Dusty Conditions

Okay, many of you may think that you know what dusty is. Well, over here, they have a whole new meaning for the word. When we say dusty, we really do mean it.

My room is down there somewhere on the left -
It is like a snow storm, except, this will not melt away and leave everything clean.

All you can do is wait it out and them clean up after it is all over.

Wild Hogs

Well, for those that did not know, June 29 was National Ride Your Motorcycle to Work Day and I am sure that Household 6 paid homage in her special way, but I am over here and unable to ride my own motorcyle to work, so I had to find a replacement.

Now, I know that this is not mine, and it is certaintly not a Harley, but in a pinch, it will do. I am holding the most recent copy of the HOG magazine to show my spirit and solidarity.

Nature

As we walk to the DFAC every day, we have across this bridge and the water below has been stocked with fish. Some say that Saddam bred some special fish for his hunting buddies, but I have never seen them. Anyway, as we cross this bridge, there is a very Pavlovian reaction to the fish below. They know what time it is and are very well fed.

If someone throws some food in to them, it causes a swarm. All very interesting.

At the other end, I was out on an after dinner stroll and I happened across this rabbit. it just all seemed very strange, so I had to try and get some pics.

All is well here. We are over the half way mark and we begin the countdown. :)

Catching Up

Okay, I know that it has been a very long time since my last post. For that, I am sorry. Things have been a little busy over here and today, I will try my best to make up for some lost time.

First, on 30 June, I took a little trip out to one of our most remote places, FOB Hammer. It began as a very nice day, with a flight in a Blackhawk
Some sights from the window seat: Here we have Al Faw Palace. I have talked about this before. This is a old hunting lodge and it is nice to see from above.

Another view -

And although not mine, this is where and how we live. The CHUs (Containerized Housing Units) are just lined up. It all works quite well.

Well, once we got to Hammer, the weather quickly turned bad and we ended up being stuck there for a week. Every day, we would call back to the office and see if anything was flying, with no luck. The team at Hammer did take very good care of us and we had all of the normal luxuries; bed, shower, food, but the problem was that none of us were prepard to live there for a week. I was repared to stay one night, not six. But we all managed and survivied. Here are some pictures of Hammer;

This is just a funny picture, FOO is how we buy local items for the office.

This is part of the team; the man in the center is the Division Engineer and was the team lead. At this moment, I am sure he is giving out some words of wisdom.

While we were there, we saw some Iraqi tanks. Regardless of who got to the intersection frst, they always have the right of way.

While we ewre there, we all celebrated Independence Day. Even in the middle of nowhere, and in the middle of some very bad weather, the American spirit shows through. This is a cake of all of the services -

The Liberty Bell made out of cereal -

Happy Independence Day -

We have to have one of the flag -

and although not a ery good picture, this is the Declaration of Independence -

While we were stuck there at Hammer, there we about three places that we went;

The MWR House, this is where I watched a lot of movies and caught up on the news. Did everybody hear that Michael Jackson died??

I would call home to tell Household 6 that I was still stuck -

Gym, walked by it, but I did not pack any gym clothes -

and of course the DFAC. Food here was actually very good.

Okay, that is the story of me being stuck at Hammer. I am never going back there again.