If you know me from my past musings, you know I am deathly afraid of moths.  There is no other critter on this earth that can terrorize me as much as a moth.  My dear mother finds it comical and my daughter tries to empathize, but yes, it makes no sense.  Moving to the homestead though, I was not too bothered as I knew the dry heat would keep the moths away – they like warm moist climes.

Then, it rained. Heavily! And it became warm and moist.  One day, in the evening, I walk into my bathroom, and there on the wall is this massive creature.  Black and stealth looking like a Northrop B-2 Spirit – Yes, I know my planes!  I had a complete meltdown.  Ran out of the bathroom and into my office and locked the door – do moths have fingers with which to open doors?  Why the lock?

You can imagine how terrified my housekeeper was as I was not coherent enough to describe the issue.  All I kept saying was “dudu kubwa” (big bug in Swahili).  I guess she got the message, so she went to my bathroom and after much swatting, the poor moth was dispatched to moth heaven.  I slowly crept back to my room after she had shaken every curtain and bug sprayed every corner.  Irrational? Yes.  Yet I have snake watering points all around my compound just in case they get thirsty!

Ever since I moved to the homestead, I have had chickens.  Free range happy chickens that spend time destroying my flowers and being chased by my not so sane dog, Mooshoo!  You remember Mooshoo.  The crossed eyed Jack Russel! It seems Mooshoo has always thought of the chickens as her personal property. I did not know this, until my neighbor proposed that we exchange chicks to ensure we cross our breeds for a healthier flock.  That was a brilliant idea.  On the day of the exchange, he came over with his wife for a cup of tea and to pick the chicks after which he would deliver chicks from his farm. 

Now, all along, as we got a hold of the chicks and packed them in a box, Mooshoo had been watching us every step of the way.  As we packed the chicks into the car, Mooshoo was watching the process intently.  We left her there and went off to take tea on the patio.

A few moments later, my groundskeeper comes over and tells me Mooshoo has done a bad thing and I needed to come over and see the bad thing.  So, I casually strolled over to my neighbor’s car.  My mouth fell open and my eyes nearly fell off my face.  Mooshoo had hit upon a plan to “rescue” her chicks.  In her efforts to open the car and help the chicks escape, she had torn off my neighbor’s car bumper and mud flaps!  She stood there with a look of sheer joy and accomplishment on her face.  Meanwhile, my neighbor and his wife had followed me to the car, and my neighbor kept asking if little sweet Mooshoo was really responsible for the damage.  I could not stop apologizing.  All in all, it was a well spent Saturday morning!