Geyman Steps

I was in the process of writing a little bit about what I have been up to when the boys came running to us with a baby tortoise. It was a big distraction and interesting enough to take precedence over my previous thoughts.  From a little bit of research, this is a Sulcata Tortoise or also called an African Spurred Tortoise. They are the third-largest species in the world and live up to 100 years. Males reach around 200 pounds (90 kg) and females 90-100 pounds (45 kg). Of course, this one is not yet fully grown :) The boys found it out by a dripping spigot. An interesting fact is that they are very susceptible to dying from dehydration up until they are two years old. They have to soak in shallow water to hydrate their skin and shell.  Size and rate of growth depends mostly on the environment they live in. Based on what we read, it seems this little guy might be less than a year old. The boys were fascinated with the turtle and were very distressed when

As you all know, I have been working towards transferring my USA commercial pilot license to Tanzania. The last thing I have left before submittal is to log six hours in a US registered aircraft. As it so happens, there is an organization which operates with US registered aircraft named FMS (Flying Medical Services). The plan is to log the hours during their medical evacuation flights. This Saturday morning, I received a call. There had been an accident near Loliondo and two men had been severely injured. The first sustained broken ribs, a bad fracture just below the knee and a broken foot while the second had broken his arm along with other injuries. They needed a transfer to Arusha as the injuries were beyond the hospital's capabilities. Upon arriving in Loliondo, we de-fueled the left wing in order to leave some fuel reserves at the airport. We had plenty of help. The man was in a lot of pain and received a synthetic morphine shot to ease the pain. Besides t

A picture is worth a thousand words. Jason, this is only the beginning. Frozen fruit popsicles for the first time. You see the baby gate on the left? Ya, someone left it open. They are supposed to be on the other side... At least they are cute about it The other night Carmen and I were on a night stroll when we heard something shuffling around in the bushes. Upon discovering the source of the noise to be a kurunguyeye (hedgehog) I attempted to reach my arm into the thorn bush to take a snapshot with my phone. This little guy, however, was not very photogenic or helpful.  Now, I will take a moment to say that hedgehogs are one of Carmen's favourite animals. In fact, at one point while living in Texas she was in the process of obtaining one as a pet until we were informed of the no-pet policy in our apartment. Bummer. Anyway, as you may imagine, we were both filled with tingly feelings of wonder at the beauty of cute and cuddly creation.