And then there were two... plus new heaters

Recent pictures of Lunes the beast.

The cold snap a couple weeks ago sent me into a panic, as the living-room still had no source of heat other than the fireplace, which I don´t intend to live enslaved to as long as I don´t have to.

So we ran to Daniel Hogar and quickly purchased a couple of the famous Fagor accumulators, and had them installed at either ends of the place, one in the kitchen and the other in the living-room under the big picture window.



I say famous because they are sort of well known for allowing installation without any pipes (no water, they work with high density bricks that accumulate heat and release it for hours after they are turned off) and for their efficiency. Uruguay has split rates according to the time of day (you have to apply for this special rate regime) and so you have them on during the "cheap" hours of 11pm and 5 pm, and the timer turns them off during the expensive hours. This keeps the house warm at an affordable price.

Of course, immediately upon their installation, the weather turned warm again. Same as when I glassed in half the bbq area and the wind shifted west, after months of blowing from the east. I now know: winter it blows from the west, summer from the east.

But the difference with the heaters is huge, especially in the morning. They seem to be too much for the current weather in terms of capacity, but we still have not seen real cold. Another investment was the custom-made screen for the fireplace. I ordered it by phone from my old math teacher, Jack (the best math teacher in the world) and amazingly it fits like a glove. I had to describe the shape of the fireplace, then give him a bunch of measurements, design specs, and incredibly, a week later he brought over a perfect-fitting screen.

So we now can light the fireplace with no fear of setting fire to the house. I did so the other day when the house was invaded by crazy bees (they´ve been out of sorts because of the grassland fires in Argentina, invading several houses and killing a beekeeper last week.)




I don´t know if it´s puppy addiction, or fear that Lunes will be lonely and spoilt, or what, but I´ve been searching for another dog for a few days already. Yesterday we went to the Sienra veterinary clinic in Maldonado, and I remembered to enquire if they knew of any dogs needing adoption. "Tons" said the doc. One hour later I was holding Tulu, a ball of dark brown and black fur, funnily enough brought by the husband of an American friend of my mom´s. He said 9 were too many, so now he´s down to 8. Tulu is a type of Turkish rug that is very fluffy and long haired.

Lunes had such a crazy and eventful day yesterday (we were out and our cleaning lady decided she "looked hungry" so she fed her the equivalent of 6 of her rations, or a day and a half of food, which she gulfed down in seconds. When we came back minutes later, her stomach had ballooned, so our scheduled trip to the vet for the shots was quite timely. Then, after ballooning and the vet experience, she had to share her box in the car with the new guy. Immediately she identified bullying and biting opportunities, Tulu is a tiny furry thing, a bit of a baby, maybe 5 or 6 weeks, and he can barely walk, but he has a mighty, angry bark, something Lunes is not used to and makes her take a step back.



The only tricky thing is the feeding time, as she eats her meal in 23 to 29 seconds (I´ve timed it) and he takes about 20 minutes to go through his. That gives Lunes 20 minutes of agony trying to find her way to his dish... I could put him inside for the food, but I am hopeful that she will learn to respect his food... maybe naively so...


Pictures of Lunes with El Cabeza, the dog from the neighboring farm at La Carolina, who comes to visit us once or twice a week, and ALWAYS if we are having company (read bbq). He's beyond adorable, has a fantastic, gravelly bark, is a great guardian dog, and unfortunately is very poorly cared for (basically starved). He has been a bit shocked by the appearance of Lunes, which sent him peeing on every square inch of my patio. He is seen in the pictures withstanding her pestering while he mostly ignores her patiently...

OK, so we got the house, we got the dogs, what's next? The picket fence of course!

Introducing Lunes

Her name is Lunes, she arrived yesterday, to try to bring some life into our home after someone took off with our beloved Fabiana on Easter Sunday.

What a change! We inherited Fabiana with the house, all grown up, and used to being on her own, living outside, and just demanding a lot of affection whenever we were outside the house.

This is a whole different ball game. Lunes is one month and a few days old, the last of her litter of Weimaraners from some guy who sells them out of Maldonado. I had been growing increasingly nervous at being at home alone, with no Fabiana, watching how our yard reverted to the birds (the uber territorial teros, the woodpeckers who are not content with the yard but actually want our house, etc.) and then yesterday a mean evil crucera snake showed up in our bbq area downstairs, proof that we needed a dog (or two, and a cat, and some chickens) ASAP. So I googled "Uruguay cachorros", meaning puppies, I clicked on the Mercado Libre link that showed up (our equivalent to Ebay), and within a couple of minutes I was congratulated on my purchase.


I called the guy on his cell phone. "Do you have transportation?" I asked. He said his motorbike was in the shop being repaired but that he had the car. "OK, can you drop whatever you are doing now and drive to Punta del Este right away with the dog? If you can, you got a deal," I said. "It´s an emergency."

Barbi was on standby, waiting for the word to go pick up the dog in Maldonado, but instead, he rushed to the ATM, withdrew the money to pay for the puppy and was home in what, maybe two hours tops since my initial googling. Not bad, this technology. Now Lunes is sleeping on my lap, and I´m wondering how the rest of the day will go. I already had to close the living-room door so she doesn´t drop into the abyss from the stairway landing that has very cool steel wire symbolic guard rails. In the living-room floor she has shown a predilection for my irreplaceable tribal rugs from Turkey, pulling at the wool yarn and trying to chew off the applique wool flowers.

The Ikea storage box was great for yesterday evening when she was exhausted and only wanted to sleep. Now she´s mastered the art of jumping out, with or without the pillow-towel mattress. The shower stall, which is not too confined, easy to clean, etc., feels lonely to her and prompts the high-pitch wailing... anyway, I can´t complain I guess, as long as Lunes is here it will never feel too lonely anymore.