Missionary Moment

My parents in India...I would add one of them in Africa, but my stuff is climbing a mountain at the Nepali border somewhere...

My mom and dad served a CES mission in South Africa. Knowing the crime and serious issues they have there one might be slightly hesitant to accept the call. Nope, not my mom and dad. They said, bring it on...All their stuff stolen, bring it on...Held at gun point...bring it on...Face to face with a criminal...eh, what else do you got?

In honour of my mom's birthday today, I thought I would post a letter written by a couple missionary that worked with my parents.

"I must interrupt this long enough to give you the latest Camilleri-ism. In the past we had told you of two different events concerning Elder and Sister Camilleri where they were victims of theft. Once their apartment was broken into, and their lap top, camera and other personal things were taken. Next, they were visiting an early morning class when one of the drivers coming to seminary, and the owner of the house, were held at gun point, and their cars stolen (one was a new BMW). Well, two weeks ago those same Camilleris were coming home from Institute class in Pretoria. When they stopped at a stop light, some punk came up to the back window, smashed it and reached in to grab Sister C's scripture bag. These thugs always think those bags are purses and have money in them. Elder Camilleri was not wearing his seat belt, which in this case was a blessing. His reaction was swift and powerful! His wife says that as the window crashed it made a horrible sound and as it did Elder C. gave a blood curdling, 'Kung Foo' yell and at the same time swung around to the back seat smacking that guy two healthy blows before he could get his grubby, greedy and malevolent arm out of their car. I don't have a very Christian attitude about such thugs, so my hope is that he was so traumatized and terror stricken, he slunk home to have a heart attack, never to disturb peaceful folk again. After such an adventure, wouldn't you have second thoughts about sticking your arm into someone's back seat? Anyway, Camilleri's will be going home in April and we will miss them very much."

Love ya mom & dad! You make turning 65 not seem so bad. People half your age don't have the same vitality and love of life like you. Can't wait for you to get here so we can go bird watching, orchid collecting, people watching, and of course, shopping together. The kids can't wait for you to arrive and neither can we. So many adventures await us!

Mayhem Moments

Usually my kids take turns with their naughtiness. For instance, Xavier will pour all of the shampoo out the window while Heavah angelically sits and reads a book. Or, Sedona will turn the water cooler on and splash in the puddles while Asa sleeps peacefully amidst all the confusion. I honestly believe they have a planning meeting each morning to discuss whose turn it is to wreak havoc for the day. I am positive rock/paper/scissors are involved.

However, when daddy leaves for a few days, all bets are off. That planning meeting doesn't happen and instead, they feel these days are free-for-all aka 'whoever can cause the most problems wins!' Weee....

Yesterday was no exception. While Asa decided even though he is cranky and tired, he is no longer a newborn and therefore no longer needs to sleep like a newborn; Sedona thought toothpaste would be a nice paint for her walls; Xavier was convinced that ALL the cereal from the box should be poured into a big bowl with milk because a 4 year old is a growing boy, no? And, Heavah thought that she was a preteen already and therefore had to describe to me why the world isn't fair and having a younger sister isn't so much fun sometimes. If these issues happened at separate times, no problem. But everyone of these problems had to be solved NOW!!!

How is it possible that I have two full time maids and myself entertaining the kids all day long and we still fall in bed with exhaustion? Furthermore, why do they wait for daddy to leave? In times like these do they look at me like a wounded gazelle in the African desert ? "Look, the big guy is gone. She is one foot in the grave guys...on the count of three..."

I have lucked out with good kids and usually the catastrophes are just a normal part of the child rearing experience. Its right up there with cleaning poop and puke. Don't love it, but you chose to have the little ones and it comes with the territory. The only thing I ask is please, get in line and take your turn.

How to Tame a Parrot.

This is Axel again. When I was 12 or so my dad drove me to Detroit and we bought a blue and gold macaw. Back then the birds were mostly all wild caught, and Ben was forever pissed he somehow got caught in the wild. But I was able to train him to get on shoulders, and not bite. Well, not so much. It probably wasn't the best parrot to start with. Let me tell you getting bit by this beak wasn't fun and you can guess how quickly it could destroy my mom's wooden chairs (I am not sure she really ever liked that bird for some reason I'll never understand...).

Pupils dilated and cheeks red = biting time. This one is OK

Since then I have owned lots of birds.

There was Chico in Phoenix (a green cheeked amazon).





I LOVE these guys

If you knew us in Delaware you knew we kept a golden pheasant in the house that Heavah got for her birthday. These don't tame down, but they make up for with their beauty.

In Dubai I had a plum headed parakeet that was pretty but mean (and got eaten by a cat).

Now I am here and I have started with Vishnu who is an Alexandrine parakeet. I am hoping he is a male, here is how he will look if he is.

He has tamed down pretty well. Taming a bird is pretty easy. First thing you do is clip the wings. This doesn't hurt them but it makes the bird dependant on you.

Then wrap them in a towel and just hold them. Start playing with their heads. They won't like it, but after a while they will calm down.

After three or four towel sessions, slowly let them out but continue to hold them.

After you can do that without getting bit all the time you are ready for stage two.

Sedona will show you about the next part getting them on your shoulder. They will feel safe there and it makes become accustom to you.

You just have to make sure you are comfortable with them too because like I said, you might still get bit.

And when it happens you have to not care. Not even register that it hurts you.

You show the bird it is not a viable way for it to establish dominance. They understand you being in control and making them do what you want and not stopping because they bite. So as soon as they bite, get right back on the horse and hold them again.

You have to get it to feel comfortable being on you. It might be scary, but you just have to do it.

And after you do it, you can rest assured that you are the one in control and a brave little Indian.

Sunday Drive

We took a drive out of Kathmandu last Sunday (we go to church on Saturday here). There was some monsoon drizzle but the drive was beautiful and we came upon some interesting things.

1. We came upon some serious traffic. So Axel did his other job here in Nepal and directed traffic.

There were three cars side to side heading south against three cars side to side heading North and NO ONE was moving. It reminded me of my many Dr. Seuss readings with the kids about the North-going Zax and the South-going Zax.

The only difference is the Nepalis just sat there and it was Axel who did the yelling.

Do you have to pay more or less to sit on the top? On the one hand the view is great and the air isn't filled with a summer loaded stank, but on the other hand it has to REALLY suck every time you passed low hanging branches, which are EVERYWHERE. Who is the official 'BRANCH!' yeller?

2. We stopped at a restaurant with a beautiful view.

Smiles amidst a mile drop down...

...where Sedona got a little weirded out by the Ganesh head festival doll.

Is this one a god or just a scary toy? Do they get confused ever? And who would win in a fight, this guy or that clown doll in Poltergeist?

3. We stopped at a rock/nursery store where we bought all the fix'ns for Axel's garden.

Axel's happy day. His kids and a pile of rocks.

...and yet, Sedona was not so scared of this. I guess Shiva is more of her thing.

Heavah getting some more clay animals.

4. We enjoyed some amazing views.

We found a forest to walk through with stairs going to a hotel. Axel got one orchid.

5. And, rubbed the Buddha for good luck.

It was a fun day.

Twilight Hype

If you are a Twilight lover, check out my couzin in law's site. You won't believe what she happened upon during her summer vacation...

Oh, and as a thank you for sending you to such a cool post, I need some book suggestions. I am finishing Pillars of the Earth and I need something just as delicious to look forward to when I am done.

My Birds of Nepal

This is Axel again. Since I got here to Nepal, I discovered that one of my staff has a love for birds like I do. He hooked me up with some Indian Muslim carpenters that built me two bird cages.

This one is for my pheasants. One side has a male and female silver pheasant and the other a male silver and male golden. All are juvies still and very common on the pet trade here.

This is the young silvers in my cage.

This is what the male silvers will look like when they become mature. I think I am about 6 months away from this..

Here is what the golden will look like mature. Yeah, they are THAT COOL!!! I swear, when you see them in real life you could never deny there is a God and that He is the greatest artist.

They are in the back of the front yard and you can see them when you come through the gate.

I have to change the screen on the one side to chicken wire.

The other cage is a finch cage. It is in my first Zen garden. You can sit on the ying and yang grass and look at them.

I have zebra and Bangladeshi finches and two local yellow weavers.

A Nepali Weaver and a Bengali finch.

My prizes in the finch cage are a pair of Javan Finches from Indonesia. I love these guys. They dominate the whole cage and have a really nice sound.

Here is a better picture of what they look like - their color looks like it was airbrushed on.

However, I still have some wants. Nepal has tons of other birds I would LOVE to get my hands on.

A red billed magpie. Smart and beautiful

A green jungle pigeon. The only kind of pigeon in the world that shouldn't be shot on sight.

White breasted kingfisher. These guys are everywhere and the blue on them is electric. The only problem would be feeding them.

Same issue with the Indian Roller - they eat insects so can't keep them but when they fly you would not believe how beautiful the blues are.

A Red Jungle Fowl. It is a very nice pheasant. OK, it looks like a chicken, because it is! All chickens in the world are in the pheasant family and originated from this guy whose ancestors come from Nepal. That is right, if you had chicken tonight you had Nepal's most successful export ever. I really like them in their original form. I had one but it died. I am getting another one as soon as I build a chicken coop.

This guy is another common kind here and my friend is giving me his after his babies hatch and live for a month or so.

Another native species of pheasant is the Kalij (which strangely enough means 'The Gulf - Persian' in Arabic). They have them here and I am going to get one later this year when they get some bigger birds.

Satyrs' Tragopan is also indigenous to Nepal. They have one at the zoo, but I don't think they ever make it to the pet trade. If I find one I will snap it up and build him his own cage. I'd love to breed some for re-release into the wild.

But the ultimate is the national bird of Nepal:

The Himalayan Monal. I LOVE these guys, but they are scarce. You can probably get these in the US. Here you just can't. But look how beautiful they are:

As bright as they are in this picture, they are even more impressive in real life. They are just too beautiful of a bird to even chance going extinct.

Some day, somewhere I am going to get one of these. It is high on my life list of things to do...