Dog grooming

Well we have found a place to take Hanna and Kobe for their grooming and they have come home looking like a bichon instead of a Chilean poodle.

Some of the other things we have learned (the hard way) although none has been tragic:

1. Return bottles that are returnable, as it is really exchange. You do not get money back for them; you just are not charged the deposit when you buy another bottle. Rather like the way we buy propane here.

2. This one is more funny, then tragic. We had found that we like a drink made by Watts, is was watermelon. We had only found it a couple of times and have not been able to since. Well one day Susan thought she had found a concentrate drink from Watts that was watermelon flavored. Well we brought it home and when we made it could not find out how much water to add. Well we said something to our neighbors and found out it was jam we had bought.

3. The other thing we bought, well thought we had bought was a plastic trap to cover the bed when we painted the bedroom. Well it turns out we bought lots of clear party favor bags, oh well. I use them for when I take the dogs for their walk.

Well not much else new, so take and talk to you later.

SMOG - Alert

SMOG

With winter approaching Santiago, the smog is increasing. To combat this, the government has put in place certain restrictions to help lower the smog admissions.

One of the steps taken is to restrict when vehicles maybe drive during a ‘Metropolitan Region Environmental Alert’. These alerts usually start in May and run through August. I am not sure this is really helps, as Santiago has had this restriction in place since the 1980’s, and with the increase of number of cars being registered not sure that they are really gaining ground . They do need to do more in the area of the local buses, as this is one of the biggest polluters due to the buses being old. The alerts   are posted on, the web, http://www.uoct.cl/uoct/inicio.jsp. Some of restrictions are vehicles with no catalytic converter are limited on when they can drive. There are usually four numbers, and if you license number ends with one of these you may not drive that day. Restrictions may can apply  with vehicles with catalytic converters also.

Another restriction is the use of wood stoves, again if there is an alert prohibiting the use of a wood stove is posted on, the web http://www.uoct.cl/uoct/inicio.jsp . The problems with wood stoves here in Chile are they do not have catalytic converters, like the one in the United States.  This restriction is also hard to enforce. Where we live, we were told this is not always enforced. In addition, there are people who not only heat but also cook with wood.

Well time to go.

Completo day

Well today is 'Completo Day', in English hot dog day. Today you could get a Completo for only CLP $200, about $.40, some places the stores sold out. We celebrated with out neighbors, we bought over a cake and also a dip and crackers.

Well we have finished our painting of the house, well so far. One thing we have noticed is that it is hard to get two cans of the same color paint, unless you buy at same time. We have twice had to go back for a second can of paint and they cant seem to get the color the same. The machine they use looks the same as what is used in the US, so not sure why its so hard to do here.

Map of latest hits

Dogs ..............

Well remember Kobe's friend Bruno? Well it seems we can't get Bruno to go home. Yesterday he was over playing with Kobe and Hanna. Susan and I were going to pay the cable bill, so we put Hanna and Kobe in the kitchen. As we were leaving Bruno kept following us, finally had to walk Bruno home...laugh...Bruno got scolded.

As a way to stay busy, have begun a course to be certified to teach English as a second/foreign language. I am sure someone will make some comment about this.

Dreary day

Today is a very dreary day, very overcast and humid. Oh.. that's right I forgot to say that it is actually more humid in the winter then in the summer.

Well because it was cold, Susan had made chili for dinner. We actually had started making it two days ago, because here in Chile it is hard to find canned  beans so we had to use regular uncooked beans. It wasn't too bad, although Susan said the beans were still a little bit hard.

We know that we are defiantly Americans, we use our heaters more then our neighbors.  If you forgot what our heater looks like .
Susan like the temperature close to 70°F and the neighbors only turn theirs on in the morning as the kids are getting ready for school or laugh when we are over. Right now we only use one and it is trying to heat the house. We shall see what happens when winter really starts.

Well got to run, dogs want to go for a walk.

Oh almost forgot, we have been approved for our temporary visa, should have by end of May, which means we can ship our stuff.

The Grey

Has anyone seen The Grey?

Just finished watching.. was really a exciting movie.  Will not tell you the ending, will just say that normally I can not sit through whole movie, although I did watch at home.



Mothers Day

Well today is Mother's Day, so Happy Mothers Day to all Mothers. Well this will be the first time we will not be going to the Red Jacket in Conway, New Hampshire.

This is the one time Susan likes to go out to eat, she loves their desserts. So  we are going over to our friends house across the street for Chinese food.

Well we had another earthquake today at 08:42, was 4.8 about 82 miles NW of Santiago. Was very short and weak. Did not even bother with picking up stuff and dogs to go outside.


Picture of countries that have view my blog

Country	Pages Viewed
United States	1216
Chile	268
Russia	45
Japan	18
Germany	9
Mexico	5
United Kingdom	3
Ukraine	3
Argentina	1
India	1

Hope everyone has a great day.

Yea...

Well the pool is looking a lot better, have added more chlorine today so maybe will be clear tomorrow.

Well Susan has booked her trip back to the States for June, she has a conference in Atlanta and needs to do some working on our banking. Not sure of exact dates yet, as she had problem with our free tickets, which ended up being free from Santiago to Mexico.

It is getting cool, only 52°F right now expected high of 71°F. But other then that, not much new to say. Maybe will take some pictures around neighborhood and post.

Well yesterday when cleaning the pool, I had thought I had added chlorine, well that's what the bottle said, ended up being laundry soap, I think, any way now I have green water with soap bubbles... geeish

Well Hanna did it again....I was cleaning the pool, well trying to. It has turned "ocean green" after last the last rain we received. Can not seem to get the water to be clear, may just wait till "spring" to get it cleaned. Anyway somehow Hanna fell in to the pool again, she still can't swim very well.  At least she is clean again, just had tp blow dry her.Well that has been the excitement for today.

Buenos días,

Well of all things, I have lost my comb... ok no laughing I know I don't have a lot of hair, but  I still need a comb. The only comb I can find are women's and baby combs...

Someone please send me a new comb....

Well off to do ...... ? Hmmm what ever I want

Yesterday we went to the largest mall in Santiago, Parque Arauco, it is located in the downtown area.

We had to take the bus and then to the Metro. The bus ride was about 5 minutes and then on the Metro another 30 minutes and then we had to walk about 10 blocks, so it was about an hour trip. It is kind of funny that even though Chile maybe considered a second or third world country, on the buses you don't use change but your bip card.

   here are the different readers for the card, this one is on the bus.

         

and this is the one in the Metro station,

 but in all honesty, there is no such thing as second or third world countries. These terms were used in "The Cold War" era, and was more a reference to the political alignment of the country, in respect of how the country was aligned to the United States, then their economic or their technology development.

Here is a map of how the world was divided



So we did a little shopping and then had lunch in the food court

and



the place Susan chose for lunch was...........................................

 

Well after lunch we had ... ice cream cone , well that's not what it is called here, here it is called cono de helado

Well it's time to go, as we are going to have to do our return trip and it will probably be over an hour as it is getting late.  Here is a couple of pictures we took on the way back

This is the upside down building, have to admit, that Chilean architects don't build just up and straight.

and this is a picture of  Escuela Militar, Chile's Military Academy.



Well today is a holiday here in Chile, it is Labor Day. It's different here, that things are actually closed for the holiday. Susan and I were going to go get empanadas for breakfast and everything was closed. We didn't know it was a holiday, although I made the comment, seemed they were a lot of cars parked in the neighborhood.
Chilean empanadas can have a wide range of fillings, but there are three basic types that are the most popular:

• The first one is baked and filled with pino, a traditional filling consisting of beef, onions, raisins, black olives, and a hard boiled egg.
• The second one is usually filled with seafood and fried.
• The third type contains cheese and may be baked or fried, although the latter form is more common.

There are many variations on each of these basic types (e.g.: pino without raisins and olives; all kinds of seafood, like mussel, crab, prawns, or locos (similar to abalone); mixed shrimp/cheese; etc.). They are considerably larger than the Argentine type, usually with one empanada being enough for one person as a meal.



Well have a nice day...!!!!