Happy 40th John!

Today is our older son, John's 40th birthday. From the minute we held him in our arms four decades ago, John has been a great blessing to me, Grant and all those around him. 

Today John is married to Debbie; they have a beautiful family of three sons and two daughters. As  First Mate in the merchant navy, John, Debbie and children spend six weeks in Mozambique while he works off-shore nearby. Then they travel home to South Africa where they spend six weeks in their home in the Drakensberg.

John is an upright man who heads his family with discipline and love and leads them in the ways of God.  The one characteristic which always stands out when you spend time in John's company, is his sincerity, loyalty and humility.

In the light of the last quality, I struggled to find a full-face photo of John and have displayed two of him doing his duty as a father. 

 John with Bethany on his back, November 2010

 John carrying Israel while walking with Grant who's holding Elijah's hand. This photo was taken in June 2013

WE LOVE YOU DEARLY JOHN.

MAY YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL 40TH BIRTHDAY AND A BLESSED YEAR AHEAD.

Monitor Lizards, Deer and Bush-rats!

On New Year's Day, as soon as it was possible, we drove out onto the mine towards the dam. As usual we were looking for birds - any birds - doing anything! While you concentrate on birds, other mammals and reptiles often cross your path or appear in the bush beside the road. 

 Monitor Lizard inside the ammunition store enclosure

Driving past the ammunition stores, Grant stopped suddenly: crossing the road just beyond the security fence was a Monitor Lizard. I manage a photo of this regal-looking mini-crocodile although it was quite a distance away. As we turned the corner, another larger Monitor Lizard ambled across our path. this time I captured it several times on camera. 

A medium sized Monitor Lizard ambles along the road ahead of our vehicle

A determined-looking Monitor Lizard marches off the road into the bush

Driving along we kept our eyes peeled for more birds (yes, we'd been seeing and photographing them) and entered the bush road leading to the dam. It wasn't long before we saw Dik-dik;

Dik-dik in the bush

...and again...

...and again...

...and again!

In between seeing the above Dik-dik and photographing them, we also saw a small group of Banded Mongoose. But although we stopped and I focused on them as quickly as possible, they all scampered off into the bush.

Still cruising at birdwatching speed (which is very slowly!), I suddenly noticed a fluffy grey movement in the grass beside the road. Grant stopped and I was able to photograph a small group of mice bush-rats eating beetles and crickets on the ground.

The rats were so intent on eating the plentiful supply of protein on the ground, they paid scant attention to us watching them! 

When we finally returned home after a good couple of hours of birding and photographing the local wildlife, I couldn't resist taking a photo of our new pup, Princess playing with Buster, one of the two dogs on our yard.

Buster and Princess play in the front garden of our house

Thanks to Eileen for hosting a wonderful meme called Saturday Critters. You can access her interesting blog (why not join in and post your Saturday Critters?) by clicking here.

Rainy season skies

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