Today I chose to get up rather late. Not actually getting out of bed until a few minutes before 7. I walk around the room in a fog when I see that my room's white floor fan is off. (Which is odd because I always sleep with a fan on or some other form of white/brown noise to drown out my tinnitus.) Then I vividly remember, at exactly 0319, I awoke to my fan making a noise as if it were off-balance and ready to rip itself apart. An exaggeration of course, this is, but it was still very annoying to have to deal with that at 0319 in the morning.
I call my family to say my good mornings to everyone and then dive into a practice test. Which takes a great deal of my time. After I go to get some breakfast; I have the usual. (refer to previous post) I bring it back and video chat my family once again. My oldest boy has a fun time holding his mother's phone, which to him is of course me trapped inside, and plays his go-back game. A game that consists of him running down a hallway that leads into the living room from his room. He starts at his door and then runs as fast as he feels like towards the giant pillow/mattress thing in our living room. (It's about the size of a full mattress that is stuffed with crumb foam and is very cozy and soft.) Upon reaching said pillow/mattress thing he will hurl himself onto it and laugh very contentedly to himself and smile boyishly and his mother. His little brother will often join him in this game and will follow behind him. Only on a few occasions has the order been reversed; of course when this happens the older brother tends to land on the little brother causing somewhat of a ruckus.
After chatting and breakfast is done I venture off to the town's academy outdoor store to fetch a new bike saddle and to the Walmart for a lamp for my bedside table. The excursion lasts much longer than I expect and I am very frustrated at how much drive time it was considering I traveled less than 22 miles. By the time I get back on Fort Knox it is time for lunch. On the way in through the main gate, I notice the Fort Knox Gold Vault. I think to myself that I will visit it later today on my bike.
Later that day proved to be a failure in seeing the vault building. Kind of. I was expecting to maybe get within 100-200 feet and take a nice picture but alas, not only it impossible to get within about 300 meters of the building, but if you are caught taking any pictures the photographic device can be confiscated by the Fort Knox Vault Police. I after swapping saddles on the bike it was a 3 mile bike ride to the closest area I was allowed to be on. After arriving at the end of a closed of road, about 400 meters away, over a slight hill, I could see most of the first and all of the second story of the vault building. It was really nothing spectacular. The outside is just concrete that could use a power washing and there was a scaffolding erected on the side facing me. I probably could have gotten closer if I would have taken a little detour down the golf club cart roads but it was a busy day for golf and I, not wanting to run into any retired brass, decided to wait until maybe Sunday when the course will hopefully be closed. (Upon review, it doesn't normally close on Sundays but because Sunday this week is July 4th, I'll wager they are closed!)
The ride there and back was pleasant enough thanks to the new seat, slow speed limits, and lots of nice houses/buildings where high ranking people work and live. It's actually quite astounding the difference in housing for a regular Joe who make $30k a year versus a general or a colonel who makes well over $200k a year. I get it, the general has many responsibilities and all but the generals house here (or what I assumed was his house since it was the biggest on command row) was essentially a brick mansion. It is past all the other commanders houses on 5th avenue. It is across the street from the other houses. On the other side of the street are more command houses. Not only his his house catty-corner to a 25 acre open field, the house itself is actually diagonally faced on the lot so the the front of the house faces the open field. It has a U-drive in the goes around the back of the house. Directly behind the house is another 10 acres or more of nicely mowed grass and large ancient trees. Were this house to be bought outside the gates of an Army installation it would probably run in the millions. A comparable house (Probably around 6+ bedrooms, over 3,000 square feet) in the closest city of Elizabethtown cost's $895k, and it is only on a one acre plot.
When I was an E-4, I lived in a "3" bedroom apartment on post with 1 full bathroom, a living room and a kitchen. All appliances were gas and older than me by at least a decade. The water heater was at least, and I do mean at least, from the 1970's. There was a small laundry room, that shared the water heater, and in this "laundry" room there were water and electric hook-ups. Sadly there was no dryer vent so I drilled a 4" hole through latex/lead paint (confirmed lead paint), and two layers of bricks and ran the vent tubing through there. This hole would also serve as the water out for the washer as well. For this first home of my wife and I, every month I paid $535 cash only to an old man behind iron bars. This apartment complex was actually on Fort Benning. It's called battle park, and to my knowledge is still there. On a satellite image of it I can see my car still parked next to my neighbors oil leaking red Ford Taurus.
Rant over.
I get to see my boys play outside with their water table. They love to be outside, and they love to play with water. It's a shame that they have red and blonde hair and skin that gets red just thinking about getting in direct sunlight. Thankfully they have long sleeve sun shirts, hats and a little sunscreen on to help. Putting sunscreen on two toddlers is no fun and it requires a bath to get off.
I piddle around in my room most of the afternoon; chatting on and off with my family and doing laundry. The laundry room is neat and clean compared to most barracks complex laundry rooms. Normally there's a lot of lint, spilt detergent and general crap laying about. I do my part and empty the trash bin full of lint to the outside dumpster. My good deed towards our barracks community is done for the day.
Dinner for me is leftover beef bulgogi and asparagus. I eat the beef and rice, but after a few stalks of asparagus I pass on the rest. Just steamed and thin as cheap copper wire isn't a good combination for asparagus. I prefer my asparagus cooked in bacon grease on a spittin' hot pan. The meal is saved though with a piece of german chocolate cake, which is thick and delicious. So thick I have to save more than half of my slice in the fridge.
I spend around 30-40 minutes talking with my family and watching my boys do there usual pre-bedtime shenanigans of running, jumping and shrieking. I sure do miss them. My wife puts them down and I piddle around till she confirms they are asleep. I video chatted my wife while I took my evening stroll. There were lots of whitetail deer out this evening; many does with many more baby dears. Sadly I don't see the animal that I am looking forward to the most seeing here at Ft Knox. The coveted pole cat, also known as a skunk. I have never seen one in person and my wife claims they were all over the place every time she had to train here. After being in and around the area where she trained I have seen not one of these majestic creatures. I am highly disappointed. I did see dear and baby though.
I shower, I chat with wifey, she goes to sleep, I write my blog post, and who knows what else I'll do. Probably meditate and then watch some youtube. Maybe read a little since I got a new bedside lamp.
