Today is the ninth anniversary of our first post being uploaded, which may be found at this link. It’s a little hard for us to wrap our brains around how much time has passed since we began posting. At that time, we infrequently wrote, only as often as three times a week at most. But, a year later, as reader interest grew, we began posting daily and have continued doing so as long as we had access to the internet.
Speaking of the internet, we have no WiFi at the moment. Load shedding is happening, and often WiFi goes out simultaneously.
Will we make it to the ten-year mark? We’re hoping so. Of course, it’s always predicated by our health a year from now. All we can do is continue to make every effort to stay as healthy as possible for as long as we can.
This morning we’ve moved into Louise and Danie‘s beautiful home while they are fumigating our house and living in one of their gorgeous rental properties with some of their visiting family members. It’s almost as if this is a mini one-day holiday for us, with different surroundings and the finest of amenities one would only find in such a luxury property. We are quite content, although we do enjoy our little house on Luiperd Street. (Translates to Leopard).
As we were packing to leave this morning, Little stopped by, sitting in his favorite spot next to my chair off the edge of the veranda, waiting for me to come outside to see him. Tom gave him some pellets while he waited while I was showering.
Last night, we cooked extra mozzarella stuffed, bacon-wrapped chicken breasts, enough for us for tonight’s dinner. All we’ll need to do is reheat the chicken and Tom’s white rice in their microwave. We didn’t want to make a big mess in Louise’s kitchen and decided leftovers would be fine.
Over the weekend, Louise and Danie visited Daisy’s Den to purchase some mite control spray. They discovered I’m not the only one who’s been suffering from dust mite allergies. Many residents of Marloth Park have been trying to figure out ways to eliminate these pesky, impossible-to-see insects. Even Louise’s arms were covered in itchy spots like mine.
In a way, it is comforting to know that I’m not the only one suffering from dust mite allergies. Of course, dust mites will no longer be a problem once the winter comes in a few months and temperatures cool. They increase in hot, humid climates. Today is a little cooler than yesterday at only 87F, 31C, with an expected high of 90F, 32C. Tomorrow will be hotter and more humid once again and continue throughout the remainder of the week.
Yesterday, Tom got to work on finding a good deal for a rental car for our next three months beginning the day we return to Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger Airport on April 14th. Since we don’t have a car of our own, with coverage for rental cars, we’ve been renting cars, one month at a time, when our credit cards offer complimentary insurance, good for only 30 days. Thus, when we’ve rented for three months, we have to make three separate contracts.
This time, based on higher rates in South Africa during Easter, we had difficulty finding fair pricing, month by month. By an odd bit of luck, he found a car through Thrifty at the airport for three months, including full insurance coverage for the entire period for US $1207, ZAR 17958, making our monthly rate US $402, ZAR 5981, as good a price as we could as for with the insurance is included. We usually select the smaller, less expensive cars, which work well for us.
Now that we have all the bookings we need for the next three-month period in South Africa, we have peace of mind and can rest easy except for our need for the Covid-19 vaccine. It appears that non-citizens of South Africa will not qualify for the vaccine. We’ll have to consider what our other options may be. We’ll need a new Covid-19 test before we leave for Kenya in 24 days, which we can get at the lab in Komatipoort a few days before we depart.
At the moment, the power and WiFi have resumed. It’s almost 1:00 pm, and as soon as we finish here, we’ll have the remainder of the day ahead of us to relax and do as we please, free of any pertinent paperwork or research for bookings. This is a first for a while. We’ll certainly take advantage of it.
Have a pleasant, peaceful day.
Photo from one year ago today, March 15, 2020:
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| This is the grass left from harvesting rice. Note the horns on these buffalos. Indian ricegrass is highly palatable to livestock and wildlife. It is a preferred feed for cattle, horses, and elk in all seasons. In spring, it is considered a preferred feed for sheep, deer, and antelope and a desirable feed for sheep, deer, and antelope in late fall and winter. For more photos, please click here. |