The Wayfaring Wordhack

 We now have Internet at the house.  Hooray.  However, before we get too excited, let us take a moment to consider what our friendly neighborhood tech said, "Lebanon has the most expensive Internet in the world...and the worst connection!"

So, we will see how it all goes with time.  For now, we are just happy to have it.

Now for bed!

An OS update, which I thought I had installed weeks ago, put an end to my horrid keyboard lag problem, and I can now type freely. Color me happy.

I have other happy news:  My "baby" bee colony (started for and given to me by a kind and generous beekeeping neighbor) is growing splendidly, contrary to the fear that took hold of me when J told me he thought, due to the lack of visible activity,  the hive was dying.  I bought J a bee suit today--as well as two for the kids (I wish I had a pic of Farmer Boy in his, but it is on J's phone)--and we went to check the state of the hive. Thank the Lord, the bees are doing so well that I went ahead and added a super on top of the main hive body to give the bees room to stock honey so that the queen can continue laying...  I pray the workers can gather enough nectar to complete their honey stores for the winter. Since I am just starting out, I don't want to be faced with the moral dilemma of letting my bees starve or feed them sugar. :-/

We now have a duck sitting on a clutch of four Khaki Campbell eggs and eight Indian Runner eggs.  It seemed a pity to let the duck sit on only four eggs, so we went ahead and bought the IR eggs in hopes of getting a flock for slug patrol. 

Now for a bit of grimmer news, we only have one duckling left from the incubator clutch (and she* still doesn't look like a Khaki Campbell); however, the two goslings hatched well and are growing. We named the three after Narnia characters, so we have Lucy (duck), and Polly and Diggory (geese).

Today, we had to kill yet another sick hen. It is so heartbreaking to have to do that.  That was why I was really in a funk until we checked the bees and saw they were OK. It is hard raising life and harvesting death. 

Sometimes, when a series of bad things happen, you really forget to look up and take stock of all the progress you have made.  I have been reminding myself of late how much more my garden is approaching my ideal now than it was when we bought the place. If I can find them, I will post some Then and Now photos.

This year, barring an unforeseen disaster, we should have a very nice eggplant and pepper harvest, and my tomatoes are looking good. I might even get lots of carrots.  We have already pulled up some hefty early potatoes, and I had my first-ever successful garlic harvest.  We're eating cucumbers and have had zucchini since the last week of May.**  Last year it was too hot, and this year is on the cooler side, so other harvests are slow in coming.  I am not sure pumpkins and such will have time to ripen because my plants are barely setting fruit. :-/   The winter was so mild that the garden has a pretty hefty pest load ,and all my first sowings of beans were completely wiped out. My okra was so shocked and stunted--those that have survived the insects--probably aren't going to do anything at all either.  Such is the the growing year.... Better not to put all your eggs--or seeds--in one basket.
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*If Sprout's and my fledgling skills are anything to go by, after vent sexing the goslings, we have a goose and a gander.

**We've eaten plenty of other stuff, too, like peas, beets, salads, rocket and mustard, cabbage, etc. from the cooler days on...

 I just spent way frickin' too long on my previous post, only to have the images not come through. I don't only want to make image-containing posts; but photos are how I like to communicate. I seriously feel thwarted by DW's setup. Even things that should work for me are not working. This is a major reason why I haven't been bothered to hang around here more often. I might go back to LJ and crosspost here for people who are no longer over there. I don't have enough spoons to continue fighting this irritation. :(

Let’s see if photo-containing posts behave from my email client:

Garden helpers; FWIW, I suggest chickens over wee boys who just like to dig-dig-dig because people don’t complain as much about seeing chickens in a cage. :P


Garden before & after, in the early stages:


The beds were already in place, and while not ideal, were great in helping me get a garden under way illico presto.


Our young rooster, a Noire de Berry named Rico ( from the French rooster onomatopoeia « cocorico »). His name reminds me of the super-corny song « Rico Sauve. » https://youtu.be/Nx64_N4AA04


ETA: what the frack just happened? After I put the ETA and saved my changes, all the photos disappeared. :(

Today, I plugged my laptop into J's, as I do, to use it in target disk mode, when lo and behold, I saw that my screen was no longer dark and was flashing the drive image.  I went ahead and turned on J's and used it a bit in that mode, then disconnected the two laptops, and restarted mine solo. And ta da. It is working.

My theory was that I had a monitor problem. I guess I have some kind of short circuit thing happening. I may be back; I may not. But it would be great to be able to use my laptop as normal until the shop opens, at which time I'll see what caused the problem while I get them to upgrade it and repair my dvd/cd player.

Fingers crossed...

J tried to take my laptop to the repair shop only to be told that they will be closed until April 1st.  The wait is obviously a pain, but the good news is that the shop will be opening a branch in Maadi, where we live. Now J won't have to drive to Doki, another part of Cairo, to drop off/pick up the laptop once it is repaired.  The wait continues.

Hope everyone is well.  I'm keeping busy taking care of my poor sick husband, runny-nosed boy, and making a little crocheted toy for Coquille.  The next 8 weeks are going to pass quickly.

 I don't know what the deal is--if it is a nationwide thing like in New Zealand or a hotel connection thing--but my messenger service is not working.  Sorry to those I usually chat with that way.  I'm not hiding from you.  Just unable to connect...

ETA: I just remembered Yahoo! online web messenger. It isn't as stable as the downloaded version, but it seems to be letting me connect.

So, the files are still on the HD, and, according to the trial versions of some data recovery software, still in good condition. Nothing appears to be lost, but I haven't decided which program to use to get them back. Not all of the programs recognize the external HD, but File Scavenger does. I think that's the one I'll go with. Just not right now. Recovering, sorting, and saving the files to other media is going to take so much time, something I just don't have right now.

I'm just relieved to know that the files are there when I'm ready to get them.

In the meantime, since we had to take the new pc back, J has been looking at replacements. He's leaning toward an Apple (laptop.) Any recs from you Apple users out there? (He mostly needs it for work on his videos and obviously image treatment is impt to both of us. I need a computer that allows me to write.)

On a completely unrelated note, I had a terrible dream that one of my English students (Oh, I have three now and just forgot to tell you) died with his parents. Gas leak. They shared a house with us, and J and I weren't home at the time. J's the one who found them first, all stretched out peacefully on the floor.  I woke up in tears when I realized (in that still asleep way) that it was Wednesday, and E wouldn't be coming for his lesson. :( Needless to say, I was happy to greet the real world. However, bad dreams or not, he's not getting out of his test. :D

Most of you know that mana_trini  is on contract here in Mayotte, and that contract is supposed[1] to end August 15, 2009. What you may not know is that he has nine months paid vacation coming to him at that time. And what is the thing this wordhack and her loving wubs are most likely to do with 9 months on their hands?

Why, travel the world of course.

Yes, I know it may be too early to talk about this, but I've already spilled my slippery proverbial beans with one or two folks already, so I might as well lay out the whole scheme here.

Of necessity, we will return to mainland France for six weeks. Family to visit; belongings to stow away; a wedding to attend; backpacks, hiking boots, and winter(!) clothes to purchase...

Then come October 1st, or thereabouts, we shall fly to the United States for two months. An obligatory visit will be paid to the family, of course, but we also plan on visiting places neither of us has seen before. On the not-even-close-to-being-official intinerary: New York City[2], possibly Vermont (*waves at rabiagale *), Chicago (if my dear friend C is still there), and then, either by plane or car, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming (Yellowstone, naturally), and Utah. The family States to visit are New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

From the States, we'll fly to Peru[3], possibly visiting Chile and Argentina while we're there. From South America, we'll hop to New Zealand, and then back to the northern hemisphere to hit Vietnam, Cambodia, and India.

We'll have 6 more weeks in France to find a place to settle before J is expected back to work.

Who else thinks this sounds like a totally rockin' experience???



[1] There is a slim chance that we could stay a fourth year, and in that case, this trip will be postponed to 2010-2011
[2] Mostly J's idea. Sorry, New Yorkers, but I could do without it.
[3] I really, really, really got get to work on improving my Spanish.