Look What We Caught

James set a small animal trap under our back deck a few days ago. Our intentions were to catch a couple of the neighborhood cats. I normally don't have problems with cats-- I actually like them, but these particular cats have to go. They are on some kind of turf war over my yard. They keep pooping everywhere to claim territory. 

Both of the frenchies are shit seeking missiles and eat said cat poop. Of course, the cat poop is never solid cat poop. It's cat explosive diarrhea. I'm constantly wiping cat shit off the dogs' faces. I love those dogs, but if I could not do that chore, that would be super. Hence, we set the traps to catch the cats. For relocation. I don't want to hurt them, I just want them to poop somewhere else. 

Anyway, backstory aside,  I peeked under the deck today while I was winding up the hose and I was surprised to see a little face looking back at me. For days the trap had been empty. But we caught something today. And that something was pissed. We caught a medium sized opossum.  

The opossum hissed at us the entire time we had it. It was a silent hiss, but I could see the hate in its eyes and I knew he was hissing. That's how pissed off this opossum was that he had been caught-- he couldn't even articulate it. He was probably minding is own business last night when he caught the whiff of days old salmon in the cage and thought to himself, "Wow, that smells delicious! I should enter this wire funnel to eat it." And BAM he was trapped. 

James took him over to a neighboring corn field and dropped him off. I didn't want to kill the little pissed off guy. It's not his fault he's really stupid and got caught. The trap is going back under the deck tonight with more cat enticing food inside it. I hope I don't catch more unwanted critters. 

On Assignment

After months and months of going back and forth with my branch manager and my retention NCO, I am very happy to report that I am finally on assignment. I actually got something that I wanted and wasn't stuck taking the lesser of evils.

I'm on assignment to go to Fort Wainwright, Alaska. My branch manager was able to slot me in MEDDAC. I've never worked MEDDAC before. The idea of doing something so outside of the realm of anything I've done before is a bit daunting. Some people love working in the hospital, and others really hate it. But I am excited. I'm excited to go somewhere I've never been and work a job I've never done.

My report date isn't until late 2016. December, actually. I'll try to request early report so I don't have to drive through Canada in the winter. I'm so excited! I will have to get snow boots for the Frenchies!

Alaska bound!

Graduation Is Set

I just applied for graduation. Graduation of what, you ask? Well, I decided to get me one of them college degrees. It's just an associates in Health Sciences. It's not fancy, and quite frankly, I got A LOT of credits given to me by my Army experiences. Since I've been in the Army nearly 10 years, I would hope some of that would be granted as credit. Nothing better than on the job training!

Any one who has asked me knows I never had plans of getting a degree of any kind. I'm not a book learnin' kind of gal. But now that I know I do not qualify for any special assignments in the Army, I need a degree to keep me competitive for promotion to Sergeant First Class.

Graduation is in February. Come March I will be back in school working towards that Bachelors in Public Health. Oh boy. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Long Hair

My hair is really super long. I mean, kinda ridiculously long. If I wore an unfashionable long jean skirt people would totally think I was a radical Christian woman. Good thing I'd never wear a jean skirt. All my tattoos wouldn't really support the radical Christian image either... what I'm saying is, my hair is long. My hair is long and I give bad analogies. 

I've cut it back a few times. Most recently, in November 2013, I cut nearly 10 inches off. I thought it would be helpful to have shorter hair when I deployed to Egypt. I hated it. I regretted it. I don't think it made anything easier, either. My remorse game was strong.

Almost 2 years later, I am starting to feel the itch to cut my hair shorter again. 

Why? 

Why do I want to do something again that I know I hated before? Well, I'm convinced it was the style that I hated and not the lack of length. I think if I didn't go layer crazy like I did 2 years ago, I would like it more. I don't want to cut it so short that I can't put it in a bun. The ability to have a work bun is important. 

I need a change. Someone talk me out of it if you think it will make me as unhappy has the 2013 hair chopping.