This actually appeared two nights ago; bumped because of wanting to record the first frost of the year. If ever a cloud looked like a creature with a purpose, this would be it.
The pink caterpillar cloud
Author: doug
First frost 2017
Last year it was on June 11th. As usual, after a clear night, and bright sun made quick work of it.
And yes, I did by mistake leave the car windows down last night.
Budweiser beer in Uruguay
I am neither a connoisseur nor regular consumer of beer, though I like it. In my callow (whatever that means) youth , I consumed various American too-cold soda-water-fizzy beers. I remember Pabst and Schlitz being shit, and maybe I favored Budweiser because my father did, and maybe settled on Michelob as the “good stuff” (cool bottles).
Fast forward, and here in 2017 the shit Budweiser from the U.S. (not the supreme Budweiser Budvar) is on display in Tienda Inglesa.
A standard six-pack of 12 ounce (.33 l) bottles rings up at just about USD 10.
A few meters away you can buy a 3-pack of Zillertal (.97 l each).
Almost 50% more of a superior beer for a peso more.
So who would want Budweiser? Maybe someone who thinks it’s a bargain because they advertise it in shopping points?
My family, back a ways
The Mayflower connection
General Society of Mayflower Descendants
Founded 1897
Anyone who arrived in Plymouth as a passenger on the Mayflower is considered a Pilgrim, with no distinction being made on the basis of their original purposes for making the voyage. Proven lineage from a passenger, approved by a Historian General, qualifies one to be a member of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. – source
I don’t qualify.
However:
You’ve probably already guessed: Sarah Wardell, one of my 2,048 9th-great-grandparents, was of the family that owned the ship. Time for a
“General Society of Mayflower Owners” — ?
Oh, but it gets better:
Did you know that the Salem Witch Hunt victims included men? Me neither. And there he is, one of my 2,048 9th-great-grandparents.
His son moved to Connecticut in 1735, where I was born over two centuries later.
Special thanks to Charles, husband of one of my two nieces, both named Amanda.
More 9s and 4s!
As anyone who has followed this blog or a while will recognize, this is not a new subject.
Firewood!
High on my priorities today: order firewood. We‘ve been burning leftovers, curupay scraps, and some of this load from a house I‘m looking after. Most of it is green, but there was some very dry pine as well.
The going price for red eucalyptus (considerably denser than white eucalyptus) appears to be 5,000 pesos per kilo. That’s up just a bit from 3,000 pesos three years ago!
First place I went, I could feel the humidity with my hand (I hadn’t brought the meter). They told me it was six months old — which of course means pretty useless right now. The second place said theirs was seven months old, no better. I took my meter to the third place, and immediately ordered. The weather has been dry for a while, probably won’t be after a few more days, so perfect time to order. I told them to deliver after 4:00, and returned at 3:58 to find the truck already there, the message obviously not having been forwarded. No biggie; grabbed my gloves and helped the two muchachos stack it.
The round stuff on the right was already there, but wow! Compare this to the “ton” delivered in July 2013: look at the height above the little stool in the center.
I’ll be buying from the Esso station in Las Toscas in the future!
Beach walk
From a week or so ago: first time on the beach in a while.
Affectionate messages in the sand.
Sand mushrooms. Same time and place as last year.
And pretty resilient — this just after Benji ran into them.
Barbershop decor
Last time I had a haircut — many months ago — it was by the Uruguayan husband of a German woman Katerina, who has a successful shop in Atlántida (calle 1 y Ciudad de Montevideo). He did a very nice job, and I was glad to make my (overdue) return.
But this time, the girly space had expanded to an additional room on the side, and he was waiting in what was clearly the man cave barbershop.
This is the view from the chair. You’ve got to admit it’s awesome!
What you pay for
I have posted a few times about cheap Chinese products. One of my recent free-international-shipping purchases was a replacement for a 4-port USB hub that was compact, highly-rated on Amazon, and, for whatever reason, disappeared.
After a week, its status.
Obviously a quality-control reject, it dropped connections. Fortunately, during its brief tenure, I did not rely on it for external drives, just keyboard and mouse.
So it’s a complete write-off, my investment of USD 0.99, delivered from China for free.
Yes, we have no fish
In which a visit to the local fishmonger summons Schrödinger’s ghost.
