"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

God's Faces

Friday, December 7, 2007

Surprise visitors!! Flying Termites, Monkeys and our first snake!!!

Flying Termites…

We have had some unique visitors, although not so unique for anyone who has lived in Kenya for a while. Our first unsolicited visitors arrived the night of heavy rain. Hundreds of FLYING TERMITES!! Yes, flying termites. They swarmed in through open windows. They were the size of dragon flies. Shortly after they entered our home they landed on the ground, discarded their wings and squirmed on the floor before dying. They were everywhere. Their smaller relatives have come to visit frequently and do the same thing. I have a bottle of spray starch to kill them and a broom handy to sweep up the remains. We have begun to cover all cracks that remain and the dry season is approaching so we expect the numbers to diminish. What is really strange is many of our new friends have gathered the termites to eat them. They say they're good. We decided we would rather not try these appetizers.

Monkeys…

The next set of visitors we found to be equally exciting. Our dogs have discovered monkeys sitting in the trees behind our yard. I love seeing monkeys just outside my kitchen window. The dogs keep them from coming to close, but it is still fun for us to see them.

A snake…

Just yesterday, we had another surprise visitor. The kids were in school. I was glad Lewis had stopped in for a quick bite of lunch. There was a snake in our eating room!!! It was bright green with it's tongue flashing in and out. I don't know how it got in. Lewis stepped on it and it quickly curled it's body up his leg. I didn't think to take a picture. Lewis killed it and took it out of the house for John to see when he got home from school. That was an exciting lunch. We've had plenty of surprise visitors…Everyday has it's surprises around here.

I will keep you posted on any newcomers who come our way. Have a great day! Melody

3 comments:

Shannon Pate said...

You have a great attitude about your surprises!!! I would be happy to go my whole life without having a SURPRISE SNAKE!!!!

Unknown said...

They were uninvited guest dont worry. I would love to have monkeys behind my house i think it's fun...but make sure the windows are closed especially when you have John's cookies left there.

Karen said...

Wow! You may want to google "Green Mamba" and take a look at the pictures. They are pretty deadly, but beautiful. We had a good friend encounter one in Kenya.
So Lewis basically crushed it on the head and it bruised him on the heel??
Glad things came out okay.
I think i would have tried the termites...sounds like a local delicacy.