Let's Play Ketchup

In second grade, Mrs. Washicko would occasionally put a ketchup bottle, made of laminated construction paper with a magnet on the back, on the black board.  Then, she would declare the day a "ketchup day," which sounds a whole lot like "catch-up."  So, here we go.

1. The Hail Storm

Last Friday the clothes were drying on the line as rain clouds gradually appeared in the sky.  Later that afternoon we chanced to look out the window as precipitation started to fall.  "The clothes before it rains," I shouted.  We dashed outside and found ourselves in the midst of light hail.  No sooner had we gathered all the clothing and re-purposed our chairs as drying racks, the hail whipped down from the sky before it turned to rain.

This is a shot of our street.  The white gathering alongside the wall is hail.

Here it is gathering on the grass by the front entrance.

This is the water that leaked through our front door.

This is the hail that gathered outside our door.

It was a crazy, somewhat frightening storm.  And yes, obviously we lost power for the third time that week.

2. The Stomach Bug

Monday we went to the orphanage, and, in desperate need of vegetables, decided to stop at Mega Maxi, the store within the mall, on our way home.  Well, it poured as we were leaving the orphanage, and one of the tias, fortunate enough to have a vehicle, picked us up off the side of the high way and dropped us off there.  My stomach was gurgling (from hunger) before we even left the orphanage.  After our extensive shopping trip, I was fully famished and grumpy.  I remembered fondly that Nana, my grandmother, always foresaw a drop in my blood sugar.  When we shopped at the mall and I started to fade, even before I recognized it, she'd plop me down on a bench and whip out some snacks.  It always worked, and Monday I wished she could magically appear to rejuvenate me.

Anyway, I showered and Andy prepared spaghetti with a tomato and spinach sauce and buttered carrots and green beans.  It was delicious.  But at 2:30am my stomach gurgled again and this time, it wasn't hunger.  Thus began my night of alternating sleeping in front of the toilet (thank goodness I bleached the floors over the weekend) and having Andy trying to warm me up (gotta love the fever, aches, and throw-up combination.)  Our week, therefore, has been spent recuperating from that night.  It has involved many movies including Cars, Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles, and Toy Story 3, (catching up with Pixar anyone?).  It has also involved Andy becoming a theoretical expert on bread making.  Without an oven, the only hands-on experimenting we can manage will be home-made English muffins.  Seriously, looks do-able.  Too bad we don't have a toaster.

3. The Propane Tank

Last night was the first time I thought I could handle more than a few bites of food.  From my original proposal of pancakes, (which we decided wouldn't work without leavening), emerged scrambled eggs with queso fresco and crepes with strawberry jam.  Of course, no sooner was Andy half-way through the crepe batter and a crepe itself, did our burners go out.  Have I previously describe the difficulty of lugging in the propane tank and installing it in the first place?  Well, it was tough.  Okay, it was tough for Andy.  It involved twisting, disconnecting, cutting, carrying an empty tank to our local Micro Mercado, buying a new one, carrying the thirty-five pound tank home and up the flights of stairs, then re-connecting, shoving, and twisting again.  (And that description makes it sound easy.) Again, we thanked his Dad for sending us with tools. 

4. Scabies (What!  Yup, scabies.)

I got the stomach bug and we concurred, "darn kids."  Then Andy woke up with a rash on his hands that hydrocortisone cream did nothing for.  Then Andy woke up with the rash increasing in concentration and moving up his arms.  Then we worried, googled rashes, and skyped a follow-up consultation with Dr. Erickson.  Well, those "darn kids" seem to be at it again.  But scabies?  Yuck.  It's basically lice that's underneath your skin.  It took three pharmacies (the last of which we traveled to the mall for), to have a cream for "sarna."  I still haven't had a normal days worth of food or much normal food for that matter.  Andy is very itchy, looks like a plague victim, and is just as weary.  It's been an up-lifting week.

Enjoy the following, rather benign looking images of Andy's hands.

Anyhow, much to my delight, scabies is highly, highly contagious.  So the fact that I currently don't look like I've been attacked by midges means it's just being polite and waiting out the stomach bug.  Tonight, we begin full-body treatment.  Oh no, there is no quick fix pill.  There is a cream you apply to your entire body (even where you don't have a break out) and you wear it for 8-14 hours before washing it, and hopefully the mites under your skin, out.  We then must attempt to sanitize our clothing and bedding.  We're going to pass on the cold-water and by-hand method and truck to and splurge on a laundromat.

Addendum (12/2): Andy's hands six hours later.  All in all, I'd like to use the words of my father to sum up our scabies experience, "NASTY!"

Addendum (12/2): The bedding and clothing back from the laundromat.  Here, you drop off your clothing and pick it up later in the day.  We (Andy) hauled one of his big, black duffel bags twice.  I carried our two pillows.  Each load cost $8.80.

5. Is the week over yet?

Oh yeah, Happy Thanksgiving to us!  But an actual heartfelt Happy Thanksgiving to you all.