I just stepped out of the palace on my way to the truck. The double wooden doors are facing a large moat we call Pirate's Cove, beyond which is a guard tower and the East Wall. The space along the wall is often used to park the trucks and SUVs, so that's where I'm heading.

I hear some firing in the distance, somewhere in Baghdad. And just as I am wondering how any husband or father could possibly want to raise a family in the city nowadays, I here phissst! phissst! CLANGGGGGG!!!! Three rounds had come over the wall and hit the palace, up near the second floor.

As their trajectory was well above my head, I wasn't too worried, except for the one that had clangged off of the metal scaffolding we use to raise and lower the large blackout louvres. It would be just our luck that it struck some key part or joint and jammed the dammed thing. That means we'd have to be out there tonight, in full gear, trying to fix it in the dark.

I looked for the hole or mark for a long time but couldn't see anything, so eventually I continued on my way. I guess it'll either work or it won't - I'm not going to worry about it.