How is it possible for something as tiny as an ant to kill a giant tree?
Aren't us humans the same in letting small things get the better of us and cause us sleepless nights and extreme distress?
Food glorious Food
The week started off pretty normal and quite slow as I was down to only having one guest requiring meals, whereas just two weeks ago it was seven at one time plus the family and staff making it twelve hungry mouths.
Individual Cottage Pie with Veggies
Guests and Pimps
Besides the usual boring admin stuff that goes with running a BnB and the enquiries which I am really thankful for; I had one guest asking at least a dozen questions about something so trivial that it's just not funny!
I sent extra photos and reassured the guest that they will NOT be sharing the bathroom with strangers!
I mean, this is not a caravan resort with shared ablutions!
But the WhatsApp questions continued till I lost my cool; and I must add it takes a lot for that to happen as I am VERY tolerant!
I told the guest they're welcome to cancel free of charge as they don't seem to be happy with the facilities and we want our guests to be 100% happy when they book with us.
Suddenly the questions stopped and the guest responded that they are very happy with what they've seen and read online and certainly do not want to cancel!
That wasted at least half an hour while my bread was proving and waiting to be baked!
The smell of that bread baking calmed my frayed nerves and we had a gorgeous loaf of hot homemade bread in time for lunch!
The other REALLY irritating request that I've become accustomed to, are those enquiring about hourly rates; and a comment about this very same issue by my friend @dandays, gave me the correct response to that! I give them a high hourly rate and tell them the minimum stay is 24 hours, so the cost ends up quite exorbitant and they hang up at the speed of lightning, never to bother me again!
Of course it's highly unlikely, but if they still wish to book, we will ALWAYS be full for those!
This is happening to guesthouses all over as the pimps or madams try to grow business in the suburbs!
Breakfast for our young guest the next morning was Sausages with Poached Eggs and lightly spiced Baked Beans; the plating made it look like a funny bearded face, but the guest has a good sense of humour!
Cooking in our house is quite complex these days, as Mom Lily doesn't eat meat, the son is trying to shed a couple of pounds, and some guests have all kinds of quirks, but this week's guest fortunately eats anything and everything, and was very appreciative of his meals.
Lemon & Herb Roast Chicken, Parmesan Potato Wedges, Butternut Mash & Baby Marrows.
The cottage guests who hail from India, have been living in our country for a while and the reason for their stay was to sort out their passport at the Indian Embassy, a lovely family who enjoyed the tranquility of Lily's Cottage with just the sound of birds and the occasional dog barking in the distance.
A Fright in the Middle of the Night
We woke up in the middle of the night with one loud bang somewhere outside, but then silence and thought something must have happened in the neighbour's property as they had been doing renovations. We duly fell asleep again.
The guests in the meanwhile were awakened with a loud bang on the cottage roof and assumed it was the monkeys we had been telling them about; but of course we know they don't move around at night.
Thankfully they don't know that so were not really alarmed and also fell asleep again!
As soon as the sun came up, we discovered what had happened.
The papaya tree had fallen over and hit the side of the cottage roof, fortunately not causing too much damage.
We were all shocked to see this, but it could have been much worse!
The guests said they can never find any green papayas in the Eastern Cape where they now live, so they managed to take a nice big haul of green papayas home which they will use to make a curry.
A delicious Green Papaya Curry I made a while back for #fruitsandveggiesmonday.
End of our Papayas
Sadly we have now lost both our giant Papaya Trees; only the male tree which doesn't bear any fruit is still alive, and I really think it's time we cut him down before he also falls over and causes bigger damage.
As my fellow South African @joanstewart said, do not put off what needs to be done as you never know what tomorrow brings!
Friday was totally hectic as the tree had to be removed by our able and skilled gardener who usually helps out as it's all hands on deck when we have two changeovers in one day; sanitizing on top of normal cleaning really takes time and effort!
Hubby had to go to work, yep, working on a two month engineering contract at such a ripe old age so he was also out of the equation!
Calling this Friday an exhausting day, is an understatement!
Ants the Root Cause
On inspection we discovered the reason for the demise of this massive tree that still looked so strong and healthy on the outside; ants had been eating away at the base of the stump and the continuous rain which softened the ground was the final blow for our tree.
Sadly the birds and the monkeys no longer have a supply of Papayas, with some birds acting quite strangely throughout the day; these two little doves on the roof were most perturbed, looked like they were having a discussion about what could have happened to their tree!
No more of this:
This is all we're left with!
So guys and dolls, don't let the small things eat away at you, rather deal with it and bury it forever as you don't want to fall like this beautiful Papaya Tree!
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Original Content by @lizelle
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