Hi all,

I’m not going to upload any more photos while I’m here.  It’s too time consuming. I’ll send them out after I get back.

For those of you who try to access the site I posted earlier, sorry but I changed the password for privacy purposes.  I didn’t really think people we didn’t know would read this site and actually comment on it.  Very odd, I think, and a bit creepy.

See you when we get home.
Jenn

Well, we made it here, finally!  After a 17 hour flight (including an hour stopover in Drakar), an overnight stay in Joberg, and another 1.2 hour flight to Richards Bay, we are now ready to get in the rental car for a 1.5 hour drive to Umhlanga Rocks for a couple of days (see itinerary).

The flight over was smooth and uneventful.  South Africa Airlines is great - we actually got a full meal, snacks and free drinks (wine included) a rare treat in today’s friendly skies.  We met two nice guys on the plane, Kelvin from Namibia and one other young guy whose name escapes me, but he was from Texas and backpacking alone through South Africa then to Australia to find work. (Kelvin, sorry we missed you in the airport - we didn’t see you as we came out of customs. Have fun in Joberg and then a safe flight home.)  As a side note for the Oregonians and Buffalo Bills fans reading this, South African Airlines served us Tilamook cheese from Tilamook Oregon and yogurt from Buffalo New York. 

Our stay at the Metcourt Hotel last night was very nice.  It is part of the Emperor Hotel and Casino (Formerly Caesar’s Palace) and so of course Sue had to get some gambling in.  She was on such a hot streak at the black jack tables that everyone wanted to bet behind her.  She left with more than she went in with so dinner tonight’s on Sue!

I’ll leave you with this one last thought - for dinner last night I had a nice rump roast with Monkey Gland Sauce and chips - I’ll let your imagination think on that for a while!

Will blog again soon!
Love to all,

Jenn

Is it possible that dogs communicate with us in a way we would never expect??

Today I woke up to the sound of Charlie barking. I got up to find him but before I could even get downstairs I saw that he had pooped in the guest bedroom. Now this was strange to me because Charlie only poops in the house when I am seeing someone. Its kind of Charlie’s way of saying “hello” to my date. But no “dates” have been in my house in over three months, so why was he leaving little gifts today? Sigh.. This was not how I wanted to start my Saturday.

I went into the room to view the doggie damage and assess how many paper towels I would need to clean the mess. Cursing, I walked around the room. He’d started in the doorway and pooped all the way to the radiator on the far wall. “Thanks for the gift Charlie”, I thought.

But then something worse happened. As I neared the far wall I heard a soft, almost imperceptible, dripping sound. Drip, drip, drip. As much as Charlie’s little indiscretion had annoyed me, a dripping sound coming from .. only God knows where… is a home owner’s nightmare. Especially a home owner who did not know how to change the flap in the top of a toilet until yesterday.

I thought the drip must be coming from the ceiling. It rained last night here in the city, and even poured buckets at one point! But I couldn’t find any leaks in the walls or ceiling.

I slowly realized that the drip was coming from the radiator itself. The radiator valve was leaking. I was puzzled because I hadn’t turned on the heat in months, and certainly the only way water would get to the second floor radiator would be through steam coming up from the basement. So why would the radiator have so much water in it?

Then a vision came into my head.

…. The vision was of me in the basement yesterday. I was trying to find the water shut off valve because my friend John was fixing my broken toilet. Instead I found the ‘water pressure valve’ next to the boiler. This valve determines how much and how fast water get pumped into the house. I was immediately impressed by the look and design of this value. It is a gold lever that you slide up to turn off the water pressure, and slide down to release the water into the house. It reminded me of an executioner’s switch they used to electrocute death row inmates in the 1930s. How cool is that! I stayed and played with it for a second, flipping the switch up to shut off the pressure, then down to release the water full blast into the house. I did this twice. Then I went off to look for the water shut off valve…

Back to the bedroom, I realized I was now standing next to a radiator leak that has been dripping for at least 24 hours. When I placed my hand on the carpet, I felt a ton of water had absorbed into the floor and probably in the dining room ceiling below. AND I was still surrounded by Charlie’s poop. Ugh!

Then it hit me! I thought to myself. Charlie pooped in the bedroom to alert me that I had a leak. I mean, doesn’t it make sense that his last little poop is almost underneath the radiator?? Didn’t he make a line from the door to the far wall? When that wasn’t enough to get me to pay attention, he barked non-stop until I woke up and saw his mess.

Its so obvious!

If it wasn’t for Charlie, I would not have noticed that leak in the bedroom until it was pouring into my downstairs dining room. That would have been a much bigger mess. In fact, it would have been catastrophic to a home owner who didn’t know how to change the water flap in a toilet until yesterday.

Charlie is my hero! He’s sleeping at my feet now, resting after this morning events, and probably dreaming of his next poop mission.