We're almost
at the end of the year, and I feel that I've been out of touch
with everyone for months. It was that kind of school term - just
too much to do and too many issues to deal with. It's nice to
be on vacation finally.
I started
a new family page at the end of the fasting season, but I just
was overwhelmed with work and never finished. So I'll try and
summarize what I said then.
Ramadhan
was good, and we all made it through with a minimum of fuss. Su
and the kids went to Bali for Lebaran to be with her family. I
stayed here to work and keep an eye on the farm. Su and the kids
returned with two adult nephews, one of her brothers and a neighbor.
The guys drove the car and a new motorbike that Su traded for
her broken one. While the guys were here for a few days, Su enlisted
them in The Farm work brigade. They did a bunch of yard work for
us which was nice as it saved me from doing a lot of the work.
No major
injuries for me for once. I did slice my foot opening while installing
some sheet metal on the top of the goat pens. I probably should
have gone to the doctor in townsite to get it stitched up, but
lazy as I am, I didn't. It's just now healing three weeks later.
As part of
life here in the jungle, we had a troop of monkeys attack our
gardens in the back. Apple (the dog) went after them and got into
a tangle with the alpha male. The male got the worst of it and
probably didn't survive although it did make it back to the jungle
bloodied and reeling. Apple received a bad bite on the mouth and
since there are not vets here, we had to treat it ourselves. It
doesn't look pretty, but he's survived. I've decided to buy a
pellet gun to drive them off next time that they attack. The gun
won't kill them, but if I hit a few, they'll think twice about
coming in next time.
Meredith
had her 7th birthday a few days ago, and we had another big party
for her. 45 seven year olds screaming and singing for 90 minutes.
I'm always glad when these things pass.
Su and I
have our 15th wedding anniversary next week. Hard to imagine that
I actually made it for 15 years with Su after the rather less
than successful previous marriages. More on this next week.
I'm looking
for some old photos of the building stages of the house. I'll
put them up next time along with some new photos so you can see
just how much things have changed here in the 20 months since
we first started clearing the land. I hope that you all have a
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
I put a little guest book here so you can leave a message here
for us if you are having trouble reaching us by email. Thanks
for the messages in the guest book. I like hearing from you all.