Author: doug

ABC…

I pulled into the supermarket parking lot just after this car. A guy got out with his young daughter, and I complimented him on his perfect license plate ID.

He was delighted, and laughed loudly.

“33” is a big thing in Uruguay, as it is in Masonry. I’m sure there’s no connection…suuuure.

A few blocks from home, waiting to cross the street, I had to wait for a passing car with the license plate ABC 2133. Glitch in the Matrix? On the other hand, it’s not the first license plate strangeness I’ve had here.

The scanner

I almost never discard anything complex without trying to take it apart and learn something from it. Non-destructively, if possible.

When my 13-year-old scanner abruptly stopped working, I quickly discovered it would not be coming apart without a fight. There’s essentially nothing you couldn’t see just by looking through the glass, so no real surprises, other than the motor being remarkably small – barely wider than a pencil.

The main thing I learned, though, was that this was designed to NEVER be taken apart – the way the glass was sealed … and then it struck me: of course not. It was assembled in a dust-free environment and it was essential that no dust ever had a chance to get inside!

RIP Piedra Lisa

Piedra Lisa, once a night club. Incredible noise all night in the summer. After hours of ear-splitting sound, people would walk drunkenly through the streets at 6 AM, singing loudly and badly or simply shouting conversations because they could barely hear. Trash containers overturned, plastic cups everywhere, people passed out in the dunes.

It then became a cooperative restaurant that did not last long.

It’s a shame the local government should simply let it go to waste (though someone did remove glass).

But I don’t miss the night club.

34°46’48.94″S 55°45’8.73″W

Re-purposing gutters

Long ago, somebody gave me a couple of pieces of plastic gutter. Then at a job I supervised, a delivery included excess downspout. So I bought a few more pieces and put a gutter on our barbacoa.

The problem is, I didn’t do a very good job and the fascia board was not in good shape.

As you can see.

I had another long, narrow board left over from a remodel, so I installed it. I have enough of the originals to rip a piece to fit the gap. The fascia boards should cover the rafter ends, but hey: not perfect, but not bad.

One of today’s projects was reinstalling the cutter as a planter. The 2% grade is probably overkill, but the way I’ve installed it with wire, that is easily adjustable. Note how the downspout is cut perfectly to rest on the tile zócalo. I did not cut any pipe. That just happened.

A visit from the neighbors’cat

The four month old Siamese from the minimercado next door (other side of wall) has become insoportable, according to Guillermina, the neighbor who runs it.

But we were delighted when it visited the other evening. The dogs were inside (needless to say), and the cat put its front paws on the low bay window sill to be nose to nose with Mocha the dog, who was puzzled, to say the least.

Nice to have cat energy around again. It’s been a few years.