Author: doug

Architect advertising?

Waiting in line for the ATM the other day, I noticed something I’ve seen a couple times before: the architect’s name in metal on the side of a building (or house).

In this case the telecom building is a poster child for 1960s brutalist architecture, with the added twist of a 12 foot high north-facing glass facade. You can see dark transparent plastic has been applied and is now coming loose, and huge blinds to attempt to block the sun (being in the Southern Hemisphere, the sun is in the north). But basically what the architect has created is an enormous solar oven. And an ugly one at that.

Quite a legacy!

Cactus getting weird

My backyard cacti are getting weird on me. This was a piece that broke off in a windstorm. I stuck in the ground and it’s been growing happily since. Now it’s apparently decided it needs Mickey Mouse ears.

Meanwhile, the original, now 12 feet high, has decided to grow—what the hell?

Well, they are mescaline cacti.

Maybe just enjoying a little of their own medicine?

Window awning

Big-ass bandsaw blade. I had to go to the aserradero today for a piece of lumber, or else wait until they reopen on 10 January.

Later I saw a guy carrying it out, so my guess it’s going for sharpening while the place is closed.

My project is rebuilding a window awning bracket that rotted.

You can see the diagonal piece missing in the back. The board propping it up was one I made to hold up an avocado branch I thought might break under the weight of fruit. It was exactly the right height.

And the cutout I made for the branch was perfect as well. I love it when stuff like this happens.

Our new park

What was just a huge empty round grassy area has been planted over the years with a variety of trees, many of them identified with wooden signs. In the last year it got upgraded with an arbor with steel benches…every time I’m there I take the hanging trash bucket and empty it in nearby trash and recycle bins…and…

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…a play area with slide, swings, and seesaws. And it gets used!

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In the other direction, a family gathered in the shade of a tree, the father kicking a ball with his very young son.

And in the last couple days, in the shade of some anacahuita trees, a concrete picnic table and benches have appeared.