Who’s in the garden this morning?

• 4 warthogs – inc Lonely Girl and others
• 10 bushbucks – inc. Thick Neck, Bad Leg,
• 15 helmeted guinea-fowl
• 1 dove – inc. our favorite, Miss Dove
• 4 Frank and The Misses

Regardless of where we’re living in the world, at some point, our digital equipment has to be replaced. But, unfortunately, ordering replacement products is pointless to ship to South Africa due to the high cost of shipping, delayed shipping times, and customs inspections and fees.

In some countries, ordering a laptop from the US is relatively easy and painless such as when Tom needed a replacement laptop while we were in Fairlight, Australia. We ordered a new laptop for him from Amazon.com, and a week later, it arrived, not incurring customs fees. But, of course, we always have to figure in the shipping costs, which exponentially impacts our final price for the product, at times as much as 40% or 50%.

Yesterday, when Tom’s Samsung Chromebook’s screen cracked when he opened the lid, we knew we’d better order another from South Africa. But, unfortunately, he couldn’t take the risk of a later delivery and the fact it could easily go “belly up” with its current touchscreen status, and he’d be without a device.

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We considered the possibility that we may be in the US on July 1, and he could purchase a new device when we were there. But, with that trip up-in-the-air at this point, we couldn’t take a risk and possibly leave him without a working machine. Thus, the online search for another Chromebook, an operating system we both have learned to use and like, after total frustration with Windows 10, we were determined to find another Chromebook.

Chromebook is not popular in South Africa. After hours of research on numerous websites, we finally found a suitable Asus model with a touchscreen and the Chromebook operating system. Recently, we’ve been ordering several items from South Africa’s version of Amazon.com.

But, finding such a model was tricky regardless of what I entered in the search field. It was more of a fluke that I stumbled upon the model we purchased. Fortunately, it will arrive on June 9, only four days from today. Takealot is fairly reliable regarding its promised delivery dates, so Tom needs to make his last only four more days.

Tax and delivery were included in the price of ZAR 6200, US $462, a little more than we paid in the US in 2019 when he purchased his current model. If a laptop lasts us two years, we are fine with that. With all the stress on laptops when traveling, we figured two years is a reasonable amount of time for them to last. We haven’t noticed any other more expensive models lasting any longer.

On another matter, since Tom is at his lowest weight and holding his own, even when eating a few higher carb items, I decided to make him some of his favorite low carb meals, maybe once a week, making enough for two or three nights for him. However, because these recipes have too many carbs for me, I won’t eat these meals; instead, I will make separate meals for myself such as chicken, fish, liver, and lamb, all meats he doesn’t care to eat.

I don’t mind making separate meals for us for a few nights each week. But I’d forgotten how labor intensive some low-carb recipes can be. Today, I made Low Carb Chicken Pot Pie, one of his favorites, and long ago, one of mine. But, I have no problem resisting this meal. To aid in my determination, I made individual servings for him in rectangle-shaped tin foil pans. This way, I won’t be tempted to take bites of a single bigger pot pie. For my dinner tonight, I made extra chicken breasts and chicken liver. This will be fine for me.

This morning I got up earlier than usual to begin the multi-step process of making five nights of chicken pot pie for Tom, freezing the extras for other meals. By 11:00 am, I had everything completed and his first pot pie ready for the one tonight. While prepping the many ingredients, I ran back and forth to my laptop, searching for Tom’s new laptop.

With both tasks completed, my dinner ready to re-heat at dinner-time, the remainder of the day can be spent wrapping up today’s post, working on corrections while continuing to recover from my recent illness. All that remains from the flu I had (not Covid) is a cough, no longer painful and gradually waning, a little each day.

Last night, as always, we had a fantastic dinner with Rita and Gerhard at Jabula Lodge and Restaurant. It was so cold, we all wore jackets while eating on the restaurant’s veranda. We didn’t stay long after dinner since it was so cold. When we returned to the house, I was so cold; I wore socks to bed. I haven’t done that since we were in Minnesota in 2019.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Photo from one year ago today, June 5, 2020:

Even imperfection has a certain beauty. For more from the year-ago post, please click here.