Ants in My Pants

The revised jingle below (Sung to the tune of She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain) will give you a flavor of our day. Between each verse I have provided detail

(Sung to the tune of She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain)

There is work so don't shirk
Get 'er done
There is work so don't shirk
Get 'er done
Ol' Lar he makes the ha-ack
The rest, we mud the cra-ack
There is work so don't shirk
Get ér done.

We woke up bright and early, well Javier woke up bright and early. I barely managed to get up in time to make devotions at 6:45. I wasn't the last, however. We won't say who was will we Maurice? It'll be our little secret. Becca provided the devotion. She reminded us that we are tired and may tend to be short tempered, impatient, etc... She read scripture about Jesus sending out the disciples with just their tunics and their sandals, instructing them to preach the word. If they were accepted great, if not move on. She encouraged us to have the temperament that Jesus expected of his disciples. Breakfast was great as usual. We then went upstairs to continue work on the rooms.

Twenty child runnin' wild
and playin' games
Twenty child runnin' wild
and playin' games.
In crafts another twenty
And in music there are plenty
Twenty child runnin' wild
and playin' games.

About 10:30 we took a break from our labors to prepare for Kid's Day. Casi took us on a walk through of the 3 stations; games, music/lessons, and crafts. Lauri and Gregg (notice the correct spelling of both names...and I thought Estonian names were difficult) were in charge of games. Becca and Callie handled the music and lesson, and Kay and Wayne were the crafty ones. Javier, Larry and I were "lifeguards." I think that was Casi's nice way of saying we would hang around and not do much. We were scheduled to start at 11:00 but didn't actually get started until about 11:15. The approximately 50 children were divided into three groups. Each group spent twenty minutes at each station. After each station the lifeguards would escort them to the next station. After we had made 6 rotations we headed to the fire pit where the kids, and even some adults, roasted weiners and marshmallows.Tairi and Pilve also made potato salad to complement this gourmet feast. Casi was kept hopping by taking photos and trying to get them all printed before the kids needed to put them in the picture frames that they made in the craft station. I think the day went very well. Kudos to Casi who had the event well planned and organized.

There are ants in my pants
get'em out
There are ants in my pants
get 'im out.
Casi she's a bawlin'
Cause the ants on her are crawlin'
There are ants in my pants
Get 'im out.

After lunch, Rein offered to take us to see the largest ant hills in Europe, only a stones throw away from Ahja. most, but not all of us took him up on the offer. With only two small cars it took several trips to get us all to the ant place. There were ant hills, larger than I had ever seen, close to the road. At first they looked just like large piles of pine needles, but upon further inspection the whole pile seemed to move. It was covered in ants. Casi said it made her squeamish, thus the dity above. The really big ant hills however, were purportedly a short walk thru the woods. So we walked, and we walked, and we walked, and we walked some more until we finally reached a gate that said something in Estonian. Rein translated it and said "Do Not Enter." I'm not sure if it really did or if Rein was just tired of walking. We took Rein's word for it and headed back toward the highway. Since three trips were required to bring our group, do you think it took three trips to get us all back?..............Yes! while Rein was delivering the first group the rest of us wondered off of the beaten track. Deep in the woods we discovered.......drum roll please........monster pile. There must have been about a gazillion ants in that den. I bet it was over 5-1/2 feet high. I am 6'´5" and only my head stood higher than the ant den. After we shook, stomped, swatted, and brushed the invading ants off of our clothing we headed, at a brisk pace toward the road. Rein did deliver us all safely and and ant bite free back to the mission.

There's a skeeto in my speedo
Get 'im out.
There's a skeeto in my speedo
Get 'im out
Randy Mac he's got a dozen
you can here those suckers buzzin'
There's a skeeto in my speedo
Get 'im out

Though none of us had ant bites the skeeters were another story. We went to see ants. nobody said nuttin' about skeeters. If there were a gazillion and there must have been 2 gazzillion mosquitoes. The ant dens are protected by the Estonian government. Most of the forest has been put off limits unless you have a designated guide. We did not have a designated guide. It is very possible that the mosquitoes were introduced by the Estonian Department of Antery to discourage visitors.

We ate deer no, not steer
On the farm
We ate deer, no not steer
On the farm
We had goat and spuds, a slew
Gravy and Ice cream too
We ate deer, no not steer
On the farm.

After returning from our great adventure at Jurassic Ant Park Rein informed us that we were going someplace to eat. He did not tell us where. Like the trek to antdom we required multiple trips to get us all to dinner. We were delivered to Tairi's, house on a neat little farm not too far from Ajha. I was impressed that the house was painted Estonian yellow. They had prepared a meal of venison and potatoes. While we eating they also roasted wild goat's meat over a wood coals. I had never had goats meat. I was very pleasantly surprised it was tender and quite tasty.

Well, that was our day in Estonia. Tomorrow some of us will go to Rapina to paint the floor of the church and maybe build a new stairway.

We'll keep you posted.

Check the photos from today, labeled Wednesday July 16, at the bottom of the page. (Oops, I lost some pictures, I'll add more tomorrow)

God's Blessings,

Randy Mac