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07 July, 2009

Li' Bit of Construction

Just a li' (pronounced "lee") bit of construction going on around here.

First on Almond Drive, beside (well, slightly behind, actually) the Paradise Bay Villas (http://www.toucantrail.com/Paradise-Bay-Villas.html), is this imposing looking home. The crew is running up and down the ladders with 5-gallon buckets of wet concrete to pour in the form for the third-floor roof. A local wood carver by the name of Eustace, who does great carvings, also has a wealth of experience in construction, is heading up this project for a local owner.

Almond Drive House Going Up
We walk the doggies by this every morning, so we've really been able to sidewalk superintend as it's gone up.

There's several other projects around town that are in various stages of active construction. One beside the Hokol Kin Guesthouse on the waterfront, another structure getting ready to go up on 7th Avenue (Northern Highway) near New World Store, and several others. Yes, the downturn has affected Belize and Corozal, but there's still a sizable amount of construction occurring.

Of course, near and dear to my heart is our own construction project. On hold for the past six months or so, our guesthouse is rousing itself once again. Slowly, to be sure, but progress nonetheless.

We're putting in the stormwater drain system from the roof of the guest house. It comes down and ties in to the 200+-foot drain pipe that drains the roof of our house and several floor drains in the garden and drive and parking areas. Since it's only stormwater in it, we have it dump directly into the canal.
Pipes Coming Down From the Roof
After coming down from the guesthouse roof, the two pipes are joined into a single run that goes directly to the long drain pipe, still in the process of being dug out by our Caretaker, Cody. We'll rejoin it and rebury it all today - just in time for the next downpour.
The Tie-In to the Main Drain Pipe
The drain pipe runs from where you see it above, straight down and under the fence at the rear of the photo and into the canal.

Looking the other direction, the drain pipe actually runs almost to the street. About 10-feet from this connection, we're putting in another floor drain, since that's about the lowest spot in the property and always seems to catch and hold a lot of standing water. This should do away with that in short order.
Looking Toward the Street
I'll add a few more photos here later today as we get the floor drain installed, hook everything up, and bury it.

I know it's not a lot as far as construction goes, but it way more than has gone on for some time here. We're looking to resume full-scale probably around September. We might do a couple of smaller bits in the guesthouse earlier - like the bathroom. That would be convenient for pool use.

It's one thing for the men to just quietly go around the corner to "See a man about a horse." It's quite another to expect the ladies to do the same thing.

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