This installment is a little late due to the leap year. Of course all the banks and Government offices were closed because of it, but we worked!! The weather here lately has been very similar to the weather in Philly, rainy, spring type days with an occasional cold snap and an occasional warm snap. But I know all too well that this will not last. Mid to late April brings a change and the heat will begin to build as it did last year.

The job is actually gaining some momentum, we finally got the mechanical contract signed and re-worked the electrical contract to read more like an electrical design contract then we will roll right into the electrical work contract. The mechanical sub will be arriving at the site on Saturday March 3. In addition to both of those contracts moving forward, we have contracted with a steel contractor to get started on the steel framing for the roof. Exterior plaster as they like to call it here is set to begin in the next two weeks as well, I am not so sure we have the right sub lined up for this trade. The sub is from Turkey but has spent the last eight years working here in Iraq. After interviewing him for the project, I asked to go see some of his completed work. He took me to the first job and as I stood on the sidewalk waiting for him to tell what building I was supposed to look at, he informed my interrupter that all his exterior plaster gets covered by exterior cladding so there was nothing really to look at. Really? You just wasted 45 minutes of my life? You couldn't have told me this before? OMG!!! He reminds me of a used car salesman, but I got him back. I have him plastering one side of one of the garages for free, this way I can see if his work is any good or not. Stay tuned and I will let you know how this one turns out.

My goal is by mid-April, to have all the rough plumbing, duct work, in-floor heat installed and to have steel framed roofs on both garages and the gate house. It is probably too aggressive but I must start to push to make up for lost time.

I recently took a road trip to a city called Sulemenia. Sule, as it is referred to here is a similar city to Arbil. It is located within Arbil province and still within Kurdistan. I was looking forward to seeing Sule, but unfortunately the trip was a disappointment. To get to Sule you must go up and over some of the mountains. I have made part of the trip before and really enjoyed the scenery. This trip however was hampered by a nasty sand storm. So as we went up and over some mountain passes, you could see nothing. My hopes were that by the time we got there, the sand would blow over, not so. Sule was even more socked in and to make matters worse, it starting to mud. Yes you read that correctly, mudding occurs when there is so much dirt and sand in the air and it starts to rain. Literally mud falls from the sky it is pretty foul. My desire at this point was to go check into our hotel, take a shower and hit the bar/restaurant and try and enjoy myself. Not the case, hotel was not fit for dogs, no bar/restaurant, just a kebab cart and simply put dirty. We moved on, and on, and on. Every hotel booked no rooms available. Our last try was a success, kind of. There were three of us, so we asked for a suite, one king sized bed, no couch, no cot. Ok I say let's just go back to the desk and get two rooms, this plan will also backfire. Two rooms, $750usd. Now I say home we go. So my trip to Sule was pretty much a complete waste. No pictures, no fun memories, no souvenirs, nothing. Oh wait, the mudding turned to pouring rain the entire trip back, the 2.5 hour journey there turned into a 4 hour journey home!

Anyway, that is what is happening, keep the messages and comments coming and let me know what you guys are interested in hearing about and I will do my best to comply!!

Spring training is upon us, Go Yankees!!!!!!!