More Random Thoughts
The number of bat trees seem to be growing, though I don’t know if there’s more bats. There were the two trees to the south of the new embassy, and one along Benson street when we first moved in. Now there are two more trees to the south - one on the other side of Benson and one to the south west just past our motor pool. Plus I think the bats are starting to take to a tree right next to the south side of the embassy. Our Mission Director Patricia, who has an office that faces that direction, says that one day they started swarming and one flew into her window - she says they’re pretty damn big! The bats are also starting to occupy two big trees to the immediate north of the embassy. That’s great for me because, while I don’t have a window office (I work in cubicle land) there’s a window near-by that over looks the two trees and is the best place to make a cell-phone call on the floor. So I get to look at the trees frequently. If that wasn’t enough, on my way to drop off the Rec Hall key the other day I noticed that they’re starting to occupy a big tree on the other side of UN Drive, north of the new embassy and east of the old embassy. Now the effect of all of this is that when the bats swarm, it often builds up to a massive swarm where they swarm circling the new embassy compound. Really cool!
More on bats. While looking for something else on the internet I came across a listing of the different bat species found in Liberia. I counted 43. Wow!
I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the ocean. When I was at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, studying Russian, the desk in my room had a small side window that gave me a view of the ocean and the setting sun. I would often stop and watch the sun set or take a break to see the different wave, wind and weather patterns. So I’m doing that here too. Late one afternoon last weekend I watched a fleet of small fishing boats - oversized canoes with basic sails - come sailing to shore heading towards Westpoint, just over Mamba point from us. Not only was it interesting to see a line of about 15 - 20 boats, all with white sails heading towards me, the line headed off into the horizon, which made me realize how far out they must go every day. And yesterday as I was walking down the hill to a meeting at a hotel, I noticed how still the air was. I looked over to the ocean and there were no whitecaps, just very gently rolling waves coming in from the North West. As I got to the bottom of the hill I saw a man in a dugout canoe (most of the canoes - fishing or otherwise - are made from a single log) just gliding through the water against the swells. No sail, just a paddle. I was taken aback at how fast he was moving along with his steady stroking. We’ve been having more changing weather lately - periodic thundershowers, the rains are coming. That means the days are sometimes cloudy, sometimes really clear. In other words, we’ve been having some beautiful sunsets!
Google maps has been updated, so now the New Embassy Compound is no longer a huge construction site.
I’ve mentioned before that my HHE has arrived. It’s nice having a bunch of my stuff here - something I really didn’t have in Baghdad. As almost an afterthought back in January, I grabbed a box of pictures/frames that I had up in the law office and put them in the to-ship pile. I also printed a few photos. Well, I have them up here and in the office. It’s a mixed blessing. It’s nice to be able to look at Ann’s face everyday (I’ll admit it, I didn’t look at photos on my iPad every day when in Baghdad), as it is with the guys, Holden, the pups, and everyone else whose picture I have. But it is a mixed blessing. At times I’ll look at a picture and feel a sense that I’m missing something. Kind of like when I look at Hans’ picture. Overall, way more happy feelings than painful ones, but you don’t get one without the other.
Counting days. At about this point in time in Baghdad, roughly 3 months in-country, I was about to take my first R&R. That’s another thing that’s different about this assignment. Looks like my R&R will be some time in September or October.
I noticed a really interesting red bug the other day. And I’ve seen them several days in a row. Beautiful scarlet red and black. It’s small, really small. I’ve even stopped a couple of times to get down real low to the ground to look at them. It’s almost cartoon-like, like a cartoon drawing of a bug instead of a real bug. Two red/black circles for the head and body, big black eyes, six legs that come up, then down, and two black antennae, clearly visible. A bit of research leads me to believe it’s a Mirid Bug (family Miridae). I couldn’t find a photo that had the same coloration (nor such vivid red colors) but this comes close:
The wings were not as pronounced as in this photo - really, it looked like a circular head and an oval body - just like a little kid would draw. And the red and black on the back for this one is different than the one I saw. It was a very interesting bug, and it walked like a cartoon bug. It really was a sight. As an aside, red seems to be an insect color around here, most of the dragon flies are red too. It’s not like Oregon where you’ll see blue, yellow and green ones too.