Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Baghdad any more!
Ok, I'm not under any illusion that I am someplace "normal." Yes, Baghdad is a lively city and life goes on. But face it, it's not normal from where I come from. I'm used to driving (well, being driven) down the road and seeing something like a donkey pulling a cart loaded up with propane tanks. For here, that's normal. I even get over the bouts of feeling like I live in LEGOland, except that the LEGOs are 20 feet tall, made out of concrete and are all uniform in color (imagine only sand colored LEGOs - LEGOs would have flopped). But nothing prepared me for what I saw when we drove up to the office today.
As they used to say to us in the army, "What is wrong with this picture?" You might just say, "Uh, the trees are green?" And I'd reply, "As much as I say that everything is sand colored around here, there are in fact green trees here, with leaves nonetheless." Then you might say, "Ah, the cow is standing in the shade?" To which I'd reply that cows are not as stupid as they seem - they're often smart enough to get out of the sun." Following your deathly silence, I'd then say, "There's a damn cow in this picture!" To which you'd reply, "Didn't you say in the last post that the "P" in PRT is "Provincial" and cows live in provincial areas, right?" To which I'd say, "The PRT is surrounded by the City of Baghdad, we're about as provincial as a Brooklyn Cabbie!"
Well, maybe the conversation wouldn't have gone exactly like that, but you can imagine what went through my brain when we drove up and I saw cows. Not one, not two, but three cows. (Sorry Ann and Kim - no cowbells. They need more cowbell! [Yes, this is an inside joke - if you want to understand, go to youtube and enter in "need more cowbell" and watch the full SNL skit with Christopher Walken and Will Ferrel. Word of advice, don't have anything in your mouth while you watch it]). At least someone thought enough to feed the cows.
It didn't take me long to figure out where the cows came from. Face it, I graduated from Virginia Tech, a land grant university. I had one house mate who was an agricultural engineer and who dated (and married) a veterinarian [he actually gave her a palpating glove for christmas, and she told us how to tell whether a cow is pregant - over dinner. You don't want to know - it involves using the palpating glove and acting like you're dribbling a basket ball.] It had to be the agricultural guys. Like I said in the last posting, we've got a real mix of people here to include Ag guys. Now these ag guys are like all the ag guys I've ever met - great folks, but a bit crazy. So because of them, we had cows today. Thanks guys!