freaky January rain

Ah, January! We look forward to the "cool" temperatures this time of year brings. I just looked it up to be sure, so here are the facts:
The average low temp in January is a bone-chilling 57 degrees. These are the nights we put blankets on the bed, though it stays warmer inside at night, over 70, due to the brick walls absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night.
So 57 for overnight low (that's 14 degrees for my metric-using friends) and the January average daytime high is 90 degrees  (32 degrees Celsius.) I can't really consider 90 degrees cold, but as it is dry heat and cooler than most of the rest of the year, I usually find it pleasant and comfortable.
Along with this cool dry time of year we get DUST. Red dirt dust that coats and covers everything on a daily basis.  If the table is washed off in the morning you can write your name in the dust covering it in the evening.
The rainy season peaks in July and August, and then after the rain completely stops in October we don't usually get another drop until possibly a light short "mango rain" shower in April. But the real rains won't begin until later in June.

So January is supposed to be dry and dusty.

Last Tuesday night around 8pm I heard a noise on the metal roof. It sounded like rain drops, but I knew that it doesn't rain here in January. "What is that sound?" We just weren't sure, so I stepped outside...and it was just sprinkling a bit! I thought it was odd and exciting but certainly it wouldn't sprinkle for more than 15 or 20 minutes. Well, I was wrong. It kept lightly raining ALL NIGHT!
The next morning everyone was wearing thick puffy winter clothes and jackets and commenting on how crazy-weird the rain had been. And then it rained again, and more, until finally we had 4 chilly days in a row with off and on light rain!
On Thursday the temperature hovered around 70 degrees all day! People started wondering if it might snow. I knew better than that, but really these 4 rainy days in January were quite the anomaly. I don't know if this was because of el niño or what, but it was pretty exciting while it lasted. Saturday and today Sunday have been a return to normal, the high temperature today was 92.  Well, almost normal... the rain has made it less dusty for a few days! :)

papaya, a dog, ducks, chickens

JP planted a bunch of papaya trees and they grow and produce fruit pretty quickly! yum!

 

Here is our dog, Teddy. He has this low camp chair with his blanket and he hangs out there sleeps there at night on the veranda.

The ducks are doing well, but no eggs yet.  The chickens are great and they've started multiplying!

Several of the hens hatched chicks recently.  JP had this box made so that he can put chicks in there and the hens will start laying eggs and making more chicks because they don't need to look after these chicks any more.  The hens aren't very happy when their babies get taken away, but they get over it.  In the picture the hen was kind of freaking out and running back and forth in front of the box because she couldn't get to her chicks.  The chick box is in the garage so it can stay warm enough, and usually the hens are outside of the garage if the door is closed, so hopefully they'll forget about the chicks and start laying more eggs.

the trip home, our car

Here is a picture of our car!  We were blessed to be able to buy it cheap from a friend here.  It is a 20-year-old Toyota Corolla station wagon.
We did fundraising for a vehicle while we were in the states a year ago, and this is NOT the car that we fundraised for.  We plan to buy a newer vehicle this summer.

Because we have a car now, we have the luxury of being able to go places like Bamako and not take the bus!
When the American family that stayed with us over Christmas needed to go back to Bamako to fly home after their visit, I was able to drive them in our car.  Thankfully we got to Bamako without any problems!
I can't say the same for my trip back home...

Here I am on the side of the road in the middle-of-nowhere (I was about 40 minutes out of a town) because the clutch went out on the car, so it could be started up but not go into any gears to actually move.  Oh, and this was after I had dealt with a flat tire in the town 40 minutes back.  A large metal bolt, not even pointy, had been lodged in the tire, so a repair guy put the spare on and patched the holey tire, all for $2, and then I continued until the clutch went out.  Then I made some calls and waited... and waited... and waited for the mechanic to come save me.
The sunglasses that I am wearing here are ones that I bought in Bamako for $1 on my way out of town.  I couldn't find my sunglasses that morning when I started the drive so I was able to stop and buy a pair from one of the guys who wanders the city streets or hangs out on busy corners with a big board covered in pairs of cheap sunglasses.  I found the ones I'd lost under the car seat after I got home.

While I waited I walked around a bit.  I was thankful that it is now the cool time of the year!  Here is a passing mini-bus with a big load of calabash bowls (big gourd things cut in half) on top.

 

It really was the middle-of-nowhere.  When I walked down the road a way I did see a herd of cows and some sheep, but the shepherds didn't come over to talk to me.  I found the remains of some animal that may have been hit by a car because it was just off the edge of the road.

I thought these 4 trees were cool.

And finally!  The mechanic came with his assistant and some parts and tools.  I'm not even clear as to what all they did to get the car rolling again, but as they asked for a total of less than $50 for coming out there, the parts, and the work, I think I got a good deal.
From there it took me another 2 hours of driving to arrive home.  At a security checkpoint the officer asked me if I could take a young lady as a passenger.  She looked pretty harmless, and it's kind of hard to say no to a security officer with a gun, so I brought Fatoumata back with me for the last hour of the drive.