La leña

Feliz año everybody.

Of all the Spanish words I need here leña was the last one I would have thought I needed. Leña means firewood and we’ve used the word a lot lately.

There’s a local carpenter in town to whom we pay a tip, to give it to us for free. We only visited him a day or two ago but his supply was already getting low. The place near Cihuatlán was good so we went there. There was a huge pile as usual but this time there were some really nice side cuts that were too big for the chiminea so we decided to ignore them. We asked the guy “La leña Señor?” He nodded and away we went to fill the trunk.

I kept looking at those great looking side cuts and decided that we had to have them, but first, a saw. Driving back into town and after checking a few stores we found that power tools are very expensive here so I decided to get a hand saw.

After unloading the first load and driving back to the madereria (lumberyard) and started loading again. After the rear seats were lowered, we ended up with a very good load.

Driving home Rosalie announced that she had a splinter in her widdle fingy. I asked if she needed an ambulance or a shot of tequila. You can guess which she chose. It numbed the pain as I pulled it out, with pair of pliers.

I know I throw Rosalie under the bus a lot but she has her subtle way of getting back at me. For example, we decide that it was my job to do the dishes each day. This decision was reached democratically with me not having a choice.

So what she does if she’s mad at me is to bake something really complicated using every utensil she can get her hands on and then hiding them until the goo on them gets good and hard. Then, in her sweet little way piles them on the counter for washing. That’s me done for half a day and she walks off grinning.

The chiminea sits on the edge of the patio just under the edge of the roof. It isn’t dangerous though makes the roof a bit smokey. We mentioned this to Raquel but she seemed unperturbed. All she said was “That’s okay, Omar can get up there and scrub it with some soap and water.” I don’t think that will ever happen but you never know. I think I’ll start burning plastic bags to make the job a little tougher. Rosalie said I shouldn’t but I reminded her that we haven’t had a coco loco from him lately and she heartily agreed that he should be punished.