One week from today and we’re off to Seychelles…Another horrible animal injury…Enough, already!!!..

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This is Bad Leg who had a leg injury a few weeks ago. In no time, he seemed to recover, and now, he showed up with this hole in his head. How in the world will he recover from this injury?

This morning, I awoke with my left eye really swollen, and itchy, the same side of my face where the headache and cheek pain is located. Unable to see Dr. Theo today, I decided to go to the local Marloth Park clinic and see Dr. Shane, a highly regarded doctor, also loved by many locals.

I guess I don’t have trigeminal neuralgia for which I am on a drug to help with the head pain. Instead, it appears I have chronic sinusitis precipitated by Omicron in April. Lately, I’ve been treated for a sinus infection which did resolve, but I am still left with inflammation in the sinus cavities on the left side of my head only.

Dr. Shane prescribed medication that should resolve this issue once and for all, with a strict regime of treatment I must follow at home, and continue on our upcoming trip in one week. I’m glad I got this addressed today rather than taking the risk it would worsen while we are away.

We spotted these two Cape buffalos this morning as we drove along the river. With all the rain and plenty of water holes, less wildlife head to the river. However, Cape buffalos and waterbucks always remain close to the river.

I will strictly adhere to the nasal treatments (three different procedures) each day, along with the meds and hopefully can get off the Amitriptyline before we leave next Thursday. This will require as many daily procedures as Tom needed when he had Covid-19 pneumonia in April, whereby every few hours there was something to take or do. I am highly motivated to get this never-ending discomfort under control.

After we returned to the house, Tom immediately took off for Komatipoort to pick up the prescriptions so I could begin the procedures and meds today, rather than wait another day until they could be delivered here to Marloth Park. Each day is important as the countdown to depart begins.

Last night, we had a lovely evening with Mario and Peter who joined us for sundowners on the veranda. It was a warm evening but fortunately, the humidity was low and the insects weren’t too bad allowing us to sit outdoors well after dark.  Before we knew it, they headed to their home in the bush and after we cleaned up the food and glasses, we were off to bed to stream a show and later drift off to sleep.

As we drove along the river we spotted these two Big Daddies resting in the shade on another hot day.

As I write here now, Norman is in the garden eating a few bananas, carrots, cabbage leaves, and of course, a few batches of pellets. I hadn’t seen him in two days which was unusual for him but this morning when Tom got outside by 6:30, he was waiting for him. Tom fed him some bananas and pellets. I was disappointed I didn’t see him then when I didn’t get up until 7:30.

I noticed Norman wasn’t eating pellets but was staring at me. There was something else he was looking for. I grabbed a few more overripe bananas from the kitchen and tossed them to him. in a second he was happily eating his favorite food. Bananas ripen quickly in the heat and humidity so we are happy to share them with the wildlife to keep the annoying flies out of the kitchen.

We purchased boxes of 12 bananas but after Tom eats a few over a few days, he’s had his fill and Norman will gladly eat the rest. They never go to waste, as is the case with any vegetables we buy.  Since I don’t eat fruit, and Tom only cares for bananas, we never buy fruit, only non-starchy vegetables, most of which the wildlife seem to enjoy.

We are thrilled with all the green vegetation for the animals, which sometimes makes them hard to spot.

Just now, after tossing some leftover zucchini to Norman, which he doesn’t love, I saw that mom and four piglets had arrived. Immediately, I jumped up to get them pellets. Even the piglets have started eating pellets. They chew each pellet for what seems like several minutes but immediately go back for more. They are delightful to watch.

At this point, we have no less than four sets of moms and piglets stopping by daily, including Hoppy and her family and of course, sadly, the mom with the awful injury and her babies who have been here a few times in the past several days. See this post here for photos of her horrific injury. We are devastated for her and this life-threatening injury.

That’s it for today, folks. We hope you have a fantastic day!

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 17, 2021:

Little rested in the cement pond on a sweltering day, his ears flicking as he listened to me talking to him. We miss Little. He’s never found us here over 2 km away from our last location. For more, please click here.

Another horrifying and heartbreaking animal injury in the bush…See below for photos, adults only, please…Could it have been a lion attack?…

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Two moms and seven piglets stopped by this morning, and we couldn’t believe the injury on one of the moms, as shown in the photos below.

With all the wonders of the bush, we will inevitably witness horrific injuries inflicted upon wildlife by other wildlife and, sometimes inadvertently, by humans driving too fast on the roads. When feeding this and another mom this morning with their combined seven piglets, our jaws dropped when we spotted this horrific injury on one of the moms.

It may be why she joined up with another mom with piglets since she may know she won’t last long with this severe injury. This morning I messaged Ranger Jaco, sending him the photos, and he agreed this injury was from a leopard or lion.

Did a lion or leopard do this? We’ve never seen such an injury from a horned or tusks animal in the past.

Warthogs are not necessarily territorial but live in groups in a home range, called sounders, and may or may not be together at certain times. Males mainly live alone but may hang out together from time to time, but not in the female sounders and only with females during the mating season. We’ve often seen moms and piglets together and later aunts, nieces, and sisters. We have witnessed all of this.

Jaco also stated that although warthogs are sturdy and often recover from serious injuries, it’s unlikely that flies will eat away the dying flesh from this type of injury. Eventually, she’ll become septic and die.

Two things come to mind for us after this sighting. One, will she die nearby since we’ve seen her and her piglets several times since they were born a few weeks ago? Two, is the lion or leopard that inflicted this severe injury hunting nearby in our area?

At first, we were excited to see the two moms with seven piglets between them. We tossed lots of pellets and carrots.

We will be extra diligent in the future. Many have seen lions and leopards during the day and their usual evening hunting time. People walking and biking must be extra careful, knowing an attack is possible if getting too close. Often, unknowing tourists will go to inspect a “kill” only to put themselves in danger. What if the lion or leopard returns to eat the remainder of their kill?

I had a busy morning getting food prepared for tonight’s sundowner gathering. There will only be four of us since one of our guests had a family emergency out of town. It’s a scorching day, so I made a point of making easy snacks that won’t require any fussing when the power goes out for load shedding at 5:00 pm, 1700 hrs, for at least two hours.

The seven piglets all looked healthy and active.

Right now, as I write, the temperature is 97F, 36C, but the humidity is only 29% with a dew point of 59, much more bearable than it has been for several days this past week, with tomorrow about the same. Saturday and Sunday, we’ll be looking at temps over 100F, 38C, and 103F, 39, respectively, with higher humidity and dew point than today.

I’m glad we planned tonight’s little gathering today rather than over the weekend. We’ll be back at Jabula on Friday and Saturday, but according to the load-shedding schedule, they should have power while we’re there. There’s aircon in the bar, which makes it quite comfortable during hot periods.

This poor mom. Her hind end is horribly injured. This could have occurred while she was attempting to protect her piglets. She must be in terrible pain. We fed her lots of pellets and fresh vegetables this morning.

Tom just took a short nap since he didn’t sleep much last night. Soon, I will join him for a bit of a rest while the fan is on. We don’t use the bedroom’s aircon during daytime hours, saving it for sleeping, which is more important to both of us.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 16, 2021:

Medium Daddy and his girls. For more photos, please click here.

Heartbreaking photos…Nature is hard…Preparing for tomorrow’s sundowner party…

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We are trying to report it, but often warthog injuries aren’t handled in the park based on the excess number of pigs and piglets. It’s simply not affordable to treat all of them. But it’s heartbreaking nonetheless.

We made several new friends while at Jabula on the weekends. Last Saturday, we chatted with Brad, a resident we’ve come to know, and Maroi (pronounced “ma roy) and Peter, who have a home here in Marloth Park but spend the rest of their time in Holland.

We’ve known Maroi for several years, and it was about time we invited her and her boyfriend Peter for sundowners. The three of them will arrive on Wednesday around 4:00 pm, 1600 hrs. As always, we’re serving an array of easy and fun-to-eat finger foods that should fill everyone sufficiently so that they won’t need to make dinner when they return home later in the evening.

This is Hoppy, the adorable little piglet that appears to have a broken leg.

Sundowners can end anytime from 8:00 pm, 2000 hrs., to after midnight, depending on how late our guests like to stay up and how bad the insects are on the veranda, a huge deterrent on certain nights.

Today, I am preparing a short menu of sundowner appetizers that are easy to make and won’t require me to spend hours in the kitchen on what appears will be a hot day tomorrow. Tom always does the dishes. We always use regular plates and flatware with linen napkins and placemats. I’ve never been a big fan of paper plates and plastic forks. They work well on an outdoor picnic in a public location but not “at home” for us.

A closeup photo of Hoppy and the swollen joint on her right leg. Her hair was standing up on her back since she was uncomfortable with my presence.

We purchased the required biodegradable shampoo, conditioner, and sunscreen from online Takealot to bring with us. We received a notice from Intrepid Travel that only biodegradable items are allowed on the ship. We’ve never experienced this in the past.

But to protect the coral reef in Seychelles, this is a country-wide requirement. We were happy to comply but couldn’t find such items at Spar or the pharmacy in Komatipoort. Takealot only had one option for each item, so we bought what they had. Hopefully, they will be acceptable.

Based on the fact we saw this litter within a day of being born, she may have had this leg anomaly since birth.

There aren’t any specific Covid-19 requirements to enter the country or re-enter South Africa on December 4. Our fingers are crossed that we don’t experience any issues as we go through immigration in Johannesburg before our final short flight to Nelspruit, considered a “domestic flight” on December 4.

I’m still waking up at 2:00 am since I started taking the drug for my headache. The literature on the medicine says it may take weeks to work. But, I am accepting this since, during the day, my headache is easily 80% better in the past four days since I started the 10 mg dose four nights ago. With this immediate response, I am hopeful that I may be pain-free entirely over time.

If that’s the case, I’ll have to decide how long I stay on the drug since stopping it too soon can cause a rebound of symptoms. If I am not experiencing annoying or unbearable side effects, I will stick with it for months or longer, if necessary. It’s no big deal to pop a little pill a few hours before bedtime.

Kudu mom and baby.

If we stay up late, I’ll take the pill whenever we head to bed since I don’t want to miss a dose and see the symptoms return. The facial pain is still there when I touch my face, but it’s 50% better, so I avoid touching my cheek other than when gently washing my face or applying makeup.

Today is a perfect weather day with low humidity and reasonable temperatures. I may spend time this afternoon doing some of the prep for tomorrow, once I upload this post, make Tom’s low-carb blueberry scones (when load shedding ends and we can use the oven), and after our trip to the local meat market and the little shop for a few things we’ll need for tomorrow.

Have a lovely day, and be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 15, 2021:

Stringy has a little plant growing at the end of his left horn. Too cute for words. For more photos, please click here.

For our Minnesota reader/friends…What did you think of yesterday’s Vikings game?…Names for Lollie’s piglets…

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This is an African Hoopoe we spotted in the garden.

Last night, when we hunkered down for the night, Tom began watching the Minnesota Vikings football game using the app for which he pays each year, with replays of all US football games. I am supposed to take one 10 mg. tablet of Amitriptyline early each night, at 9:00 pm, 2100 hrs., so I am not groggy when I awake. But, usually, I am sleepy enough to nod off an hour after I take it.

Earlier, the WiFi was out for a few hours, so we watched a movie on the external hard drive, picked randomly since we had no way to look up the movie’s content or reviews. It was called Beast of Burden, a somewhat ridiculous premise, but with load shedding and no WiFi simultaneously, it’s what we had to keep us busy until the WiFi returned.

Once the movie ended and the WIFi returned, we could stream a few episodes of Animal Kingdom on Amazon Prime and later watch the Minnesota Vikings Game, which had played at 8:00 pm, 2000 hrs. At around 10:00 pm, 22000 hrs., Tom started watching the Vikings game while I couldn’t help but fall asleep.

This bird seems to hang out with Vega, a common starling. Is it the female of the species?

I should mention that Tom is a silent viewer of football games. Regardless of what happens, he is quiet and doesn’t make a sound, as much as he loves watching. But, the weird thing about this drug left me dozing off and on while I heard every play in the game.

Last night, in the fourth quarter, with one minute remaining in the game, he couldn’t keep quiet and yelled out, totally awakening me from my “twilight sleep.” Oddly, I heard what was happening in my sleep and would have been jolted awake anyway. What transpired in the game in the next hour blew our minds. It was the most exciting game we’d ever seen.

For Minnesotans and Vikings fans throughout the US and possibly the world, we held our breath along with you after one stunning play after another. We were so wound up after the win that we couldn’t attempt to sleep until after 1:00 am. Tom fell asleep, but I didn’t, not getting sleepy again until after 2:00 am.

We both ended up with enough sleep and felt rested today. But we’re still reeling from the excitement. What a night.

Lollie arrived this morning with her three piglets. We were happy to see them. We named the two boys Leon and Leopold and the female Lolita.

Today is much cooler with lower humidity, which is quite a relief. The temp is 80F, 27C, the sky is cloudy, and there’s a lovely breeze. The dew point is still tropical at 67, with the humidity at a more tolerable 65%. With many holidaymakers gone after the weekend, we’ve started to see our wildlife friends return for a visit.

After being absent for several days, other than to show up last week with her new piglets, we were delighted to see Lollie return this morning with them in tow. She brought them to us the day they were born and stayed away, other than a few stops without them, for pellets, carrots, apples, and lucerne.

We were worried something had happened to the three piglets, and then we realized she had wanted to show them off to us but then tucked them away for a few days to allow them to grow and feed before she brought them back. This morning, we were thrilled to see the four of them offering plenty of treats good for her.

Our boy Norman, the dad of Noah, and partner of Nina, our favorite family visitors.

We never feed the animals “bad” food, only nourishing pellets, fruits, and vegetables suitable for their diets. We look online at reputable sites to see what foods are appropriate for them based on their digestion and eating habits. Most herbivores do well with vegetables and fruit but not corn.

Our friend Lynne from Jersey, UK, stopped by for a visit this morning. They arrived a few days ago, and we’re excited to see her again. We will get together with her and her hubby Mick when we return from our upcoming trip.

We’ll be back with more soon!

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 14, 2021:

This is Stringy. Notice the strings from digging roots between his horns. For more photos, please click here.

Trying to catch up and simplify daily tasks…Great photo from trail cam…

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From the trial cam: A civet walked across the wooden section of the veranda.

Since I haven’t been feeling my best the past few weeks since the headache returned, I’ve gotten behind on a few tasks including laundry, cooking for the next three nights, and record keeping. As my head improves a little each day after three nights on the medication, I awoke knowing today I needed to tackle some things.

Once I was up, l showered and dressed and made my breakfast of toasted homemade keto bread, topped with mashed avocado and one egg. I sat down outdoors to eat with my cup of decaf coffee. I have this same breakfast every morning, while Tom eats a portion of egg casserole that I make every few weeks and freeze in individual portions. This makes mornings a little easier.

Of course, this morning, he ate a good-sized portion of the apple crisp (minus the ice cream) I made yesterday for Leon, making two smaller pans for Tom. We froze one and he’ll be eating the other over the next several days. He’d hoped to have some last night when we returned from dinner, but he was full and didn’t want to eat anything so close to going to bed.

From the trail cam: Zebras looking for the remnants of lucerne.

A moment ago, four zebras visited the garden. Tom suggested we give them the leftover apple peels from the 36 apples yesterday. We gave half of them to Norman this morning and now the zebras are enjoying the second half. We all know horses love apples, and zebras are not a lot different in their taste preferences. Then again, Norman loved them as well.

Today, I am making enough spicy chicken peanut stir fry to last for three nights. I’ve cut up all of the chicken and it’s marinating in the fridge. I spent a few hours chopping the chicken and vegetables including the laborious task of cleaning sugar snap peas and pea pods, removing all those pesky strings that can get caught in one’s throat if they aren’t removed.

To keep the dish fresh each night, I will cook all the chicken today but cook each night’s vegetables and seasonings separately so they don’t get overcooked. I’ll add the cooked chicken at the last minute to reheat it in the pan with stir-fried vegetables. We still have plenty of fried rice, stored in individual containers in the freezer, left from when we had Dawn and Leon come for dinner, and stayed overnight in the little cottage.

The bottom line is…I don’t like to have to be in the kitchen for hours each day. Prepping meals for three dinners works well for us since we love the dishes we make and thoroughly enjoy having them three nights in a row. We never get tired of what we had the previous night. Then, all I have to do is make a salad.

Two zebras looking for food.

I know salad doesn’t necessarily go with stir-fry but since I gave up having an after dinner snack three nights ago, I find if I eat a big salad with dinner, I don’t get hungry after dinner. I have never been one to eat when I’m not hungry but when I was eating less at dinner to save “room” for the ritual of the snack, it was impossible not to be hungry an hour later.

Now, I make sure I’ve had enough to hold me over to the next meal, 14 or 15 hours later. This way, I am doing “intermittent fasting,” a method that works best for me. With the hearty breakfast, I don’t even think about food all day long until it’s dinnertime. But come around 5:00 pm, 1700 hrs., I get hungry. Tom prefers to eat later so we compromise and have dinner around 5:30, 1730 hrs. That works for both of us. If we were to eat lunch, which we never do, obviously, we could eat dinner much later.

Yep, it’s still really humid today. Right now, at noon, the dew point is 75, the highest we’ve seen since last summer. With the three loads of laundry I’m doing today, going back and forth to the outdoor laundry area, the chopping, dicing and cooking I am doing today, I found myself soaking wet in sweat, a rarity for me. At one point, I went into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed with the fan cooling me off.

And then, there were three zebras.

Oops, it’s time for me to get the next load of laundry from the washer and hang it up to dry. The clothes won’t dry today due to the high humidity. Tonight, Tom will haul the laundry rack indoors, hoping for a sunny day tomorrow. We’ve seen the drying take almost three days to dry when the humidity is this high. This time won’t be an exception.

Once I upload today’s post, I’ll get to work on the record keeping I’ve failed to do in the past several weeks. There sure is plenty to do each day which I am sure is the case for all of you.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, November 13, 2021:

On a walk in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2012, shortly before we left the US to travel the world, we stumbled across this saying on a large slab of stone. So true. For more photos, please click here.

Back to Komati today for appointments…

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Lollie and her three piglets, so tiny, so cute.

We are experiencing a severe lack of wildlife visitors due to the upcoming weekend. From here on, this fact may continue until after the first of the year.  Starting in early December, most of the holiday homes in Marloth Park have been rented through the first of the year.

The restaurants will be packed, parking at Two Trees will be impossible, and entrance into Kruger National Park will only be allowed via an appointment. Now that travel has picked up, as the pandemic has ended, people are traveling here from all over the world.

Another warthog mom brought her four piglets for a visit. They are so cute and funny.

Many US travelers who are still employed do not come to Marloth Park due to the short term of their paid vacation/holiday periods and the lengthy time required to fly here and back, which may comprise four days of a two-week vacation. Few travelers want to use so much of their vacation on flights and often long layovers in airports between flights. Also, they may have concerns about jetlag and malaria prevention,

Many are opposed to living in an insect-snake-ridden area where they can’t drink tap water, with countless unpredictable power and water outages. Taking a cold shower in the dark may be a deterrent for some travelers. Often load shedding results in seven to ten hours a day without power. When unable to use the aircon during the night when there’s an outage, many are impacted by the quality of their sleep.

This mom has a hole in her side that appears to have maggots in it which help to eat the dying flesh which may prevent infection. She may have been fighting with another warthog or animal to protect her piglets.

One of the most challenging aspects, hard for travelers, is the weather in the spring and summer months. It won’t be summer until December 21, yet many days have been uncomfortable with high humidity, dew point, and temperatures. Overall, this past week has had several almost intolerable days. (Luckily, today is much cooler, and the humidity is lower).

Well, you know, if you’ve been reading our posts, the list goes on and on. Many tourists like to dine out for every meal, which is a part of the enjoyment of traveling. With only a handful of restaurants in Marloth Park, visitors can become frustrated over dining-out options. (Of course, if they’d tried Jabula they may have an entirely different take on it and love returning time and again).

Precious little piglets.

Yesterday, when we grocery shopped for the next two weeks until we leave for Seychelles, we were both sweating so much that when we entered the house, immediately, I changed into cooler clothes. When Tom unloaded all the groceries from the bags onto the counter, I looked at the pile of food and cringed. I still had a headache and couldn’t imagine getting through the task ahead of me. Since I cook, its better to put the food away.

Somehow, I got through it and could get back to work on finishing yesterday’s post and getting it uploaded. The WiFi was out when we left for Komati but was back on when we returned. After getting back to it, I got it uploaded after 4:00 pm, 1600 hrs., and finally, I could relax for an hour before making dinner, which I hadn’t prepped in the morning.

Then again, you know my spiel now…it’s all worth it. The first time we came here in 2013, was in December. The park was packed with tourists like us, and we had the time of our lives, which resulted in us repeatedly visiting with little regard for all of the above-listed inconveniences. We’ve gotten used to it.

It appears she has two females and one boy, based on facial warts or lack thereof, visible at this early age.

Also, a tourist visiting for a few weeks may experience only some of the above. But, never once have we heard of anyone not loving every moment here, regardless of the challenges. Many dreams of returning in years to come. Some do, and some don’t, more often due to the cost of staying here in the short term, especially for airfare.

We’ll head to Jabula as usual, anxious to see Leon and Dawn. With the awful headache this week, I didn’t feel up to going out. Last night, I started back on the small dose, 10 mg, of Amitriptyline, (in South Africa, it’s called Trepiline). I awoke this morning, after a fitful night’s sleep without a headache and reduced facial pain. The drug usually takes weeks to kick in. I am going to stick with it this time, even with the daytime sleepiness, possible weight gain and brain fog.

I will try to combat the possible weight gain with getting some exercise, no more low carb snacks after dinner and eating a little less at meals. The weight gain is caused by increased appetite for most patients. I have enough self control to combat this. I hope.

Soon, we are on our way back to Komati for my dentist appointment and picking up a new prescription for the medication and then to the pharmacy to get it filled.

Have a great day and weekend!

Photo from one year ago today, November 11, 2021:

A group of hippos is called “bloat.” Often they wander off on their own. For more photos, please click here.

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.

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.