Cyclones are a thing!
Hello, and welcome!
Writing from the smallish (30,000) town of Lobatse, Botswana at 4:46 p.m. because it has taken me all day to figure out this thing called "blogging".
Why? I want to keep in touch in a more productive way than Facebook and because I want this blog to be exclusive, not inclusive. In other words, I want to share what's happening here on the ground with the people I love, not 400 of my closest friends. And, the cool thing about it is, you can actually comment - if you like. :)
Plan? To share some of the stories and pictures - mainly pictures - of day to day life 10,000 miles from home.
Recently, we experienced approximately 8+ days of continued rain, courtesy of Cyclone Dineo that slammed into the coast of Mozambique and moved inland into Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia. You will be quite surprised as I was, I'm sure, that Cyclones are REAL! They don't just exist in Ames, Iowa--imagine! This cyclone was so intense that the rain it produced took the dam in Gaborone (the capital of Botswana) from 1% capacity to over 100%. Which is fantastic news - but we are still experiencing 1 - 3 days without water from the tap. This is quite random, there is no notice, one day you wake up and there isn't any water. First, you check it periodically from hour to hour...then you forget and leave the tap on and come home to a flooded house. It can happen! We prepare by filling containers with water so that allows us to at least cook and flush the toilet and take quick splash baths until the water flows again. The plan is to get a "jojo" which is a water tank that you pay to have filled and then - voila! - we will always have water. :) Speaking of water, though, many "experts" predict that our next war will not be over oil, etc., it will be over water. It is something that in the US we really do take for granted, each day you turn on the tap and water gushes. It's interesting to see how you must cope when that "normal" becomes a luxury.
Currently, we live in Lobatse, Botswana. Lobatse sits on the border (approximately 5 kilometers) of South Africa and is situated in a valley surrounded by some lovely hills. As Cyclone Dineo was busy creating some gorgeous storm clouds, we went to the highest place above Lobatse that is accessible via a service road leading up to the backside of our farm, and a cell phone tower, to capture the moment. Hopefully, the pictures do the storm justice. Meanwhile, the rain has abated at least temporarily, the clouds are still here hovering but not delivering. The rainy season ends in March, then our winter will slowly begin.
Writing from the smallish (30,000) town of Lobatse, Botswana at 4:46 p.m. because it has taken me all day to figure out this thing called "blogging".
Why? I want to keep in touch in a more productive way than Facebook and because I want this blog to be exclusive, not inclusive. In other words, I want to share what's happening here on the ground with the people I love, not 400 of my closest friends. And, the cool thing about it is, you can actually comment - if you like. :)
Plan? To share some of the stories and pictures - mainly pictures - of day to day life 10,000 miles from home.
Recently, we experienced approximately 8+ days of continued rain, courtesy of Cyclone Dineo that slammed into the coast of Mozambique and moved inland into Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia. You will be quite surprised as I was, I'm sure, that Cyclones are REAL! They don't just exist in Ames, Iowa--imagine! This cyclone was so intense that the rain it produced took the dam in Gaborone (the capital of Botswana) from 1% capacity to over 100%. Which is fantastic news - but we are still experiencing 1 - 3 days without water from the tap. This is quite random, there is no notice, one day you wake up and there isn't any water. First, you check it periodically from hour to hour...then you forget and leave the tap on and come home to a flooded house. It can happen! We prepare by filling containers with water so that allows us to at least cook and flush the toilet and take quick splash baths until the water flows again. The plan is to get a "jojo" which is a water tank that you pay to have filled and then - voila! - we will always have water. :) Speaking of water, though, many "experts" predict that our next war will not be over oil, etc., it will be over water. It is something that in the US we really do take for granted, each day you turn on the tap and water gushes. It's interesting to see how you must cope when that "normal" becomes a luxury.
Currently, we live in Lobatse, Botswana. Lobatse sits on the border (approximately 5 kilometers) of South Africa and is situated in a valley surrounded by some lovely hills. As Cyclone Dineo was busy creating some gorgeous storm clouds, we went to the highest place above Lobatse that is accessible via a service road leading up to the backside of our farm, and a cell phone tower, to capture the moment. Hopefully, the pictures do the storm justice. Meanwhile, the rain has abated at least temporarily, the clouds are still here hovering but not delivering. The rainy season ends in March, then our winter will slowly begin.
