My iPhone is in a bag of rice.

[Bonnie and Kona]

My husband is in Ethiopia. He has been instrumental in getting a well drilled in a small village about four hours south of Addis Ababa. I encouraged him to go on this trip with me six years ago, and he has gone back every year since. He has the expertise to help this group of villagers. They live in small round dung and straw huts. They had to walk 3 hours a day to get water. Now they have a well and a large garden watered by drip irrigation at the school that an Ethiopian charitable organization built. This year he is hoping to get some of the villagers to put gardens next to their huts using a bucket-fed drip irrigation system.

Since DH is the major dog exerciser here, running them to the park for a romp and back home every morning, my DD and I are in big trouble. Both dogs require lots of exercise. Since they are 85 and 70 pounds, a little bit of fetch in our back yard doesn't do it. Owen is only one year old and a ball of rocket-fueled energy. In my DH's absence, DD and I have taken the boys to a school field a few evenings and to a dog park that is open from 8-10 am. It's hardly scratching the surface of their exercise needs. Last night my big boy just stood and stared at me over and over. When I told him "No, Kona" he moved over to my DD and stared at her. The little one was just bouncing off the walls doing everything from zoomies to biting on Kona.

In a moment of desperation, my DD and I loaded the doodles into the car and headed to an unlit elementary school with a huge field. To exercise the dogs my DD stands at one end of the field, and I run to the other end yelling, "Let's go! Come on, let's go!" They race past me. Then my DD calls them (with treats in her hand) and they race back to her. I have no treats so I then run again calling them and they race to me. This works pretty well until you factor in that in a different area of the field is an unfriendly group of dog owners with their dogs. I think if it were lights around the field they might be friendlier but in the pitch dark, not so much. Owen hears a dog bark and high-tails it over to the group of dogs and owners. If someone is barking it must be a party, right? This happens several times. Grumbling from the cranky dog owner convinces me we should corrale the doods and head for home. When we get settled in the car, I discover that I have dropped my iPhone somewhere in this giant field. We lock the doors of the car and my DD and I head back to the field. She calls my phone repeatedly. I am positive it is on silent. We search and search.  The other dogs have all gone home. We decide it is hopeless.

This morning, at what we thought would be the crack of dawn, we get up, feed the dogs and wait for first light. Dawn is no longer at 6:30, who knew? We decide to get coffee to kill time until dawn shows up. When we get to the field I have a plan to cover every square inch of the field, systematically walking back and forth until we find the phone. I spent much of my sleepless night devising this incredible and full-proof system. After walking the width of the field one time, we turn to head the other direction. There is the Phone! I immediately plunge it into a bag of rice to dry out since it was sitting in a thick layer of dew. Ecstatic we head home, load the doodles into the car and drive to the dog park to celebrate. Owen gets completely exhausted chasing after any dog that will play, and Kona has a pleasant saunter around the field. By the time we leave Owen is a chocolate colored doodle instead of cream but relaxed (we think). We get home, go inside and look out the window to see that Owen has black dirt up to his elbows from digging to China in the back corner of the yard.

I will find out at the crack of dawn if my phone still works giving it a full 24 hours in the bag of rice.

Good thing my DH returns tomorrow.

 

The rice worked perfectly. The phone is saved, and so is my bacon. (as in, You saved my bacon!)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Yay! about the phone.  My son need to know that once and didn't.

[Bonnie and Kona]

@Lisa, I can tell you that when I come home from Ethiopia, my daughter says she never sees me happier. That is true of DH also. He is full of wonderful stories of hope. It is truly a gift. The rice worked perfectly!

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

First let me say that what your DH is doing and also you, must be so fulfilling.The trips must bring him great joy as clearly he must be seeing the lives of these people change dramatically. 

Second, great story telling, I can imagine myself in that very same position from your descriptions. I hope the rice bag worked and all is well.

[Bonnie and Kona]

@Mimi, There is nothing like going to a third world country to give you a fresh perspective on what we think we need. Mike told us today that there is one cook that prepares two meals a day for 400 children with no refrigerator or running water. Oh and her "kitchen" is in a lean to. She puts a 1X6 board on her lap as a cutting board. There is no counter top, no table, nothing. It blows my mind.

I learned about the rice trick from my daughter-in-law when she dropped her iPhone in a swimming pool. I looked on the internet to see if there was a better solution. Nope, turn off the phone and leave it in a closed container filled with rice to dry it out. I left it in the rice for 18 hours. The suggest 24 if actually drop it in water. I just found mine laying in heavy dew.

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

wow..who knew you could put a phone in a bag of rice and it would dry out. I wonder if I sit in a tub of rice I can lose some weight since we are mostly water..just kidding. How wonderful that your husband takes time out of his life to help others.  I am so spoiled feeling sorry for my self as I sit in a two bedroom rental waiting for our house to be finished. I needed to read something like this to realize how truely fortunate I am. blessing to your family.

[Bonnie and Kona]

@Sherri, Yes what he does is amazing. He is a civil/sanitary engineer so really well equipped to address some of their issues. The people live in dung and straw huts about 8 or 10 feet in diameter for families of 8-12. The well water makes a huge difference in their lives in the time saved each day, but more than that just having more water to drink and even use for cleanliness (of course we doubt they wash much). It is such joy to know their quality of life is so much improved. God is so good.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Glad the phone works!

[Bonnie and Kona]

@Sue Z... Apple people are brilliant. Of course there is an ap for finding your phone. So cool. Thank you.

[Sue Z. + Finley]

You should think about downloading the app "Find IPhone". I think it works even if the phone is turned off. It makes a very loud sound so you should be able to locate the phone. I hope this helps!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

That's quite the story Bonnie! I'm glad it has worked out in the end. What your husband does in Ethiopia is amazing!