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.

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.

Today is our ten-year travel anniversary…

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It was hard to believe we were there in 2013 at the Great Pyramids. See the post here.

When we received a notice from the provider that WiFi was out in the entirety of Marloth Park as of Sunday, I panicked, knowing I had to upload a short post and write a new post for today’s tenth anniversary.  There was no way I’d have time when our guests are arriving at noon today.

From our first anniversary in Kenya. I suppose I should have zoomed in as he did when taking mine. Look! You can see my shadow as I’m taking the photo. Too busy to edit photos right now! See the post here.

Mentioning my concern to Tom, he expressed the usual, “TIA, “This is Africa” and this is what happens here…no power, no water, no WiFi.”

Our first anniversary walking on the beach in Kenya on the Indian Ocean. Tom shot this appearing footless photo of me. Actually, I was wearing those ugly water shoes, grateful they were hidden in the surf. See the post here.

I nodded my head in acknowledgment. But I must admit I was frustrated thinking I wouldn’t be able to upload the tenth-anniversary post on the day of the anniversary, October 31. Thus, I decided to write the entire text offline on Sunday using Word and hoped that by today, I’d be able to load it into the WordPress editing section of our website.

Plumerias are often used in making leis. We spent our second anniversary in Maui, Hawaii. See the post here.

Initially, we’d planned for the anniversary post to include a new itinerary. But, after considerable research and a degree of uncertainty around what we’d like to do over the next few years, we have to forgo that thought which we’ll return to sometime in the future.

Inside the reception building, we asked a staff member to take our photo at Namale Resort & Spa in Fiji, as we celebrated our three year anniversary of traveling the world with a tour and lunch at the world renowned resort. See the post here. See the post here.

We know this…we’ll be here in Marloth Park, except for our upcoming trip to Seychelles on November 24, followed by the cruise of the islands beginning on November 26 until next June, one way or another. After the cruise, when we attempt to return to South Africa on December 4, we’ll hope to be able to receive a new 90-day visa stamp to  be able to stay.

Our ship is shown behind us off the top of the hotel on our fourth travel anniversary, See the post here.

This time, we are prepared if we aren’t allowed to re-enter the country when we get to Johannesburg. We’ll immediately book a flight back to the US and stay a few weeks visiting family in Minnesota, earlier than we’d intended.

October 31, 2017, our fifth anniversary of traveling the world, taken on the veranda at the villa in Atenas, Costa Rica. See our post here.

If we have to leave right away, even if they give us seven days to depart, we won’t bother to return to Marloth Park and, instead, leave from Joburg, arriving in Minnesota in cold weather with only summer clothes in our duffle bags. We’ll head to a discount store such as TJ Maxx and purchase jackets and a few cold-weather items to get us through the few weeks we’ll spend there.

After a few weeks, we’ll fly back to Marloth Park. By being in the US, our home country, we’ll be able to get another 90-day visa without an issue.

Saying goodbye, our final photo was taken this morning with Tom and Lois! It’s been a fabulous three weeks, we’ll always remember. It was our sixth travel anniversary. See the post here.

In any case, we’ll leave South Africa around June for our upcoming Azamara cruise on August 1, 2023, followed by another cruise a few days later, eventually returning to the US (Boston) on August 30. We have yet to decide where we’ll stay from June to August. We are still conducting research.

The New York skyline on a cloudy day, viewed from the ship on our seventh anniversary. See the post here.

It’s easy to see how so much is up in the air with the number of cruises canceled in the past few years. We hesitate to book too much since we’ve already lost a lot of money from pandemic-related cancellations.

Each morning, I listen to cruise podcasts, only to discover that some cruises require masks to be worn outside the cabin. As much as we’d like to believe the pandemic is over, it is not, based on behaviors on some cruise ships and some travel venues

Camels were walking along the beach along the Indian Ocean. During our eighth anniversary, we were in lockdown in Mumbai, India and had no new photos to share. See the post here.

We are not fearful of travel for that reason but face the pandemic’s impact on availability and pricing for ongoing journeys.

Once we leave here in June 2023, we won’t be keeping this house and will pack up entirely, leaving a few bins of kitchen items here with Louise in storage. Most likely, we won’t be returning to Marloth Park for nine months to a year, perhaps longer. We shall see.

The two of us, posted on our nine-year anniversary at Tom’s retirement party in 2012, about one week before we began our travels. See our post here.

The next country/continent visit will be South America. We still have several places we will visit, including Galapagos Islands, The Pantanal, and the Amazon River, both upper and lower regions. All of this will require cruising to some extent. We’re excited about these options.

Of course, good health is always the determining factor as to how much longer we’ll be able to travel. But for now, we’re feeling well and able to continue.

Photo of us at a cell phone store a few days ago, before our tenth travel anniversary. See the post here.

As for the past ten years, we have no regrets. Yes, we’ve experienced some ups and downs, but we’ve never questioned our decision to carry on. We’ve loved this life, its vast experiences, and the depth of the joy and love we experienced together and with the many people we’ve met along the way, let alone the vast array of wildlife and nature that have been blissfully bestowed upon us throughout the world.

We’ve considered doing a recap of each year, but that would be redundant. On many occasions, we’ve reiterated our travels, year after year, particularly when we were in lockdown in Mumbai, India for ten months in a hotel room. Instead, we’re posting some photos from prior anniversary years  and other dates from various locations including their links, which you may have already seen or not. If you have seen the photos, excuse our redundancy.

Yes, it’s been ten years, and we’ve aged in the process, but we are both grateful to be together and live this extraordinary life. Every day has tremendous meaning to us, and we joyfully continue to share it with our worldwide readers.

Thanks to many of our readers who’ve already extended our warmest wishes to us as this anniversary approached. Your kind words mean the world to us. Your continued readership and comments also mean the world to us. Ten years? Hard for us to believe. For those readers who’ve been with us since the beginning, we imagine its hard for you to believe its been ten years. Please keep reading. We’re not done yet!

Photo from one year ago today, October 31, 2021:

Selfie of us in India in February 2020, before lockdown, excited to be on our way to the palace and Lake Pichola in Udaipur, India. Little did we know what was ahead, at that point. For more, please click here.