Princess Crabby Doesn't Camp

Although...........I would mind an ocean side treehouse in Maine for a week.

From today's Boston Globe

At Searsport Shores Oceanfront Campground in Searsport, Maine, campers pitch their tents near the ocean, just a short walk from the campground computer station, which offers free Wi-Fi. It costs $38 to $54 per night to pitch a tent, and Saturday night there's a $42 lobster bake served with fresh flowers, homemade breads, freshly picked roasted corn, organically grown vegetables, and - lest anyone's hands get dirty - packets of moist towelettes.

Co-owner Astrig Tanguay plans to add a small subdivision with treehouses in the fall. They'll have crows'-nest-style balconies, she says, "so you can sit up there and drink cocktails." Tanguay says her campsite attracts a sizeable population of "luxury campers" who have come to associate camping with comfort and convenience

Did I Jinx It?

I headed off to Charlestown as I explained in the post below and not a quarter of the way up.....the skies darkened......there was lightening in the distance.....then it started to pour.

Everything stopped. I left work at 1600 and my 45 minute drive turned into 2 hours.

I was late. I know, you're shocked. I wasn't the only one though!

It was great. CDR Bullard spoke as well as a representative from the other side....a gentleman from the British embassy. He explained that as the official "Brit" he gets invited to lots of these events.....Battle of Bunker Hill......Lexington Green. That got a chuckle.

There were speakers about the history of the event and then it was topside for some history in action.

Of course I forgot the video camera. I'll scrounge the Internet and see what I can find.

Celebrating History

I am off to the Charlestown Navy Yard in a few moments.

The USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere, was an important Naval battle in the beginning of the War of 1812.

This is the battle where Constitution acquired the nickname "Old Ironsides".

Have a great night.............I will. It's history. It's Navy. It's a beautiful summer evening in Boston. You really couldn't ask for more.

Prepping For The Trip

So when I first found out about going aboard the Kearsarge, I thought about the various ladders I'd have to climb. So I started using the Stairmaster at the gym.

Did this help me? A little. But let me tell you, if you really want to prepare yourself for climbing from the Chapel to the Bridge on the Kearsarge..........you need a lot more than I did. I thought I was being so good, popping on the stairmaster, in the air conditioned gym, the bathroom twenty feet away and empty, with my bottled water in the cup holder and finger near the bottom that could pause it.

Ha!

If I was serious, I would have turned on the heat, ditched the water, strapped a full pack on my back and jacked up the settings. Then I would have be training!

So, What Was On The List?

*****Update******How did I make that mistake! It wasn't Chap....it was Nametag Man who asked me to get the video of "shooting stars"***
Here's some of it. I'll add more as I have time.

Ask the CHENG to have 2nd class show me engineering. - I didn't pack long pants. Yes, I know. Please rest assured, I have been chastised by several people for this.

Take up smoking and go to the smoke pit/deck at 2200. - I went, I didn't take up smoking. although it was pointed out that walking out there was the equivilant of taking up smoking. Cough, cough. It was interesting. Wheeze. I didn't last long. What I thought was more amusing was when the announcement came that the smoking light/lamp was lit. Where ever you were on the ship, someone would immediately be running and there would be whoops of happiness.

Find the Craftmasters for the the LCAC or LCU and ask them about the "High Speed Club". - I went, I'll write a separate post on this.

Stand watch for the "mail bouy". - I wasn't fooled.

Be on the bridge when the ship is entering or leaving port - I didn't manage this because when we were leaving I was on the flight deck for the "manning of the rails" and we didn't enter the port of Miami, we were taken off in helicopters.

Watch the navigator shoot stars. Additionally Chap had asked that I try to get video of this. - I was unsuccessful. While there was a lot of talk about training on this deployment, I was leaving before that was being scheduled. I asked one of the other bloggers to try to get some video of it. If he is unsuccessful, I still have the Armorer to fall back on. Don't give up on me Chap, I am still trying.

Go to the Bridge see the Navigator. - I did this three times. I was a little overwhelmed. (For many reasons including the six ladders you climb to get there. It's hushed, but it's really buzzing just under the surface. I met the QM and watched them review charts. They were going over the port departure from Newport as a learning tool. I had met the Navigational Officer down in the Wardroom a few times. We talked about seeing some stuff, but he was really busy with getting underway. Again, this was something that if I could have stayed in a few more days I know I could have gotten more. Even so, it was very interesting.

More on this later.

The List

OK, so when I first found out about my trip on the Kearsarge, I sent out an email to my Navy Coterie.

Good Morning All,
Princess Crabby is going to sea! I know the saying is "cut my hair and send me to sea".....but the Rotation has vetoed the cutting of hair. LOL
Most of you are on the DOD New Media list so you probably know about the USS Kearsarge trip later this summer. I am going on the ORF to MIA leg.
Alright..........tell me everything I need to know!
Maggie
p.s. Yes, yes, I know I need sneakers. You know, despite how it appears in my blog, I don't totter through life in stilettos.

I got many responses by phone and email. It was a great help. Both before and during the trip. Before the trip they gave my enough reassurance so that I believed I could actually do this. I was able to relax and enjoy it.

So I get my nifty wheelbook and I write down all the suggestions in the first few pages. Some were serious, some were funny, some were the equivilant of having a "Kick Me" sign taped to my back. Most of them weren't explained, they were meant to lead me to my own discoveries.

It wasn't a long trip (Tuesday evening to Friday morning) and I wanted to pack every possible experience into it. My list helped me do that. If you put an ordinary civilian on a Naval ship - or even an extrordinary one, such as myself - that person wouldn't even know where to start. with the list, I was good to go.

On Thursday night, we were sitting in the Wardroom, Bruce, Danny, Chris and I. I was wiped out. I had been running up and down ladders and pways all day. I had been jumping over kneeknockers and opening and closing hatches and blast doors. I wasn't sure I could feel my feet. It was all I could do to sip my water and contemplate how I would make my way down to my rack in female troop berthing.

An ensign came in to grab a quick snack and sat at the table next to us. I called over "Hey, can I ask a favor before you start eating? Can you just move over here so we can grill you while you eat?" He took it in stride. By this point all my polite facade had worn away and I was in true Princess Crabby mode - demanding. Another Ensign popped in and I didn't even let him try to sit elsewhere. Everyone was asking questions and I mentioned some of the things I had done and still needed to do. One of the Ensigns asked how I knew to ask..........I told him it was on my list. Chris started laughing and explained I had this crazy list which was making my trip more like a scavenger hunt "I feel like I should give her a broken pencil or something." They wanted to hear it and it cracked them up. But they were impressed with the places it took me to.

If I had stayed on until the next port, I would have finished the list.

Some Good News Out of Yesterday's Appointment

Lost in all the drinking......

There are two types of myeloma cells. An aggressive, rapidly reproducing one and a slower moving one.

As befits me........I have the lazy one.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to one of the Army's newest second lieutenants......

He jokes about it, but just like me, Anthony knows this is a wonderful and serious moment.

Well done!

Newt Explains Supply and Demand

An Important One From Maryann

Go over to Maryann at Soldier's Angels Germany - my favorite BeerGirl!
She has a great post.
Military volunteers run burn clinic in Iraq, providing "tenderness and Tylenol"
Read the post, watch the videos, especially this one.

In the first video you're asked

"What would you do if you had the chance to change someone's world? Would you?"

Here's the information from the end of the video
Medihoney (the video provides contact info for British and Australian facilites. However, if you just click on the word Medihoney, you can go directly to their website)

Items needed
Medihoney antibacterial cream
Kerlix
Xeroform petrolatum dressing
non-adhesive dressings
Chucks (chux)
Tylenol/paracetamol (child, infant and adult)
Motrin/ibuprofen (child and adult)
IV line sets
Benadryl (child and adult)

Additional Items
flip-flops/sandals
sneakers
clothes
toothbrushes
toothpaste
toys
stuffed animals
socks
crayons & coloring books

PLEASE DO NOT SEND CASH OR CHECKS

Mail your donations to:

Jimmy Compton

SOC

CSC Scania

APO AE 09331

The Gun Deck

Chris at War & Health is still on the Kearsarge and he put up this pic. It's one of my favorite places on the ship. It's the gun deck off the gallery deck. Words can't describe how beautiful everything is from there.

Chris has some great posts up.

A Break From Our Current Discussion

It's a cancer update, so skip this if you are here for the Kearsarge stuff.

Dr. H is pushing for some chemo, more chemo and then a bone marrow transplant (really just my own shit harvested, pheresed and given back).

But that means six weeks of hospitalization. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!!!! Six weeks? SIX weeks!

And a month where no one can be near me.

I'm gonna tell them "NO!". LOL Jen's mad, but I have already made up my mind. There is no way I can be out of work that long.

Anyway, it was an 1120 appointment and we left the hospital at 1400. I told Jen they work at a glacial pace. She showed up with a legal pad (white, not yellow, so no one is going to jail - obscure NYPD Blue reference) and took notes and asked questions. We left and I said "Don't you feel better? It was just like a told you. No big deal."

She made a face and said no.

She asked if I wanted to go to Water Street and get a sandwich. I said "No, I want to go to East Bay and order the nachos and drink like a fish." She said ok. I called the girls in work...."do I have to come back? Because I am going down to East Bay and get hammered. Come down after work."

We sent out texts that we were having a cancer celebration. A few people freaked. A few people joined us.

Dick the bartender says he will still love me when I am bald. He served me several more Cape Codders after Tom the afternoon bartender served several. It's a good deal when the shift change happens. No one realizes that you have been drinking so much.

Frankie sent Bill and Andrea for us. Bill to drive us home and Andrea to drive my car home.

The police pulled Bill over - took one look at the old ladies in the car, ckutching their take out containers.......and didn't bother checking Bill's license or registration. The officer told him he didn't want to hold us up, Bill should fix his tail light and we should all have a nice night.

Bill said we should drive around with him more often.

August 5, 2008 1545 Baltimore Airport

I typed this up during a layover on my way to Norfolk

Hope this isn’t a sign of things to come!

I was fully packed last night before I went to bed with the exception of the laptop bag. I am borrowing Nic’s laptop again and she has no bag because I wrecked hers at the last Milblog conference. I kept meaning to get another…..but you know me...I’ve never met a task that I can’t put off. I realized that I didn’t have the bag around midnight and almost popped back to the office to get it, but, of course….I put it off.

My alarm goes off at 0800. That should be plenty of time because everything is ready…right?

Wrong!
I wanted to leave my house at 0900. Somehow I was still there at 0930. What happened? I don’t know!

I dash into work. I grab the bag. We get on the road. I remind Tom, my son to stop at the dump on the way home because I already have loaded the rubbish into the trunk. That would be pretty effin’ horrible to comeback to a trunk full of trash that’s been stewing in the August heat (yes, Chief, I know…it’s not that hot)!

I have one errand to do before we hit the highway. It’s a bill. I have to pay it. Yes, I know that it was unwise to leave it for the last minute. That’s me. I’ll go stand in the corner.

OK, so now Tom and I are flying down the highway. The good part? No State Troopers spotted me. The bad part? I didn’t go fast enough. LOL

As I was going through security, I heard my final boarding call and my name on the overhead page.

There I was running down the concourse in my socks, juggling the empty bag for the computer, the bulging Walmart bag with everything that was supposed to go into the bag for the computer, my sneakers and pulling the backpack on wheels Gracie gave me for my birthday. I got to the gate…there was the plane….but the door was closed.

Great! Now I am screwed…and not in the good way.

I go to the gate agent. I ask what I do. She says “Your final destination is Norfolk? Well, we put you on the next flight in 90 minutes.”

No charge. No lecture. Thank you, Southwest!!!!
I thanked her profusely.

So now I am sitting in Baltimore waiting for the connecting flight to Norfolk and I should be where I am supposed to be by 1900.

How does this happen to me? My bed is stripped. All the laundry is done and put away. My room is straightened out in case my Dad and brother come down (my mother postponed the drywall project,but sometimes my father can be willfull). Everything is done but there is still chaos. I should have stuck to my usual modus operandi and left the bedroom looking like tornado hit it.

But all’s well that ends well…..thanks to Southwest.

August 5, 2008 1545

The Chrissie Bag

Jen and our cousin Chrissie still exchange Christmas and birthday presents.


Several years ago Chrissie gave Jen the perfect travel bag. It’s black with several compartments and a very slender profile. It is the perfect carry on. It’s also timelessly chic. Chrissie is always “put together” and has excellent taste. When I travel I always ask to borrow it for every trip. I remember how perfect it was when I went to Dubai.


When Jen and I travel together I pout because I lose out, lol!


So when I was prepping for my trip on the Kearsarge the three most important things I lined up were the use of Nic’s laptop (thanks Nic!), one of Jen’s windbreakers (FbL told me of her expensive search for one on the eve of her trip) and the “Chrissie Bag”.


Then Jen’s boss decided she needed to travel to New York for a few days. I got bumped! I can’t tell you how much more difficult this made my trip!

All right. I am being a little melodramatic.

The Chrissie Bag

Jen and our cousin Chrissie still exchange Christmas and birthday presents.

Several years ago Chrissie gave Jen the perfect travel bag. It’s black with several compartments and a very slender profile. It is the perfect carry on. It’s also timelessly chic. Chrissie is always “put together” and has excellent taste. When I travel I always ask to borrow it for every trip. I remember how perfect it was when I went to Dubai.

When Jen and I travel together I pout because I lose out, lol!

So when I was prepping for my trip on the Kearsarge the three most important things I lined up were the use of Nic’s laptop (thanks Nic!), one of Jen’s windbreakers (FbL told me of her expensive search for one on the eve of her trip) and the “Chrissie Bag”.

Then Jen’s boss decided she needed to travel to New York for a few days. I got bumped! I can’t tell you how much more difficult this made my trip!

All right. I am being a little melodramatic.

The Barber Shop

The barber shop is staffed by two Sailors, one male and one female. Male Sailors are supposed to have their hair cut every two weeks, clean back of the neck. Female Sailors can have hair down to their shoulders but if it’s longer, it must be worn up. To accommodate they schedule 20 appointments for each barber every day, at 20 minute intervals.

Hawks brought us in and wherever he is conversation flows easily and there are lots of jokes. We were mostly listening to the two barbers explain things when I asked about other services. There were perplexed looks.

“Hair coloring?” was greeted with laughter.

“Oh, now see I was this close” I held my forefinger millimeters from my thumb “to enlisting. I figured after troop berthing there was nothing I couldn’t deal with. But no hair coloring every 4 weeks? No manicures? No pedicures???”

The female barber piped up and said some female Sailors bring their kits aboard and do manicures and pedicures.

A little underground economy.

OK, Back to Places With No Internet

Some of my fellow bloggers needed their posts to be timely and coherent. You know that isn't going to happen with me. I'm offline until sometime Monday night/Tuesday morning.

Even when I am back to regular access, they with be somewhat disjointed and random as I digest all I saw and learned. I am by no means a journalist. These are just going to be my thoughts and observations on one of the most excellent adventures ever.

I talked with SB while sitting in Miami airport yesterday afternoon. My words were tumbling all over each other and when I paused to take a breath he said "Now you understand why I love going to sea."

The Wardroom

Unlike the others who had schedules and duties, my fellow bloggers and I could spend pretty much all the time we wanted in the wardroom. There were a few occasions that it was secured, but they were few and far between. Every enlisted Sailor and Marine must spend a certain amount of time working in there in the scullery and galley. Depending on circumstances, it's 60 to 120 days. In between serving the officers their three meals per day, the "Mountain Lodge" crew would sit down to their meals and breaks.

There is a constant flow of traffic. Bruce joked that we could sit there and let everyone come to us. It was true as far as the officers and riders went. Everyone was polite about our requests, most were very enthusiastic. We were always treated with respect and humor, no one seemed unapproachable.

It was a great place for us to interview people, get leads on things we should see, pool our own information. As far as officers go, it was the place to be. However, I was cautioned repeatedly by my Navy Coterie not to stay there. They told me I needed to get down with the enlisted.

Waking Up Confused

I opened up my eyes this morning and thought, "I didn't hear reveille. What time is it?" The room was flooded with natural light from several windows, not fluorescents. There was a ceiling that was feet, not inches from my face.

Grace's bed. I was in Grace's bed with lots of room to roll over and not whack my elbows, or sit up and not hit my head. Better yet, I *could* roll over, lol. No stiff back and my hip wasn't screaming. I sat up and just gathered my thoughts for a moment.

Yesterday morning I heard the AirForce girls getting up around 0530, trying to get the jump on the day. I croaked out "Why are you up before reveille?" The reply came "Because there are 50 girls here and some of us want breakfast." Of course, their options were limited compared to mine. If I wanted to beat rush hour in the *female head* (that has a nice ring to it, huh?) I could just lay there for an hour. I had done just that the day before. I stayed in my rack until the other three in my little aisle were finished. I can't imagine if all six were filled with people with a deadline. This pic is male Marine troop berthing, but looks just like where I was. Most were arranged in aisles where each side had three racks. I chose the bottom because I couldn't imagine climbing into bed. But later I realized that the advantage of the top bunk was more head room. Not lots but more than the other two. Each blue curtain represents a rack but there is no top, so the top goes to the ceiling. Worth the climb? Most thought so. While there were middles and lowers available, by the time I got there, all the tops were gone. When I lay in my rack if I put my elbow on the mattress (I am being generous with that word), my fingertips could touch the rack above me. There was a light in line with my neck and a single electrical outlet. I briefly flashed to my own bedroom with my plug for my cell phone charger, the stuff for my computer, the lamp, the clock radio, the fan and the curling iron.

Yeah! That could work.....not!

Each rack had a handle which would lift the whole rack with mattress on top to reveal a shallow storage area. There were also lockers and places for bigger bags. The area under the rack would probably have been just enough for my gear.....for three days.....not 118. And this deployment was short by most standards. Things were hung in different, odd places, but no closet per se. Yet Sailors are expected to be turned out neatly in the uniform of the day. Now that I think about it, I never saw a place to iron - you know I wouldn't be looking for that!

These Sailors, Soldiers, Marines and Airmen are making dozens of sacrifices, large and small to accomplish this and every mission.

Home From The Sea

I am exhausted and completely overwhelmed. Three of us were taken off at Miami via helicopter. Another first for me.

I am sitting at my sister's house having my mid-rats. I am going to shower and fall into a freshly made full size bed. LOL No "Troop Berthing" for me tonight.

This was one of the most exciting and interesting things I have ever done.

If I can get online tomorrow I will start getting some things out here. right now I am too wiped out the write anything coherent.

I still have plenty of emails to answer as well........228 new emails since Tuesday........holy moly!

In the meantime......I wasn't the only blogger aboard Kearsarge.

Chris Albon - War & Health

McQ of Q and O

Danny from Eyeblast Media

David Axe from War Is Boring

That is all.