My biggest one to date. And maybe ever!

Work has been busy as heck lately as we get things done before the heat rolls in for the summer. Sounds like most folks here leave for the summer for up to 2 months. Many of them go to Thailand it seems. I here come summer that Phuket has a large Arab temporary population.

Found a new villa to stay in and are moving in the next week or so. The Sheihk is assiting us in that operation.

The cat is happy as a clam to be back home with her mother and father. It's like she has been with us the whole time. Surprised she has not went after the small bowl of fish we have in the sitting room rest room. We call them our potty pals.

Well gotta get as work days have been hard and long lately. Drop me an e-mail.

Well things are hectic this weekend for Heather and I. Our landlord has asked us if it is OK that we find another villa/flat since his cousin really wants the villa we are in. Reason being the cousin has the bottom floor and we have the 2nd and 3rd floors. The cousin has a business downstairs and could really use the extra space.

So house hunting is what we are up to again. We have a lease until the end of October, but if we find a nice place we will move. The Sheihk says he will asists us in the endeavor. Will let you all know how it goes and send picts as soon as we figure something out.

Other than that it is starting to warm up here with temps starting to get near 30 Celsius.

Softball is getting into full swing as we get ready for the Dubai tournament the end of April. The team I play for is called the Yard Dawgs. Should be a good time. Gonna be weird playing with a short fence. They limit the amount of home runs a team can have as well. I think it is 5 per game.

Kuwait City with view of fishing boats.

Well this week some friends of delivered there second baby. Congratulations to Heidi and Andrew on their baby daughters arrival. We met Andrew and Heidi as a result of the purchase of my car. Andrew works for Porsche here in Kuwait. Would be super cool if we can get Andrew and Heidi away next year for a dive & fish trip to Kwajalein. They would fit in quite nicely on the island.

While out doing some scouting for a project at work we stumbled upon this fellow. Actually he is quite small and we saw ones about 5 times his size. The only problem is they are fast and all the big ones were near their holes and we just could not manage to get a good picture of them. They have a very cool tail with sharp barb like spikes for use in defense. This little guy was released and slid back into his hole. As we drove we must have seen at least 20-30 of this guys all over the place sunning themselves.

Work is keeping me very busy lately as we try to accomplish as much as possible prior to the heat rolling in this summer and late Spring. Come summer nothing gets done due to the heat. Or at least nearly nothing outdoors.

This picture above is of a communications tower as you come into Kuwait city. Picture taken from the sun roof of the Porsche by Tara, an ex-Kwajer whom was here TDY from Afghanistan where she is stationed with her husband Devon.

Softball tournament is coming up quick. I am 8 weeks out from travelling to play in Dubai. Should be a good time. We have two teams from Kuwait going. Supposedly they are at 30+ teams for the tourney. Guarenteed 4 games. Two games for seeding and then the normal 2 losses and you are out format. Will get pictures and post them after the tourney.

Liberation day is fully upon us. That means it is impossible to go down town Kuwait City without having been involved in at least 20 drive by foamings or attacked with silly string. Tonight will get super crazy. We even saw people get out of the car and surround another car completely covering it in foam and silly string. Flags are up ever where and adorn many cars.

Well it is Liberation day weekend here. While in town the other night with a house guest of ours we had packs of kids surround us and assault us with spray foam and shaving cream. All through out town at night now this is a very common site. There were packs of folks on foot as well as car to car or SUV to SUV battles as a family had kids out each window and several out the sun roof hosing down other cars.

Also this weekend Heather had accompanied me into the desert to hang with some friends of ours. While out there we had to help some folks with a car problem. For the assistance we got to take some picts of their pet falcon and they gave us a water bottle of fresh camel milk which we drank some of with them.

All in all a pretty good weekend. Actually for me it is a pretty long weekend as I have 5 days in a row off to celebrate Liberation day. Flags are everywhere right now covering town.

Heather and I have purchased and now have a gym set up in one of the guest bedrooms. So I beleive that jumps us to a 4 star hotel instead of a 3 star. Continentel breakfast is still not available as of yet.

Liberation day starts here this weekend and already the fireworks can be heard from the villa. There are flags on ever highway post all through out the country. The roads are going to get crazy with people with silly string and shaving cream. I hear traffic gets to a dead slow roll as folks party and spray one another. Pictures to follow.

Here is where I spend alot of time here. Either to and from work or to and from the grocery store for small runs. Thats always fun though. Still not use to the trunk being in the front of the car. With some of my allowance next month I may buy the iPod hookup so the play list will display on the PCM GPS screen. I know what many of you are thinking. SUPER COOL.

Tomorrow we are off to a friends farm where he has chickens, horses, a monkey, ostrich and many other animals. Should be a good time. I am going to ride an ostrich. Picts to follow.

My apologies for having not posted in a few days but the internet service provider here has been down for a few days. Oh well so is life.

Have had a few cool adventures as of late. Heather and I drove into the desert to watch the sunset and look for camels. Had a nice afternoon. The desert is in bloom with blades of green grass and yellow flowers. Not for long though I hear as summer is approaching soon enough and will dry it all up and take it all away from us. Then it will be dust and hot searing heat. Upwards of high 120's at times. Quite the drastic change from freezing cold just a few months ago. Ah yes, life in the desert.

The car is doing well. I drive her every single day and enjoy every single second of it. I just can't see owning anything less ever again after driving this car.

Well keep in touch and stay safe all.

A benefit of living overseas is te ability to purchase and enjoy pure Havana cigars such as Cohiba, Romeo & Julietta, Upmann and Partagas. The Sligo VI Cohiba being the finest in this box followed by the Partagas No. 3 Limited Edition 2006.

The bedouins here roam across the desert as their camels, sheep and goats graze. They are a kind and gentle people and always offer up tea and camels milk when we chat with them.

Lately the weather has been getting better and the grass is slowly coming up in the desert. I hear that flowers will also bloom forming a carpet of petals for a short time. All in all a nice time to be in the country. Not too hot and not too cold.

Another day another Kuwaiti Dinar. And today I believe that equals $3.5 US. Yes shopping is weird sometimes. McDonalds meals are about 1.2 KD for a meal not super sized. To fill the gas tank on the car is about 3 KD. This is one of the things we have here that is a little different from home.

We watched the movie Blood Diamond last night. Not too bad. I kinda liked it. Another one we watched recently that I though was hilarious was Borat. The movie was a bit over the top at times but comical non-the-less. Also wacthed and really liked the movie Bobby. Believe it or not the movie buffs in us have not been out to see very many movies other than Eragon.

Attached picture is of a herder out by Abraq Range, Kuwait.

This weekend was relatively quiet. Our house guest Devin from Kwaj has departed us for Afghanistan. We have our new car port built to protect our vehicles from rain and in summer the searing sun. We have caught up on all the current Heroes episodes via iTunes downloads. All is semi restful. Heather still has class this week. She is learning more advanced computer stuff.

The weather is slowly starting to go up a little bit. During the day I do not require a jacket unless it is overcast. At night I still have to have a jacket on though to keep warm.

Sounds like the Criminals softball team is off to a good start with a win in their first game according to Steve. Let’s hope they go undefeated. Except maybe against my brothers team. Got to root for my brother.

As always keep in touch and do not be afraid to drop us a line or come and visit. My specialty for the week is slipper lobster risotto with heaps of parmesean cheese. Also desert truffles are appearing in the stores as well.

I now have the keys and she is all mine, and Heathers.

Heathers new wheels. Her other car is a Huffy. Sorry bad Kwaj humor.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

My wife is having her birthday today!!!!! Well actually tomorrow. Tomorrow, Wednesday, is our Friday here as the weekend is Thursday and Friday. For this very special occasion I am taking her to dinner with some of her friends. It should be a good time. Everyone should pester her with birthday e-mails all day long wishing her well.

Well I go in tonight to work out the paperwork on my car. Almost thought I had lost it but the other guy backed out due to personal reasons. Nothing set in stone yet. I have lots of paperwork. Wish me luck. We get Heather’s car on Thursday. Paperwork here to get a car and what not is no laughing matter and will be glad when it is done. Actually all paperwork here is labor intensive. Oh well. So is life.

Any new reports on Kwaj are welcome so drop me an e-mail.

Well the holidays are over and now its time to get back to work.

Over the weekend we watched a lot of TV. One movie we did see was A Night in the Museum with Ben Stiller and Robin Williams. Not an overly great movie but fun. Also we have been downloading, from iTunes, the Heroes TV show episodes. Really, really enjoying them thus far. One hell of a television show. Probably the best I have seen in a long time. Also we are watching on disc the television show Invasion which is pretty good.

Softball starts here fairly soon which I am excited about. I hope my body holds out. My other knee is now bothering me a little. We’ll just have to see how she handles it. Can’t wait to swing the new bat though. Have read so many reviews on it.

Weather here is still cold. Not as bad as a couple of weekends ago though. They say it will start to get real hot again in a month and a half or so. The real pain if you do not have a car cover here is when it sprinkles out and then the dust settles on the car.

One super cool thing here so far is the sunsets. They are just incredible. With the sand in the air it looks red and watching it go down over the dunes is spectacular. The moon is quite impressive here as well. Very very red at times.

The new mall here opens soon. The place is incredible in size and dwarfs any mall I have ever been to anywhere in the world. They say it will have around 30+ restaurants inside as well as every store imaginable. Should be pretty cool. Only store open there thus far is the Ikea, which they say is one of the biggest in the world. Right now they have a large mural ad wall around the whole thing that is like a kilometer in length. They have asked for Guinness World Records to list it as the largest ad wall mural ever.

I have been experimenting with recipes lately now that I have some better stores at my disposal. The latest creation was a breakfast risotto with parmesan cheese, white cheddar cheese, bacon and served with an egg over easy on top. Super rich tasting and very filling. Give it a try.

Well that’s it for now. Take care and keep in touch everyone.