5 - Back on the Ranch

2 May 2010

Well the long and short of it ended up being that the buffalo hunt went without us seeing a single buffalo, and precious little else while we were on the concession, aside from people and their cattle, dogs and chickens. So after 7 days of heat, cold, boredom and constant bug biting, Johnny called it a day and we packed up and headed back to Threeways. I can’t honestly say I was upset by this change in plans, as the weather which had been sweltering and humid to begin with had chilled down to the level where all I wanted to do was snuggle in my tent. I had not brought the proper clothing and was cold all the time. Also my whole body was covered in tiny itchy bumps from all the insect life.

Back at Threeways I gave myself a thorough going-over for ticks and thorns and other things, at least in all the places I could see. I had David check the rest. There was a particularly bothersome little bite just next to my armpit which looked like it was forming a whitehead. I had David “fix” it and was horrified as over the next few days it bloomed into a full-on infection spreading out from 3 small necrotic epicenters. Upon Googling the description I came to the conclusion that I was either the victim of a cytotoxic spider bite or had somehow come in contact with an antibiotic-resistant form of staphylococcus bacteria. Either way I decided to begin a Cipro course to try to clear it up. Coincidence or not, the wound has settled down considerably, although other small things have been going wrong with my body in the meantime.

Anyway, David was kind enough to give me a priesthood blessing and the comfort and assurance that I would heal gave me strength and confidence to move ahead and not worry too much about these things. Johnny finished his hunt with 2 days at Threeways, in which he downed a Blue Wildebeest and a beautifully robust stallion Zebra, neither of which he really wanted but at least he was able to shoot something. I got both the shots on film, and spent a day editing Johnny’s whole trip into a 20-minute film which actually came out quite nicely. Quinn, who actually worked with a professional filming company on hunts gave me a few pointers but said that it was actually very good work and that people pay anywhere from 1 to 5 thousand dollars for a really nice video of their hunt. I don’t honestly ever expect to be making that much without professional equipment, but the day may not be as far off as we had thought when we will be able to charge a modest fee for our time. Maybe just wishful thinking, but then again maybe not. Only time will tell. Seems patience may be something I’m supposed to work on while I’m here.

Anyway, after Johnny left we spent a couple of relaxing/boring days here with Quinn and Dirkie. We watched a low-budget baptist film called Fireproof about a married couple on the brink of divorce and how God brought them back together. It wasn’t the greatest production ever, but it did have some good principles in it, and it provided a conversation-starter later on about religion and God and what we believe. Dirkie has a deep belief in God and wants to start a Sunday meeting on the ranch like we do. Hopefully we can work together and figure something out.

Anyway, after a couple of uneventful days Dirkie and Quinn also left us to go do some shopping and planning for their upcoming wedding. If it was boring before they left, it has been unbearably so afterwards as it’s necessary for at least one of us to be up at the house at all times during the day and, well, if one of us is here then we’re both likely to be here. We’ve watched more TV in the last couple of days than we have in the last few months, and have been on the computer far longer than is healthy (hence the birth of this blog). The weather has been rainy, sunny, warm and cool and generally seems to be in a state of change. It is Autumn here technically and I can feel the winter coming on.

Dirkie and Quinn will be back tomorrow and hopefully we can relinquish our posts of duty here and at least take some long walks. Or hang up the hammock somewhere and find a good book. Or really anything that doesn’t involve being stationed at the house for hours at a time. Dirkie has been saying since our first night here how excited she is that we’re here so she can leave me in charge every once in a while and take care of planning her wedding. Well of course there’s nothing wrong with helping out, that’s why we’re here. But I’m going to have to make some serious game plans for not shooting myself out of boredom during those hopefully brief interludes. At least when there are hunters here I can be filming and editing so I have an excuse for not being around the house all day.

Today David went off in the little white truck to take some of the workers to the bus stop and to buy sorghum for the baby guinea fowl which have been stolen from their parents. Of course within minutes after he was gone there was a visitor here: Terry’s eldest son. He was here apparently to slaughter a couple of bulls. He did not ask permission, he just told me that’s what he was doing so I assumed it was alright. Terry is largely involved in Tokkie’s continued existence here at Threeways so I did not question. However, while the boys were doing their work the guy insisted on hanging out at the house with me talking in circles and taking on what seemed to me to be a pigheaded and pretentious attitude about nearly everything. It was hard for me to keep from being sarcastic or from pointing it out when he contradicted himself with fancy catch-phrases and metaphors. At least he spoke English very well and wasn’t super rude to me personally.

David came back not 15 minutes after Terry’s son left. All the sorghum went to the workers’ compound, which means that nearly none of it will go to the baby guinea fowl, all out of our pocket. But he did score two nice-looking watermelons and he’s happier for having had a little adventure on his own.

Today is breezy, cool but not cold. I am sitting on the front porch of the house, but with my chair turned so I can see into the house as some of the laundry girls have a pernicious habit of taking things from the desk when they think I’m not looking. The world is green, tinged with the faintest yellow, a promise of the dry desolation to come. The sky is cloudy but not totally grey, and it really is nice to be alive. It may be boring and unexciting here being the temporary office girl, but hey, I could be in an office cubicle somewhere in a smoggy city. Or tiling a shower. Or any number of worse things. Only three main things are wrong with this place, and only one is permanently irreconcilable. 1. There is no church 2. There is no family 3. There is no ocean.