It’s now June (woot!)… what plans do you have for the summer?

My very favorite summer plans include welcoming my husband home from deployment. We have all kinds of extravagant ideas for things we want to do, ranging from spending a week in a mountain cabin (where it might even get chilly at night; Sampson is more than ready to be done with the heat where he is) to doing as much Civil Air Patrol flying as we can squeeze in. Mostly, I’m looking forward to anything we can do together, whether we’re off on an adventure or merely braving the perils of backyard grilling. Those bees can be vicious when they’re interested in my cocktail.

What is your favorite summer memory as a kid?

Going to the beach with a horde of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and best of all, cousins. For a solid week every August, we would spend all day on the beach, the adults sipping tasty beverages in “the compound” (a couple of big tent/pavilion things staked in the sand with plenty of beach chairs underneath in the shade) and watching all of us kids run around like sandy, salty, wild beasts. I eventually aged into the beverage-sipping category, which made for delightful days of digging my toes in the sand while enjoying a Bloody Mary or three at ten in the morning. Each night, a different couple would take on the dinner prep, and the rest would show up at that rental unit for the evening’s party. It was wonderful.

If wild animals could be made pets without fear of them ever being dangerous, what kind of exotic animal would you want as a pet?

Big kitty! I have serious reservations about the our back yard ecosystem’s ability to support such a large apex predator, alas.

Guess I'll leave this tiger at Disney's Animal Kingdom for the time being.

Is there anything about deployments that you do like? submitted by The Thrifty Military Wife

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it is refreshing not to have to check the flight sked the night before to find out what time we have to drag ass out of bed in the morning.

I’m starting to run out of questions again… so please give me a question you’d like to see (off-the-wall will most likely make it because we seem to have used a lot of the “traditional” ones).

• Which of your possessions do you wish the movers would break so you’d have an excuse to get rid of it?
• Blogging plays a growing roll in the media. If you were asked to embed as a blogger with a deployed military unit, would you go? What do you think your blog would be like?
• What makes a military ball/bash/gala/what-have-you a wonderful evening? What makes you roll your eyes while at such an event?

Are you a military spouse/fiancée/fiancé/girlfriend/boyfriend? Hie thee to LTJG Wifey’s blog, snag the questions, and add yourself to the Mr. Linky for this week’s MilSpouse Friday Fill-In!

If you know why my subject line is what it is for the 42nd installment of the MilSpouse Friday Fill-In, you must be a hoopy frood who always knows where your towel is. (Mine is in the linen closet, but easily accessible at the first notice of planetary disturbance.) Don’t panic, everyone — quicker than you can say Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, it’s time for the…

Do you think civilians, in general, understand the meaning of Memorial Day?

In my more cynical moments, I am not at all sure that they do. Backyard barbecues and the like don’t raise my hackles much, even if I wish everyone would take a moment to remember those who died that we might enjoy such moments with family and friends in peace and freedom. “Memorial Day SALES EVENTS!!!111!1oneone!” tend to make me feel ill, though. The loud, flashy, obnoxious discount furniture store commercials — complete with waving flags and consumer excess masked as patriotism — that appear this time of year have been known to make me reflexively change the channel in disgust.

What are your plans for the Memorial Day Weekend?

It’s going to be a quiet one for me and the kitty-cats. On Monday at 1500 local time I will pause for a moment of silence. Later that evening, I may raise a glass in memory and tribute to those who died in service to me, you, and everyone else who breathes free in the United States.

What skill/talent do you wish you had? submitted by The 3 Turners

Oh, I wish I had plenty! How could I choose just one?

• Flying! Single-engine Land will be the first step.
• Quilting
• Airplane maintenance (I’ve toyed with the idea of training to be an A&P so I could work on any airplane we might one day own.)
• Guitar playing
• Singing (I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket)
• Beating that wretched boss in [name of current video game obsession here]
• Photo editing
• Roller coaster designing
• Turning blog ideas into actual posts ;-P

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? submitted by I Married Into The Army

It had to be the egg. What we call the modern chicken evolved gradually over time as the result of many minute, successful mutations. If we agree that there had to be a first true chicken, it had to hatch from the first true chicken egg, no matter the what genetic makeup of the hen who laid it was.

Now, who wants and omelet? C’mon, you’re not… well, you know… are you?

What is the best thing about your post (base)? The worst? submitted by Randomly, Robyn

Betcha no matter what base people are talking about, the most prevalent answer on the “worst” side will be the traffic. 😉

As for the “best,” I suppose that depends on whether we’re talking about the installation itself or its surrounding area. I don’t actually spend that much time aboard the base at which Sampson is stationed, as there’s another base slightly more convenient to our house. When I do make it over to our “real” base, though, I always enjoy seeing the flight line full of E-2s and C-2s.

Are you a military spouse/fiancée/fiancé/girlfriend/boyfriend? Hie thee to LTJG Wifey’s blog, snag the questions, and add yourself to the Mr. Linky for this week’s MilSpouse Friday Fill-In!

What is one of the things you always do special when your husband returns from a deployment?  submitted by Keep Calm and Soldier On

Sampson has not yet officially returned from a deployment, so I guess that means we’re still squarely in the “building family traditions” stage.

What do you do to help your spouse and/or yourself re-adjust after a deployment or long separation?  submitted by Diapers, Dogs and Deployments

One of the things that helps me is to reestablish our inside jokes. Laughter’s a huge part of our marriage, and it’s all the better when only we know precisely what we’re chortling about.

Are you a crazy coupon clipper (I’m becoming one, so share your secrets with me)?  submitted by Married My Airman

Not even a little bit. Last time I was at the commissary, some (very sweet) lady actually chased me down the aisle because she saw me grab some string cheese, but not the coupon that was hanging on the shelf next to it. When I read about people saving all this money with coupons, I am impressed, but my eyes glaze over when I think about everything involved in clipping, organizing, planning, strategizing, etc. to make the most of those deals. Most coupons that come in the mail get pitched directly into the recycling.

What’s your most treasured memory of you and your spouse (not counting your wedding – that’s a given)? submitted by Scrubs, ACUs and One Crazy Ride

It’s not a singular event, really, but some of my best memories are of us enjoying the beauty of waterside parks together. Even before we started officially dating (admittedly, I had a mad crush on that handsome high school senior already), parks like Great Falls and Green Spring Gardens were already special to us. There’s nothing like standing by the water, watching it flow, and taking in breath after peaceful breath of fresh air with the one you love.

If you could live anywhere overseas, what would you pick and why? submitted by Little Moments Like This

Tough one. I haven’t traveled widely enough to be able to say for certain which culture I would like to experience with the depth of a resident. From what I’ve heard, Italy would be fabulous. It’s even remotely possible that Sampson could get a flying job there one of these years… not anytime soon, I don’t think.

Are you a military spouse/fiancée/fiancé/girlfriend/boyfriend? Hie thee to ENS Wifey’s blog (though I don’t get to call her “ENS” much longer), snag the questions, and add yourself to the Mr. Linky for this week’s MilSpouse Friday Fill-In!

Before I get going on today’s questions, I’ll just throw in a shameless plug for my latest SpouseBUZZ post. I met my first “deployment gremlins” when they moved into my furnace like half a second after Sampson departed, but it turns out there was an unexpected bright side to a major household system going on the fritz.

Right, now onto the questions!

Do you or your {spouse} ever wish your {spouse} was in a different branch of the military? —submitted by The Turner Family

The only time I have ever witnessed a tinge of service-related “grass is greener” syndrome on Sampson’s part was when he waxed rhapsodic over the deliciousness of Air Force boxed nasty (boxed lunch, for the uninitiated). “They even included a comment card. A comment card!” he marveled.

However, the Air Force wouldn’t let Sampson land airplanes on boats, so I think we’ll stick with the Navy.

What duty station(s) are on your “No Way, Hell No, Not Going, Have Fun Unaccompanied” list and why? –submitted by Every Branch

I can’t think of a duty station to which I absolutely would not move, but there are definitely some that would inspire more of a fuss than others. I would prefer not to spend three years in Meridian, Mississippi. The town appears to have only one synagogue, it is far away from all of our family members, the job my husband would be doing wouldn’t be his first choice, and I haven’t heard stellar things about the job market for me.

I’d still go, though. After all, less-than-ideal living conditions can make for hilarious stories to share on the blog.

If you could be one age forever, what age would you choose and why? –submitted by Three Krakens

My mom has always said she has liked every age she’s been, and I would tend to agree. I would hate to miss out on something wonderful about being thirty because I got it in my head that life peaks at twenty-six.

If you were a breakfast cereal, which one would you be? —submitted by the C.W.

This is a much harder question than “What’s your favorite breakfast cereal?” would have been. Hmm… how about Grape Nuts topped with fresh sliced banana? I’m a little nutty, but that just adds a satisfying crunch to life, interspersed with bites of smooth sweetness for contrast. I’m not sure what the vanilla soymilk would signify.

What is your morning beverage of choice and why? —submitted by NH Girl Displaced

Yes, those are Sampson's flight gloves, and yes, that is my crazy morning hair.

Black tea, hands down. I enjoy coffee, but it’s always been an afternoon beverage for me. What I want when I first stumble into the kitchen is a big mug of “something civilizing,” as Sampson puts it. I don’t sweeten most teas, so I get to enjoy the slightly astringent complexity of the brew unimpeded by a sugar kick. This morning’s cuppa is a darjeeling from Adagio Teas.

Since hitting the fleet, Sampson has developed a morning coffee habit where none previously existed. We started out using a French press, but while it made good coffee, it was a pain to clean out the coffee grounds afterwards. When the carafe finally broke, I had just the excuse I needed to order an AeroPress. As soon as we gave it a test run, I wished we had pitched the French press years sooner. It makes a fantastic cuppa joe, and the clean-up is infinitely easier: just press the plunger and the whole “puck” of grounds flies into the trash with a satisfying thunk. No touching the damp, gritty spent grounds at all!

Are you a military spouse/fiancée/fiancé/girlfriend/boyfriend? Hie thee to ENS Wifey’s blog, snag the questions, and add yourself to the Mr. Linky for this week’s MilSpouse Friday Fill-In!