Went on leave.

I am sorry that I have not posted in a long time. I did not want to post on here that I was going home on leave because I wanted to surprise my Mom. And surprise her I did. It was not for sure I was going to be able to take leave. So, I did not tell anyone about it back home. I had been scheduled to take leave several times since April and for one reason or another, it was either cancelled, delayed, or rescheduled. I was tired of putting the family through the roller coaster affect. It was downright frustrating. So, this time, I was told I would be going home sometime in September. I told them that if they cannot get me home by the end of the first week, to not even bother. I would just wait till we were done and go home at that time. It would only be a few more weeks any way.
So, I landed in Dallas on Saturday morning on September 6th. I had a long day planned out, getting to a dealership to buy a new car. It took me till almost 7 PM to get it done and then started to head for the house. I went by my mom's house, but, she was not home. I tried to call her with the caller ID blocked so she would not know that I was home, but, she was out with some friends and so I left a message. She did not get the message till really late that night and E-mailed me to tell me she was sorry that she missed my call and to call her back on Sunday morning. Which is exactly what I did.
I called her from my cell phone. Again, I had the caller I D blocked. She answered her phone and we talked a few minutes. I then knocked on her door. I was on her porch the entire time. She did not hear me knocking on the door so I said over the phone, "I think I heard someone knocking on the door. Who was it?" She said that there was no one at the door. It must have been the cup she put on the table. So I rang the door bell. To which she said "you have really good ears, I did not hear the door, but, someone just rang the bell. hold on I will see who it is." as she pulled the curtain aside from the front window, I just said "Hi mom" as I waived. It took her a second or two to realize that I was not in Afghanistan but on her front porch. I wish I would have had a camera. That would have been a picture worth taking.
I was home for 15 days. It was probably the worst two weeks of the year for me. The weather really sucked. Every time I wanted to go to the lake to do some fishing and or skiing, it would rain. Then, the last time we tried, we discovered that some ASS WIPES stole all the fishing tackle out of the boat. Over $2000.00 worth of poles and tackle gone. I hope the thief dies a miserable death. I hate thieves. And I believe that there is a special place in hell for them.
So, with the fishing trip now officially taken off the table, and the weather not cooperating at all, there was not much to do. I went and visited a few of my friends who happened to have a day off here and there. I spent some of my time catching up on the shows that I had recording while I was gone. That only took a day or two. Then, not wanting to spend too much money, too late, I only went out to dinner a few times.
I did get invited to some friends houses for dinner and so I did have some good food while I was home. If I had to rely on myself for good food, it would never happen. I can barely boil eggs. LOL I also went to my favorite restaurant. I ate at Osaka's Japanese Sushi and Stake. It was everything I remember it and some. A little on the expensive side, but, worth every penny. Great food, great service, and really nice ambiance.
The trip back to Afghanistan was not what I would call quick. We were stuck in Kuwait for 5 days because of maintenance issue from the week prior. They were 4 days behind schedule and were focusing their flight on people going to the states for leave and the resupply runs. They put us on planes as space would permit, with the cargo for the resupply runs. It was, to say the least, a long trip. As you can all see I am back here safe and sound.