NEWS FLASH!! First time home buyers race is on.

Attention all Homes for Heroes affiliates!

Attention all Homes for Heroes affiliates!

For you Homes for Heroes affiliates in the Twin Cities area pay attention. There is some serious coinage being thrown around by Minneapolis and St. Paul first time home buyers. A federal program called Take Credit is providing $8 million in federal tax credits. First time home buyers need to purchase a home in Minneapolis or St. Paul before December 1 in order to get an $8,000 tax deduction. According to the article only 130 first time buyers will be able to take advantage of this program. To get the details on the Take Credit program do the obligatory click here and read more.

To sweeten the pot and make it more interesting, the City of St. Paul’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority has just voted on a first time home buyers program. They are putting up $500,000 for 33 first time “Hero” home buyers that want to live in St. Paul. Veterans, Police, Firefighters etc. will be able to get up to $15,000 in a zero percent loan to use towards down pay or principal reduction. In fact, no payments are necessary until you sell the home or no longer use it as a primary residence. Even bigger news is that if the buyer lives in the home for 10 years the loan will be retired.

Spread the word, the tax credits and the 33 loans will not last long. This HRA program combined with the benefits of the Homes for Heroes program will surely make home ownership for our heroes an easier reality. This program will launch later this month, so get moving and get some heroes into homes.

This will link you to the HRA’s web site. Click on yesterdays date and the meeting notes will be there.

There are a few more details outlined in the attachment from the HRA meeting notes.

Okay, quit dilly dallying around and get your hero into these programs.

Dog recipes, cement shoes, genius and playing chief.

Ha, Las Vegas under 4 inches of snow.  How cool is that?  We woke up to a balmy 8 degrees this morning, but it is not to last.  This afternoon temps start to drop and lot’s of snow.  We at Homes for Heroes thank you for wishing all the snow.   I am enjoying it immensely.

I have a ton of stuff today but I wanted again to mention that we have a soldier in need of assistance.  He is looking for a place to live in the Victoria TX area.  Email or call Vic Luebker at 210-544-3188 with any assistance or contacts that may help him out.

I wonder how many we will sell?

Who needs a dog recipe?  There is a website out there called fail blog.  It has photos and videos of life’s unintended consequences.  Pretty funny and not racy at all.  Maybe a bathing suit.  I use this site daily just to put a different spin on my morning perspectives.  A good chuckle to be had by all.

Well this morning I put those same words into Google.  You know, “Cold weather fire fighting” and I think things have calmed down a bit.  This time the search came back with actual fire fighting video.  Although there were still UFO videos mixed in with some other videos regarding beaches?  Here is an example of how not to put out a gas fire.  Any tips on what they should have done it?  I think I would not have towed it sooner. But then again……

From the Chiefs Corner, we are being asked to be the police chief and come up with a solution.  Here is the situation.  There has been an increase in cars being broken into.  This upcoming week is a large Church week and the Chief is looking for some ideas on how to keep that to a minimum. The burglaries dummies, not church.  My first thought was attack dogs in Church parking lots, but that was quickly shot down by my dog, Angel.  After yesterdays article regarding talking animals, I just had to  listen.  She told me that there would be no way in heck she would sit out side in the cold winter just to keep people from busting into cars.  I then told her the cars were actually squirrel jails and people would be coming out to set the squirrels free.  Well she has signed up at the First Emmanuel Church to ensure that no squirrels are set free.  Not really, we live too far away.  She was interested though.  But I think it is a neat challenge and maybe someone will come up with a great solution.  I have put the Chiefs link on my roster, go check it out.

Well if the oil and energy crisis wasn’t bad enough we now are using oil in our computers!!  What you ask?  I will repeat.  We are now using oil in our computers!  It seems that oil is not only a cheap energy source it can also be used to cool processors on our desk tops.  Apparently gaming freaks have know for some time that heat is a limiting factor when it comes to processing speeds.  So if they can keep the processors cooler they will be able to whack more trolls faster and with better graphics.  Figures it would take a college student to figure that out.  So if anyone out there knows a computer gaming geek, turn them to this article and watch them drool and revise letters to Santa.

Now I am not going to call my self a genius or anything, but remember yesterday when I said that mortgage rates will probably drop?  Well they have, nearly half a point bringing a 30 year fixed rate to 5.19%.  Not sure if it will drop more but if you are sitting on a 6 or 7% mortgage now, call your Homes for Heroes affiliate and get in on this low rate band wagon.  Just to put it into perspective, the last time rates were this low was 1971.  Yes, 1971.  Heck my wife wasn’t even born yet.  Now that would be an interesting topic at the dinner table.  “Honey?”  “Yes dear?”  “Did you know that our interest rate on our mortgage is lower than you are old?”(keep in mind this is me talking)  “That’s fine dear, now finish your soup.” Or something along those lines.  It would be cool though.   You could have the same interest rate as your parents first mortgage.

QUIZ TIME FOR HOMES FOR HEROES.  This may or may not be a new feature at Homes for Heroes.  I was doing some research for an article and found these photos.  I asked my colleagues in the office if they knew what they were.  The response was hilarious so I thought I would ask you out there the same thing.  What the heck is this?

What the heck is it?

Hint? It is not robot parts as one colleague thought, nor is it a device to keep you from scratching.  Another hint?  McKenzie is its name.  Okay time is up.  Next picture.  What the heck is this?

No it is not a toilet!

Hint?  It is not the mobs updated version of cement boots.  Another?  No, it is not a varicose vein treatment device.

Well, do want to know what they are?  You do?  Are youuuu suuuurrre?  You will have to wait till tomorrow.  But I can’t wait till tomorrow.  Just ask my wife.  I am the worst at surprises and secrets.  So I will answer the question.  Just what the heck is it?  The first is called the McKenzie mitt. (no not you McKenzie, she is my niece).  It was invented back in the early 1900′s by a security guard that had fallen asleep and his prisoner grabbed his gun and shot him.  This device eliminates that worry but brings about it’s demise.  Remember unintended consequences?  Well what happens if the criminal wants to take a nature break.  The guard would then have to decide to assist, which was not in the contract or remove the mitts which brings you right back to the reason they were wearing them in the first place.  So they did not do to well on the market.  The second picture is that of an Oregon boot.  It was patented in 1866 by, you guessed it, a prison warden.  It was made to be the competitor of the shackles.  It was quite effective in its design.  A prisoner could walk quite normally without all that chain clanking or needing assistance going up and down stairs.  If the prisoner thought that he would make a run for it, well just picture trying to run with 40 to 60 pounds strapped to your ankles.  It is not possible to run with those things on.  Why didn’t they catch on?  Well think about it.  If you are a prison guard, which is easier to lug around?  60 pounds of metal or a 4 pound chain?  So again, unintended consequences of a great idea.

Another reminder to all of you.  This site is mostly to chronicle the lighter side of uniformed life. Whether that be in  a civil service capacity or uniformed forces.  I have been holding back, and that should please you.  Let’s start hearing what kind of things you would do to combat boredom?  In Okinawa my buds and I when not creating earthquakes would collect jungle bugs, spray them in an epoxy type stuff and then display them around the work area.  Some were down right dangerous and should not have been messed with.  But then again you know Marines.  Too dumb to know any better.

Semper Fi

STOP THE MADNESS. -17F THIS MORNING!!!

How did I start the blog yesterday?  Oh I remember, BRRRRRRRRR, BRRRRRRRR, BRRRRRRRRR.  Got up this morning and it was very  cold.  Turns out that global warming is really messing with my head.  -17F.  How can that be?  The Homes for Heroes office seems to think that consistent heat is not the order of the day.  So the staff is wearing winter coats.  I should get a picture.  It is funny to see someone working on the computer with winter coat, hat and mittens on.  It started to snow, and that means when I get home, I get to play with my snow blower.  Maybe.  Our high today is 2.  You know it is colder outside than in my freezer.

This is worth looking into.  Only in the twin cities. In the middle of being chased by squad cars, this woman decides that she is going to stop at MacDonald’s for a burger before continuing on her chase.  I am not kidding. So here we have a defendant and here is what she said.  1. She was not drinking, it is perfectly normal to be driving at 2:30 am without headlights. She blew a .133.  2. She did not stop when first told to do so because she thought the police were just going to mess with her because her license is revoked.  3.  She claims she is going to have heart surgery the next day.  And it just keeps getting better. Great article.

Now I posted late today because I was waiting for this news.  I think it is about time that the government actually do something to help us out instead of bailing out anybody with a lobbyist.  The IRS, yes the IRS is actually going to allow tax liens on property take a second seat to mortgage holders when some one wants to sell or refinance their home.  Can you believe it?  I know, I was pacing all day today not quite sure what was wrong.  Something felt out of place.  Something froze over I thought and it wasn’t just the Midwest.  Yes I believe those living in eternal misery had a brief spell of cool weather today.  It was really nagging at me all day.  Then all of a sudden I  had this huge and overwhelming urge to go to Google and type in “IRS helps homeowners”.  After I typed the words, I called my colleagues around to witness what I had just done.  They all looked at my words and then all burst into laughter.  After the tears were wiped clean and our breathing back to normal, I asked if I should hit the enter key.  Some were frightened of the consequences such an abuse of the Google would bring.  Others had a sense of bravado.  They looked eager for the adventure of the unknown.  And still others were wringing hands knowing this was something that had to be done but did not wish to be around to see the results, after all they had wives and families to think of.  So we took a vote and it was then decided that I would press the enter key and see where it took me.  My colleagues all went back to there desks after offering me a heart felt good luck slap on the back.  One individual offered to stand by as back up.  I declined, he was a decent fellow and had just put his family into a new home.  I could not do that to him.  My family is grown and my insurance papers are in order.  So I wiped my palms on my thighs, then rubbed them together to get the chill out of my fingertips.  This was not going to be easy, but after a couple of deep cleansing breaths I reached out  and hit the enter key.   Now Google is well known for it’s speed in searches, they always post how fast they can find umpteen million references to snoogerdoodles.   Well, I waited the average tenth of a second and nothing yet had come up.  No post telling me Google found no matches.  The tenth of a second turned into a half a second, still nothing.  Now I was worried.  Half a second and nothing.  I envisioned swat teams busting through the door of the office, knocking over desks and people just to get to me and put me away for a long time.  Just when I was about to flee, the screen pops up with just one entry, and to my surprise an apology for taking so long on the search.  I think the customer service people at Google were trying to do a good job and just find something that would match my search.  Well they did.  Read the article, sit in disbelief, then thank the almighty for the miracle you have witnessed.  Now on the serious side, if any of you are unlucky enough to have a tax lien,  get with your Homes for Heroes affiliate and let them know you no longer have to worry and can move forward with selling or refinancing your home.  Here is the article.  Now be warned, those of you with faint constitutions should have another adult around while you read.

There was another article in the local paper how a man died after being tasered.  He was going to shoot his wife and the cops, following protocol, tasered him because he would not drop the weapon.  I went on line to find out just how bad it is being tasered and this video of some fellow Marines makes it seem like a cake walk.  Take a look.  This could be a new party trend.  Taser parties.  Enjoy.

Well, the snow blower is calling again and the temperature is hovering near zero.  Should be okay.  Wish me luck and again thanks for your prayers in bringing snow to us in the mid west.

Semper fi.

BRRRRRRRRRR, shoe polish and Sam’s Club

BRRRRRRRRR, BRRRRRRRRR, BRRRRRRRRR, BRRRRRRRRR, BRRRRRRRRR and then BRRRRRRRRR. It is freaking cold outside. Woke up and looked at the thermometer. -8. Yes in December and an era of global warming. It was -8. Do you understand that to date we have not yet hit zero in our neighborhood. Ones body has to get used to the cold. You know, a gradual slope that we don’t slip or get hurt on. But not like this. I have tripped and can’t get my core temperature up to it’s daily goal. It is so cold. I ran out to get some wood for the fireplace. We did not go to the Homes for Heroes office today. Too much ice on the road. Well (there is that word again) my hands melted some of the snow and when I went to open the door to get back in, my thumb stuck to the door handle!! I know I asked you all to pray for snow here in Minnesota. And I am pleased to report that we did get lots up north. So thanks to those who put a prayer in for us. However, I do not want to thank those that prayed for the ice storm we got here in Minneapolis. Nasty roads, and again I refer to the gradual slope. MN drivers need time to adjust to the crappy road conditions. We started out nice, a couple of inches here and there, mellow temps (15 to 20) and not too slippery roads. We only got one weekend to practice then rain and -8 degrees. You know that salt does not work on ice when the temp is below 15. So I am sure the insurance agents are sitting at their desks with the sweat pouring off their brows, praying their phones will not ring today.

SAM’S CLUB!! If you have a military ID or a DD214 Sam’s club is waiving all membership fees today. It is a one day only deal. So get off yer bottoms and go get some savings. Go on, hurry up. I will wait.

Okay, you are back. See I told you it was worth the trip. Now I came across this article by Spousebuzz. I thought it was cool. Especially today freezing my but off in a world that will melt in 5 years. We all need to recycle. So if you could leave a few recycling tips for the readers today we can all sleep better knowing we made the world a little bit lest melting.

Well out to shovel and salt. Enjoy the climate wherever you are at. And remember, here in Minneapolis, right now we can use a banana as a hammer.

Semper Fi

WARNINGS, DEALS, TWITS, DOGS AND MORE!

WARNING all face book users! The virus called Koobface is the latest in an attempt to get your private data through face book. This article explains it in more detail, but the biggest thing to look out for is someone sending you a video, then you are asked to download a version of Flash Player. That download harbors the pill popping virus aimed at making your life more miserable than it needs to be. I have always maintained that it should be a capital crime for those putting software on your computer that you do not agree to. (malware and adware) So in this case if you agree to down load their software there will be no hanging!! Be aware out there.

Blogging the blogs. This new twitter phenomenon, is it useful? Homes for Heroes Foundation has started experimenting with it as another avenue to spread the word. I have read plenty on it and it seems to be the next big trend in trying to add as much info into your day as possible. I seem to remember there was a lot of pontificating on whether or not all the political ad campaigns in 30 second sound bites was a good idea. Apparently not because now we are shooting that down to 140 character text bits. My guess is that in about 5 years we will be down to 5 second audio sounds, something like R2D2 whistles that will say it all! Or will the blipverts become a reality? (Max Headroom fan here) The first part of this video shows a blipvert. I know I sound cynical, but I am not. Just throwing out an observation. I am now on the twitter roles as HFHF. It is a very useful and effective tool. We all use the RSS feeds and this is a more convenient variation. As I learn more on it I will share what works and does not work. If there are those “twits” out there, and by twits I mean experts in twitting…….. Ahhhh, see I was right about the 5 second audio. Twit and tweet are not too far apart. Oh sorry for the A.D.D. moment. So you twits please throw out tidbits of info that can me be a twit too. Follow me, as they say in twitter land.

We have a Hero in training. A family friend has her son enrolled at the police academy here in Minneapolis. There is a video of him after he volunteered to be the bad guy on K9 day. The quality of the video was in the crap category so I went looking on line. What I found was pretty amazing. This is a video of some French police dogs. Pretty intense. Here is another video on a day in the life of Marine Devil Dogs of war. If you watched both videos, did you notice a difference? Not so much in the dogs but how the French instructors kept wailing and screaming. It sounded pretty real to me. The French seem to always live up to their stereotypes.

Homes for Heroes is a real estate program that puts money back into the pockets of our Heroes when they buy or sell a home. I have mentioned earlier that now is the time to start buying. Inventory is up, thus prices will reflect that by moving downwards. Interest rates also are impacted by this trend. This presentation by Majestic Consulting explains it quite well. Take a look and if you are thinking that now might be time, contact your Homes for Heroes affiliate.

Side note here, anyone looking to buy a Dell computer this holiday season? I have a $350 coupon for both laptops and desktops. That is a good chunk of change. We are computered out here so I will be throwing it out unless someone out there wants it. It expires December 17 so act now. Leave a comment on this post with your email and I will put it in the mail to you. Get moving, you know there is a loved one just hoping that a new computer is under the tree.

Well we survived the storm here in Minneapolis. No dings or ditch visits in the HFH family. But that is because my wife and I have taught out children how to drive in the snow. Take a peek at this video to see what type of training keeps our kids safe on the snow covered highways and streets of Minneapolis.

See you tomorrow.

Semper Fi

Volunteers, Facebook and extreme makeovers.

How many of you live in the Twin Cities area? Homes for Heroes is looking for some office volunteers. Maybe a couple hours a week to lick stamps, file and that sort of miscellaneous stuff. Give Helen a call at 1-866-443-7637 if you can help us out. I know it would be greatly appreciated.

This blog is to be centered on housing needs of our nations Heroes and I came across this video of our fellow Marines in Iraq. They are doing and Extreme Makeover. It is pretty good. Check it out.

If you are into the face book craze, we at Homes for Heroes would like you to visit our Homes for Heroes Facebook Causes. Go ahead and join our great cause.

Okay, I have played this out for four blogs now. Let’s get this done. This has brought up a ton of more memories and they all have to be told. This is the only way I can get my wife to listen to them.

So the poor wet Marine was in a state that had me nervous. He was truly in a state of advanced hypothermia. I got him out of the bag and sitting buck naked out by the fire. His clothes were already out there being dried by the fire, and someone finally gave him a pull over. The fire did not seem to be helping. So I made the suggestion that someone get in a sleeping bag with him till he quits shivering. I had plenty of volunteers, who wouldn’t help out a fellow Marine in trouble? Then I made the mistake and mentioned they would have to strip down to boxers. Now picture this, 11 Marines and one sailor sitting around a roaring campfire in the middle of no where, sharing stories drinking booze and having general camaraderie. Then when one of these individuals is asked to strip down and lay in the same sleeping bag with a shivering naked man, total dead silence and blank stares. I swore the crickets died and not a sound was heard. We tried to cajole the sailor into it, thinking 10 of us Marines would intimidate him. Apparently with sailors, naked men are more intimidating than 10 Marines threatening a beating. Everyone had an objection or reason not to get in the bag. Mine was that I had to take a nature break and would not be able to stay in the bag all that long. Finally we bargained with the Jack Daniels. Some lucky soul got the lions share and agreed to get in the bag with the other Marine. But he did have another condition. The sleeping bag had to be out by the fire and we all had to witness this event.

After a spell and a little bit of good nature ribbing, our shivering Marine came back to normal, which to let you know how bad off he was he never complained about our treatment of him. Imagine if someone of the same sex was going to get naked and jump in a sleeping bag with you, and he never raised any objection. His clothes became dry as well as his bag. We had conquered what mother nature had thrown at us and we all have stories that we can tell our grandchildren. Hope that was worth the read. I enjoyed reliving it.

Now what shall next story be? A city in the Philippines called Dinalapihan and my encounter with Bong? Or Tequila and taxis in Okinawa?

Heroes explained, ripsaw and Jack Daniels on the mountain!

Homes for Heroes received a call yesterday from a soldier recently home for Iraq. He was interested in our program but he was not sure if he qualified as a hero. This got my wife and I talking. This country has a lot of people that stand in harms way every day and do not consider themselves a hero. Why would they? They are the volunteers to keep us safe. So just to make it clear to everyone. All of us who have worn a uniform in service to our country or community is considered a hero to Homes for Heroes. You don’t have to be a ace pilot, or Sheriff with a huge drug bust. If you are looking to invest your re-enlistment bonus or a cop trying to move closer to work, Homes for Heroes will provide you real cost savings. An example, if you are buying a $200,000 home and use a HFH affiliate agent you will receive cash back savings of $1300. If you use an affiliated mortgage broker there will be another $1000 is savings. That is some good pocket money when moving into a new home.

Remember the Pookie? Go back a few blogs and see one of my favorite military vehicles when I was a kid. Now take a look at the Ripsaw. It is pretty cool. It is amazing what the silicon chip has done for our military.

Well where was I on our story of Mount Washington and two naked Marines. Ahhh, I remember. We had made it to the visitors center in one piece. We put on dry clothes, got some warm liquids into our bellies. We hung around a bit, claiming we wanted the poor sod that had no dry clothes, to get warm and try to get dry. In truth none of us wanted to go back out into the weather. Which did not appear to be letting up. We gathered around and looked at our map. Originally we planned on heading down another trail and spend the night at a lake. We were looking to see if we took the road down back to the car would be shorter. Well it wasn’t so we decided to continue on our original plan.

The weather seemed to lighten up, and by that I mean no more lightning strikes. It was still raining buckets. This time we had rain gear on and the trail down was for the moderate hiker. About 20 minutes on the trail the clouds left as about as fast as they came and the sun was shining. We stopped put away our rain gear and celebrated the sun and the heat it was providing. Our wet Marine had started to dry out and was no longer shivering. Well that lasted about 1 hour when again out of no where the rain came down in buckets. We were about a mile out from camp so we trudged along the trail and no one was happy. We got to the lake about 7 o’clock and pulled out the rain gear and started to put up tents. With that done, we turned to our primal selves and started to hunt down fire wood. Did you ever try to start a fire in a solid down pour? We made attempts for about 2 hours, then I broke out the bottle of Jack Daniels and made sure that we were not going to worry about no dang fire! As we were passing the bottle around we noticed our wet Marine, well at this point we were all wet, but he was shivering up to the point he could no longer talk. I told him to get out of his wet clothes and get in his sleeping bag. Which he did immediately.

About an hour later the rain had stopped, we managed to get a fire going and all was well. I went over to the wet Marines tent and said he might appreciate the warm fire. He mumbled something to me and I ducked into the tent to hear better. His sleeping bag was soaked. Remember he thought since his back pack was waterproof he did not need to waterproof anything else. He was now naked laying a sopping wet sleeping bag. Hypothermia was in full force now. He was lethargic, cranky and non stop shivering.

Tomorrow should finish this story. Has anybody guessed the ending by now?

I haven’t seen any comments regarding street judgment yet, so I assume that all agree with it.

Semper Fi

Street Judgment, good or bad? Tips on employment.

Homes for Heroes is looking for some help. What kind of help you ask? Well it is simple really. We have a long list and since it is the Christmas season, a list seems appropriate. As you look through the
list you will see that we are not going after big buck items mostly volunteer time to get the word out. Homes for Heroes and the Homes for Heroes Foundation is hoping to make an impact on the housing needs of our Police, Firefighters, Soldiers and First Responders. Getting them into their dream home or just getting a window fixed we want to be the first responders to the housing needs of our Heroes.

1. We are looking for real estate agents in all 50 states that want to be part of the program.
2. Mortgage brokers in all 50 states.
3. Insurance agents in all 50 states.

In addition since I am asking…. the Homes for Heroes non-profit foundation is looking for volunteers such as General contractors, plumbers, handymen, electricians etc.

We are trying to build a nation wide network that will respond to any Heroes housing needs within a single business day. Remember in joining our effort, we will be bringing business to you! We just need to extend our comprehensive network so we can coordinate help quickly and efficiently. If you have any questions or want to be part of our Homes for Heroes network please give Helen a call at 1-866-4-HEROES (866 443-7637)

I will try and remember to keep you all updated on our endeavor. Now I read this blog from Lincoln NE Chief of Police and thought a lot of you would appreciate what he has to say regarding looking for work. I think it is pretty good advice that when you are applying for a job that you do not use juicybutt for an email contact. Can you imagine if your resume got past the initial screening and were called in for an interview? You sit down and the first question asked is “so you are meeting with a high profile client who is not very proficient in english, how would you explain the term juicybutt?” It takes about 1 minute to set up a hotmail or gmail account to come up with a more professional email contact. The article has some real winners in it. Take a read here.

Now I have a question for all you Peace Officers out there. I read an article regarding street judgments from the New York Times. We had a family discussion (okay it was more like a yelling match) on whether or not this was a good thing. I see a slippery slope but at the same time I see this as an effective means of keeping the peace. I would love to hear from the professionals on this. Let me know if you would condone some of the things that are mentioned in the article.

Sam”s club reminder. If you live near a Sam’s Club and have a military ID or a DD214, mark the 15^th of December on your calendar. Sam;s Club is letting all military personnel shop at their stores with no membership fees required and the 10% non member mark up is waived. Some good deals to be had as you are working your way down your Christmas lists.

Are you ready for another installment of Naked Marines on Mount Washington? Well I have some other stuff to take care of today so you will have to wait until tomorrow. It will be worth it. Trust Me.

Semper Fi

Wet Marines, Bremer Bank and a police high speed chase!

I woke up this morning to check this blog and our web site, certain there would be a flurry of activity. I figured this new activity would be everyone scrambling to read my story. Well we got a little bit, not as much as I hoped. Homes for Heroes Foundation has been blogging now for about 10 days so I am not too disappointed. I do know though that the stories are great and will continue to draw people to the site. Now if I can just get some of you uniformed heroes to start leaving a few stories relating to the lighter side of uniformed life. But in the interim, my wife sent the following video along. This video should be part of all Police training. It is critical to any cop that may find themselves in a high speed chase. Its short about 35 seconds, but all need to see.

Hey, I had mentioned yesterday that another foundation was meeting with Homes for Heroes Foundation. The meeting was with our local Bremer Bank. They are a bank that is owned by the Otto Bremer Foundation. We learned that the foundation puts more money into the community on an annual basis than the big name banks. (a stagecoach comes to mind) The meeting was to go over our new Homes for Heroes Foundation and if there was anything Bremer Bank could do for us to get us rolling. Very productive meeting and we had learned a lot.

Yesterday was a busy day for Homes for Heroes, we had received a huge amount of calls, from all over the states in the morning. Some from Texas, some from Oklahoma and a couple of locals here in Minneapolis. For our small staff it was quite a day trying to get these Heroes hooked up with our affiliates so they can get into homes. Something we are learning here is that there are some unique accents out there in this great country.

Well, where were we last…. Oh yeah, me and my buds were standing on a foot wide ledge about 100 feet up on a vertical face of Mount Washington.

Mount Washington

And there just happened to be a thunderstorm in full swing. Winds gusting up to 50 or 60 mph with sustained winds of about 30 mph. Not the best place to be hanging out with a bunch of first time climbers. Okay if you need to get caught up you can read yesterdays beginning. Now remember, we are trying to find out how two Marines ended up naked in the same sleeping bag.

So after we had decided it would be better to go up than down in the storm, we had to sell the idea to the rest of the team. Well there was some arguing, but mother nature in the end made the decision for us. A couple of lightning flashes and some really loud thunder, got us moving up to where the shelter was. This was a very interesting climb. It wasn’t the stuff you see on TV, but when you have to climb with wind, rain and a 45 pound pack on your back, things at times can get a little nerve racking. We spent about another 2 to 3 hours climbing. At times we had to climb, then stop, drop a rope and bring the packs up. Then more climbing. The whole time the weather never let up. Some had attempted to put on rain gear, but soon found out that the Marine issue rain poncho is not the best thing to be wearing while trying to climb in a thunderstorm. It tends to want to blow up in your face when the wind blows. Also you tend to step on it a lot.

But finally we got to the top!!! No major injuries, a few cramps, and some chapped hands, and all of us were shivering.. We were in pretty good shape, so we made our way to the observatory visitors center. There we had an opportunity to get some warm food in our bellies and dry clothes on. Well most of us. One fellow decided that putting your spare clothes in plastic bags was a waste of time because his pack was supposed to be water proof. So after 11 of us were in dry clothes, tummies full of hot chocolate and chicken soup we started to get ready for the decent to the other side of the mountain to our planned camp ground. The wet guy still was shivering, so we sat down inside and let him warm up a bit. And there ladies and gentlemen, we will have to wait for the next installment of how two Marines ended up naked in the same sleeping bag.

Until then, semper fi.

Homes for Heroes in congress, Pookies, buying and Mount Washington

Yes ladies and gentleman, Homes for Heroes is in congressional news. Not really, but the name of senate rule S.1084 is the Homes for Heroes Act. It will provide housing for low income and homeless vets. Please let your law makers know that us vets would appreciate passage of this bill for our brethren who have fallen on hard times. I wonder if they got that name from some where, we did have a big name Senator (once a Presidential candidate) call about the program a little while back……

Housing market news/opinion from radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt. It seems the government is now going to buy up loans held by Fannie and Freddie to free up some of their money. That in turn will allow them to go back to loaning out money. That means that now is starting to be a good time to be looking for great deals on homes. The more homes are bought the more stable the market will become. Pricing will stop dropping and inventory will get back to a more manageable level. So contact your Homes for Heroes affiliate and start buying!

Here is something out of the past, the Pookie. Any one remember the Pookie? I do and seeing the photo brought back the memory of me trying to build a model of one with left over model parts. Still not sure what it is? Another hint then, the name has nothing to do with Japanese cartoons. Still nothing? Well click on the link and have a look for yourself. Go ahead, I’ll wait……………………. Now isn’t that the strangest thing you ever saw? It does kind of tell you what kind of kid I was back in the day. I thought that was the coolest thing put together for its purpose.

I still haven’t seen any stories to top mine yet. And I put some pretty lame ones out there. I have got better stories than just Monkeys and drinking. There is the one where a bunch of us jar heads thought we would take our military training and put it to the test. 12 of us decided to climb Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Well, you’ll have to wait and see who ended up naked in a sleeping bag with another naked Marine! It is not what you think, read the link, the first paragraph should explain how the Marine mind works.

Get busy y’all! Give me something to work with.

Semper fi.