Thundercheif5k Walk/Run

Homes for Heroes wants to let you know about the Thunderchief5k!

“The Thunderchief 5k is a 5k (3.1 mile) walk/run that is put on and hosted by the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Detachment 105. Each year our detachment hosts a 5k run/walk that serves as a Boulder-Boulder qualifying race as well as a fund raising event for various charity organizations that change each year.

-The Thunderchief 5k walk/run will be taking place on Saturday, 24 April 2010. The race will take place on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, Colorado. The race is scheduled to start at 8:00 am and finish at 11:00 am. We project that over 400+ participants will attend the event. The demographic for the event consists primarily of 18-30 year old, healthy, active adults from the Boulder area, both male and female.”

All proceeds from these event will be donated to the Homes for Heroes Foundation!

Imitation is the best form of flattery, until……….

Until your good name is besmirched. Homes for Heroes in the past has taken people leveraging our brand as flattery. We often ask if they would like to continue to use our good name by joining forces with us, and if they do not want to we are okay with that decision also. But recently something came up that does need to be addressed. We will let the Morris Daily Herald explain it.

Illinois allegation hurts ‘real’ Heroes

Minneapolis, Minn–When Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan took enforcement action against the Minooka, Ill.-based Homes for Heroes Inc., says Brad Oosterhuis, it was not a reflection on the “real” Home for Heroes.

“Our organization has been serving heroes continuously since 2002, and we have a serious concern that the publication of the charge against the Homes for Heroes company in Illinois could seriously tarnish our good name,” said Oosterhuis, executive director of Home for Heroes, in a recent e-mail.

Since the founding of Homes for Heroes, a press release from the Minnesota-based organization notes, many organizations have tried to duplicate the Homes for Heroes model and have illegally used the trademarked name. The widespread recognition of the Homes for Heroes name across the nation has caused many groups to attempt to leverage this successful brand to their advantage.

“While Homes for Heroes encourages all companies to support our heroes, it is illegal for them to use the Homes for Heroes trademarked name,” said Ruth Johnson, president of Homes for Heroes. “It is especially disturbing when these organizations are providing false claims and tarnishing the good name and work that Homes for Heroes is doing.”

In an effort to advance its cause and protect its name, Home for Heroes, which is now in its seventh year of operation, recently created the Homes for Heroes Foundation.

Due to its highly recognized name and brand nationally, the press release notes, Homes for Heroes became inundated with calls that were predominantly from severely wounded military personnel asking for assistance.

“These requests went far beyond the scope of our business model and ability to help,” Johnson said. The shareholders of Homes for Heroes saw a need for a charitable organization that would have a similar vision to its own. After much thought and the desire to help, they formed the Homes for Heroes Foundation.

The foundation will endeavor to provide or coordinate financial assistance to the heroes of our nation, such as military, police officers, firefighters and first responders who are in need.

Meanwhile, with the busy spring housing market well under way, Homes for Heroes affiliates will continue to “give back” by providing significant savings to its local heroes, particularly military personnel, police officers, firefighters, teachers, health care workers and others who serve our country and communities everyday.

If you would like more information about the Homes for Heroes, please call Ruth Johnson at (866) 443-7637 or log onto www.homesforheroes.com or www.homesforheroesfoundation.org.

In her enforcement action against the Minooka-based company using the Homes for Heroes name, Attorney General Lisa Madigan alleged the company and its owner, Patrick Gleason of Minooka, conducted a fraudulent charitable solicitation campaign and engaged in deceptive practices by falsely representing the local Homes for Heroes is “a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.”

Gleason has gone on record calling the IAG’s action “absurd.”

“This is absurd,” he said. We filed for our corporation and status a long time ago. The IRS asked us to put it on good paper, not wallpaper. It was done, it was all signed and sent in again. So, they’re trying to smear our names with improprieties …”

Knotek knows his tech.

Since Homes for Heroes started doing Bio’s on our affiliates, we have asked the affiliate to provide some background information for us. With that info we would put together a post and put it out there. Reading this affiliates bio, there was not much more we needed to do. In his own words, Homes for Heroes, would like to introduce you to Mikal Knotek.

In 2006, the economy was beginning to unravel. The mortgage industry was the stone that broke the camels back with fraud and poor lending practices acting as the heaviest weight. I saw misinformed loan officers through out the industry using poor judgment and taking advantage of unknowing clients.

In 2007 I re-evaluated my business plan and included room to give back. I wanted to give back because the greedy side of our industry had taken so much. I wanted to change public perception and bring confidence back to my clients. It was important for them to know that Bell Mortgage was one of the good guys in the industry

I searched for several months to find an organization to align myself with that would take advantage of my skills in the finance industry. I knew right away after speaking with David Cohen and Ruth Johnson (Homes for Heroes) that Homes for Heroes would be the perfect fit.

The HFH philosophy is easy, do what’s best for our heroes. Homes for Heroes unites a whole industry on behalf of the Hero. No other program that I have seen does this. Becoming a Homes for Heroes affiliate has given me the opportunity to say thank you to the people who give everything of themselves every day.

MIkal Knotek

Mikal Knotek has been a successful mortgage professional, manager, technology entrepreneur, and industry consultant.

 

Mikal entered the mortgage industry in 1991 after the purchase of his first home.  Learning the business from the ground up, he quickly moved his way up the ladder and became a leading roll in production.  In 1997 he co-founded The Harrison-Knotek Group with his residential business partner, Kathy Harrison.  In 1998 they moved their group to Bell Mortgage and helped evolve Bell into one of the area’s premier residential mortgage lenders.  His residential origination’s exceed 300 million dollars over the past 15 years.

 

While still in the mortgage industry, Mikal founded Audit Technologies, a lender based audit and consulting firm.  His keen industry insight gave new light to how lenders manage their service portfolio.

Audit Technologies and Mikal’s growing residential mortgage business led to the founding of Clear View Software, Inc. in 2001.  Mikal used his industry knowledge and technical background to develop ground breaking industry technology that moved data to and from consumers and lenders with the highest level of speed and security.   His company was later purchased by a leading Minnesota lender.   Mikal’s extensive technical insight keeps Bell Mortgage at the forefront of industry changes and improvements.

 

In addition to Mikal’s residential originations, he is also co-founder of the Bell Mortgage Commercial Lending Group and oversees its day to day operations.

 
 
 

Life imitates Art or Cop discovers time machine.

And Art does not appreciate copy cats. Gufaw, Gufaw! Couldn’t resist. Ninja’s find humor in most things not associated with the way of the Ninja.

Yesterday at Homes for Heroes I was practicing the ninja art of not moving. This ancient technique is very similar to the resting stone. If you sit still long enough people stop seeing you. Anyway I was disturbed by someone laughing out loud. It really wasn’t a laugh, more of a snort. I break my training and swiftly place myself behind the snorting colleague. The result was immediate. She had stopped snorting/laughing, rolled her eyes and clicked the replay button of what had caused her outburst. Ninja’s are very effective at non-verbal communications.

There on her console was a video of a Police Officer that had committed a crime. There is nothing funny about crime fighters participating in crime. Yet as the story unfolded I found relief to know that Mrs. Justice ensured the scales would remain balanced.

This brought back a memory of a comedy skit done on a late night television show. The skit is funny but I am not sure which is funnier. Real life or this skit below.

I have watched both about 60 times and giggle at both each time. But in the end I think real life triumphs as being more funny. Who agrees? Let me know.

Questioning what is funny. How many of you are familiar with the term “British Humor”? This next story is a good example of that. If this had happened here in the United States I think there would be a large amount of hollerin and yellin. But for you out there with a dark British sense of humor, this should give you a laugh.

Yesterday I hinted at some strife taking place between me and one of my offspring. Let me just put it out there for all to see. My eldest possesses 24 years on this planet and he and his lovely wife are expecting their first carbon dioxide producing human. This is a great joy and blessing to our family and especially to me. For I am Ninja.

It has been a long tradition that a Ninja cannot train his offspring in the ways of Ninja. It is for the safety of the family. So my son was trained as a pirate. He is a good pirate, however, grandchildren are perfect candidates to learn the ways of the Ninja.

I expressed this point to my son fully expecting him to be honored that I would train his child in the ways of the Ninja. His reaction is the source of my strife. He told me that his child would be taught the life of a pirate.

I am providing a couple of videos in hopes of persuading my son and his wife that being a Ninja is a much better life than that of a pirate. You watch and decide. This decision must be made before the blessed child arrives. There is to be no time wasted in the ways of the Ninja.

This first video shows one of the first things a Ninja must learn. That your legs are your ally.

It is also important to train ones muscles in the fluid and graceful ways of Ninja.

Both of these I am sure have convinced you readers that this new creature must be taught the way of the Ninja. I will keep you updated as time goes on.

See you tomorrow.

Semper Fi

We are on a mission from God. (Elwood would be proud)

Homes for Heroes would like to introduce to you another Homes for Heroes affiliate here in Minneapolis.

David Cohen

David A. Cohen has been a Residential Realtor since 1995. He has built his career based on determination to protect and advocate for his clients best interests. His goal is to educate his clients so that they can make the best possible buying or selling decision for their families’ lifestyles as well as their financial future.

David has well balanced skill set to insure a well thought-out and well informed transaction. He prides himself on his analytical skills for assisting buyers and sellers interpret the vast market data. He is a master marketer who knows how to expose his seller’s properties by using old school gorilla marketing and using cutting edge online marketing technology.

Most importantly David understands the human and emotional element of Real Estate. He truly cares and takes a personal stake in each of his clients’ transactions. He treats his clients like they are family. That is what has driven David to join Homes for Heroes. He has a passion for giving back to our nation’s heroes! He said,” It is least I can do to back those individuals who have chosen to put their lives at risk to protect our society’s well being and defend our freedom.” He also believes in giving back to The Silent Heroes like the Nurses who are on the front line of health care and our educators who we are trusting with our number one resource, our children. David thinks that participating in Homes for Heroes is the right thing to do! It is the least he can do to say THANKS!

Now I had mentioned that David Cohen has an eye for marketing and now I can get to Elwood. You all remember the great car chase scene from the Blues Brothers. Homes for Heroes and David Cohen had an opportunity to meet the real Elwood at a local wine shop. The idea hit David hard and the rest is Home for Heroes history.

This last Saturday, Dan Aykroyd (aka Elwood Blues) was in Minneapolis promoting his new Wine and Vodka Products. He generously offered Police, Firefighters and Military (our heroes) a free autographed bottle of wine! And of course David was there clad in his Home for Heroes sweatshirt. Never missing an opportunity to spread the word of Homes for Heroes to a captive audience; David seized this highly publicized event to stand in line for FOUR HOURS to hand out lovely Home for Heroes T-shirts he digitally prints himself. When finally his turn in front this celeb for a signed bottle of wine, David offered Mr. Aykroyd his very own Homes for Heroes t-shirt. Seeming to welcome a chance to take a break from the repetition of signing bottles endlessly for hours, he happily replied ” Thanks, that’s a great program!”

Elwood driving got David to the event on time.

David and his gift for Dan Aykroyd

The driving and the wait pays off.

The day was a success for David Cohen and Homes for Heroes. If you are looking for a truly dedicated Realtor that will ensure you receive top notch service with enthusiastic marketing knowledge visit our web site to get in contact with David.

Shepherd pie, rabbits and female drivers.

Did you ever have one of those mornings where when you got up your left hip seems to be out of socket, your right arm is so sore and stiff you can’t move it and your neck is so twisted and sore that you finally get to see how hairy your back is? Well I had that morning this morning. I barely made it into the office at Homes for Heroes. I am not sure why I had to pop my hip into place in order to get down the stairs. Nor did I understand why I could not get the tooth brush in my arm up to my mouth or even move my head enough to meet the arm.

The wife gave a knowing giggle when she heard the loud pop coming from the top of the stairs. I mentioned I don’t understand what happened, how could I sleep so fitfully and yet not be able to get parts moving in the morning. She said it was all part of getting old! Ninjas don’t get old I replied. Then it must have been the Shepherd Pie. Ahhh!!! She’s right.

We had Shepherd pie for the first time last night. I had heard of it before and always thought it something exotic. So I was a little disappointed to find it was not that much different than pot pie and for the money I think you can make a pot pie a little cheaper. Remember, frugality will be with us for awhile.

Speaking of being frugal. Has anyone seen in the produce department lettuce that is sold with the roots still attached? It usually comes in a plastic container similar to the one in the picture and is sold on the premise that it is so fresh it is still growing in your fridge.

It is packages like this and has roots.

Well we get a couple of those in the spring then plant them in the garden. We eat salads 2 to 3 times a week in the warmer season, so we figure we beat the system by purchasing these heads of lettuce and having them in the garden. That way we don’t have to buy lettuce every week at the grocery store. Just make sure to keep the rabbits away. They love the stuff. But I suspect this summer might not be a problem. We will talk about traps and rabbit recipes another time. I have been practicing making my dead weight trap this winter in the office. You would be surprised at how many people try to trip it and come away with sore fingers!

The other thing we just started this winter was growing our own green onions. It was fluke actually. The wife and I have a pet name for our refrigerator, it is called the pre-compost bin. We let all our vegetable matter get really soft and smooshy in the fridge before bringing it out to the compost pile.

These guys grow like crazy.

Can’t seem to eat those darn veggies fast enough. Well we had some green onions sitting in there all wilted and slimy. We hadn’t eaten a one, and I was in a frugal mood and was not going to let a little spoilage wreck my grocery budget. So I cut the wilted tops off leaving about an inch or so of the bottom. I got some potting soil out of the garage and planted those suckers. Put them in the window and now have a constant supply of green onions. I just cut what I need and they keep growing. So it has been about 3 months now and I have not had to dole out the fifty cents it costs to buy them at the store. Huge savings, something like $25 over the course of the a year if you buy them weekly. Okay it might not be huge but I envision my future grand kids having a blast picking lettuce and cutting onions for dinner.

Oh, don’t worry, I will have more of these neat little frugal ideas for your home and office. Tomorrow we will discuss home and office lighting techniques that will save money and look really cool too!

We had an incident the other day in the Homes for Heroes office. No, I was not involved! Even though I kept getting looks from my colleagues while we were watching the event unfold. I tell ya, once you get a reputation…… We heard tires screeching in the parking lot and all of us ran over to the window to see what was happening. A female was backing her car out of the parking spot and a young driver of the bull headed gender was traveling through the parking lot at a rate of speed similar to that of the local freeway. Well these two things by themselves was not really the issue. These two things happening at the same time was the issue. As the lady was backing out the kid saw her with just enough time to skid about 30 feet through the parking lot. No vehicular contact was made and all seemed fine. I let out a sigh and muttered, “Women drivers.” That’s when I noticed the first look.

We waited to see if anything else would happen. It was either that or get back to work. For three full minutes, neither car moved. I think they were both waiting for the other to move first. One would expect the lady to pull back in to the spot and another would expect the young kid to let her go now that he is stopped. Neither was taking place. The young kid honks his horn first and that is immediately followed by the women honking back. This could get good I thought, but the women pulled into the spot and as the kids starts to pass her she puts her car into reverse and starts backing out again! She doesn’t hit him but I think he learned his lesson.

As we all headed back to our desks some one asked me what I meant about women drivers. I said nothing but sent them this video by email. I thought it was funny, but my boss didn’t. How one can get into trouble for stating fact I’ll never know. You watch the video and tell me if I am wrong.

See? It is not me, women can make some bad decisions. Now I am in trouble again. Gotta go talk to my boss about this blog. Talk to you tomorrow.

Semper Fi.

Our family grows.

We all know that Homes for Heroes affiliates with Realtors and lenders throughout the country to offer substantial discounts and rebates on real estate related services. They provide these rebates and discounts to those who serve our country and communities every day and include military personnel, firefighters, police officers and first responders. Homes for Heroes could not reach the number of heroes that it does without their affiliates.

As Homes for Heroes continues to expand we strive to find the best of the best to serve our Heroes. We have found that in our newest affiliates. From the state of Colorado which means “Color Red” and where the Rio Grande originates, Homes for Heroes would like to introduce to you our newest members.

Alisa Lewis (L) Pamela Williams (R)

Meet Alisa Lewis and Pamela Williams. This mother and daughter team are 20 year residents of the Denver area, they have been providing residents top notch Real Estate service for over 6 years. Their unique background of Accounting and Interior design will ensure that whether selling or buying a home they will make it a smooth transition. They pride themselves on being committed to exceeding your expectations through professionalism, integrity, dependability and excellence.

When not providing great customer service you can find this team enjoying the great outdoors, playing golf, biking and spending time with their families. Pam has another role of being the doting grandmother of Alisa’s 13 month old son Bradyn. Her pride and joy.

So if you live in the Denver area and are looking for a team that will put your best interests first and foremost and save you money, you can contact them by visiting the Homes for Heroes website.

Want to be part of the Homes for Heroes family? Contact Helen or Ruth at 1-866-443-7637 with any questions or visit our web site at Homes for Heroes. This is a wonderful program helping our Heroes that do so much for our communities.

There will be a day when you thank me. More tips on recycling.

My colleagues from Homes for Heroes are starting to see my arrival at the office with disdain. With the good response I got on my previous blog about recycling I have been doing a lot of research. Yesterday I spent some time looking for more ideas to share with you readers. Some of those you saw yesterday and I will have some more for you soon. But what you don’t realize is that the staff at Homes for Heroes is getting a little tired of me taking their mouse pads, cutting them up and making them new cup coasters, or cutting up latex gloves and using them as large rubber bands to hold plastic bags in place on garbage cans. I do want to be accurate in what I write about. I have some photo’s of stuff I did a staffers computer. They do not appreciate being green. But I will keep working on them.

Now keep in mind, the following photos were not destruction of my colleagues computer, it was reuse of a computer. He was scheduled for a new one this month and he was on vacation. Our office pet now has a new home thanks to Jerry’s old monitor. I don’t think Jerry or the office realizes that in Minneapolis you can no longer just throw out your old CRT monitor, you have to recycle it. Well I saved some land fill space and “Opie” has a new radical looking home

Opie loves his new digs.

What to do with the computer itself, well, we had a barbecue. The case held the coals quite nicely. I think it will be around for many company picnics in the future.

I just borrowed the grill from the old bbq for the burgers.

This is something I saw also, but using bicycle inter tubes. The neat thing about using the ribbon cable is that you can adjust the wire down to fit that belt buckle you have lying in the junk drawer.

For some reason my wife thinks I look like a fool with this on.

The toughest part of this whole reuse deal, was trying to figure out what to do with the keyboard. At first I thought it would be a good toy for the youngsters, till I found out it is one of the dirtiest objects in the world. So I started to take the thing apart. Still nothing. Last resort, do the Google. I was inspired by the next photo. I was going to make a tribute to the world of reuse.

You have to admit, it is a nice piece.

This is what I came up with.

For some reason, no one wanted this on their desk.

After asking everyone twice if they wanted this nice sculpture and being politely declined twice, I figured that it wasn’t that magnificent after all. I broke it down and after some rummaging around the office I found an old bottle of rubber cement. Sitting at my desk making fake boogers with the cement an idea started to form in my mind. I grabbed my bosses purse (She was off “powdering her nose.”) and let my idea take form. I thought it was cool, but I am now at the department store trying to find her a replacement. How do women pick one, too many styles. One big bag or one with a lot of pockets>

The idea was not appreciated.

As you can see, a little imagination, a little bit of time and little bit of rubber cement can turn something you were going to throw away into a whole bunch of useful objects to use around the house. I think tomorrow I will look into what you can do with old blenders or some other household appliance. If you have any ideas or something you have reused, get it to me. The office does not respond to my questions anymore.

Where was I with the wedding story. I remember, I had just witnessed the slaughter of a goat at my friends soon to be father-in-laws house. Why the goat was slaughtered I did not have a clue. I walked up to my friend and asked, “is this some sort of sacrifice ritual that I am witnessing?” His reply, “No dummy, it is dinner time.” So barbecued goat was on the menu for dinner. Now, I am a big meat eater and have dressed out many a deer, but for some reason that day I was not in the mood to eat goat. I think it was because it was slaughtered in the bathroom. How gross, all those germs and everything. I would just munch my way through the dinner on the lumpia and fruits and stay away from the goat.

As the goat was cooking on the grill I noticed that the women started to take away the other food on the table. I did not know why, it was perfectly good food and it wasn’t of the goat family. I went over to the mother-in-law and asked why they were removing the food. I think she could see the panic in my face. She patted my hand as only mom’s can and told me that I would not have to eat the goat, they would have other meats available. I calmed and resumed my second profession. Beer drinker.

A couple of hours later dinner was ready. I will admit the goat smelled delicious but I could not get the bathtub out of my mind. So as we sat down I noticed a couple of other carcasses sitting at the table and waited till they were passed my way. The first was a nice big bird. What kind? I assumed chicken and grabbed a leg and wing. The goat came by and I just passed it along. The next plate was something I had never seen but a lot of people were taking chunks of it and making a lot of yummy noises. I grabbed a chunk not wanting to miss out on what I thought was some sort of delicacy. We all ate and had a great time. As the evening ran down and people were just picking at the last remaining animal carcasses I asked some one, “What was that?” Pointing to the carcass I had consumed earlier. “Did you like it?” The person asked. “Yes, it was very good and I would like to purchase some for our party next week.” The other person looked at me, smiled and said “Cat.”

He must have seen my face because he started to laugh and walked away. I didn’t think I was that upset. After all it was good. On the way back to the base I asked my friends if they knew what the third meat was. They all knew and was surprised that I did not know. They said the way I kept eating it they thought for sure I knew it was cat.

The following week I did go to market and bought 4 cat carcasses. It is really cheap meat. Money wise that is. Four cats were cheaper than the two chickens I also purchased. I know some of you are appalled, but hear me out. Don’t knock it till you tried it. It is good. Especially with a spicy rub.

What happened to my friend and his bride to be? He took a trip with the family to Manila to visit more of her family. While there, the wedding ring was stolen as well as his wallet was emptied one night. Mom, Dad and the whole family played dumb. He cut his losses and headed back. A lonely, heartbroken man is a terrible thing for Marines to deal with. What did we do to get him over his lost love? Don’t ask, there may be children reading this. But it had the right affect and he was back to normal in no time.

I hope you enjoyed my endearing tale of love and animals. See you tomorrow.

Semper fi

How to save space for more clutter

As you know Homes for Heroes is a Real Estate program so many of its affiliates are realtor’s. One of the many skills they must possess is an eye for space. When most people feel it is time to sell their home they do not think of all the years of clutter they have accumulated. Why would they? They are comfortable enough living there so why would it bother anyone else? The answer is in the question. They are not everyone else. As hard as it is to believe this, people are different and have different tastes. Think of your distant aunt and why your parents would never go to visit her. Something to do with owning 9 cats or some such crazy thing. To poor old aunt Bertha, it would never occur to her that cats leave a smell that most people find stomach turning.

Realtor’s will tell home owners they have to make their home attractive to the largest block of people. They can do this by cleaning, removing clutter, painting and repairing the most obvious things. Who would think it normal to have a teetering toilet? The biggest and easiest thing a home owner can do though is getting rid of clutter.

Can you find the toaster? If you can't how can potential buyers?

Make the counters counters again instead of appliance storage. You know that book shelf that now holds hats, mittens, assorted boxes and empty bottles? Make it a book shelf again. That front closet? Yup, just have a few coats in it and nothing else. This makes the home look tidy and neat and maybe just comfortable enough for some one else.

Most times that works, but there are a few home owners that look the realtor in the eye and say “And just what am I supposed to do with all this S&#@T!” If the realtor is smart they just get up and leave, but if they are like most realtors, (lighten up guys) they will let the home owner know that there are many options out there to deal with the excess clutter. Box it up and put it in the basement in nice neat piles is one way and it shows how much storage is down there. Another is renting a storage pod. A pod is like an empty semi truck that shows up at your door, you put your crap in it and it drives away till you want it back again. The bold realtor suggests renting a dumpster for a week. The smart realtor will show them this neat trick.

Can the kitty litter box go here?

Turning your stairs into storage space. It is not that hard and not that expensive. Just make sure that you don’t leave them open during an open house. The home owner and insurance company may frown on the injury claim.

Another great space saving idea is found in this video. For the Mid West, an in-ground pool does not always help in selling a home and sometimes it can hamper. We can only use them about 2 weeks a year and Dad doesn’t like cleaning them all summer for just two weeks. In the winter they are just a big eye sore in the middle of your back yard. So this video shows what can be done with that pool. Turn it into an outdoor rec room.

Putting in a pool table in a pool is appropriate. I think the one below would be perfect. Easy in and easy out when the home sells.

Another fine example of Recycle, Reuse, Replenish.

Any other ideas on saving space? Let me know and I will get it in the blog. So from yesterday we had heard that one of my buddies in the Marine Corps wanted to marry a local girl while we were on temporary duty in the Philippines. We had tried to talk him out of it, or at least give it some time but instead we were invited to a party. That is where we pick up today.

We entered a neighborhood similar to this video. There were 4 of us including the Groom to Be. We were a little nervous. None of us knew the neighborhood nor any of the people we were visiting. We, okay I and another, were expecting the worse. We would be kidnapped and held for ransom or be forced into some diabolical plot against our country. Nothing like that happened. A lot of people were there and there was lots of beer and lumpia.

After a few hours of great fun and camaraderie, a cheering grew from the party. I scooted over to where the commotion was taking place. I found that the father was bringing a goat into the house. Okay, I thought, what kind of game can be played with a goat. I followed the precession up the stairs and we all crowded around the bathroom door as the goat and the father entered. The father picked up the goat and placed it in the bath tub.

Just to show you how naive I was, I couldn’t figure out why every one wanted to see a goat be given a bath. The father had turned on the water (which was a large bucket mounted on the wall with a water tap) and started to get the goat wet. Then out of the blue some one hand old Dad a large knife. I still didn’t know what was going on. I thought they were going to shave the darn thing. Nope. Next thing I knew, blood was spraying the wall, Dad was holding the goat down and the crowd was cheering like crazy. Naivety was soon replaced with reality at seeing my first slaughter. I did not want to look like a rube so I asked if anyone wanted a beer, took orders, and headed back down stairs. I headed to the cooler outside only to find I was the only male on the ground floor. All the men had gone upstairs to partake in the slaughter of a goat. So feeling like a rube, I grabbed the beers and headed back up the stairs.

Shall I continue? It gets better. I haven’t even got to the cat part yet.

Talk to you tomorrow

Semper Fi.