Life Off the Grid

Sounds pretty cool doesn't it? It's green. It's trendy. It's also hot. Like, literally hot. No central heat. No A/C. I know it's really not Pacific Northwest of me to say this but while life off the grid may sound sexy...it's not!!

Meet Genny.


I love her. She's a bit self centered though, since life basically revolves around her. She's secretly the boss of the Mucombedzi Farm out here in Central Mozambique, Africa AKA: The Bush! No power lines here! Without Genny, things are pretty quiet, and dark, and uh...not really functional.

We don't need a clock because at 6am whoever is leading morning devotions wakes Gen up, and she's got quite the morning voice. Her singing allows us to make some toast and use personal grooming devices such as the electric shaver!


'Our' house is located downhill from the well so we don't need Genny to obtain tap water, but I will say a gravity feed washing machine is something to behold. I could write a whole post on doing laundry in Africa. Anyway, for everything above the well, Genny provides the power to pump water up the hill to irrigate the lychee orchard and the garden.


Since the mission (SAM Ministries, invented by my crazy and amazing aunt and uncle Lynn and Dwight Lagore) is trying to accomplish something useful out here, it really needs Gen. She helps power the tools used in the carpentry shop that makes all things wooden such as doors, window frames, window screens (!) and cupboards. She also allows the mechanic shop to fix things like vehicles. All of this enables the building of the training center, which will equip people to learn and lead as teachers, pastors, health care workers and carpenters and only God knows what else!



Gen gets pretty thirsty in this hot African sun, and she's got expensive taste. She drinks diesel, and plenty of it. Of course we give her a few breaks each day. Like between 12 and 2, and between 4:30 and 6, which means you can still prepare dinner, you just need a match to light the gas element. Of course Gen takes most of the weekend off, so the eternal question between Royden and I has been: 'Is the genny on?'

When Gen gets thirsty this means a trip to town over a narrow highway with plenty of crazy drivers, we mostly see semi trucks and they absolutely have the right of way. We also see a lot of bicyclists, walkers, dogs and chickens. The drive takes about an hour and once you get to town you start your search for cash.


We slowly drive by each cash machine in Chimoio, seeing how many people are gathered. If the number seems right, we will stop and Dwight will hop out and assess the situation. Every time I've been to town the first machine or two we come across are never working, although people are willing to stand around and wait hoping that the occasional internal noise the machine makes is progress toward being functional once again.

If you do happen to find a functional ATM you often have to wait up to an hour (sometimes more) because there is a very long line. Of course each machine has an maximum withdrawal amount and the one that is most often working is the one that only lets you take out about a hundred bucks at a time (hello foreign ATM charges!).


Once you get cash (or 'Mets') you continue on to the gas station and pull up to the pump. Obtaining fuel seemed to take an eternity last time we went. When I asked uncle Dwight why he just laughed. Everything takes longer here. Fuel prices in this country are also on the rise and when that is coupled with anticipating the foreign exchange rate for budgeting purposes it causes quite the headache. The mission of course runs off of foreign funds, so this year alone they've seen a 30% increase in fuel prices. Since I like things that are green, and cheap, you could pray for the invention of a cheap sustainable energy source for...all of us!

After you've safely made it home with your gerry cans full of diesel packed in the back of the truck next to your groceries (since Chimoio also houses the closest grocery store) and haven't um...spilled any diesel due to container malfunction. You can pour Gen her drink.

Gen thanks you and turns to her husband Mr. Sat Internet and tells him she's tired. Since they do everything together you can kiss light and entertainment goodbye at nine o'clock. Of course a few things can run off the battery powered inverter overnight, but that power runs out quick. If you don't want your borscht in the fridge to be warm by morning...you better just go to bed!!


Africa is a dirty place, and a shower at bedtime is pretty much mandatory. I've never had such dirty feet in my life. You should see my shoes. Anyway, I'm always especially glad we have Gen because she makes sure the water gets pumped up into the water container located above the fire pit outside my bathroom. Ah! Hot water! What a luxury out here...as long as someone remembered to light the fire before dinner that is!!


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In telling you all about Gen I've come to realize that she's pretty easy to worship out here. She sure makes life comfortable and easy. Instead, I praise the Lord for her. Genny is one of God's gifts that not only makes living out here for us pampered white folks survivable, but also enables us to love and help the people who truly do live off the grid.

Seriously? Coffee Fest?

Does that not look like the most delicious thing you could set your eyes on? That's a true mochiatto, not the caramel mochiatto like you order at a starbucks. Wow, am I a snob or what.


Eric came to visit us in Seattle recently. He hadn't been here in a while so we planned a few activities for the week. One of them was Seattle's coffee festival where several of the major coffee shops, coffee roasters, and bean importers all meet at Seattle Center, charging a modest entry fee in exchange for free samples. It was our first year and I highly recommend it if your a bit of a coffee snob.
This is how we got started. Here's to gorgeous latte art! Cheers!


There were also these guys doing these "chemist brews" which is essentially making coffee like you make tea, just pouring hot water over grinds, swishing it to cool it a bit and then drinking it. I had some and it was the only drip I'd drink black. It was delicious.


Oh yeah, there was also several chocolate vendors. I vote yes.


This photo makes me want a latte right now, and it's 10:20pm


Good times! Thanks for joining us Dad! Now if step backwards in time a couple weeks, you'd find us with Eric once again. Ruth has been wanting to do this one particular bike ride through the kettle valley in Kelowna. Literally, she's been wanting to do this ride as long as I've known her, which is a long time, and it's sad I never took her. I essentially waited for her to plan it herself. But we finally did it this summer, and it was a beautiful ride.


It's essentially a bike route built on the bed of an old railway. The actual railway is gone, but the bridges and tunnels are still there. Several years ago Kelowna suffered a terrible forest fire that burned almost half of the bridges. Thankfully, the province spent the money to rebuild them.


So.. we stopped at a rest area at the half point to the 12 mile station, and literally, the moment I set my bike down I was accosted by chipmunks. Quite a few of them. They came right up to my feet and stuck their nose in the air looking for handouts. And thanks to Ruth, we had them!


Trail mix!
After a good ride we arrived at 'Ruth Station'. Had to make it there purely for that last photo. What I don't have any photos of is how we had sunshine for the entire ride except the last hundred feet, when it hailed so hard the pellets were bouncing off my arms. I've never ridden so fast in my life.

So it was refreshing to finish the days ride with some delicious food at the Grey Monk Winery. The view was stunning. Before dinner I wandered down into the vineyard and sat down in the dirt to watch the sun set behind the mountain. I think I had a deep moment of peace.





Oh yeah, one last photo. While Eric and Ruth and I wandered Queen Anne on Sunday we came across a board game store that had this on the shelf..


That's me as a zombie killer on the front of that box. I don't know if anyone remembers this post
http://roydenandruth.blogspot.com/2010_03_07_archive.html when I talked about a friends board game that I posed for. It was pretty fun, and equally entertaining to see my face on a product in a store.

That's all for now. We've had a busy summer so more posts coming soon.

Spring is coming

It's Easter Sunday tomorrow. It's hard to believe that spring is almost here. It's been a pretty slow transition here in the Seattle area. We're apparently up for more rain in the next week. But we've had a couple sunny days this month. On one of those days, Ruth and I took a walk around the neighborhood after a light rain and we photographed some of the signs of spring.

I love magnolia trees. There's only a handful around Bothell, but I can't think of a more beautiful and fragile tree. It blooms every spring, but if we get a hard rain or wind it rips the pedals off the flowers early. They've already lasted a little longer this year then they did last year.


I also love roses. There is no other plant that best displays the grace of God. It's not picky about how you prune it. Other plants; one bad cut will cause them to give you the flower middle finger of no blooms all summer. Roses; you can hack at it all year long. It's like the plant says "I forgive you. Here's a bud." You can chop it off at the soil, heck you can attempt to rip out the roots like we did with the rose bush in our yard. Eventually it will still shoot up a sprout overnight that says, "I know you didn't mean it. I forgive you. Here's a bud."

And when that bud blooms. I'm sorry I ever thought twice about cutting the plant down.


Our rodies are ready to bloom too. Does being excited over flowers make me.. odd. I think I'm supposed to be excited over the baseball season starting.

Yeah that's what I'm supposed to be excited about. Oooo.. barberry blooms! I love my yellow barberry bush!


This month, our special nephew, Vincent, turned 2 years old! Happy birthday vince-a-man!


It was a long cold winter. I'm ready to put it behind me and have a warm spring. Unfortunately I miss my Dad the most when I'm outside working in the yard. I don't know why. Lawn mowing can be a bit meditative, maybe when my brain is not occupied, it wanders. Bring it on if it comes with sunshine.