Desert Gills

As I was taking the compost out one night, I heard a rustling. Upon scanning the area with my flashlight, I found two cute little hedgehogs rummaging through the scraps. I woke up Ir (10pm) to come out and see the little creatures and then tucked her back into bed. The next day, we enjoyed reading The Hat by Jan Brett, and the following day, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle by Beatrix Potter. In this photo, we are enjoying the hedgehogs with some neighbors.

  One of our 'terrible' fears here is that our electronic equipment will break. The heat & dust are hard on them, and once they go down, there is not much in a way of backup plan. Africans seem to reuse everything, but basically the westerners are the only ones who use ipods and computers, so you are basically out of luck (or market) when it comes to fixing that Dell. We have had a few 'close calls' with our dear computer, but the biggest problem is just having it overheat. Thats what happenned the other night when we had some friends over for an impromptu film night (Castaway)... and you can see our valient efforts to shorten the intermission by using our little electronic fans. Ir actually loves these little fans and often races to get them out of the cupboard when the power goes out (ie, multiple times a week and even a day in May).

  Here is Ir, with some sulfugids found in our house. She was excited to report her adventurous discoveries to her entomologist grandfather over skype. Studying these non-spider arachnids is what brought T's parents to T's birthplace - Namibia. She's at a very cute stage. This week we heard her singing what we thought was "Deep and Wide"... until she asked us afterwards, "Mommy, why is there a mountain floating by?" Um, I think that was supposed to be 'a fountain flowing deep and wide'

M stared at the pile of trash incredulously when I said I was going to buy some of this stuff. The bag full of "trash" is actually examples of what I can order from Al Haji, a man who travels by motorcycle to the country immediately south (and only a few miles away but with more products available). From him, we can order in bulk any of the products whose old wrappers are pictured here. So far, he has supplied us with oatmeal, brown sugar, soda, toilet paper, and bleach. Since he cannot read, he takes the wrappers we select and brings them with him when he goes shopping.

Not wanting it to "disappear", I tried to keep an eye on the snake while I called a friend for advice...

"Mommy, what's this?" Ir asks, leaning backward off my lap, her face inches from the scorpion.