January 10. Whew! It has been a busy day. Thankful for a good night’s rest last night. Up early this morning so we could do laundry. Had leftover pancakes for breakfast. Did two loads of laundry. The water was not very clean after all the rain of the past two days so don’t know how clean the clothes got. And the extractor made a terrible racket. It was out of place and off to one side so was hitting the side of the hole it sits in. It took all day for the clothes to dry because there was almost no sun today. But there was no hurry to get them in. We just hung them in the breezeway. Had quiet time and did dishes.
We left here around 9:15 for Daddy’s appointment with Dr. Morton at Lapilo. Used Randy Smith’s vehicle because the Hollands’ is not in too good shape for the trip out of town. Dr. Morton said that the type of psoriasis Daddy has (guttate psoriasis) is not very common, and it is not know for sure just what causes it. Sometimes it comes up after a strep infection, or it comes up following wounds on the skin. Daddy often gets injuries on his legs, from scrapes on one thing or another. Dr. Morton wants him to rub the red spots with a strong steroid ointment. All his other tests were very much normal and showed that he is in excellent health for a 64-year-old man. We asked Dr. Morton about doing tests for Connie, and he can do everything there except Vitamin D testing. That will have to be sent off. Daddy asked him about my hand, and he said it is more likely damaged tendons than injury to the bone. That can take a looooong time to heal. We were in the medical clinic about an hour all together, counting the time we spent in the waiting room.
After that, we went down to the IT office and got the computers set up to use at Sobega this coming week. Chris (the worker there) said that they have a block on EarthLink e-mail so we cannot use that e-mail there at Sobega, but we can use our web mail account. We also bought an AC Lead for the Acer computer, one that fits the power outlets here. The one that came on it was British, and we always had to use it with an adapter.
One of the national workers in the office was not feeling well so she asked us to drop her off near her home area on our way back to Goroka. She still had a good walk to go after we dropped her off — said she would have to cross the river. Sometimes the walk takes her an hour one way in the rainy season.
Don’t know what time it was when we finally got back here to the flat. Daddy took the keys to Randy Smith’s vehicle back to the office. Took the generator fuel tank down to Norm Turtle to look over. Turtles got back yesterday from Australia. Warmed up leftover spaghetti and veggies for dinner. Had a little nap. Then went uptown to get some groceries to take to Lapilo tomorrow. When we got back, Norm talked to Lew and told him he thinks he can use the frame of the old generator fuel tank and build a new tank around it.
After a soup and sandwich supper, we packed up some of our things to take to Lapilo tomorrow. Now it is time to relax.
Daddy has been looking up alternative treatments for nail fungus on the internet, and the most effective one seems to be the use of apple cider vinegar. One person used white vinegar. So maybe any vinegar will do. I did use brown vinegar on another skin fungus, alternating it with a fungal ointment, and it worked well on that.
“The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” Proverbs 10:22
January 11. Had a bad earache last night so took ibuprofen before bed. I was thankful that helped to ease the pain, and I was able to get a good night’s rest. This morning after breakfast and quiet time, we finished packing up and cleaning the apartment a bit, and getting ready to come out to Sobega. There were dishes to do, too, from last night and this morning. Had to heat water because there hasn’t been enough sun the past few days to get the water hot enough. There wasn’t any hurry to get ready and go, which was nice. We just took our time.
We arrived at Sobega around noon. A national worker showed us the flat. It is a one-bedroom flat, but is plenty roomy, and is very nice. We had leftovers for dinner and then had a nice nap. In the afternoon, Barb Wells came by to say hello and see if everything was okay. She is in charge of the guest flats right now, but they will be leaving (going finish) in a couple months. She and her husband, Les, have been here twenty years. They are from Australia. She was very nice. Showed us around different places on the property. Took us up on the hill in back of the flat where there is a playground and a picnic area. Showed us the different places to go walking. Was going to show us the library, but Jeanne Best was having a literacy class in there. Said she would try to show it to us tomorrow. Took us over to the print shop where her husband works. We bought a copy of the chronological teaching materials in Pidgin—only K100 for a set of eight books. We have to take the money over to him tomorrow. Came back and worked on the computer a little bit before supper. It is so nice and quiet here, and a pretty place too. We are thankful to get away for a while.
Sandy Mikolavich is staying in the flat next to us, and she came over to visit for a few minutes late afternoon before she went out for supper at someone’s house. She looks as young as she did 30 years ago. She and Mike just moved to Madang a week before Christmas. She is heading up to Waghi area tomorrow to help a family with literacy. Mike is back in Madang.
After Sandy left, I tried writing an e-mail to the Jensons. At first the connection went out before I could even get started, but Daddy got it up again. I got the whole e-mail written and told it to send when the connection went out again. The new computer doesn’t seem to have any problem keeping a connection so finally went and re-wrote the e-mail on the new computer. Daddy wonders if the new computer picks up the signal more easily than this one (the old one), and maybe this old one doesn’t work well being in the same house. Who knows?
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30