When a piece of equipment dies, I always try to see if I can repair it, and if not, disassemble it as thoroughly as possible. We got this heater second-hand a few years ago, and I had the idea to pre-heat the infrared sauna with it, which worked brilliantly.
Once.
Obviously the second time it overheated, but peering into it I could find no sign of a fuse, so moved onto phase II.
Long story short: the fuse is very well concealed, and NOT designed to be serviceable. The two motors and the heating element still work just fine, so maybe I’ll look into temperature controllers at dx.com [deal extreme, since defunct] if I ever need to heat a chicken incubator.
I’ve mentioned the noisy airplane advertising and motorcycle advertising. This story comes from our friends Syd and Gundy who used the motorcycle advertising service, with a rather remarkable result.
Their dog Leah disappeared on Christmas afternoon 2011. They had briefly attended a get-together near us, then returned home to prepare dinner for guests joining them at 5pm. At about 4pm, Syd took the dogs out to the woods for a walk. Fireworks exploded. Leah went into panic mode and fled. Syd searched, returned home for an uncomfortable dinner, and then their guests joined them for another search. He continued searching on his own until dark and early the next morning and again in the afternoon.
Two days after, a Spanish-speaking friend suggested an ad on the loudspeaker bike, and went with them to order it. While making the aural message, the company suggested posters, included in their cost. The posters ended up in vet offices and places where dog food is sold. One of those posters was seen by that same friend’s daughter’s ex-boyfriend, who had seen a Facebook posting by a couple in Pando (20 km away) showing the dog they had found at the beach in Atlántida. He realized they were likely the same dog, told his Facebook friends how to contact his ex-girlfriend, who told her mother, who emailed Syd and Gundy a link to the Facebook posting.
Thus Leah was rescued, having been very well taken care of in the meantime, as a result of noisy motorcycle advertising.
Though the noise part actually contributed nothing.
Thursday brings the feria (street market) to Atlántida, Uruguay. While you can get this noise any day, you definitely will hear it on feria day. All day.
In a country where fuel costs are among the highest in the world, and where the cost of anything with a motor is 50-500% more expensive than in the United States, someone thinks it a great idea to fly a plane blaring 15-second audio advertisements. 15 seconds because the plane is too fast for anything more.
Excellent one-hour massage, at home, USD 37.43 as of today (*sigh* price has gone up; dollar has gone down). Found out about this guy from a flier in a local lumberyard. Go figure….
Taken some time ago, this would be impossible tonight because the car is in the shop where they’re fixing the problem they said they had fixed a week ago. At that time, they were going to clean or replace the acceleration sensor to fix the hesitation the car has had for a couple years. Instead they replaced the ignition coil, which helped. For a few days.
Evening now approaches on day two. I hope they know what they’re doing this time. If last time is a clue, they’ll probably call at 7:30 PM or so to tell me it’s ready so I can jump on my bike and ride to get it AT THAT MOMENT.
I was there when the truck arrived to remove our second ‘dumpster.’ I know the driver because I had one at our house in town, and also because he refilled the oxygen tank when our son was doing glass work here. He told me he was ‘breaking his head’ until he realized I was the guy who lived in town, not another American who lives in Las Vegas (seriously), a few kilometers up the coast, who drives the same car I do.
No, I replied, he’s actually German, and his wife is Dutch. Smallish world.
The empty volquete was pushed aside to allow a delivery of fencing materials. Before filling it, the two workers and I jockeyed it to line up with the gate.When he removed it, the grass underneath was flattened and not too happy, however much happier than being cooked by the harsh sun on the metal bottom of the empty container – notice the yellow patch to the left. Who’d a thunk?
Noticed this at my shade-tree mechanic’s today. Apparently someone is not real good at putting tools back – note missing wrenches on left, and outlier orange-and-black screwdriver (red arrow).
Apparently spray-painting outlines of tools involves issues as well. Yellow arrows point to vice grips camouflaged with black paint, so that they disappear into their black outlines.
Which is OK. I don’t really want a mechanic working on my car with vice grips.
