Mom, Can We Keep Him?

While we were out bike riding this morning, Jacob saw a Chameleon on the road who was about 20cm long from nose to tail. When he stopped for a closer look, the little guy climbed into the spokes of his front tire. Then came the dreaded question every mother of a young boy must hear...

“Can we keep him?”

What could I say, both looked so cute. Jacob gave him a “ferris wheel” ride home while the poor thing clung for dear life, and now we are the owners of a Chameleon.

Our spunky Abigail was the brave one who picked him up and put him in the pail.

There's water flowing from the tap!

Even here in Botswana, water was something that we mostly took for granted - until recently. When we moved into this house in August, the landlord agreed to provide water by means of a "jojo" tank. He was responsible to haul water and keep the tank from running dry. Well, we had a couple of close calls, but somehow there was always just enough to keep us going. The promise of "city water" was fulfilled in early January, several months later than promised, but very welcome, none the less - that is until the water supply became very erratic. In the last month, we have had water on during the day about 1/2 of the time, but its been about ten days since that happened. Now, usually, the water will go out in the morning and come back in the evening, but on Sunday the water went out altogether and did not come back on at all (thanks to an electrical storm, power outage, and water supply issue). So, we have been going out to the jojo tank and filling 5 liter jugs to provide for our bathing, washing and flushing needs. The jojo, however, is almost empty, and since the plumber cut the pipe from the jojo and promised to come back and reconnect it a month ago, it had not been refilled whenever the water was on. After bathing in 3-5 liters of water for each of the last 3 days, you can imagine my delight to hear the water runing this morning - even though it was 5:30 am. I did what any sensible person would do, I jumped up, had a shower, ran a tub for Cheryl, and stored water for flushing. The good news is that the plumber is actually coming back today to reconnect the jojo tank, and we will be able to use that as back-up water supply after this. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that the internet was down for two days, and the power was also out for about 12 hrs? The things we take for granted - well not as much any more!) - Keith

Pretty To Look At, Tasty To Eat

This fella is a Mopane worm and we are finding lots of them in the yard these days. The interesting thing about these LARGE, spikey, caterpillars is that the locals EAT them! Fried in oil, I am told they taste a lot like termites. Then, when I naively ask what termites taste like they say "Like salted peanuts, only mushier."

I think I will save them for the locals thank you very much.

Its Like Pulling Teeth!

Abigail lost her first two teeth bravely, all in a span of one day! As soon as the first one was loose she asked Cheryl to help her pull it out...with pliers! When she discovered that kids can make money on lost teeth she wanted the one beside it pulled out too. (it was a bit loose) I wish everything out here was as easy as pulling Abigails teeth!

FUN with Julie and Ang

Abigail had so much fun with Julie and Ang. It was a real treat to hear so many giggles!

Jacob Turned 8 Last Week

Jacob turned 8 and had a Birthday Party to remember. (Thank you Julie and Ang for all your help.) We played Pass the Parcel, had Water Balloon fights, shaved balloons, harvested cotton balls while blindfolded, made funny faces, and Jacob managed to get himself locked in the storage room out back. The door Handle broke when the boys slammed it (to get away from the girls) and it took over an hour to get them out. The boys had to work together to take the hinges out of the door with tools Keith passed through the window.

Meet Gerry Giraffe

While out for a walk through the Maun Educational Game Park, with our friends Julie and Ang, who were visiting from Canada, we stumbled upon this big guy. Giraffes are definately my favorite. He stared at us for a long time and then bent his neck down toward us to get a closer look, as Abigail and I carefully stepped closer to him. Thrilling! These creatures are so majestic up close and move with such grace and dignity.