Chris' Blog

"A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything." -Laurence Sterne

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Sandstorm

I apologize for having not posted in while, but I've been terribly busy... not to mention the fact that nothing of interest has happened in quite some time.

I guess I shouldn't say that nothing interesting has happened. Not too long ago we had a fairly violent sandstorm. I was on my way back to our camp and saw it cross the desert in front of me. The picture below was taken by someone in the camp right before the storm hit. It was quite the sight to behold.

When I arrived at camp, my tent looked fine from the outside. When I went inside, it looked as though the storm had taken a detour through my living area. The 80-100mph winds had shaken the walls of the tent so badly that anything within a foot or two of them was knocked over and anything hanging from them was thrown off. The wind also ripped the door open and sand and dust covered everything. I wish I would've taken a picture before I started cleaning, because it was quite the sight.

I can't complain too much though, because there were those here who had it far worse than I. For example, one soldier was in a porta-john when a gust blew it down. It fell onto the door and the mysterious blue liquid and it's contents covered the soldier. As he was trying to exit, the wind blew so hard that the crapper started rolling down the street. When it stopped rolling, it rested once again on the door. The soldier eventually had to kick out the bottom of the john to get out.

After showering, this unfortunate fellow came in to the clinic to have his bumps, bruises, and cuts looked at. He was given some antibiotics to prevent infection. He's OK now, but will probably always be remembered as the guy that got "smurfed" in the windstorm.

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi Chris!

We know its not polite to laugh at the situation in which your "smurfed" soldier found himself, but it IS funny. We are not laughing at him, we are laughing with him! How did your electronics fare after the sandstorm? Did you lose anything or have any permanent damage?

GG - Jeanne & Terry

9:36 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow that is an amazing picture Z. Hope all is going well buddy (besides kick ass sand storms). I check your sight daily and enjoy hearing what your up to and that all is well. Talk to you soon.


Phil

10:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! I didn't know that going to the bathroom could be so dangerous! Is that a hazard that the military prepared you for?? Yikes! I am going to check the wind speed next time I enter a portapotty...thanks for the warning!
We're glad that you are doing well,... we continue to pray blessings over you...auntie Glen

10:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey what's up Chris,

I wouldn't want to be that man in the porter-potty. I hope that the items in you tent came out running and in one piece.

Take care of yourself

3:47 PM  
Blogger Chris said...

Hello!
Yes, I'm very lucky. All of my personal belongings were OK. My laptop was in its bag and most of my other electronics were stored away as well. As for the soldier in the john... nobody would want to be that guy! We don't tease him too much about it, but he's got a pretty good sense of humor about it when someone does.

8:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Chris,
You have to read this.


http://lesenfantterrible.blogspot.com/2005/06/chris-blog-is-day-to-day-journal-in.html

9:19 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Chris, I owe you an apology. Thank you for the phone call I was so distracted that I didn't realize who I was talking to. It wasn't until Kaitlyn commented about your call that I realized what had happened. It's the biggest disappointment I have from the day.

At the time I was struggling to identify who I was talking to, I have a friend also named Chris who was at his cousin's wedding in St Cloud and I initially thought it was him on the phone.

Sorry that I left it like that. We had a great day otherwise and now I'm married, which was the point of all this. I believe your mom is sending you a program from the day. I used an old picture of you in it.

Keep Well, LOL

Bill

10:00 AM  
Blogger Chris said...

That's OK Bill! I figured you were a little preoccupied and in a hurry. Again, congratulations! I'm sorry I couldn't be there.

7:31 AM  

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