[Parts are off-topic. BIG]

Hello friends --

It seems like a long time since I last wrote, but it's not even been
two weeks. I've been writing this account over sevral days -- so much
happens that I don't get actually caught up. So here is a partial
update.

We had our party and it was a success. Everyone seemed to have a good
time, and Dr Bahrat, the lonely dentist, was very happy and talked
almost non-stop. We served up a feast in the tradition here.

At the beginning of the party, all the dogs and cats were out and
about, and we took everyone who arrived to see the ferrets. Dr Bahrat
wasn't enchanted with them, though he tried to look enthusiastic.

Eventually some folks arrived who were scared of Dante (my sweet,
102-lb shepherd/husky/golden mix). It's a surprisingly comon reaction
here -- people look at him and think of a lion.

When I arrived, Jan 11, it was at night. I had the two big dogs with
me (the two small dogs, the cats, and the ferrets had arrived 2 weeks
earlier via the animal-transport co), and they had been confined in
their crates a long long time. In the airport parking lot I opened
Dante's crate, kind of sitting on my haunches as I unlocked it. He
tipped me slowly over as he came out, and all the people standing
around moved off fast. When I walked him over to some bushes, everyone
kept well away.

Over and over, when a new person comes over to visit, often they say
Dante is like a lion -- usually w trepidation. Lions are a common image
here -- Haile Selassie, who was emperor here for many decades, was The
Lion of Judah, and many businesses have used a roaring lion in their
graphics. There's a zoo in the center of the city. I think it cntains
only lions. Oddly enough I've never been to it. When I lived here
before, one of the houses I was in was within hearing distance of the
roars -- faint but audible.

Anyway, back to the party--we put Dante and Julie (my curly black 60-lb
Barbet dog) in my bedroom.

At some point someone left the door to the ferret room open and of
course they escaped. Lucy headed straight for the drain hole, which
we don't block becasue the cats use it to leave and return to the
compound. It is a few inches in diameter, and abt 18" long, going
straight through the wall and into the street.

Happily -- verry happily, Lucy turned right around when she saw what
was on the other end and scampered back inside. All the others were
easy to round up. Who knows what spooked Lucy -- we're in a quiet
neighborhood -- maybe it was just too unfamiliar to her.

It looks as though we can't really help Lemlem, at least not by way
of the sewing biz. Her situation is too explosive, and that's partly
becasue she is so entangled in it. She came to the party, everyone was
glad to see her, and she had a good time w us. Toward the end, I showed
her and others some of the cloth and sewing/quilting books we will use
to create things.

She wants to join us, but said she couldn't tell Berhe that Ababa is
involved since he hates her so much. After the party, we realized that
that wouldn't work -- it would put us in the center of the struggle
right along w the two of them. There's no real way to hide who she'd be
working with, and eventually lying could bring upheaval and even danger
into our own household. We might try to convince her to tell the truth,
though. She thinks her daughters, who are working in Saudi Arabia,
might be able to convince Berhe that L's working and bringing in money
would be a god thing.

LAst Sunday Lemlem had us over for a big delicious lunch. Her three
grown sons were there, but Berhe was not. At one point I had to use
the shinta bet, and I imagined covering the knives with deeper layers
of poop and pee.

A few nights ago as we were sitting around, I was making up another
fantasy of how we could do Berhe in -- another version of the
shinta-bet murder, and we were all laughing. Then I asked seriously
why her sons don't do something drastic themselves.

Two of them deeply love and protect their mother, and one stands with
the father. That last son is a rather sad case, poor guy, but that's
a story for another time. Anyway, Berhe mostly threatens and attacks
Lemlem when they are alone in the house. The two supportive sons work,
so they aren't home all time. God knows what the third son does.

Saba says it is cultural that those two guys don't do any harm to their
father, despite their great distaste for him. I probably told you that
there is very little violent crime here? I'ts a longstanding part of
the culture and almost certainly derives from the Ethiopian Orthodox
(Christian) Church, which I hear dates back to early in the 1st century
BC.

Laying hands on or using weapons to do harm is extremely rare except
sometimes in cases of adultery, and both men and women are known to
lose it then. Robbery is fairly common, but real violence doesn't
accompany it. Pretty amazing in contrast to the West.

On the other hand, my impression is that domestic violence of the
strong against the weak isn't any less common here than anywhere else.
I'll ask Saba.

According to her, the church has always preached tolerance and that
that has migrated into the center of the culture. The principles
include accepting the bad with the good in people. I hear "That's
her/his nature" from time to time whe someone's being discussed. It
seems pretty advanced for a culture to me.

The church has also stressed respect to parents and to old people, and
both things are deeply embedded in the culture, though respect for
authority in general is diminishing.

I love the respect for old people! It feels great to be looked on as
an honorable old person. At the same time, it often feels pretty odd.
I plan to get used to it, though, you betcha.

We keep adjusting the animals' diet. We bought a meat grinder and have
been turning out something that looks like chicken kibble based on the
chicken gravy recipie but not soupy. The ferrets like it. We scramble
eggs and put them in too. I have to check about egg whites. I think I
remember that too much of them is bad for ferts.

I now have Dr Fox's vet book about ferrets, and I've been reading the
Nutrition chapter. It's pretty emphatic about no clear research being
available about the details of a good ferret diet. Interestingly, it
indicate that some carbohydrates are probably necessary. Anybody got
any opinions about this Nutrition chapter?

The latest development for us for their diet is that the biggest "meat
factory" in the city has agreed to make up 50 kilos of just about any
recipie we ask for. They already produce dog food that's a mix of
ground/pulverised meat, bones, blood, organs, corn, vitamins, and a
couple of other ingredients, and they say that their recipie is well
researched. They form the resulting food into little hard logs that
you are supposed to add water too.

The brain and other neural tissue is included in the mix. It appears
that mad-cow/ferret disease is unknown here. I hear that most cattle
eat only grass, and few get grain. Noone I've talked to had heard of
feeding meat to herbivores. Chickens in "chicken factories" get small
fish w bones, but then they aren't herbivores. Our vet is coming over
on Sunday -- we're having another get-together -- and I'll see what he
knows.

I was going to lend him the ferret-vet book then, but Tues I meet w the
chemist at the meat factory to go ovr the diets I'd like concocted, and
I'd like to show him the Nutrition chapter. MAybe I'll get it xeroxed
before then. It's Fri night here.

Speaking of diet, Ethiopians fast -- no animal protein -- for over half
of the year, including every Wed and Fri. In a couple of weeks, they'll
enter a 55-day fasting period... Do any of you have particularly good
sources for constructing a good diet without animal protein?? For some
of the fasting periods they don't eat at all till after sundown, on top
of the food restrictions. Through all of this they continue to give me
a normal diet. It is an odd position to be in, as you can imagine.

We have been improving the ferret pen. There are now two trees and some
grass. W've also added some ridges of ground.

ALSO ! we have made wire-mesh tunnels to connect the pen with their
room in the service area and also to go in through our front door to
the place we'll put their FErret NAtion cage -- whenever I get the
remaining 1/3 through Customs. They let two parts through but kept the
last...

This way the ferts will have locations throughout the place -- one in
the front yard, one in the main house, and one in the service area --
where we are spending most of our social time now, and where the sewing
macjhines and work area will be. Plus they will have their network of
elevated tunnels to run through and observe the world of the compound.

I have just started the sewing thing -- hardly begun really, but I
did it first to distract Tsige who was feeling blue. I think it was
because another month has passed w/o pregnancy, and that disappointment
was heightened by a visit from a "bad" girl we know who has a newish
baby -- yet another story to come. It turns out Tsige and Sisay have
been lovers for a few months now.

Anyway, I got out a sample box of 40 different-colored "fat quarters"
of a wonderful fabric line, -- Michael Miller's Mirror Ball Dot
(--e.g., see
http://www.hollyhillquiltshoppe.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi ).
It's 100% cotton, and the circles are pearlescent or slightly
metallic -- everything from ethereal pastels, to midnight colors,
to strong colors in contrast.

I took Tsige through an exercise in which she chose 12 of the
coloredquarters. Then we washed them in blazing hot water to shrink
them and hung them up to dry. That was yesterday, late aft. This
morning the power was out, so we put off ironing them.

The idea will be to work on a design wall of flannel-like fabric,
putting up strips and squares and triangles of different colors to
create a pretty design to be sewn when I get my machines through
Customs.

It did cheer her up. Nothing like a good distraction, and for me that
sort of thing is one of the best. Doing that for her also got me going,
which is very good.

Re Customs, I am waiting for a revised Bill Of Lading fr Seattle and
then I can move forward. I'm hoping for it each day.

Rico, my almost-exbiter, has turned his teeth from my shins to my
shoes. He is in love with my Merrell Primo shoes (wh I recommend very
very heartily to anyone w/ bunions, hammertoes, etc. They are super
comfortable, well made, and don't look like old-lady shoes! They are
wonderfully cool for summer. You can find them at www.footsmart.com
<http://footsmart.com/>. They are expensive, uuuuunfortunately). Anyway
Rico chews on the mesh, pulls them off my feet if I let him, and drags
them away. Then I hear crunch, crunch, crunch, and I go under te desk
or wherever he has hidden with them.

Today he gave me a thorough ear washing. I was a little uneasy, but,
other than a few nibbles, all he did was wash wash wash till I had
ferret spit in my ear.

HA! ESP at work. Rico just came over and sunk his teeth into the mesh
of my right shoe (his favorite). I now have him wrapped around the back
of my neck.

I have gotten a quote from a very capable guy -- a friend of Saba's --
to make us sewingmachine and cutting tables, as well as some storage
cabinets. SAba is also getting an electrician to come and consult w
us. The currnt here is 240 or something like that, and my equipment
is US-based 120 if I have that rigth.

OK, it is 4:30 Am here -- which is 3:30 pm in California (ferret
ferret!! HA! California ferret!) and 6:30 on the E coast. The (or a)
guy at the nearby mosque is singing, and I need to stop -- getting a
little inohernt.

Speaking of Calif, I am going to have to enter into a discussion with
the Franchise Tax Board. They have cashed a BIG check of mine, but
they are asking me for the money again.Ah well.

On the other side of the scale, I'v e gotten some good news about the
liklihood of our business doing well. Saba is indeed a remarkably
well-conected young woman. A friend of hers has a friend from
overseas -- US I think -- who has a business that, like ours, is based
on fabric imported fr the US. She is doing very well -- is, in fact
rich -- from exporting overseas, and he (S's friend) thinks she'll
be happy to give us advice.

I hope everyone's well. Sorry I haven't been writing individually the
way I usually do. Soon, I hope!

P.S., I just looked at my Sent list -- it shows my Feb 9 message as
being sent just the other day. Did it only arrive then???? [It was
on time here, I think. BIG]

[Posted in FML 5891]