Kalulu is pregnant again. I couldn't get a sedative from the Mpika vet so I could transport her for her operation. This is tiring enough news except her kitten, Isa, is also pregnant for the first time and hanging out at my house even though she belongs to my neighbor. Between the two of them, they consume a load of fish per week. I am not looking forward to both delivering their kittens in my hut so I instructed my neighbor to feed them at her house while I am away. Hopefully, Isa will get the homing device straight.
The above picture shows Kalulu's extended family: in addition to her 3 babies, her daughter, Isa, brought her 5 babies over and the mom's are having nurse-in on the welcome mat. Sometimes they take a break and let one mom nurse all the kittens.
I need the cats around as this is snake season again. I hired a man to slash my grass because I couldn't keep up with my push lawn mower which feels like a toy when it comes to the elephant grass. Anyway, now that I have a lawn again I can see no less than two snake holes in the yard. Since I don't want a rerun of last year's black cobra in the insaka incident, I am not cooking eggs for the rest of the rainy season.
So far my efforts to keep the termites at bay is working well. The medicine in the rafters and cement on the walls are doing the job. They happily munch my outhouse and shower and insaka walls, but that is better than my hut. When the other volunteers camped on my lawn ONE NIGHT, the termites tried to eat their tents! So busy!!
Likewise the gardent walls are keeping out the chickens. The lettuce and sunflowers are my indicators. I have planted watermelon, squash, tomatoes and basil and hope the daily rains start in earnest so I don't have to keep watering them. They are sprouting as I type.
Last but not least,, the goats are now tied up since they can eat grass and don't need to roam for their food. Even though the rains were heavy in December, it has been dry the past 2 weeks and some of the maize and other crops are not sprouting well. That is why I stick to my kitchen garden close to home.
Speaking of which--flash bulletin--I bought a small netbook computer online and just got it brought to me by a PCV. This means I won't have to stand in the queue for the one PC at the house. Now I can type and Skype to my hearts content when I am here at the Provincial house. Yipee See you online!!
Termite damage prior to cementing walls.
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