The drought

The cows are so hungry and thirsty they are eating my hedge

Forget about the international financial crisis, my crisis is the drought, and it has taken over my life. Uruguay has been experiencing below-normal rainfall since 2007, but this year things got bad. The usually rainy winter and spring were bone-dry, and now the ground is hard as rock, the grass makes a crunchy sound when stepped on, and cattle are dying all over the country.

At home, I was unaware that the sprinkler system was not up to the task of hydrating the couple hundred shrubs and trees we planted this winter and spring, and woke up one day to find a whole section of the yard the color of mayonnaise in addition to severe wilting affecting everything else (the sprinklers´ reach is one thing on paper, and another when fighting strong winds in the opposite direction of the stream).

That was about a month and a half ago, and my life since then has been devoted to manually watering every shrub and tree, not to mention my beloved vegetable garden. The obvious idea of just increasing the sprinkler cycle does not work, because the sprinklers are set up to spray a wide surface of lawn and plants so we would soak the lawn, waste lots of water and maybe still not provide enough for the shrubs. Also, there is the risk of just draining the well dry if we pump water too many hours a day. Although I was told that my well had an extremely abundant flow of water that would never run dry, after two years of drought things may be different.

The vegetable garden, with tomatoes duly staked... It´s obvious now that I´ve overplanted and overcrowded the tomato patch... beginner´s over-enthusiasm I guess.

And on to the real family crisis, Barbi´s hand, he´s due back on the 30th from one month of physical therapy in Turkey where he made lots of progress, He is now able to use silverware with his left hand, able to drive, etc. Still many months left of rehab but he will continue in Uruguay. Between the accident, the two operations, the 7 weeks spent in Turkey in two different stretches, etc., we´re ready for some uneventful time this summer, looking forward to returning to our routine. Also, Marabierto desperately needs Barbi back so Mirtha will be happy to have him and has declared that accident season is only between April and June.

On the festivities front, we had a lovely family brunch at Conrad, meant to be the last one of the year, although we may have a last-last one with Barbi... As usual, our bolero singing friends Los Románticos livened up the proceedings, with much help from our table and especially from Aunt Myrtha who now dances with baby grand-daughter Josefina who is scarily well trained to party at her tender 8 months.


Brunch with Mom Mirtha, Aunt Myrtha, Josefina and Rosina...

Christmas is never a big thing in our family, what with everyone working like crazy till late on Christmas Eve, but this year we had better logistics thanks to Aunt Myrtha, and ended up having a lovely dinner at Las Ostras, with the two Mirtha/Myrtha, plus brother Rafa and friend Coco. The location at Las Ostras is superb, the food was very good, the service too, and there were other friends in other tables as well, so we had a nice evening.

Mirtha on the terrace enjoying the fireworks

Coco and Rafael

Besides wielding the hose, my other new activity preventing me from blogging is Oso´s vocation, fetching the ball that requires throwing all day long. I fear I will develop whatever elbow injury baseball players get from so much ball throwing. While the others collapse in the shade, groggy with the heat, Oso is still up for a good run and will prod me (bring the ball to my hand, require that I wrestle it out of his mouth, or faced with complete indifference, drop it at my feet.) Every 10 or 15 fetches he goes for a swim in the pool and comes back refreshed and energized... Maybe if I had not cut his hair he would be a bit more lethargic, who knows...

Oso sporting his summer cropped hair style. Actually the hair is growing out fast... Tulu is all of a sudden getting bulkier.

Call the man, or how to grow your own $23 tomatoes

It´s bring your granddaughter to work day at Marabierto


I first became aware of "call the man" as a Uruguayan cultural trait when my mother visited me in New York and insisted on coming to work with me, back in the day when I was working in the flea market at Spring and Wooster. After watching me pull a couple dozen loaded boxes from a basement into a truck, followed by a clothing rack that I "walked" along two cobble-stoned Soho blocks to our flea-market spot, whereupon I spent two hours retrieving the boxes, tables and other fixtures from the truck and setting up our "booth" for the day (you know, then undo everything 5 or 6 hours later), horrified, she demanded that I "Call the man." At that point I explained that anyone I had to call to do my job would have my job, and therefore, I was the man.

On a subsequent visit on occasion of my moving into my newly purchased condo in Jersey City a couple of years later, and after inspecting the yard and noting there was no tap anywhere to hook up a hose --hence my bringing the hose from the sink across kitchen and living-room into the yard-- my mother again decreed "Call the man. Get him to put a tap outside."My answer, in this case, was "There is no man."

Team Sousluaga, with Pelusa

In the first case "the man" was my own job description, while in the second example it was something I could not possibly do on my own (major plumbing) and that neither could I afford to hire someone to do for me. Hence the years of watering the yard from the kitchen sink.

But look at me now. I am certainly back to my roots, or becoming my mother, or both, probably. No two days in a row go by without some man or men coming over to work at our place. There´s the pool guy, who does the regular maintenance and is different from the solar panel guy. There´s the gardening crew (good thing I consolidated the two landscaping outfits I used to hire into a single one), and most recently there´s team Sousluaga, who first built a shed structure to place the solar panels, and this week is improving my vegetable patch making it into two very long wooden boxes with a sort of nylon wall behind it against the existing fence.

In between we have the guys from Telecom, the alarm company, who come to install new devices, fix a malfunctioning sensor or check the satellite TV or the weird cellular-based fixed phone on a pretty regular basis.

The vegetable patch encased in wood.


In a way, it´s a miracle. We work hard, earn money, and that money is enough to be able to afford all these people who are constantly doing things to improve our house. Considering we have neither the time nor physical condition, not to mention skills required, I am always in awe at the fact that we can afford to pay for these peoples´ services, considering we are not actually wealthy. We´re also in awe of the end product.

But then again, after factoring in the amount spent on landscapers, top soil, and team Sousluaga to set up my very fancy encased vegetable patch with windbreaker and all, we´re estimating a unit cost of $23 per tomato that comes out of that yard...

It works

I finally swam in solar-panel warmed up water on November 1, at 6 pm, minutes after the installer had left, at a perfect 26 C, or 78.8 F.

We had turned on the system at noon, on a test basis, so not at 100% capacity because our cautious pool guy Alvaro (not the same person as the panel supplier-installer) wants to double check the pressure on the pump and other technical stuff.

When he turned it on, we measured the pool at 20 degrees (68 F), and the water coming into the pool at 23.3 C (74). This low reading at the pool is because although the water from the panels was coming out at about 40 degrees (104F) there was a long stretch of pipes to warm up.

From what I saw during the installation, only a fraction was insulated, and improperly at that, and then there´s the entire length of the filter circulation which is also not insulated. So initially all the pipes and earth surrounding it needs to be warmed up before the water coming out from the panels and the water arriving at the pool have a similar temperature.

All this will eventually be fixed by Alvaro, but right now I don´t feel like engaging in further works, just patching whatever leaks remained, and maybe in February when we have to travel to Asia the rest can be dug out and insulated.

When is Google Earth sweeping by my neck of the woods again?!?!?!?!?!

Really, it´s pretty upsetting to keep checking for years and to see nothing more than the track my neighbor´s car made when using my lot as his drive-way earlier in the decade.

I have changed the template for this blog, and boy, what a relief. That previous one was suffocating, this new one is so airy and light, it´s great.

And another thing. I don´t know how to post without a photo. So here´s Lunes, Oso and Tulu ready to pounce on each other as they do all frigging day long... that is, when they are not chewing on pieces of halogen lamps, or on workers´ knives, or stealing and burying the workers´ stuff. They are something like 7 and a half and 5 and a half months now, so there´s still loads more fun to be had.

Just four more days for warm pool swimming

Luis the engineer seen in the pictures installing the panels says he will be finished on Thursday and the water will need a couple of days of filtering to raise the temperature. The water feels like 20 C (68) to me right now, so I have decided I will be swimming on Saturday afternoon. I only need it to be 24 degrees (75F) in order to swim comfortably.



The next project once this is over will probably be to turn the structure into a working greenhouse, with some PVC. My tomato plants are so buffetted by the wind that I feel like a serial killer for exposing them to such inclement conditions. Plus, I really do want to eat home-grown tomatoes, if possible year round.

Captain Hook, Scarface and the greenhouse cum pool solar collector

Captain Hook looking very fly with his home made sling...

It's been a tough month of October, what with Barbi taking his passion for DIY and bricolage to a bloody extreme two weeks ago, and Lunes showing up with an L-shape cut on her cheek yesterday.

Lunes aka Scarface at the store, tied to her granny's desk. She had a barking fit when confronted with a large Buddha statue, but otherwise behaved sort of OK, within Lunes standards...

Both are doing fine now, Lunes all stapled up, and Barbi ready to undergo second reconstructive surgery and starting physical therapy soon, although far away from me, in Istanbul. Good thing his brother and doctor is there to help, so we know he's in the best hands.

On the home front, the greenhouse cum solar collector for the pool is all ready and waiting for the solar panel installation. There's been a delay of a few days, but by the end of next week I will be swimming in warm water. We measured the water temperature today, and it was 19 centigrade. My guess is that if the heating system works as stated, the temperature will soon climb up to soup levels, but we can adjust the flow of hot water to our taste. After all, I want it for swimming, so too hot is not good.

The black rubber panels will cover the metal sheet rooftop. I like the rural look of the structure.

Yesterday Zuluoaga and son came over to put the roof sheets on, and of course they brought Pelusa, to the delight of my male puppies. I guess compared with the big psycho tom boy bitch that is Lunes, the only female they know, the tiny and dainty and feminine Pelusa must be quite a novelty for them

Pelusa in all her splendor by the pool.

And while we're on the subject of OPDs, below is a picture of Blitzen. Peter and Nadine's dogs for some reason sleep covered with fleece blankets, it's quite a sight.

Saint Blitzen

Trying solar on the pool

So I could contain myself no longer when I came across what I have dubbed the "poor man´s solar collectors" and before I knew it I was on my way to a heated pool.

The "poor man´s" modifyer is because these etylene-propylene-polyetilene panels (don´t ask me the actual composition) cost about a third the cost of the other regular ones with glass and metal. Also they are made in the ROU - that´s the Oriental Republic of Uruguay...

Because panels have to be placed on some sort of inclined surface and I didn´t want to compromise my roof, we´ve been debating for months where we would place them, and what would serve as support. Container building was finally discarded in favor of possible future greenhouse, at savings of about 90%.


Finished structure pending metal sheet on roof and solar panel installation.

For the reasonable sum of $5,500 I now have the structure (wooden) for a greenhouse, measuring 12 meters by 3.5 meters and the solar panel installation for a heated pool. Not bad I think. The structure was erected by Zuluoaga and co. in one day. They didn´t finish the roof metal sheeting because I neglected to get the sheets on time. They also came along with Pelusa, a heartbreaker as Tulu and Oso can attest.



Zuluoaga and his gang, our dogs and guest star Pelusa (the tiny furry thing near the pool)

The panels are called Solarflex, by the way, and I´m heating a 3m x 14m pool with an area of solar collectors equal to 80% of the surface of the pool. I will buy a thermometer and report later on the water temperature...

Close-up of the collectors and pipes

Now let´s see how it works in the end. Thursday we will have the roof finished, and between Saturday and Monday the heating panels should be operating.