I was only able to one picture this time. More later.
Trouble with Kitty
"fffffffffffffffffdshj,a.jh..aadshjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjn" says the kitty. Around lunchtime it decided to be friendly and let me hold it for a while. So we lay on my bed together and it purred and went to sleep. Then I got hungry so I left it on my bed. 7 hours later, it’s still there. I looked closely to see if it’s still breathing and then set up my computer on the bed. It makes a half way decent desk. When I started to type, kitty awoke from hibernation. At first, he was cute and looked at me and purred and watched me type a letter to my wonderful wife. After being refreshed from his 7 hour nap on my bed, he decided it was time to play. But I guess he was also cold, because he walked over to my lap, and crawled inside the left sleeve of my fleece jacket. This was fine until he passed my elbow and then it became a little tight. I attempted to continue typing. The cat soon got bored. Maybe he didn’t want to back out of the sleeve, or maybe he just wanted to explore my forearm, but for whatever reason he decided it was a good idea to just follow my arm through the sleeve until he saw the light. I opened my cuff for him, and fortunately he only used his claws for the last few inches when he had to drag himself out.
I still had some patience left for the little kitten at this point, especially since I was documenting everything, but I was still more interested in typing. Unfortunately so was the kitten. First he decided to chase the mouse, which would have been fine except that my hand was on it at the time. I didn’t like that, so I sat back to see what he would do. So the cat responded by multitasking. It typed a message to someone while it looked at me and said "why would you type when you could be petting me?" And I said "get off my computer cat!" It didn’t move fast enough so I picked it up and put it on my lap hoping it would crawl happily back into my sleeve or something. It did not. It walked back on to my keyboard and said "1aa1". So I said "get off my computer cat, now you can go on the floor!" Cat did not like not being the center of attention, so it climbed up my leg, jumped to the bed and walked across my computer again, and this time it "accidentally" hit the power button. I was not amused. So I said, "Now you can spend the night OUTSIDE, kitty." So for the past twenty minutes I have been happily typing and listening to music. Five minutes ago I stepped outside and Cat said "MEOW". I gave it some milk.
Winter Wonderland, Iraqi Style
I thought it was unusual that It did not rain all the way through November. Of course, this is only my second (and hopefully last) winter in Iraq, so I’m not sure when is normal. All the way through November it was cool and sunny. Iraq is quite nice this time of year. Even the locals were friendly enough. December 1st I woke up and it was overcast. It stayed that way all day, only raining a few drops at a time.
It was a long day and at 9pm I was still working. I noticed some flashes in the distance and at first thought nothing of them. A few minutes later E and both realized it was lightning. Normally I would be excited, especially because there is very little lighting in WA. But last night as the lightning got closer, I was standing on top of 1,000 gallons of diesel and my job was not yet finished. We were trying to transfer fuel from one tanker to another, and were the tallest things in a large open area. I flipped the pump into high and asked it to please pump faster as the lightning got closer and E and I were still standing on top of our Tankers. I had wanted to transfer 1,500 gallons, but we settled for 500 and finished our work for the day as fast as we could.
The lighting kept getting closer and a short time later was right on top of us, lighting up the pitch black night like an enormous strobe light. There was a lot of wind with it, and I stayed up for a little bit to watch the show. It rained most of the night, and the wind kept up for a few hours after that. The clouds never went away, and I think it might rain again. It hasn’t rained enough to create mud yet, but there has been no dust at all today.
Check back later for pictures
Monday, December 03, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Very interesting stories. Glad that you moved out of the path of the lightning. I'd like to see the pictures of it. Maybe I will send George and Simba over there too. George likes to walk on top of the answering maching in the middle of the night and it wakes up Katie when it starts talking. He also likes to sit on our printer. Mom
kitties are Trouble...
I'm glad you have it though, to keep you company. Make sure to thoroughly clean any scratches he may "accidentally" give you as you don't need MRSA again. I love and miss you.
The kitten is so cute! You should name him. Is the kitten male or female? Little Rascal is a good name. The dogs need names too. I like the pictures and stories. It's so great that you're learning more Arabic. It's good that you have an Iraqi friend. That tea shop sounds cool. I love you brother. Erin
While working on the route one day years ago, a bolt of lightning shot past me and struck a huge tree branch. Yes, the hair on my arms stood up and the branch burned at the point of impact. I did what every brave person would do...run for cover!
The photo of the kitten in your sleeve is priceless. My beloved Fannie used to sit at my keyboard and watch the mouse on the screen as well.
Kitten definitely needs a name.
Cat does not look as small as I thought he would. Is it a he? It does need a name. Maybe you could put up a poll. How are Fleabag and Fluffy Puppy?
Mom
Post a Comment