I love waking up to this everyday!

I just LOVE the South African countryside!

Our home on the hill

Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!

It's so GREEEEN on our farm right now!

Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!

just checking in

I know you're all going to start calling me a stuck record, but we are still experiencing problems with our internet connection AND our pc... hence the lack of posts lately. I'm quickly saying hello from my friend's home right now. We are still fat and happy here in the Hillbilly Hideout. Jess is running the whole house full and is full of her usual antics! I wish you could all see how cute she is on her feet! Hope you're all still ok? I haven't been able to read ANYONE's blogs for a few weeks - months now. Very uncool Hillbilly-like behaviour, this internet misbehaving.

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So wish we could win the lotto and just upgrade to adsl AND a mac.

*sigh*

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Welcome to Africa

Even an old dog can learn new tricks!

Are you sitting down? Ta-dah! I am actually writing this ON MY CELLPHONE! Which just goes to show that necessity is indeed the mother of invention! Or REinvention. Very exciting! Nobody told me my phone was so nifty!

Which brings me to my next point. You know you're old when a teenager has to show you how to use your phone. And that's all I have to say about that.

Even an old dog Hillbilly in the Bush can learn new tricks!

Where was I?

If you're wondering where I've been, then here's a quick update for you. I've been home. Nothing interesting. I'm just STILLLLL WAAAIIIITTTTTIIIIINNNNGGGG for my internet installation.

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Welcome to Africa. Where everything takes about fifty times longer to get done than elsewhere on the planet.

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Apparently the installation will be complete this Sunday.

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What. Eva.

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I'll believe it when I see it. Until then, stay super nifty. I'll chat soon. Hopefully. Toodles!

Update on the Dead and Dying

The fact that I'm writing you a post right now should reassure you that I am not, as previously suspected, dead or dying. Although there were a few moments in the last few days when I would have happily walked towards the light.

Our house has been a petri-dish of germs, y'all. The entire Hillbilly Household succumbed to this ghastly virus. Or bacteria. Or whatever it was. Because, lemme tell you something... Hillbilly Wisdom this... When one of The Parents gets sick (and by The Parents, I actually mean The Mother, i.e. ME!), seek held fast! Because you can bet your bottom that within days, the entire household falls apart. Snotty tissues litter every available surface area. Dirty dishes become fertile breeding ground for the infestation of all manner of instects.

Not fun.

And I am stiiiilllll waiting for our internet installation. So right now I'm sitting in an internet café in Dunhillbillydee. Except this internet café has no coffee. Café schmafé. So, this will probably be a short post. Because right now, all that's keeping my eyelids upright is a leftover caffeine kick from an hour or so ago. Which is fast being depleted.

So this is just a quick checkin. Thanks for all the sooper-dooper advice guys. Pity I never had internet to see your comments until just now, because it's been a week of orange and purple splatter...

Anyhoo. Let me not complain. Just saying yowdy and sending smooches until next time.
I miss you already.

Still alive. And looking for something to kick!

So, I'm hijacking my friend's computer for a quick hello (yet again). This quick hello business is starting to grate my carrot. I have soooo much to tell you guys and so many adorable pics of Jess to load... (yes, that's my o.c.d. side showing) but I'm stiiiilllll waiting for my internet to be installed at home. This past Sunday would have been The Day, and then we had such stormy weather that the guy wasn't too keen on climbing onto our roof.

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Poofta.

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Just kidding.

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He happens to be a friend of ours (hello André), so I better keep it clean. Just in case he reads this.

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Anyhoo...

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I promise I'll be blogging again as soon as my internet is up and running. So if you don't hear from me for a while, it's because I'm playing The Waiting Game again. Story of my life.

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Toodles!

Meeting over!

Hello everyone. The meeting went SOOOO well. I love Debbie, the social worker. She is kind, and calm and gracious. And everything that you would expect from a social worker. And I am so excited that our journey to building a family of our own has begun. Yay! I am reassured of God's intervention in finding us the RIGHT social worker. I know you all have been praying with us about that (it was on the list of prayer requests) and definitely, I am totally comfortable with the lady God has provided for us. Now the long part of the process begins. The waiting. Debbie still needs to do the Home Study with us. And we'll have to wait for her to give us the dates for that. And of course I'll tell you when that will be. You know me. I can't keep anything from you guys.

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But for now, we're packing our bags and heading back into the bush. It's been awesome being in Durban again. Woot woot! Shopping was LOADS of fun. I bought some really spiffy new shoes - couldn't resist - which I'll photograph once we're home and share with you.

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So, anyway, just wanted to let you know how it went. Can't wait to be home with my kitties again though. Seems I'm turning into a hillbilly more and more with every visit to the city!

Chat soon.

hugs xxx

Rainy Daze

It's been raining for four days. A steady, clean-washing, soaking-in kind of rain. The kind that makes you wish for a cuddly blanket, a cat on your lap, socks on your feet and a good book to read. And a stack of pancakes. The kind that makes you nostalgic for places you've never been. Romantic, misty places where magical things happen.
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It's also the kind that turns your driveway into mush.

And makes you get stuck in the mud on your way to work.

The kind that requires someone to come and tow you out.

And have a good laugh at your expense.

And make you late for work.

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And make you wish that you could rather be at home, on your denim couch, with a blankie, a few cats, socks on your feet, a good book and a stack of pancakes.

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And that's about all I have to say about that.

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That and, oh where oh where is a sick note when you need one?

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PS. Your comments to my post on Friday made me cry my eyes out. Of course, at that stage it didn't take much to make me cry, already. With me being such a sop and all. But really, you guys are so thoughtful and kind. Words fail me. Thanks so much!

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Incidentally, when I was worshiping this morning, I asked God what it was that He wanted me to do. Was there something He wanted me to do. Or should I just wait on Him. The answer came through immediately and clearly: Just TRUST Me.

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So that's what I'm going to try my very best to do. Wait on Him. Trust Him. Stop doubting His plan for me. And along the way, stop being miserable. If possible. And with God, ALL things are possible, right?

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Many of your comments said exactly that, when I read between the lines. I think God's trying to tell me something. And I'm going to be listening.

Porcu-pology

I have to apologize. Apparently I was grossly mistaken. Or, more accurately, the "ignorant idiotic farmer" was mistaken. haha! I got an sms (I think some of you call that text message) from one of my best friends (Joey) last night, who is an AVID animal lover. And I MEAN animal lover. As in - she practically has a second home on the Kruger National Park's front doorstep and spends as much time as possible driving around the park looking for animals. And when she can't be there, she's watching dvd's at home about things like... oh, I don't know... ants. And elephants. And anything else that might possibly be alive somewhere in a game farm somewhere. In other words, she knows her stuff.

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So the sms reads as follows:-

Just read your blog. So glad that you are ok after the scare with the porcupine BUT HORRIFIED to hear you say that porcupines are a pest!! There is critical concern over porcupine numbers! That is why caracals and wilddogs are endangered - because of ignorant idiotic farmers.

Now, in order to understand why this sms was totally hilarious to me, you have to know that Joey and I have a LONGstanding joke about what a bunny hugger she is compared to me. She thinks spending a year in the bush with nothing but binoculars would be heaven on earth. And me? Pure torture. Seriously. I love animals. I really do. From a distance. Unless it's a cat. Then I love it up close too. But please don't leave me in the bush somewhere to do birdwatching. Or driving up and down looking for tortoises. Or elephants. And can somebody please explain to me how something THAT enormous can hide away so easily?

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So anyway, I just had to let you know that you better not dash off into the bush on a porcupine safari anytime soon. There are not hundreds of them lurking behind every blade of grass anymore.

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Sad but true.

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And now I will refrain from talking about That Spiky Thing again.

Because it's still a bit of a prickly subject. c",)

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Oh and about the zebras. Yes, we see zebra pretty much every day here. But only because our neighbour has a herd of them on his farm. They don't roam around the countryside. Unfortunately. But we've become so used to seeing them that we hardly bat an eyelash in their direction. Robin calls them donkeys in pyjamas!

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One last word about That Spiky Thing... This is his cousin, the humble hedgehog:-

(One of my favourite ads on our tee vee here in South Africa.)

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Porcu-pickup

It was when we were on our way home from town last night, after dinner together with friends at The Spur. It was already dark. Travelling a good 100km's per hour (approx 62 miles per hour) on the open farm road. Suddenly an enormous (and I mean enormous!) porcupine ran out in front of the bakkie*. Robin did his best to avoid it. But apparently porcupines always chase the light and actually made an about turn in it's tracks and chased after us. Robin jammed on the brakes, and the vehicle skidded off the side of the road, hitting the porcupine in the process.

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This morning Robin and I climbed into the bakkie to go and see if the porcupine was still there. I took some pics.

This is the road out to our farm:-

(That's Robin standing on the side of the road,

and see the skidmarks on the road where we

went careening off the road)

Incidentally, South Africans drive on the LEFT side of the road, so we had already

hopped lanes to get out of the porcupine's way, before we started skidding.

Close-up of the skidmarks:-

And then we found the porcupine...

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It was still alive. I am so sad. I wish that it had died on impact. It makes me heartsore to think that it might have been suffering there all night. We went to the farmer on whose farm we found it, and told him about the little guy. He said he would send his workers there to "take care of it". I don't really want to think about what that means. As long as it isn't suffering anymore I'll be happy.

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But now, look at our tyre:-

Ish! And we were broke already this month to begin with, without still having to replace our two front tyres.

It was quite a bad night for "animal things" though, because after we'd hit the porcupine we got home and there came Cassidy running with a bird in her mouth. And the bird was still chirping. Grrrreat.

At least this morning we feel a bit better after having spoken to the farmer (our neighbour) who told us that the porcupines are actually real pests in these parts. And that there are hundreds of them around the farm. But I still feel sad for the poor little (BIG!) guy that we hit.

Enough about the porcupine though.

As we were driving out of our neighbour's farm, we were bombarded by his herd of cows. They closed around the bakkie and gave us a whole earful. And when we kept inching forward to get to work, they put on a bit of a "peepshow" for us. Let's just say we now know a bit about the birds and the bees. And the um, cows. Mooooove over Hugh Heffner. You got nothing on these guys.

And then, we saw these beautiful guys.

There was a little baby zebra with them too, but by the time I got my camer out, he'd already trotted off into the veld and we couldn't see him anymore.

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*Bakkie = South African for pick-up truck; pronounced buck + ee

Bugged

The bugs in South Africa don't play.

They mean business.

And this bite is already a few days old.

All work and no play

We have a group with us here at the Bush Camp. They are educators who are staying here for three days, and being taught how to teach. Which should tell you something about the level of education in South Africa. I'm just saying. Not that my education was substandard or anything... aaaaanyway, where was I? Oh yes, theeducatorsarehereforaconferencetoteachthemhowtoteach. Ninety of them. Which wouldn't be so bad, if I could just be in Durban right now instead of here with the educatorswhoarehereforaconferencelearninghowtoteach. But I'm here. As in stuck here. While Robin galavants to Durban to go and fetch a generator. For electricity. When eskom fails to do it's job. Almost daily. I'm just saying. Now, if I could have had my way, I'd have gone with him. Done a bit of coffee-shop-hopping, visiting the folks, maybe a wee bit of retail therapy. You know. Girl stuff. City-slicker girl stuff.

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But no siree. I'm stuck. Here. At work. While he galavants.

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I have a really strong urge to stamp my foot right now and to wail about how unfair it is... blah blah fishpaste.

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But that would be childish.

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Instead I'll sit here in my sauna office. Working. Looking after theeducatorswhoarehereforaconferencetoteachthemhowtoteach. And bemoaning my fate.

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Because I'm ungrateful like that.

Power Sense of Humour Failure

I've been scarce. It's all this Load Shedding business's fault... the electricity is on, then off, then on, then off... You can't get anything done because everything's interrupted. And so randomly too. Not, say, for an hour a day, at a specific time, so that we can plan for it. One minute you're working, the next the electricity's off. And you don't know when it's going to come back on. They say this is the way it will be from now on in South Africa. So, we're looking into buying some generators for the business. As for home, we'll have to invest in a few paraffin lamps.

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And this, in the 21st Century, folks.

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Welcome to Africa. Don't ask me what's going to happen with the 2010 Soccer World Cup. I'm already embarrassed for South Africa. Eish!

Blue Monday

I am writing in blue today. Because it's a blue Monday. And I like things to match. It's my First Day Back at Work. Need I say more? I should be excited about being back at work, because this is going to be a NEW year for me. With a bright and shiny new attitude. But I'm having trouble staying perky. I'm appeasing myself with the thought that at least my boozies know how to be perky enough to make up for the decisive lack of perkiness in other departments. Like, for example, attitude.

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A bunch of things aren't playing their parts in keeping me happy... Number one being that my FAN ISN'T WORKING! So I'm frying here in my office. If I didn't know better I'd think I was getting the hot flashes. But that would mean I'd have to have at least a few hormones. And as we all know, I'm lacking the right doses of those too. So, it's just a case of it's too hot, and I'm not perched on a lilo in a swimming pool somewhere sipping iced tea. Which, as all of us working ladies know, is enough to make anyone snappy. Especially when said heat wave arrives on First Day Back at Work.

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The other thing annoying me is that all signals here on the farm are currently on hiatus. Internet signal. Radio signal. We even had power failures this morning, for load shedding. So I couldn't even while away some of my work time browsing the net. How am I ever supposed to get some work done if I can't waste some time do research online? Welcome to Africa. Grrrr... If you haven't heard of the wonderful electricity situation in South Africa, and you have about twenty seven years to kill, have a read here.

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Eish. I wish it was yesterday.

Who can resist?...

... a sexy guy and his cute new puppy? Meet Baxter, our new little corgie...



And this here is Baxter's mom, Kiara, the other newest member of our family:

And then there are a few new additions to our kitchen...

My new african masks. I just luvvem! (I had to show a closeup so you could see the scale of these guys!) Way to usher in the new year, that's for sure. Let's just say I was starved for some serious retail therapy, and Durban still doesn't know what hit it when we arrived!

Travelling Wilburies

Just a quickie to tell you that Robin and I are in Durban today - dashed down this morning for a meeting and to do some retail therapy and then we're shooting back home to the Hillbilly dump tonight. Should be home by about 22h30... Makes me wonder if six hours in a car is worth two hours of shopping?!?!? Maybe not. BUT definitely worth it to see our folks again! Woot woot! Chat tomorrow again. Adios amigos!