Good start, rough end

Today started well.  I got up and drove around a lot.  I mailed two letters, then got back to the farm to find that the extra SD chip for the Garmin arrived in my absence.  We got it so J could have a navigation system with european maps on it.  I installed it (simple enough), then went to ship it.

Ok.  Here is apparently how the APO system works.  Only the United States Postal Service will mail to APO addresses (UPS and Fedex won't do it).  You can only priority at best to an APO address.  Once it arrives, then the US Army controls where it goes and when.  Today starts the time trial  for how long a package takes to get through the APO system.  It should be received by the Army Thursday at the earliest and Friday at the latest.  From there, we'll see how long it takes J to receive it.  In the future, if there was an urgent package to mail, I may consider sending it to the town house address, although I understand that hundreds of dollars would not absurd to be quoted.  Mailing to the APO only cost me $8.50 priority from Indiana, so it could prove a very inexpensive way to ship.  Time will tell.

I also learned from J today that she passed her German driver's license test.  Yay!  It consisted of around 100 questions, 25 of which were on road signs.  Passing is 85 out of 100 and is only a written test.  She now has a car rental lined up for the month.  That will run us $1000, but the Army may help pay for that depending upon the situation.  I chose to wait on buying a used car until I arrive.  I want to scope out what my transportation needs will be once I'm there.

I finally learned why the dog rules are so strict in Germany...it's because dogs are allowed anywhere...even restaurants!  It's the trade-off for the free-reign the dogs are allowed.  The only problem I expect with Etsy would be encounters with other dogs.  She just doesn't seem to have the hang of simply co-existing without a 10 second rambunctious greeting.  J and I will look into more extensive training with her on that.

J has received her first project at work.  Just like every project, it has its challenges, but I know she's happy to get started with work.  She does have much more in-processing to do, but it's now on a half-day schedule.

R and I had turkey burgers, breakfast potatoes, and brown beans for dinner with one of the latest flavors of Crystal Light: "Apple-tini."  Good food, but I had way too much.  My stomach was hurting for the next 3 hours I was so stuffed.

I saw several pretty flowers in bloom today.  Here are a few I took pictures of.  First, blossoms on the fruit trees on the farm.  Sadly, I don't know what type of tree this is.

This next one is of Etsy sniffing some "black" tulips.  They were the healthiest black tulips I have ever seen.

This last one is of some bleeding hearts I saw in the flower garden by the front door.  I didn't notice them there until now.

Last, but not least, an old friend of mine, K, decided with his long time girlfriend to up and relocate to New Zealand, if only for a half a year.  He quit his job of 7 years and she will telecommute to work.  He will also be blogging his adventures. Funny how life works out so similarly for some people.