Rain, awwww Rats!

March 4, 2019

Rain, awwww Rats!

Are you intrigued by the title of this blog? You should be. 

First, I’ll start with Saturday. John and Janet and I went to Eric and Bernice’s house for pizza.  They have an outdoor pizza oven and we made lots and lots of pizza.

Eric Cooks Pizza

 

Janet talks to Bernice

Robert and Anya came with their incredibly precocious 3 year old who kept us entertained while speaking THREE languages! Swahili. German. English.

These are all people almost no one reading this blog knows but suffice it to say that a good time was had by all.

Robert and MaryLou

Oh, as a side note, here’s a picture of Mt Meru which we could see on our way UP to Eric and Bernice’s house.

Now on to the rats part. We got back home rather late. John and Janet and I said goodbye at our doors and I went in to get ready for bed. Within minutes, I heard Janet yelling. Then she was outside yelling at Beatrice to come. What the #$&%#???!!!

Believe it or not, there was a rat in their toilet. Yea, a rat. At first, Janet thought it was an ordinary turd but when she flushed the toilet, the little critter started treading water and managed to keep his head above it all. YIPES!!! She slammed down the lid and rushed out to call for Beatirce.

What to do…..

After a short consultation, John filled the red bucket with water. (The bucket used to wash unmentionables.) Then 1) John flushed the toilet. 2) Beatrice lifted the lid. 3) John poured the bucket of water down the toilet in one big flush.  Whew!

Meanwhile, Janet boiled a pot of water and poured that down the toilet.  Then another pot… down the toilet.  Whew!

The excitement was over. The rat appeared to be gone. Except that whenever they got up at night to go potty, they flashed a light into the toilet to make sure there was no vengeful critter waiting to…. you know.

One would think that John and Janet’s problems were over but…. read on.

On Sunday, yesterday, we went out to River Trees at Usa River for brunch and jazz. This is the 2^nd time I’d been there—a very (VERY!) nice estate-like place with high-end rooms and lower-end great food. A fabulous jazz singer with her band were entertaining us as we savored the incredible ribs and beef and salads. There were about 9 of us and I enjoyed learning about the African lives of the other Wazungu at the table. We left when it was about to pour rain.  And rain it did.

Later last night, Janet knocked on my door and said that she might not be able to go fabric shopping with me today because she had an ….er, intestinal problem…. with, er, complications… you know. “OK,” I thought, “I can have an adventure without her.”

This morning, sure enough, Janet was sick. To make matters worse, as I was leaving, one of the staff was bringing in a HUGE rat trap in a box. Oh, no! Sing it out….

            But the rat came back.

            The very next day.

            We thought he was a gonner.

            But the rat came back.

            Maybe he’s here to stay….

Ray arrived. We left. We went to Albino Peacemakers to pick up Judith who said she’d help me buy some fabric at the shop where they get their fabric. This experience is difficult to describe, and, unfortunately, I was way too overwhelmed to take photos. But here goes.  We parked on a very narrow, crowded street near the central market and went inside what looked like a shop…. But the corridor inside the door went back and back and back with little open fabric shops on each side. We went into one of these little shops (think bathroom-sized) and I gazed at the stacks of fabric from floor to ceiling. Uhhhhh. What can I say?  So many choices. I didn’t know how to choose.  I kept telling myself to stay calm and not make any impulsive decision but it was all so beautiful. (Don’t go crazy! Don’t go crazy! Be calm. Make some wise decisions….) NOT! I ended up buying 7 beautiful 6-yard lengths of fabric. Sigh! It looks like my friends and family are getting fabric samples as gifts. (Sorry friends and family.)

OK, onward with this story. Home, I went. I decided that it was time to cook up the choroko I’d bought last month.

So I sorted, and washed and cooked it up. I planned to make a stew with onions, carrots, potatoes but, ….oh, gee…. I was fatigued…

….and decided to rest and read some more of the novel I’ve been working through. So I sat outside in my little corner and read from my iPad.

ALL OF A SUDDEN!!!!!

Wind whipped through the trees. Thunder rumbled across the sky. And the heavens opened up, pouring rain down just like John trying to drown the rat in the toilet.  Hmmm-mmmm.

It rat-tatted on the roof. It bounced on the ground. It blew sideways and around-ways. Then it hailed. It was soooooooo exciting.

Even when the water came pouring onto our little porch, it was exciting.

Except that it was pouring and flowing onto John and Janet’s side of the porch. Oh my, the building slants down their direction.  My side was just fine. And that was exciting too. (What’s with their luck?! They need to work on their karma or something.)

Then the electricity went out….and I wondered if I’d be having peanut butter for dinner since I hadn’t cooked up the potatoes and carrots to go with the choroko. Oops.

Eventually, the electricity came on, I peeled and chopped and…etc. And, eventually, I ate dinner.  YUM! A cuppa rooibos topped it all off.

Thus ends another exciting day in Arusha.

PS. What about that rat? I don’t know. There might be a part 2….