October 23, 2009

We are in the US, having a fun vacation in the western states.  Last week we moved cows and did target practice on some prarie dogs on a ranch in Wyoming; this week Cherine went elk hunting in Colorado with Eric's cousin:    http://blog.atkinsonexpeditions.com/2009/10/22/we-are-so-busted/ . 

Next week is pheasant hunting in South Dakota...and all the elk meat we can eat!

October 7, 2009

One of the purchases from Australia was a box of cockroach bait traps, where they can go hog wild on the buffet inside and then die off.  I bought these because nothing else we do here seems to work for getting rid of them.  I think on the day that Eric fumigated the place and gave himself brain damage, maybe we killed 2 of the bugs.

I have even experimented with various combinations of things to kill them and nothing works. I still end up saying, “Good morning,” to Mr. Howitz who comes out of the toaster each morning to pick up his newspaper.   I sprayed one until it stopped moving and let it hang out there for a while, and after 5 days it was coming back to life. A Lazarus moment?  Hmm.  Just to be sure, I threw it in the microwave for 15 minutes.  And I think that actually resurrected it even more.  They just won’t die!!

Anyhow, after 24 hours I can definitely tell these traps are working, as the carnage is being displayed on my kitchen floor and resembles movies about the Revolutionary War. 

Guess what I’m stocking up on to send back here…  Wait.  Was that a scream coming from my kitchen?

 October 6 2009

Cherine is back home from Brisbane, in spite of the fact that the people supposedly transporting her (and others) to the helicopter pad had dropped off her group at a random tin shed at the edge of the jungle near the landing strip, causing them to almost miss their helicopter ride up to town because this was evidently not the correct place to check-in for a helicopter ride.  However it was a convenient location to store motorcycles during the rain.

Brisbane was great!  My hotel was right downtown, but close to parks and a walkway along the river, and also among the blocks where there are at least 3 coffee shops per block.  This is my kind of town!  I got to finally enjoy things like steak.  And a ham sandwich.  On MULTI-GRAIN BREAD!  Such things are almost unheard of here, especially since the governor of Papua decided to ban the import of any pork products because of the possibility of importing pig flu with it.  (And you think I'm kidding.)  I also tried some novelty Australian foods: kangaroo steak and possum.  They were really good, too, even though most Australians don't eat them.  It's kind of like deer in the US, well, unless you live in Montana.

So here are a few pictures from Brisbane.

This is the building where I had my training class.

The walk along the river.

More Brisbane skyline.

These purple flowered trees were everywhere - absolutely beautiful!

So we're unpacking today, packing tomorrow, and then we're off again on our much-needed vacation.  I was going to post an itenerary of dates and locations where we'd be, but it started to look as if we were a rock band on a concert tour.  And then I figured you all would turn into groupies and then we'd end up having to get an agent, and we'd all end up wearing the exact same band t-shirts with our latest concert tour name: Out of the Jungle.