African Nonsense

Here is a sample of nonsense I saw on a recent trip to Kenya and Tanzania.  

My new church, "Jesus Winner Ministry."

Kenyan traffics jams,...

This is a border crossing between Kenya and Tanzania.  My pictures are poor, but it was a mass of humanity.

These guys were changing out the gas tank on a bus...in the middle of the Serengeti.  Plenty of lions and other large animals nearby. 

Notice the rocks supporting the bus.

Homemade checker board with bottle caps.

Bathroom sign in Tanzania...

Many security guards in Kenya and Tanzania worked for this "KK Security."  Wonder if a teenage girl named the company via text message.  

Mailbox in Tanzania...

Old school scales at the Zanzibar airport...

Not allowed through security in Zanzibar...interesting because Zanzibar is 85% Muslim.





Scaffolding inside an Anglican Church.  My photography is not great, but there was wall to wall scaffolding in there.  Love that it is tree branches and rope.

Street art in Kenya...

Not sure what this means....

All of the taxis have great decorations and phrases plastered on them.  I caught this one with the camera but missed a Snoop Dawg taxi and a Floyd Mayweather "The Money Team" taxi. 

I am going to get around to repairing that old truck soon...

Shops...lots of Coca-Cola signs everywhere. 

This is Nutmeg...who knew?

This is the fish market in Stone Town, Zanzibar.  It smelled about as good as it looks.  But very interesting and busy place.

Bikes parked in the market...

Charcoal for sale...

Some architecture in Stone Town, Zanzibar. 

Zanzibar was home to the last operational slave market.  They auctioned slaves until 1876.  

This is a basement where as many as 50 slaves were held for days leading up to auction. 

These are original slave shackles on display around some statues. 

Aforementioned Anglican Church (scaffolding) that is on the site of the former slave market. 

Offering box in the church...

Sewer cover - bragging about a German sponsored flood/water project

Arabic school (madrassa):

Africa is full of funny uses of the English language.  One of my favorites is calling a hair salon a "saloon."  This one is particularly ironic as it is in Zanzibar - 85% Muslim.  I told a local guy that a saloon is where you buy alcohol and he thought is was hilarious. 

Zanzibar has a large number of old ornate doors.  Some are Arabic, some are Indian and some are African in design.  

Check out graffiti - somewhat sad, yet funny too. "The whole world is a crock of shit."

More scaffolding...an obsession..

A cool hand-bike...

Interesting mailboxes...

Not sure what this means...

Group of girls, I think Indian.  Many Indian shopkeepers in Kenya and Tanzania.  By "many," I mean a ton. 

More Stonetown architecture...

So I learned that Freddy Mercury of Queen was born in Zanzibar.  Here is the Freddie Mercury house...

The sun had gotten to this once nice display of Freddy Mercury articles..

 More Stone Town history...

Some cool, lonely boats in the Indian Ocean....

Nice outboards on this boat.  Odd.

Not sure what this is for, but I found it interesting.  A long way from Lebanon.  

Grandfather Clock Repair

Julie has an Urgos Grandfather clock that has been sitting idle/inoperable for 10+ years.  Over three weekends I took it apart, cleaned it, re-lubed it, bent the pendulum back into shape, made some other adjustments and got it working.  

It is a "weight driven" grandfather clock.  You will see 3 long gold tubes, those are the weights.  

Here are some pictures of the project:

Weights, pendulum, flashlight and a butter knife. 

Top cover off - a look at innards of clock

Another shot of the clock "movement."

I realized the clock needs to be perfectly level to function.  

Clock "movement" 

Side shot of clock "movement"

I had this degreaser to clean my bike chain.  I used it to clean and free up the clock movement.  That will probably make true clock nerds cringe, but it worked and it was free.  

According to the internet, this is the premium clock lube.  $15 for 8 oz.  

Clock face and dials

Clock put back together

Here is a video of me manually manipulating the movement to make it chime.  This is before I did any repairs.

Here is the movement working by itself post repairs.  (I know both videos look similar, but this is the finished product).

That's all!

Birdhouses

People on Pinterest check under their bed for me when they go to sleep at night...

I have a box of about 50 wine crates from good friend Henny (not Youngman) and a box of 50-75 old license plates from my dad/grandpa.  I decided to up-cycle/ re-purpose them into birdhouses.

A couple of miscellaneous pieces. 

Starting to brainstorm a layout

First couple being dry fitted.  

Side shot

Nailing the roof with micro pinner and wood glue. 

Shop dog guarding against possible theft. 

Ready for Spar Varnish

                                   

One coat of Spar Varnish on

                                         

A look at the mess in my garage.  I kept pulling tools out.  Notice my kitty litter paniers and bike trailer (previous projects) in the background.  

 My only major purchases were two pieces of cedar.  The wine crate birdhouse were made out of wine crates.  However, I needed some material to make birdhouses with license plate roofs.  Thus the cedar.

 A look at the line-up:

Summary of 3 types of birdhouses

1) These 4 are made entirely of wine crates.  Two will be donated to a silent auction for Make a Wish Foundation at my school and 2 are gifts for neighbors.    

Notice the variety of perches - crescent wrench is my favorite.  

2) Over the summer my parents moved and I found this box in their garage when we cleaned out.  I thought it would make a good birdhouse for Julie's brother who resides in Oregon.  

I delicately removed the sides.  One side split anyways.  These pieces were fragile as they were old and 1/8" thick.  

I glued and micro-pinned the pieces to a thicker piece of cedar.  I made the pieces a bit longer and then cut the angle on the Harbor, OR piece on the table saw as it was attached to the cedar with angle already cut (see piece standing on edge in left of picture).  

Finished product.  Love the hex bolt perch.  

3) I made 3 birdhouses with license plate roofs.  The license plates have significance.  JUL 15 was my grandpa's plates (his name was Julias).  22 715 has been in our family since the 1940s, passed down from my grandpa to my dad and one day I will rock 22 715 on my vehicle.  The birdhouse on the far right is actually a Chicago Bears colored birdhouse I made in Boy Scouts.   It is in rough shape, so I attached some Orange license plates to hide the fraying roof and to go with the Chicago Bears colors.  

The JUL 15 birdhouse is going on the balcony of my parent's new apartment.  I am keeping the other two.  

A look at my Boy Scout birdhouse and its rough condition. 

22 715 from 1957!