The Ambush of Lawrence

Lawrence, our videographer and photographer, just about always passes through our digital team on his way between his loft offices above us and the Imbizo. Most times he is carrying gear and sometimes like today he has a dance in his step. I have to be quick, I have to be nimble if I want to ambush Lawrence in the moment like today.

Jerome Junior and Marigold

The two baby springbucks, Jerome Junior aka JJ and Marigold, has slotted into the herd quite nicely. You see then with the herd grazing sweet grass on the lawns between HR and the Compliance offices at Mogale Buisness Park.

From office I don’t get to see them that often unless I take a walk during lunch time or a trip up to the top. It has been a tough February so far, and to keep my mind busy and away from problems, I am tending more and more to sink into the work that is needed now such as policies and procedures. Hopefully I don’t get too busy for life.

Cosmic Valentine

Driving along the back roads, taking Matthew back, through all the farmlands with vegetables and mielies (aka corn) growing, I could up help but admire the beauty of it all. Yesterday was the way too commercialised Valentine’s Day, and today the beauty of creation just coming together in a Cosmic Valentine.

Although the long summer days are in full heat wave with refreshing afternoon storms, early signs that winter is coming are felt in the renewed freshness of the mornings and seen in the colourful cosmos winter flowers that are starting to sprinkle colour amongst the brown grass alongside the country roads. Ahh Africa, a place of beauty and contrast.

The sun was setting, when I stopped on my way back home to admire the beauty of the cosmos in the last light of the day while the mielies beckoned me to come closer. Wake up Jerome, and smell the cosmos.

Two Sick Ladies and a Tiger

Weekend, Valentine’s Day, and we have two not well ladies at home. Lynda is still going through her course of rabies injections and wounds are taking its time to heal. Jade came home today for her stint in hospital with her broken let all bandaged up. The bandage has to stay on for a week without getting wet.

And for last but not least Tiger the cat, well he is not normal but still loved by all.

Mary bearing SAD Gifts

Ohhh, when Mary from Bosasa IFM walked in carrying a box full of pick iced Happy Valentine’s Day cupcakes for everyone, it reminded me that tomorrow is Single Awareness Day aka SAD, oh happy day! Although it is for SAD, nom, nom, nom, I am truly grateful that the men also got Happy Valentine’s Day cupcakes, not just the women. Note this was said while enjoying another mouthful of delish cupcake.

SAD, so for all my single friends out there, believe me when I say, tomorrow sleep in bro, you won’t regret it as tomorrow is the day when all the singles get to remember that being alone on Valentine’s Day is no different than any other day and that you haven’t yet met anyone to handle all of your awesomeness, believe me, I am the Doctor.

So tomorrow, let’s not observe the commercialism of what Valentine’s Day has become, but let’s celebrate SAD or Single Awareness Day where you don’t have to be in a relationship to celebrate life.

Banned from the Vet

Yes I have been banned from the vet, no not because I have cause any ruckus but because every time I visit, Jade hears my Vespa from far off and starts howling then when I leave she howls and whimpers for a long time afterwards. To keep Jade’s stress levels down, the vet suggested that I don’t visit till it is time for her to come home, which hopefully will be Saturday.

In the meanwhile Jade is recovering nicely after a plate was put into her leg to hold her broken bones, maybe from now on we should call her Bionic Dog.

Nou Gaan Ons Braai

This morning Jade was supposed to go for her operation to fix her broken leg but because her bones where long and thin, the vet was very concerned about the success of the operation so he decided to use an external fixator. The operation was postponed till the afternoon but when I arrived to visit after work, I found out that a vet in Brits got to hear about Jade’s trauma and offered the use of his surgery and plating equipment to my vets at a fraction of the cost going to the specialists. So my vet jumped at the opportunity and rushed Jade the hour’s drive north to the town of Brits. They had not returned back from Brits so all I could do was go home and wait.

I arrived home to find load-shedding. This is sole electrical supplier, Eskom’s failure to run, manage, and plan our electrical grid. Okay maybe it is because it is a government organisation and bonuses get paid even if they fail so why work at all. Anyway as South Africans all we could say was “Bly kalm, ons gaan nou braai” which is directly translated, “Stay calm, we are going to now barbeque”.

So we joined the nintsy weeny spider making her web on the patio and started the braai. Being mid-week we didn’t find much braai meat in the freezer so staying calm we made do with what we had. Chicken breasts, potatoes, and butternut stuffed with spinach feta and ham. We sat on our patio enjoying our dinner by lantern in the darkest Africa while the night creatures kept their distance.

The report back from the vet was that Jade’s operation was a success, praise God. Lesson to be learnt here is that when you find yourself in darkest Africa and in a sticky predicament just say these words “Nou gaan ons braai”.

Jade and her Daddy

The bad news is Jade’s broken bones don’t want to align so now the best bet is for Jade to go to a specialist and get a plate fitted but the costs are too prohibitive for us. My next choice was for Lammermoor Veterinary Clinic to put a pin in. This is also expensive but more affordable than going to the specialist. The pin option will take much longer to heal and many trips back to the hospital to change the dressings. Jade is a lively dog so it is going to be one difficult road to travel down.

So tomorrow morning is Jade’s operation, knowing this it was hard for me to put her back into her hospital cage but I know that she will be in good hands. We are asking all my friends for prayers, so that the surgeon’s hands would be guided, the surgery would be successful, and for Jade’s leg to heal perfectly.

Jade at Lammermoor Veterinary Clinic

Yesterday Jade, my smallest Italian Greyhound, broke her right front leg clean through. Although it still remains a mystery on how she managed to do it, she is in good hands at Lammermoor Veterinary Clinic. This morning I visited Jade in hospital. Oh she was so happy to see me, and just wanted me to take her home. She stood up and tried to hobble closer to me. I picked her up and held her close; she rested her head on my chest and closed her eyes.

Later the vet came in to give me update on Jade’s progress, and Jade visibly pulled back and wanted to bury herself under my arm. Oh dear this ordeal has been very traumatic for her. The vet had to use general anaesthetic so that they could reset the leg. They have put a splint in and wrapped it up good. If all goes well, hopefully she could come home tomorrow afternoon. Jade would need to come every week for a month to change the bandages and check up on progress.

The start of the long road of Jade’s healing has begun.

Rock Bottom

After a busy Saturday came the biggest fall to what could be the worst day of my year so far. Rock Bottom but let me start at the beginning.

Please note that I don’t drink alcohol when I go out partying and yesterday evening, all I had to drink was fizzy drinks. So in the early hours of this morning I woke with what I can describe as a rather full bladder but after going to the toilet several times, nothing came out. Now doing what most men would do, I decided to wait it out. The body can fix itself and if it gets worse I will go to the doctor on Monday or so I thought. But by mid morning it had gotten very painful and uncomfortable that I had to go to the emergency room so I jumped into a warm bath to freshen up.

While enjoying a soothing soak, cries came from outside from the dogs. Lynda hurried out to see what was going on, to find Jade my Italian Greyhound with her one paw in the air being chased by the neighbours pack of Jack Russells. Moments later the pack set upon Lynda biting and gnashing at her calves. Hearing her screams I jump out of my bath and rush out just as Lynda rushed in with her leg covered in blood screaming at me that the neighbours pack is attacking Jade. The pack dispersed as I approached. Expecting the worst, I sat down in the garden with Jade on my lap and started to examine her looking for any bite marks but found none although she was in a lot of pain. It was then that I noticed that her right front paw was protruding at 90 degrees to the rest of her leg. I was now in shock.

I was still in a lot of discomfort but held onto Jade carefully without moving her leg while bitten Lynda still covered in blood drove us to Lammermoor Veterinary Clinic. After dropping off Jade into the vet’s capable hands we rushed ourselves to the Olivedale Hospital. So there I am lying in one consulting room with a drip in my arm and diagnosed having very bad bladder infection with blood in urine, Lynda in another getting stitches, tetanus and rabies injections, while poor Jade got xrays. Both bones in her right leg had a clean lateral break. Thankfully no puncture wounds from dog bites which leaves us in the dark as to what actually happened.

The vet had to put poor Jade under general anaesthesia so that they could reset her leg. So as we recover from our war wounds, prayer is needed for Jade.

Busy Saturday

What a busy Saturday this was. Firstly we went to an Ingress First Saturday event held at Flora Farm in Boksburg. On the way there we picked up Dael and Matthew. We are part of the Northern Ninjas team who fights for the Resistance in this awesome global game. From left to right is Lynda aka BioniKat, me Jerome aka MaxyJade, Matthew aka MasterChiefZA, and Dael aka TaNkErGP.

The Enlightened outnumbered the Resistance at the First Saturday held at Montecasino where we just lost. We got our revenge the following week at the Darsana anomaly where we kicked butt. Today was the second First Saturday event for Johannesburg and 61 Enlightened turned up to face off against 70 Resistance fighters. Okay so I wonder what is the Enlightened’s excuse this time as they lost 5.9mil to our 7.6mil AP? Our scores were Lynda came in 11th out of the 70 Resistance players and overall 21st of all the 131 players. She had a score of 201,876, myself well I came 13th out of 70 and overall 24th out 131 with a score of 197,285, Dael 24th out of 70 and overall 38th out of 131, with a score of 154,234, bonus he managed to level up, and finally Matthew 26th out of 70 and overall 41st out of 131, with a score of 150,822. All I can say we did very well.

After an exhausting day of Ingress, we dropped off the kids and went up to Pretoria for Ella’s 30th birthday pool party, a Hawaiian Luau only to be greeted by a walking pineapple and a sea monster. So this is how my day is going to end. PARTY TIME!

We arrived late, well fashionably late and the party was well on its way. Just Adam was playing on the stage while revellers were in the pool cooling off after a typical summer thunderstorm.

We only knew a few people at the party, but merrymaking we did.

As it got dark, Duncan and Melanie, gave us an awesome display of fire dancing and fire breathing. What an end to a busy day.

Miracle of Birth

As proud expectant grandparents Paballo and I watched the miracle of a female black springbuck give birth. Who would have thought that labour would have taken over 3 hours and right outside our offices on the lawn? Now how can anyone be expected to work in these conditions.

Nicholas who looks after the wellbeing of the buck here at Bosasa’s Mogale Business Park in Krugersdorp, said that the mother springbuck can walk around for many hours while in labour, and only once she is certain that it is safe, she will lie down and give birth. While giving birth she will be surrounded by other buck who will alert her when danger approaches. So we decided to take refuge inside one of the offices and view through the tinted glass where mother can’t see us.

Here mommy springbuck finds a shady spot to lie down and give birth

With the coast clear so she lies down

Oh no RUN! Danger approaches, so off she runs, baby and all. During labour the head and front feet will pop out first. The other buck will gather and start licking the baby’s face clearing any mucus so the baby can breathe.

Coast is clear, and this time mother springbuck choses a spot right in front of us.

Others in the herd come closer to witness the birth of the herd’s latest member.

But it gets a bit crowded so daddy springbuck has to shoo them off

While daddy is seeing to the relatives, mommy decides labour is taking too much energy so she has to eat some grass.

Finally, time has come for baby to be born.

Dad and Midwife step in to ease the process

Time 11:46 Springbuck Jerome Jr arrives. Hey it wasn’t my idea to name the little sprog after me.

Ah mommy springbuck has had enough with this birth, somebody walks past near by and with danger so close, she starts to stand up and the last part of baby pops out.

Due to the inbreed fear of lions, mommy springbuck proceeds to eat the placenta. Baby springbuck Jerome Jr as he is now known, tries to get up as quickly as he can onto his feet before the lions come. And daddy, well he already has other plans with mommy.

Ahhh daddy springbuck wants to start the process of making another baby as soon as possible. Come on, give mommy a break, she has just given birth, I mean only seconds ago.

With daddy sorted out, now to make sure baby springbuck Jerome Jr all cleaned up

Time to find where mommy hides that yummy milk.

There is a new buck in town, going by the name JJ aka Jerome Jnr so watch this space.