Fall is in the air...

...and that means many different things here: mice are starting to come in, apples and other fruits are coming into season and random road closures are starting.

Other townhouses have reported problems with mice in the past. Some seem to have a perpetual problem, others only on occasion. We had never seen evidence of mice until recently. They apprently got very bold during the feline interregnum. We've seen some mouse droppings, heard them in the walls and seen them, too. The other day, one of them chewed through a water hose on the dishwasher. So far, Lawaş (Lavash) has caught two. Karen found one on the trashcan and escorted it out, and I saw one that escaped back into the woodwork. When Lawaş catches a mouse, she picks it up in her mouth and trots around with it, then will put it down and retrap it, just like, well, a cat playing with a mouse. So far, we've managed to take the mice Lawaş has caught before she finishes them off and release them into the wild of the compound golf course.

Fruits are really coming into season now. The pears are fantastic--which is great because Neil will just devour pears when he gets them. Apples are just coming into season, too, with some pretty small, but very tasty ones just now appearing in the market. There are also some large pomegranates, but I think those are from Iran or Turkey--it's a little early yet for Turkmen pomegranate, but we're definitely looking forward to it.

Finally, as we get closer to the end of October and Turkemenistan's Independence Day holiday, random road closures will become more common. They tend to close of roads with big white fences if they're doing construction projects. When you see these fences, you know that route will be closed for a while. Currently, two of the four main north-south roads (to get from the housing compound to the Embassy) are closed with said white fences. All the other roads can be closed at a moment's notice, of course, if the President wants to go somewhere. The problem is, they usually start to close the roads along his route about an hour or more before he gets on the road. This is apparently to ensure that absolutely no one is visible when he is driving. Seriously--the cops get very agitated if you are visible along the route, even if you're just walking. People have been told to hide behind trees when the President's care comes by. So, from here until the end of October, it will be fun trying to get to and from home and work without having to go via too circuitous a route.