The Leaves are Falling and the Eagle is Flying.

Today the list came out for next year's Army promotions to Colonel. My husband's name was on that list!
We had anticipated it, but were relieved to see it there in black and white
Let me explain the title of my post.
My husband is currently a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army. His rank insignia is an oak leaf cluster.

 Because he was selected to be promoted to a full Colonel, his rank will go to an Eagle.

Come on.. it's clever, don't you think? I have also heard the phrase, "After the leaves fall, there is nothing between the eagle and the stars."  (meaning after colonel the ranks are all general officer ranks and they come with stars)
Nick is number 76 on the list. It's hard to say when he'll actually pin on the rank because you just never know how many people will be promoted each month. If they continue to choose around 20 per month, and don't start until November, we're looking at several months. Either way, it's nice to know it's coming and that there is a pay raise in our future! 
Another little tidbit of information some of you may not know....the rank of Colonel comes with an eagle sticker that goes on your car next to the Department of Defense (DOD) sticker.  A lot of parking lots within the military have designated parking spots for Colonels and above. You are able to use those spots with the bird on your car. I have been waiting on that bird for years. I can't wait to take advantage of the parking spot!
Tonight for dinner, I had pork chops in mind. I had a basket of apples and decided to put the two together.
I simply used google to find a recipe and came up with a Cooks.com recipe. It was fairly easy and very flavorful. However, there are a few changes I would make if I were to do it again.
The recipe calls for:

4 small apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 (6oz pkg) stuffing mix
4 boneless pork chops

When doing this again, I will put fewer apples and less sugar. When making the stuffing mix, I will increase it to make more, this little bit hardly covered the bottom of the pan and I'm a stuffing kind of girl. I will also add sauteed' onions and celery to the stuffing to make it more authentic tasting. I like mine more savory than sweet.
Nick raved about this. He loved it. Even Alex ate it although he took the apples off the pork and ate them separately.  He is not one to mix his food. If ever I make something with a sauce, he will typically remove it and eat just the meat. He left the stuffing and didn't eat it at all.
The rest of the recipes goes like this:

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Slice apples, place in bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Toss with sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Prepare stuffing mix as directed. Spread stuffing mix into bottom of a 9 x 13" baking pan sprayed with cooking spray. Place pork chops on top of stuffing.
Cover each pork chop with apple mixture. Cover pan with foil, bake for 1 hour. The pork was tender and delicious. I served it with new potatoes and green beans, one of my favorite vegetable combinations.