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!