The laugh is on me!

Remember the lines of an old song "leaving on a night train...?"   Well, we are not leaving on a night train and may not be leaving at all.  Our next projected date is coming up soon.  We have boarding passes already from Cebu Pacific airlines to leave Dumaguete, Philippines on Monday morning, June 8th.   But, that doesn't mean we won't get a cancellation notice on Sunday.    Ron had to check that we are here on business (which we are to see the safe house being built on the Casa Esperanza of Angels' orphanage property).   No pleasure passengers can fly just yet.    We have to have a health certificate within 24 hours of flight so Gigi is checking with a cousin's wife who is a nurse about getting this paper for us.

Ronald sent a message last night that (after weeks of no cases here) there are 17 new cases of the virus on Negros Oriental.  He suspects they are fishermen returning home but one is an 11-year old girl.   The patients are supposedly "contained" but with this scare, the airlines may be shut down, as well as the entire island.    We are hoping this is not the case and we can leave on Monday.

Since we arrived, I have been fascinated with a sound I hear every night at 5:30.    As we are preparing dinner, this "creature" starts making a sound that I describe as Uh Oh but sometimes the Uh gets stuck and it is Uh Uh Uh with a deep throated growling.    It is coming from a nearby tree or top of the storage room shed at the back porch.  You can set your clock by the first time you hear it.  It will be 5:30 p.m.  I thought it was a large bird that was coming in to roost and I checked the internet and listened to birds of the Philippines on YouTube and came up with nothing. I asked Ronald and Gigi and they had no idea what it was but last week they delivered our groceries about 5:00 p.m.   While we were in the dining room, my friend checked in with the Uh Oh. Ronald and Gigi started laughing.

My elusive friend is the Gecko Tuko (Americans spell it Tokay).
I've never seen one and after seeing the pictures and listening to it on YouTube, I can verify that this is my friend but I am happy for him to stay hidden under the edge of the roof of the storage shed.  They are fascinating creatures but I don't want him for a pet.  Geckos can be small as we have on the walls in the house but this kind can grow quite large.   He is so loud, I think our friend is large because he makes his presence known with much growling and crooking.    The internet says the sound is To-Kay To-Kay and that's where they get their name.   Doesn't sound quite like that to me.   According to what I've read, they hang on to trees or things and sleep during the day.  They can be heard throughout the night hours.  We have heard him as early as 5 a.m. but not after that during the daytime.   They have no eye lids so they lick their eyes with their long tongues to keep them moist.    Their eyes are 350 times more sensitive to light than ours.   They can drop off their tail if they feel threatened and it will continue to wiggle around to distract an enemy.   The tails stores fat but he can grow it back if it falls off.   They can live a long time.   As you can see, I'm getting a little bored of staying in when I am fascinated about reading about geckos.  

I have work to do to help secure sponsors for the new children arriving at Casa Esperanza of Angels.  I am waiting to get information about two little girls who are in danger where they are living and may arrive this morning to live at the orphanage.   They are 4 and 6 years of age so the change may be difficult for these little girls.   All the rest of their children have adjusted quickly and are very happy.

I will post again when I have news or more time.   Maybe my next post will be that we have arrived safely in the U.S.   But, don't count on it.  In the meantime, I'll look forward to 5:30 p.m. to go talk to my gecko friend.

God bless you all.