Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Monday March 8, 2021 Rampage

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Monday March 8, 2021

On Sunday morning's walk Negro joined us again for almost the whole walk.

When I could see that there were no vehicles for several blocks I would unleash my 4 dogs and allow them to play with Negro. This always brings back many fond, but sometimes scary, memories of walks in Cuenca and letting the dogs loose in an open park. All would be fine until another dog would come from nowhere and the chase was on, sometimes into traffic. Princesa and Mariposa were always the instigators, but the others would soon join in. We were indeed fortunate not to have had any major incidents.

We made a trip to exchange flowers at the cemetery. It is still necessary for Cristina to have some quiet time at the tomb of her son Christian. The hurt is still very real and fresh for her. When the murderer lives 2 blocks away with impunity, there is little closure.

Then I had the leftover steak and potatoes from Thursday and that was a treat all over again. Following that, I drove in to visit David and Igor who is back from his long trip. I brought them a book that I have been meaning to bring for about a year and I also brought them my latest batch of nostalgic 60's music, over 800 songs for them to copy. They had their lunch of ribs, then we watched the middle movie of the Swedish trilogy, The Girl Who Played With Fire, Swedish version with subtitles. Like the first movie, and the last, it is just a riveting story. The others are The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. I have them all on DVD to watch anytime. Highly recommended to anyone who loves thrillers.

We had another short period of time without water again Sunday evening. Grrrr

This morning was really cloudy and unusually breezy, usually the harbinger of a coming storm which never materialized. It has periodically tried to spit a little and just now has started to rain a bit, again. The whole day has been cloudy and dull, but I didn't let that stop me. It was time that I attacked a few chores that I had been hoping to do with help from Aram, but he has been complaining that he has been so busy lately, so I just forged ahead.

First on the agenda was a plot to kill the small rat that is terrorizing our backyard and into the lavanderia. We think that he sneaks in to nibble on the dog food. So some rat poison has been put into his path in the ceiling, and also by the washer, well protected from the dogs. On that one I mixed the poison with peanut butter that takes forever to dry up and which is very attractive to mice, so I assume to rats as well. It definitely managed to attract a colony of tiny ants...

Then I spotted a mound beginning in the backyard and gave it a stomp. Sure enough, a bunch of small ants started swarming. So they got a big dose of cinnamon, something I learned years ago online. I am not sure if the rain is going to help or hinder that..?? That will definitely be monitored. I have a big container of cinnamon in the cupboard.

Then I needed to repair one of my spiky "catwalks" on the north wall. Climbing a wet ladder to its upper extremities is not fun for an old fart with a dodgy hip, and doubtful balance, but I did it,... a few times... I first had to undo the bad tie-job done by Aram with electrical wire and bring it down. I brought down the offending board, taken from an old door frame to our bedroom. Then I had to get the missing piece of spikey plastic and gather tools and screws and washers to re-do this one catwalk. After some investigation, and a few bad tries, I had to go and find longer screws and more washers... I actually got to use my staple gun that I haven't tried in over a year too.

This is another instance of harkening back to our upbringing by survivors of The Dirty Thirties, who lived on the farm and had to be ingenious in their repairs. Thank you Dad and Mom for the lessons learned.

The wood is now damp and soft so it doesn't hold screws very well. I cut up an old yogurt container to make what I thought were stabilizing legs over the wall edges like the other one which has worked excellently. I didn't realize until I had it all put together that they were 1/2 the size of the other one and then not really much use at all. It didn't help that Nina #1 had found one and got a good chew on it... Anyway, up the ladder I go, pulling up this 6.5' board with the spikey plastic and try to place it in the old position but there are bits of rebar protruding so it would not stay stable. That was the reason for the previous wiring job.... So, down I come again, very slowly and carefully with the board. Reset the ladder further up the wall in an area that sloped off just where I needed to go, necessitating the help of Cristina to hold the bottom of the ladder from sliding. Going up the wet ladder again was excruciatingly slow but the area for the board on the top of the wall is flatter here. My new stabilizer legs were virtually useless so I know that I have to wait for 2 more yogurt-type containers to make proper feet again but I figured I would see if it hold for now. The catwalk is not much of a deterrent for That Darn Cat but I do think that he doesn't like it and eventually may find an easier route. He just makes the dogs go ballistic.

It is now raining even more... 25.0C in the house. Time to make my salad and get back into the 5th season of The Americans.... It is really a good series with good acting.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.

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