Day 23: Into the fire!

The cement slab is done. I didn't get to use the big smoother machine, but I had my part to play and I'm fine with that.

Then I made another high-rise apartment fence thing for a row of cucumbers. There is a lot of skill and ingenuity that goes into such an endeavor, so I feel really good about this one, too. So far none of the ones I've made have fallen over or broken in some way.

After I finished the cucumber apartments I was sitting down and relaxing. I'm not sure if you know this or not, but there are a lot of flies in the desert. I guess that they are everywhere, but for some reason they like to congregate on people. I'm eating hot foods and imagining that I have bark on my skin so I'm not molested nearly as much as some of the others here. But that is no nose ring that I'm wearing. I'm getting really good at ignoring them and their buzzing, so maybe I'll be able to tolerate small children more than I do now. I'm not sure how Val does it.

Since the day I've gotten here the oldest boy has been working on a seventy year-old motorcycle. His dad bought it when he was his son's age. Now he is passing it on. It reminds me of my first truck. My not-dead-dad bought it and we worked together to restore it and get it going. I drove it through my high school years. It was really nice, for sure. And the time that we spent together was great and I learned much from him. I do love that man.

This morning started with moving rocks from the road that I had to clear. Well I made it! The picture on the left is me looking down the road that has been cleared; you can see the making of Shelby Dam behind the wheel barrow. And I finished the cut out into the berm. I cleared the bottom of dirt and gravel, and it is ready for the cement and whatever else goes in there. So now I have to collect more stones because what I have is about 1/5 according to Avi. Now I'm making two new piles so that we can work on both sides of the dam.

There are so many creature comforts to be found here at Bustan Arazuni. Our last two days have started at 0530 (That is "oh" five thirty; "What does the 'oh' stand for? Oh my god is it early!" Great movie.) So it is tough for me to get up at 0445 and get moving. I need at least an hour to get functioning right. Well I started carrying the big stones and my guts get forced down and out; it is only natural. So I get the shovel and dig a whole and squat to do my business. I'm mid business and a baby scorpion goes right between my legs. Now I have only limited toilet paper, so I can't make any sudden moves. I'm just hoping that he is not a jumper and keeps trucking along, which he did. It was right out of a silly movie about a knucklehead in the desert. Then after moving a nice sized rock, I see this guy. They call him a wolf spider. He is as big as my palm.

I'm carrying a large stone; I mean this is one that I'm holding with both arms and putting some of its weight on my belt buckle. It is right at the limit of stone-carrying for me. I'm precariously walking along the edge of the berm with this too big of a stone, and my arm starts burning. I cannot safely throw it left or right. I have to suffer for about ten seconds until I'm in a position to drop it, which I do. But I have a lovely burn/bite on my arm, which now feels as if there is burning itching powder on it.

The duck-dragon is flying into the fire!