DAY 17 Tue 29 June

For some reason I woke up really early this morning – so early I suprised myself – it had only just turned 5am – I'm not working shift work at the moment – there is no reason for it (other than the fact I went to bed early last night because of the power cut and it is already light that early). I was pretty wide awake, so didn't even try to go to sleep, so thought I would head out to do some craniosacral work on Shaboura and Nayzak.
After that, as the morning started getting hotter and hotter, it was time to come inside and have a cool shower, before Maryanne had a client due to turn up. When I went out they had Lilly (for Olivier), Dooby (for Maryanne) and Shaboura (for me). Technically I shouldn't have ridden Shibs that soon after a cranio treatment, but all we were going to be doing was a quiet walk through the countryside, and she was already saddled. It wasn't going to do any damage to what I had done with the cranio.
It was nice to be out and about again on Shibs, even if it was just a slow amble through the countryside. Once again though I managed to stuff up the GPS tracking thing – that is getting kind of frustrating. Only the last half of the trail once again (though if I were to put yesterday afternoon and today's gps together, that would about cover both days (it was pretty much the same track but in reverse.
I'm noticing a lot more cats out and about – there are certain areas that seem to have lesser numbers of baladi dogs running around (who have a taste for about anything they can sink their teeth into), and in some areas, the dogs and cats actually seem to have quite a close relationship.
One interesting thing we saw today was a little donkey foal. It looked really weird (so weird the horses wouldn't go close enough to allow me to get a photo). It had it's ears tied together – apparently so the ears don't flop when it grows up, and it also had string tied around its legs – to make the legs stronger. Poor little thing.
One of the trails that Maryanne wanted to take us down was unfortunately unpassable as the digger had been through clearing out the canals, and knocking down trees as it went. In a way I'm kind of glad we didn't go through and past the digger – we did that yesterday, and the smell from the freshly dug up canal goop isn't the nicest (though it is possibly preferable to a lot of the Umu boxes coming through work!)
There was a group of kids who wanted their photo taken at one stage, so I did that too, and we ended the ride with a nice ride through Saber's garden. I'm watching the mangos as they ripen on the trees :)
After getting back and giving the horses some carrots I headed into the cool of the guest house (thank goodness the temps are due to drop again tomorrow, at least until Sunday!), filling in time catching up on stuff until Maryanne got back from getting some paperwork sorted in one of the local villages. At one stage while waiting I thought I heard the car come back, but I must have been hearing things as there was no Jeep there when I stuck my head out the door, but the majority of the rat terriers were at the gate, looking longingly at the guest house and the thought of some company – I'm pretty sure that they know that Maryanne is going to desert them tomorrow!
When the Jeep did drive in, I grabbed up Demon and put him on Maryanne's lap in the car, then grabbed my stuff, made sure all the dogs were out of the house, and locked it up. We then headed into Maadi via Pat's place. The first stop was the Vet's to get Demon's eye checked out. I'm assuming he isn't that keen on visiting the vets, because the minute he got inside he peed and pooped. They gave Maryanne a list of medication for his eye (it is interesting – there isn't much in the way of animal medication over here, so often the animals are given human medicine), and we headed on our way. Next stop was near the post office, and while Mohamed went to post something, Pat and I went to the sunglass seller, but she didn't see anything she liked there. Then up to the silver place, where my cartouche was ready. They have done an amazing job – the ring at the top where it connects to the pharaoh's head was worn nearly through, so they patched that up, and they took the pharaoh's head off and attached it to a new, thicker piece – and cleaned it – all for the equivalent of $5 NZ – awesome!! Pat also dropped off a photo frame for cleaning – tarnished black, which they did an amazing job of getting clean – it was ready by the time we had had a sandwich and a drink next door at Cafe Graeco.
Then back out to the farm where Sabine was waiting. We went out to have a look at the horses, and I noticed two of the boys playing together, so I went back and got my camera. I'd swear that all Maryanne's horses are camera shy – the minute I got out there with the camera they stopped playing and came over to say hello instead – cheeky little buggers! Then some of the youngsters were playing... until I pointed the camera at them. I did get the odd photo, and some cute ones of Wadi being an adorable little cuddle bunny. When we were driving into Maadi, I sneezed twice, and Pat told me an old Irish saying... "Sneeze once and God blesses you, sneeze twice and the devil misses you, sneeze three times and get kissed by a good looking young man" or something along those lines. I got my kiss from a good looking young man, with beautiful brown eyes today... unfortunately he has four legs and is rather hairy. That's Wadi the snuggle bunny for you!
Maryanne eventually got dragged in by Mohamed to do some work, but after that I went over to the house to find out my chores for the next five days – exercising horses (not that that is a chore over here!) and giving dogs their medication – now that could be a bit more fun – especially trying to put eye drops in a dog that has been learning over the last week just how tight he can squeeze his eye shut so you can't get any stuff in it – lol. Had stuffed quail for dinner, while the dogs chewed on the bones that Maryanne had bought for them today.
Then over to the house to get the blog up to date. I was a bit concerned about a post on my brother's facebook page, so I stayed up in the hopes of catching mum or dad online. Was just talking to dad and it seems that Nana is in hospital down in Thames after a mild stroke :( The reality of being pretty much on the other side of the world and in a totally screwed up time zone (relatively speaking concerned to home) is starting to hit home – all I can do is sit and wait for news