In the meantime...

Earlier in the summer, we planted around 90 pine trees, 50 autumn olive, 30 mountain ash, and 20 cottonwood trees. The deer are starting to come around again, and have a history of killing our trees by eating the needles/leaves and rubbing their antlers on the bark. So, what we have decided to do to keep the deer at bay is to make a fence around our entire house/backyard/garden/trees area.

Dad and I put a stretch of fence up yesterday. There is one wire of barbed wire fence about four inches from the ground, then the webbed fence, and at the very top of the fence posts we put two more stretches of wires. Overall it's close to 8 feet tall in height. There is a certain satisfaction just knowing that a sneaky nocturnal animal has been conquered of their bad habits.

The picture of the tree was a mystery as to how it happened when my mom and I spotted them while walking across the bridge one Saturday. Originally, I had thought that the culprits in charge were the beavers, since they had left some evidence of their gnawings on the bark. But, looking closer, we noticed that the trees' roots rotted through, and when one tree went down on one side, so did the tree on the other side. However, the two in the middle are still standing, but I am wondering for how long.

Tomorrow I am off to get my Malaria pills, and get my money ready to be converted into Kwatcha (Zambia currency). Then, it's packing time!

A little info for everyone

Here's the plan:

Going to start traveling to Indiana on September 2nd, get there on the 3rd, have fun with family, and catch up with friends on campus. My briefing meetings for Zambia start on the 8th at 8 am until an unknown time. On the 10th I leave on a plane from Indianapolis and go through airport after airport until my final destination of Livingstone, Zambia on the 12th.

I have been told that I will be working in: 1) an orphanage in Choma, 2) Zimba's hospital, and 3) small clinics. As of now, that is all I know, other than there are small lizards that are everywhere, and not to kill them because they eat the bugs. So, instead of grasshoppers being everywhere it will be lizards. That will be a fun change. Maybe the lizards will eat the grasshoppers.

I still have a lot of supplies to buy, including skirts. Those who know me well know that I have not worn a skirt for more than half a day or so... and that's only for special occasions like weddings and graduations. So, instead of wearing jeans every day I must convert to skirts. I am actually looking forward to that.