Still More Odds and Ends

When we are out running errands and things we try to remember to bring the camera so we can capture the fun and/or interesting things we see. Often we forget, often we haven't got time to snap a picture because of traffic or whatever, but here are a few of our recent shots...

I have talked about buying furniture and stuff from the roadside, and although each place is a little different, this place is at least typical...



That's Ted headed over to talk to a guy about some small baskets with lids (which we didn't buy because he wouldn't budge off his original price- and the first price quoted is NEVER the real price, so we must have looked like suckers that day).

Note that you can buy everything from upholstered sofas to wooden baskets here- that's also typical.


Sometimes we are just tickled by businesses- this one is in the Shell station near our house.






While you get a fill up at the pump, you can get a haircut and email your Mom. One stop convenience.







Eddie's just cracks us up. No frills. No fuss. When he's open, the padlocked doors are flung wide and his meager stock of groceries (many past their expiration date) is available for sale.






















Finally, our favorite car repair picture ever.

Who has the money for a hydraulic lift, or even a garage with a pit?

Need to work on the undercarriage of a car?

Get five friends and have them help you tip the car over onto four unmounted tires.

Voila! Instant access to the bottom of the car. (Try not to think about what's happening to the fluids in the car while it's being worked on...we can't bear to).




When Cooper saw this picture, his reaction was- "What's the big deal? I see that all the time."

We had to remind him that what seems commonplace to him now certainly didn't when he first came here, and challenged him to remember seeing this method of car repair in the States.

The light slowly dawned.

Also worth noting in this picture is the building being constructed in the background. This is very typical construction- each floor being held up by a forest of bamboo poles, and much to the chagrin of my Civil Engineer husband, no matter how tall the building the support beams and floors are never any larger or given additional reinforcement. Gravity and load are not part of the construction equation here... (we won't even mention OSHA).

That's the latest Odds and Ends roundup- enjoy your holiday season and I'll be back next year! (I have to say that here because I don't have any elementary school friends to say it to anymore). :-)