A New Eatery On the Horizon?

Well, well, well. What have we here? For the past few months, we've been watching every day (during our early morning dog walkies) as glimpses of remodeling and such appear to have taken place at the former Club Malibu on 7th Avenue (Northern Highway) here in Corozal.

Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and filet gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio.
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gayo,
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

- Hank Williams

The building had lain vacant and in a sad state of repair for at least a couple of years. The first we noticed that there was perhaps something going on was one morning part of the old thatch roof was gone. It seemed strange to us that someone would only patch part of the roof when it was in such disrepair, but what do we know, having come from the land of hot tar, asphalt shingle, and cedar shake roofs?

It seemed to be fine (to the casual observer) until we entered the rainy (read hurricane) season, when all of a sudden, gray tarps appeared on the roof of the place after one of our relatively heavy downpours. I thought they were just temporary until whoever had patched the roof could be called in to effect proper repairs.

The tarps have been up there for some months now and appear to have become a permanent fixture of the roof. I thought it kind of odd that someone would pay to have a roof repaired and then cover, what ostensibly was a new roof, with tarps. I mean, I have a thatch roof on my parking palapa. It doesn't leak. Eventually, when it does require repair or replacement, if it leaks such that tarps are necessary to keep the wet stuff out, you can bet I'll be harping at someone to come back and fix the roof job so that the tarps can be put to other uses. Anyway, be that as it may, that's not the focus of this posting.

What is the focus is, in part, the newly painted sign over the doorway that we noticed on this morning's walkies.

The New La Louisianne Restaurant

In bright red letters over the doorway, it reads 'La Louisianne Restaurant' - complete with little gold fleurs-de-lis giving that French-Cajun feel. Wow! That immediately conjurs up visions of filet gumbo, catfish stew, crawfish, boudin, Zydeco music, alligator, boiled crab, crawfish etouffee... The list goes on and on.

However, with this being Belize, and the fact that we haven't heard nary a rumor, hint or anything about a new restaurant, what it might conjur up is Cajun rice and beans, Cajun fry-jacks, that sort of thing. One can only hope that that vision is entirely wrong. Some good, spicy Cajun fair would really be a nice addition to the gastronomy of Corozal. We'll just have to let you know what we find out.

I'd mentioned the tarp roofing, the shot below shows a bit of the tarp work on the roof of the place.

La Louisianne Showing The Tarpped Roof

Even with the absence of rumors or anything like that (after all, this is a small town and secrets should be hard to keep closely held) we were excited about the possibilities the name brings to mind.

Stay tuned. There could be some dining adventures ahead... And without seeming too snide, the money they've saved on the roof work, could translate into affordable prices at the dinner table. We'll see.

FLASH! Update... Corozal - the following morning:

No real news, just an update on the signage.

The Rest of the Sign

Still no rumorology on what kind of fare the place is going to offer. What the sign does tell us is there'll be a restaurant, a bar, some karaoke, and gaming. And that's all I know.

Hi Fives All Around!

Looks like we dodged another one. Hurricane Rina popped up virtually out of nowhere with such speed that she made it into the record books without hardly trying.

Dr. Jeff Masters, Co-Founder of Weather Underground (http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/76750.html), on his blog (http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1970), said that (and I've paraphrased a bit, "Rina became a hurricane just 21 hours after the first tropical depression advisory was issued for her. This is the second fastest since 1851 when records started to be kept. Hurricane Humberto (2007) holds the Atlantic record for fastest intensification from first advisory issued to hurricane strength-- less than 18 hours."

Preparedness-wise, we took down the other half of the awning over the pool deck, rolled up the pool cover and put it and its reel down in the breezeway and generally cleaned up lots of wood from the patio project. We also put deck chairs and such away.

Other than that, I've spent a great deal of time gazing at weather maps and hurricane models, etc.

Unless Rina takes a drastic left turn and whacks us, we've come through this one in fine shape.

So, the beer's cold, the next to last game of the World Series will be on tonight (St. Louis is going to win, so it has to go seven games). With luck, Rina will be the last big event for the current hurricane season, which ends November 30, although we'll still keep a weather-eye peeled through December 15, since we've had tropical storms after the end of November before.

Life is good.

Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain

Yeah, the pitter-pat of the gently falling rain... Three and a quarter inches in a day? Gimmie a break! Thank God we've got a good drainage system here.

And the non-stop thunder and lightning the other night. I'm still seeing after-images. And our clocks - they're so messed up from the power outages, it'll take weeks to get them consistently back to the correct time.

We managed to avoid some of the many storms around the area. At one time Mexico had one hurricane, one tropical storm and one tropical depression all trying to come ashore in the same area. I think that's what we're dealing with now, the vestiges of those three storms plus some just heavy rain that was working its way north along the western Caribbean.

Everything seemed to arrive over us at nearly the same time, and then it all decided to quit moving for a few days. I know the plants in the garden were getting a little parched (their tongues were hanging out), but there is a limit. We're busy making little life-preservers for them.

Hopefully, we may be on the down side of the deluge. It's now Friday morning and Carlos just showed up for work. He's doing the patio/BBQ project. I need to head into town to get a bag of cement and a 4x8 sheet of Celotex. That's what they call Masonite here. Far as I can tell, it's the same stuff. Anyway, off to work.

Cheers

Put on the Feedbag, Pardner

As luck would have it we found another place to further develop the table muscles. Yesterday, I rode over to Orange Walk Town with Mae and Craig. Mae and I both had appointments with Dr. Hoy.

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, I got love in my tummy
And I feel like a-lovin you
Love, you're such a sweet thing
Good enough to eat thing
And it's just a-what I'm gonna do

- Yummy, Yummy, Yummy Arthur Resnick/Joey Levine; Ohio Express - 1968

About two weeks ago, Mae had had emergency surgery in the States for a detached retina and she was doing her follow-up visits with Dr. Hoy. I was doing my follow-up visits with him as well after my cataract surgery at Dr. Hoy's center in Belize City.

Mae had mentioned before our trip to 'Sugar City' (Orange Walk's nickname) that she had heard of a place there that made a very good pizza. She thought the name of the place was Pancho's Pizza. So, as we were on our way into Sugar City, with Craig driving, Mae and I were lookouts for a sign.

A little bit past the hospital, Mae saw a small white sign that read: 'Carlos' Pizzeria' with an arrow pointing up the hill. "That's It", she cried and we strained our little gray cells to remember what the intersection looked like as they had to hit the ATM downtown first.

After the ATM, we found the turnoff easily as there was also a sign posted from the other direction. Up the hill a couple of short blocks, then a left. About the second place on the left we saw Carlos' Pizzeria.

Not much to look at when you first approach, Carlos' is constructed of wood-framed bamboo in a greenish turquoise with large expanses of screen. Inside there's probably eight or so tables, very clean with white table cloths with plastic covering, ceiling fans and the usual plastic chairs.

As we came in, the proprietor, Carlos, met us and welcomed us to his place. Carlos is quite an engaging character. French Canadian with a strong accent, his eatery is an Italian restaurant.

But, don't let that cultural mix fool you, the food is excellent. Carlos grows his own beef on his property in Blue Creek (yes, that's Mennonite country. You'll have to ask him for that story). For his chickens, he gets them only from Caribbean Chicken. He's very particular about his meats and other ingredients.

His restaurant does have an impressive menu featuring several different pizzas, pasta and other traditional dishes, including hamburgers, etc. He and his wife, Ana, work very hard to provide a nice continental table. He said, "You notice, I don't serve rice and beans."

I had the spaghetti with home-made sausage. Very good. The sausage was slightly spicy and very tasty. The spaghetti noodles were done to a turn, just slightly al-dente, with a very nice and tasty sauce.

Spaghetti With Homemade Sausage

Mae had a sirloin steak, which she said was very good. Carlos was so proud of his meat, he even brought out Mae's steak for her inspection before he cooked it. Craig had the spaghetti with meat sauce. He thought it was good but not exceptional (he should have opted for the sausage - that would have sealed the deal right there).

Anyway, the Belikin was ice-cold. Carlos and Ana had chocolate cake for desert which they tried to get us to eat, but we were just too full. Besides, we had our eye appointments to keep. Another time, perhaps.

Prices? Very reasonable. Most dishes are under $20.00 BZD and beer is $3.50. A place well worth the effort to find and to savor once you're there. Carlos is a very interesting chap to talk to. We had a very enjoyable time and definitely will be back .

Carlos' Pizzeria is located at: 18 Tate Street, Orange Walk Town. Their phone number is 322-1600. Check it out. You won't regret it.

Fall Is Definitely In The Air

Around these parts, to the casual observer, it might seem hard to distinguish between the seasons. I mean, we don't have to find where the snow shovel has gotten to; we don't have to break out the sleds and skis; we don't have to see about taking the car in to have the snow tires put on; all those sorts of things that in themselves are pretty good indicators that a change in season is coming.

We do have to start thinking about where we stashed the blanket, our long pants, socks, sweatshirts, gloves, toques (See, we've been hanging around those Canadians too long), fleece jackets, Snuglis, and assorted other stuff.

Of course, all that clothing is stuff we tend to put on around sundown and early in the mornings. Usually by 9:00 or 9:30 AM, it's back to our usual shorts and tee shirts.

Here at Casa Winjama, probably the easiest way to tell that fall has come is that I've taken the pool-side awning down and stored it away for the winter and replaced it with the solar blanket pool cover.

Pool-Side Awning Down, Cover On

We knew it was time to swap things around because the pool temperature had dropped consistently to 82° (f) - which is pretty much the minimum temperature we can handle for anything more than about ten minutes. The solar blanket keeps the pool anywhere from four to six degrees warmer than without it. So, 86 to 88° (f) makes for a continued comfortable pooltime experience.

Solar Blanket Reel and Cover

We don't worry about covering the stairs or the spa area. For one thing, it'd be too hard to reel those bits in with the rest of the cover and we don't want to make the pool too warm either. We'll probably take the deck-side awning down in a few weeks - we wouldn't want to become chilled sitting around the deck.

So, I guess you could say that's the extent of our winterization for the pool. It keeps it nearly a perfect temperature during the depths of the winter chill and allows us to keep having pooltime throughout the year.

Weekend = Busy, Busy, Busy

The other name for that could be the question we ask alot - How did we find time to work when we worked?

We were kind of busy this weekend - all weekend, it seems. First, let me say that for purposes of this discussion, last weekend began on Thursday as that's the day I worked on the pool pumps, valves, unions, piping, etc.

Would you believe I worked from 7:30 AM, Thursday morning until 4:00 PM that same day? I did. It was a severe day as well. Working in that cramped little octagonal-shaped building, where there never is a breeze, and where the heat just multiplies as the day goes on.

In fact, to give you an idea of the heat, around 11:00 AM, I took my phone and my keys/gate remote and left them in the pool house as I was afraid condensation would damage them. It was so be that, by the time I knocked off, I noticed I was dripping sweat from my shorts!

Anyway, here's what I worked on. First, I have wanted to raise both pump motors off the floor for a long time. I took the opportunity when I removed the main pump to service the pump seal of raising both motors on concrete blocks. This naturally entailed re-doing the plumbing going into and out of each pump. You can see the waterfall pump (the orange thing below) sitting comfortably on its block.

Waterfall Pump Raised

The main pump (the black thing below) was what started this whole project. About two weeks ago I noticed leakage out of the back of the pump, just in front of the motor. Oops. Not a good sign. I learn quickly. Last time, I didn't notice that leak and that lead eventually to water going onto the front motor bearing which caused it to scream progressively louder until it failed. Thankfully, Terence Leslie, a small engine mechanic here in Corozal, is also a veritable wizard when it comes to replacing electric motor bearings and such.

Main Pump Raised

Anyway, this time I was able to pull the pump out of service before it self-destructed. I also took the opportunity this time to re-route the outlet pipe to each pump so that it's joining union was off to one side of the pump. That way, when I do remove either pump, residual water in the piping will fall harmlessly to one side of the pump instead of cascading over the pump and the motor. In my mind, the design of these pumps is pretty poor. They should be designed with the outlet on the pump's side. It won't care which way the water leaves the pump.

I also took the opportunity to add two more valves on the inlet and outlet side of the main pump to facilitate removal of the pump without the gyrations I previously had to go through. Things like a little plug I had made to stopper up the skimmer as there had been no valve installed when it was built to stop water flowing from there to the motor. Since the motor was lower than the water level in the skimmer, without the stopper in place, a flood in the pump house developed rather quickly. I also had to turn off the valves for the floor drain and the spa jets. Now all I  have to do is turn two conveniently located valves and presto!, the main pump can be disconnected easily. You can see the two red-handled valves in the photo below and at the bottom, you can see the outlet union for the pump is now off to one side.

New Valves and Piping

I also had to replace a union on the filter (the cream-colored round thing below). The inlet union is now white. The dark gray union it replaced had been leaking for quite some time. When I went to tighten it, it snapped into two pieces - the threaded part was one piece and the top piece that connected to the other part of the pipe. I suspect it had been broken for some time and that that was where the leak was. When I attempted to tighten it, that was all it needed to fail completely.

Pool Filter and Piping

Next thing that happened, was the union at the pump refused to quit dripping. So, on Friday, Carlos (who's building our patio area) and I looked at it and decided that epoxy would be the best thing to stop the leak. I applied that and it almost worked perfectly, with still just a little, little leak left.

Well, anyway,jumping ahead for just a second, now on Monday, no leakage anywhere. First time in ages that the floor of the pump house has been completely dry.

So, back to Friday... Carlos was there and cast the bar/counter top, with only the barbecue area left to build for the basic parts of the structure.

Carlos needed the barbecue grill itself to see how to build the whole structure for that. I had to go to Dr. Sheila's to get some heartworm meds for the dogs. As I drove past Pancho's Welding shop on the way to Sheila's, I saw he had a BBQ standing out in his yard. I whipped in to take a look.

After a quick look, I thought that was just what the doctor ordered and for $150BZD, it was perfect. It's made from a medium-sized butane tank and some 3/8- and 1/2-inch rebar, oh, and about an eight-inch piece of exhaust tubing.

Our New BBQ Closed Up

Here you can see the grill opened up. It's got an expanded metal grate. Hey, not a Cadillac, but, certainly up for some fine barbecuing. And if it lasts for a few years, all the better.
Next thing that happened was our pressure tanks - one for the reverse osmosis drinking water system and the other for the well.

We've never had spectacular water pressure here. I just assumed that was what we had. Our pump/pressure switch was automatically set, so I wasn't sure how to adjust it or that it could be adjusted. And the reverse osmosis system. A couple weeks ago, it began to loose pressure such that it was able to maybe have enough water to fill one liter water bottle before running out of water. Here's the RO system pressure tank below.

New BBQ Grill

Reverse Osmosis System Pressure Tank

Anyway, I asked Doug (my neighbor and dog walking accomplice) if he knew anything about pressure tanks and how to adjust them. Turns out he did. Good thing too because when I read the manual for one of the tanks, all I could say was, "huh?"

So, Sunday, Doug comes over and we started to look at the RO tank. He said let's start instead out at the pump. We need to find what your start and stop pressure on the switch is anyway. You can see the well pressure tank below and the pressure switch.

Now, we have amazing water pressure in the house - about 40-45 lbs which the most we had before was 30-45 lbs. Quite nice. The water pressure for the RO system now can fill at least several bottles and do it quickly. Yea!!!! What a relief that is.

And finally, well almost finally, our orchids, which we've had growing on trees an posts here and there, mostly ignoring them and never watering them at all. This morning, as I was coming back in from shopping, some delicate white flowers among the orchids caught my eye.

I decided I'd take a few pictures of them for the blog as well, so I did. Here's the one that caught my eye. Quite nice.

Well Pressure Tank

Our Orchids Flowering

And here's some more. Like I said, we don't do anything with these guys. They continue to thrive.

More of Our Orchids

Here's Cody, our caretaker trimming hedges this morning. The front yard is beginning to really look nice..

And Yet More of Our Orchids

Cody Trimming Hedges

And the reason for that is Dianna. It's finally getting cool enough she can get out and garden, which she has been wanting to do for quite some time.

Dianna Seeking Shelter

Now, last but not least. The only other time I've seen one of these critters here in Belize, was a couple years ago when I snapped a photo of one on one of our gate lights. Here it's on our front stair railing. He (or she) is about six or seven inches long, so they're pretty good sized.

Praying Mantis on Stair Rail

Alright, that's officially the end of the weekend. We're both exhausted.