Whew!- June 30, 2008 Finally, a few minutes to rest. The past week has been consumed by a family (of six!) trip, followed by volunteer fire practice yesterday morning - which always ends up in a drinking party for the rest of the afternoon so my whole day was shot. The photos are from the past week when the family visited us for a bike trip. They kept it a secret from us that their youngest daughter had just learned to ride a bike two days earlier, but by the time she left us she was a die-hard biker. I asked..http://www.bastish.net/2008/06/whew_1.html Farming and Hiking- June 11, 2008 A few photos from two weeks ago with our visitors from Hawaii. Activities included lots of walking and photo-ops at temples and shrines, gathering wild veggies for dinner, planting rice, gathering mulberry leaves for the babies. While we were visiting the preserved thatch-roof house in Akiyamago, we happened to meet the old woman who was born and raised there. She now lives in a more modern house in the village. June first is also the day that Mt. Naeba is officially opened. We joined...http://www.bastish.net/2008/06/farming_and_hiking.html Everybody Loves Poop- June 10, 2008 Today was eventful. This morning I had another run-in with our "nemesis" who is tending the rice field below our own. I arrived in the morning to check the water level and he started screaming at me about how his field had no water. I tried several times to explain that my field had no water either because there was no water coming down the irrigation ditch for the past two days - and that, in fact, I closed my field yesterday so that his would get the water. When he wouldn't let me get a..http://www.bastish.net/2008/06/everybody_loves_poop.html Ant Attack- June 9, 2008 Yesterday I was just about to leave for some rice-planting with the local office and a group of people interested in moving to the country, when I noticed my silk worms doing a crazy new dance. Closer inspection revealed that they were being attacked by ants! I was able to quarantine the "infected" bunch, and proceeded to pick the ants off one by one while the silk worms squirmed in apparent agony. I rescued most of them, but some had already given up the fight by the time I was able to pick.http://www.bastish.net/2008/06/ant_attack.html Family Customer- June 6, 2008 As professional as we try to be with our One Life Japan bike tours, it always ends up being more like entertaining family. This last week was no different. A couple from Hawaii visited, and for the most part I felt as though it was the same as a visit from an aunt and uncle. The big problem with this is that I would never charge my aunt and uncle, yet we charged them.http://www.bastish.net/2008/06/family_customer.html Buna's Big Adventure- June 5, 2008 This morning Buna, our baby cockatiel, experienced a few fleeting moments of freedom. While Tomoe and I were in the field behind our house, we heard a familiar scream and looked up to see a white streak across the sky. Buna - Awii and Klees' baby hatched in November. We dropped everything and scrambled up the river bank in the direction we had seen her fly. After a few frantic moments, Tomoe spotted her petrified on the neighbor's roof and we watched and waited, wondering where she would...http://www.bastish.net/2008/06/bunas_big_adventure.html |