Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: October 2024

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Thursday October 31, 2024 New Sidewalk

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Older Blog: https://cuencaupdates.blogspot.com/

Please see my best artworks for sale at my websites:

http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/

or https://pixels.com/profiles/al-bourassa

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Thursday October 31, 2024

Happy Hallowe'en everyone. The celebrations here are at the central park so nobody goes door to door much here.

I am going to start with a couple of shots taken by our friend John on Sunday in Trujillo. He takes good shots, and takes lots of candids of people too, outshooting me easily 4 to 1.

He caught the bird with a berry in its beak.

A couple of tourists

Shooting back

Caught

Today, we had Carlos show up around 8:30am along with Carlos 2 and a kid named Sergio who is learning English and who was fascinated with my camera.

They set up the forms and began making cement and pouring a sidewalk from the patio to the chicken coop, about 15 meters.... Of course, Cristina let out Buddy and Princesa to go pee and, of naturally, they went right across the wet cement......

When they resumed work at 1pm, Carlos brought a third helper, Oscar, who worked on changing the first bedroom door. That was another chore as the door would not hang straight and close until I intervened with the right tools and the explanation of the simple problem and the right solution. Once they listened to me, the door is now hung perfectly.

So, the sidewalk is complete, and curing in a slight shower, and we are resolved to keep the dogs in the house all night.

With the extra gravel, and yet more cement mix, we are having the crew fill in gaps under our rear perimeter walls, primarily to avoid any collapses, and also to curtail any rodent crossings.... This will be resumed tomorrow. Leftover gravel will be put to good use around the yard.

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

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If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

Sergio and Carlos2 at work

Joined by the boss Carlos

Buddy's tracks

Tom Thumb

TT

So happy the roses are blooming

"Straight" means "Close enough" here

Ground Doves and Saffron Finches

Wasp

TT

TT

TT

Removed old rotten door

Oscar at work

Almost done the sidewalk

Repairs under the walls

Palomin is our watchdog

The new door is in.

New sidewalk done

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Tuesday October 29, 2024 Incommunicado

PLEASE bookmark this page and check daily.

Older Blog: https://cuencaupdates.blogspot.com/

Please see my best artworks for sale at my websites:

http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/

or https://pixels.com/profiles/al-bourassa

******

Tuesday October 29, 2024

Yesterday and today, NO INTERNET, because a broken cable somewhere blacked out coverage for the whole town. Apparently, it came back on a 2pm, but I did not notice because I could not get my laptop or phone to connect, no matter what I tried..... Finally, after I held the WPS button on the router for a good 12 seconds, I finally connected again on both.... It is amazing how much we depend on the Internet and WiFi to function and communicate!

Yesterday, we embarked on a new project with Cristina's ex, Carlos, and his worker, Carlos 2, who did all the day's work with minor help from myself and the gravel delivery guy. We are going to build a concrete sidewalk about 15 yards from the patio down to the chicken/pigeon coop.

Carlos had ordered only 2 cubic meters of gravel and I bumped that to 3, because we could always use leftover gravel and we have a lot of cement to make. Carlos ordered 5 bags of cement too, and I can guarantee that we will be buying a lot more before this project is done, because we also want to add cement to the base of our back walls where erosion threatens to communicate with the neighbours..... This is not my first dance with Carlos and cement work and having to do everything twice.

So, the evening was quite boring but I watched the first part? of the new Mission Impossible off my memeory stick, downloaded from Pirate Bay.

Today, Cristina was off to help at the animal refuge in Tulua, then to her accupuncture treatment, which she is using along with Cannabis Oil to alleviate her migraines and it seems to be working. She is not taking the Quetiapina which helps with her bi-polar problem though, and I hope that will resume once progress is made on the migraines.

I had to content myself mostly with sitting in a rocker on the patio with a small fan cooling me. I caught a lot of decent photos, but was not quick enough to catch the quick appearance of what I think was a Yellow-Backed Oriole....

It is still very hot here, consistently in the 31-33C range.

We finally had to recharge the Pixel Moped. It took a little longer than the promised 4 hours....

Nobody showed up today to continue work on the sidewalk..... Carlos is also supposed to hang the new door on the front bedroom.

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

******

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

Carlos 2 hauling gravel the length of the house

We would make 2 piles on the patio

The path where we want the sidewalk

Roses budding beautifully

Gorgeous rose!

Carlos2 planning with me

Removing grass from the proposed route

Mrs Saffron Finch

Gecko

Lots of spade work

Tom Thumb did not mind

Roses today

So pretty!

Palomin is so very tame

Lovely shots this morning

Shot of the day?

Dog Day Afternoon

Our new big puppy "Grande"

Tom comes every 10 minutes or so

Gecko

Gecko

Our cute NeNe

2 female Saffon Finches

Mrs and Mr Saffron Finch

Evening fill-up for Tom Thumb