Those Camels Must Be a Myth

For about two years now, before we even moved here, we'd been hearing stories about the president's camels. Apparently the president of another African country gave the president of Burundi the gift of two camels. He keeps them in his yard (which is quite large; a presidential compound if you will). But every so often they wander out onto the grass on the street side of the wall or even into the gully across the street, which is an offshoot of the gully behind our house. I've run, walked, and driven by the president's residence dozens of times and I've never seen any camels.

Yesterday morning we received some good intel that the camels were out on the street. We put on our shoes and sunscreen and headed out the door. But by the time we hiked up the hill, the camels were gone. I didn't even want to go but I felt obligated because I've been looking for these damn camels for so long. I can't leave here until I see the camels!

In other news, there's apparently a great debate online between cat owners and vets about whether skinks, a small common lizard, are poisonous or not. Ellie killed one yesterday, but didn't eat it. However, she was unusually quiet and antisocial last night. Since Grendel, I get very concerned in any change in behavior. I woke up in the middle of the night wondering if just licking a skink could poison her. My research was inconclusive except for the fact that Ellie is perfectly fine this morning. And if she had been poisoned, it seems that she would have wandered around crying, based on other people's stories, rather than curled up and fallen asleep. I guess chasing a skink around was just so exciting that it tuckered her out.

Speaking of being tuckered out, I have a really good reason for being too exhausted to blog lately. Really.