Unexpected things

Bats, foxes, and bands. Never imagined I'd encounter these here in Baghdad.

There is a man-made lake here where I like to run run. When I first arrived it was way too hot to try and do any exercise except in the early morning. Lately, we've barely cracked 100 degrees during the day and so it is cool enough to run in the evenings (I know it's hard to imagine 100 feeling pleasant but temperature is quite relative when you've been living through 120 degree days). Anyway, the evenings are quite pleasant and it makes for any enjoyable jog. One of the things that I particularly enjoy is watching the bats come out just before the sun sets. They silently flit around, diving and swirling, eating dinner (breakfast?) and keeping me from having to deal with any bugs - a double win for me! It is facinating to watch them as they fly around, but the other evening I saw something even more beautiful. Right as it was almost too dark to see, a fox came running out of the vegitation next to the lake right past me. (One of the reasons I like running around the lake is it is the only green area around with vegetation along the shore and fish jumping to get bugs the bats miss). The fox didn't even really give me any notice and we just passed jogging in opposite directions. He/she was deep auburn/brown with a big, bushy tail with a white tip, stereotypical fox markings as if it had been drawn by Walt Disney.

Another unexpected find here is dinner music. It is not unusual, especially over at the Division dining facility (DFAC) where the big staff eats, to have some small combo band playing during dinner. I've heard everything from jazz, to winds, to electric rock (the last play outside but rest assured you can hear them just fine in where we are eating). I've never been able to find out if these are just soldiers who want to keep up their musical skills or if they are over here as part of a military band and their job is to go around playing these gigs. I would like to think they are playing just for the fun of it; I can't imagine being a piccolo player, deciding to join the Army, and finding out that my piccolo skills are needed most in Baghdad. But, then again, I can't imagine joining the Army and not expecting to spend a tour or two or three over here.

But, I wasn't expecting to be over here with a U.S. Navy tape on my Army uniform either so what do I know!