old life in a dead tree

I met Aidan Mwewe today. I've seen him before biking around the college on his bicycle with a chainsaw strapped to the back of his bike. I went to see his work cutting down one of our large Jacaranda trees that had died. When I found him he was 30 ft in the air chopping a branch from one of the upper limbs. What surprised me wasn't that he was not tied in and merely clinging to the tree with his legs, but it was that Aidan is on the verge of his 64th birthday. I said to him in absolute shock, 'you're how old?'

Aidan has been cutting trees since 1974 when he bought his first chain saw. 'I know these machines very well,' he said, 'I can fix them very well, keep them sharp, and I know how to make them cut the wood fine.' Aidan I would guess has no retirement plan and when I asked why he still cut trees, he simply said, 'it is what I do.' It made me think of how many 60+ year olds who would be willing to climb a tree to cut it down. It also made me think of retirement and that I didn't want to be climbing trees when I was 60. Cutting trees I told him, 'was for young men.'

A maggot Tale

I should be prepping for my History of Christianity II course, but when pull a maggot from your leg.....you should take a minute to tell everyone. So here is how it goes. For a few days now I have had two growing pussy like boils on my thigh and lower leg. Cameron had a similar boil on his leg which made me think, it could be from a biting insect which is prevalent right now. Simply mosquito bites gone bad. I had tried to pop it, but to no avail and instead decided to treat it like a boil. My sister in law even called from Costa Rica to give a home remedy for boils. Take hot water every 10 minutes, apply compress. Apply anti-bacterial soap. Keep clean the advice reads.

Today loosing patience with the monumental size it was growing too, and the pain that occurred when the muscles were flexed I decided to take matters into my own hands-literally. At this point the diameter of each is about the size of a quarter, and there is a large white center. I would call it puss, but I know better now. Regarding the pain I knew that I would have to squeeze the boil hard if I were to release the pressure.

Taking both hands and using a tremendous effort with both thumbs I worked the boil. It was several painful attempts before I began to see progress and the boil begin to release liquidy ooze. Encouraged by this and somewhat happy that the self inflicted pain made my leg feel better, I pressed on so to speak. All of a sudden in one big go a large pussy-like center came from the wound. A little squeeze fully released this whitish, and somewhat pointy object.

What shocked me was the small mound lying on top of the quarter sized boil was itself-wriggling, much like a worm looking for it's hole. Under close examination it was a maggot looking for its hole. Surprised and disgusted I realized this too is what was growing on Cammie's back which at this point was causing him great discomfort. I ran to the living room pinned him to the couch and squeezed....Again- a nice white maggot erupted from the boil.

Now I have a background in entomology (the study of insects) and have for years been aware of the presence of parasitic larvae in Africa. Every laundry we leave clothes out to dry an extra 24 hours to prevent such infections. It is one of the ways in which our life here is nuanced by our location. Whether this insect living in my thigh is one from our laundry or from some other source the important thing is....it is out! But, it is now time for investigation. I invite all my curious and now disgusted readers to suggest both the insect and the mode of infection.

I usually tell people, if you are going on a missions trip, take me along because I will for sure be an attraction to whatever parasite is there. One more reason I should stay out of Brazil. Our neighbor Chris has just walked in, with a large boil on his face. We are preparing a boil party. Gotta run.
In closing I would like to say sorry to Niki, who for sure isn't going to visit us now. Happy hunting for our little white wriggling parasite, let me know what you come up with.

'gentles'- photo of the week

Here is the sign on the guys bathroom. If you can't quite read it it says, 'gentles toilet'....... I wonder what they are refering too, and on the other hand it is for sure my view of it.