Pullin' Pork

for anyone who wonders ....Craig is NOT going hungry in Afghanistan. He may have to walk a 1/3 mile to the kitchen, but once there, it is a veritable cornucopia of food options! And according to him, it is all good! Although, I bet if you asked him he would admit to missing Leigh Anne's cooking....because she is a great cook! :)

My New Ankle Brace

Farewell to the crazy boot!

Hello to the new ankle BRACE!


I'm happy to report that I can now drive a car...and wear two shoes at a time (although that "shoe" thing is kind-of deceptive - I can really only wear certain kinds of shoes and I certainly cannot wear high heels!)

Julie's Aircast

Ok...not a Craig related post...but just something fun from me (Julie!). I think I told Leigh Anne, some time ago, that I would post a picture of my lovely "boot" that I get to wear everywhere I go. This is it. :) Isn't it divine?

I actually think it is very ridiculous looking. I've had many comments and references to the fact that it looks like a Storm Trooper from Star Wars. ( I agree ) Basically, there are air "channels" inside the boot that surround my ankle and foot. They DO provide some nice support to my ankle. However, whenever I take the boot off (at the end of the day) my ankle has swollen and conformed to the shape of the boot...and pretty much, it is square. Kind-of funny...if it wasn't so sad. But, a few hours elevated and some icing...and it looks pretty normal. I am even getting pretty good at walking in the boot!

Little bear was taking a break at work...opened up the window to let a little fresh air in...looked real nice outside...had to be at least 40 degrees...felt like Spring was its way.

This is the view outside our clinic window. If you look over the bathrooms, shower, bunkers and b-huts we've got a great view of the mountains.

Friday night foosball

On Friday nights the team gets together for dinner and foosball...or ping-pong. Here we are with little bear in tow...can't say I'm any good at this game but we all have a good time. Truth is, it's good we all get along. I'm with Rick (to my right) most all the time. CPT Marrero and SFC Zeveney (destroying us here in Foosball) are with us in the office all day long. We're together all the time. I'm grateful to be with these three -- all work hard and are great to be with. We make a good team. We've got a good number of medics and there are other personnel who will come and go from other services but this is our nucleus. It's a great one.

The things we do for fun....

Ah, yes...the things we do for fun. This is Rick Stocker...he's a doc from Walter Reed who is here to assist us. For some strange reason we have yet to discover he has a thing for V8....loves it. We noticed that he drinks 2-3 of these every meal. So, one day we decided to all start carrying all the V8 we could and giving it to him throughout the day. We got a few laughs out of it....but he'll be surprised in a week or so. We've been stockpiling the V8. Once we have enough for small wall behind his desk we'll bring it out and leave it for a little surprise. Of all the things a person could choose to indulge in I suppose V8 isn't bad! But what do you expect from a top notch Walter Reed doctor type?

I'll get a follow-up picture for the V8 wall....

It snows a bit here...not as much as I'd like but we get a few inches here and there. The most we've had is about 8 inches. Little bear couldn't help himself...just had to get out there and make friends....just like Kerrigan. This little snowman hung out for a while and played with Little Bear. But you know how snowmen are...when things got hot, he was outta there! And the weather has been a lot nicer lately...got up to 40 the other day...makes for good running.

Little Bear Broadcasts Live on FREEDOM RADIO!

Little Bear had his debut on the air just the other day. You probably didn't catch it because Freedom Radio doesn't quite broadcast all the way to your homes...but the D.J. is just across the hall from out clinic. Little Bear just couldn't help himself -- he had to get on there and speak his mind. And what did he say? He said he's having a great time over here with me but he is always thinking of Mommy, Kerrigan, Lily and Joshua!

Updates from Afar

I got an email from Craig today...so, I thought I would share this photo and some tidbits he shared with me. First of all, if any of you are inclined to send him emails I believe he loves to get email and hear what is going on in your life. Just don't expect a response. He might reply...but he might not! (he's busy, and really, he only guarantees replies to LeighAnne and the kids) At any rate, this is the best email address to reach him in a timely manner: craig.mchood@afghan.swa.army.mil

That said, here's his description of the eye photo: "that is a picture of me looking at a guy's eye who had some metal stuck in his cornea....it's goofed up though. My medic had put the dye in his eye too long before I was looking...so when I first took a look there was no dye...I put more in. In the pic the dye is the goo in the pan! It would have been a much better picture if it had been taking when his eyeball was aglow! Anyway, he's fine now." I think I've had that glow in the dark stuff in my eye before too...or at least something similar in a appointment with my Opthamalogist! I remember it being not so pleasant. :)

Craig also said: "I'm actually really busy. this is good because it makes time fly. Things aren't bad. I got a new mattress....it's hard as a rock but it is clean and I do like firm...chow is good...and I get a good work out in on most every day. I like taking care of soldiers. And I'm looking at all the immense number of things I can do while I'm here to improve the Afghani medical system from teaching docs, providing care to the people, working on medical supply logistics, helping to assess existing structures and planning for new ones...just use your imagination. there's plenty to do. I won't come home and be able to ever say there wasn't anything to do. I have great folks to work with and that makes life good too. What else can I say? Yeah, it's cold...just like Utah! We don't have as much snow though. we got about 8 inches the other day and that's all i've seen other than flurries....it is starting to warm up a bit here too....just over 32 almost every day. still in the teens or 0-10 every night though."

Oh! I also got this snowy picture...no description though, So, I'm thinking it is just an illustration of the cold, cold, snowy weather. (I was kind-of complaining to Craig about all the snow here at my house (about 18+ inches this week alone) and how it is really cramping my broken ankle hobbling style!)

President Hinckley

Hey. I thought I would share this video. It was made for the dedication of the Hinckley building at BYU this past summer. They sent copies of it out to donors as thanks for the donations. :) Anyway, I thought it was great and wanted to share with you all.

- Julie