Spring Cleaning, House Maintenance, Free BP Test

July 16^th Countryside strolling again today, supposedly staying on the ‘hardtop’ roads. Our first photo is one of our little four legged friends again. He hasn’t learned to bark and stay away from strangers yet. His little brother on the other hand was a little too nervous and his father wouldn’t come anywhere near me and wouldn’t stop barking.

It was a beautiful day out there today, a little on the warm side and this route doesn’t really have enough tree cover to cool us down but the scenery makes it worth it.

Later on we came to a building which you will have seen in previous posts but today we were able to prowl around inside. It’s falling too pieces and we were struggling to work out what it used to be. There were nine hotel style bedrooms on the top floor, a few larger rooms, like meeting rooms on the second floor, and all kinds of strange rooms on the ground floor. Today, for the first time ever, there were signs of life and a woman turned up to speak to us. It seems that this place was built as a small airport for Wuzhishan, catering for small aeroplanes and although she didn’t say it, possibly helicopters. All the odd rooms suddenly made sense. The lady, who lives there temporarily now, told us it went out of business. I doubt whether business ever began here in the first place. It was supposedly a private airport and I’m sure the required authorisations would have been either too difficult or too expensive. The lady’s uncle has now done a deal with the local government and the place will be demolished and eighteen storey apartment blocks built in its place. Just what we don’t need any more of! Even crazier is that Huan recently told me that the local government wants to open a new ‘small’ airport to serve Wuzhishan! Anyway, here’s the building in question. I always wondered what the glass walled room at the top was for and now I know, the control tower.

We carried on walking behind the ‘airport’ and to a village we know on the way home. Turning on to a hard surfaced road we hadn’t been on before we eventually ended up on tracks through the woods again. More nice views though.

The added bonus of forest tracks is shade from the trees so that made us both happy. With our detour and our various stops on the way we ended up out for three and a half hours and walked 12.8 kilometres, not a bad morning at all.

Now I had every intention of walking again this evening when Huan went out dancing but unfortunately, the rain came. Oh, I’m so sad! Ah well, more Taobao shopping, we need a rubber hammer to replace the ceiling tiles in the kitchen. They were removed when we had all the leakage problems from upstairs. I just hope that no tenants move in before August and create problems while our visitors are here.

July 17^th The Irish have a lot to answer for! Murphy ’s Law struck again this morning. We both thought the weather was not going to hold out and so I left the Fuji at home. I wish I hadn’t. We went on the mountain scenic walk again but took a detour through another housing complex being built. It’s not too bad this one, a nice mix of villas and apartments, but as usual the apartments are a bit on the small side. Even in the villas the kitchen is tiny and most westerners would probably want to ‘rearrange’ some of the interior walls. We made a Keymission video in there which you can find on https://youtu.be/fpVDm9Fdkr4 Here’s a screenshot view as we were leaving, remember the fairy castle?

Next up was a beautiful looking insect and this is when I really started regretting leaving the Fuji at home. This is an extreme crop from my phone and it really does the insect no justice at all. The gold colouring really caught our eyes but getting close was not easy.

Just to rub in the fact that we didn’t have the ‘good’ camera, our little four legged friend was back after weeks of absence. She seemed a little more subdued than usual, she couldn’t even be bothered to jump off the bench. I wondered if she had maybe been on ‘maternity leave’.

Then, right in front of us, on the steps were some goslings. I thought I was going to be able to pick one up but they skipped off to the side fairly quickly.

By the time we got home we had only done ten kilometres but we had been gone three and a half hours. Most of that time was up and down the mountain but we also had window shopping for a new water cooler and supermarket shopping for dumpling ingredients. It looks like we may end up buying a new water cooler from Taobao yet again. None of the shops here seem to have a cooler that actually chills the water. I don’t know if you are aware, but Chinese people mostly don’t drink cold water, they prefer room temperature or even hot. Some water ‘coolers’ will have a hot switch but no cold one!

July 18^th No ‘Murphy’s Law’ today, instead it was ‘Bob’s Law’. Because our window cleaning tool arrived yesterday and because we are starting the ‘cleaning timetable’ today, we went out with just the phone and the Keymission. We weren’t out more than a few minutes before the director was wanting photos again. We, or rather Huan, decided we should stop and have our blood pressure taken. Chinese clinics do this a lot probably hoping to make loadsa money off you! They failed with us, Huan’s BP was 126/78 and mine was 121/80, both reasonably healthy don’t you think?

Of course not having the Fuji meant we were bound to see something. Here’s yet another little lizard. I don’t know if we have crested lizards here but he seems to be growing one.

As mentioned the afternoon was taken up with ‘spring cleaning’. We made reasonable progress and can now cross off the list the bedroom lace curtains, bedroom windows and our bathroom windows. We both went out this evening, Huan to dance and me to make up the daily ten kilometres. As I was home first I took down the lace curtains in the living and dining rooms. Aren’t I a good boy, can I have a chocolate now?

Oh, I’ve also been wasting a lot of time on this website - https://apolloinrealtime.org/11/ You can follow the Apolo 11 moon landing in real time, with all sorts of extras. Of course it took them four days to get there so that will be a lot of internet watching!

July 19^th Just an eight kilometre stroll around the river today, lots of work to do in the house and no plans to take any photos. Of course Huan decided differently and had to take a photo of a little lady who needs a lot of love at the moment. She always comes out when we pass, tail wagging, and as you can see she is just a little bit pregnant. She does seem to like a bit more love when she’s having babies, this is not the first time we’ve seen her like this.

There’s also a chicken in the shop but I don’t think you need another one of those just yet.

After lunch it was time to do the living room and dining room windows. The lace curtains were taken down and washed last night so it was up to me and my trusty sponge. It’s not an easy job doing outside windows of a seventh floor apartment especially when the temperature is 33º outside. By the time I was finished I was wetter than when we’ve had a long walk! Still, once the curtains were back up that was one more item crossed off the long list of chores.

July 20^th I was sent out alone this morning, Huan wanted to do a little window cleaning. After giving her over emphasised and implicit warnings such as “Do not stand on the security screens in the office, I don’t trust the bolts holding them in the walls” I set off. It was probably better that I didn’t see exactly what she was doing, she frightens me. That is why I did the more dangerous windows this time. I did have a job to do while I was out though, buy some newspapers. Huan never buys any, she thinks they’re a waste of money; I never buy any because I can’t read them. We wanted these to clean windows with!

By the end of today all the windows, including their fly screens, had been completed, I finished off the last two when I got home. The kitchen ceiling was crossed off the list too and so were the A/C filters. I wonder what we can get up to tomorrow?

July 21^st Out early this morning so asked Huan if she wanted to try the ‘landfill walk’. As she hadn’t been that way for a while she agreed. It took us a little longer than when I went alone last time but not so bad. We were home by mid-morning where we treated ourselves to a well deserved iced coffee.

The afternoon was taken up with ‘housework’ again, tightening the kitchen tap, removing the ‘fairly liquid’ dispenser, taking the bathroom mirror down and then Taobao shopping yet again! Well, we needed paint for the mirror, a ‘blanking plug’ for the kitchen sink and a new fly screen for one of the windows. The new water cooler arrived so that was unpacked and installed and the old one removed. You may wonder why we didn’t just repair the old one. Well, after the last repair, we decided that paying ¥239.00 for a new one was probably the wiser option. The things we do for visitors…

July 22^nd Monday, shopping and then for me, sheer laziness!

July 23^rd Rain stopped play, NTR.

July 24^th Huan was supposed to be going to a swimming pool this morning for a recce with her dancing friend. I said I wouldn’t go with them until they came back with more info. Instead, I went out for a solo walk, fully intending to go up to the reservoir and back down again. Two kilometres away from home the rain started! I carried on and to be honest, I quite enjoyed it. Although I was wet, I wasn’t cold and obviously I wasn’t sweating. No water stops were required and I continued for another six kilometres. When I arrived home the pool trip had been cancelled, they will try again tomorrow. Maybe I can try the reservoir again?

In the evening the rain had eased off so the ladies went dancing and I went walking and shopping, new cheap belts required. On the way, I took this photo of the new pedestrian bridge anchorage. I’ve just spent ages on Google trying to work out how the four ‘pipes’ are utilised but I’m afraid I failed. You will have to do some research of your own. I do know that the bridge will have two cable stays, at least it will if it’s like the existing one in front of the Fodelai Hotel. I guess each pair of ‘pipes’ must relate to one of the cables.

July 25th The ladies were off to check out a swimming pool this morning so I took advantage of the weather and, as promised, did the reservoir walk today. I passed this little chap on the way up and tried to take a video of him. However, he froze and didn’t seem like he was going to move again until I was well away.

At the top, the seven kilometre (from the house) mark, I took a few ‘blind selfies’. “What’s one of those?” I hear you ask. Well it’s a selfie taken with the camera instead of the phone and the camera does not have a rotating LCD screen. The benefit of course is that the photo is not a mirror image; it is ‘as you would see me’.

Next up, on the way back down the hill, is another creature, this time it’s unfortunately a dead one. I still didn’t fancy touching it, look at the size of it!

Not long after that, I got a message from the ladies asking me to go and meet them. I thought it would be to see a swimming pool but it turned out they wanted me to see their new dance practice hall. It’s on another residential compound and I must say it looks good, wooden floors, mirrored walls, fans on the ceiling, no ‘ballet barre’ though. We all had a good nose around and then walked home. It rained! If I hadn’t met them I would have been home before it started. Ah well, thanks to them I got some extra kilometres in, today’s total 16.7km.

For a change in the evening, we ate out. Jake’s family are visiting Hainan from the UK and they were having a couple of days here. It was most enjoyable, great food, great company and a few too many beers! Thank you Jake, Chris, Carol and Cadance.

July 26^th The ladies were out again, to take advantage of their new dance space. I didn’t really feel like going anywhere but my body needed to ‘sweat out some of that alcohol’ so I went walkies anyway. However, I stuck to the river and the town, still managing to get my ten for the day but not finding anything worth photographing.

In the afternoon the ladies were out again, this time to the swimming pool that I never saw yesterday. I stayed in to carry on with the ‘repairs’. Here’s the blank plug newly installed on the kitchen sink.

That was followed by painting the first coat on the bathroom mirror frame. I’ll take a photo of that when it’s all finished and back on the wall because it looks terrible now!

No dancing for Huan this evening so we just had a little walk to buy a better paintbrush. Second coat done when I got home, another one, or more, will be needed tomorrow.

July 27^th No dancing today, the teacher has a day off. She is seventy years old herself and has a bed bound husband so she spends most of her time with him. I guess giving dancing lessons gives her a couple of hours break in the mornings. Huan says she is an exceptionally good teacher and she gives the lessons free. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were more like her in this old world of ours?

So it was walkies for Huan and I but as we were up a little late, eight o’clock for me, and as I did another coat on the mirror frame, we couldn’t go so far, only eight kilometres around the river and town. We went on the other side of the river from our house so we could check out how the new park is coming along on that side. It will certainly have a nice big gate.

In the afternoon swimming was still on for the ladies so I was back on the balcony giving the mirror frame a fourth coat. At least it wasn’t too warm today, only 34ºC, but cloudy with it. I’m not very impressed with the painting results though. The colour is fine but it dries with brush marks. I thought we had ordered a gloss paint but Huan tells me “It’s not a shiny paint”. Ah well, it’s only our bathroom. I’ll do a final coat this evening, that will be the end of the paint, and we’ll see what it looks like tomorrow.

July 28th No walking for me today. The girls were out dancing but I decided I’d better keep going with the ‘home maintenance’ so we’re not panicking the day before #1 arrives. First off today was putting the mirror back into its frame which wasn’t as easy as it looked. Lots of fiddling about required plus an application from the glue gun. I managed to destroy a small piece of the backing but it’s not too noticeable. More importantly the Queen Bee was most impressed with the final result! PS Sorry about the ugly mug in the picture.

Next up was fitting the new fly screen for the spare bedroom. That job has to be done outside the front door so it’s a warm one. However, job done and once again the boss is happy. The new screen, just like the other new ones we put in last year is metal so it should last longer. It’s still very easy to see through.

The afternoon and evening was spent trying to get rid a line around the toilet bowl in the second bathroom. YouTube has lots of people suggesting soaking it with vinegar. Well by bed time it didn’t seem to be having much effect at all so we’ll have to leave it soaking overnight and see if there’s any improvement in the morning.

July 29^th Huan and her partner went off dancing and I got stuck into the toilet bowl again. Soaking overnight didn’t seem to have a great deal of an effect. I tried with an abrasive sponge and Jif and could hardly touch it. I decided to try with the Chinese equivalent of a brillo pad but without the soap and much looser. This was the result.

Let’s just hope we can keep it like that now. If you’re interested, this is the ‘wire wool’. It was quite a hard scrub but it worked, I can recommend it.

I spent the rest of the day finishing off that bathroom. The rains came so walks were out of the question today. Even Huan’s evening dance and walk was cancelled. On top of that we had to sit on the balcony for a while because, surprise surprise, the electricity went off!

July 30^th A walk was most definitely needed today after two days off! Huan was solo dancing today. Her partner, and her partner’s husband, who are both still ‘snowbirds’ albeit, they stay much longer than most, have gone back up north. They have to do some legal work for their house and that needs a personal presence. Huan shouldn’t miss them too much, they’ll be back in five or six weeks. So I decided to take the scenic mountain walk, along with the Fuji. The first photo op was by the gate where my four legged friend has a new small friend of his own. (PS I tried to get Huan to agree to take him home in the evening but without success.)

The weather was pretty good today, I only had one water stop and that was after I’d been to the bank. I wonder if decreasing your bank account makes you thirsty? After the mountain I took a stroll around the river just to be sure I got my ten in today.

Once home I made a start on our bathroom. I learned that bleach cleans much better than anything else I’d been trying. That’s thanks to my sister who told me all about it on Skype last night. Thank you Sandra. I couldn’t finish though as I decided some things needed to be replaced rather than cleaned.

Huan was out swimming again this afternoon so I walked her there and bought the items I needed on the way. The pool she goes to is quite nice, just a little too small for my liking though. No doubt I will get dragged there one of these days.

There’s an ornamental fountain on the way out of that complex. The fountain doesn’t seem to ever work, but there some fish in the water. If I wiggled my fingers they came to see me but didn’t stay long once they realised I had no food.

Once home it was back to the grindstone for me. I replaced both the flush controls on both cisterns, put in a new flexible hose and showerhead in our bathroom and replaced the drain in the second bathroom sink. Now, instead of a typical Chinese plug, we have a ‘push to close or open’ which should be easier to keep clean.

Finally, after dinner, I stripped off, as you do, and gave our bath a good old scrub before doing exactly the same to myself. I wonder if I’ll sleep well tonight…

July 31^st Much the same as yesterday except that I avoided the mountain walk because of the overcast sky. I did manage to avoid the rain until I took a little ‘dog leg’ to make sure I got eight kilometres in. I didn’t feel up to ten this morning. The rain got me about one kilometre away from home. Still, it was worse for Huan, she came home after me. What did I see today then? Well, first off, another snail. I wonder why they like to climb walls, there’s not much for them to eat up there. This one was over two metres above the ground. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with a body like this before either.

Next up is an eagle, not a real one, that would be something worth photographing. No, this was a stone one and in a place that we have walked many times but never seen it before. Looking at where it is I suspect it may have been moved to make way for a security guard’s post. If this is its original location then they should have put it on a raised plinth.

Unfortunately, that was it for today, the rain didn’t go away, no swimming for Huan, no evening walks for either of us. I was also too lazy to do any more home maintenance today!

And of course, that’s also it for this month. I hope you enjoyed keeping up with us and that you will join us again next month. Till then, bieeeeeeee!