Sounds unfamiliar…

During my fine stay here I’ve heard a lot of things. Low flying Helos, Car Bombs, rockets, mortars… you name it. However last night I heard something very unfamiliar. For a few minutes I thought it was a sustained attack somewhere in the city. It was an ongoing rumble; then another and another. Are we launching a full scale attack? If so that’s a lot of shelling for such a sustained sound. Even though I was trying to sleep – very late night – I had to investigate. To my surprise as I walked out of the hooch I saw brilliant flashes in the clouded sky and of course more of the deep sustained rumbling. Then came the rain! I love a good rain storm; especially at night. How amazing is it that I’ve been here so long and heard so many disturbing sounds that I forgot what thunder sounds like and what lightening looks like. I was so excited I just stood in the rain remembering a moment in my childhood when I stood out on the ranch next to my father as a storm blew in from the north. What a therapeutic moment.

The other great thing… All this water will pack down the dust that’s doing wonders for my “Baghdad lung.” So I thought… when I woke the next morning I walked out to a sky that was so burnt orange it would make most any University of Texas supporter truly believe God is a Longhorn. Unfortunately it just made me wheeze, choke and hack all that much more. So much for the therapy: Hook Em Horns!