Quilt When You Can

Life in Africa is many things, but seldom ever is it boring!

Take today, for example.  We have some of our workers replacing gauze (that’s screening in America) over all the major windows in the house.  That’s a huge job, as the gauze comes in rolls about 30″ wide and for some windows as many as 6 panels have to be stitched together with wire and by hand.  With hammers pounding, my staple gun (the most valuable tool I brought to Kenya with me in 1990) in full employment, and the noise from the metal scaffolding I can hardly think!

African scaffolding

Then, I’m baking fresh bread.  It’s a cool damp day so the dough is rising too slowly.  I have to monitor its progress repeatedly, because I have set it into a warm place on the verandah where a passing Dalmatian may think to investigate it further.

Bread rising at Lake Baringo

I have had to fight a battle  with one of our mobile phone companies about the failure of their customer service department to contact me in an appropriate manner in reply to a service problem.  I have been waiting for an answer from them since last Thursday.  By the way, the company’s name begins with an A.  I lost, but so did they!  I switched to the competition, SafariCom.

We have no “mains” electricity.  It went out night before last.  This morning we learned the service will be off for quite some time due to a major landslide in a nearby valley between us and the source.  Many poles are down and it could be a long time before electricity is restored to a large area.

Contrary to the telephone company’s customer service department, the electricity company Kenya Power and Lighting maintains an excellent work force.  They know us well, as we always ring the nearest office to report any power failure here in case it is local, not regional.  They go out of their way to ring us back and let us know what is going on, notify us when the power has been restored, and check with us to make sure we have electricity.  The telephone company could take lessons from them!

Anyway, luckily we have a generator.  It works fine to keep our refrigerators and deep freezer going, as well as to charge mobile phones and power my computer.  I have to plan my activities around the generator, though–engaging in ironing and sewing while the generator is on, and working on computer on battery when the generator is off.

And then, there is the problem of fuel to operate the generator.  With heavy rains still a possibility, we cannot allow our supply of petrol to run too low.  We sent a driver to the nearest petrol station this morning to top up our supply.  The station operator is always happy to tell us, before we send a driver, that he has fuel in the tanks there.  If more rain falls, we run the risk of being cut off by road from that station due to the seasonal flooding of the river between here and there.

Jonathan tried to make the trip to Nakuru last week and found the river running far too deep and fast for him to drive the car through it.  We wonder when the Kenya government will authorize expenditures to rebuild the road, but there seems little point as the river changes its course every time there is rainfall in the hills above it.

We believe we are going to have puppies by the end of January.  One of our two Double Trouble Dalmatians, Taabu, was serviced by a gorgeous dog and we are pretty sure it took!   We are taking reservations for Dalmatian puppies, so if you are in Kenya and want one, please let us know.

Double Trouble Dalmatians--Taabu and Shida

The newspaper just arrived, and on the front page is a story about the heavy rains and floods we have been having.  No matter how challenging life here may seem to me, I know there are always others less fortunate.  You can read the full story in The Daily Nation.

Oops!  Generator’s back on; good thing, too, as my camera’s rechargeable batteries just died!

I’m going to quilt while I can!!