Mysterious Find in the Washer

I decided to do a little laundry today since we had water, electric and the sun was out for a change. I dragged the washer to the patio and commenced washing.

Remember this is not an automatic machine. It washes in one side and when that's done you have to move the clothes to the other side which is the spinner to extract the water (there is another blog story called "My Dominican Wash Machine Experience" if your interested).

I connected the hose and did the first load. I put the clothes in the spinner and the power went out. I had to hand squeeze all the clothes, a bit of a workout for these old hands. I have noticed that the water doesn't drain out of the spinner like it should for a really long time so since I couldn't wash anymore I decided to investigate.

I moved the spinner thingy to the side and peeked in. There was something navy blue way down inside. I tried to reach in and get it but couldn't so I got my trusty tongs and dived in. Out came this navy blue silky blob. Sort of nasty because who knows how long its been stuck in there. I looked at it, holding it by the tongs as I really didn't want to touch it.

It ended up that it was a pair on mens underpants. Fill cover briefs, silky navy blue. Now go figure. I don't wear mens undies. I never washed mens undies in my machine. I hope I don't know any man that would wear those type of poopoo undies (poopoo undies, that's a quote from the movie Young Frankenstein which is one of my favs).

Now, how did those interesting undies get into my machine, wedged way down into the drain in the water extractor? If only the machine could talk. It will forever remain a mystery.

Addendum - I was just reminded that I did wash a male friends clothes once but he defiantly did not wear silk undies, especially as big as those ones were.

Will the mysterious silk, poopoo undie, wash machine using man please step forward....

Stealing Electric

I wrote about living without electric before in this blog. But I came across this video and it brought back lots of memories.
I remember when I was just a tourist in DR. One of the first things I told friends when I returned home was about the electric lines and how people seem to steal the electric. I had no idea then just how bad it was in real life.
When I moved to DR I would watch the tourists take pictures of the electric lines. Isabel la Catolicá and El Conde in Colonial Zone was a favorite electric line picture taking spot.
I had to check my line every so often because there was one neighbor that connected into my electric. I found out he didn't do it on his own, the landlord told him to do it and to pay me for it. He never told me and of course, never paid me so I cut his electric.
Another neighbor, she had a bar. She stole the electric all the time. They would come and cut the line (give her a fine I'm sure) and the next day she had it connected again. If it was in the evening and she couldn't get the line connected in time she would call up to me and ask for an extension cord so at least she could have music in the bar. Then she just used candles for light. I couldn't do much in my apartment when she used my electric. My lights were really dim and I was afraid to try the computer so I would just go down to her place and hang out. I knew she wouldn't pay me for the electric so I just drank my pay. That was fine with me.
Now check out this video. This guy is on top of the pole. Sitting there working, using a machete it seems. There is no ladder so he must have shimmied up there. I am afraid to play with any electricity. When I had to hook op my outside light I made sure all the power was turned off. Checked it with a voltage thing, and I was still a bit shaky. This guy looks like hes ready to have a beer sent up or even happily spend the afternoon atop that pole.

Que vaina! Humans..go figure...