All,

Thanks for the offers on the spoke. I think I have a solution in hand. Someone just bought a new-old bike and said I could scavenge what I wanted off his old bike. I've actually worked on this bike before and, if memory serves, the spokes are one of the few things on that bike worth scavenging.

Yes, it really does rain mud. There is usually enough dust suspended in the air so when it rains, the rain drops mix with the dust and make mud. Also, rain here is usually associated with cold, windy fronts. So, first it gets really dusty, then it gets muddy.

On the plus side, we had some brilliant thunderstorms this winter. When it was really hot this summer we used to have lots of dust devils in a row on the bluff above main post. I met an Iraqi Highway Patrolman who said they refer to August as "Flaming August." Not sure if his interpreter translated the name of the month of Ramadan for us (the word Ramadan implies deprivation and I think burning heat.) However, I think Iraqis also use the Gregorian calendar when it's convenient for them.

I was home on leave back in October. It was averaging about 110 (around 40-45C) when I left Iraq, and was about 60 when I got home. I was a little cold most of the time, but my body seemed to say 'Oh, so this is what you are throwing at me next.'

One of the interesting things here is Iraq isn't all desert. If you get around water, particularly the Tigris or the Euprhates, it's kind of pretty.

This is the looking east across the Euphrates just outside of Hit

And this is roughly the same area, but looking west:


Not surprisingly, it's hard to take a decent shot out the door of a moving chopper with a cheap digital camera. I was trying not to get the door gun in the shot, but the autofocus on my camera kept fixating on it.