Irons in the Fire

First, the impossible is in progress. My bamboo, something I’ve long understood to be more tenacious to life than any cat, is mysteriously dying while everything around it thrives.

One suggested explanation: death by neighbor.

Another: death by city.

And yet another: the after effect of mass flowering. No one had ever complained to me about this formerly thriving wall of green that I planted for privacy and as a backdrop for photos.

These were taken a week ago. It’s worse now.

My tablet is a beloved thing and it went missing at the air port along with a book and art supplies. A few hundred feet from where it was nabbed was the air port lost and found but it wasn’t there. It was a sad and frustrating loss since I was unable to complete the little book and give it to my grand daughter, I didn’t get to sketch anyone or anything at my destination, and the tablet is a multiple times per day useful item. I’d tried rearranging my bag to make it fit under the seats of the plane and accidentally left those items out of the bag on a bench when I relocated to a plug in station to write on my laptop. It wasn’t long before I realized I’d left items on the seat, but they were quickly taken. I nearly missed my flight searching for them and checking with the lost and found.

I was pretty upset that anyone would take what wasn’t theirs.

A few weeks later I found them on my door step in a box that had been mailed. I learned that a couple had determined that the items had been left by someone who would not return to get them so they took them on their trip and mailed them back to the address on the labels that were stuck to the book and tablet cover.

I was puzzled about what thinking went into the nabbery and am still a little puzzled since the airports all announce that abandoned property should be brought to the attention of airport security.

My understanding now is that the couple felt they were safeguarding the stuff and were doing good.

Everything was returned and I can now finish and deliver the book to Esther and go back to enjoying the tablet.

Meanwhile, my Lotus motor started acting up and I traced the problem to the carburetor, a French Solex. Observe the intake manifold which holds a lake of gasoline.

I’ve switched to a Weber 36/32 progressive carb. It needs some adjusting but the difference is already profound. The car has a more solid feel and increased horsepower.

To make the Weber fit, I had to modify the accelerator linkage by making a part for it to allow me to secure the accelerator cable.

While the car repair was in the works, I went back to the My D.Y. story and completed the draft version. I printed it and bound the pages with string by drilling and sewing the pages. Finally I figured out how to do double sided printing with an old laserjet.