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A Girls Journey from Civilian to Marine: Letter #3

August 1, 2012 by info@3QuartersToday.com

If you’ve been following my blog you’ll know that I have two sons who are United States Marines. I admire anyone who serves their country and joins any branch of the military. However, the Marines have the toughest basic training of any branch. Unlike other branches, the men and women train separately. To me this totally makes sense.

US Marines Sound Off
US Marines Sound Off (my son 2nd from right)

Beyond the obvious distraction of men and women training together, is the sheer physicality.  During a two mile platoon men will almost always run faster as a unit than women. The ones that fall behind get a drill instructor in their face. Doesn’t matter the amount of yelling, the average female recruit will not run as fast as the average male recruit. The goal is to learn to run, march and move as one.

I’m sure psychologically the intensity is the same, it may even be worse as women can be vicious to each other.

Here is letter number three from a young woman who is taking on the challenge of becoming a Marine. To see the read the whole letter and others visit Devil Doggery and post a comment to give her support. (she is sending letters home that a friend is posting for her)

“And speaking of quals, to answer your question, no, you don’t need to know how to swim before you get to boot camp. They teach you if you can’t and even if you fail the first day, you have the entire week to get your s*** together. Our platoon had 3 people from the earlier platoon who got dropped for swim, but everyone passed this time around. And hellz yeah I’m getting buff! I’ve lost 14 lbs. since I got here and I somehow ended up as a cooler recruit, meaning me and the other 3 have to lug heavy-ass coolers everywhere we go. And do a bunch of other s***  that involves running around with heavy things. It’s not all bad though. We get to go chow earlier than everyone else and most of the time we get back to the squad bay way before the platoon, so we get time to make head calls and socialize. And it’s good exercise, so I’m not complaining. Too much.

But we’ve done a lot since I last wrote. We did the rappel tower and the gas chamber (both terrifying, but not as bad as I thought it would be), our initial PFT (Physical Fitness Test), and… I’m sure some other stuff that I can’t quite remember. We’re seeing a lot more of the males now, although the DI’s are very strict about making sure we don’t look at each other. So mostly I just see backs of shaved heads, haha. It’s kind of cool to think about how they’re going through the exact same stuff as us, though. Especially with Echo Company, which is the male company we’ll be graduating with. They were doing all that stuff I mentioned earlier at the exact same time our company was. And OMG, when we were doing the gas chamber, we were getting the brief at the same time the males were and some people had to go outside to exchange their masks. 

I’ve officially shot an MI6A4 service rifle with an RCO attached. Boo-yah. It was pretty awesome, although the sound was nothing like how I expected it to be. It kind of sounds like a cap gun, in all honesty. The recoil also wasn’t bad at all, although I will admit, my face was a little too close to the scope and my eye got slammed a few times. But all in all, shooting is super fun (albeit uncomfortable), and I’m not as nervous about qualifying. Whether I can get expert is an entirely different story, but I’ma do my best, yo. Still have 3 more days to practice, so there’s time. I’m sure by the time I write my next letter, I’ll be able to tell you how I did :)“

Filed Under: Marine Corps, Military Pride Tagged With: blogs, boot camp, marines, military, recruite training, USMC

Get your Fill of Nuts at the Testicle Festival

June 26, 2011 by info@3QuartersToday.com

Yes you read the title correctly,it is time for the “Testicle Festival” in South Bend Nebraska at the local Round the Bend Restaurant. Some people refer to them as Rocky Mountain Oysters, Calf Fries, or just, calf nuts or balls, but regardless of the name they are the removable reproductive organs of a calf, lamb or even turkey.

2011 Testicle Festival in South Bend Nebraksa
2011 Testicle Festival (Day 201 of my 365 Project)

In ranching country, or just the midwest they are considered a delicacy. Here at Round the Bend Restaurant they are a sometimes considered a dare, a novelty, and a reason to celebrate and have a party one weekend out of the year.  I do have to admit, that after living in the Elmwood-Murdock area this was the first time I had actually eaten Beef Fries. They were actually very good. But when you cover anything in batter and fry it you can make anything taste good.

Fierce Food: The Intrepid Diner’s Guide to the Unusual, Exotic, and Downright BizarreEdible plants and animals: Unusual foods from aardvark to zamia

For eighteen years hundreds of people show up the Friday and Saturday of Fathers Day weekend for bragging rights that they attended this very unique event. Many leave home with a custom T-Shirt.  Others leave with one more item checked off their bucket list.

Testicle Festival at Round the Bend in Nebraska
Just some girls getting some NUTS (taken with my cell phone)

Sometimes an adult beverage makes things go down easier and I’m partial to Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Only this time someone decided I needed the “Harder Lemonade” for this culinary experiment. Being in Nebraska you make friends with everyone and an event like this gives everyone a topic of conversation.

Mike’s Hard Lemonade, 6pk, 11.2 oz

The lady sitting across the table was from Chicago, first time at the nut fest, and she compared them to Schnitzel.If you’re wondering if there is a recipe somewhere, yes there is, but it’s not mine. Check out Cooking on the Sagebrush for authentic back country style cooking or even The Story Lady’s recipe. It’s not just people in Nebraska that enjoy calf nuts. Ree Drummond, the infamous Pioneer Woman talks about nuts, eating nuts, cutting nuts, and even takes pictures of nuts in unusual placements. It’s a way of life in some parts of the country.

You can buy Bull Fries online to cook for yourself, and where else? Amazon. So if you want to try a ranching delicacy, fry up a gag gift for a party, or just act on a dare, go ahead and order some bull fries and tell me how you like them.

Beef, Rocky Mountain Oysters, Sliced And Breaded, Frozen – 10 Lb Case

So next time you hear of a Testicle Festival, pull up a chair, tuck in your napkin and enjoy gourmet cooking, mid-western style.

BTW: My daughter, who worked as a hostess at Round the Bend, told me they served up 2,300 lbs of testicles and ran out before it was over on Saturday. If you’re looking for the location of Round the Bend it’s located between Omaha and Lincoln, exit 426, head south past the Wildlife Safari Park, “round the bend” and at the top of the hill across from Quarry Oaks golf course.

Here is a video of one of my favorite celebrities, Mike Rowe, eating lamb fries during one of his episodes of Dirty Jobs. Just think, NOTHING goes to waste, agriculture is efficient and one of the least wasteful industrys’. My Mom said everything on the pig is used, except the squeal. So do your part. Eat some nuts.

 Find a Testicle Festival in your Area

‘Testy Fest’ Returns to Virginia Square

Testy Fest 2015 logo The Montana State Society is again hosting its annual Testicle Festival in Virginia Square this year. The event, which lets participants dine on all-you-can-eat Rocky Mountain oysters while sipping all-you-can-drink beer and Crown …

Filed Under: Food, Project 365, Small Town Living Tagged With: 365project, blogs, cooking, Elmwood-Murdock, Food, Nebraska, Pioneer Woman, postaday, project365, recipe, Ree Drummond, Rocky Mountain Oysters, Testicle Festival, weird food

Day 163/365: Crabapple Tree in Bloom

May 17, 2011 by info@3QuartersToday.com

More flowering trees, this time I know it’s a crabapple tree, unlike last time,  as I saw last years lingering crab apples. Still experimenting with an old Olympus E-10 I bought off eBay several years ago as I like the clarity it gives, only wish it gave more than four megapixel images. Maybe I’ll get lucky on Craigslist and find a great deal on a high end camera.

CrabApple Tree
Day 163: Crab Apple Tree (Olympus camera SOOC)

This photo above was straight out of camera on my old Olympus digital camera. The lens quality is really sharp, better than my Canon Rebel, but it’s only a 4.6 megapixel so I have to be happy with small images. Here at the lab we can print some nice 16×20’s but I can’t crop anything out, this size shrinks too low to make a sharp print.

Photoshop CS5 Filter/Render/Lighting Effects/Crossing Down/Spotlight

But I’m learning it’s not just the equipment that makes a photographer, it’s skill. I have now gotten better at aperture, shutter speed and exposure on my manual settings, some day when my camera hobby starts to pay for itself I’ll get a better camera.

Thanks to suggestions from my friends at Chick A Day Blog and Anglin Photography  I’ve experimented with this photo a little. Some like more contrast, others like a softer look, or maybe a more artistic flair. This photograph lends itself to all of them. Never think that you can’t learn from others. Straight out of camera images can be really really good, but they can be made “GREAT” by a little tweaking of Photoshop Magic.

Sepia Flowers
Photoshop CS5/Filter Sepia/ Select Color Layer
Cooling Photoshop Filter on Flowering Tree
Photoshop CS5/Cooling Filter & Pink Selection layer for Flowers on Top

I love my blogging friends, I learn so much from them, amazing photographs and Photoshop artists.

Photography Notes: After playing around in the Photoshop CS5 my son gave me when he came home from leave I like the post production images better than the straight out of camera.

More Information on Crabapple Trees

Filed Under: Photography, Project 365 Tagged With: 365project, blogs, crabapple tree, flowers, Olympus, Photography, Photoshop, postaday, project365, Spring

Post a Day: 33% Milestone

April 30, 2011 by info@3QuartersToday.com

Today marks the 33% mark for this one a day blogging endeavor and today’s Daily inspiration, as detailed in today’s post, is to share your three favorite posts so far. I thought it was a pretty cool idea and figured it was a nice and easy one for a Saturday.

My three favorite post are pretty easy.  Which is your favorite most of this little blog of mine? I’d love to hear what you think.

The Gift of Adoption– A birth Father and son meet for the first time, neither were searching for each other. Just how does this happen?

Meeting for the first time

Faith, It’s Not Just Black and White

Sometimes there are no coincidences in life. Things happen that examples of fingerprints of God in your life. Read more and find out how this happened to me.

Faith, it's not just black and white...

Macro View of a Daffodil

Watch and as I explore and stretch the capabilities of my humble point and shoot Fuji S1500 camera.

Day 133: A Macro View of a Flower

Filed Under: Project 365 Tagged With: blogs, postaday

Day 59/365: Mandarin Oranges

February 2, 2011 by info@3QuartersToday.com

Mandarin Ornages
Day 59: I love Mandarin Oranges

Yes, I love Mandarin Oranges. I would pick up a can at our local convenience store CD Express, in Elmwood, and eat them as a snack. Cheaper and healthier than chips don’t you think? The problem lately is the store no longer stocks them. But every time I stop in I walk down the aisle and look at the empty space where they used to be.

Before Christmas this past year we stopped in and and lamented the fact that I couldn’t get me Maradarin Orange fix.  She said she would get me some for Christmas. I smiled and said “OK!”

You read that right 6 lbs 9 oz of Mandarin OrangesWell,  Christmas came this year I received about five cans, or about 7 lbs total. Not only did Jen put four small cans under the tree but I got a HUGE six pound bulk size can as a joke. Hey, have your laugh,…I’m eating Mandarin Oranges.

At first I thought I was going to have to find recipes to use them all, but no, better my daughter and I we will have them gone within the week.

But, if you ever find yourself looking for things to do with Mandarin Oranges here are a few hints.

Chocolate Dipped Mandarin Oranges With Sea Salt

Spinach Salad With Mandrin Oranges

Bittersweet Chocolate Tart With Mandarin Oranges

Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Mandarin Chicken Salad

Pork With Mandarin Oranges

Filed Under: Food, Project 365 Tagged With: 365project, blogs, chocolate, Food, Photography, project365, snacks

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