And so we find ourselves in the midst of yet another Friday the 13th, so far, so good. I happen to like the number 13, having been born on it, and the next Friday the 13th will be in November on my birthday!
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Yesterday was much worse. We woke up to no water. None. Turning the faucets resulted in getting more of the same, air. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. Well, it is amazing how many times we turned on faucet after faucet, toothbrush in hand, either forgetting or hoping for a different result! Tough to shower with air, shampoo not having much of a foaming action without it. So we harkened back to our Peace Corps days and went to the spigot below the pool, bucket, towel and shampoo in hand. The water temperature is not a factor here, it rarely comes out very cold and even if it did would feel mostly refreshing. So we all managed to get to school looking and smelling halfway presentable while the ants did the dishes. But it made us appreciate H2o with renewed vigor. When was the last time you were without water? I won't launch into a tempting tirade here on water conservation or the gloomy scenario of a warmer world with millions of people suddenly cut off from the Himalayan water company. But it is good to be reminded nevertheless of the preciousness of this commodity and retrain yourself to simly turn the tap off when you are washing dishes or brushing your teeth!
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I have lived in three places now where water shortages were a fact of life and we stored water in every available container for those times when the faucet produced only air. I remember one time in Jamaica when our neighbors flooded their apartment by inadvertently leaving the waterless faucet turned on and the water came back into the pipe, filling the sink and happily overflowing all over the floor while they were away for the day! For many of you, the most likely equivalent might be a rare power outage in your first world nation where you go to bed with no power and are suddenly awakened in the middle of the night by all your lights and tv and appliances coming to life with the restored flow of electrons you forgot to switch off in the dark! 'Nuff said. We are all dancing a little jig while we brush and shower and wash with abandon today and will soon forget to appreciate water properly once again.
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Speaking of ants. Was I? Maybe not, but I needed a segue. We have 3 types of ants sharing our casa. Hormigas, as they are called in Spanish. The first kind are the teeny tiny sugar ants that live by the millions in my kitchen, occasionally migrating to any room with a guaranteed source of sugar, even if it is in the form of toothpaste. They aren't picky. They love sweets! They form trails all over the place, signalling chemically to their buddies, hey, this way, cookie crumbs on the counter! Or, their favorite nighttime treat, the compost bin. You know ants are basically blind, right? We could possibly get rid of them if we were absolutely meticulous about leaving any kind of sweet food crumbs from ever touching or resting on any given surface of the house, but that is not very practical with 6 of us happily munching away. It also means that any open cereal bag or any other kind of thing that has sugar listed as an ingredient must be stored in our very cramped refrigerator and explains why on any given day you can open the freezer and have a bag of Golden Grahms fall on your head. I am sure we have eaten our share, like that protein powder you can boost your smoothie with in the good ole' U, S, of A. If you are not sure if sugar is an ingredient in any given food, they will let you know in a hurry. Did I mention how quick they are? And they have given us a newfound appreciation for both airtight containers and water, yes, water. They can not swim! So you might come into our kitchen and see the cookie container or compost bin stranded in the middle of a water filled cookie sheet. Anything I bake and set out to cool becomes a challenge between me and the ants; they usually know before I do when it is cool enough to touch.
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The second type of ants are usually outside of our house and we try to keep it that way. They are the black ants, as we so creatively call them. They bite. And it hurts! They are protein lovers so if you drop some cheese or meat on the floor they barge right in without invitation. They also have amazing powers of smell and communication and can locate a new source of protein before you know it hit the floor. Emerging from the house yesterday I found them doing their usual line dance around Isaiah's sneaker. Upon closer investigation, I discovered there was a dead tarantula wedged behind the shoe box they were happily breakfasting on. Yuck. As with their sweet loving cousins, simply removing the spider to a distant location causes them to follow immediately, like throwing a ball to your dog. Which, in the case of our dog, would be like throwing a coconut as Duncan has gone completely loco for chasing coconuts. (see photo of him waiting for his coconut to float by.) He will drop them on your feet if you are not paying attention or in the pool if you are swimming or on the ground where he will stare at it all day, occasionally picking it up in his what must be very strong teeth and flinging it around. If he does not eat his food right away, the black ants stand ready to swarm his bowl too.
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The third ant is my personal favorite, if you must have such a thing. They are the red ants and are bigger by far than either of the other two. They are my kind of ant. They come in at night only, clean the bathroom and the kitchen, and leave by morning. They don't trouble me any and never outstay their welcome, always leaving a place cleaner than how they found it. What a good ant! I will stop before I break into song.
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Well, that's all the news fit to print for this week. The fires are out, the truck is still at the border as the paperwork was delayed by another earthquake in San Jose, I just finished teaching second grade for 2 weeks, Bella had a tooth filled, Micah had a field trip to the beach to reenact World War II battles, Christiana is on an honor society field trip, Isaiah will be out in the field playing baseball with his school and the local Nicaraguan boys.
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PS Well, talk about timing! I just found out next week is national fix a leak week in the USA where it seems a trillion gallons of water are wasted each year! Ouch! For more information and facts to wow your St. Patty's Day party guests, visit the EPA website www.epa/gov/watersense. Come on people! It is one of those two things we cannot live without, after all! And no, the other is not Starbucks....
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