La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.
THE FIRST PHOTO IS WHAT’S growing out of a drainhole above our row of garages. It’s probably not great for drainage, but it’s certainly picturesque, especially when shadows fall.
I became obsessed yesterday with the paving work being done behind our building. I kept going out in the hall to monitor their progress — and, especially, to look at their equipment. Even Dudo got bored and went back inside. The crew had two hand-driven resurfacers that resembled, somewhat, my mother’s 1950s Hoover floor polisher. But there was also a ride-on machine that looked like what might be called the zamboni of concrete. If you’re unfamiliar, zambonis are those ice resurfacers we see at hockey and skating rinks. I’ve been to two hockey games in my life. For me, the best part was the zamboni. The concrete resurfacer has an even catchier name. How would you like a Wacker Neuson Hyrdrostatic Trowel?
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LA PRIMERA FOTO ES LO que está creciendo en un desagüe sobre nuestra fila de garajes. Probablemente no sea ideal para el drenaje, pero ciertamente es pintoresco, especialmente cuando caen las sombras.
Ayer me obsesioné con el trabajo de pavimentación que se estaba haciendo detrás de nuestro edificio. Seguí saliendo al pasillo para monitorear su progreso y para mirar su equipo. Incluso Dudo se aburrió y volvió a entrar. El equipo tenía dos reparadores manuales que se parecían, en cierto modo, a la pulidora de pisos de la década de 1950 de mi madre. Pero también había una máquina de montar que parece que podría llamarse zamboni de hormigón (los zambonis son esos resurgedores de hielo que vemos en las pistas de hockey y patinaje). He estado en dos partidos de hockey en mi vida. Para mí, la mejor parte fue el zamboni. El repavimentador de hormigón tiene un nombre aún más pegadizo. ¿Qué le parecería una paleta hidrostática de Wacker Neuson?
• Un barco lleno de plantas de araña, para ser exactos, como se ve en un día de surf tranquilo afuera de un chiringuito
• La exhibición anual de amarilis en el chiringuito al otro lado de la calle.
• Este claramente le dio a sus órganos internos (y externos) sacudidas agresivas, y probablemente desagradables.
• Ride-on paleta hidrostática de Wacker Neuson, en la parte superior izquierda.
• El Wacker Neuson tiene chorros de agua junto con sus aspas de ventilador. Las versiones para “caminar” también tenían agua, pero a veces necesitaban un chorro extra de una botella.
• ¡Quiero intentar!
• Trabajaron hasta poco antes del toque de queda anoche.
• Nikoflor (el quiosco de flores) no tenía ninguno de los tulipanes de San Geraldo (haz clic aquí) esta semana. Así que le compré estos.
I have never seen the riding version! There are parts of working for building companies that I missed, walking construction sites on a warm sunny afternoon. Observing the progress.
David:
I still haven’t seen the rider in action. I will make a point of watching for it this week.
That first photo reminds me of a quote by Leonard Cohen: “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
I could watch people do these kind of menial tasks/jobs for hours……eventually it would put me to sleep. Ever heard of ASMR? It means: Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. Have a look on You Tube. I use it for relaxation as do millions of people. I never had a name for it when I was younger but have always responded to this kind of activity since I was a kid. It works for some. Here is link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZI23M8ilww
This fellow is very good.
Jim:
Leonard Cohen was such an exceptional poet. I had never heard of ASMR, although I understood the sensation. Thanks!
I love the weed drain!
And I had an entirely different image of the the workers and their equipment. This was not what Mama thought.
Bob:
Sorry to disappoint. I’ll be on the lookout for equipment that might be of more interest — although this really isn’t [often] that kind of blog.
I too thought of something rather different at your mention of their equipment. (Does that make me a bad person? 😏) I wants me a Wacker Neuson Hyrdrostatic Trowel, preferably the riding version. The drain hole pic is outstanding!
wickedhamster:
That doesn’t make you a bad person. It makes you exactly the kind of person I was aiming for. That weed with shadows simply struck me as beautiful. It’s doing it again right now.
I have always wanted to ride a zamboni just for the hell of it. I can understand why dudo got bored though. pretty tulips!
anne marie:
The only view Dudo gets is through the drain hole, so he had no idea what I found so fascinating.
Imagining some big wave coming up and taking the spider plant boat out to sea…did like your shadow photo of the drain plant.
Can understand being mesmerized by the machinery–the name alone is good for some pondering time–as in, what were they thinking? But think I’d rather gaze at the tulips.
Mary:
The surf hasn’t reached that “spider boat” but it did come so far up the beach last week that one of the small boats sitting on the sand among dozens of others (where they winter) did get washed into the sea.
You’re like every little boy in the world with his nose pressed up against the construction site’s fence for a better look at all the machinery and goings-on!
Debra:
I can’t walk by a construction site without gawking. I go nuts in New York with the holes cut into the wood fencing. When Málaga was digging for a new train line, I spent more time looking at the work than I did doing what I planned.
I understand your fascination. I love to watch construction and workers who know what they are doing. My office was on the 12th floor and overlooked a construction site. The crane arm seemed to clear the corner window by only inches. Mesmerizing.
Those tulips are sunshine in a vase.
Wilma:
SG and I commented on how fascinating it is to watch pros do their work. These guys are good. I wouldn’t have gotten any work done in your 12th-floor office. I love “sunshine in a vase.”
I was worried you’d have photos of a million spider. You shouldn’t tease me that way. I can hear the Florida crackers say, Ah think ahm gonna git me a wacker neuson. I hope I don’t get yelled at for using “crackers” when all I mean is saltines.
Love,
Janie
Janie:
Of course, I knew you meant saltines!
Usually when you have construction you get hunks. Maybe this is why you were interested in their expertise.
larrymuffin:
I don’t know about “usually” but that IS the fantasy.
Ok. I just wrote a comment. Then I backspaced over it. It was a little too much, even for me. And besides, all the good clean-ish lines were taken!
Walt the Fourth:
I’ve done the same thing many times. You can just reply to this “reply” with what you were actually thinking. I won’t tell.
I love that first photo! It’s so great when nature unexpectedly presents us with a surprise. (Well, usually — unless it’s a large predator!)
Steve:
I haven’t been surprised by a large predator … yet.
You have to admire the cheek of weeds.
They are damned determine to be there.
Urspo:
We should all grow weeds. We’d be very successful gardeners.