Gambrill's family has a cat named Sonya. You may remember her from the cow slaughter pictures (she was drinking the blood). Sonya and I bonded and became friends. I accidentally taught Sonya to jump into people's laps while they ate, and crawl up their bodies using her claws. She became a pest overnight and the entire family would curse my name when Sonya acted up. They jokingly called her my daughter because of the way she would look up at me.
Sonya had a baby two or three days ago. Nobody knew she was pregnant and everybody was scared they may have helped along the pregnancy by tossing her on the ground when she jumped into their laps. But the baby is healthy. She is tiny- barely takes up any room in your hand. She was named Mariposa, which is Spanish for butterfly. As grandfather though, I gave her a full name- Mariposa Carpoosta Thompson. Carpoosta is Russian for cabbage. Ha. Gambrill told me today that she is worried Carpoosta will stick and not Mariposa. I told her if I was allowed to corrupt the mother, I should be allowed the right to do the same with the baby! ha
It was a slow week this week. The weather bounced around. We had terrible blizzard winds in the beginning of the week, then it warmed to the low 40's and melted everything, then got cold and made the entire town an ice rink- toss in a couple more wind storms and two day-long power outages and you have the week. Even the locals are tired of this. Some steps were taken on the organization and planning of the Nature Museum project. I also began working in Google SketchUp, designing the nature museum (will do inside and out). Its looking good so far- I'll finish it when I'm done.
We have Monday- Wednesday off next week. It is Nauryz- the spring equinox festival in Kazakhstan. Most of the volunteers will go to Shymkent, in southern Kazakhstan. This is the holiday where the traditional games, such as Kokpar (like polo but with a headless goat carcass) are played. We decided to stay here in Karkaraly, because we had heard it is a big deal hear too. However, due to the ice and snow, the parade and outdoor festivities have been cancelled. Each business still throws a party, but we won't get all the traditional stuff this year. Next year, I'll probably hit up Shymkent and see the festivities there.
I'm not sure what I'll do on the days off, but if the weather isn't terrible, I'll probably jump on a bus and check out the area and surrounding towns. That is it from here. This is Karkaraly signing off.
