Off to Komati…Dentist…Shopping…and more…I made a mistake…

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Love this pretty bird. Anyone know what it is?
This morning, the WiFi was out, and I couldn’t do a post before leaving for Komatipoort for my noon dentist appointment and shopping. This was annoying since we knew we’d be gone several hours and I don’t like doing the post at the end of the day. By late afternoon, my thought process has mellowed for the day, and I never feel like preparing a post when we’re getting ready for sundowners, which may or may not include drinks other than iced tea and our upcoming dinner.

We love this time of the day to watch the wildlife in the garden, take photos, listen to music on our JBL speaker and chat about whatever pops into our minds. It’s a very special time of the day for us which we treasure and don’t want to forgo unless we have specific plans.

There’s our boy Aggie, climbing a tree, after chasing a gecko and missing.

After dinner and when we finally decide to head to the bedroom,  I am switched off, in the mood to get into my pajamas and stream a few shows. Now that we have WiFi again, we’ve been watching a great show on Amazon Prime, “Animal Kingdom,” which is not about wild animals but wild humans. It’s quite entertaining.

We’d watched the first three seasons some time ago but started working on the last three and final seasons a few weeks ago whenever we could get a signal. It reminds us of “Sons of Anarchy” from several years ago. If you liked that series, you might also like “Animal Kingdom.”

Norman and Lollie were savoring the last bale of lucerne.

It’s ironic how specific show topics appeal to us when they have nothing to do with our lives. But, somehow, we find ourselves enjoying a wide range of series from the brutal to the soapy. Even Tom can enjoy a “chick flick” (excuse the politically incorrect reference) right along with me.

With my head still hurting I’ve been a little hesitant to go to the dentist, but my teeth desperately need to be cleaned. It hasn’t been done since we had Covid in April although Tom has had his done since then.

Here’s the nyala family from left: Noah, Norman and mom Nina. We adore them so much.

Also, I wanted to get it done before we embark on our next trip, upcoming two weeks from today. It’s hard to believe it’s come up so quickly. Again, I am hesitant about traveling with this headache, but I did OK when we went to Zambia and Botswana three months ago. If only Tylenol or Ibuprofen works for this headache. At least then, I could get relief occasionally.

As mentioned, it has improved in the past week or two, but the pain only stops intermittently. It has been better since I started implementing some deep breathing techniques, but it’s still ongoing. A good night’s sleep seems to be influential in less pain.

And there’s our boy, Vega sitting on the fence post.

If I return to Doc Theo, it will mean trying more drugs for neurological pain, and I am not willing to suffer further with more side effects. All the drugs used for this pain have awful side effects, none of which I am willing to suffer while on the cruise.

As I wrap this post up offline since the WiFi is still out in Marloth Park, will it have returned by the time we return later today?

We are back from Komatipoort. I made a mistake and marked the appointment on the calendar for today, not tomorrow. We will return tomorrow for the correct appointment at noon. Fortunately, when we returned back to the house, the WiFi was back on, allowing me ample time to get the post done and uploaded after putting away two weeks of groceries.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 10, 2021:

Waterbucks are pretty animals that live at the edge of a body of water. For more photos, please click here.

The greening of the bush…WiFi working perfectly now…Interesting and unusual electrical situation…

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The trees and bush are turning green providing food for the wildlife. Today, we had our last bale of lucerne delivered for the season and will feed carrots, apples, and pellets.

When I’d mentioned to the internet service provider that the router was bad, it proved so, and they replaced the “dead” router with a newer, higher, powered device. When Louise and I insisted the router needed to be moved downstairs to our bedroom for a good enough signal, yesterday, they moved it.

It took a lot of work to run the lines to the bedroom. But when two Tech Connect installers arrived, who were here for several hours yesterday, figured it out. They managed to move the new router to our bedroom, which was plugged into the inverter outlet on my side of the bed after wrapping the cable along the corners of the ceiling to gain access to the inverter outlet.

Norman stopped by for the third time today for his “lunch.” There is one bushbuck and one impala in the background.

Fortunately, we wouldn’t have to walk over any additional cables over those we walk over now. When I go to bed, I have to maneuver my feet around several wires, one for my laptop, one for my phone, and another from the fan across the room that needs to be plugged into the single inverter outlet in the house.  I am cautious every time, remaining grateful we have this area for charging equipment using the inverter.

Tom’s Chromebook laptop will stay charged almost all day, but my newer Lenovo Windows 11 unit’s battery lasts only half a day without a charge. As a result, by about 1:00 pm, 1300 hrs., I must plug it in each day for a charge. Usually, I go into the bedroom to finish what I’m doing with the high-powered fan while I recharge my laptop. This takes about an hour.

To recharge my laptop, I have to sit on the bed, which isn’t comfortable even propped up with pillows, although it’s very comfortable for sleeping. I could charge it at Tom’s charging station (see photos below) on the top of the chest freezer in the dining room. But there’s nowhere to sit to continue working when it’s in that location. TIA.

Tom’s charging station on top of the chest freezer doesn’t work during load shedding or other power outages. Plus, every time we want to take something out of the freezer, we have to move everything.
The octopus-type power adapter Tom uses for his charging station atop the chest freezer.

There are no regulations here that require so many electric outlets are installed when building or renovating a house, as stated below from this site:

“There is no legal requirement to have a set number of sockets in each room in a rental property

Answered by Sarah, an Electrical Safety Expert

There is no legal requirement to have a set number of sockets in each room in a rental property. 

But with increased use of electrical appliances, older homes often do not have enough sockets to allow modern households to use them all without relying on adaptors, which is not ideal.”

It’s a very different scenario in the US when a certain number of electric outlets must be installed in each room, according to local building codes as follows below from this site:

“The US National Electrical Code, Section 210.52, states that there should be an electrical outlet in every kitchen, bedroom, living room, family room, and any other room with dedicated living space. They must be positioned at least every twelve feet measured along the floor line.”

As a result, in many countries in Africa where electricity is provided to a house, including South Africa, a single out may be used to accommodate all needs in a room. Our kitchen here has two outlets; one behind the refrigerator and another by the coffee station. When I toast my low-carb bread each morning, I have to unplug the evening-time small lamp to gain access to the plug for the toaster. Here is a photo of that outlet.

The kettle stays plugged in on the left of this outlet since we use it often throughout the day. The two outlets on the right require plugging the appliances in and out since the two types don’t fit simultaneously. They are difficult to plug in and out. When we use any other small kitchen appliances, it is more complex than plugging them in. TIA.

The bedroom has three outlets, but only one is connected to the inverter. With the daily power outages from load shedding, we only use one outlet, as shown in the photo below. The other outlets are useless to us when they each require access to the inverter and the use of our own converter/adapter.

This is the quagmire of cords plugged into the inverter outlet, along with our converter/adapter, and now the new router leaves no room for anything else. TIA.

As for today, a very hot and humid day with abundant sunshine, we are staying close to home. Tomorrow, I have a dentist’s appointment to have my teeth cleaned which is long overdue. Afterward, we’ll shop at the pharmacy for a few toiletries for our upcoming cruise and then at Spar Market one last time before we depart in two weeks for our cruise in Seychelles.

Tonight, bacon burgers on the braai with cheddar cheese, purple onion, tomatoes, rice for Tom, and salad for both of us.

Have a fantastic day!

Photo from one year ago today, November 9, 2021:

Gordon Ramsay, our newest bushbuck visitor, visits daily after discovering the goodies we offer. He visits us at this house regularly, finding his way from a few kilometers away. For more photos, please click here.

The WiFi saga continues, along with the auto email issues, along with the high humidity…But…

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This male kudu’s right eye appears injured and pushed into the socket.

The “but,” as mentioned in the headline, is that I didn’t have a headache all day for the past two days until around 4:00 pm 1600 hrs. I am trying to figure out what causes it to return in the late afternoon, but I need to wait a few more days to discover a pattern.

In the interim, we’ve been working on resolving the problem with our WiFi, and after three techs were here late yesterday and we still couldn’t stream last night, I’ve concluded that the router is too far away from the bedroom. The router is located upstairs on the second floor to facilitate the “smart TV” and its Netflix account, which we never use.

Four Big Daddies were eating the leftover lucerne. We have one more delivery tomorrow. The bush is greening for the animals, and they will have natural vegetation to eat along with pellets we’ll continue to offer for treats, along with vegetables and some fruit.

As mentioned yesterday, I prefer not to use the stairs at night since we’re often in the dark due to load shedding. However, the router is too far from the bedroom to provide a good enough signal for us to stream. Why this has changed in the past month, we’ll never know. But, right now, this is a logical solution.

I ran an online test called Speed Test. Just type “speed test” into your address bar, and it will tell you the quality of your connection. It’s free, and there are no advertisers nor a sign-up required. When I tried to run the test in the bedroom, it didn’t even register due to a poor signal.

Tom put some pellets on the railing for the Big Daddies.

Louise called Tech Connect to have them send out a technician to move the router to our bedroom on the main floor so we can stream at night. Last night, we tried watching a show on Amazon Prime, and it cut out every 30 to 45 seconds. Very annoying. We quit trying after a while. Also, other users in the area are using the nearby tower at night, which slows down the signal. This makes all the sense in the world.

In the next 15 minutes, I will hear back from Tech Connect regarding when they can move the router. It will require a hole in the wall or ceiling. I just received a Whatsapp call from them, and they will be arriving sometime this afternoon. Hopefully, by tonight, we will have a suitable signal and be able to stream our favorite shows.

If they drop one pellet, they look for it.

We’d hoped to go to Kruger this week, especially since my head has felt a little better, but now, for the second day, we have to stay put to wait for the technician to come to the house. We have no problem with this if the issues get resolved today.

We have wanted to go to Kruger, but with the headache, the thought of moving my head back and forth across the road, searching for wildlife, hasn’t been too appealing. We can do it in the next few days.

He was resting after his snack.

Our dear friend Leon is thankfully out of the hospital and on the mend from the blood clot in his leg. We’ve been in touch every day, and it’s been great to hear his voice. We will give him a few days to rest and see him on Friday evening. I am baking a special treat to bring to him.

Currently, Tech Connect’s internet service is down in the entire area, so I can keep typing but will lose everything if I don’t copy and paste what I’ve written so far into a Word document. Ah, the challenges are many, but we’re holding up.

With the WiFi issues we have today, I am signing off now. Hopefully, by tomorrow, things will be better.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 8, 2021:

A hippo is quite far from the Marloth Park side of the fence. For more photos,  please click here.

Automatic email isn’t sending…WiFi issues continue…Hot, humid and uncomfortable day…TIA…

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Zebras stopped by looking for pellets.

Dearest readers who have chosen to receive automatic emails with our posts each day, we sincerely apologize that this feature has only worked on and off over the past few years since we changed our site while we were in lockdown in India. We realize the inconvenience this has been for our readers. Again, for time #25, I have contracted our hosting company Hostinger to resolve this issue.

I’ve kept each request in an ongoing email message. They know how chronic this issue has been. My only solution is to move to another hosting company, which requires lots of work and the potential loss of money since I paid several years in advance for a discount. They don’t give refunds.

They usually fix it, but it only lasts for a short period. In the interim, please let me suggest an easy alternative to receiving the latest post with no more clicks required than when you received the email. Do this once each day anytime after 24 hours of when you would have received the email:

Go to your address bar. Type in: www.worldwidewaftage.com

That’s all you have to do. Each day our web address brings up the latest post anytime after you would have received the email.  You can do this on your phone as well.  Alternatively, you can create an icon on your desktop or home screen for: www.worldwidewaftage.com and click it once a day, anytime within 24 hours of receiving the previous auto email.

Today, I plan to send the post manually as a group. Tom is included in that group, and I will know if it works if he receives it. I will let you know tomorrow, and if that’s the case, you can ignore the above instructions. I will manually send the email posts in a group each day. Sorry for the inconvenience!

This isn’t Lollie and her three piglets. It’s another mom. One of the piglets hops since she has a bad front leg. We call her “Hoppy.” She seems to be thriving, although the way she runs is both heartbreaking and funny.

Besides that, we still have WiFi issues in the house (this isn’t the cause of posts not going out). Over the past week, we have yet to be able to stream an entire episode of a show on my laptop when we hunker down for the night. It starts and stops every few minutes. As a result, we’ve been stuck playing with our phones before we go to sleep, playing games that don’t require a strong internet signal.

To avoid continually pestering Louise at all hours of the night, I have been communicating directly with our service provider. After installing a more powerful router, we’ve had some improvements but needed more to make streaming seamless. Today, the company’s owner is coming out to see what is wrong and discover how he can fix it.

Of course, this is frustrating. After eating and sitting on the veranda, we want to go inside our bedroom, away from insects, get comfy and watch a few hours of our favorite TV series. We want to be able to stream until 10:00 pm, 2200 hrs., after which we’re happy to “play” with our phones, answer email messages and text, and generally wind down for the night.

Today is an uncomfortable day here in the bush. The temperature is only 80F, 27C, but the humidity is currently at 76%, making the dew point 72, which at 65 is considered tropical. This is sweating weather. The temperature will continue to rise throughout the day, but usually when it does, the humidity may go down along with the dew point. If the sun were out, it would “burn off” some humidity.

Zebras are on a mission to get fed!

We can only imagine how uncomfortable this is for the animals, with many having furry coats. We see the warthogs visiting with mud all over them. They cool off in mudholes they find in the park. But, the zebras, antelopes, wildebeests, and others can only hide in the shade to stay cool and drink water from pools, water holes, and in our case, the birdbath, which we keep filled with fresh water each day.

Gee…I don’t want to sound like we are miserable today. We are not. My biggest disappointment is that we don’t have many visitors this morning. The weekend tourists have left, and hopefully, the animals will stop by soon. I hadn’t seen Norman for two days, a rarity, until yesterday afternoon. I gave him, Nina, and Noah, a big bowl of “Norman’s Lunch,” which they all enjoyed while hanging around for hours. This morning, we’ve only seen duikers Derek and his friend Dion, but not Delilah.

Once they all start coming around, we are both so happy to see them that we forget about annoying issues and revel in the wonders of the bush. For the past two days, my head is feeling a little better. I am hopeful.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 7, 2021:

Spikey has been playing in the mud! Too cute for words! For more photos, please click here.

Where do we do laundry and hang it to dry?…What does our stove look like?…What do we use to grill meat?…

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The portable clothes rack we use to hang laundry. It holds two loads, one white and one dark, which we do every three days.

A reader wrote a few days ago, asking to see photos of household items we frequently use, some similar to our old lives in the US and others not so much. Thus, I decided that from time to time, I would post a few photos of such items we deal with almost every day.

Since I was doing laundry today and the drying rack was up (Tom puts it up and takes it down each time we do laundry, so we don’t have to look at it when not in use), I thought today would be as good as any day to take a few photos and share them with our readers. Some may find this boring and unimportant.

When the new washer  on the left was installed a few months  ago, the old washer remained in its place. Recycling is tricky here for major appliances.

But, as world travelers, we’ve had to accustom ourselves to household items that may differ from what we used in our old lives. Doing laundry was at the top of our list of differences from our old lives for the following reasons:

  1. No hot water is available to the outdoor washer to keep costs down
  2. There is no clothes dryer. Without a dryer, some items end up wrinkled, which may not have been with the use of a dryer. I don’t iron, so I hang those items on hangers, smoothing the potential wrinkles with my hands.
  3. Hanging Clothes on a clothesline in Africa, may result in getting insect bites when close to the grass.
  4. Laundry pellets are less expensive here but don’t clean as well as Tide or other known brands
  5. The extreme humidity, at 82% right now, with a dew point of 72, and an overcast sky, prevents the clothes from drying for a few days. We have to bring the loaded rack indoors at night to avoid the risk of baboons tipping over the rack or taking some of the clothes, or flying away in high winds due to rainstorms.

    The clothesline in the garden which we don’t use other than for blankets and jeans. After having open-heart surgery I have difficulty raising my arms over my head. Tom hangs the heavy items.

As for the gas grill or braai, as it’s called in South Africa, they use propane tanks. Our gas grill was hooked up to the house’s gas supply in the US. Homes here in the bush have no gas piped to the house. Here are the differences:

  1. The water heater for the showers and bathroom sinks is pronounced “geezer,” spelled “geyser” in Afrikaans, a hot water storage tank with an electric heating element, to heat water for the showers and sinks.
  2. The gas for the stovetop and the gas for the braai has their own propane tanks. These tanks and their refills are included in our rent.
  3. If one of these tanks runs out, at times when we won’t contact Louise during off-hours. If we’re in the middle of cooking during “off hours,” Tom will swap out a tank from another source. Fortunately, we have a tank for the outdoor heater, and this is a good one to “borrow” until Vusi or Zef can bring us a newly filled tank. There’s nowhere to store extra tanks, and doing so may be a safety hazard.

Last week, when we were cooking Asian food for Leon and Dawn’s overnight visit, the stove ran out of gas in the middle of cooking. Fortunately, it was on a weekday during daylight hours, and within minutes after notifying Louise, Danie delivered a new tank to us and hooked it up.

The propane gas tank for the stovetop is located under the kitchen sink. The oven is electric.

As for the stovetop/oven, that’s very different from what we used in the past. As mentioned above, the stove top uses a propane tank, but the oven uses electricity. The differences are as follows:

  1. During load shedding, which has occurred daily lately, I have to plan to cook in the oven when the power is restored.
  2. When there is a non-load shedding outage, which happens pretty often, whatever I was cooking in the oven would then have to go onto the gas grill. I often do low-carb baking for us, and using the gas grill won’t work. At that point, I either have to toss what I was baking or see if I can finish it when the power is restored.
  3. Turning on the oven is more challenging than turning a dial. It requires pressing two buttons with two fingers and then turning on two dials, which took a lot of work to figure out when we first moved into this house. Louise came over and showed us how to do it. Go figure.
  4. Setting a timer for the oven is nearly impossible. After reading the instructions online, we gave up trying. Instead, we use my my Fitbit ‘s timer or the timer on my phone, for timing foods baking in the oven.
  5. Ovens’ temperatures are set in centigrade, not Fahrenheit.
The gas braai we often use to cook meat and poultry. Vusi or Zef clean it each time we use it.

I am adept at figuring out how to use household appliances, which is different from my past experiences. But, here and in many other countries, it’s more challenging than you’d think. We can often find instructions online, which are usually written in English.

After ten years of world travel, we’ve adapted to these differences, and when we are in the US, we are often in awe of how easy it is to use the conveniences we knew in the past. Nonetheless, we are grateful for what we have here.

Photo from one year ago today, November 6, 2021:

This is a new friend named Father Brown, a praying mantis. For more photos, please click here.

An exciting new little family in the bush…Change in plans for the weekend…

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Could the piglets be any cuter? They are the tiniest piglets we’ve ever seen! Way to go, Lollie!

Yesterday morning, Lollie, our resident female warthog, suddenly appeared in her usual spot in the garden with her three newborn piglets! We couldn’t stop smiling and laughing over how such little piglets could run around and jump when they were born only a few hours earlier.

We couldn’t feed Lollie enough pellets and carrots, knowing how vital nourishment is to her now, more than ever. The piglets were too young to eat the pellets or carrots, which I’d cut up into bite-sized pieces in case they tried to eat them. They will undoubtedly start eating the pellets in a few days.

It wasn’t easy to take photos of them since the piglets were terrified of us. These few photos included today were taken from my phone at quite a distance. As they grow, we’ll have more photos. It appears there are two females and one male. We named the boy Leon after our dear friend in the hospital, who is quite a go-getter with a robust sense of humor.

We missed seeing Leon at Jabula last night. If all goes well, by Monday, he should be returning home. We certainly hope the treatment he is on for the blood clot in his leg is working to dissolve the clot. Last night, it wasn’t the same without him there, but all the diners at the busy restaurant were talking about him and wishing him well. Dawn was holding up well, serving the needs of her guests along with her very competent staff and somehow managing to have an upbeat attitude. They both are amazing through this difficult time.

At around 7:15, after we’d finished our dinner, which we ate at the bar as we always do when it’s just the two of us, thunder and lightning filled the skies. We were shocked the power didn’t go out. Anxious to get back to our house to ensure everything was OK in the storm, we decided to leave right away.

David walked us to our car, holding a golf umbrella over our heads. But the wind and rain were too strong to keep us from getting soaking wet. Poor David had to go back inside to work while he was soaked. The 10-minute drive back to our house was treacherous. We were relieved to pull up under our car park roof and get inside the house. We couldn’t get our wet clothes off quickly enough and get comfy in the bedroom to stream a few shows and relax while the storm settled down.

The new router is working well. We only had a few minutes of an outage last night around 8:00 pm, 2000 hrs., typically when many people in Marloth Park are online. But it came back a few minutes later, and all was fine. We appreciate Louise and Tech Connect for getting our WiFi working correctly. It’s been quite a hassle dealing with frequent outages.

Tonight, we won’t be going to Jabula for dinner or going out anywhere. There’s a big rugby game tonight, and the entire park will flood the bars and restaurants where they can watch the game, drink, eat and cheer on the players. Since we aren’t into rugby we’ve decided to stay home, cook filet mignon on the braai, with rice for Tom and salad for both of us, and enjoy another fine evening in the bush.

A bale of lucerne was delivered by Daisy’s Den this morning, but we’ve yet to see many animals, other than a few impalas stopping by to nibble the fresh green hay. It’s the weekend, and due to the game, there are more people here in Marloth Park, causing many animals to stay undercover with the traffic on the roads and people in the bush.

It’s incredible how they are so active only hours after being born.

Many readers have written inquiring about how I feel after the massive medication regime I followed for ten days. I was pain-free for about a week, and now the headaches and facial pain have returned—however, it’s only about 50% as painful as it was initially.

I continue to read how similar headaches have impacted the lives of many who’d had such headaches while suffering from  Covid and continued long after they recovered from Covid. I may need to wait it out. Right now, I don’t feel like going through the side effects of trying new drugs for nerve pain. Nor do I want to go through several tests. Millions of people with long-haul Covid have had countless tests, none of which indicate why they are experiencing symptoms. I believe I fall into that category.

Here is an interesting article about long-haul Covid.

Plus, there’s this:

Overall, 1 in 13 adults in the U.S. (7.5%) have “long COVID” symptoms, defined as symptoms lasting three or more months after first contracting the virus and that they didn’t have before their COVID-19 infection.”
That’s it for today, folks. We hope you have a great weekend. We’ll be back with you soon!

Photo from one year ago today, November 5, 2021:

Notches, also from the Orange house, has found her way here. Her name is a result of the notches in her right ear. For more photos, please click here.

A snake visitor…Don’t be fooled by small snakes…

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The snake, a spotted bush snake, picked up its head to look at us as I took the photo, making it easier to identify.

It’s that time of year in the bush…when the snakes come out of hiding during the cooler months to search for food in the warmer months. Week by week, the temperatures are climbing, and at the same time, the number of snakes to be seen in the bush is increasing exponentially.

Yesterday morning, while I was in the kitchen preparing a salad for dinner, Tom called me to hurry outside and bring the camera. I dropped what I was doing, and rushed out the door with the camera in hand, turned on and ready to go. The small snake slithered in and out of the slats on the wooden section of the deck of the veranda, making photo-taking tricky.

We suspected the snake was venomous. It appeared to be a young boomslang, but we were wrong. Once we got a decent photo, I sent it to Juan de Beers, one of the excellent snake handlers in Marloth Park. Juan has helped us on several occasions when there have been venomous snakes in our garden. There’s no charge for this service, but it makes sense to give him a donation for his expert efforts, which we’ve always done.

Once I uploaded the photo, I sent it to him to see if he could identify it from the photo and thus determine if he needed to come out and remove it. Snakes are not killed when rescued, regardless of the type of danger from a particular snake. They are moved to the river or other wildlife areas, safe from human intervention.

The snake kept going in and out of the spaces between the boards on the deck area of the veranda.

A short time later, I heard from Juan, and he identified the snake as a spotted bush snake, described as follows from this site:

“Full Name: Spotted Bush Snake (Philothamnus semi variegates)

Other Names: Variegated Bush Snake; Gespikkelde Bosslang

Classification: HARMLESS

An alert, day-active snake that climbs well and is often found between the walls and ceilings of outbuildings, where it hunts for geckos and frogs. Sadly this harmless snake is often mistaken for a Green Mamba and needlessly killed.

The body is bright green to copper-green with distinct blackish spots on the front half of the snake but little or no dark marks on the back half. The belly is yellowish to white, and the pupil is orange.

This snake has keeled belly scales, enabling it to climb up the bark of a tree or even up face-brick walls. It is commonly found in suburban gardens, and domestic cats often kill juveniles.

There are a number of harmless green snakes of the genus Philothamnus and they can be quite difficult to tell apart.”

There was no danger to us from this snake. Juan offered to come out and remove it, but we saw no need. It might have been the same snake we saw climbing on a tree in our nearby garden in early winter that made its way to the underside of the wooden deck. Yesterday, a pleasant warm day, the snake may have decided to venture out from hiding to search for food.

Tom had watched the snake interact with a gecko. Perhaps, that was its attempt at a nice little breakfast. Do snakes hibernate? Here is the answer from this site:

“Snakes and hibernation

Hibernation has been described as an inherent, regular, prolonged period of inactivity during winter. Hibernation is a term associated with warm-blooded animals (endotherms) such as mammals and refers to a period of inactivity as well as a shut down in the metabolic system to save energy. Reptiles on the other hand are said to brumate – become less active, but do not shut down and will be active with a slight increase in temperature. The term brumate was coined by Wilbur Waldo Mayhen back in 1965 and referred to research he was doing on Flat-tailed Horn Lizards – he found that even if he heated these lizards up in winter, unlike other lizards, they would still not feed and become lethargic. Strangely, Mayhen’s term does not technically apply to the standard period of inactivity in our reptiles as our reptiles will become active with a slight increase in temperature on a warm winter day.

Snakes in cold regions of the world go into a state of torpor (inactivity) for long periods of time, up to 8 months, and often in dens where hundreds or even thousands of snakes may share the same winter shelter.

In Southern Africa it rarely gets cold enough for snakes to truly go into torpor and although they are far less active in winter, snakes may emerge from their winter hide-outs on a warm winter day to bask in the sun and drink water.

According to Professor Harry Greene, snakes consume between 6 – 30 meals per year and this is in summer. During winter, they do not eat very little or, if they do, very little. Most mammals will die within a few days if they are deprived of food but some snakes are known to have survived for more than a year without a meal. Because snakes are ectotherms and require no food for their heat requirements, they can survive with very little food and a large Puff Adder probably consumes less than 1 kg of food per year.

Prior to winter there is a peak of snake activity in South Africa as snakes build up fat reserves and seek a suitable shelter for the cold months ahead. But some snakes, like pythons and Puff Adders, are actively busy with mating on the Highveld right into the middle of winter.

When seeking a hide-out for winter, snakes will carefully seek a shelter that (a) has sufficient moisture to ensure that the snake does not desiccate and (b) cannot easily be located by predators. As it cools down, the snake may move deeper and deeper into its hole but rarely remain motionless unless the temperature drops to zero degrees C.

With a dramatic drop in snake activity in winter, very few bites are reported and the majority of bites on humans are recorded in the warm summer months of January – April/May.”

It moved close to the pool and then it was gone, probably hiding under the deck or off into the bush to look for food.

We watched the harmless snake slither away, content we had no concern about it staying in our garden through the upcoming hot summer months, when snakes are seen more frequently. Of course, I’ll always say, “Watch for snakes,” when walking outdoors both during the day and at night.

A few years ago we saw a venomous snake on the handrail on the stairs leading to Jabula. As we started up the steps, bystanders hollered to us, “Don’t go up there! There’s a snake!” We were grateful for their intervention. Juan came and removed the snake a short time later.

Our fingers are crossed for our dear friend Leon, who is still in hospital in Nelspruit. It will be weird to go to Jabula tonight and he won’t be there. He and I have chatted back and forth over the past few days and he sounded better than we’d expected. But, in support of Dawn and the restaurant, we’ll still go for dinner tonight and tomorrow night.

Small or baby snakes are not more or less venomous than the larger of the species. The venom is the same and can easily be as deadly as full-grown adults. All snakes must be avoided, respectful of their habitat and avoiding the risk of a life-threatening bite (or spray from a Mozambique Spitting Cobra). It is wise to notify certified snake handlers to remove venomous snakes from human-occupied areas.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 4, 2021:

Several female kudus stopped by this morning, including Bad Eye, whose eye is completely healed but looks a bit off-center. For more photos, please click here.

Sad and worrisome news about our friend…

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Three little piglets, nursing from their mom. I couldn’t get closer, or the piglets would have run off. Plus, I didn’t want the one with the bad leg to run needlessly.

It’s been a rough few months. Our friend Jeff passed away in bed in the guest cottage on September 21. A few days later, our friend Bruce died at his home in Marloth Park. And now, our dear friend Leon has been diagnosed with incurable cancer that no treatment can improve.

When Dawn and Leon spent Monday night staying in our lovely guest cottage for a short getaway, we made every effort to make it a peaceful and restful time for both of them with good food, love, support, and friendship. Little did we know that a day later, Leon would be admitted to the hospital in Nelspruit for a blood clot in his leg, a dangerous condition related to his illness. The next few days will determine what happens from here. Our love and prayers are with him and his devoted Dawn.

Of course, we are worried and devastated.  The party they’d planned for all of their friends for this Saturday has been canceled. Jabula remains open with all of their friends that traveled from near and far for the party, some staying at Jabula Lodge with others staying in other nearby holiday rentals. There is nothing we can do at this point.

Giraffes have been stopping by frequently.

Our hearts go out to Dawn when many friends will be flooding Jabula with the best intentions to eat, drink, eat and support the business. But this load falls on Dawn, David, and her staff with the number of people they’ll have to serve over the next several days.  She will spend as much time as she can with Leon at the hospital while managing the busy establishment at the same time.

In the meantime, we also worry about our friend in Hawaii, praying that he recovers from the terrifying diagnosis that prompted him and his dear wife to leave Marloth Park a year ago. We recall the day we drove them to the airport in Nelspruit, saying a sorrowful goodbye, wondering…

Is it our advancing age and the ages of our friends we love, who are leaving this world for the next, often with the dreaded “C” and other terminal respiratory illnesses? We knew these times would come, as they do for all of us who have been gifted with beautiful friendships and face the loss of many of those friends over time. Most recently, it has been too many in one short period.

We love seeing giraffes in the garden.

Our hearts are heavy while we still attempt to maintain a hopeful attitude for the future. Of course, it’s natural for all of us to question the longevity of our own lives and the potential of contracting some awful disease sometime in the future. No, we don’t obsess about this, but it’s hard not to think about it now and then, especially under these current circumstances.

This morning a light rain passed over the bush, brightening the leaves on the trees as the dust was washed away. After several soaking rains, the bush is beginning to sprout new leaves on the bushes and trees, and the animals can finally eat a little more greenery when it was so sparse the past many months.

In about a month, if the rain continues, we’ll be able to stop ordering lucerne and feed pellets as a treat for our visitors. This morning, chopping a bunch of vegetables, I made a big bowl of scraps for what I call “Norman’s Lunch.” He now knows when I ask him if he wants “his lunch,” his ears perk up, and it appears he has a smile on his handsome face. As do many bushbucks who stop by, Nina and Noah also partake in the vegetables.

This one looked at me when I called out.

Bad Leg, a bushbuck with a leg injury, has spent most of his time in our garden recovering. He’s begun to walk better. We brought food to him each time he visited, where he rested by the little wooden fence. We’d give him a mixture of lucerne,  pellets, cabbage, celery tops, apples, and carrots. It’s lovely to see him improving each day.

There’s a mom with three tiny piglets we’ve seen each day since they were born in Louise’s garden last week. One of the piglets has a very bad right front leg on which he hobbles to keep up with his mom and siblings. She tends to lie down when they visit to give herself a rest from the strain of walking and running. It’s so sad to see, and we hope she heals soon.

Norman was fluffed up when he spotted some Big Daddies in the garden.

Based on the number of warthogs in the park, the rangers and vet don’t spend time or money on warthogs and their offspring. It’s heartbreaking to see warthogs suffering from horrific injuries. But, if they lived in Kruger National Park, there would be no help for them. there either. It’s a sorrowful situation for wildlife.

Let’s face it; Life is hard. There’s no easy answer for those suffering, whether human or animal. We can only pray for the comfort and peace of those dealing with Life’s impossible challenges and do whatever we can to ease those we love in the process.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 3, 2021:

Often, other animals clear out when a Big Daddy arrives. For more photos, please click here.

Frustrating nights without WiFi…

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Look at the number of kudus visiting us!

Recently, we’ve been having serious WiFi issues. We’ve been able to get through the day with only a few outages. But, after dinner, when the insects are too awful to sit on the veranda, we head to the bedroom to prop ourselves up with pillows on the bed and stream a few hours of various TV series.

We tend to prefer series to movies and are constantly checking for new series that may appeal to us. Tom doesn’t care for science fiction or fantasy-type series, and I don’t care for war documentaries. As a result, we don’t watch either. If something pops up that one of us wants to see in these categories, we can watch it on our own. During the day, Tom often streams parts of recent football games from teams other than the Minnesota Vikings, which he watches entirely, usually in bed on Sunday nights.

Busy lucerne morning.

Over the past ten days or so, we have yet to be able to stream a single show on Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon Prime without the WiFi going out every 30 seconds or so. This has prevented us from watching anything, although we’ve continued to try each night. Louise reported this to Tech Connect, the provider in Komatipoort, which generally has provided good service.

I’ve spent hours texting back and forth with the provider, trying to figure out a solution. From the start, I insisted it was a router problem. Routers go bad, and the same router has been in this house for years. But they insisted it wasn’t the router after trying many other fixes. I persisted, and finally, the company ordered us a high-grade enhanced power router which has yet to arrive, and they’ve reported to us each day. They’ve been very responsive except on this one point.

Another visit by Louise and Danie’s francolin family. Are they scoping a new location for their fast growing chick, maybe here with us? We’d love that!!!

We’re hesitating to go anywhere because we fear the router will come in, and they’ll want to install it immediately. I’m sure they want me to get off their back, although I’ve always been gracious and appreciative of their help, and they, in return, have always been very nice.

Years ago, in our old lives, we had constant problems over a few years with cable TV from Mediacom, the provider in our area at that time. From what I hear, in the US, cable TV isn’t used much anymore with the availability of many streaming services. Upstairs in this house is a flat-screen TV with Netflix, but we prefer not to go upstairs at night since it’s hotter up there, and we’d have to use the aircon. Also, I prefer not to go up and down those steep steps, especially in the dark during load shedding.

Zebras quickly devour the lucerne.

We never watch TV in a holiday home unless we visit the US or if they have Nat Geo, which we may keep on in the background from time to time if there’s a TV in the living room/lounge. But that has not happened since we were in Fiji in 2015, a long time ago. We have never watched TV while in Africa, instead streaming a few favorite shows when we head to bed.

Last night, in desperation, we watched a movie we had on the hard drive Rita and Gerhard gave me for my last birthday, “A Dog’s Purpose.”  I loved the movie, but Tom thought it was “hokey.” I even cried a few times, which I do more in dog movies than others.

A mom and youngster kudu enjoying the lucerne in the garden with Nina and a bushbuck.

We’ve seen most of the movies on the hard drive, or they are science fiction, fantasy types, or action heroes, another theme which Tom doesn’t care to watch. I will watch any movies, but I am not fond of films about the 50s and 60s, the years I was growing up. Go figure.

It’s a miracle that we’ve been able to upload the posts and photos each day, although from time to time, I have been unable to upload photos or save the post as I am working on it.  At that point, I copy and paste everything I’ve typed and move it to a Word document to save on the hard drive for when the WiFi returns, so I don’t have to re-write the entire thing. Nothing is more frustrating than losing everything I’ve done.

That’s it for today, folks. Have a fantastic day!

Photo from one year ago today, November 2, 2021:

Farmers burn sugarcane crops before harvest to remove the leaves and tops of the sugarcane plant leaving only the sugar-bearing stalk to be harvested. For more photos, please click here.

We had a fantastic 10-year anniversary celebration with friends…Spring is in the air!…

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This is starling Vega’s partner. They are building a nest. Female starlings look very different from males, which is not uncommon.

I was so distracted ensuring our friends had a pleasant evening and dinner I failed to take any photos. We apologize for failing to take food and people photos. We have found that some occasions are less about photos and more about living in the moment.  Bear with us during those times.

With a new lucerne bale arriving at noon, the animals came in droves, and Dawn and Leon enjoyed every visitor along with us. Mom and three piglets visited, along with Norman, Noah, Nina, Lollie, Earl, Bad Ear, Bad Leg, and many more. It was a delightful time.

But even more than the joy of the visiting wildlife, the light rain, our bonfire, and our homemade Asian food, the conversation was meaningful and treasured by all four of us. They are such good friends. They are living through such hard times. We are right beside them through the entire process.

This is Vega taking a bath before he meets up with his girlfriend.

The food was, no doubt, a lot of work. Asian food requires a lot of chopping and dicing, organizing spices and sauces, and getting the taste done to perfection. I only  needed to use a recipe for the batter for the fried tenderloin pieces, combining corn starch, flour, eggs, and salt. I wanted to ensure the measurement was accurate for a light, fluffy batter. The rest I knew in my head from past experience.

This had been the first time in years I’d deep-fried anything. But, the meat for the sweet and sour pork must be pre-fried and kept hot while the sauce is stir-fried separately with carrots, green peppers, garlic, and fresh pineapple chunks. The pineapples I purchased here in South Africa look very different from those in the US and other parts of the world.

We love this little bird. I need help finding information on its species.

They are smaller with less “meat” and more skin and dark spots. I was surprised by how little there was after I cleaned the two pineapples. The remainder of the vegetables were fine. The sauce is made using chicken broth, sugar, pineapple juice, soy sauce, red wine vinegar and spices and thickened with cornstarch mixed with cold water for a smooth thickened sauce.

It seemed to take the sauce quite a while to thicken sufficiently. It’s quite a balancing act to deep fry the meat (it took four batches) while preventing the oil from having too many loose bits of the batter and cooking the sauce simultaneously, watching each pot carefully.

Fortunately, I’d already made the fried rice which is a half-day operation, considering I wanted to make a big enough batch to send them home with plenty and to be able to freeze at least a dozen containers for Tom. Each night we can take a batch from the freezer to defrost in the refrigerator overnight for the following evening’s meal.

Another dung beetle and his mate. We now see them every day!

I’d made the spicy prawns and asparagus dish earlier in the day which I easily reheated in the same pot while the sweet and sour dish was cooking. Of course, I made a mess of the stovetop and planned to let Vusi clean it this morning. But, once I looked at it when I got up, I cleaned it myself. We can, but don’t leave dishes and pots and pans for them to clean.

We always do such tasks ourselves, grateful that we have Vusi and Zef to wash floors, make the bed, clean the bathrooms and c the veranda. We try not to make extra work for them.

Hornbill, up in the trolley birdfeeder. He also has a girlfriend with whom he’s building a nest. Spring is in the air! Love is in the air!

Dawn and Leon were comfortable staying overnight in the little cottage on our property. This morning, they came over around 9:00 am for breakfast. I overslept a bit and got up, showered, and dressed at 8:00 am. I rushed to make the egg, mushroom and sausage flan, and banana coconut bread from scratch. By 8:30, I had everything in the oven, but the banana bread takes an hour to bake so we didn’t eat until a little after 9:30. They had an appointment and were able to get out the door by 10:30, after which Tom did the breakfast dishes. Everything from last night’s dinner was washed, dried and put away.

We have fantastic leftovers for tonight’s dinner. Also, I made a keto cheese pie which Tom and Leon didn’t like, but Dawn and I put a good dent in. There was plenty left to send Dawn home with a piece for tonight after their leftovers. Luckily, I made enough of everything so we all could have leftovers tonight. They even took some of the banana bread home for later.

We put an egg out for this monitor lizard, but he never found it. Instead, the mongooses found it the next day and shared it.

Since I don’t eat sweet and sour pork or fried rice, I made a salad to go with my spicy prawn stir fry, and that was all the more prep I had to do today. It is too damp to do laundry since it rained and the clothes never dry on days like this. Tomorrow, will be drier and less humid, so I can tackle that job then.

We had a wonderful 10-year anniversary, doing precisely what we wanted to do…spending it with friends. We have so much to be grateful for and never forget it for a day. And, of course, we have all of you to share our lives and ongoing journey, which picks up once again in three weeks when we take off for Seychelles.  Thanks for all the heartfelt anniversary wishes!

Happy day to all.

Photo from one year ago today, November 1, 2021:

Big Daddy was chewing on the core of a massive head of cabbage. He loved it! For more photos, please click here.