Caption Contest Winner!

From a supporter... "Does this person even like you?"
 gag-@!@!@!@!--cough--@!@!@!@!

Congratulations to MISS EM

And many thanks to the Good Sports of the Fast Company Marines*

I would like to thank all the entrants who have (almost) managed to put me off eating Musk Sticks for eternity!

Miss Em - please contact me via email so I may send the hat your way.


*usually I offer a small Aussie item as a thank-you gift for those in my photos. Somehow I don't really think these Marines will willingly accept anything else from me.. opps...

Last chance to enter the "Caption THIS" competition

One day to go before the judging of the Caption THIS competition



Mirthful Marines - always a scary thing!!

You still have time to enter if you are swift!

and the prize is a wonderful Australian Army cap

Competition Rules -

*Entries can come in from anywhere in the world (you don't have to be a regular reader to enter!)

*Winner will be required to supply a valid postal address (I will hold that address secure & private)

*You may make more than one entry but try to keep them relatively polite

*Competition closes on the 30th of October. Winner will be mentioned on the Meepings and has one week in which to contact me or a redraw will occur.

***edited to add - If you find that blogger won't let you leave a comment to enter the competition please email me your interest @ paxford AT gmail DOT com and I will manually enter your name and Witty Caption into the draw***

Pax and Hobbies

End of October (almost) so a quick round-up of the months endeavours are in order.

All four of my adopted troops are well and safe.  Two will hopefully be heading home to the USA before Christmas; one has been extended until early 2012; and the last one is stationed "Somewhere not ending in 'Stan" and will be there for another 6 or 7 months or so. (as long as he learns to live with the exotic aroma of Kimchi he'll be okay).

Cards and some small items have been sent along to them in the last month.  For my two guys serving during Christmas, I have found some packs of blank Christmas cards that they can share with their battle buddies - and send to their loved ones at home.


Found them HERE

For my other friends around and about the place - a few other goodies were sent across the waves.

Coffeypot got his hat :)

The winner of the beanie got his hat too!

And the winner of the 200th post Army medallion has confirmed receipt as well :)

Wow I feel a bit like Santa's helper with the amount of things being sent out!

Oh and there is hopefully a smiling (oh please be smiling - and not that "you have amused me enough and now must be ninja'd" grin) friend who received one of these

That makes five of those that I've found and sent out [my four adopted troopers all were happy recipients. One said there was just something special about the implied ka-booms]

Oh and my ninja friend also has one of these - minus the Rising Sun hat pin and slouch clip-

Genuine Akubra!

 He had mentioned some months ago that he really wanted a hat similar to the Aussie Army slouch hats (same colour - same basic style) and well... I'm a bit of a sucker in trying to make people smile so I found him one.

[as a FYI the open crown - in khaki colour - only really comes in the Slouch variety so my happy hat supplier sent me one without the extra bits (badge & slouch clips) but evidence that he'd done a quick bit of unpicking.  He was indeed chuffed at the thought of an Aussie Slouch heading into the hands of a Fearsome USA ninja :D]

In at home news - renovations are on-going.  Veranda has now been tiled [for those that recall - it was supposed to be a "let's teach Pax how to tile so she can go on and do the kitchen herself" - instead it turned in to the usual "Your Father knows best - now be a good girl and watch".  Sigh... one day my parents just might realise that I'm no longer four... ].  Oh and wooden flooring has been installed in the living room (photos to come whenever I manage to put my main computer back together and retrieve them).  I still need to repaint the walls of the Living room; complete the veranda sprucing up (there will be lattice and some attempt to grow climbing plants!) and do the full kitchen refit. Thank heavens I decided not to do anything to the bedroom - or I'd be completely swamped!

Oh.. and in other hobbies (since I guess my Milsupport falls under "obsessive hobby to make adoptee's feel appreciated") - I am a bit of a "Girl" when it comes to collecting some rather exciting examples of gender-specific toys.  (erm... that would translate to "Pax collects Barbies" I guess).

I only have a few - and all are mint-in-box (and I justify my hobby by declaring them as "Investments" instead of "dust-gathering over-priced junk" - as one my ex's was wont to call them) - and I like the unusual or utterly geeky.

However I don't believe I can really see me adding THIS one to my collection any time soon.  She just looks a bit too perky for my taste (plus... I can't see any zombie-destroying arsenal. And how can you be a Marine without the Z_D_A??)

 And that's all from me so Goodnight All.

Everything

Pax is wistful....

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/everything.png

Saint Crispin's Day

...And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
(Henry V Act 4, Scene

Caption Re-cap

So it's been brought to my attention that I may be offering the wrong sorts of prize incentives in my recent competitions.

Seems that the Rough-Tough-CreamPuff crowd favours more this sort of THING

So if you know of someone that really wants to enter the CAPTION THIS contest but thinks the prize is just a bit too *too* - let them know that I'm willing to offer alternatives  (sweet caring soul that I am)

Pax does Emo

A Rose for Remembrance

For Love Lost and A Heart Forsaken

Good luck with your life - I hope your choice was worth the pain

Caption This for Pax and Prizes

Some of you may remember my scientific experiments with the colourful Australian sweet (aka candy) MUSK STICK.

If you're new here - or need a refresher - check back on the reactions of one of Test Subject Groups at America's First Sergeant's website; or Navyone's recounting of his exposure.

Go ahead... I'll wait...

..................

..................

................

..................

Back?  Now aren't they all a Happy Happy Bunch! (snickers)

So how about I lift one of those photos (with permission of course - let's not have any grumpy A1S's about) and we can do a Caption Contest. 

Caption Me!!!

*Competition Rules - entries can come in from anywhere in the world.

*Winner will be required to supply a valid postal address (I will hold that address secure & private)

*You may make more than one entry but try to keep them relatively polite

*Competition closes on the 30th of October. Winner will be mentioned on the Meepings and has one week in which to contact me or a redraw will occur.

***edited to add - If you find that blogger won't let you leave a comment to enter the competition please email me your interest @ paxford AT gmail DOT com and I will manually enter your name and Witty Caption  into the draw***
Oh and the prize?

How about an Australian Army cap?

Rising Sun symbol in Gold and in relief on the brim and buckle
Available from HERE.

And in case you are wondering how it looks in person - here is the delightful Coffeypot modelling one that I sent him as a gift

See! Even the Navy guys like them :)

 and........ GO!

Baa Baa Pax

We are poor little lambs
Who have lost our way.
Baa! Baa! Baa!
We are little black sheep
Who have gone astray.
Baa! Baa! Baa!
Verse of The Woofenpoof Song

Some of my readers may be aware that I suffer from the occasional bout of Insomnia.

Are you also aware that those short on Rem-Sleep are incredibly susceptible to impulsive online shopping?

However my occasional 3am Amazon.com trollings pay dividends in nostalgia (by way of giving them shiny gold pieces first).  So I am currently avidly watching my latest acquisition.

Oh and for the youngsters in the audience that don't recognise the lyrics above - it's Baa Baa Black Sheep (aka Black Sheep Squadron)

I should probably mention that I can't recall more than three or four episodes of the show - it was considered "too violent" by my parents so only my older brothers were allowed to watch it at home.  This edict did NOT, of course, apply at my Grandmothers house so I caught some of the shows on occasions. So I am having a wonderful time catching up on the storyline [the pilot episode is pretty good :D]  (and wondering if this show is the basis of my belief that Marines are really amazing... if amusing...  Perhaps I should look into that in depth?  Pink candy may be involved in the scientific analysis)

So if any of my bloggie friends happen to wander through my part of Australia and want to catch up on some really cool "Hollywood'd Military tales" - you can bring the popcorn!

Pseudo Stabby Love

Awww... how cool is this :)



1GB memory Bayonet Flash Drive

Found it HERE

Someone remind me if I can send this sort of technology Downrange or Not?

Or should I just invest in one for a competition prize some time?

**Oh - and I may be spending way too much time corresponding with Military types - found myself today trying to explain the importance of keeping my friends at-home addresses as secure as their Downrange ones... the word "Hopsec" just kind of happened...**

WINNER!!

And through the extremely scientific method of "all names on small folded pieces of paper - tossed into hat - one drawn out"

We have a winner for the Australian Army Medallion

Congratulations to:

ExAFCrewDog

Could you please contact by Email (paxford AT gmail DOT com) by the 15th and I will arrange to ship to you by registered mail 

[contest disclaimer - please note that a lack of contact will result in a redraw]

Priorities...

I really need to remember this...

Quick update

A Reminder that the competition for the Australian Army medallion closes on the 8th of October - so four more days to send in an entry if you'd like to be in the draw.  (in case you encounter Blogger being being a pain to leave comments - you can email me directly, advising you'd like to be part. paxford AT gmail DOT com)

In Troop support news - I have recently heard from three of my four adoptees. All are doing well, and counting down the days till they come home.

Another silly item has been sent off to two of them; with a more practical snack pack (purchased from the the Soldiers' Angel online store) sent to the other two. (I try to alternate the snacks versus amusement parcels when I can)

In home renovation news - I spent two days ripping up the carpet tack trails in the 3mW x 5mL living room. Not a very fun job at all but necessary prior to the hardwood floor installation. And my day off work yesterday was spent removing the kitchen bench that formerly separated the kitchen and living room. Again this was primarily to assist the new floor installation (the bench base intruded into the living room area by 2 inches and had to go if it was to be laid in square.

Not quite as hard a job as I had feared - thankfully!

I still need to undercoat the exposed wall; add an endcap
(cunningly created from part of the discarded bench top); and
re-attach the cupboard door. The gap in the concrete will need to be
filled in - luckily my Dad is champion at that sort of thing.

Kitchen refit will be occurring after the tiles are relaid - possibly november/december at the rate that Weekends are being eaten up with other family gatherings. At least that will give me more afterwork time to repaint all the walls first!

I am tiring of it all - Remind me again why I was confident I could do most of this myself?

Oh.. and the Cat has graduated from dragging in dead rats and live lizards - to dragging in a very VERY annoyed grass snake. Luckily my kitchen tong-foo is mighty (I *may* have been operating on sheer terror of course) and I managed to open my new sliding doors; deftly scoop the offending creature up and out across the balcony. It survived it's encounter and was last seen slithering it's way down the carport. Needless to say I failed to attain any sleep that night at the thought of a revisit.