Back Home

Well, I am back home. Thanks to all for your support. This should be my last deployment. I have a one year ADSO for PCSing to AZ. After that, I plan to ETS. For those non-military type.... I am getting out in a year. I will likely stay in the Reserves or the National Guard as not to loose out on the time I have spent there.

So, now I am back in TN (my home state) for a couple weeks. Then we are moving back to Southern Arizona. I am excited about getting back there. There are few states where you can still roam for 20 miles in one direction with a weapon in hand and enjoy the land. Arizona is one of those places. I have been there for two other years of my life. It was always a pleasure to go there.

We had made plans to buy a place there. The place that we were looking at at fell through (FEMA flood zones). All the better. I think there is a reason for everything. After talking with Sarah more about the future she revealed to me some cold feet about the transition from the military and the prospects for employment afterwards. The bottomline is that home offers help or a place to stay if things fall through or take longer than expected. It also has the benefit of having family and friend ties to help find a job. So, at this point we are on hold. Just waiting to see which area will present the best opportunity (looking for a LE job- falling back on my bachelor's degree).

What all this means is that with a potential move ahead of us, renting is in our near future (down payment is burning a hole in my pocket). So this changes our overall plan on a more self reliant, independent lifestyle. We probably won't be able to grow a garden in the next few months. We probably can't get those rabbits and hens that I wanted. So, we have to think outside the box. Extra canned goods will have to suffice instead of canned vegetables from the garden. I will have to shoot my limit of deer to fill the freezer (almost jumping out of my pants to get in the scrub and grasslands). Luckily, there is plenty of resource here to help with the thinking outside the box-type prepared living in a subdivision.

Now, where to find tomato hangers.... we can still can up some delicious salsa from the backyard .