08-10 February 2011

08-10 February 2011

Before snuggling in last night and taking my Tylenol PM’s, I checked weather.com and was excited to see clear skies all week with no rain. We had rain 4-5 days ago and we still have rain puddles and mud pits to navigate.  I opened my door this morning and was met with a sheet of water falling from my door ledge. I won’t repeat what expletive came from this virtuous mouth. Running late, I grabbed my gortex jacket, left my flip flops on and headed to the restroom.  Big mistake, I should have taken the time for my running shoes. As I head towards the Cadillac, I slosh through the multiple lakes and my feet are now freezing and very wet.  After brushing my fangs and face I head home. More lakes and more frozen toes.  

I came with two pairs of running shoes; one pair I wear around base and the other, I hand carry to the gym and do a change over once inside.  My first week I made the mistake of wearing my good shoes to the gym and was embarrassed after my run to find a pile of dirt at the end of the treadmill. As the belt went around, dried mud from my shoes would fly backwards into a neat pile. That would also explain the posted signs of no muddy shoes in the gym. 

The rainy season has definitely hit Baghdad. On sunny days like today, I truly appreciate Operation Pimp My CHU. I leave my door open as much as possible when I'm getting ready in the morning for fresh air and it also gives me a chance to view my “garden.”

The gal before me had left a planter with faded flowers in it and I have augmented it with flowers sent from my Mom. I took empty water bottles and filled them with rocks and used these as vases. The vases I then crammed in the rebar loops in the mini T walls lining my door entrance.  With the addition of a bright green chair cover, I have my own oasis. I planted a Garfield Chia Head, but I have yet to see any sprouts. I'm wondering if the rain is keeping it from growing. I'm also told pink flamingos and a gnome are on the way. I'm very excited to see how my veranda will changes over time. One of the other CHU’s is now sporting a lawn flag and Julie has put out a wicker vase with silk flowers. It is on the silly side, but I do enjoy walking around my T wall and seeing this splash of color greeting me. We had mail call today and I was told I have started something. Edwards received skeleton flamingos and Austin now has a lawn flag as well. If you know Austin and Edwards, you know this fits them both perfectly. The other day, I had a late start which was lovely. I took advantage of the extras hours by enjoying the rare nice weather with a cup of instant Starbucks coffee on my veranda. It truly is the small things in life.              

I came home a few days ago to find a love note on my bed. KBR, the local contracting company, left a note stating they installed a fire extinguisher inside my CHU while I was out. I turned around and there it was, attached to the wall next to my door. It is the biggest individual  fire extinguisher I have ever seen. In the event I didn’t notice or maybe got lost in my CHU, they also installed a large reflective arrow sticker pointing to the extinguisher. Here is the best part, when I walked outside, I noticed all they had done was take the fire extinguisher from the outside and mounted it on the inside. Now there is a giant arrow pointing to a nonexistent extinguisher. I'm not following the logic on this.

We had our first unit BBQ and broke in the back patio area. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs during shift change and we hoarded lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and sodas from the chow hall. The day before, me, Julie and Walker hit up the PX and the two grocery stores for last minute items. The PX carries a few items, The Palms has a small grocery and the Taha Mall grocery carries the most.

Walker had purchased what she thought was an apricot fruit roll up and I bought two bags of dried apricots from the mini grocery store at The Palms. On the way back to Sather, Walker unrolled her dried fruit and gave it the sniff test. She said it smelled funny and wasn’t sure about it. She tore a piece off and passed it up to Julie to try. I then gave it the sniff test and thought it smelled like rancid oil, much like when Crisco goes bad in my cast iron pots. I wasn’t about to try it and by this point, you know Ill try just about anything. Julie took a small bite and instantly stuck her tongue out and couldn’t get the taste of her tongue. Walker and I are in hysterics at this point. From the look on her face, it had to be pretty bad.

Later that night I was watching a movie on my laptop in my CHU and broke out the baggie of dried apricots. In the store I was fascinated the apricots were not Dole perfect and they looked very natural and something you would see from your own food dehydrator. If you grew up in the ‘70’s you know what I'm talking about as your mother probably dried every fruit known to man. In the dark I munched away and left just a few in the bag. The next morning when I reached for the bag I noticed bits of leaves and what looked like a bug stuck in one of the folds of the fruit. I still have one bag left I haven’t touched.

I'm always fascinated with the Taha grocery store and always seem to pick something up to try. On a previous trip I bought a box of sweets labeled Turkish Delight. At first this gave me flashbacks to Bagram where Ed Bobbet had Turkish Delight sent to him. I have to say, it is the most heinous thing I have ever eaten. It is some Irish treat Ed goes crazy for and has his family from Ireland send it to him. He didn’t have to worry about the shift eating it, as we all thought it was disgusting.  This Turkish Delight however reminded me of the jelly squares I used to eat from Sunkist and was eager to try. The only resemblance to Sunkist was that it was a jelly candy. The flavors were green, yellow, orange and pink. The only flavor I recognized was pink, which was rose water. I don’t like rose water. The squares were also covered in what I thought was powdered sugar, but it wasn’t sweet like sugar and was more like talc powder. Overall I can say I tried it, but the box went into to the trash.

I am very happy with the Turkish Restaurant and the brick pizza place. I wrote about the shared pizza earlier I ate with Julie. I would order it again, but I can’t seem to walk past the Turkish place without ordering, it is phenomenal. I have ordered the same chicken dish twice now which comes with yummy rice, tomatoes, and this lovely bread. I now order extra bread and a container of hummus on the side. This hummus is like no other and I could eat it plain with a spoon. I'm sure it is in its raw state and does not contain preservatives, chemicals, natural added flavorings and who knows what else we normally eat. This last time I ordered the chicken dish resembling a burrito with a side of hummus and bread. I was not disappointed. They have a lamb dish I ask for every time, but they never seem to have it available. At some point I hope to change it up a bit and get off the chicken kick, but it is a proven winner.

In the same area is a bakery I normally walk right past. This time I stopped in and discovered the equivalent of a macaroon. The day before I rotate home, I will have to buy the whole lot and bring them home in a zip lock bag. These cookies are rich, dense and with the perfect coconut flavor without being too sweet. I think it’s a good thing the bakery is far and out of the way, otherwise I would eat these everyday and come home looking like a macaroon.

The theme here seems to be food so I’ll go with it. I purchased a crock pot from Target and had it shipped directly to me. So far I’ve made AOR Queso, coined by Nick Botich from our Bagram trip and shredded chili verde. Whatever canned goods I can find, I dump in the crock pot with Velveeta cheese. Oddly enough its quite delicious and I get no complaints. After all, anything with Velveeta is good, right? The chili verde turned out very well. We had a pork roast in the freezer I thawed and put in the pot. I seasoned it with a misc. assortment of spices we have and added chow hall orange juice/drink. I'm going with it being more juice than drink, but you never know. Later I added a can of diced Ortega chili’s and a can of Herdez green salsa. That cooked a little more and it was ready. Walker made rice in a rice cooker plus she had lime juice. Those two additions made it perfect.  I'm hoping for reinforcements to make more AOR Queso and I'm going to tackle cobbler next.

Today was a sunny day and the rain had cleared. In its wake  were massive lakes. When I headed to the Cadillac, it was like jumping from lily pad to lily pad. Wooden pallets had been placed over the lakes to give us a path to the entrance. Yesterday was nearly impossible to reach the bathroom as it was surrounded by a moat.

When it rains, 4x4 posts are laid out for us to walk on, but they were actually floating when we stepped on them.   

Yesterday during the rain, Renee and I were out running errands. Our vehicle needed gas and the gas pumps are only open from 0700-0930 which is before our shift. I hate relying on the other shift and gave our friends at POL (Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants) a call. They agreed to sign out the key to us and off we went. We stopped at Comm and exchanged a radio battery and then went to Comm Focal Point to have one of our Motorola radios re-keyed. Then it was off to the pumps. We drive up and and get out of the truck. We both looked at the pump and wondered what the key is for. The hose/nozzle is not secured to the pump, but when you squeeze no gas. Our main office with the big wigs was close by and we headed over there. We stopped at a nearby electrical box with two levers that happened to have locks on them. We unlocked one and moved the lever in the up position and tried the gas. Nothing. We walked back to the box and I tried to unlock the other lever, but my fingers were frozen and they would not cooperate.  Renee thinking I was a dork tried the lock herself and realized it wasn’t me, but the cold. She gets it unlocked and flips the lever while and I  squeeze. Success, the little spin dial thing wasn’t turning on the pump showing how many gallons I was taking, but I could feel the fuel in the hose. When it spilled out, I figured the tank was full.  I admit, every time I take the ASVAB, Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, I fail the mechanics and electronic portion. According to the test results, I'm not eligible to work most items requiring moving parts.  

Our vehicle hadn’t been washed since I arrived and it was a muddy mess. It was to the point, you couldn’t see out the side windows. Our power washer has been either missing or broken, so just how do you wash a vehicle? In the bed of the truck was a giant window squeegee on a long stick. I squeegeed the sides and rinsed the squeegee in the water puddles. I tried to loosen and wipe off as much mud as possible, but left quite a bit behind. Renee and I still had more errands to do and as I drove around base I would speed up as I approached the puddles hoping the splash would reach the sides and rinse the mud off. This was actually quite effective and as it continued to rain it washed the remaining mud.