Freakin' Lovely

Seriously - if only I could figure out how to buy retirement property here...

It's warming up, which is fine. I mean, it is Iraq - it's not supposed to be cool. The warmth brings the flies - fine. Flies are an integral part of the Iraq experience (can you eat with one hand while waving flies off your food constantly with the other and not break up your conversations? We can).

The mice are gone, and there are rumors of snakes. Great. I had mice running through my walls all winter and sneaking through holes in the interior of my trailer - I love to visualize sand vipers doing the same thing. Comfy feeling, trying to drift off to sleep, hearing something odd in the wall, thinking it might be a poisonous snake.

HAAATE.

And now - now the Iraqi mosquitos have come out. Vicious little bastards, with the emphasis on little. Much like American mosquitos, interestingly, they really seem to like my A NEG blood. I can sit around with both of my dudes, all of us wearing PT gear, and I am the one covered in bites in moments.

No - I don't use some sort of mosquito attractant soap. I just seem to have brought the "drink my blood and make scratch" neon sign that's been hovering over my head since childhood.