Dominican gymnasium

Danilo decided to build a gymnasium, for him and Hector to use. He said I could use it too to work on my abs and lift my bottom. I think not.

I ignored him re building the gym, thinking it was just another of his great ideas, until I went to put some peelings into the compost bucket. The bucket had gone. I went outside and discovered it was full of concrete with a tube in it. Apparently it was being used as a mould for weights for the new gym along with paint pots and various plastic containers.

Bits of wood had been sawn up.

And of course no Dominican construction would be complete without the use of my favourite kitchen knife.

There are various pieces of equipment as you would expect to find in any gymnasium, only these don't quite look the same. Here is the abdominal bench. Seems a tad steep to me, but what do I know?

Chivirico was helping out by filling the holes in the wood with filler, and please note my kitchen sink in the background which still hasn't made it into the kitchen!

The abdominal bench is made of shelves from my wardrobe, the flexible water drainage pipe from the washing machine, and the broom handle. The empty cement sack is to protect the back of your legs from the edge of the wood.

It works as Hector demonstrates.

And even Chvirico can use it - with a little help. He is desperate for a six pack!

There are dumbbells

And a bench for doing other stuff (sorry don't know the technical name).

The garden continues to frustrate me. I have replanted the butternut squash and so far it is doing well.

But it cannot compete with the Dominican squash which is taking over - all that from one tiny seed.

And I have totally given up on my corn, which now looks suspiciously dead having started so well.

Look at Hector’s Dominican corn!

I think maybe it is too hot for American/Canadian/British seeds so I will wait until it cools down in November before starting again. In the meantime, I will try and sort out my clothes which used to sit neatly on shelves in the wardrobe, sweep the floor with a broom minus handle and work out how to drain the washing machine without a hose.