Weather

The weather here is a bit extreme. This of course comes from a guy who grew up in the relative calm of Southwestern Virginia. And even while in NoVa, close to D.C., shocking weather is a somewhat rare event. Gentle rain, sunny days, windy days, occasional snow storms. That is the extent of my meteorological insight.

The first thing that startled me is how dry the air is here. It literally sucks the moisture from your body, forcing me and the others here to consume mass quantities of water. On average, I am consuming a gallon of water a day, sometimes more depending on the work load. Dehydration also sets in rapidly, going as little as an hour and a half without water while working can result in exhaustion and delirium. So, yea, all I'm saying is that I seem to fill my gut with more water than food most days, which is a shocker to this former man-camel.

The second thing... Temperature fluctuates rapidly, relative to the level of sunlight. At this point, the reader is going, uh, no duh. However, let me explain. During the day, the temperature can reach as high as 90, and often sits around the low 80's. The body swelters during noon and early afternoon. However, during the evening and morning, the temperature can sit around a low 60, no complaint. But, that is not the end of the story. Even as I crawl into my sleeping bag for bed, I am often too hot to zip it all the way up. And, with regular clockwork, I wake up shortly before midnight, because the temperature has dipped to the low 40's and I must zip up the bag and curl up into a little ball for the night. The mornings are always cold, until about 15 minutes after the sun has risen, then the mercury instantly gains 15 points. Slowly, I am getting used to this rather riotous system.

The third thing is, at least to an Easterner, rather stupefying. Let us imagine a blue sky day. There are clouds on the horizon that one watches with anticipation, but aside from that, there is little menace in the heavens. An hour passes, and the only thing that has changed is the shape of the clouds over head. Another hour passes, the horizon is quite unexpectedly clear. Another hour passes, and the clouds overhead seem to seem to be smirking. Thirty seconds pass, hail and rain suddenly appear out of nowhere, drenching and battering you where you stand. Two minutes later, there is nothing but a few clouds and a blue sky. What the hell!?!!

Ok, so I know this was more stream of consciousness than planned out blog-stuff. Hope you get the point though....