19 hour power outage due to electrical storm plus load shedding and no WiFi…The beat goes on…

Young male kudu reaching to grab some leaves off a tree.

As I began to prepare today’s post, we’d been out of power for the past 19 hours, starting at 4:30 pm Saturday. Last night, a storm came through and knocked out a transformer several kilometers from here. We have no WiFi after the inverter also quit working and subsequently no WiFi. The power finally came back on at  1:00 pm today.

Adorable female bushbuck.

I wrote most of today’s post off-line in an attempt to be ready to post shortly after the power returned. Mostly, we were worried about the food in the refrigerator. This morning, Tom cooked the burgers we had planned for tonight’s dinner on the gas grill, which we had for lunch instead of dinner. Louise suggested we put all the perishables in the freezer, hoping they would survive until power was restored, and it appears they did.

What a handsome face with young horns.

Are we upset about this? Not at all. This is the bush in Africa, not Palm Beach, and one must expect these situations to occur reasonably. In any case, this is a whole lot better than sitting in a hotel room in Mumbai, India. Right now, we’re situated on the veranda, enjoying various visitors, as well as Mr. & Mrs. Hornbill building their nest in a bushbaby house that they’ve taken over.

Kudus often visit in a family and social group, referred to as forkl

It’s cooler today after the rains, although still very humid, typical for the bush. But, we’re fine. It’s nice to see the bush is a little greener this morning after the downpour, creating more food for the wildlife. After all, it’s summer here now. January is equivalent to July in the Northern Hemisphere, so we have months to go until it cools down.

They certainly know how to grab at our hearts with their adorable faces and big eyes.

In the interim, we’re both handling the heat as well as we can, which is often as high as 108F, 42C, during daylight hours and dropping only slightly at night. After spending ten months in air-conditioned comfort in that hotel room, it’s taken us a few days to adapt to the temperature differences. But, now, we’re good.

This male kudu was so bold he came up onto the veranda.

There is air conditioning in the two bedrooms here, none elsewhere in the house. Due to frequent power issues and the expense of running air-con, few Marloth Park residents have or use full house air-con, which is common in the US. Whether it’s power outages, load shedding, snakes, scary-looking insects, flies, ants, and bees, we’re prepared to handle it all.

Scratch that itch!

Certainly, being here wouldn’t be ideal for some, nor may this lifestyle fulfill their holiday/vacation time objectives. For us, it’s a way of life that befitting our desires and interests. We thrive in this environment. Will we be able to do this as we age, making our way into our 80’s or more (God willing)? The answer to that will be entirely predicated on how well we care for our health, a goal we strive to achieve every day of our lives.

We took all of these photos at different times throughout a single day.

For now, we are grasping at every morsel Mother Nature tosses our way, whether it is Wildebeest Willie, who was here all morning and rested for hours in the bush near us, his big tail swishing every few minutes to bat off the flies, or a flower blooming among the thorns of the sickle bush trees, it all matters to us.

Now, totally off two blood pressure medications as of the past month, checking it today, as I do every so often, I was reassured by my state of relaxation and low stress, at a measly 114/60. Peace, pleasure, and purpose can bring each of us a good state of being for our health and our state of mind and spirit.

Kudus are determined to get what they want and will stare us down until we comply.

And our purpose? What is that? Are we doing this entirely for our pleasure? Spending over half of each day writing and taking photos to share with all of you gives us tremendous purpose when hundreds, if not thousands, of readers worldwide write to us explaining how the minutiae of our day-to-day lives somehow provide them with a moment to pause and enjoy nature, culture, people, and more, right along with us.

We never tire of spending time with kudus from the antelope family. They don’t have antlers. Instead, they have horns which they do not shed.

Yes, selfishly, we revel in your kind comments as a wave of warmth passes over us each time we read such an expression. But we’ve found that, in some small way, we may contribute to a moment of joy for others as they “traveling along with us.” So today, we thank you for your kindness and support as we extend our love and caring for all of you.

Without all of you, we may never have lasted this long, over eight years, on this seemingly never-ending journey which we blissfully continue here in Africa, once again. It calls to us. It calls to many of you. It’s grand to be “home.”

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 17, 2020:

Two years ago today, Ken set up the camera on a timer to take this photo of all 10 of us as we celebrated Rita’s birthday at our place.! Fantastic! For more about the year-ago post, please click here.

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