For the handyman it could be an “S”bend with a “kink” in it or it could be “Skin” spelt incorrectly after a boy who has copied the word “SKIN” from a Word Building PACE is distracted by a Ferrari which has just screamed up the road on a trip to Knysna from Cape Town. The distracted scholar hears the ssssSSSSS of the tyres on the tar, the KKKKK of the Afrikaans pupil next door trying to say “kyk!” without being caught and then the “INK” sound as the driver slams the Ferrari into “Sport Mode” to get to his destination faster than expected. It may also be the way a person with a “lisp” says “Kink”

My first experience with this “word” happened when I was a young girl of about 14. My dad had ordered this wooden box to build a pigeon loft. The day came when we had to move it off the polished verandah floor, (yes, we did polish our floors in those days) and move it onto the concrete slab he had cast the week before as the floor for the loft. We managed with a few helping hands to lift the box up, and to our amazement this huge lizard came sliding out. When I say sliding, I mean he was sliding. His little feet couldn’t get traction in order for him to run away from us, which made him an easy target to be caught. Of course, as things would happen, I made the attempt to pick him up, and what a shock I got for my efforts. The little critter politely turned around and bit me on my thumb. Did I scream, and when I think of it now, it still gives me what the Afrikaans people would say …. “ ’n Lekker gril”. I flicked that lizard off so quickly, and vowed never to pick one up again.

Now this is where the word “skink” comes in.

The word Skink is a noun and means …Any of numerous smooth shiny lizards of the family Scincidae, having a cylindrical body and small or rudimentary legs and living chiefly in temperate and tropical regions.

Who would have thought that  34 years later a lizard(skink) would make headline news again, and to make it even more interesting, it is right here in Heidelberg, on the grounds of our wonderful school. Lee, our Administrator, has over the past few months been giving a lizard(skink) water to drink by the aloes outside the Admin office. Lizzie or Akkedis, we aren’t sure if it’s a male or female, comes regularly to drink water out of a lid that Lee holds for it. It has become so tame, that Lee is able to touch it while it drinks. Adriaan Fourie, a Grade 5 pupil who is also our local Pet Detective has been threatened with detention if he so much as dares to take it home with him to add to his collection of reptiles at home.

Next time you are at the office, ask Lee to demonstrate to you what this little thing does. Preferrably on a hot day. You will be amazed to see how tame it is.

The first evening was spent sleeping in a shed next to the railway line on the farm of Ena Gillomee and her husband.  The shed, comprising of all their farm equipment, proved to be a wonderful haven from the cold outside.  Around the campfire, many funny stories were told and the braai was well enjoyed by all.

The following morning saw the men walking past some beautiful scenery and a couple of game farms.  Who knew that there were emus in the area? Well, there are, and if you’d like to see some, come with us next year. 

If you are wondering where the train was, well, he went past earlier on, which left the whole track to them.

asdf;lkjasdfl;kj….  This is “ouch!” for blisters in Christian language, as we heard all about it when we picked the hikers up in Riversdale to bring them back home.  Thank goodness there was a Rugby match on afterwards, so they could all rest their legs.

Well done to all who completed the entire walk, especially Pietie, who was our youngest walker.  The walk was about 38km in total.

Wednesday of last week I was frantically summoned to the Admin office to come and rescue the staff from a creature out of “hell”. I arrived to find both the Administrators doors closed, with Lee inside his office, (we never knew Lee was so nervous of wild animals, especially bats) andMiss Eleanor hopping around as she avoided being “attacked” by the bat. To get to the point, the bat became a topic of discussion as we allowed the children to come and view this beautiful little creature dangling from the ceiling in the kitchen area. I am still trying to discover what type of bat it is, and will keep you posted as soon as I find out. We eventually caught the little thing and released him/her into the Paperbark tree outside the office. This action created even more of a concern for the the other feathered flying species, commonly called a Sparrow. The sparrow chirped and chirped and tried to get the bats attention, but to no avail. Maybe this would help you understand why I saw this to be so comical…Sparrow to bat: Fancy going out for a bite tonight? Bat: No thanks, I think I’ll just hang around.

Here are a few jokes to add a little humour to the event that took place here last week.

What did the baby mouse say when he saw a bat for the first time?
Mummy, I’ve just seen an angel.

What do bats do at night? ……. Aerobatics.

Here is a very interesting article to read which has been taken off the internet to enlighten you about bats…..

Bats of the Western Cape  Bat Basics
Bats belong to the order of mammals called Chiroptera, which means “hand-wing”. There are more than 900 species of bats around the world, of which 53 are found in South Africa. Of these, at least 12 are found in the Western Cape.

Long associated with witches and vampires, many species of bats are now threatened with extinction, mainly because of people’s negative attitudes towards bats. 

Bats are protected by law.

There are two groups of bats, both of which play extremely important roles in many ecosystems:

Insect-eating bats are nature’s pesticides. 
Fruit bats pollinate many plants. 

1. INSECT-EATING or MICRO-BATS:

They are smaller than fruit bats. 
They have tiny eyes and rely mainly on echolocation or sonar to navigate and to find their prey. 
They are extremely effective at pest-control and are therefore very useful to crop farmers. 
Most microbats feed on insects, but some eat frogs, fish or small rodents. 
Some bats, such as the Egyptian slit-faced bat have such excellent hearing that they can hear the wing-beats of the insects on which they feed, and use this to home in on their prey! 
Insect-eating bats help to control mosquitoes and therefore malaria. 

DID YOU KNOW? 
Insect bats should be welcome guests in your garden – a colony of 300 000 long-fingered bats in the De Hoop Nature Reserve consumes an estimated 100 tonnes of insects per year!

2. FRUIT-EATING OR MEGA-BATS:

They are larger than the microbats and have big eyes and long, doglike muzzles (hence their common name “flying foxes”). 
Most fruit bats do not echolocate, but use their excellent senses of sight and smell to find the nectar & fruit on which they feed. 
More than 300 plants and 400 economically important products require fruit bats for pollination and/or seed dispersal, e.g. the baobab tree, mangoes, paw paws, guavas, bananas, figs and the tequila cactus! 

DID YOU KNOW? 
Fruit bats are essential for regeneration of forests. Without bats to disperse seeds, disturbed forest cannot recover!
Which bats occur in the Western Cape?
At least 12 bat species occur in the Western Cape. Some of the more common ones are: 

Cape Serotine Bat                       (Eptesicus capensis) 
Egyptian Free-tailed Bat              (Tadarida aegyptiacus)) 
Egyptian Fruit Bat                        (Rousettus aegyptiacus) 
Egyptian Slit-Faced Bat               (Nycteris thebaica) 
Schreiber’s Long-Fingered Bat   (Miniopterus schreibersii) 
Geoffroy’s horseshoe Bat            (Rhinolophus clivosus) 
Cape horseshoe Bat                    (Rhinolophus capensis)

True or False?
Bats are blind – FALSE: All bats have eyes, and no bats are blind. Fruit bats need excellent sight to fly at night and to find the fruit on which they feed. 
Bats are dirty and spread disease – FALSE: Bats are very clean – they groom themselves after every meal. They are less likely than most animals to spread disease. 
All bats drink blood – FALSE: Only the Vampire Bats found in South America feed on blood. 
Bats get tangled in your hair – FALSE: Bats are excellent navigators and fliers. Their echolocation or sonar is so accurate that they are unlikely even to touch you as they fly past, let alone get tangled in your hair. 
Bats are dangerous & a nuisance to farmers – FALSE: Bats are harmless to people, and useful to farmers. Insect bats are the most important predators of nocturnal insect pests. Fruit bats consume over-ripe fruits left after harvesting, preventing them from rotting & harbouring fruit fly maggots. And, bat droppings (guano) make excellent fertiliser! 

Bats are essential to a healthy ecosystem – TRUE: A healthy bat community indicates a healthy planet! 

Bat problems?
Human encroachment has destroyed many natural bat roosting sites. However, some species e.g. the Egyptian free-tailed bat and the Cape serotine bat have adapted by roosting in human structures (e.g. roofs, bridges, old wells, disused mines).

Bats pose no serious health risks to people.

• As the above picture of the Zimbabwe Flag indicates the flag has:
  • seven equal horizontal bands of green, yellow, red, black, red, yellow, and green
  • a white isosceles triangle edged in black with its base on the hoist side
• According to Ancient and Heraldic traditions much symbolism is associated with colors. The colors on the Zimbabwe flag represent the following:
  • Yellow – mineral wealth
  • White – peace and honesty
  • Red – blood shed to achieve independence, hardiness, bravery, strength & valour
  • Black – stands for the native people
  • Green – the land and agriculture, hope, joy and love and in many cultures have a sacred significance

It was a perfect day for travel and very soon we arrived at our destination. We had lunch on the side of the road which was most enjoyable, and then we had something to drink at the local coffee shop. Outside the coffee shop, we saw this huge elephant sculpture which had been made by a very creative sculptor. He definitely is into “heavy metal”, much to Samantha’s delight.

The elephant has been constructed from all sorts of metal objects, ranging from camshafts, bicycle gears, spades, old balustrade rails,  hedge clippers and steering wheels from tractors. Anyway, if you look carefully at the photo, you will find more than I can mention. From there we departed, much to Clarises disgust, as she was left behind, on purpose, under the instruction from her sister Karen. The look on Clarises face when she came out the coffee shop would have made a perfect picture for the lost and found column in the local newspaper.

From Ladismith, we then …. ( oh yes, we did pick Clarise up to carry on with the journey) went on to Barrydale to show Jean-Daniel what lustre on a rock looks like. It seems the trip got to Jean-Daniel a bit, as he demonstrated to us how a cow goes ….maaaaaaaa and a sheep goes ….. mooooooooooo. We all had a good laugh. Through the Tradouw Pass we came across a big troop of baboons which we tried to photograph. They are definitely not related to the Cape Point baboons, as these ones ran away when we stopped.

We arrived home on time, as all good students should to be picked up by the respective parents. Well done to the Senior class on their good performance for this term, and we look forward to next terms outing. Yihaaaah!!!!!

Well, this week we thought we would add a twist to the daily routine, and ask the children to demerit us staff members, so we can see where our shortcomings are. And what an interesting day it proved to be. Some of the comments ranged from ……”This must be the best day of my life” to …… “Really, I can’t believe we are being given this opportunity.” 

A few teachers commented on some of the pupils armed with pens in their socks, the little “yellow” thingy’s in their hands, walking around looking for an unsuspecting “customer”. I myself received one for wearing nail polish on my toes. It proved to be a bit weird, considering I had closed shoes on, so how did they know I had my toenails painted. Some children have been blessed with a wonderful gift of discernment. Thank you Jesus, it’s finally paying off, all these prayers that are going out to the children.

Anyway, at the end of the day, the little “yellow” thingy’s were collected and the comments tallied up to see what had transpired during class time and break time. I must say, it was very interesting to say the least. Well done children, the matter will be seen to, the teachers given their detention slips, to BE SIGNED BY THEIR PARENTS and returned the next day for action to be taken.

For those who aren’t to sure what I have been talking about, the little “yellow” thingy is a …… Demerit slip.

On the positive side, many merits were also handed out. The experiment proved to be most rewarding and thought provoking. It brought to mind this scripture ……