Bring your own camel

Damn I won't be here for the camel rides! It's a good thing because I don't have my own camel to bring. This sign is hilarious (I think, or possibly I've been in the desert too long already) and there is also a small version so it's even harder to tell that it says "camera" and not "camel". I'm certain it was intentional, being placed on the fur/sky junction as it is, and who says "bring your own camera"? It would be "bring A camera" or "bring YOUR camera."

The reason for this, besides that I have a day to kill, is that I forgot to mention the weather. I forgot to mention something else, but I forget what it is. The weather right now is very nice. The higheset is the 80's in the day with a cool breeze, 50's at night, and if you close your eyes you can't even tell you're in the desert. Someone had said, the day after we

arrived, that it was going to be really hot in two weeks. Today was significantly warmer than yesterday. The wind was not hot like a hair drier blowing in your face, but it was no longer cool. I think by the time September rolls around it will be nice again but until then, as they say in the Navy - "Standby".

To the left is where we live, just for this week. There are 11 people in the tent, my bed is the one at the top left. It's nice because even though it's not very hot outside (yet) it's very cool inside due to the air supplied by the big tube you see inflated at the top of the screen.

I remembered the other thing I wanted to say, and that is about the food here. Someone said that people gain an average of 12-15 pounds while they're here. That's probably a Navy statistic, so not everyone over here, just the Navy folks. It's also probably just made up, but pretend it's on wikipedia and just go ahead and believe it. The reason for this is that the amount of food available at all the meals is insane. There are a ridiculous amount of options, full desert bar, etc. The quality of the food is good too, much better than it was at Ft. Jackson. I think they are trying to keep people's morale up by gorging them, and the Americans they are, they love it.

And finally, by request, more pictures of my finger. A nice local told me the best way to prevent infection was to have a camel lick the wound. I couldn't remember if Bear Grylls said this on Man vs. Wild, so I found the first camel and stuck my hand in his mouth. Gangrene set in the next day. I expect to lose the finger soon, but it's only the pinky so it won't be too noticable, and I hear stumps are all the rage these days. My finger is actually fine, and the pictures look the same, it never even got infected. Part of the splinter was sticking out the other day and I tried to tug on it but it just broke. The wood has taken the place of the nail and the nail on top of that has dried out. It doesn't hurt anymore either.