Muddy, Minus the Waters

It rained not too long ago. This normally would seem like a pretty trivial event, but it throws a few wrenches into things here.
I'm not too sure about you, but when I think of the desert, I tend to think of one of two things. First, I think of the obvious: something like the Sahara, the Kuwaiti desert or the Anbar desert to the west of here. Secondly, I think of the high desert, like the Chihuahuan or Sonoran deserts in New Mexico, Arizona and Mexico. Baghdad, on the other hand is neither of those. We have trees, and some vegetation, but mainly we have dust. Nothing but dust. We call it moon dust, due to its resemblance to the fine powder that coats the surface of the moon. It gets everywhere, and it's not even the hot and dry season yet. Back to my story, however. It rained here.

proof of life

When a fine powder gets wet, several things can happen. You can get too much water, and a slurry is formed, which is what happens when there is a lot of rain. You also can get lucky, and there will be so much water that all of the powder will dissolve and run off. Not likely, but ti could happen. lastly, which seems to be the occurence here, is you get a very dry mud. Sticky, gloopy, smelly mud. Now the military, in their infinite wisdom, decided that it would be a good idea to put gravel down everywhere. Seems sensible enough, until your boots get muddy. You might as well put on five pound ankle weights at that point, because the mud causes the gravel to stick to your boots and then you walk funny. It kind of helps get a little bit of the mud off, though.
You all have seen a picture of the CRSP yard, where we work. It is all dust and dirt. When it rains there, it gets gross. Mud gets everywhere, and we just don't care. It's kind of cool, actually, to just be able to stomp your feet as you walk in the door, knowing that you're making a huge mess, like this one:

only part of it is mine

It's neat! I've also got a few pictures of the muddy CRSP yard:

it's kind of soupy sometimes, too

this thing is worthless

In other news, we went back to twelve hour shifts, because people can't follow simple instructions and relay messages between the three shifts. Hopefully it's just temporary until we get some standards set. It's not as though we're working hard, it's just that twelve hours takes a lot of time out of the day, for things like PT and getting stuff done. So, speaking of work, I have a few pictures of where I work:

my desk

what i see each night

this is what the customer sees

the view from our "chariot"

And lastly, since Kristen was chiding me for not having more pictures of me here, here's a shot of me "hard" at work:

workin hard, hardly workin, hey man, you know me

Well, I think that's about it for now. Oh yeah, I am at a critical low on hot sauce. I like the more flavorful sauces, not the vinegary ones, like Tabasco and Crystal. Send sauces like Cholula or Melinda's, ok? Bye!