He's Home!

 No one really even knew he was away, but on March 3rd, DH left for Tanzania. 

And no, I did not go with him. It was an unexpected trip. His brother had booked the trip a few years ago and his wife backed out 3 weeks before they were slated to leave so on Feb. 12, DH got a text from his brother asking him if he wanted to go. 

Last Fall we received devastating news that DH's brother has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. He's 58. He's an equine vet and he and 2 partners started up a VERY successful clinic that now employs 9 vets. Sadly, his brother couldn't take this trip alone and the $ already paid is not refundable. So we rushed and scrounged and ran around in circles and prayed, trying to organize a trip to Tanzania in 3 weeks. I told DH that if he was meant to go, God would work out all the details and work out all the details he did. 

We hustled and bustled the entire time and made a mad dash to Lubbock (3 hrs one way) one morning to meet with Customs for a  4457 (a required form in order for DH to travel with a firearm). He needed a PRC Covid test, tons of paperwork, visa applications, and during all of the commotion, DH took our camp man around for a few weeks so he'd be familiar with the south end of the ranch and the water system. We've only got 300 hd here so DH just had him feed everything. And of course, Skeet was heartbroken:

I didn't tell anyone. Not friends or co-workers because I just didn't want folks knowing I was home alone. We don't participate in social media so I thought I was in the clear, but we did have to tell our Camp Man so some folks knew and of course we told the kids. The safari company they went with also posted on Instagram and a friend follows them and recognized DH. LOL. So secrets are pretty hard to keep these days. 

Skeet and I managed to keep the shenanigans to a minimum while DH was away:

The horses aren't used to the grunting that accompanies chore time when I lug the50# sack of cubes out to them in the evenings. The older I get, the heavier those sacks get.

I did very little cooking, but got a craving for Cranberry Bread:

You'd think I'd sew my heart out with so much free time, but I didn't. I felt kind of lost and puttered and sorted and cleaned a lot. I have some fabric I know I will never use so I pulled those and got ready to post those online for sale:

And worked on some binding

I worked in the yard and garden, getting things ready for spring

We only do 1 puzzle a year, at Christmas, but I pulled out a puzzle and worked on it while I watched The American:

I'm not a TV bug, but I don't sleep well when DH is away and  I discovered a Show called Shetland and binge-watched every season - 

But all went well and after 17 days, Skeet and I are thrilled to have our intrepid hunter home.

It was a wonderful trip for both of them and I'm so grateful that he was able to spend this special time with this brother!