Who’s in the garden this morning?

• 13 warthogs
• 17 bushbucks
• 16 kudus
• 1 wildebeest – Broken Horn
• Frank and The Misses

Right now, as I write at 9:00 am, there are 13 animals in the garden, including Broken Horn (wildebeest), 5 kudus, 4 bushbucks, and 3 warthogs. As soon as this batch departs, a new batch will arrive, entertaining us all day long. Two of the warthogs, Fred and Ethyl, who live here, only leaving for short periods, return to sleep during the day and night.

They spend their days hunkered down in the garden in a favorite spot and deep into the bush at night. Then, each morning, when we head outside, they are there, nestled close to one another, waiting, in hopes of the first handful of pellets tossed into the garden. They spend most of their days hoping more pellets will be offered to other visitors that they can devour along with the others. It’s all delightful, every single moment.

OK, confession time. You all know how much I dread mentioning it when I am not feeling well, but our regular readers must surely suspect something is not quite right on this end when the posts are less enthusiastic and varied. The only reason I end up mentioning any issues is perhaps to share what it’s like living in foreign countries without access to an all-encompassing health plan and a regular doctor/clinic that knows my full history.

It’s embarrassing that as a lifelong health advocate, I espouse various protocols to maintain good health, and I would never get sick and require medical care. But, I suppose if we lived in the US a few times a year, something would come up; the flu, a virus, or an infection. Unfortunately, few of us are exempt from an occasional bout with these and other conditions.

We were no exception in our old lives, and we’re certainly no exception now, especially as we’ve aged and fallen prey to some conditions we may have acquired through our travels, indigenous to a specific area. So how I came down with this current situation baffles me.

To the best of my knowledge, I wasn’t exposed to anyone with a cold or virus, especially while wearing a mask, washing hands, and social distancing. But, who knows? It could have been anyone or any situation of which I’m not aware. This tells me I haven’t been as diligent in avoiding Covid-19 as I should have been if I “caught” this virus from someone along the way and could easily “catch” Covid in the same manner.

Last Tuesday, when we headed to Komatipoort for grocery shopping, I’d been experiencing a “tickly” type of cough and a bad sore throat for a few days. Of course, my first reaction was Covid, so Tom and I stopped at the medical lab in Komatipoort for a Covid test, getting the much appreciated negative results the next morning.

Knowing I didn’t have Covid was such a relief, I gave little thought to my symptoms, when over the week, very slowly they exacerbated, but not much more than a typical cold. I didn’t have a runny nose, a fever, and rarely coughed, mainly aware of the sore throat, but never giving it much of a thought.

We went about our lives, dining out, visiting with friends, and generally feeling only a little off. Then, late Sunday night, five days after the onset of the mild symptoms, I started having a terrible time breathing, so much so that I had to use my asthma inhalers multiple times to no avail. I barely slept, which I mentioned in an earlier post but didn’t go into the details about why I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t want to whine here as I often do.

Over this week, the breathing issues and cough became unbearable, so much so that I began to wonder if I had a “false negative” and needed another Covid test. So a few days ago, on Wednesday morning, eight days after my first Covid test and feeling too sick to drive to Komatipoort, we drove to the new clinic in Marloth Park for the test. But, unfortunately, no doctor wasn’t on the premises.

Not only did I get the test, but the nurse practitioner wrote down all of my symptoms and vital signs and called the doctor. When she took my pulse oxygen, it was low for me at 89 instead of my usual 97-99. When I walked out the door an hour later (Tom had waited in the car), They told me to return the next day, Thursday, for my prescriptions. I’d asked for a different asthma inhaler that works better for me than the one I currently had, but I had not had any major asthma issues for a long time.

In the meantime, I was using a portable powered nebulizer using a drug called Pulmicort, which I purchased in India (no prescription required) in case we got Covid. It aids in breathing issues and, over the past several days, was my saving grace. I was finally able to sleep.

Yesterday, Tom picked up my prescriptions, and I was shocked to see the doctor had ordered 8 drugs for me. I’d only requested an antibiotic if my situation didn’t improve and a different inhaler that works better than what I had on hand. I’ll never understand why I was prescribed multiple sinus allergy and asthma pills (which I haven’t taken since a child) and even a narcotic pain reliever. I didn’t mention any issues with pain.

So as it’s turned out, I am well-stocked in the event of allergy issues down the road or if we become injured or have severe pain. But since I prefer not to take prescription medications unless they are life-saving, I didn’t even take the two different massive doses of antibiotics, after all. I started improving yesterday afternoon rapidly when the cough loosened up, and now I can say with confidence I am on the mend. The cough and breathing issue is still there but considerably better. The sore throat is gone. I slept 8 hours last night.

At times, doctors prescribe antibiotics with pressure from patients, when in fact, we may have a virus that is not aided by these drugs. Had I not improved by 70% in the past 24 hours, I would have taken them. But now, I am beginning to feel like myself after 10 days since the onset.

My comments here are not intended to suggest you don’t follow your doctor’s prescriptions and orders. But, I knew based on how much better I feel that I didn’t need all of these drugs. Yesterday, the second Covid was negative. Had it been positive, I everything would have changed, including my  treatment plan.

We had to cancel a few social events this week with Rita and Gerhard, but I believe by tomorrow night, we will be able to go with them to Jabula for dinner.

We hope you are all feeling well after your Covid-19 vaccination if you so chose to have it. For those in the US, have a safe Memorial Day weekend.

Photo from one year ago today, May 28, 2020:

Pansies at the Connemara Heritage and History Centre appear to have little faces. For more photos, please click here.

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Who’s in the garden this morning?

• 11 warthogs
• 15 bushbucks
• 8 kudus
• 1 wildebeest
• Frank and The Misses

It is so nice and cool now; we can hardly believe it. This morning when we stepped outside in the 55F, 13C, it was refreshing with no heat or significant humidity.

Since I no longer have any warm clothes, I dressed in jeans, a long-sleeve tee-shirt, and one of Tom’s two sweatshirts. He’s wearing his zippered sweatshirt, and I’m wearing his over-the-head version. I guess this will be our daily attire over the next several months.

Last night it was so cool that this morning I asked Louise to have Vusi or Zef bring us a heavy duvet, suitable for the size of the bed. The two blankets we’ve been using are too short and too narrow, and now that it’s cooler, bundling up requires a bigger blanket.

We chose to use those two smaller blankets when dust mites were an issue. But now that winter is fast approaching; the dust mite issues are over for several months. The mozzies are also at a minimum right now since they don’t thrive in cold weather. So I’ve just about stopped using repellent other than at dusk when we’ll be on the veranda when we see only a few mozzies buzzing around.

Being free of outrageous heat so common in Africa, we’re especially enjoying this period of time. However, the difference in our comfort level is palpable. There have been many places in the world where we stayed over the past almost nine years that were grossly uncomfortable.

I always espoused the concept of “adaptation.” We chose this life and must always be willing to adapt to discomforts common to the areas/countries in which we’ve lived. There have been many, which we’ve mentioned in prior posts.

The greatest discomfort generally revolves around uncomfortable weather, especially when there is no aircon in the bedroom.  Also, for me, particularly, have been issues with dust mites, no-see-ums, mosquitoes, biting flies, chiggers, and ticks. These are certainly not exclusive to Africa. Some of the most annoying flies had been in Bali and Australia.

The worst no-see-ums, blood-sucking gnats were in Belize in 2013. There was no escape from them, especially when screens aren’t used on windows, not there and not in many countries.

In Bovelgio, Italy, in 2013, the WiFi was horrible, and the biting flies were relentless. The hallway to the master bedroom had a ceiling lower than either of our heads, and we often bumped our heads. It was summer and hot; the bed was only a double and lumpy. There were no screens, and we were constantly chasing flies out the windows.

One of the least comfortable locations was Marrakesh, Morocco. The riad was beautiful, but all the furnishings were stuffed with what felt like sand. There was nowhere in the house we could sit comfortably, not even the dining table with the mosaic wrought iron chairs. The lounge/living room furniture was so uncomfortable we could barely sit there and work online.

We struggled in Morocco for the 2½ months, me especially, due to the sand fleas. I never slept well for the entire period we lived in that property when I was itching all night. Tom never experienced any bites. While there, we weren’t able to find any repellent in any of the shops.

Now, here in South Africa, we are as comfortable as we could be in cool weather. The house provides everything we need with ease, especially during these cooler winter months; fewer insects, fewer snakes, a comfortable bed, aircon as needed, excellent WiFi, and more wildlife visitors than we could ever imagine.

Sure, now and then, there’s load shedding (power outages). But we’ve managed to figure out how to deal with them, planning activities, meals, and food safety accordingly.

Comfort is surely a factor in enjoying our world travels. Fortunately, in most cases, we’ve managed to work our way through any obstacles we encounter along the way, always remembering that we chose this life and that, at times, it may not be ideal.

Happy day!

Photo from one year ago today, May 27, 2020:

Four “Big Daddy” kudus stopped by with one female, all vying for her attention.  They were more interested in her than pellets. For more photos from the year-ago post, please click here.

Who’s in the garden this morning?

• 16 warthogs
• 9 bushbucks
• 7 kudus
• 36 mongoose
• 1 wildebeest
• Frank and The Misses

Somehow the morning got away from us. We had a few local errands and didn’t get done with everything until about an hour ago. Then, I had to make several phone calls to straighten out a few credit/debit card issues. Tom’s debit card hasn’t been working at ATMs, only to discover that most likely, the chip has gone bad, and we’ll need another card for him eventually.

Since mail is so slow arriving in South Africa, there was no point to order a new debit card, which our bank offered to send here. But, it could be six months until it could arrive. So, we’ll wait until we return to the US at some point in the future and request one at that time. Secondly, one of my credit cards, a new one we received in a package from our mailing service in Nevada, which took weeks to arrive through DHL’s overnight service, hasn’t been working.

I’d gone online and activated it as soon as it arrived, but apparently, that process didn’t work, and I had to reactivate it by phone. Preferring not to accumulate phone charges on our Google Fi account, I used Skype for both cards, neither of which included a charge since they were both toll-free numbers. I tried using the card three or four times, and each time it was declined. Little did I know, the original activation didn’t go through. So now, we’re set on this card.

It feels good to get these little issues out of the way. But, I must admit that I literally despise making “business-related” phone calls. The process is long and laborious as well as frustrating at times when I lose the signal. and get disconnected. With Tom, hard of hearing, I am responsible for making any phone calls. Plus, I am slightly more diplomatic and patient than he might be, which ends in a more satisfactory result in most cases.

I don’t begrudge having to make these calls when Tom does an equal amount, if not more, handling tasks in running our day-to-day lives. For example, he does all the dishes, pots, and pans; refills the water in the birdbath for the animals daily; keeps the bucket of pellets we use all day filled with pellets; makes pitchers of ice tea, handle making big bags of ice twice a day based on our excessive use; cooks on the braai, bring in and unload all the groceries and other items and lately, handling the management of the trail cam daily. Also, he handles all the cash we get from the ATMs.

Plus, each evening, he handles setting up the veranda to avoid the mozzies and other insects using special repellent coils and candles, ensuring no insects will bother us as darkness falls.

All I do is post here, take and manage all the photos from the regular camera, prep for our meals and guests who may visit, do all the laundry, put it away, pay our few bills, and make those darned calls. Since we don’t have to clean or make the bed five days a week, not much is required to stay organized and orderly. On the weekends, generally, as the last one up, I make the bed. Easy peasy.

I should mention that Tom does ALL of the driving, the car wash, and filling up at the petrol station. Recently, when we had to return the rental car to Nelspruit for an inspection, requiring a three-hour round trip drive, he did that on his own. So I was thrilled to be able to stay here.

This morning, once we returned from our few errands, immediately, we made ourselves a cup of coffee and headed outside to see how the animals were doing in our absence. Suddenly, there were dozens of visiting wildlife friends in the garden, as indicated above.

What stood out the most was the arrival of a warthog with enormous tusks, as shown in today’s photos. Could that have been Tusker, another favorite pig we came to know at the Orange house in 2018/2019? We weren’t sure, but he jumped to respond when I called out, “Tusker.” In time, we shall see, if it’s him.

Now, after all these months, Tiny comes running when I call out to him if he is anywhere in the immediate vicinity. We laugh so hard when we see him respond to my call. The same happens with Little, as it always did. We certainly enjoy their visits, along with the others.

That’s it for today, folks. With this late start, I need to get the two organic free-range chicken ready for the braai, get crackin’ on corrections for today when I’ve been diligent about getting them done. Have a fantastic day!

Photo from one year ago today, May 26, 2020:

The design and decor of the bar depict exactly what one would envision for a small-town pub in Ireland. For more photos, please click here.

Who’s in the garden this morning?

• 6 warthogs
• 6 bushbucks
• 4 kudus
• 38 mongoose
• 33 helmeted guinea-fowls
• Frank and The Misses
• 2 hornbills

Last night was one of the worst night’s sleep I’ve had in a long time. Ironically, in yesterday’s post I’d posted that a bad night was not worthy of mention. Today, feeling like a wreck from a fitful night, I couldn’t help but bring it up. Surely, it will impact my entire day.

Fortunately, all of the laundry is done and most of what we’ll eat for dinner is prepared. I need to respond to a zillion email messages and take a pleasantly anticipated WhatsApp call from one of our loyal readers, Otherwise, I can be as lazy as necessary to get me through the day.

My FitBit says I slept 6 hours and 15 minutes, but I did not. It counted the time I lay there, quiet as a mouse trying to get myself to drift off. I listened to soothing music on my phone, using earbuds, in a desperate attempt to get to sleep and miracle of all miracles, it did work, about 10 times for short bursts of sleep. The FitBit shows I awoke 12 times from midnight on. As a result, I feel “out of sorts” today.

As for “out of sight,” I kept my phone on the nightstand and didn’t do my usual game playing during the night, thinking that avoiding the screen may help me get back to sleep. By 3:00 am, I was “out of my mind” doing the worst thing I could do…worry about not sleeping. It’s pointless to do this. Nothing good comes of it.

As for “out of time.” I awoke for the last time at 6:15 am and no matter how relaxed I pressed myself to be, it was hopeless, I’d truly run “out of time” and decided to get up and begin my day. Every usual morning routine took everything I had, but here I am now, showered, dressed and put together for yet another day.

I even went as far as folding and putting away all of the dry laundry from the rack, fixed a broken fingernail and cut up some carrots for today’s visitors. Once I’ve uploaded today’s post, I have a few “business matters” to handle and of course, do no less than corrections on 10 posts, a schedule I’ve held myself to diligently over this past month. Yesterday, I passed the halfway mark.

We had a great day and evening, nothing that would precipitate a poor night’s sleep. The day was pleasant and entertaining with more visitors than we could have imagined. At 4:00 pm we headed over to Rita and Gerhard’s house on Hornbill, the same house we’d rented in 2013/2014.

I only drank two glasses of low alcohol red wine at their house and when we returned a few hours later, I drank only caffeine free iced tea for the remainder of the evening, as usual. Once back home, dinner for me consisted of a few fried eggs and grilled chicken breasts. After dinner, still feeling a little hungry, I had a chunk of Emmenthal cheese…that’s it. No sleep disturbing foods or sense of fullness, and above all, no life changing thoughts on my mind.

Never once did I think about this upcoming, June 30th, when we need new visa stamps. We’ve resigned ourselves to that reality. We’re either going to Kenya for a few days or the US for a few weeks. That’s it. No other options are available with Covid-19 restrictions everywhere. Why worry about that?

It will be good when today is over and I can hopefully get a good night’s sleep. I have no doubt many of our readers have experienced such a poor night’s sleep and struggled the next day, like I am doing today. For me, the likelihood of a nap is slim when I am not a napper.  Also, it would probably be best to stay awake and try to recover tonight.

It’s another beautiful and cool day. Although it’s likely we’ll have a few hot days in the months to come, this cooler weather, as we roll into winter, is blissful. There are less insects, less mozzies and typical for cool periods, less snakes mulling around our garden. Of course, with the almost daily visits of dozens of mongoose, who kill and eat snakes, its a mini insurance policy against the uninvited reptiles.

At the moment, Tiny is drinking water from the birdbath, Chewy, our jaw-cracking bushbuck is munching pellets, his jaw, making noise with each bite, and two hornbills are banging on the kitchen window, their usual preoccupation. Fred and Ethyl are permanent residents here and hang around day and night. They are the first pigs we see each morning and the last to hunker down at night.

We’ll make the best of the day, regardless of how I am feeling, hoping tomorrow I’ll be back to my usual self.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 24, 2020:

These two cape buffaloes, close to the dirt road, with their horns stuck together made it easy for us to get these photos. For more photos, please click here.

Who’s in the garden this morning?

• 1 wildebeest
• 16 warthogs
• 17 helmeted guinea-fowl
• 12 bushbuck
• 2  kudus
• 1  duiker
• Frank & The Misses (francolins)
  A hornbill was pecking at the seed container while on the veranda side railing.

A few minutes ago, there were eight bushbucks in the garden. Unfortunately, Mom & Babies (2), the only warthogs that annoy us, heard Tom toss pellets, and they chased all the bushbucks away. This particular mom has a nasty personality, and she scares off Tiny and Little and other warthogs, large and small, when they see her.

The pecking order is easily evident in the bush. Bushbucks, gentle and non-combative antelopes, compete for pellets with the larger animals. At times, kudus and impalas will share with bushbucks but not wildebeest and warthogs. We’re always trying to figure out ways to feed the bushbucks without problems from the other animals.

Some locals use a raised trough to feed the various animals, to avoid the pigs from scaring them off. But, as mentioned in past posts, using a trough is dangerous for the animals, a breeding group of diseases, including tuberculosis, which seems less prevalent in the bush right now than when we were here in 2018.

With the busy weekend over and tourists leaving the park, we’re seeing many more animals this morning. It’s a great start to the week. Speaking of “great starts to the week,” our dear friends Rita and Gerhard arrived as planned yesterday, and the four of us met at 5:00 pm, 1700 hrs, at Jabula for dinner. It couldn’t have been more fun to see them. The conversation ran smoothly as if we had been together recently.

In the coming months, our dear friends Kathy and Don will also return after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19. It has been over two years since they left Marloth Park earlier than planned to return to the US when a close friend had passed away. We were so used to socializing with them, it was sad to see them go away, but we understood. Having them here, maybe for the next few months, is such a joy.de

As the winter progresses here (the opposite season in the northern hemisphere), more and more of our mutual friends, most of whom we met through Kathy and Don, will also return to the park, providing that new lockdown measures don’t impact flights coming to South Africa.

The news reports the third wave of Covid-19, which could easily impact travel to and from the country. Of course, we do not wish for more Covid in South Africa, with very few vaccinations yet. Of course, we don’t want to see more cases of COVID-19 in South Africa, with very few having ever been vaccinated. We can only wait and see.

Last night, we all enjoyed our dinners, with lively conversation. We had been in contact through WhatsApp for a few years, so it was as if we hadn’t been separated at all. Rita and I have a special sister-like kinship, and we couldn’t have been happier to be together once again. Of course, Tom and Gerhard had no lulls in the conversation either when the four of us sat at the bar before dinner.

Other locals joined in on some of our conversations, making the evening all the more memorable. We are so blessed and grateful to be in Marloth Park among our human and animal friends. No complaints here.

Have a fantastic Monday!

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

A Belted Galloway cow. From this site: “Belted Galloway cattle originated from western Scotland, a region whose weather is strikingly similar to Ireland’s damp climate! This makes Belted Galloways perfectly suitable for the wet, cold winters and the soft boggy terrain of Irish farms. Their long, curly outer coat is ideal for rainy weather, as its coarseness deflects moisture from the animal’s skin. They also have a soft undercoat to keep them warm in colder temperatures. The head of the Belted Galloway has long hair around its ears, preventing frostbite in a case of an extreme Irish freeze. Common nicknames for these cattle are ‘Belties’ or even ‘Oreo Cows’ due to their peculiar resemblance to the popular treat!” For more photos from the year-ago post, please click here.