Happy Mothers Day!!

Happy Mothers Day to all those mothers out there who are on the front lines every day taking care of their children from sunrise to sunset and even when we are grown up and out of the house they still keep tabs on us to make sure we stay out of trouble!

Here things are starting to pickup quickly as I am finally getting sucked into my new job and the water is around my waist and I am about to lose my grip on the guy I am replacing and will soon be swimming or sinking in this project. Since I hate to get my head wet while swimming that means I will be keeping my head above the water line as make my way to the shore and get the project rolling quickly!

It has been hot and humid here of late and yesterday reminded me of levante except the wind was much warmer than what hits the costa andaluza. Today at 1000 hrs we are already at 88 and are expected to go triple digits.

Yesterday we took a ride to one of the other FOB’s and hit a café that was actually pretty nice and most of us ordered frapuccinos to beat the heat and just relax in the air conditioned cafe for a bit to break up the long days here in the office.

With today being Sunday I got a couple of extra hours of shut eye since we don't start work until 1000 hrs, and as has been the norm took time out of work day to attend 1630 Sunday mass. Other than that I may try to get up north sometime next week to sign for my wet trailer (trailer with bathroom and shower) and move most everything into the trailer and set it up so when I finally make the move north the following week I can just move in and it will make the helo ride smoother with less crap to carry.

Our folks are getting sped up on their new jobs and are doing well and seem to be picking things up quickly which is good for them. Hard to believe that I have been here just over 2 weeks in the IZ, and almost 4 weeks in theater. Just finished up with the nightly cigar smoke out in the patio/break area and dad eat your heart out, had a nice Cuban cigar that you surely would have enjoyed smoking! It’s a nice way to end the work day and since there isn’t much for me to do back in the hootch I decided to stick around and shoot the breeze with some Air Force guys and trade some good military stories and jokes. We all agree the Air Force has the cushy jobs and they like to remind us Army and Marines of that all the time!

Guess I will will start running again tomorrow, have taken the last few days off since my back is killing me, first thought I must have done something to it while wearing my body armor. But then again it could be that the mattress I am sleeping on was probably used in the prisons that Saddam had set up for his political opponents and even though he’s dead it must be payback time for us infidels. But I keep reminding myself that even though the damn springs in the mattress are killing me,it still beats the hell out of sleeping on the ground or on top of the HMWWV’s like I did during Desert Storm!

Guess it’s time to call Carmen and see how she is enjoying her mothers day with Cheenie and Javi, then call mom befoe I head back to the hootch and upload the blog at the internet café and get some rest.

Just checked online the Barca-Betis score and my homeboys ended up levelling the match at 1-1 in the 88th minute which means that my brother Roy the Cule will be mad, and my brother in law Pepe and my nephews will be happy campers since Real Madrid is not level with Barca with 4 games to go!

The Colonel