Dusty Days and a Pregnant Cat

Here's something you may not know about Guatemala: sandstorms in the Sahara Desert -- yes, in Africa -- blow all the way across the ocean and dump sand on us here! Wild, eh?
It is technically rainy season here, but we've had an early canicula, which is the term for a hot, dry stretch in the middle of rainy season. It's been super nice, but it also came with some high winds and the polvo del Sahara.

Saharan dust making the volcanoes at Lake Atitlan all hazy.

The local newspapers and news stations put out warnings when the dust gets bad. It can be hazardous to asthmas sufferers. Here is an article (in Spanish, of course) from Prensa Libra about the Saharan Dust in Guatemala. (Hint: if you're using Chrome as your browsers, you can right-click the text and choose "translate to English".)

I watched the two-minute video below from NASA and it says the Saharan dust is important because it brings phosphorus to the rainforest. Pretty cool!

Revue Magazine has a neat article about the canicula here if you'd like to learn more about that. (In English.) 

I have to restate though that the weather is 99.9% super nice here all the time. I think I may have said this before, but being a Canadian, weather is such an important thing in my life. It still baffles me that I can wear shorts and t-shirts and sandals YEAR ROUND. Time stands still because there are not winters to mark the years. It's always summer! 

Speaking of summer, here's a picture of my newest foster cat, who I named Summer! She is such a sweet girl. And she's pregnant! She is due is maybe two weeks or so. The poor thing has to stay cooped up in my bedroom because she's not vaccinated and can't get vaccinated until after her kittens are born and weaned. So she can't interact with my other cats. I will for sure update when she has her babies! I've had a lot of cats in my life but never a pregnant one because they've all been sterilized. Summer will have her kitty-babies and then get fixed after that and be adopted out to a loving family. 

Summer, my foster kitty, who is gonna have kitty-babies! Yes, she has something wrong with her left eye as well, but we can't do anything about it until after the kittens are weaned.

To those who are enjoying my webcam, sorry that it keeps falling over! Like I said, the winds have been high and they keep knocking the camera pole askew. I have made a wooden brace for the cam but have yet to get up there and attach it. Stay tuned! 😊