Mood:  happy
Greetings All!
Well R&R is far over and we have put our noses back to the grindstone. We have finally moved offices. We are not quite settled in yet – but our equipment is here and we have hooked up our private network. Chris flew out last Tuesday night (actually early Wednesday morning) for Al Asad. Al Asad is a huge base. We are not sure how long he will be there – or how long we will be apart. We are estimating about a month. Every day since he left has been an extremely LONG, BORING, LONELY day. Now that I have moved to the new office and Chris is gone – I am very lonely. No one else works in this office with us – so right now it is just me. I don't know if it is because it is quieter and I can get my work done quicker – or it is just slower than normal – but I seem to have a lot of extra time on my hands the last few days. I hope it is not the calm before the storm! With the exception of customers and friends stopping by and my "neighbor" in the tent next door stopping by – I am alone all day. These have probably been the longest days since I got out here. I am getting used to being alone already though. And it is sometimes nice to have peace and quiet, but I always enjoy it when someone stops by.
Our Lt Col was talking about sending us both to Al Asad (permanently) – but I don't think that is going to happen now. Things change on a daily basis around here – so you never know…. Saturday I had a "girls' night" with a couple friends. They came over to my room and we did manicures, painted toe nails, did hand massages and watched a couple of chick flicks. It was fun not to be surrounded by testosterone for a change.
I don't know if I told you about the "park" that is on the way from our room to our office. It is not really a park - but Chris calls it a park – it has lots of greenery (which is rare in Iraq) – some flowers and some trails. I overheard an officer tell some Marines one time that when Sadam was in power – they trained Iraqis to be gardeners so they could go to the states and try to get jobs tending the Whitehouse gardens – I don't know if this is true or not – but that is what he said. Anyway – there are lots of birds there. There used to be a "satellite" dining facility in the building across the drive way (it was a smaller chow hall that they just brought food in from other chow halls and served only – no food preparations). They would dump leftovers out there for the birds and when they closed it down to convert it to office spaces, I was very concerned about the poor birds not getting fed. I would, on occasion, get bread from the chow hall and throw pieces out there on the way back from lunch and dinner at the main chow hall. I have since found out that I am not the only one who does that. Anyway – there are some geese back there too – and they have babies! There are actually two families of geese. One family had three babies a while ago and the other family had a bunch of babies more recently. It is so neat to see them out there – and it is very common to see them walking across the street and through the parking lot to go to the pond. It is also neat to see the tough Marines get all soft when they see them. It reminds me that they have hearts too – they are not as rough and tough as they act. It is the small things that matter out here – it means so much to me to be able to see these birds and geese and baby geese every day. Something that I would have taken for granted back in the states brings me so much joy out here. I hope that I can remember to appreciate the small things when I get back to the states.
Remember me telling you about the Poptarts Chris used to spell out I love you? Well, I love the chocolate chip muffins they serve at breakfast in the chow halls, but everyone that knows me knows that I am not a morning person and I will skip breakfast just so I can have that extra few minutes of sleep… Well, people were always bringing me muffins and when Chris was in Al Asad – he managed to get a case of them – as well as a bunch of Hersheys Kisses. So when he returned, he used the chocolate muffins and kisses to spell out "I missed you" on the bed. Is he not the "sweetest" husband? Like they say – "Money Talks – but Chocolate Sings" :)
It is already starting to get HOT here. It has gotten up to 98 degrees several times and I am consolidating all my walking trips I can. You walk outside and you feel like you have walked in to a sauna! It is pretty miserable and it has not even hit 100 yet – I hate to think how it will be when it tops 120! Yesterday Chris called and told me about the big dust/sand storm they had in Al Asad. He went on and on about the strong winds and how they blew over a bus stop – yada yada yada…. Of course I had no idea how bad it actually was – until it reached here! OH MY! What a storm! It was so hot and miserable that I went to get the keys to the truck to pick up my laundry – I went back to our room to drop my laundry off and could see the HUGE dust cloud in the distance and was thinking I was glad it was so far off. It looked like something out of a SciFi movie! I put my laundry bags in the room and went to the bathroom. When I came out of the bathroom trailers, I stepped in to a HUGE cloud of dust/sand. I ran to the truck and then just sat there in the truck for a few minutes until I could see. It was so thick that I could not see to drive! I have pictures – but the pictures really do no justice to the storm! It was amazing! And of course the winds really cooled things off too – which was really nice. It is not yet noon now, but it is already a scorcher of a day… I am grateful for the Air conditioning! Well, I will end my ramblings now – I will update you again in a couple weeks (unless something worth writing home about happens before then) Take care and Be Happy ~HUGS~ Sandy