Author: doug

It’s time

Almost eight years! This blog has been real, it’s been fun … and yet after a certain point, not real fun. When your fascination runs out of steam, when there’s no more juice flowing, it’s not time to mourn, but to move on.

My Day in Uruguay

Some funny stuff,
some pretty pics,
some oddities.

Thanks for your attention!

Reviewing the stats, I found 1,218 posts listed, but only 1,217 published. Aha!

The digging dog

26 February 2018. This is from a month or so ago. Kiya, a dog obsessed with digging, makes a cave in the bank of the swimming hole (which at that point had no water). Benji looks on, and – are you ready for this? – there’s a third dog in there as well.

dog digging in sandy bank, Uruguay

As a closing comment, I think that image says it all.

Or nothing at all.

Perfect!

Enchufar redux

It’s been a long time since I introduced the subject of electrical outlets in Uruguay. A visit to the hospital reminded me of their wonderful weirdness here.

Shuko is common in Europe; “Inclinado” the standard in neighboring Argentina, and “Tres en linea,” my favorite, apparently the standard in Uruguay. But when your whole country is 3-1/2 million people, who – meaning people manufacturing electrical appliances for worldwide sales – particularly cares?

And of course, if you’re installing signs in Uruguay, who particularly cares that you glue the capital B to the wall upside and backwards?

Which perhaps has you thinking, I want to visit your wonderful little country. What should I do about my electrical needs?

The obvious answer is to throw your hands up in despair, and leave all your damned gadgets at home.

Or just stop by our place.

I probably have your needs covered.

Feu de paille

Not long ago, spam filters fingered a questionable blog comment, leaving me the decision rather than deleting it outright. Indeed, in the best tradition of junk mail, it was useless (promoting “health products” I think).

However, what caught my attention was the blog title: The Elementary School Experience in Uruguay. What could I have written about that?

Nothing, it turns out: linked to the then-latest blog post of an enthusiastic couple who had moved to Uruguay from California with their young children…

…which ended up being the last blog post of an enthusiastic couple who had moved to Uruguay from California with their young children…

…celebrated by their last meaningful Twitter post. Their Youtube documentation of the adventure lasted six weeks. Their Facebook page went cold in November 2017.

It’s going on ten years here for us: many people come and gone. This is not the only story without closure, nor the only fire that burned hot but briefly.

But what happens next in the story?

I almost wish I had a creative writing class. I would assign that, in the genre of your choice: crime, humor, sci-fi, romance…. But the assignment would consist of only the first paragraph of the rest of the story, starting with: It was late February when we noticed….

The receipt

This receipt struck me as colorful and unusual, so I put it aside, seeing the bar code. I assumed it was something promotional from Tienda Inglesa, where you have to scan the receipt to get little stamps or something. Currently I think they’re doing a trip to New York. Were those clouds in the design? Whatever, later, unpack groceries….

Later

Short answer: no. The new blue ink – hopefully less toxic – appears to be water soluble. And apparently something in my shopping bag was wet.

Oh well. It’s pretty, and mentally considerably less demanding than the thought of a (another) trip to New York.