Winjama: Friday and the Project's Almost Done

You ever have one of those typical Belizean mornings? The kind, where you have, say, four stops on your list? I did, this morning.

First, I needed to get some cash, so I stopped and cashed a check, like I usually do.

Next, I wanted to go to You Have Mail, up on Seventh Avenue, just past the bus terminal. The little sign in the window from Wendell, the proprietor, said he'd be back around 9:30 AM - it was about two minutes past nine.

Instead of waiting for half an hour or so, I thought I'd cruise around and see if I could find the place where Carlos, our caretaker thought he remembered that they sold clay pots. No. Naturally, I couldn't find it.

So I swung around and decided to stop at Contour Cement Products. They have pots in the sizes I was looking for, but naturally, only display models with plants in them. He thought he could have some pots made up by Friday. I told him thanks and that I would stop by then.

Last on the list, Terrence, and the lawn mower. I'd been chasing this down for three or four days after the date he'd promised it would be done by. Again, this morning, it wasn't ready. Ok, I told Terrence I'd check back tomorrow or so.

Wow! Was that a lot of running around for nothing or what?

Giving up or giving in, I returned home and had a cup of tea. My phone chirped it's usual "Message for your Sir." from Monty Python. It was Terrence letting me know the mower was ready.

Wow, again! I jumped back in the wagon with the girls and we headed over to Terrences. Collecting the mower, I thought I'd break the hex and hit You have Mail once again. Be back at 9:30, eh? 10:45 and still no Wendell. Maybe another day. And, next time, I'll call first.

We're going to play bingo this afternoon for the dogs and cats - a fundraiser for the Corozal Animal Program (https://www.facebook.com/corozalanimalprogram/?ref=py_c). Maybe my luck will change... Wanna bet?

Let's see now. where are we with the project?

Flashing Installed Along Side House

Because of the tension of the shade cloth, the beam nearest the house bowed slightly. This normally wouldn't be a problem.

But, we had some high-ish winds just the other day, which blew a bunch of leaves onto the roof fabric from our Gumbo Limbo tree.

Normally, the leaves blow on and off the roof going from one side to the other. Not this day. The wind changed direction, and guess what? Those leave that normally blew off? Well, they blew off right down the space of the bow. Our nice covered deck looked like there was no roof on it at all.

What was the solution? An easy fix. Get some lengths of angled flashing and screw it into place. Now, no more leaves and no way for bugs to easily get in to the deck.

Grommets and Screws

Along the concrete beam, tensioning the roof fabric is no problem. As you can see in these two shots, the fabric lays nice and flat, even in a strong wind.

More Grommets and Screws

All that holds the fabric now is grommets in the fabric and a corresponding screw into the concrete (or metal) of the chain. It makes a nice cover. There was no easy way to cover the gap with the fabric, so installing the flashing was a good workaround.

Before the Concrete Patch Goes In

Here's the area where the leaks appeared. It was water seeping behind the tiles of the waterfall that were also seeping through the porous block and creating a pool between the actual wall of the pump house and the sloped wall of the waterfall. Some holes drilled back through the sloped wall allow the seeping water to return to the pool without seeping through. We've had the waterfall running for a couple of days to make sure there is no more seepage. Now the cavity can be filled with concrete and all should be good to go.

Endher Smoothing the Patch

Endher applying the final coat of mud to finish the new patch.

Endher and Randy Checking the Work

Endher and Randy giving their work a final check before leaving for the day, giving the concrete a chance to dry enough to begin painting it and hide signs of a patch.

New Concrete/New Paint

New concrete boxing in the three pipes, which control in order from the left, the spa jets, the two pool side jets, and the three pool end jets. It's just waiting for a final coat of white paint.

Wide Angle

Here's a view of the overall plumbing for the pool. All that has to be added now is a valve and unions so we can shut off the main floor drain. That way, when Huey needs to run around and really vacuum up a storm, shut the main drain off, open the skimmer. Since Huey now has his own port to plug into, we get more bang for our buck when vacuuming as the skimmer can work at the same time as Huey, since we don't have to plug Huey into the skimmer.

Our New Solar Cover

I almost got rid of the solar cover, but I'm glad I saved it. I replaced the old cover, a simple matter of detaching the old cover from the reel and attaching the new cover. Then you have to get in the pool with a pair of scissors and trim the cover to size.