Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

Personal Essay

Got Pandemic Short Timer Syndrome?

By 4 Comments

Blooms in the neighborhood!

Spring Greetings! Unless you’re cowering under snow, then my apologies. We had a heat wave here in Oregon and it felt like August instead of April. Complete with fire warnings. Did that last year, no need to repeat, thank you very much.

Then the rains returned over the weekend. Good thing. We need to keep fire danger down.

But the two weeks of sun might explain part of our current Oregon Covid-19 fourth wave surge. We had sun for two weeks straight and lost our minds. 

Do you feel like you’re trying to give a cat a bath while trotting on a treadmill that’s sinking in quicksand? Yeah. Me too. I recognize this affliction. We called it short timer syndrome in the military. Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan veterans know about in spades.

It’s the limbo time before you go home from war, deployment, or get out of the military. Or in our case, mask wearing and pandemic social distancing.

It can be the most dangerous time of any mission.

You’re tired of everything. You want it to end. Your focus slips off the mission target. Then stupid stuff happens.

We be there my fellow recruits. Dig deep and hang tough. Last Monday I was released out of the gates like a greyhound chasing a real rabbit to sign up for a vaccine shot. And the race is on!

Since I’ve been too young and healthy until now in Oregon, grateful for that, I’m doing the shot-a-rama thing to get an appointment. Wish me luck! I’m the last in my family to get stuck and will do my part.

The Oregon Health Authority released a new web table tracking vaccines per county. OHA is doing a great job, by the way. And this fancy new graphic gave me an idea.

Let’s play a national game! We’ve got the data. In Oregon right now, Benton County on the coast is leading with 52 percent vaccinated versus second place Lincoln County coming in at 51 percent. You feel it right? The competitive American spirit. In a good way.

If we can get the National Football League to provide graphics, ESPN to get a Covid vaccine tracking board with a nightly update, Scott Van Pelt from SportsCenter to talk it up, we can ignite our competitive state pride. Add spiffy stickers to download for each state.

You know what will happen next. Las Vegas will set up the odds for the betting folk.

And everybody gets to play! Including Puerto Rico, Guam, District of Columbia, American Samoa, U. S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, and all the outlying islands and atolls. (We’ve got a bunch of those folks.)

Because as dysfunctional a USA family as we might be; we are gamers. Digital and old school. Online and offline. And if we think we’re going to let another state or area beat us, heck no.

I’m up for doing whatever it takes to get us to national herd immunity. For once, I want to belong to a happy cow herd. I’m thinking 101 percent. 101? We’ve got not-yet-born babies percolating as we speak people. This is a moving target!

Prizes? Shots in arms. But also important? Bragging rights.

The smaller populated states and territories and the District of Columbia have a very good chance at kicking big population state’s butts. For once.         

But the very best part? Saving lives.

Now we need a catchy name. US Super Shots Competition? USSSC? Sounds like a legit thing to me. Dr. Fauci can be the Commissioner!

These are the days we have to be crafty and creative fighting this global enemy.

Don’t take your eyes off the mission, gamers.

I know we’re tired, exhausted and cranky. I’ve even rearranged my refrigerator magnets. But now is when we dig deep and continue to mask and roll up our sleeves.

Join me in becoming a contestant in the USSSC.

I think as the bonus prize, the winning state or territory gets to pick the military aircraft flyover of their choice. Because that’s how we do it here in the USA! And our military pilots need the flight hours. Plus, it’s cool.

My aircraft shopping list? Several C-17s. Some C-130s. One B-52 and B-2 bomber each. A herd of CH-47 choppers. A flock of A-10 Warthogs! A bevy of Apache and Blackhawk choppers for spice. Local Air National Guard fighters. And the Air Force Thunderbirds and the Navy Blue Angels with some kicking Coast Guard rescue choppers. That’s a good start……  

And I must leave you with a fabulous lemur video showing how they celebrate spring at the Oregon Zoo.

P.S. BREAKING NEWS: Just got my shot appointment scheduled. Syringe ahoy!

Baby Yoda at the Oregon Convention Center vaccine site supporting the National Guard! He is masked and vaccinated. My sister took this picture after her volunteer shift putting shots in arms and monitoring, while my brother-in-law escorts folks who use wheelchairs through the process. So proud of both of them. It takes all of us!

Kick 2020 To The Curb!

By 4 Comments

I’m sitting here with Crunchy Cheetos dust on my fingers while I fire up a send off to 2020. A year that defies description. But like steel, when forged in fire, we get stronger. And part of that is to acknowledge the staggering loss of life here in the United States and around the world, due to the pandemic. A moment of silence with respect and compassion for all the families and friends grieving right now.

Things will get better. Our science and health care warriors are geared up and wearing invisible capes every day.

So let’s celebrate what makes us human. Joy and laughter. Because without the pain, we wouldn’t appreciate the joy. And we will work together to make sure this doesn’t ever happen again. I’m thinking AI robot dogs virus sniffer teams. They’re working on them!

So let’s dance with robots, appreciate the animals, support our troops serving around the world and thank our veterans. 

Happy 2021 everybody!

 

Miracles Do Happen

By 2 Comments

by Kimberly A. Cook                       (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

When last we chatted Oregon was preparing for the fabulous eclipse. It was a great party. Since then, correct me if I’m wrong, but it feels like we’ve been playing a national game of disaster whack-a-mole. Hurricane Harvey, wildfires in Oregon and the West, then Hurricane Irma. Yowsa.

Whoever ticked off Mother Nature, apologize now.

But miracles do happen through the efforts of “ordinary” Americans:

The fire fighters who stood their ground and saved the historic lodge at Multnomah Falls by surrounding it in a wall of water all night while the flames burned all around and over them and embers flew across the Columbia River. No easy feat that save, with the fire coming within thirty yards of the wood shingled lodge.

The shelter dogs and cats evacuated ahead of Hurricane Harvey from Houston to Oregon and Washington, many have already been adopted.

The 1,700 food boxes packed and shipped by the Oregon Food Bank to Houston to help feed those in need. Know they will be packing more for Florida.

The curator and a staff of nine at the Hemingway House in Key West, Florida who rode out the storm with the fifty-four Hemingway cats and all were spared. Angels were above them all.

The news reporter who helped get one exhausted baby dolphin back out into the sea and helped with other volunteers to carry another stranded dolphin back out into the ocean.

The bystanders who quickly realized two manatees were stranded in the mud after the storm suck took all the water from the bay. With the help of Manatee Sheriff Deputies, they dragged the two manatees back out into the ocean a hundred yards.

There will be many stories of kind acts and we will grieve for those who have died. We will also rejoice in the team who went out in the storm to help deliver a baby. Baby’s don’t wait for weather.

Through all the damage and destruction, we’ve seen the best of our country while Mother Nature hit us with her worst. Maybe she wanted to let us know she was in charge after all, by blocking out the sun then hitting us with her best shots.

Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Oregon, California, Washington, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the East Coast, we’ve got your back. Huge hugs and thanks to all the law enforcement, fire fighters, U.S. Coast Guard, Navy, Army, Air Force, Marines, National Guard, FEMA, federal, state, county, city, power company and gasoline employees working their butts off now and for weeks to come.

A special thank you to the men and women at the National Weather Service in Key West, Florida and the military personnel at the Key West Naval Station who stayed behind and did their jobs. You guys are rock stars!

Also gratitude to the American Red Cross volunteers and staff, the non-profit agencies, and all the animal rescue groups. The retailers who opened their stores and the restaurants who are feeding people now are all a big part of our USA team.

Our hearts swell from the volunteer efforts of the Cajun Navy to the monster truck drivers and the thousands of folks who helped their neighbors and the news crews who jumped in to help when needed.

This is going to be a long rebuild, but we’ll get through this together. What better way to honor the loss of the men, women and children on 9/11 that we honored yesterday, than to become a better nation after their and their family’s sacrifice.

With folks like the ones in the video below, USA, we’ve got this.

Is It Still August?

By 1 Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook          (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Have you ever diapered a heat pump? My aging heat pump/air conditioning unit decided to die on Friday. At about 101 degrees outside. I knew this because the house got warm and there was water/fluid leaking from the furnace. The unit had been limping the last two hot weekends, but in the full August heat wave it decided to officially croak.

IMG_4567
Spec Ops Cat was not amused about the demise of the cranky AC unit. It truly was the dog days of August for him. He coped by not moving. Period.

 

This was not my first rodeo with this piece of equipment. Over the years my “unit” has done such fun things as ice up and sound like a Huey helicopter landing in my bedroom and pee through my kitchen ceiling into the silverware holder in the sink.

I’ve hooked up a gravity drain using aquarium tubing and a bucket to catch water from the heat pump that would have impressed NASA.

One winter weekend the drain pipe froze so I had to switch to emergency heat for two days, which caused my electric bill to surpass the national debt.

Since the unit had been limping along, luckily I’d made an appointment with heat pump fix-it guy for Friday morning. He showed up and gave me one last possibility to cure the aging unit’s peeing problems. Most folks had a 75 percent success rate with the fix.

“You’ll know right away,” he assured me. Yup. Saturday morning the diaper (towel) was wet. My unit was a 25 percenter. Heat pump guy told me to “shut it down” if that happened, because I didn’t need to be breathing chemical laden air. Sigh.

This all happened because the “unit” overhead me talking about replacing it. I’m positive. Its lasted longer than most of the ones in my complex, but its been a challenging relationship.

After the first two leaking through the kitchen ceiling episodes, the HVAC wizards were sure they’d fixed it. I had the ceiling repaired and repainted.

The “unit” then decided to freeze the drain line again and once again water poured from my kitchen ceiling. So I left the three foot long opening the width of drywall seam tape, complete with the fancy sagging of the textured ceiling plaster.

Entertained the idea of using white duct tape to cover the gap, but most visitors don’t notice it since no one looks up. It’s my own personal art installation.

So now I have appointments with the ductless guys and the electric furnace guys. We shall see who wins my favor. I long for the days of working air conditioning, cozy heat and a fixed kitchen ceiling and no heat pump diapers.

A girl can dream can’t she?

P.S. In the grand scheme of things it’s no big deal. My heart goes out to the people in Louisiana who would love to have just a leak in their ceiling. Let’s hope for a much better September for all those deserving folks.

 

Can We Open Our Minds With Empathy To Change Hearts And Fears?

By 1 Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                 (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

In my closet hangs a beautiful multi-colored scarf I bought in a beach-side shop in Nice, France in 1983. It shimmers in the light and is one of my favorite souvenirs from that three-month camping trip in Europe.

IMG_0957
The Peace rose. A goal for all of us.

 

Dallas, Texas always reminds me of sprinting through its huge airport to try to get from gate to gate to catch a connecting flight for desert training with the Air Force Reserve.

Never having stepped foot in Louisiana, I got a taste of it when Pops Borskey, a Louisiana native and World War II Seabee, hauled my butt from Cimarron, New Mexico to Washington, D.C. in May 1998 in his red chase truck while we were on the Run For The Wall to honor POWs and MIAs.

Images, memories and places all tied together now in a matter of days because of tragedy. What struck me so hard about two of these nightmares was realizing military veterans killed their fellow military veterans and police officers.

First my condolences to the families, friends and co-workers of the fallen. Law enforcement members are a tight family and they all bleed for each other, literally.

Freedom comes at a cost, both at home and around the world. But acts of evil are no reason to change our lives because if we do, evil wins.

We strive on. We honor the fallen and support their families, friends and communities. We must work to make sure we remain committed to each other, not divided.

As a young nation during the Civil War, brother fought against brother for the right of African Americans to be free people.

In that bloodiest of wars there were 2,213,363 Union soldiers and 1,050,000 Confederate soldiers. A total of 140,414 Union and 74, 524 Confederate battle deaths, plus 224,097 other Union and 59,297 Confederate deaths in theater.

A total of 498,332 lives lost from 1861 to 1865. The United States population in 1861 was 31,443,321. Our ancestors killed almost sixteen percent of the entire population of this country; fighting ourselves for the rights of one race to be free.

We cannot go back to fear and hate, we must move forward. Losing one life is too many. We must open our hearts and minds and truly listen to each other. We have to work together to speak frankly and exercise our empathy toward all.

In my wallet I carry a laminated letter to Ann Landers from April 18, 1990.

Dear Ann Landers: Recently you printed that wonderful quote from Edmund Burke, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

I can’t resist the temptation to add these words from a speech by William Faulkner when his daughter, Jill, graduated from high school: “Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world, in thousands of rooms like this one, would do this, it would change the earth.”

-A.H.P., Memphis

Let’s honor the lives of the Americans we’ve lost by forging stronger communities. Let’s look inward to our own prejudices and listen outside of ourselves to learn how we can stop those whose pain, anger and mental health issues are so great they speak with violence instead of words.

Let’s change the earth, our nation and ourselves; one mind at a time. We owe it to those we’ve lost too soon.

 

 

 

 

Prayers and Support for Dallas and the Nation

By 3 Comments

by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

My heart breaks for the families of the fallen, their fellow police officers, responding medical staff and the people of Dallas, Texas. Know that all of us in the USA are Texans today. I send my condolences, hugs, prayers and support.

-font-b-Rose-b-font-Seeds-Flower-Seeds-Potted-Balcony-Blue-font-b-Rose-b

We must honor all the fallen, support the families, pursue justice, grieve and remember them. Then we must come together as a nation and fix the violence. Our national soul depends on it.