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It was a distinctly busy week! Starting on Sunday with each of us having a doctor’s appointment, we continued from there with a long trip to the fine town of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadera “Hadera”]. There, I had determined, the hardware store with the cheapest [https://www.fornobravo.com/pompeii-oven/brick-primer/ “oven bricks”] (for the BBQ!) was to be found. Unfortunately, they weren’t ''actually'' to be found, since I had neglected to call ahead. So Esther and I had a nice drive there and back, roughly 3 hours round-trip, to no purpose. I ended up placing an online order with them, and hopefully will get the bricks next week.

By the way: if you’ve never been to Hadera, don’t bother. 

Esther had been saying for some time that we don’t really need two cars, and it’s quite expensive to keep a car you don’t need. So I called the agent from whom we’d bought my car, and the next day his partner showed up. Within an hour we had shown him the car, he’d called his buyers, we’d agreed on a price, transferred ownership, and got paid. It was by far the easiest and quickest car transaction we’ve ever done. If you need an agent, let me know.

Stuffing:
* Last week I mentioned one of the Argentine presidential candidates. [https://spectator.org/milei-has-the-answer-for-argentina/ Here is] one take on him, and [https://reason.com/2023/08/17/dont-confuse-javier-milei-with-jair-bolsonaro/ here’s another].
* The leader of the “Wagner” military group [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66599733 is presumed dead] after the plane he was thought to be on got shot out of the sky near Moscow. I believe the munition used was a [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fuck_around_and_find_out FAFO] missile.
* I really dislike “country and western” music, but all the buzz around [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv676ACun0E “Rich Men North of Richmond”] made me curious, so [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqSA-SY5Hro I listened to it]. Quite a powerful song, I get why it’s resonated so strongly with so many (based on the comments, all around the world).
* I didn’t bother watching the Republican primary debates because, well, why would I? According to reports, [https://www.thefp.com/p/knives-out-for-vivek-ramaswamy the knives were out] for Vivek.
* Are you sending a WhatsApp, SMS, or other chat? [https://nohello.net/en/ Don’t just say “hi”], it’s annoying.

Among other things, I went to a hardware store and got roofing supplies: two 20kg containers of [https://tambour.co.il/product/%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%92%D7%92-450/ a sealant], and an 18kg container of “cold tar”, which is an asphalt emulsion also for sealing. The task of elevating those containers from ground-level to the roof was non-trivial to say the least. In a surprise move, my body informed me I’m no longer in my twenties. Regardless, I managed to elevate two of the containers to the roof, and the third is waiting anxiously on my porch roof. 

Afterwards, I cleaned up most of the roof. Apparently, contractors think there’s a law prohibiting them from clearing up any crap left over from whatever they were doing. In any event, I then peeled away the ''several'' layers of tar shingles which had reduced our roof drain from about 8cm diameter to 3cm. That was fun. Then I poured the asphalt emulsion everywhere I could see any cracks in the various shingles. Now I’m letting that dry for a couple days, after which I’ll apply the other sealant. Hopefully this will put an end to our rainy-day woes.

In preparation for the arrival of the oven bricks, I spent some time cleaning the BBQ area and removing all kinds of surrounding debris. I’ll be cementing the bricks in the BBQ, and also cementing various pavers in the floor around it. Then we’ll also redo the sink and external electric outlet and the lights, in preparation for ''sukkot''. Lots to do, not a lot of time!

The weather is ''finally'' descending to (relatively) pleasant values. We’re really not used to the humidity!

This ''shabbat'' our viands will contain:
<br>
''ḥalla'',
baked chicken with potatoes,
garlicky green beans,
various ''salatim'',
and frozen desserts in the burning desert.

Until next time,<br>
''shabbat shalom''!

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