!! 

Here are a few more pics of the building process.

I heard from Nicholas again, just a quick email. He said that they should have rooms waiting for them already open and ready to move in at their final destination!! That's super great because they usually have to live in tents for a few weeks while the other guys pack up and get out of there!! He was pretty happy about that. He said the next few days will be very busy so he probably won't have a chance to get back online again but Jeremy usually gets their internet set up and working pretty quickly so hopefully it won't be too long before he's back online and hopefully give an update on here himself.

I heard from Nicholas

I don't know where he is or if he's at his final location but he did send me a short email last night. He was very tired because he hadn't been able to sleep since Tues morning but that's how it usually goes when they leave. He never can sleep on the plane over. Again, I'll let you know as soon as I have a solid address and when I hear from him again. I was actually surprised to get an email so quickly.