It’s all back. The server is running and everything has been backed up at least once. Just in time to leave for China later this week. We will be in Wuhu most of the time so there will not be much excitement to post about, but you never know that was the sight of the be The Ebola scare a couple years ago. To hold you over here is Mary and I and the entire 1967 Portland class from the reunion we went to.
Also I did tear down the bird nest but I couldn’t get all the brown stain off the house and I thought I caught them trying to rebuild a couple days later but I have not seen them since. There better not be some bird Trump like establishment back up there when I get back.
You may recall that last summer I had a problem of birds sitting on the ledge above the front door and pooping all over the place, well not all over, just in front of the door. I determined that they were barn swallows a common bird that hangs around people and their human structures so they can build nests in them (thus the barn part of their name). The nest look like this.
If you are wondering how I happen to have a picture of a barn swallow nest it is because it is built in the upper corner of the thing that covers the front porch and door. I noticed this last spring and at that time pulled it down, (it is about 25 feet off the ground). I didn’t think much more about it except Mary said that that is a lucky bird and there is some top secret thing in the nest that if you are some Chinese person you are suppose to eat. A few weeks ago I noticed that it had been rebuilt. I didn’t do anything about it at that time under the mistaken assumption that it was abandoned. A week or so ago I noticed that there were birds in it and that it was then too late to pull down. So the birds grew and I decided that there were 4 (although as they left the nest over the last couple days I think the real number was 5.) I could count them here.
This was the only way I could see them because as soon as I opened the door or approached from outside the adult birds would start flying around in buzzing mode sending up warnings and the young birds wold duck down and hide in the nest. Now the problem with this is once again poop. I can’t find a study to confirm it but the barn swallow has the highest ratio of poop to body weight in the known universe. Also, apparently the first rule that is taught a young bird is don’t poop in the nest but stand up on the edge and poop over the side. As a result the ledge under the nest and the front porch have about 248 tons of bird poop collected. This generated another great mystery that, since I am not a lepidopterist, I have no answer for. I noticed the other day that there is one brand of butterfly that flocks to this collected bird poop like old folks flock to the “all you can eat”.
Yesterday and today it appears that they have left the nest for good and soon I will need to clean this mess up. I’ll leave you with the photo that will be the envy of all great wildlife photographers. I can’t tell you how I got this picture, trade secret, but I outsmarted the birds and their stupid warnings.
In Nov. of 2015 we went to Stockholm to attend the Electrolux awards banquet. Last fall Mary was asked to attend this years banquet that was being held in Charlotte NC in Oct. She was busy and couldn’t go and didn’t see the need to send someone from China to attend, that is until 2 or 3 weeks before the event that they insisted that Sepstar-ETI be represented. As a result I was elected to go.
So I get in the car and drive to Charlotte and stay at the big hotel. Late in the day of the event I put on a suit and get on the bus at the hotel and go to the Electrolux NA Headquarters to stand around an talk to people with name tags. Come to find out the reason we needed to be there was that Sepstar had been nominated again and was one of 3 companies in the supplier innovation category. So we listened to Electrolux high rollers tell us how good they were and then got on more buses to go to a downtown artsy convention center to stand around and drink wine, look at art and talk to people with name tags. After an hour of that we went upstairs to have food and get the show started. We ate something brown, something white, and something green and finally our category came around. Last year we didn’t win and I expected the same this year but when the winner was announce to great fanfare, we won. Now that meant I had go up and collect the award, give a speech and have a picture taken. This was just like being at one of those big time award shows except instead of sharing the stage with attractive actress ladies or nice singing ladies I got to share the stage with these guys…
VP Engr. Purchasing, CEO, President, NA Head
after wowing the crowd with wonderful manufacturing stories and humor.
The award is now back in China where it belongs although there was the temptation to keep it here.
The crescent shaped parts of the logo are loose and I’ve decided that you could us it as a plate/bowl to hold peanut M&M’s so that you would always have a supply of a delicious snack available.
Just a few weeks ago I documented the post winter removal of the God dam. (see post below) Now I will take you to the creation. The day after returning to the Estate d’Yusmith from the 4 day trip to NYC we had some late afternoon storms roll through. No big deal just some lightning and rain. A little later I looked out the window and noticed that the creek d’Yusmith was full to the very top. This was something that I’ve not seen before. Looking to the southwest it is right at the southern bank.
Looking to the northeast you can see it is like the raging floodwaters of the Mississippi.
As can bee seen here the water is passing through the bridge at about a bazillion mph.
And that is in spite of the flow being held back by the newly formed God dam on the other side of the bridge.
So today, after all the water had run to the sea what remains is the newly formed God dam that I now have to go clean out.
Mary moved before coming home for Thanksgiving as the owner of the old apartment had sold it or was selling it, I don’t remember which. So she downsized from the 3 bedroom to a 90 sq meter 1 or 2 bedroom. It has one bedroom one office room a living/dining room small kitchen and entry room. See the living area right here.
The apartment is on the 20th floor and on the ocean so the balcony has a view, such as this view, of a few of the Zhuhai fishing fleet shortly after sunrise with the bridge to Hong Kong that is being built in the background.
From the water edge looking back at the buildings we are the second on the right which means the first on the right does block about half of our view. We are on the 20th floor if you want to count.
Looking towards the center from the balcony past the building in front you can see some of the coast going towards Zhuhai. Zhuhai is way off the picture to the left. Those are just some apartments along the coast road.
Of course living on the 20th floor means you must drive an elevator to get home and of course China has a long list of rules for driving elevators.
Of particular interest is the requirement for no slapping and the fear of all elevator drivers of allowing pets to take a ladder. We still eat at the same restaurants since this is very near the other apartments we have had (this one is on the reclaimed ocean area I posted about a couple years ago) and one we ate at had a new table place mat that was advertising a Trump inspired dish.
So with that I’ll leave you with this mornings crack of dawn.
We are off for a week in Thailand tonight so the next post will be from a different country.
Saturday, New Years Eve required a trip to the local village market to get some fish and stuff. This is not your Whole Food or Kroger it is just the big local market that runs 365 days a year. To get to it you need to know what ally to go down as it is in the courtyard between a bunch of buildings.
Entering from a small alleyway
The area around the outside is for the fish guys because of all the water mess. When you find the fish that speaks to you you pick it out.
Pick’en the fish
There are many to chose from. Sometimes you choose more than one.
Taking the one on the right
Meanwhile the chicken area was not getting much action.
Our chosen fish meets its end.
Around the edge is this guy and I have no idea what his purpose is.
come here kid let me scare the crap out of you
Our fish is still being prepared to take home and the chicken area’s business has picked up a little.
Meanwhile the cleaning guy is working on somebody’s squid selection.
This turtle was trying its best to escape as it figured out it was headed for a big soup dinner.
Then it was time to pick out the big 5lb fish we would have for lunch that day.
Have the guy cut it up and prep it.
We didn’t need any vegetables or meat products so we left.
As I post this on Sunday morning apparently we need to go back to the market again. Maybe there will be breaking news when I get back.
There are a couple of items that I’ve been meaning to post but now that it is the night before taking off for the big Asian winter extravaganza I guess I should do that.
First off, I hadn’t posted pictures from the September Italy trip through Rome, Sienna, Florence, and Venice. Those have now been posted to the picture menu to the right.
As I continue to develop the great motion picture with all the excitement of the Desert Bus video game here is another teaser. This one from the big picture taking at Thanksgiving. So as not to totally invoke the ambiance of the final product this one has had it’s playback speed increased by 10x.
Over the next 3 weeks watch this site for live updates from Asian part of the globe. Will be back in time to see the swearing in of the beginning of the end of time.
