Domingo 14 – Sabado 20 Oct 2012. (Sun 14th) First sunny day
in three days -- could the rainy season has finally broken? Did a
big laundry including a rewashing for a pair of jeans which had
developed a musty smell from drying on line for days. Final assembly
of the small table & futon chair in the sala (living room)
and the single bed in the small recamera (bedroom) upstairs.
Dan struggled to get his office computer running. Seems it won't work with
the new HP monitor so he used the old Acer one. Office computer
finally up and running!
(Mon 15th) Big day! We
Voted, and sent the ballots by email, which Carmen had
arranged for before moving SoB. We moved the remaining big liftvan
box out of roof drip line in the backyard; it certainly is one heavy
item. Yea, a second day of sun! So, we did more laundry. Crazy
thing to say, since nearly every day of the year here starts with the
sun shining brightly. Stored stuff on top of shelves in the largest
bedroom, mostly boxes of packaging materials, just in case we make
another move. Hard to imagine at this time. Also put suitcases and
seldom used items up there. Sure do miss all the enclosed storage
places of our last house, of which Dan had built many. Apparently
with the humidity here, one must not put items in enclosed spaces.
We had hired Artemio to do some monthly
yard work, before we got our “stuff” down here. He was
disappointed and unbelieving when we told him that we would mostly be
doing it hereafter ourselves. Then today when he came past he found
Carmen on her knees hand digging weeds from among the plantings along
the sidewalk. She assured him that she was doing what made her
happy, which is true. Carmen has always said that digging in the
dirt is like soul food. He had not seen Dan earlier using our
weedeater on the small amount of grass we have. Took us less than an
hour, with a little pruning of the bougainvillea and other bushes.
It had taken Artemio three hours, but this was working from a more
overgrown state.
Moved our heavy cedar chest into a more
permanent room. Unpacking more clothes. Smij cat has found a new
favorite day sleeping/hiding place. Found her in a drawer under the
single bed; though we thought the drawer was packed, she had managed
to get in there from the back side and scrunched a spot just her
size. Guess we will let her be at peace and except the fact that her
'spot' will become covered with her long white angora hair.
Thankfully Gardi cat likes to stay near us during the day, mostly
sleeping on a rug on top of a coffee table, in the sun. His theory
is that this way he probably gets a treat every time we do.
Our door bell rang! When were were
here in the summer, it was often a couple young boys having fun.
This time it was the postman, on his motor bike. He wanted to be
sure that he left the letter for us at the correct address. It was
from Dave Arnold, and had taken two weeks to get here, with the
proper postage on it. Our first real mail – other than a water bill
for a couple US dollars. Our meter has not been read for awhile –
so who knows what it will be when finally read.
Dan put more office stuff put away,
using some file cabinet drawers for supplies, since there are no
other drawers in room. Discovered, when getting ready for bed, that
we had no hot water. Had we run out of propane?
(Tues 16th) First thing in
the morning, Dan set up and climbed our extension ladder to check the
rooftop propane tank. He found it was at 55%, so we have been using
about 5% per week. Next stop, the hot water heater, where it was
determined that the pilot flame was out, so he relit it. Presumably
there is a way to ream out the orifice a bit to get a slightly larger
flame. Amazing how good a shower can feel when you have had to wait
for it!
Just before 4pm we headed into town,
and stopped first to mail the letter, but found the the Correos
office closes at 4pm. But we did buy a new cold water supply tube,
and made a bakery stop. Have started freezing extra, so that we can
have fresh from freezer each day and not have to take the hour+ out
of our busy schedule for an into town walk. Life is so hectic when
one is retired! Suppose the walks would be shorter times if there
were not so many fantastic flowers, trees and shrubs to inspect along
the way. Now, we could take the same route every time and would have
to make fewer inspection stops. Also, one must be pleasant to all
passers by. What a great life!
Taste buds say that it is time to make
some chocolate no-bake cookies. Added dried cranberries, which we
would not do again. Raisins are good in these cookies/candies, but
the cranberries overpower the chocolate taste. Now what to do with
these sweets to keep ants out? Good, Dan knew the answer. Put a
shallow pan of water on counter, stand a can in the water, then put
your container of sweets on top. Ants will not cross the water.
Carmen has never before lived where ants are a problem. Many kinds
of ants here. Some are no bigger than a tiniest grain of sand and
they are light tan. Very hard to see, but we do not wish to find out
how they taste. Carmen calls them her thousand little helpers. They
are great of cleaning up food slops, or cat barfs.
Found Gardi has a favorite window near
bougainvillea (bugambilia) out by the smaller north bedroom.
There is a gecko there and butterflies. Makes for hours of happiness
for a cat. Frank stopped by and we gave him four sheets of plywood
salvaged from the liftvans. He thought to build some shelves from
it. Pretty bad stuff for building, but Dan plans to do the same with
some.
(Thu 18th) We continued adelante (forward) with our getting settled in. After more
sanding, Dan varnished the shelf supports in the living room, the
shelves (where the audo-video stuff will go), and also re-varnished
the upstairs bathroom mirror. Dan mounted a magnetic knife rack on
front of the concrete range hood. Carmen hung all the knives, and
wished we had bought the longer rack. He also hung the produce trays
that we bought last week, to get the items off the top of
refrigerator where Carmen couldn't see them. Is she too short or is
the frig too tall? Carmen sprayed back patio with herbicide (a
RoundUp clone) which is a quarter of the US price here, or lso. Dan
made a large hook for back gate to hang garbage bags out of reach of
dogs. It is great having garbage pick up twice a week. With the hot
humid weather and lots of fresh fruit and veggie trimmings and rinds,
the garbage odors can get bad fast.
Decided we needed fresh biscuits to go
with leftover chicken today. Hmm, have not had them for many months.
Carmen was reminded of them from reading in a book last evening.
Books are good for something other than relaxing.
(Fri 19th) Today Dan
started the difficult job of constructing the supports for the TV and
components. Frustrating when the walls are not square. Carmen
stained an outside bench. Really disappointed with the results. The
product being used was supposed to be clear, but it has a grey color.
Well, now we have a gray instead of wood colored bench. And the
finish was dull, so it now needs another coat of maybe a clear
varnish. So frustrating to have to believe a salesman, and have it
be wrong. Dan's day is going no better. The support construction
isn't working out right, and there is no wood to waste in a country
where finish quality wood is so hard to find. We have spied a new
Home Depot being constructed in Córdoba. Can hardly wait for it to
be opened. There was supposed to be a Lowes going in, but they seem
to have stopped all new construction. Carmen cleaned the mirror edge
that Dan had varnished yesterday, with razor blade. The mirror
refinish looks great!
(Sat 20th) Dan had more
struggles with the building of the support shelves today., but it
finally came together. Victory was ours! Next we stained all. Then
of course had to spot white paint where the stain had touched the
walls. Today Carmen has started re-doing some of the areas where she
had just tossed items into storage when emptying the moving cartons.
She attacked the kitchen drawers. Hard to put all that she had from
10 kitchen drawers before, into only four drawers. So anything
extra, not used on a daily basis, has now been stored down in the
cabinets in a couple containers. Hopefully we will find some utensil
hangers for the walls, which will give some relief to the at-hand
utensil drawer.
Near end of day, we were on the front
porch, our covered outside work area, putting together the bench that
was paint-stained yesterday. A couple in their mid-30s stopped at
gate and introduced themselves. Oscar and Nancy Roman. They live
two doors south of us, in a pinkish lavender colored lovely house.
They have a daughter who is now learning English in school, and they
know a few English words. People here are so very friendly. They
told us that the house between our homes is a political office. That
explains why no one is there over night, only from 9am 'til 5pm. Not
many boxes left to unpack. By the looks of the boxes, we do not
believe that our items were examined by the aduana at the
border, as does frequently happen. Everything seems to be here, and
not much broken. All good.
