Wednesday, July 2, 2014

comfrey salve, cats, medals and boot camp! crap - this should have been 3 posts - bahahahaah!

it all starts with the cats - they are pics for my good buddy W who is always asking for updates and for our Favourite Marine!

first up is Frankie-Blue-Eyes....sleeping sideways one way and sideways the other. with his little fangs showing.



next up is Noodle, noodie-nu on the back of HIS chair: (no one else is allowed on it!)



next up is Moebie-Moe -



yes. all of my cats are fat and none of them sleep in a normal position!

this next bit is for my friend Harry - he mentioned in one of his comments on his blog that he would like to see a pic of me while serving. Harry, you ask for it - you get it! this pic was posted by a friend on facebook a few years back and i saved it.


this was in basic training in july 89. we were out playing wargames in the middle of the forest being eaten alive by every kind of bug known to man. that is my full squad - MCpl standing on the left. i am second from the right kneeling down. yes, those are FNC1's that we were trained on - i hated those gawd-awful weapons!a funny story from that week of wargames - it was instructors against the recruits. first off, we got a radio call from the head shack where the instructors were staying (we were staying in "hoochies", otherwise known as tarps strung over a rope). the call came in that they needed 12 people to come and help clean at the ranges. our commanding officer, who was appointed because he scored highly in a bunch of written tests, but couldn't fire a weapon to save his life, nominated 12 of us girls to go and clean the ranges. everyone argued with this stupid decision but he sent us off, guarded, to make sure we would go. we get there and the instructors laugh at us for being so stupid. arghghghghgh! they made us hand over our web gear, our weapons and our boots and put them in a pile. i told my friend wiggly and my other friend jenny to sneak our weapons, web gear and boots out to the garbage huts which we did as we were cleaning. when we got all of the stuff out there, we then snuck a boot or a weapon, when no instructor was looking, out to the edge of the woods. when all of our gear was in the woods, we made a dash for it. got our gear on and started running back to the bivouac. it was about a half mile away in the woods and somehow we found it. we fired our commanding officer, appointed a different guy and that's when the instructors started the games. they started tossing canisters of gas into our bivouac area and we were running around like mad. the games weren't supposed to start until the following morning - we should have known better! anyway, some of the guys captured my MCpl and were tieing him to a tree. he was yelling "punker, punker at least get me a gas mask" - that was my nickname and he knew how softhearted i was. i tried to get him a gas mask but the others wouldn't let me and as the instructors were tossing canister after canister - he just kept barfing and barfing and calling out to me. it was awful and fun all at the same time.

so here is some beautiful, home-made comfrey salve that i am making for a friend. this stuff is super good for cuts, scrapes, burns, rashes, etc.


 here's a little red-spotted newt. cute eh?

 

 here is my favourite service medal. it's my Alert Medal and it is for special service in the canadian forces.



here is my cap badge for my beret. it's called a "jimmy". it's actually Hermes/Mercury who was the messenger to the gods.


here are my dog tags, blacked out, of course.


here are my jimmy dog collars, a jimmy button off of my dress wear and a signals badge that was sewn on the shoulder of our dress wear.


i have a ton of photos of alert and during my service but unfortunately they are not digital - remember - i got out in 99. we have no idea where our box of photo albums are right now - bahahahahah! but when i find them, Harry i will scan them and put up some more pics. but there will be no obligatory graduating basic training photo - it's just too frightening to share - bahahahahah!

i hope you all have been having a good couple of days. i'll hit up your blogs shortly!

11 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing and a late Happy O Canada Day. Your cats are just like ours, comfortable.

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  2. I really liked your photo, although I couldn't see it very well. I tried to blow it up but it was too hazy. Still, it gave me the idea of what you looked like back then.

    I also liked your medal and your uniform accouterments. It's strange, the things you give away and the things you keep. I kept essentially the same type of items you did. I also have a jar of coins I picked up in the 36 foreign countries I worked or lived in. Just another odd wrinkle.

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  3. Sweet Kymber,

    Happy Canada Day!!!
    Great pictures of your military days and your medal. I'm happy to see you saved them. My dad, 20+years in the military threw all of his stuff away. He served in Vietnam, and received many medals. I wish he had kept them, I would have loved to of had them.

    Great pictures of your lounging kitties, you can tell they're very happy with there home and owners. Give them each a scratch for me.....from Beans......

    Sending hugs and love to you and Jam.
    Your Friend,
    Sandy

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Sandy. I always forget to leave a comment on your blog, but I do love it. I wish your dad had saved his stuff, too. Have a great weekend!

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  4. Ah, the memories... :) Thanks for sharing them.

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  5. Happy Belated Canada Day!

    Gurl, got some fat cats....lol what are you feeding them?
    My Jack the Cat sleeps all funky and silly too, cracks me up.

    Hey that Salve you made, does it help with muscle aches?

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  7. Thank you, Sweet Kymber, for today's awesome show-and-tell. And thank you for serving! xxoo Kathi

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  8. Hey Kym and Jam, are you ready for the hurricane that's going to visit you this Saturday???

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  9. I love all your posts, Kymber. Don't forget the new kimchee recipe.

    You should be very proud of your accomplishments. You are awesome

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  10. That salve looks like it would have a lot of uses around here. I have made your kimchee (yum!) but could you email me the dill pickle recipe. hugs.

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