Home Sweet Home

Harry lounging. March 2010.

A couple of days before I returned to the magic kingdom, I realized that I was looking forward to going home. This was immediately followed by a second realization that I was now thinking of Dhahran as my home. That is an important transition--and a necessary one if I am going to make this adventure work.

Mimi showing how nicely she will sit-stay. The bookcases and a bed were the only pieces of furniture I shipped out here. March 2010.

There are some important milestones that I am dealing with. First, American employees of Aramco don't vest in the retirement plan until they are with the company for 5 years. Second, I think I will earn "enough" money in about 9 years (more on what is "enough" in a bit). But if I stick it out here until I am 60 years old, then my health care is fully paid for until I die--as long as I remain a US citizen. I figure I will take each one of these as they come.

The "enough" money ties into a joke that was relayed to me by several people when I arrived last fall. See, you start working at Aramco with two buckets, one labeled "shit" and the other labeled "money." As the buckets fill, you can shift contents between them. But eventually, one of those buckets is going to start to overflow and that's when you know it is time to go home. I'm assuming that my "money" bucket will overflow first but you never know.

But back to this home issue. I hate my Motel 6 apartment. I hate that I have no yard for the dogs. But it is MY grotty little apartment and the dogs seem to be fairly happy.

The dogs ecstatically playing with new toys pulled straight from the suitcase. March 2010.

I boarded Harry and Mimi in a kennel when I was on leave. The kennel is part of the Kennel Club here on camp. The vets aren't that spectacular but the office staff are very friendly. I took a tour of the kennels a few weeks before my trip. Traditional indoor/outdoor concrete runs with two large fenced areas for exercise (also concrete). But everything was very clean. The kennels are staffed by a bunch of enterprising Filipino guys who also work as orderlies as the hospital. They moonlight at the kennels to earn extra money. They seem to genuinely enjoy taking care of the dogs and cats. I'd have to say that Harry and Mimi came out of there in better shape than they usually do when boarded. No signs of stress, no bloody pads from pacing and fence running. No signs they had been fighting with each other (although I did leave emphatic instructions to separate them during meal times).

My grotty Motel 6 room. It was a squeeze to get into these 810 square feet even with no furniture. You can see from the picture below that my new refrigerator won't fit into the dollhouse kitchen. Fortunately there was a convenient alcove in the living room.


Since I don't plan on staying in this crappy apartment for any longer than I have to, I decided not to take on anything ambitious like painting walls. But I did hang all of my pictures. In this view, you can see Harry's Onyx plaque hanging in the middle of the stairwell. DR!, I miss you guys!


And in a truly inspired decorating touch, I decided to store my front loading washer and dryer in my office (covered with the lovely floral sheet and topped by all of my suitcases). This of course only leaves me about 10 square feet for an office but it saves me storage fees and possible damage to the washer and dryer for the two years they would have to be stored in unknown conditions.


I got news when I was back in the US that my house in Keller had finally been foreclosed on. The lenders dragged that painful experience out for 8 months. While I wish that things had turned out differently, they could have been much worse.

And here I am, back home.