September went so fast, I am not sure we even had one!

Two huge events happened, so I know that really, we did have a September.

Roane Travel was so understanding when we had to cancel half of our trip when the tragedy struck last January. We had not purchased  travel insurance but they gave us a credit for the unused portion of the trip anyway. They checked on us, they sent a gift basket of cookies, without even asking her to, Elizabeth took over the emergency flight arrangements for me.

The doctor said that it would do John good to go on our planned return to Africa trip, so we decided that we should go and finish it. The closer it came to going, the less I wanted to go. It was bringing all the feelings of last January back again in full force. I wasn't even sure if I could fly. But the day came and off we went.

 It was hard, but I think it was a good thing to go. It was a sort of closure to the trip that I think we needed. I know people say it all the time after somebody passes, but I think in reality, Cyndi would have told me to go.  That is what I kept telling myself. 

We stayed at a migration camp for the first two nights. The goal was to see the wildebeest river crossing. 

It is no guarantee that you will see it, you have to time it right. When we arrived, our driver Tito said that it was late for the crossings this year, but most likely we would be able to see it. Not only did we see it, we saw it two times! and almost a third! The third time, they were all bunched up, going up and down the cliff, over and over and then suddenly, instead of jumping in, they all just turned around and left! In a single file line headed to another place, I guess.

The wildebeest start congregating in an area, coming in single file lines, running or walking. They pile up and finally start going down to the river's edge, then back up again, until one of them finally jumps in and away they all go, fast and furious. It is loud! Some of them get washed down the river and drown, others are caught by crocodiles. I didn't look in that direction, but kept focused on the action ahead of me instead.

One little guy got stuck on some rocks, he tried and failed to get up over and over. All of us in the jeeps that were piled up to watch the crossing were cheering for him to survive. Finally, he made it and you should have heard the cheers then, as he ran up onto the bank in front of us.

Here is one that was not as lucky!

The camp was so awesome! We had a flashlight in our room that we had to shake out the door of our tent if we wanted to go out after dark. Then a guide would come and walk us up. We also had a whistle that we were to use in case of an emergency. 

One night we woke up at 3am to the sound of a herd of wildebeest munching on the grass in front of our tent!  

Great food, as always, and a few guests this trip to talk to and compare safari notes for the day by the campfire. In January, there were no other guests because of covid. 

Dining tent

He stoked the fire and kept watch for animals.

hot water bottles in our bed each night

lunch for one after I returned late from safari 

We saw more cats on this trip. That is because they were following the migration for their meals. 

There were a few animals that were new to us. The Oribi is in the antelope family and is only 25" tall.

The other is the Klipspringer. It is also in the antelope family, but is only 20" tall.

Even though we had seen the animals before, it never got old seeing them day to day.

Hyrax, a type of rodent. 

Vultures and Marabou storks cleaning up while a hyena waits his turn. 

I think these lizards should be called Spiderman lizards.

So many great birds, some new, some old!

Gray headed Kingfisher, a new one for me

I learned that male ostrich necks and legs turn red in mating season, the female dances for him. She lays her eggs in a communal nest and the females sit on the eggs by day because they are light colored and the males take turns at night because they are dark colored.

I think we saw more baby animals than before. I am just posting them here without words because they speak for themselves.

John was not up to doing all of the safaris because of his head injury, but I went out every time.

After our first two nights, we headed across the Serengeti, 2 hours by jeep, to our tented lodge, Taasa, for the next 7 nights. Again, it was an awesome place! Hard to believe that it was actually a tent. Except first thing in the morning, it was so cold, you knew you were not indoors. At night you could hear lions roaring in the distance and one night a zebra ran right between our tent and the next. Each morning, we would ask the night guards what they protected us from and they would tell us about shooing off a herd of water buffalo or elephants.

Every time we came back to the lodge after a safari, we were greeted by singing, warm washcloths and a drink. This is Wilson, our host, he made sure that there was not one thing we wanted that we didn't get. He served our meals, and brought us drinks and snacks whenever we were sitting by the lodge. One day, I took a pair of John's safari pants up to him and asked for scissors to cut them off. He said, "just a minute" and took off with them. Five minutes later he showed back up with them cut off and hemmed! 

The view from our room was ever changing. Elephants, zebra, wildebeest, baboons and giraffes, so close, others in the distance.

Almost every day I did a safari sometimes even two, one day it was a walking safari, one night was a safari after dark. Sometimes we had breakfast in the bush. 

The bouncing of the jeep was not good for John's brain injury, so he only did one safari a day. Dominic our guide worked it out so that John would ride in the jeep up front with him, it was less bouncing and that helped. Up until now, we had always had a private jeep, but now, at Taasa, we shared it with two other couples from Ohio. I wasn't happy about that at first, but it turned out to be a good thing.

Topi

This baby giraffe was so new that the cord was still on!

Eland and Hartebeest

I like that the horns on the hartebeest are kinda heart shaped.

One evening, after our safari, we were headed back to the lodge, but instead of turning in, he drove up the hill behind our camp, supposedly for us to shoot the sunset.  Well, we did shoot the sunset, but they also had a barbeque set up for everyone. There was a fire, a full bar and Masai traditional dance. 

Most of all, at Taasa on safari, was lions. One set of lions were mating. Embarrassing! Especially when I was told that they mate every 15 minutes for a whole week!  The two couples we were with thought it was so amazing and we had to wait through three matings! ugh! I will spare you the full photo. Here is that couple and a bunch of other lions too.

One of the things offered was a Masai village trip. I had decided before leaving home that I would not do it. I felt like it would be artificial and I didn't want to gawk at their way of life. But in order to get to the school, which I really did want to do, I needed to do the tour. I am so glad I did! 

It turns out that our tracker, Loyer was showing us his very own boma! We met his wife and 6 kids! He and our driver/guide were both dressed in their typical Masai clothing that day.

The only shopping I had while in Tanzania.

 After Dominic showed us the way they keep their goats, Loyer's wife invited us inside her hut. A hut that she had built herself, as all Masai women do. It was so dark and had an animal smell.

 When you first enter, there is a tiny door. That is where they keep the baby goats for the night. They don't want the babies to nurse all night and then not have enough milk for the family. In the day, they allow the baby goats to nurse on only one side while they milk the other. We were given small stools to sit on in front of the area where she cooks. Behind that is a mud platform covered in animal hides where they sleep. She uses a tiny solar light when she cooks over her fire in the middle of the hut. 

At the school, we visited the 6th grade class. So many kids packed into that room, sitting 3 deep in rows at shared desks. They sang us "If You're Happy and You Know It". It won't attach at the moment, I will try another time.

After the song, they asked us questions. When John said his name they all started laughing. It turns out that there was a John in the class. That poor guy! He was so embarrassed! John would have been just as embarrassed at that age. When we were all done, 
John walked over to shake the boy's hand. That did that poor kid in, he almost crawled on the floor laughing.

I am so happy that we did the tour, especially the school. It made me picture the 'half-orphan' kids we send funds to in the Congo. Their fathers were pastors and were killed when the government changed over from being Zaire. They have to buy their own uniforms and books in order to attend school. Their mothers can barely find the money for food, so they would not get to attend school if they didn't get help with uniforms and books. Seeing these kids in class just made me so happy imagining the 'half-orphans' doing the same.

One day we went on a walking safari. We had to have a ranger with us with a gun and our tracker followed behind with his speer.

A hard day for me was Dan's birthday. I went on the safari without John that day. The other two couples in our jeep were there. We stopped for breakfast overlooking the grassland. I was sitting there alone thinking of Dan, when a airplane came flying past.

 In all our time in Africa this trip and the one in January, we had not seen a plane on our safaris. (Dominic said it was a ranger plane looking for poachers) It circled the whole area and left, then circled back and flew right in front of me and away. What timing in the middle of my birthday thoughts of Dan. I don't think that it was them or anything like that, but it sure did bring on the tears!

Our night safari shots were not very good. Shooting in infrared light so that the animals don't see us was not very good. But you can make out the tiny little African kangaroo.

The destruction from the elephants is like a tornado went through.

Sunset safari. Here is Dominic our guide and Loyer our tracker

Morning safaris were even better with hot water bottles. I can't believe how cold it was! I thought Africa would be hot.

Zebra stripes are different on every one, just like our fingerprints are.

Wildflowers were in full bloom since the short rainy season had just ended.

On our last safari morning we were surprised with an all camp full on breakfast. 

The week blew past so fast. I thought we might regret so much time in one place, but we were not bored for one minute. We had plenty of time to relax, safaris and special activities all the time!

If you have ever thought about doing a safari, I highly recommend it! Start saving up now and go...now! It is indescribable!     

August 

What a month!

The first day of August was our official moving day. We got the keys a few days earlier and rented a U-Haul to move in the plants and yard furniture and boxes from the garage. The moving truck came on the 1st and we moved all of the house things in.

The first night of having the keys, before our moving truck came, Jessi and the kids and I stayed the night on the floor of our new living room.

Three days later, John, my Dad and son John were working in the shop making room for our trailer to fit in.  The shop has a second floor storage space that needed to come down for the trailer. John was on a ladder and fell about 15 feet onto the concrete floor. He had to be transported by ambulance to OHSU Trauma ICU. He had two skull fractures and two bleeds on his brain. He stayed 4 nights in the ICU. He was sent home for a day, but his headache was so bad that I was told by the hospital to get him back in for another CT. It showed more swelling, so he had to be taken again by ambulance to OHSU and stay another night in the ICU. The pain in his head was horrible for weeks. Slowly it has gotten better. He finally will eat and can sleep pretty well at night. After 6 weeks, he can do most things, but has zero energy.  That is frustrating to him because he has so much to do around the new place. 

Jessi insisted that I not go home to sleep. The kids had notes for Grandpa on my pillow when I arrived. I was checking on texts and looked down at the foot of my bed and there was my sweet audience.

John (son) had a friend, Vinnie, from Salem that came up and helped the guys get the shop finished and they moved the trailer in for a surprise for his Dad when he came home. It was a huge burden off me to know that it was all done.

The kids had welcome signs posted for Grandpa's arrival.

John's progress each day. I think the biggest challenge for me was trying to get him to eat.

Dennis made two trips up to check on his Dad's progress.

I am so thankful for my kids and parents for all their help through this time!  Offers from friends and family have been sincere and I would have asked for help if I had needed it, but these guys came through so well, I didn't need anything more. 

Two other huge jobs that we knew would be a temptation to John once he was home was removing the awning from our patio and tearing down an old tractor shed. The kids all pitched in, along with my Mom and Dad and we got it done. I just didn't want to risk John going out there on his own and having another accident with this one barely healing.

Before and Afters

The last two weeks of the month, Jessi had to return to the school for work, so we had the kids here with us. We did the annual school clothes shopping, took Arianna birthday shopping and played here a lot. Below is where I found my rubber spider... the kids keep me jumping.

Josiah has been doing all he can to help Grandpa around the place, mowing, weeding, and bringing in the trash cans. 

Years ago, I took a class at the college and grafted a pussy willow and gave a start to my parents. They planted it out back by their swimming pool, which is now their fish pond area. Last winter, it split and fell in two directions, but not all the way to the ground. It was broken and leaning in awkward places against a fence and there was no way that it could be taken down by my Dad, even with help. He ended up hiring a team to come out and remove it. They had to bring in a special lift to get to it. It provided good entertainment for all of us, but left a huge gap where it had been.

Great Grandpa gave the kids tractor driving instructions which was a huge hit!

Arianna turned 10!!!

One evening while cooking dinner, I noticed a lot of water on the kitchen floor. I tracked it down to the faucet leaking. With John all laid up with a cracked skull, it was up to me to unhook it for him to see if it could be fixed. Of course the whole thing was sealed up and could not be fixed, so I drove to Home Depot and bought a new one, came home and installed it!  Myself! He provided moral support and I even let him check if I had everything tightened up enough, but I could not allow him to do the job he hates the most in his condition. Even if he did like plumbing, that is not where his fragile head should be, under a sink like that. Besides, I was pretty proud of myself and I really did not like that old faucet anyway!

The kids had one last adventure with me at the water slides. It was so fun! Lina was afraid to try it at first, she really gave it her all the first two times she made it part way up the stairs and came back down. After watching the other two a couple of times, she finally made it down all by herself. From there on out, I could not get her to stop.

John finally felt good enough to try eating out. We met up with my parents at the golf course and enjoyed a nice view of the mountain while we ate.

Sunrays through the sprinkler.

One of the prettiest sunsets I have seen, right from my own front yard!

We are in the final weeks of waiting on our new addition!!!

Last January when we left Africa early because of the plane accident, we expected that would be the end of Africa. But Roane Travel has been amazing to us through all of it. First off, with all of their help in getting me home asap when we received the horrible news. They sent a gift basket of cookies with their condolences. Later, they informed us that instead of just writing off the rest of our trip, they would give us credit to return and finish. They did not have to do that because we had not purchased travel insurance. At first we didn't think so, but after thinking it over, we decided to try it again in the fall. We booked for September. When John fell, I figured we would have to cancel. But the doctor has given the go ahead with travel for him. She felt that it would give him something positive to look forward to and that it would not hurt him at all to fly. So next Tuesday, we board a plane to Tanzania! John does not do well flying under normal conditions, so I am praying that he can handle it with the added head problems. Once there, he can relax and recover with no yard work calling him to get outside. 

Tanzania here we come!

It  is just three days away from becoming September and here I am just now posting July!

We started the month off with the 4th of July celebration at our house with a BBQ. After that we went to Jessi's place for fireworks. 

I always love how kids line up the fireworks getting ready for the big show. This year it was up to Josiah to light them off now that Josh is off to the Marines for the second year in a row.

The next weekend was Mom and Dad's 67th anniversary. We celebrated with them at Salty's.

John put in a few weeks putting in one side of the Veras fence. The kids helped along the way, staining and putting it up

We officially became home owners again. (the main reason my July post is so late getting posted)

Lina loves doing cartwheels. The more she does them, the better she gets.

We went to Salem and had dinner and a walk with John and Rachel.

My jade plant, otherwise known as Jade, started out 42 years ago as a leaf that I started from a plant from Fullerton California. John's Mom brought the leaf from Uncle John's place. I got it to take root and it has grown so well over the years. As it got bigger, it was harder and harder to get inside for the winter.  She has fallen over and I thought she was dead, but then she took root again. She has gotten sunburnt and lost most of her leaves, she somehow always finds a way to pull back through. She even bloomed around Christmas. Well, we moved her to Salem to John's place when we sold the Sandy house. Their house was too dark for her, she wanted light. So they moved her to Rachel's classroom at school where she perked back up. Once we moved back, they brought her back to our place. I put her in the garage with my other plants for the winter. She was doing just fine until I put her outside for the summer. But summer was so late in coming...it rained and rained. I thought maybe too much water on her was not going to be good. Finally I put her back out. She wasn't looking too good. One day I noticed she was leaning over. I pushed her back up and she came right off. I was so sad. When I looked at the stump, I noticed it was total mush. The soil was like a swamp. It had not dried out at all from all the pre-summer rain. So I did surgery on her. I cut off two main branches and put them in new soil. I scrapped out all the mush in the stump and put it in a pot. Her leaves are beginning to plump up again. I don't know if she is growing new roots, but for now , there is still hope that she is going to make it...along with two more new plants.

We finally were able to get up to the lake and try out our new kayaks. The kids went with us and showed us all about it.

Here are a few shots of the other family that they sent me. Josh spent 8 weeks in Hawaii with the Marines. Alexis had to stay at their place in California while he was gone.

Emily and Matthew and Baby on the 4th of July.

John and Rachel went to Washington state.

Gabe, Daniel, Dennis and Abby. Gabe has been in a few concerts with his violin and a play.

and now to work on the August post!