I hope this resolves the weird issues I had with that last template.

People are writing to the Army Times in force lately over the new Army dress uniform.

Me and Lazybones, we have a good laugh about the complaints. Not the stuff that has some basis (such as certain comfort issues with the badges, etc.) but the rampant griping over the loss of the “traditional” green dress uniform.

Ahem? Hello? These are E-7s, retired E-8s and many other folks who have obviously spent more than five minutes in the Army- so what the hell are they thinking?? The blues are traditional! The Continental Army wore… what? Blue uniforms you say? And the Union Army? Does the Civil War ring a bell for any of these folks? References made to “The Blue and the Grey” must confuse these poor souls- maybe they assume the Army sat that one out, and the fighting was all done by the Navy and Marines, as blue makes sense for them, being water-creatures. And the lighter blue trousers of the dress blues are because cavalry soldiers on the frontiers didn’t wear their coats all the time, but did wear their pants- therefore their pants faded from sun and wear long before their jackets.

A brief history is here. No official Army uniform was olive drab prior to 1902. The blue came first, it came from George Washington, and it came when the Army was just 4 years old.

That’s some tradition for ya, numbskulls.

I guess the outrage poured out in the Army Times only goes to show that just because you have been in the Army for-fuckin-ever doesn’t mean you understand a damn thing about it.

By the way, Lazybones knew the tradition, and could not be more pleased that the blues are becoming the new standard. Same for me. He looks pretty hot in his greens now, but once he gets into those blues, he’ll have a hard time staying clothed, if I have anything to say about it.

However we both have some pretty intense dislike for the ACU (Awfully Crappy Uniform) that was foisted upon soldiers just before I separated from active duty (in ‘05- they were issuing em in the weeks before I cleared, thank GOODNESS I was authorized my maternity BDUs still). Those things are just a nightmare.

The Flutterbye Garden

Why am I linking this?

Well, dear friends, because this story was written by my grandmother, for my sister and me, when we were little girls. Back when we used to run around the backyard giggling and I did things like wear ribbons in my hair. Yes, I used to have hair. Bald tattooed chicks usually start off as perfectly normal little girls, you know.

But anyway. I received the paper copy of this the other day and a wonderful letter explaining that the L.A. Times had published it and held a kids’ illustration contest to go with it.

And my little sister, she really did call them “flutterbyes”. We weren’t very good about playing nicely with one another but the story still made a ton of happy memories come back to me, of the beautifully groomed yard with the orange and lemon trees, the koi ponds, and yes- many, many flutterbyes.

So last week, the phone company unceremoniously disconnected our phone. No, it wasn’t past due, and they couldn’t explain why they did it. It wasn’t fixed before I had to leave on my trip, so I didn’t have a chance to post about the whole lot of nothing I had going on. Really. Nothing’s happening. Except this:

Tomorrow is Ringo’s first day of preschool. I think it’s going to be great for him, but a little panicky voice is screaming in my head about how little he is, and will he behave, and how good is this alleged bus driver, and what if he burns down the school, etc… I am sure it will be fine. *tapes little voice’s little mouth shut*

Lazybones is on leave and we’re just being lazy together.

I miss Crash.

George is just so cute I can’t stand it, with her little tiny voice and her little tiny face and her little tiny toes, and I am constantly having to tickle and squeeze her and kiss her.

But really that’s it. Hope everyone else is doing well…