Random Picture!

Prior Lake Ladder 1 Action Shot!

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving...."grill-master" style!

Who Doesn't Love Chocolate?

Holly, the kids, and I recently made the trek to Brownsville, Wisconsin, for a wedding on her side of the family.

"Confections For Any Occasion" sign.

While there, we went to the town of Theresa to visit Confections For Any Occasion. This quaint little candy shop, cafe, and ice cream shop is run by Holly's cousin, Joel.

Confections for any occasion has a wide selection of Door County wines and micro-brew beers.

Joel carries just about anything you can think of, including fine Door County wines and micro-brew beers.

One of several cases stocked with hand made confections, guaranteed to satisfy any sweet tooth!

The best best part of the shop, however, are the cases full of hand made confections. Joel and his staff make a wide selection of mouth watering chocolates, candies, and truffles. Try the beer truffles, they are to die for!!

"The Zimm" and the one and only Joel!

If your in Eastern Wisconsin, stop on in and get some good food and chocolates, you may even get a chance to meet Joel himself! Too far to drive? No problem, Joel's sweet tooth favorites are available on-line at www.confectionsbyjoel.com 24 hours a day!

Now That's a Fire!!

The Prior Lake Fire Department recently had the opportunity to do a training burn on a house in Prior Lake. House burns such as this provide a training environment that is second to none. We start several small fires and extinguish them, giving us the chance to learn fire behavior and extinguishing techniques, prior to letting it burn to the ground. Oh yea, it's a heck of a lot of fun too!

Fully Involved!

Dale, "The Zimm", and Vic

The PLFD crew

What's Up?

Hey All!

Well, It's been a month or so since my last update! As most of you know I am back home now, and acclimating well to civilian life. Over the past three weeks I have been filling my days with "honey-do" projects, volunteering at the schools and church, and getting back into the swing of things at the fire department. It was great to have a chance to catch up with a lot of you, and if I haven't seen you yet, I look forward to doing so!

'Till next time!
Zimm

Back in the USA!!!!!!

Hey everybody!

Wow, Where did the time go? After 9 months of deployment, and 36 hours of flight delays, my time in the "crappy sandbox" is over! The flight home was long. We stopped in Turkey and Ireland before landing in Norfolk, Virginia.

We made a brief stop in Turkey, we had to stay on the plane

2 hour stop in Shannon, Ireland

The flight home was full of smiles, cheers, and anticipation. I could not wait to get off the plane in Norfolk to see the best sight in the word, Holly and the kids!! They drove to Virginia to meet me, and have been here while I processed out. We had the chance to see some sights and get reacquainted. I will post some pictures of our travels later.

Holly, Zack, Eryn, and Lizzy met me in Norfolk!

Now I am looking forward to driving home with them. I will still be on active duty until mid November, or so, while I take leave and do final processing but we should all be back in Minnesota by mid week!

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Zimm

Greetings From Ireland

Greetings From Ireland!! More to follow later.

Zimm

Hi Everybody!

Hello Everybody! Well, it been a little while since I've sent out an update, and for that I apologize. Life in Kuwait has been very busy! We don't mind, though, it makes the time go by faster! We are getting ready to wrap things up here, and I am hoping that I will be posting from home soon. If you have a good catch phrase for the blog, let me know!

Now, how about some news.......

U.S. Navy Customs Battalion Sierra, Alpha Company "Minnesota Mafia"

I recently received a U.S. flag from Jean, of Prior Lake. The flag came with a scrap book of all of the places she had taken the flag. I have not seen the book yet, but am very much looking forward to seeing it! The Minneapolis area is well represented out here, and we recently took a photo (above) with the U.S. Navy Customs Battalion Sierra, Alpha Company "Minnesota Mafia" and the flag from Jean. Thank you so much for your support!

The Chapel Crew: Bruce, yours truly, Mike, Chris, Jo, Chris, Jinger, Eric, and Ramirez.

As the end of our deployment to Kuwait draws to an end, I would like to take a moment to send out some kudos to the Camp Arifjan Chaplin Corps, (Chaplin) MAJ Moore, and all of my friends who kept me company at church each week. You guys are awesome! You folks made the time away from home a lot easier, thank you! I will miss our Sunday lunches at the "Oasis Outback", especially the Chaplin mandated trip to the "health" (ice cream) bar.

Well, I guess that's it for now!

Zimm

Navy's Newest "Weapon System"

A big "thank you" goes out to my co-workers at Park Supply for the package full of squirt guns! We all truly appreciate the support you guys and gals have sent our way!

Thanks Again!

Zimm

WHAT??????

I'm not a doctor, but I don't really think she should worry about the jackhammers!!??

Zimm, Don't You Work?

A lot of people are e-mailing me to ask if I do any work out here. I have to say, that is a fair question! In fact, I DO work. The deal is, I have an agreement with the Navy that says I can keep my blog up as long as I don't talk about our day to day operations. Hence, all I write about is the fun stuff! For some pictures of us at work, click the "Navy Customs Battalion Sierra" link to the left. Kip is one of the guys who has permission to post work stuff!

Now, how about some news?

The thermometer by the admin tent shows 118 degrees

The weather has FINALLY cooled off! We have been averaging 120 degrees during the day, which is still hot, but the evenings are getting into the mid 90's, which almost feels chilly!

Noel, Elton, Dup, and I pose for a picture with O.A.R.

We recently had the band O.A.R come to Camp Arifjan. They are an alternative rock band, and put on a great show! 4 of us from Customs Battalion worked the security detail for the show (oops, talked about work!). The up side of security detail is the chance to spend a little extra time talking to the band, and getting a group picture!

The "Ziggy Stardust's"

Despite the fact my team, The "Ziggy Stardust's" (I did not pick the dorky name!), was eliminated after only two games and I nearly broke my foot in the process, the unit dodge ball tournament was a blast once again! We had six teams play, and the "Shake-n-bakes" took out the "Officers and Chiefs" for the title. We are looking forward to playing again in a week or so. We have formed 2 Minnesota Mafia teams for that one........I can't wait! Dave's once in a million shot!

We have also been playing a unit dart league. Now, I suck at darts, but since Park Supply sent us this dart board, I have decided to play. My record, 1 win and 6 losses....hey, I told you I sucked! The once in a million shot, above, was thrown by Dave. If you look closely, he threw one dart into the other. Nice shot, Dave!

Well, I guess that's it for now!

Till next time,

Zimm

Random Picture

While I was on R&R we had a Grill-n-chill out on the dhow.

Kuwait Critter - Part 2

Well, I am a forgetful person, and I forgot the most creepy Kuwait critter of them all. We had a Camel Spider come by our quarters. Camel Spiders are fairly uncommon this far south, but they are here. This "little fella" was about 3-4 inches across (note the 2x4 board and boot toe in the pictures). How's that for creepy, Mel?

Nice Teeth!

Nancy, Dup, and I goof off in the admin tent.

Kuwait Critters!

With Kuwait being so hot and dry, I never thought that much wildlife would be found here. The truth is, the desert is a critter hot spot!

Here are just a few of the critters I've seen running around Camp Arifjan.

Desert foxes are seen on camp every now and again. They are generally seen roaming around alone, but a fellow customs sailor captured this truly rare image of a mother and her pups eating a lizard near our admin tent, what a great shot!

There are lizards aplenty around these parts. Here is a lizard that was basking on a rock at the Retrograde Yard right outside of the customs shack.

Scorpions are also pretty common in Kuwait. One day, this normally nocturnal scorpion payed us a surprise day time visit!

I'm all for wildlife stopping in for visits, but this Sand Viper was an unwelcome guest to our admin tent! Sand Vipers are very aggressive, are known to strike a single victim several times, and have very potent venom! One of our sailors CAREFULLY herded this stray bandit into an office trash can until the camp animal control dude could get him out of the area. The good news, no anti-venom was needed!