Chimney cleaning

A job I am happy not to do myself. Removing the “sombrero” to clean the chimney from the top down. The other guy removes the “ceiling” of the wood stove and pulls the wire brush down. Unlike the nearby wood stove company whose owner died a little over a year ago, these guys (Tatton) insist it has to be done this way. How they navigate the roof tiles without breaking them remains a mystery to me.

Cassettes!

You may recall that I don’t actively monitor our “neighborhood watch” Whatsapp group. But when I did, I saw that someone said he had gotten a cassette player, but didn’t know if it worked because he didn’t have a cassette to test it.

Which reminded me of the silliest thing Syd brought to Uruguay 15 years ago (we all have one, or maybe a list of silly things): cassettes, probably 200 of them, never played since, as far as I know. So I arranged for them to find a new home! And a short while later received from the new owner a short video of his new music library in action.

¿Sin responsiblidad?

We had a small freezer delivered yesterday, and the transit company’s bill is stamped “without responsibility for breakage.” So I guess I should be grateful the delivery guy carried it in, instead of just dumping it off the truck into the driveway?

Ah, Uruguay, after twelve and a half years you continue to mystify.

Mini greenhouse

Finally finished my “weekend”project, a mini greenhouse outside the north-facing kitchen window.

We have a large pine tree in the back yard, so during winter the hours of direct sunlight are limited.

It’s built of 100% recycled wood, and 99% recycled nails and screws. For some reason I already had plastic. My only cash outlay was for two small hinges, less than a dollar.

I was sweating, shirt off, installing the plastic, so looked the thermometer: 78°F/25.5°C in the shade. In late April, equivalent of October in the north.

A small selection of my basura screws.

My basura nails. The ones on the right I salvaged from the wood that came off the casita roof. There were many, many more I simply chucked.

Now to figure out what I want to grow….