Sure, I wish I could have taken a photo of last night’s porcupine. Tom was doing the dishes while I was in the bedroom, setting up a show for us to stream when quietly, he opened the bedroom door and signaled to me to follow him. He’d happened to peer out the sliding door with the garden light on to see if any visitors were in the garden in the dark and spotted the porcupine for the fifth time.
Once our night vision trail cam arrives, we will be able to share photos of our visiting porcupine. We wondered why she starts in the same spot each time Tom has seen her, realizing it was next to the edge of the veranda where we often leave seeds for Frank and The Misses.
When searching online for porcupine sources of food, we discovered the following:
“In the winter, they primarily eat evergreen needles and the inner bark of trees, often feeding heavily on a single tree causing damage or death to the tree. Porcupines shift to eating berries, seeds, grasses, leaves, roots, and stems.”
The seeds we left for Frank at night have attracted her and are the reason she’s returned time and again. Tom has kept a watchful eye out for her since his first of five sightings beginning a few months ago, hoping to be able to show her to me. Last night was indeed a treat for me.
I was totally in awe of what my eyes beheld. She had her quills fully extended, and she was much larger than I’d anticipated. She disappeared into the bush in a matter of seconds with no time for me to prepare the camera for a nighttime shot. Thus, we’re excited about the prospect of the trail cam arriving in the next month or two.
As for yesterday, I had the wonderful treat of a long conversation on Facebook Messenger with my dear friend Karen, who’s now moved to her fabulous home in Florida from Minnesota. It was Karen and Rich with whom we stayed when visiting Minnesota in 2019. We rarely stay with anyone while traveling, but it’s been so comfortable staying with them, we didn’t hesitate to do so again.
We’ll visit them in Florida at some point in the future, although they are planning to visit us here in Marloth Park sometime next year when the timing is right when international travel eases a bit. We plan to move into one of Louise’s larger houses for the almost three weeks they intend to be here. (Our current house is too small for four adults). It’s not worth coming all this way, halfway around the world, for a short stay.
Tomorrow, Tom will take the little rental car to the Marlothi shopping center’s car wash for a thorough cleaning, both inside and out, which car rental companies require in South Africa before returning vehicles, or an additional charge will be imposed. On Friday, we’ll return the car to the Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger Airport to collect another car for the next 82 days.
It’s about a 75-minute drive each way. After we collect the car, we plan to stop in Malelane on the return drive to do our grocery shopping at the fantastic Spar Market, which is packed with goodies for our way of eating. It will be a fun outing. Next week after the traffic lessens in Kruger National Park, we’ll head to the park for a much-anticipated self-drive in search of fantastic wildlife and lunch at the popular Mugg & Bean in Lower Sabie. We can hardly wait. The Easter crowds are gradually diminishing with less and less traffic in Marloth Park.
Following is a video we found on Facebook with a kudu attacking a man who got too close to the massive mature male. The animals we love so much are wild, and it’s never safe to attempt to touch them or get too close. I hope this video comes up for you. Please see here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/377035355798904/permalink/1901623916673366/.
Have a fantastic day.
Photo from one year ago today, April 7, 2020:
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| This is the only health food store, Healthy Hut, within a half-hour drive from our holiday home in Kauai, Hawaii, in 2015. The inventory was ripe with fresh, locally grown organic produce, grass-fed meats, free-range chickens and eggs, and food and health supplies one would find in a much larger location in a big city. Pricey? Yep! For the full story from six years ago today, please click here. For the year-ago post, please click here. |
Greetings, I know how you feel about purchasing insurance in the US but … Biden is allowing all Americans to purchase under the Affordable Care Act thru August 15, due to Covid. If you are here for 6 weeks, it might be worth consideration.
Take care,
Judy and Gary Kelly
Judy and Gary,
Thanks for your suggestion but we only visit the US once every two years, generally for less than a month. We already have excellent international insurance. But the cost for that one month isn’t worth it to us.
Hope you both are well,
Jess & Tom