SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15th.

CPT Patti has been surrounded by various shades of sand, taupe, khaki and dust for 188 days now.

Our girl called this morning (Whoo Hoo!!). We talked for nearly an hour.

However, mostly we talked of our future...so I don't have nearly an hour's worth of stuff to report to you.

But she sounds terrific. She says that her FOB (Forward Operating Base...that is, where they live and work) has been fortunate in that so far there have been very little in the way of attacks. She contrasts that to nearly every other FOB in the 1st Brigade.

When I asked her if she knew why their's was so fortunate...she says the popular theory is that they employ so many Iraqis that their FOB is perhaps protected by a sense of good will.

I hope she's correct.

Me...I am preparing for to travel to the USA on Wednesday. And there is just too much to do. Today I spent all day trying to chase down computer equipment and ensure everything can talk to everything else so we can make the special Christmas ornaments for our soldiers at Monday's FRG meeting. As well, I packed up six boxes to be mailed today. One to Pastor Paul and Sweet Sue (my In-Laws) and 5 to CPT Patti (she sent me a shopping list...)

Tomorrow I will be visiting CPT Will who is recovering in Landstuhl - so there is another day in which I will not have the luxury of sitting at the computer and sharing the news with you.

I'll get back to it I promise...it is just that my real life is interfering with my on-line life these days.

By the way...as you may have already guessed...come Wednesday when I fly to the USA...the CPT Patti site will undergo a Time Warp.

Since I will be on the east coast of the USA my postings will be at least 8 hours later than they normally happen. Not too bad for those of you in the USA...but my dear friends here in Deutschland...well, effectively that may mean an entire day's time shift.

Unless I get up about 2:00 a.m. to post.

Which ain't gonna happen.

I like ya, but I never said I luv ya...