The Hills of Africa: The Recent House Critter Dispatch

We've photographed enough recent visitors to our house and yard that I am now able to make a blog entry about them. However, the most exciting/disgusting one is at the end so be sure to read on to get the best story!

This is definitely not the first mouse we've caught; just the first I've photographed. We busted this guy right before Dusty went to work. He was residing in our cloth napkin drawer, and thinking of all the times we've wiped our faces with his bedding about put us over the edge. The kids stayed and watched while Dusty dispatched him; it didn't seem to bother them, nor did they make the connection between him and all the cute mice in their children's books. I don't mind mice - I don't lift my feet and screech when I see them (although I may have uttered a certain sudden unpleasant word or two when I nearly touched him while lifting up the napkins). However, I hate the scent of their pee and poop lingering around the kitchen, and I despise it when they find my food or say, chew the valve off my Camelback water container.

This visitor was dispatched in an entirely different way - we gave him to our dear friend Ezekiel at his 5th birthday party the day after he wandered into our yard.. We placed him (yes, I checked online for his gender) in our bathtub, which is still useless and outside prior to it's being moved into our bathroom, so that we wouldn't lose him in our big green yard overnight. We made two discoveries: 1)tortoise poop is gross; and 2)tortoises say a breathy "hhhaaaa" when you pick them up, kind of like Darth Vader.

We haven't seen these lovely critters in a while, but this one appeared INSIDE our screened porch, which is sort of like our family room. It was lurking right behind the kids' rocking horse. I trapped it in a plastic container and saved it for Dusty's disposal techniques. Turns out, Dusty thought the best technique was to put the top on the container and see how long it takes for a scorpion to starve or suffocate. Although I have no fondness for scorpions, that sounded cruel and mostly, I did not want a scorpion rotting in a perfectly good and hard-to-come-by container. Even Dusty had to agree with that argument, and this more likely cousin of Darth Vader was taken outside and dispatched in Dusty's own special unknown way. I don't ask questions but maybe he used his light saber.

Isn't this a cool frog? I found it beside our back door while the kids were sleeping. He/she looked too wet and possibly too poisonous to touch so I just let the frog go with no dispatching. I have nothing to report because I couldn't find this dude online. Can you?

And now the final fabulous critter dispatch story: Occasionally, for unknown reasons, swarms of kumbikumbi (huge termites) fly to our outdoor houselights, buzz around for a while, shed their wings, and then die in piles on the floor. Maybe mating is involved in this odd process. The wings often float under the doors and into the house. Today I found a wing stuck to Jack's thigh as he was scooting around the floor with no shorts (potty training) playing with his trains. Anyway, some people here in Tanzania collect, fry, and eat them.

SO, Dusty goes to work yesterday and discovers that the lady who makes chai and lunch for everyone at the office has pulled off remaining wings and fried the kumbikumbi and is serving them like popcorn at chai time (10:30am tea and snacks). Apparently everyone - Tanzanians and missionaries - tried them, and LIKED THEM!! Dusty remarked that he should have brought some home for us to try, but when I reminded him of our ongoing tummy issues, he agreed it would not have been a stellar idea. Again, I'm happy that Dusty kept his dispatch techniques (oral this time) to himself! Phew.