If a tree falls…

Long expected, this huge dead tree went down in a windstorm last week, taking with it a parrot nest. I saw one dead parrot, and of course there could be several more.

The tree had a double trunk. One side fell on one side of the power pole, and one side on the other. But the power line was still there! How was that possible?

It took us an embarrassingly long time to figure out that the power company had already been out to repair the line: note the shiny new clamps on the darker pole….

Chimney cleaning

A job I am happy not to do myself. Removing the “sombrero” to clean the chimney from the top down. The other guy removes the “ceiling” of the wood stove and pulls the wire brush down. Unlike the nearby wood stove company whose owner died a little over a year ago, these guys (Tatton) insist it has to be done this way. How they navigate the roof tiles without breaking them remains a mystery to me.

Cassettes!

You may recall that I don’t actively monitor our “neighborhood watch” Whatsapp group. But when I did, I saw that someone said he had gotten a cassette player, but didn’t know if it worked because he didn’t have a cassette to test it.

Which reminded me of the silliest thing Syd brought to Uruguay 15 years ago (we all have one, or maybe a list of silly things): cassettes, probably 200 of them, never played since, as far as I know. So I arranged for them to find a new home! And a short while later received from the new owner a short video of his new music library in action.