Having sipped wine and smoked cigarettes in Paris, watched the sun rise over the Taj Mahal, and shopped in Winnipeg, MOT decided something was missing. He’d lived a life of fun-filled abandon and it was time to take the next step. MOT found friends amongst the Canadian military and decided to go along on the latest tour to Afghanistan. Who could blame him – it was this or spend another cold winter chopping wood in the wilds of Alberta.

Granted, he certainly didn’t like how the trip started. Being forced out of bed and into the cold at 5am wasn’t his idea of a good time. Then, there was lots of “hurry up and wait” time before the bus left for the airport at 9am. Enough time to get his picture taken with some of his luggage. As you can see MOT does not travel light. Many of his bags were shipped overseas separately from his “hand” luggage.

MOT and some of his luggage

Like most members of the military, MOT doesn’t know exactly when he’ll be coming home (although, he sort of knows the month) or how often he’ll have access to a computer to post updates on his adventures. He’s certain many pictures will be taken and his stories posted as soon as he can find access to the interweeb.

While he’s away, his behaviour will be carefully monitored by the men and women of 408 TacHel Sqn from Edmonton, AB. We wish him and his associates a safe trip.

C/p Dust My Broom

Drew heads out in approximately 39 hours so I won’t be blogging for a bit. Or so the story goes.

Maybe not everywhere but definitely at our house. We braved the nasty weather and dropped off our Christmas pressies at the neighbours. It’s nasty outside and heading out in this cold is the last thing we want to do. Yay for being done 🙂

As Drew is prepping to leave he’s been crossing items off of the honey-do list I put together for him last week. If truth be told, it’s more of a checklist than a honey-do list. It contained things like “buy new sneakers” and “find spare room after packing kit bag”. Drew’s main complaint is that as soon as he’s knocked a few things off his list I’m adding new items to it. They’re equally as basic. As it gets closer to his departure date we’re becoming more absent minded and I’d hate to have him leave only to discover we’d forgotten to do something important before he left. That and I still have some items on my birthday present honey-do list that were outstanding. Any chance of getting more items off of that list needs to be jumped on immediately. I’m sure he’s wishing he had just bought me a birthday present this year 🙂

We Canucks are good at whining about the weather. Gives us something to babble about no matter where in the country we originally hail from.

And you know it’s cold when your dogs refuse to stay outside for more than a few minutes at a time.

I’m not fond of the winters out west. Sure, we now live hundreds of kilometres north of where we grew up and yes, it’s still warmer than winterpeg – which oddly enough is colder despite being south of Edm. – but I just wasn’t built to handle dry cold. I grew up on the coast where it’s a lot warmer as far as the thermometer is concerned. We had piles of snow that might reach five feet tall and we had a wet (some drescribe it as bone chilling) cold. I don’t remember any childhood weather reports of -40 (with the wind chill factored in, -21 without) temperatures. I especially don’t remember my hair drying out to match stick consistency, then splitting and breaking much when I lived out east.

It’s very hard to grow long hair in this climate. A few short weeks ago I had a few inches cut off to get rid of all the split ends and this afternoon I lost another two to the battle. I fear I am losing and will soon be back to chin length locks. At least I didn’t sign up to have my head shaved for charity this winter. Shaving your head at the end of November is a crazy. Trust me in this one. You don’t need to ty it for yourselves. There’s not a hat out there warm enough!

I understand Karma’s desire to make Drew suffer the slings and arrows – or snow, ice, hail, and sub-zero temperatures – before he heads to warmer climes for a few months. I just don’t see why the rest of us have to suffer along with him…

I miss my winters in India and the Phillipines. Last year was my first winter home in years and I discovered that I’m a crappy Canadian. I don’t revel in the cold. I don’t want to put on a dozen layers of clothing and socks just to drive to work. I want to hibernate until the first buds of spring appear. No seasonal affective disorder here. I just prefer spending the winter in my jammies and in a nice heated room.

Which reminds me – must buy new flannel jammies.