All you need is love and a grass roof

Since the beginning, I'm not talking surfing here, I mean since people stopped living in caves, and started making shelters for themselves (that they could put where ever they wanted), grass and wood have been the go-to, in terms of building materials. A cave is all very well, but it is kind of static and you basically have to take what you can get.

Building your own house, on the other hand, out of what nature has provided, is pretty cool. Now that I’m thinking differently, the essential ingredient is a roof over your head. The rest is to keep out; the wind, unwelcome guests (who might be thieves) and wild animals, if there are any still around. This is my view, that I’m sharing with Catherine, who thinks we could up our game in the windows and doors department.

It has crossed my mind that the traditional huts around Zimbabwe, and Africa in general, have "solid" mud walls with no windows at all. I’m thinking this must have been due to the wild animals, that were wondering around after dark. Since they are no longer around, we don’t have to follow that kind of thinking. The same can't be said for the unwelcome guests, but I'm glossing over that point because, by now, just getting the roof done in time, looks like a close thing. The defining feature of a house is it's roof, if you don't have a roof, you definitely don't have a house.

Being close to outside in a benign climate like Zimbabwe, at the end of winter, is the ideal. And when I say winter, it isn't really winter by Northern Hemisphere standards, not by a long shot. Of course, when the heavy rains come, it might be a different story, but then we could migrate back to drier climes and a house, with doors and windows. That is the whole point of this migration thing, that has been going on, since the beginning.

I read the other day about a Buzzard bird that flies from South Africa, all the way up to the source of the Nile, then up the Nile, over Turkey and then across Europe. Arriving in Finland, just in time for the brief summer. Then it flies all the way back again. Why? Because that’s what they have been doing since they can remember. They just do it and it works, and besides just think how much they get to see on a trip like that ?

We are going back to our roots, and that means beautiful, golden yellow, grass .

The grass has been procured, from the grass cutters of Nkomo Barricks, and arrives in a large truck, to be dumped at the bottom of the hill, ready for Freddie and his team to ferry it up to the tree house. As soon as the truck has left, Gibson informs us that all the grass has to be carried up the hill, before nightfall.

The reason is ANTS. According to him, the ants have already got wind of the fact that the grass has arrived, and they are warming up to devour it faster than they ate my floorboards. What I’m wondering is why carrying it all up the hill is going to throw them off the scent, considering the fact that it was up the hill, that they ate my floorboards.

My conclusion is the real reason might be that any grass that is left behind, he will have to carry up the hill himself, the next day, without the assistance of Freddie and his team, me included.

Humans are at their best when they are engaged in a group activity, that everyone has agreed is a good idea. Even if it's a good idea, for different reasons, in different individual's minds. As long as everyone agrees on it being a good idea, then everyone has a sense of purpose and everyone is caught up in the energy of the moment. A sporting event is a good example of this, although then there are two sides and one of them ends up a bit disappointed, at the end.

In this case, even if the majority of us are driven by getting the job done and getting paid. We also have the thought of the ants, real or imaginary, somehow they also add to the energy. And then there is also a spirit of kindness and a willingness to help, because I need a house for my family.

By the time the sun is dipping towards the horizon, Freddie is on the last load, and I am another step closer to getting a roof on the tree house, before the arrival of Catherine and the children.