Back in the Water!

Carlton and I finally got around to getting back in the water and doing some snorkeling! One of our friends told us that Tanguisson Beach was a good place for snorkeling and had the "mushroom" rocks for some scenic beach pics too! Honestly we didn't see much in the way of fish but it was still nice to snorkel again.

Hey Carlton!

One of the deeper channels we found

Hey Jen!

Cool reef

Very bright color!

Pipes heading to the beach

Another deep channel

Mushroom rocks from the water

Jen & Rock.....very large rocks!

Carlton and mushroom rock

Very cool formations

Selfie!

Further down the beach

Hermit crab craziness!

Brain coral immortalized in limestone

What Happened to Summer?!

I cannot believe it is already October! Time has flown by!! Carlton has not been around much, so there really haven't been many adventures to share, but on his last trip home we did a little exploring.

We heard from a friend that there was a B-52 crash site up at the Andersen Air Force Base, so we decided to drive up and check it out. It's actually just the tail section of a B-52 Stratofortress (also called Grey Ghost) from the 1960's. It was literally about 200 feet from the road (if that), so it was kind of funny to read on the sign that this piece was lost for about 20 years.

Apparently this piece was used for firefighting and rescue training. On May 21, 1976, the Super Typhoon Pamela hit and blew this tail section across the street and into the jungle. I am not sure how hard they looked for it but I guess the jungle grew around the wreck and it wasn't located until the Super Typhoon Paka hit in 1997. Crazy!

Clear path now to see the crash site

It's actually upside down, not that I could tell

Other side of it

While we were up at the AFB, we decided to drive to their beaches and see how they were different from the ones on the Navy Base. Not much different really but we did stop at a great scenic overlook for a few pictures!

Great view!

The island in the distance is Rota

Beautiful!

Required selfie!

Since then, Carlton has headed out to sea again and the annual Khaki Ball arrived. Once again, we had a few wives on our boat that decided to represent Topeka since our hubbies were not able to make it. Here is a group photo we took at the Khaki Ball this year!

On the fur baby front, they are both doing fine. Took Edge to the vet a couple weeks ago and found out he had the canine version of Ringworm. But after applying anti-fungal treatment, it has healed. I was also surprised to find out that the flea and tick treatment I had been using is not effective here on Guam. Apparently Advantix does not contain Fipronil, which is what is the main ingredient needed to avoid fleas and ticks here. It really would have been nice if the vet on base had told me that 18 months ago when we first got here! This information was given to me by a vet off base - the vet on base has been closed for six weeks because both vets PCS'd off island at the same time (typical military planning). So now both dogs are on Frontline which does have that important ingredient in it!

In the meantime, our FRG had another successful Tag Sale (yard sale) and raised over $300! Now begins the preparations for the holiday season. Gotta figure out things to do while the guys are out...both for kids and for the wives.

Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the beginning of Fall!! Drop me a line when you get a chance!

XOXO
Jen

Best placement since 1952!

I am sure many of you have been enjoying the Summer Olympics as they have been unfolding. It has been interesting to watch with the huge time difference (and no cable). Luckily we have found NBC's website to be fairly good with videos of various sports although not very wide ranging on their coverage of different athlete's necessarily.

I have always enjoyed watching the Olympics, especially in the Summer since I love seeing the swimming events, gymnastics, and of course synchronized swimming! This year, I had another event to watch that I had never even heard of a few months ago. My distant cousin, Evan Jager, was one of the American athletes favored to be going to the Olympics in the Steeplechase event.

For those of you who do not know, the event originated in Ireland. Horses and riders raced from one town's steeple to the next. The steeples were used as markers due to their visibility over long distances. Along the way runners inevitably had to jump streams and low stone walls separating estates. The modern athletics event originates from a two-mile cross country steeplechase that formed part of the University of Oxford sports (in which many of the modern athletics events were founded) in 1860. It was replaced in 1865 by an event over barriers on a flat field, which became the modern steeplechase. 

It has been an Olympic event since the inception of the modern Olympics, though with varying lengths. Since the 1968 Summer Olympics, steeplechase in the Olympics has been dominated by Kenyan athletes, including the current gold medal streak since 1984 and a clean sweep of the medals at the 1992 and 2004 Games. A 3,000 meters steeplechase is defined in the rule book as having 28 barriers and 7 water jumps.

It looks like a pretty brutal event and I am so happy for Evan and his family!! I know they are so incredibly proud of him!! In case you didn't catch it, here are a couple clips of the event final.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/kipruto-wins-3000m-steeplechase-gold-evan-jager-silver

https://youtu.be/9gRd-fKONso

Latest Tidbits

Hello friends and family! Carlton has been home since the beginning of July but we really haven't been up to much that was noteworthy which is why you haven't heard from me. We hadn't been hiking because it gets very hot and humid during the day and many of the hiking trails are exposed. We chose to risk heat stroke for a short hike with friends to a dam that was built in 1910 to supply water to the capitol city of Hagatna. The walls of the dam are constructed with red bricks and there is a rope if you want to try your hand at climbing up the dam. The whole area was pretty slick since it had rained recently, so we chose to skip that attraction.  The swimming hole at the base of the dam is supposed to be a popular swimming location for locals, but considering how muddy the water looked, none of us wanted to jump in it. Also there was a tour group behind us and we overheard the guide tell her group that there was a dead wild pig found in it the other day...not exactly appealing.

Entrance to the hiking trail

View of the dam from the river

Another shot

I didn't take any pictures along the trail because there wasn't really anything to see but jungle and the trail was rather treacherous in areas due to all the slippery mud and tree roots sticking up, so I concentrated on staying upright instead.

Us!

This past Friday (August 5th), the USS Topeka went through a change of command. I attended the short ceremony but the pictures I took did not come out well. The power went out shortly before the ceremony started, so the only lighting inside was candlelight. It did not make for good pictures. But here is a link to an article that was written about the ceremony and some professional pictures taken by guys with leeway to walk all around during the ceremony. http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=96055

Today I joined some of the other Topeka ladies for brunch where we celebrated our friend Liz who is due to have her baby any day now! It was a lovely brunch at a restaurant with great views of the downtown area.

All the ladies, ready for brunch!

View of the downtown area

Great egg white omelet with scalloped potatoes

Beautiful Mom to be!

Not much else is going on with us. Carlton is getting ready for a couple short underways with short breaks in between. I am still training my ladies in my house and the dogs are doing well!

We hope you are all enjoying your summer and getting a chance to watch the Olympics!!
XOXOX

Sunsets

Fort Soledad has been listed as one of the most romantic spots on Guam and an ideal location for viewing a sunset. I decided to put that to the test last week and headed out to get some pictures. I have posted photos of Fort Soledad previously but here are some of the sunset pictures I took!

I have also posted an update on our fundraiser! See more info here: https://www.crowdrise.com/baby-for-the-brindas/fundraiser/jenbrinda

I hope everyone is staying cool in the heat wave you all are having!!

Just What I Needed

In case you haven't already seen it on Facebook, the dogs and I had a skirmish just yesterday (Tuesday) that was unpleasant to say the least. We went to the dog park on our morning walk, one of our regular routes. As we were leaving, a woman was getting out of her car. She was heading to the dog park with her two dogs but she waited for us to leave before she got her dogs out. We were walking back towards the neighborhood and were about 100 yards from the corner when I heard her yell. I looked back and her two dogs had gotten away from her. They were running towards us with their leashes trailing behind them. I kept walking for a little bit thinking they might lose interest if we weren't paying attention to them. That didn't work. 

So I turned to face them and they ran up to us barking, which of course made Edge and Bubbles bark at them. At some point as they approached us, I had switched the leashes over to one hand so I could grab my chain with the other hand in case I needed to throw it at them. (For those of you who don't know, I have several chain links that are about 6 inches in length - they are training tools for the dogs) While I was doing that, Edge and Bubbles must have circled around me a bit because I got tripped by their leashes and went down in the street. I have no idea how I fell because I was just trying to keep my eyes on the other dogs and prevent our dogs from getting into a fight. One of the other dogs got about 2 feet from Bubbles and she turned snarly and attempted to lunge at him. I had her leash tight and prevented her from getting closer but that made the dog turn very snarly towards her. Luckily he didn't come any closer. I was still on the ground since I didn't know if the dogs were going to come any closer and Edge was on the other side of me - he was very snarly towards the dogs as well. I would guess that he was protecting me since I was on the ground. I had never seen Edge react that way! 

Meanwhile the owner of the dogs was making her way to us and finally grabbed their leashes. She apologized profusely and asked if I needed help. I didn't really - just needed her to get control of her damn dogs! When I got up I realized that I had scraped my ankle on the curb, I had landed on my left elbow and scraped the knuckles of my left hand on the street. I was definitely shaken up!! At that point, I just wanted to get home. I didn't need medical attention, just to get home. As we were walking away, I noticed one of her dogs had slipped out of its collar but it didn't come after us again. THANKFULLY! Nothing like a near attack to give you PTSD about dog attacks. 

When we got about 2 blocks away, I stopped and pet both dogs and told them what a good job they had done protecting me. By the time I got back home, I was starting to feel the fall in my back. As the day went on, I felt more of it. I do not even remember falling but it definitely jarred me. Another insult to my back that it did not need. I iced my elbow because it was a bit swollen. The knuckle on my ring finger is a bit swollen too, so I haven't been able to wear my wedding ring. The scraped skin on the knuckle doesn't help either. 

Fighter's hand!

 

Stitches gone!

In other news, I got my stitches out of my back this past Monday! The girl who removed them said that the scar looks good. She said some people end up with a caterpillar look to their scar but mine healed well. Now I just have to let it continue to heal. All the red spots are from the stitches themselves, so those should go away soon. Too bad I didn't think to ask the Dermatologist to do a lightening bolt!! That would have been a cool looking scar. Ha!