2 wks and Counting

We visited our old friends the Slates in Lexington, MA this weekend and stayed overnight with our daughter Abby and son-in-law Chris in Cambridge. The Slates were there for us the last time we visited Africa...When in Liberia at the end of medical school, they (having a car) transported all our belongings from Washington Heights (where Columbia P&S medical school is)to Barbara's aunt and uncle's spacious home in Scarsdale. Having once lived in Washington Heights, Sydell and Alfred, Barbara's aunt and uncle, were careful to let nothing into their house, reserving space in the garage for our things and the critters they undoubtedly housed! When we returned, all was moved without incident but certainly with hitchhikers to our new home in Rosemont, PA, where I was to start my long relationship with Penn medicine. The Slates never let on that they must have fumigated their car on the way.
It's now 37 years later. On the way back to Maine, Barbara read to me from the Lonely Planet travelguide to Botswana, which primarily concerns safari travel. We will apparently be in the country when birdlife will be at its peak. An engaged and experienced birder might see up to 350 species in a 24 hour period! I guess one can apply one's OCD to any endeavor. Plantlife, at the end of the rainy season, will be "lush" (how lush can the Kalahari be?), which makes spotting animals more challenging. I'll leave this to the professionals. In any event, this will not be the time to take a "walk-about" as high grass can make critters, varmants, and predators all too available, if you get my drift. I think we'll stay in motor vehicles. This includes watercraft. The dugout caneoes featured on some "guided" trips may bring unsavory creatures (eg. crockediles and hippos) too close for comfort. This is why "zoom lenses" were invented!
My educational preparations go on. I finished "BLS" and am somewhere near the end of valvular heart disease. I thankfully found a recent grand rounds presentation on mitral regurgitation I gave, and downloaded it on my laptop. This will shorten the valve talk, as it is too long as it is, covering AS, AR, and MS/RHD.
We're still figuring out how to have ready access to cash. Redundancy seems to be the key. We'll have a Plus system credit card (they apparently don't deal with Cirrus), an AmEx card, and some traveler's checks. We've travelled enough to be secure enough. Tomorrow I start dealing with Anthem to see if we can arrange to take 3+ months worth of medications.