Kamikaze Cockroaches

The first one was floating in the toilet. He was quite impressive as he took up almost the whole toilet bowl. I was glad to see that he was dead. The next evening a smaller one came staggering out from behind the toilet and met his demise with a swift blow from Jeff's flip-flop. I heard the third one land the following evening. I thought I was being paranoid but as I flipped on the bathroom light our eyes met and he came tearing out from beside the toilet heading straight for me. My Birkenstock dispatched him (or her) quickly. We hadn't been able to figure out where they were coming from. We had put covers on drains and plugged openings but that night we suddenly realized they were sneaking in through a small hole in the ceiling just above the window valance and then jumping 8 feet onto the floor. Kamikaze cockroaches! The first one dove straight into the toilet, whether by design or accident and didnt survive the landing. The second one was a lot slower moving than a normal cockroach and I believe he may have had a couple of broken legs or a head injury. The third (and last) was made of tougher stuff but didn't live to tell the tale and since we stuffed a pot-scrubber into the hole we haven't seen any more. I love outwitting something with a brain the size of a pin-head.

Photos

I would love to dazzle you with photos of the beautiful countryside around us, but I haven't been able to upload any pictures due to our slow internet connection speed. We are hopeful this will change in the near future, but for now you will just have to imagine the beauty and believe me when I say it is breath-taking. Jeff is especially fascinated with Mount Kilimanjaro and we have a steadily growing file of photos of her. It is awe-inspiring to see this huge, snow-capped, free-standing mountain. Many days she hides behind a veil of clouds, but when she decides to show herself - WOW!
Most evenings we go for a nice long walk and wander down dirt roads and trails through fields of corn. The "long rain" is almost over and the corn that was chin-height less than 3 weeks ago now towers several feet over our heads. We follow the trails as they criss-cross through fields of green beans, banana and coffee plants. The people we meet along the way always greet us as they pass by. "Habari za jioni", they say and we answer, "Nzuri". Some of the men and women tote huge bundles of fodder for their livestock on their shoulders. Many women balance large baskets of produce on their heads. Children giggle and act shy. It seems we Wazungu (white people) are pretty facinating to them. They say, "Shikamoo" and we answer, "Marahaba".
The sun goes down at 6:30 and we are home by then.