July 6
Because Gimli has gotten quite bored just playing the games he has on his iPad (there is no internet here, so he can't download any new ones), Fíli and Kíli are teaching him how to play chess! It is just a small chessboard, really – one of those magnetic travel games, and I didn't even know Fíli had it in amongst his clothes before he pulled it out today. Well, Gimli wasn't keen on the whole thing at first; but then Kíli explained to him that it is a game of war, where the object is to protect your king while capturing the other player's king, and now Gimli is quite enthusiastic about it! Unfortunately, so is Frodo, who constantly wants to steal the pieces off of the board while they are playing!
But anyway, Gimli got startled by a cicada that got into the trailer last night. I had to explain that it didn't want to eat him, just to keep him awake. He did eventually settle down to sleep on his table-bed, but he had his head covered with a blanket and I am sure he got quite hot and sweaty under there. And unfortunately the air conditioner doesn't work quite as well as it should, since we are in what amounts to a big metal box in the sun, and there is no shade around. Still, it is better than no air conditioning, at all.
On the subject of sleeping, for some reason the cat has begun settling in with me and Thorin at night! He actually seems to be warming up to me a bit, and he tends to sleep at my feet far more often than at Thorin's. It does make it hard to get comfortable sometimes, though, because he is quite heavy and wants to lay across my legs; and on top of that, he also sometimes wakes me up in the middle of the night by either tickling my nose with his tail or outright sitting on my head! So, now that I think about it, perhaps his goal is just to keep me from sleeping well.
And, still talking about animals, Frodo has fallen in love with the dachshund (I had to look up how to spell that!) that the old lady in the next trailer over owns. He plays with the dog all the time, and, well... the poor animal doesn't get as much exercise as she should, since the lady can't walk very well because of her creaky joints. Goodness, is that dog chubby – but so playful!