Day 14 Mar 16th

Tuesday March 16 Day 14

It is 8:30 in the morning and I have already taken still shots of the Rhododendron tree, washed my shirts and hung them out to dry, eaten breakfast and am now writing this. It is interesting to wash your shirts in a bucket of warm water. First it warms up you hands, a special treat. (I am actually writing this without wearing a sweater it being a brisk 55 degrees. Looks like I will have to stop and put on my sweater. There, that’s nicer.) I suspect most of you have not washed your shirts in a bucket. The steps are as follows. Start the gizzer (water heater) an hour before you need any hot water. Soak in hot water and Tide for about 40 minutes. Wash as you would wash underwear with special attention to the collar and cuffs. Rinse them twice and take them outside to discover that one of the other inmates as used most of the clothes pins. Hang the 2 shirts and one orphaned sox, as best you can using 1 clothes pin apiece. When they are partially dry I shall hang them on hangers and leave them in the sun. I hope they dry without major wrinkles. The shirts are a blend of cotton and polyester so they should. And the did by 5PM.

My morning walk was part down the hill and following a trail called the Eyebrow. As I got near the end of the trail I discovered a rather large group of monkeys in the trees. As I approached, one of the younger males took exception to my presence. These monkeys are know to be territorial and attack or threaten single humans. So I back tracked and climbed down the hill side to a parallel trail. It was only about 50 feet down. I discovered that I could not go down the hillside as quickly as I did 50 years ago. I am evidently quite a bit more cautious and planted my feet carefully so as not to slip on the fallen leaves. I was back to Kilmarnock by 10:30 ‘ish. My second morning walk consisted of the complete chukkar. I discovered a group of Rhododendron trees just below the road and will return to tape them in the morning sun light.

Today is the first day that was partly cloudy. I think it was a conspiracy by nature to avoid drying my shirts.

My ATM card arrived today. It took only a week to come by priority mail and I had to give the mailman a 100 rupee ($2.22) bribe. He just plain old asked up front for the money. That is standard practice when the mailman deals with Westerners. I was at the internet cafe when the same mailman delivered the mail. The clerk gave the mailman a cigarette as the expected payment for delivering the mail.

I have considered myself to be an old fart. Well, I am currently a constant fart in the evenings. After eating only vegetarian foods all day I fart constantly during the evening. I had better not light a match in my bedroom, it will explode.