Oh Summer… I have been waiting for you…
Opening Day!
Oh Summer… I have been waiting for you…
Tag Archives: NavSta Rota
Odds and Ends…
So while I was trying to do something, ANYTHING, from working on my final research paper last night I decided to change the look over here… I have an idea in my head of how I would REALLY like it to look but I don’t know anything about web design and I really don’t want to put any money into what is really just an online scrapbook of my life. So for now my blog is trying on some new clothes and we’ll see how they fit.
My husband is begging me to buy sandwich bags. It’s pretty funny that this is even a conversation topic. I have become so anti-plastic that I don’t even know when the last time I bought ziploc bags was. Don’t get me wrong, we are no where near where we could be. Shit just has SO. MUCH. PACKAGING!
In other news my co-worker at the front desk is quitting. I don’t know what I am going to do. I am going to have to train her replacement and then my replacement. Ugh. Plus there is just SO much you have to be able to know how to do. We aren’t just answering phones up there! Hopefully they hire someone who is a fast learner! Plus I don’t know if I’ll be able to quit as early as I was going to. I am that crazy person who just can’t leave a mess behind at work. We’ll see about that because….
We STILL haven’t gotten our orders yet! I am getting more than a little bit stressed out because Lord knows PCSing isn’t stressful enough. Now we are down to3 months with no orders. Honestly this wouldn’t be that big of a deal but we have to get the dog on the rotater (the military flight that flies back and forth every two weeks). Because he is a boxer he can’t fly commercial airlines in the summer time. The flights are full of dogs until June already and I reeeeeeeeeeeaaaaally don’t want to leave my baby behind!
Still haven’t started cleaning out our belongings or closets, I need to do that as well as pull the rest of the kids summer clothes out. I am hoping that when I start cleaning I will find my damn camcorder that I somehow placed somewhere stupid. I have a very bad habit of walking around with something in my hand and then setting it down. I once lost my coffee cup and couldn’t find it anywhere. Next day, I found it in the linen cabinet. Really?
Well now that I got that off my chest, have a wonderful Thursday!
El Bucarito! Our trip to the goat farm…
(Prepare for pictures from ANOTHER class field trip!)
Yesterday we took a field trip to a cute little goat farm that is literally minutes from base. I am kicking myself for never visiting before. The farm grown their own feed (organically) and uses the goat manure to fertilize the fields. Love that. They also have a variety of other animals including donkeys, pigs (black Iberian pigs – the ones that get turned into famous jamon!), and birds of prey. The owners live on site and they were super friendly and the entire staff was absolutely wonderful to our visiting group.
On to the photos!
The farm! The pig area is on the left, the goat fields are on the right. The store is the building half cut off on the right. (Taken on a moving bus so not the best shot.)
Happy Bus Rider.
As soon as we walked by the pasture the goats all ran over to us. (Because I am a nerd I immediately thought of the Jurassic Park line: “They’re flocking”. Yeah. Just me.)
Prepare yourself, this is a goat picture heavy post. But they are just so dang cute!
Ha. He kept trying to eat my camera. Goats are dumb. But very photogenic.
O admiring the goats from a distance. They were a little nibbley. (Also I think the kids necklaces should read: “If found please return to the CDC” but no one agrees with me.)
Budding grape vine. The farm had some vineyards as well as a small orchard.
Our guide and I couldn’t figure out what this was. I thought cherry (cerise is cherry right?) She thought not. Fruit tree blossoms look so similar. It was probably peach or plum. Or apple or pear. Who knows. My mom probably.
We pose in doors a lot.
I want this bbq area please.
This is the owners patio. What we would call a courtyard. I love Spanish patios. Especially plain rocks turned into something awesome with a little crapload of time.
Also red geraniums in old pots or barrels. Swoon.
All the ladies getting milked. Of the 2,000 goats they have on the farm, 1,200 give milk. Twice a day. It’s no wonder it’s all automated!
One of the babies in the kid room… They were SO cute!
Feeding pigs! We had to warn the kids to keep fingers off the fence. Those pigs will bite! These pigs are the famous Iberian black pigs. The males who look promising are moved and fed acorns to give the Iberian jamon the distinctive flavor that it is famous for. (For which it is famous. Whatever.)
Also. These pigs are hard core. Nose rings for all! This actually keeps them from rooting and tearing up the pasture or fence line, but I prefer to think that they have punk rock pigs.
I love mules. That is all.
This farm also breeds birds of prey, including owls. So we got to pet this tiny, bitty, sweet, fluffy baby owl. “IT’S SO FLUFFY” (name that movie, if you can’t we can’t be friends)
O meet owl.
Tiny!
Not quite so cute and adorable but a beautiful bird.
Falconry demonstration. Please someone tell me, what the heck is keeping these birds from flying away? They aren’t domesticated dogs, they are wild birds with unclipped wings. Why do they come back? Are they just really well fed? I wish my Spanish didn’t suck ass so I could have talked to the trainer.
The kids all loved this cheese, it was sweet and creamy and mild. So good!
These were more for the adults, strong, firm and pungent. The rosemary one was really good.
And the chorizo. Made from those adorable pigs we saw earlier. Think of salami but better. This was excellent and the kids couldn’t get enough. I will be back for this as well as some fresh goat cheese!
Ana one of the teachers and a friend, got to get up close and personal with one of the adult owls.
So did Val. All the cuddling was freaking me out. I kept telling them the owl was going to eat their eyes. Get the damn bird out of your face!
Hello gorgeous!
Goodbye, el Bucarito! We’ll be back!
Directions:
Go out the Spanish gate (back gate on base) take a left. You should see the farm on the right in about 5 minutes. It is off one of the perimeter roads. Store is open seven days a week. Tours are available for groups but you have to call ahead. If you have a small group you can see the cheese making process.
Thank you Missoula Children’s Theater!
Missoula Children’s Theater is a wonderful group that travels around the world and putting together children’s performances. We are lucky enough to have them come once a year, but were EXTRA lucky because even though they were just here in August, they stopped by again over Spring Break to have the kids put on ANOTHER show!
Auditions for the show (Red Riding Hood) were on Monday, parts assigned and rehearsals began the same day. The kids rehearsed every day that week and everyone who shows up gets a part, from kinder-gardeners up to sixth graders.
Friday night they were ready for their performance, the kids all did great (only a few mishaps but they were entertaining) the script itself was pretty corny but the kids thought it was hilarious.
M had the part of a shadow, she had been practicing all week the week before so she could get a major role but they pretty much all went to the 5th and 6th graders.
Acting like a 'shadow'
The four shadows (they were supposed to be the bad influences along the forest trail - MORAL AHEAD!)
Now they had to change from shadows into fire... cause if you play with fire you will get burned! (It was just so so corny)
The cast, good job guys!
Katie, one of the Missoula leaders. I don't know how these guys do it!
The four shadows/fire/bad plants! They were so excited they had costume changes!
My little star!
M and one of her good friends who was 'Sister Hood'
And then they packed everything up to fly out the next day to do it all over again. We gladly bought a tshirt to support them because they really do make the kids feel special and offer them a chance to be onstage.
For more info: Missoula Children’s Theater
(Sorry about the crappy auditorium pics, these are the best of them!)
Girls Weekend!
{So it starts out sounding a little crazy….}
A bunch of women from base are going to be spending the weekend at a hotel…
{…but then quickly goes downhill to boring mom-ville …}
and we are going to be scrapbooking the entire time!
I cannot tell you how much I need this. Just to get out of my head and spend some time on my favorite hobby that I am SO behind on. I am not planning on spending the night but I do plan on hanging out for most of the day Saturday and possibly leaving my stuff and going back over Sunday (the hotel is only about 10 minutes from my house).
And even though I am looking forward to tomorrow -yay scrapbooking!- I am also a little nervous because while I know most of the women there, I don’t KNOW them. I don’t have any close friends in the group that’s going. So I am hoping that people actually talk to me and that I am not a loner the whole day because while I would probably get a lot done, that would crappy and boring. But enough with the girl crap.
So to get ready for this weekend I have been frantically trying to get all of my homework done ahead of time and it has kept me busy, along with night training for work this past Thursday. LOTS of fun stuff coming up at work, we are doing a TON of stuff for April for the Month of the Military Child because – shocker- we have quite a few military children! Also Feria, which is kind of like Spain’s county fair but that needs MULTIPLE posts with a ton of pictures.
Hope you have a WONDERFUL weekend!
P.S. Birthday shout out to Ben, my son’s brother from another mother! Happy 5th Birthday Ben! Wish we could be there to share it with you!
These CRAZY caterpillars!
One of the nuisance animals in southern Spain is a caterpillar.
Not just any caterpillar.
We have one in particular called the Processional Pine Caterpillar. Now this may come as a surprise but they live in pine trees (shocker!). The processional part of their of name is where it gets interesting. The walk all together lined up in a little (or rather long) line.
It’s pretty interesting actually, they only come out during this time of year so you know when to look for them. The funny thing is this I’ve lived here for 3 1/2 years and this was the first spring that I actually saw them!
Now as cool as they look the problem is that their little hairs cause lots of problems in people and pets if they are touched (or eaten by your dog!) They are super irritating and I’ve heard of people having them in a jar in the house and the hair still irritating their eyes. They are bad news, health wise!
Also if your dog gets the hairs in their mouth it can actually cause the tongue tissue to die! Crazy! Thankfully we have NO pine trees near our house, just palm trees with their own sets of problems!
If you happen to see any of these caterpillars, look but PLEASE don’t touch!
Sink Or Swim 