Touring the Dwyer's Home at Incirlik

OK, this file something like 32mb so I don't know how well it will work. For starters - turn your volume up both on the blogger video window and your personal speaker. These videos do have an excellent narrator. If you can't hear him - turn it up! The video is over two minutes in length. So give it time to load. I'm trying to load it to the blog as I type this. I'm not sure which one it is. Karen and I did one video of the house and one video of Katie's room. The video is currently processing message 420 as I type this. Hopefully, it won't be too big for the system.

5 minutes later now. Processing message 532. Oh wait, I think it is done at 562 messages to transfer the video. So now I will see if it plays......

Yeah. It seems to work on this end. OK, that is a tour of Dwyer House Incirlik. Notice we skipped Katie's nursery. We will try that in a second post.

A couple of other pictures of the house. First this is a picture of our street below. Kastamonu Court may look very elegant. And it is pretty don't get me wrong. But see that nice looking building in front of you. No that's not a mansion. That's four separate homes holding 4 couples to include 6 kids, three dogs, and a least one cat. We live off to the right of this building complex.

And here is our house. And only the little half. The tall half is somebody else's house. If you look close you can see Slinky, or The Ghost as Kori and Ryan like to call him:

Our Turkish Bassinet

We finally brought home our Turkish bassinet! We think it turned out perfect. Now remember, this was our third trip. And when we go to the store, the guy that's there speaks not a word of English. Since we only know the most basic of greetings and thank yous in Turkish, communication can be funny. To recap, the first time we were there the guy called his brother-in-law who spoke "a little English." He said come back in one week. We did, but it still was not ready. The guy called his brother-in-law again and he was trying to get us to come back on Monday. We were having a hard time getting him to understand we had to wait until Saturday. With all the communication problems, we were only able to get across that we wanted the white and blue bassinet they had but that we wanted it done in white and pink. But we had no specifics on design other than that. As you can see, it came complete with white and pink, as we asked, but with a sleeping kitty cat design that Karen just loves. We all were lauging when we picked it up. We had to ask my boss, Major Alicia Edwards, to go over with us in her SUV because the bassinet wouldn't fit into our car. I followed them in our Toyota but we became separated at the light. By the way, we went right by the stork on the way over - saw her again - and yesterday we sat two storks in the nest! So Karen and Alicia got there first. I guess the guy came up and was just speaking Turkish as fast as he could as if they understood. Karen said Alicia got the funniest look on her face like the guy was crazy because he was talking like they understood Turkish and of course they did not. But the workers pointed to the crib and when Karen realized it was hers and ready - she was very happy. The workers were smiling and very proud of themselves. But Alicia said, "I don't understand. If they don't understand anything you said how did they know to put cats on there?" We tried to explain it was a coincidence but Alicia kept saying, "That doesn't make any sense to me - I mean how would they know to put the cats on there? Did Slinky make a call?"

In the first shot you are looking from above. The heart pillow and pink pillow under the cats are removable. the cats are actually own a removable blanket. In the second shot you can see the sleeping kitty on the front.

The third shot shows the woodwork. It is a very nice bamboo-type wood except much darker and stronger. Everything was made by hand. So we are hoping the furniture will arrive on Wednesday. We have two dressers for Katie, the Camel bar, and a homemade Turkish rocking horse on the way. We bought a lot of stuff at The Praktiker store (kind of a Turkish Lowes) over the weekend for Katie's room. Curtain rod, bamboo shade, storage. May not post for a little bit as next weekend is all about Katie's room. Also, we have received so many nice things from everyone! Thanks everybody. The help has been much appreciated.

A Stork for Katie Marie

The stork has literally paid us a visit at Incirlik! Apparently a stork migrates through here on her way to and from Africa every year. She build a huge nest in an electrical tower just outside the base. Karen had heard about it and kind of forgotten it - but we were leaving the base the last week and you can't miss her. The nest is about 4-6 feet tall and at least three feet wide. She mostly sits but she does stand every so often and I was luck enough to get a shot of her here. I believe she is actually leaning over here paying attention to the eggs or whatever is down there. What appears to be her left leg in the picture is actually her neck and head.

Bad news for the baby shower pictures - we have none. Major Edwards felt really bad but when she went to load them they had simply disappeared from her camera. Oh well, they still did a fabulous job and we have GREAT memories. Lesley Evans did get some shots of the cake and set up and I will post those soon.

Karen and I think we bought a bassinet today. This was a Turkish transaction so we really aren't sure. Last week we found that bassinet for $220 that we really liked except we want it in pink not the blue. Well the guy there spoke no English but got his brother-in-law on the phone and he said to meet him there in a week. We did but no brother-in-law. But they are very nice. So he called the brother-in-law back and he said "You come on Monday night after 5 and it will cost $200. " I said, "I can't come on Monday." He said, "No, it is a finished deal - you will come on Monday." This went around and around like this for a few minutes before he finally agreed to come next Saturday afternoon. We are not really sure why he needs to be there because the guy there understands what we want to buy and knows how to write out $200. we shall see next week.

Now you may be wondering how all this baby stuff seems to have fazed Slinky the cat. as you can seem below, he seems quite oblivious to the whole thing:





What? You say you can't even tell that is a cat? Neither could we. His hair is so long that when he gets all puffed up and curls up you literally can't find his head. We were laughing so hard at him I had to get up and go over and see where his head actually was. And....

...even standing right on top of the damn cat - I still can't make out any features except his two legs and an ear sticking out the side. What a life.

Oh, if only he knew of the troubled days ahead. But I'm sure he will adapt he always has. I keep telling him every time he cries, "Slinky, you're going to meet somebody soon that will teach you what crying is really all about." He ignores me.




Lastly, just wanted to show you all what our back yard has looked like for the last....well pretty much ever since we moved in. And yes this comes complete with jackhammers, bulldozers, and singing Turks. Our backyard is fenced in but only about 20 feet to the back fence. This is the view directly over the fence. Scheduled completion date is not until October. Luckily, when we get back from Germany, this should mostly be done.

Katie's Baby Shower

Maybe she didn't exactly know she was in attendance but let's face it the shower was for Katie. I will repost on this again as soon as we get pictures but it was FABULOUS! My boss Alicia Edwards and Lesley Evans put on the most spectacular shower I have ever been to for us. We had it at a great place in Adana called Pastabahcesi last Friday on April 4th. This is a great indoor/outdoor restaurant in New Adana that overlooks the Seyhan Lake. They specialize in desserts and pastries. One of the most modern and clean restaurants I have ever been to. Very nice for Adana. We had around 17 in attendance . As soon as we get photos we will post. On the web site, to see photos of the restaurant, click on the bottom on "Kurumsal" and wait for it to come up, then click on "Fotograflar" on the left. Once a photo appears, click on "ileri" or "geri" at the bottom to see other photos. Play around a bit and you may be able to see some menu shots as well. We received some fabulous gifts from everyone. And of course friends and family have been sending stuff all along. Many thank yous are on the way.

Yesterday, we also bought a camera since our Kodak crapped out. We bought a cheap Samsung but it seems to work well enough and take good photos. We also purchased two dressers for Katie and a special wooden camel we will post pictures of when all the furniture arrives. We also found a place just outside Incirlik everyone calls Furniture Alley. Karen found a nice bassinet we hope to maybe get next week. Just to show you how the locals see dollars sign when they see Americans coming - the first shop quoted us $350.00 for this bassinet. The second shop was 50 yards away and said $220 for the same bassinet. But the guy didn't speak any English and we wanted pink material instead of the blue he had. So the worker got his brother, who spoke English, on the phone and he said to come next week and he would be there after 1PM. Karen and I are going to offer $200. Then we will almost be set with furniture. We still need to get some wall shelves and a rocking chair for Karen. We will also need to get the crib set, the wall border, and the diaper genie to complete the nursery. OK, more photos of the shower coming soon.

Painting Katie's Room

We finally got around to clearing out the extra bedroom so we could paint it. The color is a little deceiving on the pictures here. It is a very soft-shade of sea-foam green. It appears a little darker here than I think it actually is. It matches some of the items in Karen's sea/beach theme she is working on.

We are accumulated some nice clothes but we need to get moving on furniture! We have the crib, an Under The Sea Carpet, a Kick N' Play, but we don't have any dressers yet. We need two but the BX only has one left. We may need to go into the alley to get that made. The shower is scheduled for this Friday, which we have off.

What else is new? Well the job at Miramar Brig opened up and I did apply for it but it sounds like the chances of me getting it are zero. I have been told I can not get out of my DEROS (date eligible to return from overseas). Even if I am the only person that applies, the Air Force will select a nonvolunteer before they give the job to me.

We have almost been here 8 months already! Every now and then we talk about what we think the remainder of our time will be like here. I think it will go pretty quickly. Karen will be heading to Germany in June for Storknesting. I will follow shortly after. Katie is due on 18 July. Apparently we will spend a busy ten days after Katie is born working on a passport for Katie. Then when we get back we will have one year left and only nine months left until we find out what our next assignment is. Plus, Octonodecembuary will begin just two months after we get back with Katie and we know how time flies during those months.

Well, as usual we are in the library as I post this. I actually here thunder outside - we may get a little rain. We will make sure pics are taken at the baby shower and are trying to find a new digital camera on-line. See you all on-line soon.

Mama Took My Kodachrome Away

Our digital camera took a crap! It seems to still function and a flash goes off when you push the button, but there are no images displayed on the screen - it just remains white no matter what button you push or setting you move it to. We are trying to get a replacement but will have to wait for the end of March and order on-line. All the cameras for sale on base are around $300. Walmart, Target, and some others have much better on-line offers. We will probably borrow one for Karen's shower on April 4th. Then should have a new one fairly soon after.

We bought paint for Katie's nursery yesterday. Karen picked out a soft, lime green. Kind of the color of the water along the Emerald Coast in Florida. Hopefully, we will paint next week. We bought the paint at a store in the mall called The Praktiker. We got around Adana fairly well. We found the mall on our own for the first time, then we went to McDonald's which is only about ten minutes from the mall but took us over an hour. I wasn't sure how to cut across town to get to McDonald's so I wanted to come back the base and take the road I was sure of. But we missed the base turn-off and ended up another 30 miles down the road before we could get turned around. I think the freeway sign said Ceyhan was only 19 miles from where we turned around. There are very few places to turn around on the freeway in Turkey. We finally figured out that every 5 miles or so there will be an opening in the left side guard rail. But even with that only 1 out of every 5 of those is actually open and the others are sealed shut. Then we missed a right side turn off. Finally caught a left-side guard rail opening as we approached Ceyhan - and then went all the way back to McDonald's in New Adana. McDonald's never tasted so good. It was packed. They had full upstairs seating and downstairs plus about 50 tables outside on a grass lawn that were full. The Turks love the McDonald's - at least in Adana they do.

Also put the Master Sergeant stripe on officially on March 1st.

Radio Days

I like to check Mike Anderson's Saint Louis media site every now and them. When i was younger there was a time I thought I would work in radio all my life. Although I'm glad it didn't work out that way, I sure had fun working for KIX 104FM from 1987-1990. Mike runs a web site in St. Louis that covers St. Louis media news. I e-mail Mike every now and then. When I e-mailed him from turkey he actually put a small blurb up about me on his web site. I can' figure out how to link to a specific date on his site but his site is: http://stlmedia.net/ and the feature he did on me is on 02-24-1008. He put a photo up of me that I can't copy over - but here is the story:

02-24-08 Got a great weekend email ... from former KIX104 Promotions Assistant Pat Dwyer. Kind of a wild man back then (I remember the altercation he got into with the soon-to-be Mayor of Maplewood over a bumper sticker incident), Pat's become an Air Force success story. He's married, and he and his wife, Karen, are about to become parents in the next few months; Pat will become Master Sergeant Dwyer in the next few days and he's a just a few years away from retiring from an honorable Air Force career as a senior non-commissioned officer. Read about his military time here. On AF retirement, Pat and Karen want to come home to St. Louis and he intends to go into accounting, a degree toward which he's been working while in service. When young Mr. Dwyer left KIX, he left a vacancy that was never adequately filled...he was missed. I'm glad to see that it was clearly the AF's gain. Say hi here.

BABY KATIE NEWS: Karen has now felt Katie "doing something" in there. I ask, "Did you feel her kick or was it movement?" Karen says, "She's doing something!"

Thanks to all the recent e-mails/comments from Jackie Rangen, Gittan Grondahl, Tracy Breece, Jeff Pixler, Mom, Kori Smyth, and probably many I am forgetting. I only have 15 minutes left before my time here is up. Besdies Karen needs to be off for "high tea."

Find me on Facebook. It's a great way to stay connected to all your friends and family everywhere simultaneously. Some of you need to get your pictures on there (Mom, Jan, and Jeff).