Don't Drink The Water

Once again my post-blog evening last night is worth mentioning. It started getting interesting when we ran out of water. It's hard to imagine really. We've moved into the edge of a rainforest (literally) and it's the rainy season. However, you would be hard pressed to prove that using data that only went back as far as last Thursday night. Since then we've had some drizzle, a couple of light showers, and maybe some actual “rain” that lasted for maybe an hour (maybe). As a result all our clothes washing, showering, flushing, drinking, etc, had emptied our “cisterns”. Now, they weren't full to begin with because they had been drained and cleaned recently. The lack of rain just made it possible for us to empty them. And that we did last night.

As our main course (that is to say only course) for dinner was supposed to be soup this created a real difficulty. Rather than give it up I went down to the larger of the two streams on the property and got a few gallons of water. It was crystal clear and apparently perfectly clean. Still, I was a boyscout in my day and we don't just trust any stream. In fact, it's best to always boil water you get “out in the wild” just to make sure it's safe to drink. For extra measure you can filter it if you have the means (we don't really at the moment). Either way, as the water was for soup is wasn't going to be an issue.

We dumped it in a pot, got it boiling, and started dropping in ingredients. Some local potato like vegetables that I can't remember the name of, a few sweet potatoes, a little salt, some season salt for good measure, a little milk power, a few cloves of garlic, and a couple of packets of beef seasoning from some romaine noodles we bought months ago. It turned out delicious. Some of us went back for seconds only to find there was none left. Alec even tried to drink the entire pot's worth of broth (not that he could half finish it, but he tried).

So far everything had gone perfectly all things considered. However, there was a lot of drinking water left to boil, it was late, and we were tired. So, Rachel looked up the minimum amount of time you could boil water to make it safe. Three minutes was the answer she came up with. Sadly, that wasn't enough time it seems. The only two to drink it were Alec and Caleb. Alec wanted to make some bush tea and Caleb wanted some as well. Alec drank his cup, but Caleb only took a few swallows. However, it seems that was too much...

At 5AM they woke up with major stomach problems. Just about the time I reached Caleb he couldn't hold it in anymore. The little guy had crawled up the stairs calling me as he could. By the time I got out the bathroom with him Alec had headed for the back door. It hit them within minutes of each other and the only thing they both had that the rest of us didn't was the three minute water. The poor guys have been sick all day. Alec can finally move around, but says he feels like he's been beat with a stick. All Caleb can do is lay there, but he ate a little dinner and that's an encouraging sign. :)

So what was for dinner? Well, we'll get to that. For the moment we'r not even past 6AM yet.

After I had Alec and Caleb situated (for the few minutes they were) I started my morning routine. I got started a little early, but I felt that was best under the circumstances. I got a little work done and what have you while stopping every few minutes to help one or the other take care of their problems and then clean up the mess. Still, it's best to give those details the go by.

Later in the morning, after my work was well underway and while Alec and Caleb were finally getting some much needed sleep Elizabeth came in to remind me that I was supposed to take her to look at one of the cabins today.

For those of you who don't know there are two nearby cabins right off our property. They are for lease and we may end up with family in them before long. I had told Elizabeth the night before that if she reminded me early I would take her. She had, so I did. We walked down the trail that connects the two yards and I took a few pictures along the way.


Once we got there I took a few of the cabins. Forgive the picture quality. The lighting wasn't great and I'm still getting the hang of the phone's camera.


The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully as I waded through a deep pile of work. I'm making progress day by day though, so it's worth the effort.

At some point we got enough rain to fill up our drinking water bottles. I think Rachel even got a load of laundry done. At the moment it's raining cats and dogs, thank the Lord. I pray it keeps it up. We really need that water.

Somewhere around mid-afternoon brother Freddy showed up with his youngest son along with the Bellots and sister Corin. They were bearing gifts in the form of food supplies. Needless to say we were grateful and elated. They hadn't brought any oil from town, however, as they didn't know we were out. Brother Freddy said it was no problem though. After all there was a store not half a mile down the road... Yes, as it turns out, if you head past the house toward the airport there's a little store within easy walking distance of the house... Live and learn I guess, lol.

Either way, it wasn't long before we had bakes cooked up and ready for dinner.


At the moment I've got bread rising before I put it in the oven. Brother Freddy is supposed to be here fairly early to run us into town and wait patiently while we take care of the many, many things we have to do tomorrow. We have to return the key to Ms. Felix, file for our extension, get the Lime (Internet) situation straitened out, get groceries and miscellaneous supplies, etc. It's probably going to take several hours, but it has to be done. We're certainly grateful to brother Freddy for taking the time to do this for us.

For the moment it's late and I want to get some baking and resting done. We've got a big day tomorrow. So, for the time being, goodnight from Dominica!