Keeping it cool...

I have no appetite when it's hot. I just try and stay hydrated. My favorite cool drinks are Arnold Palmers (half lemonade, half iced tea) and Diet Pepsi. In my drinking days I would stick a beer in the freezer for 20 minutes, so when I opened it, the top inch turned to slush. OMG that is the MOST refreshing drink in the world, on a hot day. Just toss it back and drink it all down while still slushy.
The freezer beer was the perfect thing back when I was in the Army.

I was stationed in Ft Bliss Texas where they would wait until it was like 105F in the shade to decide we needed to do a week or two of training maneuvers in the Texas desert. We would go setup a base camp like it was in enemy territory; camouflage netting, guard patrols, ect. We would take turns going out on patrols and practicing combat formations. A few times they loaded a bunch of us on a helicopter, flew us out to the middle of nowhere and dropped people off in various locations across the desert. We each had a radio, map and compass so we could find our way back to camp.

After two weeks of that we came back to the barracks looking like we were rejected from a Mad Max movie for being too dirty and grimey. I always grabbed a six pack before the manuvers so that I could go straight to my room, move one beer to the freezer to chill as I strip off the 80-100 pounds of gear, then take the beer into the hottest shower possible. I can't quite put into words how that icy beer and hot shower felt, but those were the best tasting beers and best feeling showers ever.
 
The freezer beer was the perfect thing back when I was in the Army.

I was stationed in Ft Bliss Texas where they would wait until it was like 105F in the shade to decide we needed to do a week or two of training maneuvers in the Texas desert. We would go setup a base camp like it was in enemy territory; camouflage netting, guard patrols, ect. We would take turns going out on patrols and practicing combat formations. A few times they loaded a bunch of us on a helicopter, flew us out to the middle of nowhere and dropped people off in various locations across the desert. We each had a radio, map and compass so we could find our way back to camp.

After two weeks of that we came back to the barracks looking like we were rejected from a Mad Max movie for being too dirty and grimey. I always grabbed a six pack before the manuvers so that I could go straight to my room, move one beer to the freezer to chill as I strip off the 80-100 pounds of gear, then take the beer into the hottest shower possible. I can't quite put into words how that icy beer and hot shower felt, but those were the best tasting beers and best feeling showers ever.
My brother went through basic training at Ft. Bliss. When he left home he was a tall, somewhat chubby pale young man. When we went to his graduation we had trouble picking him out of the crowd of brown soldiers. He was a lot thinner and had a dark tan that he had never had when we were kids playing outside in the New Mexico sun. I assumed they had them outside 16 hours a day.

My neice was also stationed at Ft. Bliss. Her unit had orders to go to the middle east but she died before that happened. There was a huge investigation and the family (including me) think her husband poisoned her. Anyway, sorry, that went dark fast.
 
My neice was also stationed at Ft. Bliss. Her unit had orders to go to the middle east but she died before that happened. There was a huge investigation and the family (including me) think her husband poisoned her. Anyway, sorry, that went dark fast.
Sorry to hear about your niece Ja. That is just awful. I hope your family is at peace and if something nefarious did occur, it was dealt it's due.
 
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Sorry to hear about your niece Ja. That is just awful. I hope your family is at peace and if something nefarious did occur, it was dealt it's due.
Thank you. It has been 19 years and we all still miss her, but we are "back to normal". It took many years for my sister to be able to get out of bed and find some reason to be ok. She is back to herself for the most part. It is usually harder loosing a young person in the family than an older person.