Gringos in the TCI Photo Blog

[Wesco]

I really enjoy reading your posts and looking at the photos. Being cramped up in an office on a beautiful day is that much easier when I can sign on and check out your adventures. Keep them coming.

Wesley

[gottaflylee]

Some one knew how to post a video... Love the music...

[clt_capt]

I am thinking of setting it up like this:



and that colorful shelf thing I built is now safely installed in La Gringa's office. Getting that up the hill was a real adventure.

Here in NC is not as humid as T&C, and I have running issues with moisture with a very similar setup. Hopefully your Filters also have a drain - you will need to empty them regularly - as well as the main tank.

For paint spraying, you may want an inline filter at the sprayer.

[Gringo]

At least the humidity here is relatively constant. We don't have the wood seasonal expansion/contraction issues when edge gluing up tables, for example. This means that if I can get a system working it should work year round, I guess.

The filters I ordered have drains, I think. I didn't go for the automatic ones. All manual. Simple works better here.

There's a Florida expat here from Homestead who has a new paint store here. He really knows his stuff, and I have been talking to him about paint. He said all the guys here who spray cars, etc. use two filters, like you are describing.

I am thinking I will extend the black pipe drain down to nearer the floor, just enough room to get something under it to drain into. More steel should act as more radiator, I hope.

Do you think another small "riser" section of pipe before each filter would help?

[Gringo]

Some one knew how to post a video... Love the music...

Yep, La Gringa is a computer application geek. I thought y'all knew that. In this house, she's software, and I am hardware. Hey, it works out pretty well. Usually.

And I just got reminded that I didn't finish the little thread about last weekends kayak trip. So I will finish that up now cause the weekend is about here and I am sure we will have more stuff to photograph.

We did not get into Frenchman's Creek. Even though that was the prime objective of the trip. Oh, we got about a hundred or so yards into it, zipping along with about a two knot current, before we turned around to head back. We would have had to fight that current for an hour to get back. Bad timing on my part. our sidetracks to the cave and then playing with the sharks ate into our time. We needed to start home.

On the way back South we hugged the shoreline a bit more. We had wind, waves, and the longshore current in our face. We looked at miles of untouched beach and bush:



And just past this spot, I saw what must be the biggest single piece of bamboo I have ever seen in my life. It looked like it might be a foot in diameter. It was washed ashore up on the beach, a trunk about 10 feet long.



Thinking about it later I was wishing I had tied a line to that and towed it back to the truck. Of course I couldn't fit it in the truck, would have had to tie it on top. Maybe it's best if I go back with a saw.

I just KNOW that sections of bamboo that big must be useful for something. Make an umbrella stand and fill it with some of the walking canes I make, or something.

The pedal back was pretty uneventful. We did see dozens of nice picnic spots along the way. Totally uninhabited. Never used. Probably never even visited. Places like this:



Nice rock to sit on and build fires on so you don't have to deal with sand, clear warm water, and a sandy bottom. Nice.



(yeah, yeah, I know. But they are comfortable, cheap, float, clean up easy, don't stink, and work on these rocks. And they are easy to kick off when you want to be barefoot. Which we usually are.)

We still had some daylight left, but it runs out quick in the tropics. And if Dooley the Devourer doesn't get his dinner at what he considers a reasonable hour, things can get ugly.



Sunsets in the North West still seem a bit bizarre to me, but I can get used to it. Days are getting shorter in North America now, but they are getting longer here. September is our most summer-like month.

Now when we were almost back to the truck, crusing along the shoreline about ten yards out, this guy suddenly pops up from nowhere and asks us if we will let him and his wife sit in our boat and take a photo. At least, that's what I heard him say. I think. There are these language differences here...

So, even though we were not all that crazy about the idea, we decided 'oh why not?' and told him it was okay. SO about ten seconds later the rest of his family comes around the corner. There were two women, a naked boy about four or five, and a bundle. They got situated in the boat, with La Gringa holding their camera and Dooley the Distrustful wondering what the hell was going on with HIS boat...



And I stood out of the way and took these photos while they smiled and said "cheese" for La Gringa. Or whatever the Haitian creole equivalent of cheese is. Frommage?

I was trying to get a better photo of the little boy, but all you can see is his little black butt sticking out behind the front seat, with the very pregnant woman in it.

Oh, the guy was handing a bundle to the other lady, and it was a small, small infant wrapped up in a blanket.



And from there we headed to the 'boat ramp', where we saw the Nissan with the swing away tire carrier/trailer hitch. Which I started this episode with.

That's pretty much the end of that trip. Since then I have been working on the Land Rovers, the shop, and mostly lately, the Yamaha on our Contender. That is on another thread here somewhere.

Oh, also we managed to horse that piece of shelving up a steep driveway and install it in La Gringa's office. Man, that was a trip. It was getting away from me lashed to a two wheel dolly, until she heard me scrambling and gave me a hand with it.

This outta 'tropical up' the room a little:



Now I need to build one more like this, and then a twelve foot long desk to go between them.

[Robja]

yeah, yeah, I know. But they are comfortable, cheap, float, clean up easy, don't stink, and work on these rocks. And they are easy to kick off when you want to be barefoot. Which we usually are.)

At least they hide your toes until LaGringa gives you another pedicure.

You did a good job on the shelf. I like the color. Very "electrifying".

[Gringo]

I know this will come as a surprise, but I have never had a pedicure in my life.

At least with the crocs, I am back to having ten toenails. while wearing flipflops on the rocks here ( called ironshore) I think I was down to about 6.8 toenails at one point.

[AK_angler]

I just wanted to say that I have spent the last 3 days reading this thread from page 1 till now. I have enjoyed every bit of it. The pics bring back memories of the month I stayed on St Thomas this last spring. I work on the North Slope of Alaska (Prudhoe Bay, where I am now) and it is so nice to see pics of places I would so much rather be! Thanks for all the stories and pics. Now I will be visiting your blog to see what is there.

[Gringo]

hey, thanks. Glad you liked it. Tackling the blog....well you need to pack a lunch for that one. I think it's over 200 posts now. Of course, a lot of the same photos are here, recently.

We haven't had anything new boat related lately, other than I have been working on getting this HPDI running right again. All the water that splashed on the engine caused all kinds of hassles. Today, for example, I got one of the fuel rails and a couple of the inectors off for the first time. Corrosion everywhere. One of the most suspect injectors is still stuck in the head. I am soaking it in penetrating oil overnight, and will try to get it apart again tomorrow. We are planning to put the boat on the trailer sometimes in the next few days, and probably bring it home to work on it.

This has been the summer of the kayak, so far.

But I am sure learning a lot about 300 HPDIs.

[Gringo]

As LaGringa pointed out in another thread, we have two storms drawing a bead on us this week. Scary, after what went on last year about this time with Hannah and then Ike.

But one thing about this time of year, it can make for some purty sunsets from time to time. This was night before last: