Gone with the Wind

I just returned from an military base version of the American trailer park.  In all seriousness, I am back in my tent and still am somewhat in shock and awe at what I witnessed.  I have never seen a more poorly planned, trash filled, supply skewering waste since I've been here.  Garbage and debris just strewn everywhere, lame attempts at storing and organizing supplies, hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment and supplies dumped in piles and rendered practically useless.  This FOB should have been up on blocks in someone's front yard with 3 or 4 dogs chained to it and a bunch of diapered, dirty toddlers running around it in bare feet.  I don't know how we are going to make the existing portion work, but thankfully it's being expanded and that's shiny new land with no crap strewn around it ... yet.  Really, it looked like a frat house on Sunday morning.

So, the bulk of the day was spent walking the site with the surveyors and making notes of how everything is utilized and what's there that's not reflected on the most recent map.  Uhmm, the majority of the camp would go bye-bye if the ammo storage blew up, but I still attempted to sleep soundly just a few hundred yards from it.  More on that in a minute...  It was a long, hot day and we completed the last two hours in a sand storm.  Wow, was I exfoliated!  I am still cleaning dirt out of nooks and crannies and their nooks and crannies - it was amazing.  I also tried my best to walk around, observe and take notes with my eyes shut and mouth closed, but as you can imagine, that didn't work very well.  I also hate the feel of sand sticking to me, but I put my Howard Hughes tendencies in check and powered on.

Finally we had completed our task and everyone was bone tired.  I retired to our assigned lodging with the female surveyor - own rooms, mattress still partially covered in plastic, relatively cool inside - things were looking up and we thought we were the only 2 in the 4 room building.  Exhausted, I wasn't concerned about falling asleep until about 40 minutes after I laid down when the other tenant came home to roost.  If slamming doors, knocking things over and being a general pig were an art form, then I was rooming next to Picasso.  They way this woman sighed and heaved and threw herself around in her room, I would anticipate that she was roughly 500 lbs.  After an evening of her belching and eating bags of chips, sighing and stomping around, she finally decided to give her cardiovascular system a break and go to bed.  Right when I thought I might get just 2 or 3 hours of sleep, I realize she's taking the night train to Tootville.  All night, an auditorium I hope I never see, made less than beautiful music.  It was disgusting and just the perfect ending to a stellar day.

The next morning, the surveyor and i met up to wait for the helicopter and we couldn't even speak we were laughing so hard at how nasty that woman was - we were exhausted and overwhelmed by the whole experience.  She fit her environment perfectly, whomever she was - neither of us got a glimpse of the Scarlett O'Air-a of the FOB, but with a digestive system like hers, she could have powered her own plantation.  Tomorrow, a repeat performance at a new location but thankfully not an overnight - not that I have any control over that, so i always pack a toothbrush!  I hope all of you have a wonderful Holiday Weekend - I will be thinking about you while I am wondering around on a dusty FOB for hours tomorrow, crafting a plan for the space (and thinking about what I can spell...).

Drink of the Evening -  a peach tea to be enjoyed on the picnic table as the sun sets - pinkies up.