Eye exams and costs for eyewear in South Africa…We got our boosters in the most unlikely place…

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When I tossed leftover salad into the garden, the “Go-Away” birds arrived within minutes. They loved the grape tomatoes. Who knew? It was fun to watch them. The grey go-away bird feeds on leaves, flowers, fruit, buds, and the occasional small invertebrates. They are agile birds and run along tree branches when feeding. The grey go-away bird is an important seed disperser for many fruit trees. This bird will practice geophagia, eating soil, to get the nutrients lacking in its diet.

Yesterday at noon, we were both scheduled for eye exam appointments with the same optometrist in Komatipoort we’d used in 2018. I knew my prescription had changed when I’d been having trouble reading small print in the past year or so, but Tom hadn’t noticed any changes.

As it turned out, Tom’s prescription had changed in his left eye only as did mine also in the left eye. When Dr. Dawie sent me home with test contacts for the new prescription to try out, I was able to reduce the font size on my phone and my laptop. What a thrill! I won’t have to bring “cheaters” to the supermarket with me when trying to read labels for carb counts on certain products.

The sounds from the Go-Away birds sound like go-away from time to time.

With Tom’s frames getting loose, he was ready for a change on both his clear and sunglasses. He picked out another rimless “designer” frame for both new pairs, and I ordered a 12-month supply of Air Optix contact lenses. With everything so slow due to Covid and now Omicron, it could be a month or more until our new products arrive.

We were pleased with the cost of the new eyewear. The total for Tom’s two pairs of glasses in identical frames is ZAR 9026, US $589. And my year’s supply of contacts is ZAR 6432  US $419 for a total for both of us is ZAR 15458, US $1008. If I remember correctly, the last time Tom purchased glasses at Costco in the US, he paid almost twice as much, and that was nearly ten years ago.

Suddenly, there were five Go-Away birds. The grey go-away-bird (Crinifer concolor), also known as grey lourie, grey loerie, or kwêvoël, is a bold and common bird of the southern Afrotropics.

My contact lenses are a little more than I’ve paid in the past, but we were willing to pay a little more for these good rates and the convenience of getting them here. Mine won’t arrive for at least six weeks. Tom will have his sooner. It was a relief to get this done.

Next, we headed to the Spar Supermarket, where we could get the J & J vaccine boosters outside the door to the store, sponsored by Tonga Hospital in Tonga, Mpumalanga. We brought along our passports and paper vaccination cards. Louise just so happens to have a laminating machine so we can laminate the final paper copies to fit in our wallets, keeping the original paper copies for any future add-ons.

The grey go-away bird gets its common English name from its call, which sounds like the bird is telling you to go away. It is a nasal call “g’wa-ay, g’wa-ay.” This is a highly vocal bird and will call whenever it is disturbed. These birds are gregarious and move in groups of up to 20 birds. Go-away birds need to drink regularly and will flock to water sources. The grey go-away bird roosts in small groups at night. The grey go-away bird can often be seen laying on the ground with its wings and tail spread, also having dust “baths.”

There was no queue for the boosters. They processed our papers and sent us over to the nurse to get the shots. We weren’t asked to wait afterward as we’d done when we were vaccinated at the airport in Minneapolis in July. If anything went wrong, Dr. Theo’s office was down the road, no more than five minutes from there.

We went straight into the supermarket and did our shopping, entirely forgetting we’d had it done. Since we had no ill effects after the first vaccine, we didn’t give it much of a thought. By the time we paid for our groceries and loaded up the little car, an hour had passed, and both of us were fine. Our arms aren’t tender today, or are we experiencing any issues whatsoever. There was no charge for the boosters. We’re both glad this is finally out of the way.

They often tilt their heads to listen when we talk to them.

Back at the house by 2:00 pm, 1400 hrs, after putting everything away, I had time to upload the post and do my walking. By 4:15 pm, 1615 hrs, we were situated at the table on the veranda. As usual, Little stopped by, ate some pellets, scared away all the other pigs, and enjoyed some carrots I sent his way. He swallows them whole with his powerful jaw and teeth.

Today, I am chopping, dicing, and doing some prep work for tomorrow’s dinner party, which will be for six or eight depending on whether Danie is feeling well again. We’ll play it by ear and see how he does.

We were surprised when she stood on the veranda railing, but even more so when we jumped onto the table while we sat there.

We hope you have a pleasant day.

Photo from one year ago today, January 20, 2021:

We couldn’t believe how brazen she was. She had no fear of us. “The Thick-Tailed Bushbaby is a nocturnal primate with child-like cries, which gave cause for the English vernacular name. Thick-tailed bushbabies are three times the size of the smaller bushbabies. This is probably due to its diet and larger body size. This is the most social of all known bushbabies.” For more photos, please click here.

Another busy day in the bush…Final Kruger photos…

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A hornbill sitting atop a bush.

We are relieved the immigration application has been submitted. Now we wait to hear what transpires in the next 60 days. If we aren’t approved, we’ll have to leave in seven days. We’re optimistic that we’ll be approved. We continue to read about Celebrity Cruises canceling. So far, our April 8 cruise is staying in place.

Today is a busy day. Our eye doctor appointment is at noon, followed by vaccine boosters at the Spar Market. I don’t know how I feel about getting a booster outside a supermarket. But, it was the only nearby option for the J & J booster. We need to get this done.

A yellow-billed stork on a branch.

After both of those events, we’ll grocery shop at Spar with a comprehensive list for Friday evening’s dinner at our place. Rita, Gerhard, Petra, and Fritz are coming for dinner. Louise and Danie may join us if Danie’s feeling better by then since he’s currently under the weather. We have a good menu planned and will share details later.

Vusi and Zef are here now, cleaning the house. The mechanism for the master bath toilet has been acting up for a few days. This morning, Louise went to Komati to get the parts for the boys to replace the inner workings today. It’s been making a squealing noise with the water running constantly. We did the usual “jiggle the handle” thing and even looked inside to see if an adjustment would help.

Vultures, on the lookout, for possible prey.

Toilet parts are different here than in the US, so neither of us knew how to fix it. Plus, there was no shut-off valve under the toilet. Tom, hard of hearing, couldn’t hear the squeal all night long. It was one of those sounds out of his range of hearing. Luckily, last night I was tired enough that I was able to sleep through the noise with the aircon and the fan on.

It’s a beautiful day. The humidity is lower than usual, with the temperature now at 84F, 29C, perfect with the light breeze. It’s a welcomed relief after weeks of high heat and excessive humidity, causing us to swear constantly. Doing my fast walking the past few weeks has been a challenge in the heat. Today will be easier.

The walking is going well. I am up to 6000 steps a day, 4.8 km, 3 miles, adding more each week. After being relatively inactive compared to how I was in India, walking 8 km, 5 miles a day feels good. Within a week, I’ll be at 7500 steps which are 6 km, and I will be happy with that. The 10,000 steps a day theory is just that:

A dazzle of zebras in the bush.

“I-Min Lee, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an expert on step counts and health, the 10,000-steps target became popular in Japan in the 1960s.”

More on this from this article, stating:

“A 2019 study by Dr. Lee and her colleagues found that women in their 70s who managed as few as 4,400 steps a day reduced their risk of premature death by about 40 percent, compared to women completing 2,700 or fewer steps a day. The risks for early death continued to drop among the women walking more than 5,000 steps a day, but benefits plateaued at about 7,500 daily steps. In other words, older women who completed fewer than half of the mythic 10,000 daily steps tended to live substantially longer than those who covered even less ground.”

If this is true, I am on track with the number of steps required to do me some good. I had read this article  (from a different source) while in India, which inspired me to strive for 8 km per day.

A lone wildebeest.

But, here, 7500 steps is more practical since it’s not easy walking so many steps while indoors. Ideally, I could walk outside, but with the lions nearby and the uneven dirt roads, it makes more sense to do it indoors to avoid tripping and potential injury.

I set my timer for 20 minutes, and I do 500 steps each time it goes off. So I must pay attention to doing this for at least five or six hours a day. Sure, I could do it all at once but breaking it up seems better for me. I like to be done by 4:00 pm, 1600 hrs. In between the walking, I do the post, visit with the animals stopping by, take photos, prepare food for dinner, and do laundry. It’s a pleasant routine.

It’s around that time for us to head to Komati. We’ll be back tomorrow with more.

May your day be pleasant and fulfilling.

Photo from one year ago today, January 19, 2021:

As I stepped out outside onto the veranda, I encountered this. Tom was sitting very close to this snake, eating a frog, and had no idea the snake was there. For more photos, please click here.

Preparing for the upcoming Thanksgiving dinner…A black mamba story unfolds…

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 Here’s our previously shown video from the snake-handling school 
we attended last March.
“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”
Our resident monitor lizard came out of his hovel for a drink from the cement pond.

Today is a hectic day. I started making the eight pumpkin pies early this morning, and as I write, we’re just about ready to put the first few in the oven. The oven only has one rack, so I won’t be able to bake more than two or three pies at a time.

I made one low-carb pie for Danie and Louise, who generally follow the banting (low-carb) way of eating, as do many South Africans for various health reasons.  I didn’t make a low-carb pie for me. This time I will pass on a pie for myself based on the fact I’m still trying to lose the last few pounds on my diet and pumpkin pie. Oh my, I could eat an entire pie in a day. But, not these days.
 
There are many other items to prepare today, with the balance to be completed tomorrow. Although easy to prepare with recipes in my head, Thanksgiving dinner requires a tremendous amount of time to prepare.  

Also, Dawn and Leon (owners of Jabula Lodge & Restaurant) are coming for dinner and bringing “take-away” containers to provide all of our guests with containers of leftovers for the next day along with their own pumpkin pie, another one of our traditions.  Everyone always enjoys leftover Thanksgiving dishes!

 Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a turkey anywhere in this area.  Instead, we’re making one roasted stuffed chicken for each couple to enjoy as they’d like during the meal, taking home the remainder along with side dishes and their full-sized pumpkin pie.

 Although there will only be 10 of us dining tomorrow evening, I’m making enough for the equivalent of 20 people. Then again, many of us Americans have made the festive meal for 20 or more people.

 It would be a lot easier cooking today and tomorrow if it weren’t so hot.  Temperatures are expected to be a high of 38C (101F) or more, including tomorrow.  With no AC in the kitchen area and having the oven on most of the day, it will surely be one hot, sweaty day.
In March, Chris, the snake-handling trainer, held this black mamba while Tom looked o at the snake-handling school.  For that post, please click here.

But I’m not complaining. This is a great group of people, and we’re delighted to make this special traditional US meal which is actually celebrated in the US next Thursday, November 22.

 We’d planned this date quite a while ago when we anticipated it might actually be the traditional “good-bye” party. One way or another, we’re hoping to stay until our scheduled flight to Kenya on February 20th if all goes well. No word so far.

 OK, enough about cooking. On to our story about a black mamba that Louise shared with us a few days ago. As for today’s photos (except for the “Sighting of the Day in the Bush” photo, we’d previously posted them in March.

 However, based on today’s black mamba story and my shortage of time, we thought we’d repost these few previously shown photos and the links for these specific posts.

 We’ve frequently mentioned our new friends, Rita and Gerhard, with whom we’ve been spending a lot of quality time. World travelers themselves, we find we have so much in common, and we continually share our varied and interesting travel stories and more.

 On Monday, this week, they left for a two-week visit to Germany to attend Gerhard’s brother’s 60th birthday party. They’ll be returning before the end of this month.

Tom was handling a black mamba and did an excellent job, although he’s not certain he’d want to do this in a real-life situation.

As mentioned in an earlier post, they’ve been living in the same house we rented when we first came to Marloth Park in December 2013, the house on Hornbill St., the house where a Mozambique spitting cobra fell from the ceiling of the veranda and landed within a few feet of Tom.  

 He’s always classified that experience as the scariest of his life. If you’d like to read that post, please click here for the photos of the venomous snake and the story of what transpired on that fateful and memorable day.  

 On Sunday, the day before their departure, Rita and Gerhard heard a plop on the floor of the veranda as we had on that fateful day in January 2014,  when they were sitting outside, as they do all day too, like us, waiting for wildlife to stop by. This time the “plop” was a mouse perhaps being caught by the snake.

Although a black mamba doesn’t look scary, a single bite can result in death within an hour if not treated.

Rita and Gerhard were sitting on the veranda at that same Hornbill house where we’d lived, quietly enjoying the bush while reading, sipping cold beverages, without a care in the world.

Suddenly, they saw the snake, a black mamba. Louise had given them a sheet with photos of various snakes in the event they’d have to identify one. Here was their opportunity. They grabbed the sheet and were certain it was the outrageously venomous black mamba.

Rita couldn’t resist taking photos until the snake disappeared near the chimney as I had done years ago. What would be the point of calling the rangers if the snake was nowhere to be found? They went about their day with a watchful eye, knowing they were leaving the next morning for Germany.  

A video that Rita and Gerhard took of black mamba on the veranda.


 On Tuesday, determined to get the darned thing out of that house, Louise contacted snake handler, Jaun (20 something), who’d attended snake school with us. He’s very active in the park, conducting many services as an Honorary Ranger and all-around caring and good guy.

 On Tuesday, he and Louise sat on the veranda waiting for the snake to appear so Jaun would capture it to return it to the wild. By a stroke of luck, after only a 10-minute wait, the black mamba made an appearance.

 It was only 15 minutes later than Juan had captured the snake with his trusty snake grabber and expert skill and placed it safely in a bucket with a lid. The intent in capturing snakes is always to return them to the wild where they belong. Mission accomplished, thanks to Louise‘s boundless determination and Juan’s excellent skills.

It sounded as if Rita and Gerhard stayed calm and under control when they spotted the snake, which is vital to avoid agitating it, resulting in an attack. Black mambas can be very aggressive if provoked.

For residents of Marloth Park, here is Juan’s contact information.

So, there’s the snake story. Most likely, we won’t see too many snakes in this house.  Snakes generally don’t care to climb stairs up to a veranda when there’s plenty of fodder for them on ground level. But, we always keep an eye out now that snake season has arrived with the warmer weather, especially at night when out and about.

We’d mentioned in yesterday’s post that we’d share the costs for the dentist and eye doctor appointments, but we don’t have the final figures yet since Tom will choose his new eyeglasses next Thursday. The optometrist didn’t have the style Tom prefer, but he’ll be bringing several pairs from his other distant location for Tom to try. Next Friday, we’ll update this information.

 Tonight, hot as it is and as busy as we’ve been, we’re heading to Jabula Lodge & Restaurant for dinner and relaxation. Tomorrow will be another busy day, but we’ll still be back with more.


Photo from one year ago today, November 16, 2017:

Once again, Tom captured another fabulous bird from the veranda in Costa Rica while I was busy indoors making dinner. This Yellow-tailed Oriole, although at quite a distance, was a treasure to behold. For more photos, please click here.