Stunning visitors to the garden…Rioting in the streets in Komatipoort…

A mom and a young giraffe stayed close to one another.

This morning, while lingering in bed, knowing there was no rush to get up, I played Scrabble on my phone. I am trying to break my previous winning streak but have some tough competition. I can tell some players use letter-unscrambling apps, but I wing it alone. What’s the point of playing if I don’t exercise my brain?

Reaching for the treetops.

About 7:30, Tom came into the bedroom to tell me to hurry and come outside. There were four giraffes in the garden, close enough for some photos. I had yet to insert my contacts and couldn’t focus the camera very well, so I rushed back inside to take care of it.

We were thrilled we had some tasty trees in the garden.

In less than a minute, I was back outside and ready to take some photos to share here today. We were both thrilled to finally see these massive animals in the garden during the day. We’d see them on the road but not in the garden, except a few times when they appeared on the trail cam at night, too far for good images.

Giraffes don’t eat pellets, but wildebeests do!

The four massive beasts stayed for about 30 minutes, and finally, I could go back inside to shower and dress for the day. Once in the kitchen, I made my coffee, warmed up a homemade blueberry egg muffin, and ventured out to the veranda to enjoy the views of myriad wildlife visiting us on yet another gorgeous day.

We’d planned to go to Kruger today, but now, with riots in Komatipoort, only a few kilometers from where we turn off to go to the Crocodile Bridge entrance, we decided to stay put. A tweet came in this morning with a video of rioting on Rissik Street, where we were yesterday for Tom’s eye doctor appointment, which is the main road in town that takes us to the Spar Market.

Are you perhaps contemplating a drink from the pool?

Not only was there vandalism and carjackings in the town of a population of under 5000, but rocks were being thrown at people and vehicles. No thanks. We will stay as far away as possible, which is right here where we are in Marloth Park. There’s been a lot of rioting in South Africa lately with no results from these activities regarding changes people want to be made.

In this case, supposedly, the residents were rioting over the lack of a high school, the clinic’s hours, and other reasons, none of which will change from this demonstration. Businesses and governments do not respond to rioting, which is prevalent in this country and others, including our own USA.

They wandered about the garden for about 30 minutes and were on their way.

But, for our safety, we’ve chosen to stay in Marloth Park today. We won’t be able to go to the Kruger tomorrow since Tom has a 10:00 am appointment to have his two teeth implants placed on the foundations by Dr. Singh. In the interim, I’ve had a toothache for the past several days and have been trying to reach the dental office for the past three hours to no avail.

Now that we have a local phone number, it is a little more convenient to leave a message than in the past, when most people don’t return a call to a long-distance number like ours on our Google phones. As mentioned in an earlier post, we figured out a solution for Google Fi’s issue with us regularly using data outside the US.

Delicious!

We purchased a local Vodacom SIM card for my old phone with voice and data to use as needed. Sure, I must carry two phones when heading out, but it was the only practical solution for now. Google phones don’t have an extra slot for another SIM card other than the one installed for Google Fi purposes. Thus, the necessity for another phone.

Overall, this phone solution was less expensive than any other we investigated. Although it’s slightly inconvenient having two phones, there are times it comes in handy when I’m using my old phone to stream music in the early evenings while still able to use the newer phone.

Where to next?

As for Tom’s eye doctor appointment yesterday (where the riots are today), he was relieved to know the strings he saw from his eye were “floaters.” I also have the same problem with one of my eyes. In a study, it was reported that 76% of seniors have floaters. So I guess neither of us has to be concerned about this common condition.

That’s it for today, folks. Be well and enjoy your day and evening.

Photo from one year ago today, July 28, 2021:

Tiny seemed happy to see us, although he hesitated for a moment to ensure it was us. He is timid, unlike Little. We are thrilled to see him once again! For more photos, please click here.

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