Bits and Pieces

Last weekend Jonathan watched the kids for me all day Saturday so I could go to a Women's Retreat. I think the only other time in the past 3 years that I've been kid-free for that long was when Jonathan and I went to Taos overnight for a quick getaway while Toby stayed with his grandparents. It felt really strange to sit calmly in sessions without entertaining children, eat my food with no interruptions, change no dirty diapers, and all that other fun stuff you can do when your kids aren't around. =) It was lovely.

It was also lovely to call home Saturday afternoon and hear Toby say, "My miss Mama!" He did, apparently, because he actually talked to me on the phone instead of just staring mutely at the funny talking object. I noticed an increased enjoyment of my children after that refreshing day off.

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A really annoying cold is going around our house. Jonathan and the kids are in various stages of recovery, and I've just started with a sore throat and general tiredness. Why is it that I always get sick after everyone else is back to their normal energy levels? Boo.

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Have I mentioned that our kids love books? See evidence below.

This is a book about signs. Abbie LOVES it. I'm guessing because it has pictures of animals in it?

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 Last but not least, a recent family picture. This was not pre-planned, as you might guess from the lack of color coordination. But, hey, we're all present and accounted for, right? You take what you can get. =)

February 2012 (Toby is 3; Abbie is 15 months)

The Story of the Water Pump

Last month (yes, I know I'm behind in posting) one of our weeks was dominated with the adventure of fixing our water pump. The story goes something like this....

Here, many homes have a well, a water storage tank on top of a tower, and a pump to transfer water from the well to the storage tank. I assume they do it this way because the electricity (which runs the pump) is so unstable. This way the pump can run when the electricity is on, and the house can be supplied with water even when the electricity is off. Well, the automatic switch that tells our pump when it's time to refill the tank quit working.

During the process of getting it fixed:
 - Jonathan suffered a wasp sting (or several) when he climbed the tower to investigate, after which he sprayed the rest of the wasps to death.
 - Jonathan made a total of 3 trips to various hardware stores before he was able to buy a replacement part, learning in the process that hardware stores here close before 5 p.m. and do not open until 10 a.m.
 - We were without water for about 6 hours on 2 different days.

Um, yeah, this is a pretty high tower. I couldn't watch Jonathan come back down.

 The day after Jonathan triumphantly conquered the water pump, I was surprised and dismayed when the water went off AGAIN (while J was at school, of course). After my meager attempts to get the pump running, our landlord came over and checked things out for me. He kindly informed me that the water to our house had been shut off by...ahem...Toby, who was playing outside. How embarrassing! Toby had helped Jonathan once by turning the water pipe off and on; apparently, he remembered how to do that.

Fortunately, now that the pump has been fixed, it is working better than ever and we've had no more waterless afternoons. =)

A Rant about Ants

I had no idea there were so many kinds of ants in the world. Apparently, they like the tropics. In addition to normal little black ants, we have giant ants (at least twice the size of the common ant in the States) that come out only at night, your typical red 'fire ants,' and wee tiny ants. The wee tiny ants like to crawl up my arms and bite me while I'm typing on the computer. And their bites sting!

These little insects are particularly annoying in the kitchen. If I don't keep my counters wiped off and my dishes rinsed out, they will invade in a matter of minutes. Sometimes I find them swarming my metal scrubber to look for crumbs! Fortunately, we can get (pricey) plastic containers with a tight seal to keep them out of things like sugar and powdered milk. After a day of baking, I usually have to rig up a contraption like this to keep them out of my yummy cookies and homemade bread.

Yes, that container is surrounded by a moat of water to keep the ants away. It works pretty well, as long as I keep the water level up. :)

**Update: I recently noticed a decrease in the ant population in my kitchen. Apparently, a cicak (pronounced "chee-chak", meaning lizard) has been eating them up. It is not unusual to see these little lizards running around on the walls, and I prefer them to ants. =)