Out of that Box

Purolator buzzes you at 3:08

Can you come and sign for this parcel

It's pretty heavy, sealed up tight

No return address visible

THIS SIDE UP in heavy black blocks

Smells like corrugated cardboard and fresh packing tape

Then in small letters near a dented corner

Is scribbled 'Contents: GOD'



I've got a warning for you my friend



Don't let God out of that box

He might knock off your socks

Then He'll wash your feet

I'd be careful how I handled that box

Make sure it's bound up and locked

'Cause to stir up the pot

Is the last thing we need

This song originally written for a radio contest.  It didn't make it but I was proud of the song.  A year later, decided to go public with a video (I haven't figured out how to post plain mp3's on Blogger).  Footage mostly of our backyard/porch area in Zambia.

Run in the Path

Just a short music video here.  The song is based off of two verses from the Psalms: Psalm 119:32, and Psalm 59:16.  I've been reading through the Psalms these last few months and these were meaningful verses, as well as ones that I thought could be put to music.  I picked up the 5-string guitar ;) while the kids were at a birthday party, and recorded with my iBook's built-in mic/added a beat from Garageband.  Mastered with Audacity and iMovie.  The pictures are mostly from our Yellowstone trip a few years ago, but there is one of Victoria Falls in dry season as well!

Dog Days of Winter

We have triumphed. Man over beast!

When we moved into our house in Choma a few months ago, we found that among other features, our compound came with two dogs: a mother and a pup. The mother had been left here by the previous tenants, had a litter of puppies, and the other fellow that lives on our compound managed to give them all away, except one that he couldn't catch. He wasn't feeding them very much, just a few scraps--so the dogs would go out into the neighbourhood and forage through garbage or who knows what. We were concerned about them, especially around the kids, so we looked for a solution. Our landlord tried to find a home for them, but when nothing happened we decided to take matters into our own hands. We started feeding them a bit so that they wouldn't need to forage quite as much; we covered our gate with chicken wire so that they couldn't get out so easily (and more importantly, other dogs couldn't get in.

Our gardener surprised us by agreeing to take one of them to his home across town. One day he and his friend caught one--there was a lot of chasing and barking and rope and wire, and somehow they tied it up and we drove it to his home. Now we could get down to training the puppy (named Cookie) and all would be well.

Training a dog wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Cookie is a bit shy and had never been touched by a human. Eventually I gained her trust somewhat, but never enough to pet her. One day she broke her front leg somehow, and after that we didn't see her much--she was hiding in the bushes at the back of the compound. Eventually she started to heal and I spent an afternoon on all fours with her, confined on the porch, but we didn't make much progress. I had some hope, but that was all dashed when...the first dog, Mango, came back!

I don't know quite how she found us again...think The Incredible Journey. Our gardener promised to take her home again, but never was able to. We were feeding two dogs again, and Mango ate the most!

Two dogs were too much for us. The kids were a bit scared of them, though they never hurt them. They found other ways out of the compound and brought back more garbage. And Cookie abused the cat and ate people's shoes. Kate ended up getting a few rabies shots because she was bit by the cat, and we knew the cat was often held in Cookie's mouth, who played with Mango, who wandered the neighbourhood...we couldn't catch the dogs to vaccinate them. Very frustrating!

Our gardener was not able to repeat his amazing dog-catching performance, though he was willing to take the dog to a new place, the family farm. It was up to me. I tried drugging them with sleeping pills. I slipped a leash on Mango in her woozy state, but as I was putting her in the back of our car, she slipped out (she has a small head). After that she was quite wary of being caught.

My next trap idea was to put food in the back of our Rav4, with a string tied to the back door. When the dog would climb in to get the food, I would pull the string from inside the house. However, the dogs did not fall for that. Too smart.

One morning I woke up with a new idea (I got it from a Care Bears movie actually--thanks Grizzle). A box, suspended from the porch ceiling, dropping onto an unsuspecting dog! I rigged it up.

It worked! Mango came to lick some food off the porch floor. Inside the house, I let go of the rope at just the right time! It came crashing down on Mango. With a yelp she somehow busted the wooden box (former cabinet) apart and escaped. I was crestfallen, and she didn't come near the porch for the rest of the day!

During the weekend I reinforced the box with every screw I had. This morning I rigged it up again before breakfast. I set out some food, called the dogs, and ran inside to loosen the rope. Mango started eating off the floor while Cookie took the dog bowl. Once again I let the rope go. The box fell gently on top of Mango, and this time it held. There was a quick yelp and all was quiet.

Our gardener's brother, who is now working for us, helped me put the box in the back of our Rav4. We drove to his farm, 16 kilometres away down a dirt road. We took out Mango--she was scared, but quiet and calm. We chained her to a tree. The farm will be a nice place for her to live--and hopefully it's far enough away that she won't find her way back. Finally! (Now what to do with Cookie? Probably re-use the trap and get her put down at the vet, unless someone else wants her.)

Thanks for those of you who were praying for this situation.

Puddle-icious

'Thwock!' A small rock landed in the brown puddle overtaking the dip in the dirt road. Malachi got ready to throw another one as ripples spread out from the place his stone had landed. The air was quiet and humid, but cool thanks to the overcast sky, as well as the big rainstorm we had earlier. Occasionally a car would disturb the puddle, or a passer-by would greet the busy three year old, as they delicately skirted the water by means of a raised pathway. It was a peaceful Sunday afternoon in Mochipapa.

Sometimes it is difficult to keep Malachi awake around suppertime--when he skips his afternoon nap. The great hope is that he will go to bed early, and we will enjoy a quiet evening. This hope is not always realized, however...and the over-tiredness that his family must deal with is not always worth it. But there is always hope, and some father-son bonding time around rocks and puddles.

A few other thoughts:

This morning I was half an hour late for church (Sunday School precedes the service), and I was the first one there. The door was locked. I undertook to study Exodus 18 myself, standing outside beside the half finished clinic building, trying not to sit too long on the wet log...not too many people came for the service today (and we didn't know who had the keys) so eventually we held a short prayer time and dispersed.

My sermon last week went okay, and I am recycling it for this Tuesday's chapel, with some changes.

I had a prayer answered last week, but not in the way I expected. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed at work because our morticing chisel broke, so we were morticing doors by hand...the boss had been away for awhile so I was trying to help the foreman with new customers' quotes, and scheduling pending jobs which neither of us knew enough about. I'm not exaggerating when I say that morticing by hand takes about 20 times longer. And there was a certain customer who we were a few months behind on his kitchen cabinet job due to a wood issue, and hadn't even started, and it was a huge job...just on my mind. So as I chiseled away at my piece of rosewood, I voiced these problems in my spirit, not even praying per se, but bringing God into them. At tea-time the customer I mentioned came to ask if we had started on his kitchen yet. I had to tell him no, we had not, and no, we did not know when we could start, and no, the boss was still away... yet I took the opportunity to ask if we could change the type of wood for the boxes, and he was quite affirmative and gracious, and it lifted a load off of my shoulders because it will likely save us a significant chunk of time in the midst of the busy-ness. I realized later that it was an answer to prayer.

Lastly, I hurt my upper back somehow--I think it was partly from exerting myself whilst pruning our guava trees, coupled with bad posture when reading a book the other night. Not sure if it's just muscles, or a slipped disc? I don't think it's a pinched nerve. It hurts very much to sneeze. It has put my oil-change plans on hold, and we'll see how work goes on Tuesday, as well!

Handymanning Around

It's been a somewhat eventful week here in Choma. Last Sunday our kitten bit Kate while she was trying to feed her. It was a tiny bite at the tip of her finger but we immediately became worried about rabies. Not because our kitten was acting strangely, but because our dog 'eats' the kitten, and plays voraciously with the other dog who has come back after being given away, who wanders around town frequently. So, for peace of mind we started Kate on the anti-rabies vaccine at the local medical clinic. Now, six days later, all the animals are fine, but we will continue the third shot of the series on Monday and stop after that (unless the cat dies suddenly).

We promptly got the feline version of the rabies vaccine for our kitten so that this doesn't happen again, and tried to catch our dogs so that we could give them the shot too before we give them away (we've decided they're more hassle than they're worth, and have people willing to take them off our hands). But, the dogs will not be caught. They're friendly enough until I get near them with a leash. I even drugged them with sleeping pills one day, but although they acted a bit woozy, they never slept...they have a lot of room to run around so it's difficult to contain them. However, I've fixed our front gate so it's a little harder for them to get out on the street.

I was discouraged about my failure to deal with the dogs, so I turned my energies toward other things needing attention. I cleaned out our spare room (fifth bedroom) which has been a breeding grounds for collecting junk and working on projects. We plan to convert this into Michelle's home office, and use her current office room as a dedicated guest room. Also, our fridge plug has not been reliable so I took it apart today and it seems to be okay now; while I had the fridge moved, I realized why it has been leaking water on the floor these last few months--the drain hose was directed away from the drip tray! And, while I was at it, I tackled our ensuite door, which has never closed properly--maybe due to settling? I cut off a strip at the top of the door, added a towel hook, and fixed the lock so that you can open it from the inside, not just the outside. I am very satisfied with my handymanning today!

Here is a picture of a typical lock in Zambia (the one I fixed). I couldn't believe that these are the norm here, but it's true--even our exterior doors have these, though often a second security mechanism as well. I don't like them personally--they seem to break easily, and are probably easy to pick if you know how.

We took our monthly worker renewal meal at the Choma Museum tonight. We usually order chicken and chips, and the kids love getting Fanta to drink! They jump on the trampoline while they wait for the food, and we eat outdoors at a picnic table nearby. Fine outdoor dining in January! And now I need to polish off my sermon for church tomorrow. I'm borrowing the sermon idea from Gerald Janzen--'The Snake and the Son.' It combines the bronze snake in Numbers 21 with John 3:16.

So, that was my week. How was yours?

Give Me One of Your Children

On Monday, I was walking along the road with my children. Kate was running ahead to the raised grass path, and Malachi was dawdling along in the dirt. Two Zambian ladies approached us, walking the other way. I nodded in their general direction; they greeted me and then one of them said, "Give me one of your children."

"Which one?" I asked.

She pointed at Malachi, the two-almost-three year old, decked out in his shorts, t-shirt, and hat, slowly scuffing his shoes in the dirt. "That one."

"You don't want him," I said consolingly. "He's too much trouble." We smiled amicably at each other and parted ways.

Swing Project

A project I have been meaning to work on for some time now that we are settled in Choma is to make a swingset for the kids to play on outside. Although there is a park nearby with swingsets, the swings are missing (the slides are a bit rusty, but functional; Michelle has photos on her blog). Awhile ago I put up a single rope swing, hanging from a large tree, but it only works so well.

The main challenges were finding timber and tools. I used pine planks (roughly 2x6 size). Everyone warned me that they would be eaten by termites, so I coated them with some black oily stuff. I made a couple of 'A' frames by chiseling out half of the top so that the two main supports would fit together nicely. For tools, I used a handsaw purchased with precious allowance money, as well as an electric drill MCC had bought, and some screws and a screwdriver. My hammer was a nailbar I had brought from Canada.

My design isn't perfect--there is slight horizontal play from side to side, but for swinging it is fairly solid--unless you get going a bit too high, when the whole thing starts to rock out of the ground--so that will need some concrete poured into the ground and around the legs. But the kids enjoyed their first swing--despite swings made out of rope and hardwood scraps--and I'm pleased.