Has She Sung Yet? A Mid-Week Grab Bag?

I don't think she has so far. By all accounts, my wallet, especially, she should have. I thought when I took the Isuzu with it's 'new' A/C compressor to Nirobi and got it charged up, that we might be done with expenses for a while. In a word, that'd be, uh... no.

Apparently, we still have the Rubicon somewhere in front of us. I went into town this morning on a quest to find a smallish piece of aluminum to make a tool for the pool chlorine tablet tower. About halfway through all that running around, I noticed the car was running more than a tad hot. Not yet boiling over, but getting there. Anyway, I shut off the A/C, much to Secret's and Bela's consternation.

After we got back home and the engine cooled down, Carlos took a peek at the radiator. Still had water in it. That sort of indicates a blockage in the radiator itself. There's a couple of shops around that flush radiators and that sort of stuff, so that's probably my next project.

Let me back up a smidge and tell you about getting the A/C charged. I drove over to Nirobi's place (easy once you know how to get there), and he let me in.

After popping the hood, he hooked up his gauges and asked if the compressor had been 'oiled?' I didn't know, so I called Rick and asked him. He must have been irritated with something going on at his shop because he told me in sort of clipped tones that that was part of the A/C man's responsibility - oiling, filling with coolant, and testing it. Ok then. I knew then that it wasn't going to be as quick a stop with Nirobi as I had imagined.

I told Nirobi that it hadn't been oiled. He shuffled off to his storeroom and came back with a bottle of A/C compressor oil. I didn't even know there was such a thing. He also replaced the o-ring where the tube from the compressor fits into the firewall. Then he told me to go across the highway to the Chinese store and get the coolant, Freon R134-A. So, I did that. They must sell a lot of it, as it was right near the front of the aisle near the cash register. $30.00 BZD.

Made it back across the highway (still under construction up at that end of town) and gave it to Nirobi. He plugged it into his system and began charging up the Isuzu.

Shortly after that, the acid test. I had had the A/C on while he was charging the system, but hadn't stuck my head into the cab to see if it actually had gotten cooler. Well, it had, noticably. Doggies were speedily becoming happy campers.

Finishing up at Nirobi's cost another $60.00 BZD for the oil, ring, and service. Not bad overall. Like I said, coming back to the present, I thought then that the troubles were behind us.

Now, I'm sure it's entirely coincidental, but just a few days ago Bruce had ordered a radiator from Guatemala. All metal, no plastic top and bottom cap, and he had just received it. Hindsight being what it is, I probably should have ordered one with him and we could probably have gotten a discount.

Well, we'll hope that it's just a matter of the radiator being clogged. if not, I may ask Bruce for the particulars on where he ordered his radiator.

I don't think it ever ends, does it?
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On a happier note, Sara and Jeff arrived a couple of days ago. They're renting Denis and Vivien's house across the street. We're breaking them in right. Last night, about 0100 AM, BEL dropped the load and we were without current for the better part of three hours. I sweat like a pig. Nothing like trying to sleep when you're just dripping sweat. I'm sure, since they haven't had a chance to acclimatize yet, that it was an interesting experience for them. Welcome to paradise.
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I thought I had someone lined up to take a whack at the custom font I purchased. After an initial round of emails, it's like they dropped of the end of the world. They actually live and work in Ireland, so I suppose it's possible. Maybe Leprechans had something to do with it.
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Related, sort of, but a separate issue, I'm still trying to get the Domain Name System (DNS) for my domain (winjama.net) sorted out. Confusing as all get out. Time will tell, however.
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I guess this is sort of turning into a grab bag, again. What can I say but yes, it is.
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We thought our new little girl, Bela, was done with her bout of Demodex mites, a susceptibility for them that is inherited, so they appear fairly early on in their lives. Not contagious, but unless treated, can be devastating. So, she's back on Ivermectin once again, with a daily dose until all the symptoms disappear. I've heard it's not unusual to have to repeat the course once or twice till their immune system is up to the task. It certainly doesn't slow her down any.

Oh, also, she has started walking the walk. She looks so cute with her little purple pack on. I'll see if I can get some pictures or two of her at work. She's actually carried mail, bakery goods and veggies for us. So, she's getting right into the swing of things.
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Carlos has been busy varnishing the house and the front/back porches as well. He first pressure-washed the house. It's really looking a lot better. Long over due for a thorough cleaning and varnishing. We'd had our old caretaker, Cody pretty much do a much lighter job of it before. But, it was time for really good going over.
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That's about all I can think of for right now. I have to get some lunch together and get ready to get in the pool and cool down. Well, I know it's rough, but somebody has to do it.

Guess What? It's Sunday

Of course, that means it's time for another Sunday Morning Grab Bag.

Long-time readers will know that that means there's a pile of stuff that's gathered that just isn't long enough for a full posting, or that it's just a snippet I've found that I thought you might find interesting, like this one.

One of the things I had the most trouble adusting to down here in Paradise, is the tendancy for Belizeans to not form line. There is no line etiquette. They tend to just barge up to the counter and start talking to the person behind it as if no one else is there. There's also a very different concept of the personal space bubble. They kind of go hand-in-hand.

I'd never really thought about it as such, but being of primarily English and Scottish stock, waiting in line, or queuing up, as they say is so very English. As Dan Pardo, an Englishman with the BBC, said "I like a good queue - well formed, orderly, no doubting who's in front of you and who's behind."
Dan wrote an article about queuing up in Venesuela, of all places (The Surreal World of Venezuela's Queues, Daniel Pardo, 20 April, 2015, BBC). He said, "There are many countries that don't respect these fine, ancient traditions, and prefer the first-past-the-post system - involving pushing, shoving and grunting." This fits Belize to a T.

A Chinatown Conversation

or

Form an Orderly Queue to the Left

Here's an aside for you. 'Fit to a T.' A lot of folks think the 'T' should be 'Tee' as in golf. Being the inveterate dictionary reader that I am, I looked it up. It's a saying that's been around since at least the 1600's, so 'T' is correct.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming. It took me quite a while to learn to swallow my English-based sense of propriety and just crowd in and hold my ground. Screw the personal space. I also found a voice to let people know I was there first and that I wasn't letting them crowd in front of me as if I wasn't even there.

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Just a quick heads-up. There might just be a cure no, that's not right. How about a treatment, that sounds right, for Doctor Flies. It involves 'blue balls'. No, not what you're thinking - blue beach balls, and sticky glue. Wilma, of the blog, South Englishtown Gazette, one of the blogs we follow, has a much larger Dr. Fly problem than we do (try 1,300 of 'em in a week) has come up with a novel way to stymie the little bastards. I'll be doing a posting on that very thing. I've ordered the glue and the balls. Stay tuned. Well, read Wilma's posting on blue balls too, and look around her blog. You'll like it.

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We might be having some papaya sometime. We have a couple of volunteer papaya starts growing in the yard. Actually, they just sprang up in a pile of black dire we had delivered some time back.

Our New Papaya Trees

I think they're keepers too. The flowers look like they're small (to me anyway), and according to our caretaker, Carlos, if they're small, we keep them, if they're large, we yank 'em out. I'm not sure what the difference is. I forgot to ask. I'll see if I can remember to do that.

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I thought I had written a post on this before, but checking the postings, I guess not. We had inherited some cushion foam from Vivien and Denis. I hung onto it for a bit, then took it down to Alec the Tailor for him to cut it and cover the resultant three pieces with fabric, thereby making three beds for the doggies. That would be much better than their raggedy blankets and bath towels they had used forever.

Bela and Chanel Check Out One of the New Mattresses

Here's a shot of the goods after I picked them up from Alec. They look really nice. Of course, there was the obligatory communications gap when I first went to pick them up. I had thought I was fairly clear that I wanted a fabric box for the foam matress to fit into, with a lid that folds over and is fastened with either Velcro or a zipper. Hmmm...

What Alec had done was make a box for the foam to fit in, with Velcro holding it together, but no lid, or bottom as he saw it. I had him attach the lid/bottom and everything is more or less copacetic.

But not according to Bela. The first night she promptly uncovered the mattress and proceeded to tear little chunks out of the mattress foam. I thought that after my severely scolding her, that shredding the foam would stop. Uh... no.

Almost every night since, there's been additional bits of foam all over the porch. So far, her modifications have been restricted to just the one mattress. But, we'll soon reach the point of no return with that, and she'll no doubt, start attacking the other two mattresses.

I'm thinking of possibly getting some more of the Naugahyde-like stuff I bought several years ago at Cinty's (that we use as a cover for the pool-cover reel) and having Kent Cattouse, the upholsterer, make new coverings for the three mattresses. That way, I'm pretty sure, she wouldn't be able to whittle those down to crumbs. At least for a while.

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Last little bit. There's a lot of photos, I've either taken or collected that some of you would probably like to see (like the one below). I think I mentioned before that I'm working on a photo gallery for the blog.

You Only Thought You Knew Everything That Was Used - Taken by an Anonymous Coastie

That's true. I am. Just as soon as I solve the font issue. To try to move that along, I've asked Steve Kelly to help with the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Maybe we'll get it done. Steve, and his wife, Jane, are new arrivees to Corozal. You'll probably meet them sooner or later.

Ok, I guess that's enough for now. Time for a cuppa.

Cheers,