Christmas and New year were manic for us but as January draws to a close we have time to breathe again. We take the opportunity of it being quiet to deliver some staff training in the shape of a Rescue workshop for the boys. Amanda & I attempt to set up scenarios where we play victims and see how the boys handle the ensuing rescue to bring us to safety. The idea being we demo first and then they put it into practice. It did involve a fair amount of miscommunication but mostly went well. Mouth to mouth resuscitation was a bit alien 1 1000, 2 1000, 3 1000 prepare, blow lost something in translation - satu satu ribu dua seribu tiga seribu menyiapkan pukulan just doesn't have the same flow to it...
The wind turbine has been relocated a bit further out to sea as the shoreline trees were disturbing the airflow and the cable run is a bit long so hoping to get a better voltage out at the other end. It does mean I have to wade chest deep in water to raise the switchgear on the mast - a combination of high waves and high tides will probably wipe it out. Been trying to improve the website for the bungalows - since the original author said they couldn't or wouldn't translate the dutch emails we get to Ingris. This threw up lots of problems & I seem to have lost a few days - Amanda thought her days as a computer widow were all but over, think again (Note from Amanda: he thinks it was only a few days, what he doesn't know is it's this time next year!)
Since the staff don't want to give them their medicine it I feel it my duty to worm the puppies. It's quite simple just take a syringe with the pre-determined dose and squirt it in each of their sweet little gobs, there are only 5 (4 nearly identical black & white plus the brown one) easy to keep track of which one spat it out and which one licked it out of another one's mouth...Only 4 weeks into parenthood and Mum's already all but abandoned them - much more exciting things to chase after on the beach - and her nipples are sore. Wonder if I should milk her to prevent mastitis or whatever the canine equivalent is. Couldn't you just eat them!
Still mostly sunny in the mornings, rain plus spectacular thunder & lightning in the afternoons and clears overnight. Just as well as we discovered the roof leaks in our room. Balinese fix for that: move the bed - thanks Wayan :)
The torrents are a bit of a pain as the land pours into the sea making shore dives impossible.
But the reefs further out in the bay are still glorious. In fact we've been making use of the last few quiet days to do a bit of exploration, going out with the boys to review sites they've not dived for a while to see how they've improved. Tankad Penyu is recovering well but sadly Tankad Gosong remains rather barren. It is still home to a few stars, like the mantis shrimp and selection of nudibranch including this one which we can't find in any of the books - not even Debelius!
We have a plethora of bugs and things, some beautiful like the butterflies but most pretty irksome. Flies (now it's the corn season), midges, ninja mosquitos that just creep up on you (think blue thunder in silent mode), at least 4 kinds of ant (all living in the bathroom) but the flying termites have gone, at least for now. The geckos & frogs still sing at night. Speaking of the bathroom, while it is lovely to have it partially al fresco the novelty of having to sweep the leaves before we can use the shower is wearing off
In the turtle hatchery we are down to handful of babies and no eggs :(
Amandas cooking challenges continue (two-pot hob cooking at it's best) with some new variations on chicken rice 'n' things which are keeping us together. And we can still be found on Saturday nights supping "mixed juice" under the light of the Bali moon listening to the sound of the sea (and Eric Clapton), believing that actually we are quite proficient at playing the harmonica. Suspect this is not the case but the guests haven't said anything.
Chris will be back in a couple days so everyone is checking everything is in order, done what is meant to be done and those things to do while no-one is looking. The TV was restored in working order to it's home in the bar, the curtains in Chris's office are clean and we woke up this morning the the sound of axe on wood...
