Author: doug

Pruning trees

Until we moved to Uruguay, I thought all trees sort of got along. Then I noticed the small pear tree in the front yard had branches growing toward the neighbor’s bushes, then reversing course and curving in the opposite direction (photo except I gave up on it and removed it recently).

Likewise the lemon tree in the backyard apparently doesn’t like the pine (look closely). And the entire anacahuita to its left is leaning away from the lemon tree.

So I decided to remove the pine branch infringing on the lemon tree’s space, but spotted a nest. It’s the middle of winter, so no chance there would be birds in it, but got out the taller ladder to be sure.

This is the nest.

Lots of wind recently, and this morning I noticed another nest in the grass.

The pine tree provides shade, which is good, but I had thought about cutting several meters off the top. Didn’t do it mostly because it wold be very messy, given pine sap. However, this past year I have become aware of how birds just love its dense foliage. I won’t be removing more than necessary.

A temporary fix

A couple nights ago, I pulled on the ball chain cord to turn on my homemade kitchen light fixture, and instead of the light coming on, the cord pulled out of the switch. A quick look demonstrated that it could not be repaired. Yesterday – Saturday – after dog walking and errands, I remembered and ran up the road to the electrical store. Which, despite being open on Saturday afternoons, had closed 45 minutes before.

My simple solution was a plastic bag clip left behind by friends who moved away two years ago, which holds the two wires for the switch together.

Note I said simple. I did not say easy. Those are, in fact, not the wires from the switch. I had to remove the entire fixture (all the connections are on the top, out of sight), rewire it hot (I needed the other ceiling light to see, since it was after 5:00 and we’re one day away from the winter solstice here, light was fading fast), and reinstall it.

I can’t complain about the switch. It has served us well for over ten years. And I’ll get some new plastic channel for the wires; the old one was falling down. But now I am starting to think I should design and build a new light fixture. Maybe that’s just an excuse to have fun with dangerous power tools? We’ll see.