Bunbun & Betty

Our new old dog Betty has decided she doesn’t want to get in the car, or walk with us in the trashlands north of the Ruta Interbalnearia, so after I get back from walking with Syd and dogs in the afternoon, I take her around the neighborhood for 20 minutes or so, preferably without the other dog, Mocha, an inveterate chaser of all that moves, who would have loved to scare the bejeezus out of this critter.

Betty, however, of an entirely more mellow temperament, probably would have cuddled with the rabbit given a chance.

Bunbun, however, was thinking that distance makes the heart grow fonder. Or something.

How the pros do it (paint)

After struggling with a paint tray—where do you put it so you won’t step in it or knock it over? How do you get paint on the whole roller, instead of just one side?—I consulted the guys painting the front of our house.

Simple, if not exactly easy (bit of a learning curve): use 20-liter can and a piece of wood.

Armed with that knowledge, I tackled the next part of our cochera (carport).

Definitely more efficient. As for my work, the usual: not perfect, but not bad.

Maybe, finally…?

In the Faceborg Uruguay “Experts” (Expats) Community group, people complain bitterly about substandard crap sold here. And they’re right. Recently it was vacuum cleaners that last two years before burning out.

However, that is not us in this case: our Electrolux has been going strong for 15 years—with one exception: the filter cartridge, with three little plastic tabs/flanges that secure it in place. One by one they broke. Only belatedly did I discover the reason: my slamming the thing against the top of the trash bucket to shake dust loose.

My original solution involved epoxy and metal washers, but eventually they fall off. I don’t know why I avoided a more invasive approach, but I woke up one morning recently realizing that a mechanical attachment was the answer. A screw. Because there are a gazillion types of plastic, it’s unlikely I’d find a glue that will actually keep everything together. The screw will, and a little epoxy will prevent shear, i.e. twisting.

What to use for material? See top center of the photo above. This is why I don’t automatically get rid of things like a cheap plastic kitchen spatula that was left in the house when we bought it.

Its thickness turns out to be perfect. So, now to replace the other two?

Nah—if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Overdue (plumbing)

For years, I have wondered about rectifying the horrible plumbing we inherited in our back yard. It always seemed a little silly, since it would involve breaking up part of the patio we had installed. The exact tiles we used are no longer available, so the new ones wouldn’t match perfectly.

But recently I asked our contractor about it, and he said no problem! And when he says that, he means it.

Not only did the drain include a zigzag design, it also had a buried (inaccessible) elbow and substandard pipe, some of which turned out to have been broken.

I don’t find most construction projects particularly gratifying, but this improvement is actually exciting. Because, you see, three or four times a year I had to pry up all the junction box covers, put on long rubber gloves, and force a stiff plastic tube through the pipes connecting them—and yes, the one with the elbow was a bitch—when they got clogged up with grease that shouldn’t have, but somehow got beyond the grease trap.

Nasty job. No more!

BTW the gray square on the garage floor is a closed-off junction box. From four to two—so delightfully uncomplicated!

Another wheeled monster

Outside Tienda Inglesa. Late in the season. From Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg.

The day before, in exactly the same location, were two, equally if not more imposing, in a matching drab green military-type color. I didn’t have my phone to take a picture. It was quite a sight.

Here’s to lightweight travel, German style!

L’il Big Dog

It’s hard to convey how huge this collar-less puppy is. Like a cross between a bear and a horse. I can say, however, that we were relieved to see that he did not intend to go on the walk with us today. Something about 60 kilos of puppy crashing through the undergrowth and charging by on narrow bits of path, as the one time he did, makes a walk a little less relaxing.

¡Hecho!

You may think you are looking at a rusting dishwasher that has been used mainly as a drying rack for the last 15 years, and is now useless, since the control panel no longer works and water from wet dishes can’t be pumped out.

But, after a more thorough disassembling than was really needed, and some rewiring, it has now become a rusting 15 year old dishwasher with only one function: the on-off power button now turns on the water drainage pump.

And nothing else.

Yea!