The View From On High

Thought I'd better get a quick glimpse around before the 21st... Wouldn't want to have the world end without a last view of the old homestead.

Anyway, I had the weather station rehabbing on my list for a while now. It had developed an ominous wiggle in a breeze, so I figured it was time to do some serious stuff before it took a tumble. Besides, I wanted to make it a little easier to take down in the event of a hurricane.

First, I ran up the long extension ladder after attaching the aluminum quick-disconnect stabilizer to it. Although I didn't take a picture of it, these things are life-savers, especially as we get a tad older. They really make an extension ladder feel much more secure. They're easy to put on and remove, and they don't cost very much. I highly recommend you get one.

Anyway, as I was climbing up, I glanced over at the nesting doves (pigeons). Mom and dad were sure keeping an eye on me. They were in no hurry to leave the nest either.  I know Julian had recommended I remove the nest, but when I had gone out to do just that, those trusting little eyes just begged me to let them stay. So I did. It'll be cool when the young ones hatch.

Proud Parents Eying Me

Here's the day's project. I think I've mentioned it before - I'm good for about one project a day down here. This was one of those that should have been spread over three or four days. The heat on the roof was intense. Our heat index gets up around 121° (f) during the day. I was on the roof by 7:00 AM, and was up there for about three hours. Heat stroke candidate No. 1, right here.

As I told Craig when he emailed me today about the heat index, wanting to know if it was accurate (it's pretty close), I told him "The heat index is just like wind chill only different."

In the picture below, I've dismantled the station. You can see the brackets that held it up still agains the short blue wall near the drill. Not real effective. So, the object was to significantly strengthen the whole thing.

Weather Station Dismantled

And, with a snap of the fingers, just like that, it's done. I've just finished applying a coat of Snow Roof to the fittings. This thing is now pretty rigid.

Weather Station Rehab Completed

If you look close at this next photo, you'll see a sleeve in the pole with some bolts keeping it rigid. This is the disconnect for the upper part of the weather station. The lower part with the guy wires and stuff just stays put. I'll undo two bolts and lower the station down to the ground in the event of a hurricane.

Weather Station Detail

After I got that all done, (yes, there were the requisite number of trips up and down the ladder for stuff I forgot or didn't think about till I was almost done), I thought it was time to take a few shots around the place, as I mentioned above.

This first one is a straight-on shot of our house. Still looks pretty good. Hard to believe that tree in the front of it started as a twig a couple years ago.

Our House Still Looks Good

Next, I shot this view of the current, current project, the patio and BBQ area. Kind of gives you a neat perspective of the whole thing.

Birds-Eye View of the Patio Project

And then, just a quick shot of the turn to the left of the canal as it exits to the bay.

Looking At The Canal Left Turn

Here's a nice view of the awning. Still holding  up well. Although it has let the water temperature in the pool creep up to 88° (f) from 86° (f). Still much better than without it. The temp would probably be around the 96° (f) mark.

The Awning From Topside

So, there you have the days labors in a few shots. After I came down and put the tools away, I was tuckered for a while. I drank copious quantities of water, then ate a sandwich, took a nice cool shower and about 1:30 PM jumped into the pool till about 4:30 PM. Ahhhhh, relaxing.

Shade Galore

We have the awning up with both sides up and providing shade. It works really well so far.

Awning Looking East To the Canal

Of course, it's not done completely yet. We've got to get a couple more runs of support wire under each section, so they're divided into thirds lengthwise, and a few other fittings and stuff. But, basically it's done.

And Looking West

There were two objectives with this project. 1) Provide shade to keep the water a smidge (2 to 3 degrees cooler, if possible); 2) Provide shade to keep the deck cooler. Just walking from the sliding glass doors to the pool steps (about 10 feet), your feet can literally feel like they've been burnt and are ready to blister; and 3) to provide shade to keep users a little cooler, or to at least cut the intensity of the sun when you're just hanging out pool-side. Alright, there were three objectives. Sounds a bit like Monty Python. At least no one mentioned the Spanish Inquisition...

Looking Up From the Parking Area

I took a couple of shots from other angles, just to give you the idea of how it looks.

And Looking Down From the Front Porch

All in all, we're very happy with the way the thing turned out. Now, once I get the details completed, after the Easter holiday of course, then all will be well.

Now, we have to get a bit more furniture out there - two or three tables, more chairs, and probably a chaise lounge or two ought to round it all out. Of course, we'll have to figure out what to do with everything come hurricane time, but, that's another issue.

Have a nice holiday. Hope the Easter Bunny reaches your place.

Cheers,

Finally, A Roof Over Our Heads

I thought yesterday was going to be a busy day. I mean, my appointment calendar looked like this:

• 5:35 - Walk the doggies
• 7:15 - Take Shower
• 8:10 - Move Generator Out From Its Cubby
• 8:30 - Terrence Here To Check Out/Repair Generator
• 9:00 - Pick Up Edna (Housekeeper)
• 12:00 - Kent Here To Deliver Sewn Shade Cloth
• 12:30 - Eat Lunch
• 1:00 - Begin Setting Up Shade Cloth Over Pool
• 2:00 - Return Edna Home
• 5:30 - Appointment For Install of Permanent Crown
• 6:15 - Jing Jing Store
• 6:25 - Chon Kong Chinese Restaurant

Looks pretty good doesn't it? It was all just going to happen like clockwork. Instead, here's what actually happended:

• 5:35 - Walk the doggies
• 7:15 - Take Shower
• 8:10 - Move Generator Out From Its Cubby
  
• 8:30 - Terrence Here To Check Out/Repair Generator
• 9:00 - Pick Up Edna (Housekeeper)
  
• 12:00 - Kent Here To Deliver Sewn Shade Cloth
• 12:30 - Eat Lunch
• 1:00 - Begin Setting Up Shade Cloth Over Pool
• 2:00 - Return Edna Home
• 5:30 - Appointment For Install of Permanent Crown
• 6:15 - Jing Jing Store - Purchase Canned Cat Food
• 6:25 - Chon Kong Chinese Restaurant - Purchase 2 Fried Chicken Dinners

Notice there's a couple of key players who are missing from the list. I called Terence. His wife had the car and he was almost done with the shade cloth.

Edna wanted to come yesterday so she could get a jump on the Easter holiday. I kept my appointment at Dra. Monica's for her to fit and install my permanent crown.

Kitties were about to experience a severe food shortage. They were completely out of canned cat food. I also had to stop and get some fried chicken for us.

Here's what happened today:


5:35 - Walk the doggies
7;15 - Take Shower Thought I'd take one after Terrence and Generator

8:00 - Set Empty Belikin Cases Out For Exchange

8:10 - Move Generator Out From Its Cubby

8:30 - Terrence Here To Check Out/Repair Generator

12:00 - Kent Here To Deliver Sewn Shade Cloth
12:30 - Eat Lunch
1:00 - Begin Setting Up Shade Cloth Over Pool
2:00 - Visit Shanti To Change Money
2:20 - Visit Kent, Pay Remainder
3:30 - Put Ladders And Tools Away

I thought I'd be smart and wait till after Terence was finished to take a shower.

Of course like any proper piece of machinery, the generator fired on the first pull for Terrence, after baffling me for a couple of months with no luck in starting the generator. Perfect. Terrence's visit here was so short, he refused to accept even a token payment, saying he was just glad that the generator was working and wished me a happy Easter. A nice guy, for sure.

I got sidetracked on a couple of small projects after he left. I figured I could take a shower at noon, because Kent wouldn't show up during the lunch hour.  I was just ready to step into the shower when I heard "Hello?" coming from the vicinity of the front gate. I hurridly threw my shorts back one and opened up the back screen door. Sure enough. It was Kent with the shade cloth.

Not a problem so far, right? Wrong. When I set out the Belikin cases, I set out 4 since we have a long holiday weekend staring right at us (Good Friday and Easter are official holidays here). In order to get four full ones back from the beer truck, I had to part with two-hundred Belize dollars. Which meant that I didn't have enough cash to pay Kent.

I told him I'd bring the remainder by his house right after lunch. Of course, Dianna and I began attaching the shade cloth to the awning support wires. Long about 2:15 PM, I remembered I still owed Kent a pile of money.

So, Into the car I jumped and hit Shanti's, then over to Kent's to pay the final tally. Then it was run back to the house and jump into the pool for a while and eventually, to put the ladders and tools, etc., away.

Here's some shots I took of the awning.

Here's the piles just as Kent and I had dumped them on the deck. All nicely sewn and clean.

Shade Cloth Has Arrived

A little different view showing there actually are two separate piles and Dianna keeping an eye on everything too.

It Is In Two Pieces

Dianna and I mounted our ladders and began the job of attaching the caribiners to the wire rope and and shade cloth. Here's the result. It's still kinda of rough, but as we really don't know what we're doing (shhh! That's a trade secret right there), there's still plenty of things we have to figure out about installing an awning.

One Part Suspended Looking East

Here's a nice view showing what it's like under the shade cloth. Dianna was testing things out to see if it made a big enough difference. She said enthusiastically that it really did!

Looking From Underneath

 And another view. Not bad, if I do say so myself. I've developed a shopping list of more bits and pieces I need to get and install prior to it being used.

Looking West

 Of course when I took the girls for walkies this morning, I bought six nice green apples, so we could slice them up and give them to the iguanas on the dock. Of course, wasn't till late in the afternoon, that one of the big guys came back and we could toss him a bit of an apple.

Our Friend Is Back

 Unfortunately, I think it may have spooked him and he took off. Before he did, I managed to grab a couple more shots of him (or her - How do you tell"?).

Not Sure He Trusts Me

Right after this next one, he jumped into the canal and swam to the other side.

Almost Ready To Run

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Well, not quite, but I was searching for a title and this popped up into my train of thought, limited that that might be.

The project to provide some shade for the pool continues to make progress. Progress in a forward direction, no less.

Dianna and I spent some quality time Friday, applying silicone grease to the threads of 120 locking caribiners.

Caribiners All Greased And Ready

These are the little dudes that will go through grommets in the shade cloth and enclose the wire running from stanchion to stanchion.

Here's the first stanchion, painting is complete on it. One more to go.

This One's Finished

Yesterday was interesting. I had some chores to do in the morning and a Man's Group meeting in the afternoon. The chores mostly entailed me putting a first coat of 'Precaution Blue' on the second stanchions.

Second Stanchion Done

The first thing I did, besides wimping out on a morning walk with the girls, was to surprise them with a ride at 6:30 AM. We went in to town to Vivi's and got some meat pies for breakfast. Then, I got cracking on painting the stanchion.

After that, I took a shower and ran (drove) into town again with the girls. Two rides in one day. They thought that was pretty cool. I had to go by Villa's Imports and get a second can of 'Precaution Blue' and a couple of brushes.

While I was at Villa's, my phone kept ringing and since I was busy, I tried to ignore it. Whoever was calling was persistent, I'll give them that. Anyway, I answered the phone. It was Dra. Monica's assistant wanting to know if I could come in right then for an impromptu appointment. I told her no way as I had a lot of running around to do and a meeting in the afternoon. She came back saying it was really important as Dra. Monica needed to see how it was healing up and to try out the crown before it was sent to the techies who actually make the ceramic crown and that it would only take 10 or 15 minutes.

I told her ok, I'd be there in about 10 minutes if I could find a shady spot to park as I had the dogs. I finished purchasing the paint and brushes and jumped into the Isuzu.

As we neared the medical center, I spied a lucky spot across the street near the church on the corner. A nice shady spot too. Then I briskly walked over to the dental office and knocked on the door.

Right away they had me in the chair and Dra. Monica removed the temporary crown, fitted the 'mock-up' of the permanent one and after determining that the bite was fine, the two spent some time determining the matching color of my teeth.

After that, Dra. Monica re-installed the temp crown and we made an appointment for late Tuesday afternoon to put in the permanent crown (she goes on vacation on Wednesday).

Leaving her office, I completed my grocery shoppping and zoomed back home, let the girls out of the car and proceeded to put the first coat of blue on the second stanchion.

Then, it was time for another shower and by then, time to leave for the 'Man Meeting', which pretty much shot the rest of the day - with no pool time either.

I do have to confess something entirely unrelated. I've relapsed... Years ago, like around 1979, when we first got cable TV in Cheney, Washington, I became a Chicago Cubs fan, mostly because of Jack Brickhouse and Harry Caray, the Cubs announcers. They just made you feel like you were part of the Cubs family.

Several years later, when we moved up to Olympia, I started rooting for the Mariners. I remained an M's fan for around 20 years.

Well, now here we are in Belize, and it's next to impossible to watch the Mariner's on TV. Last season, I signed up for MLB-TV for mucho dinero. Turns out their system said my computer and connection would work, but of course, no it didn't. But, their policy didn't allow for a refund of my money. So I went last year with no interest in baseball.

This year, I had a hankering to watch the American pastime once again. Since we get WGN as part of our satellite package, I decided to renew my fan relationship with the Cubs, and it just feels right. Like an old comfortable pair of slippers.

I've managed to stay up and watch a couple games so far. Last night, they played the Colorado Rockies in Denver and kicked butt - 8 to 3. So, consequently, once again, I've become a Cubs fan. I might even have to dust off my Die-Hard Cubs Fan Club membership certificate - signed by Ernie Banks!

So, now we're back on topic and we do the miraculous time shift to today. I walked the doggies and got right to painting. I applied the second and last coat of blue to the stanchion (see photo above) and then pressure-washed the deck to remove most of the dribbles and drops I had spilled on the wood. My excuse for not using the plastic tarp that I had was that it was too windy. Well, that and I was probably too lazy to wrestle with it and the ladder at the same time.

Anyway, it's all done and we're waiting for Tuesday afternoon for the awning... And Tuesday at 5:30, when I get my permanent crown. Woo-hoo!

Cheers,

No Title As Yet

The past few days as I've driven into town, I've seen this elderly bus being painted at at small shop beside the Corozal Glass Shop on 7th Avenue (or the Northern Highway). At first, it was rather sloppily primed with white primer, but bit by bit, it's turned into quite a nice paint job. Now, it's parked by Vivi's Meat Pie Shop on College Street (I think). A rather spectacular job all in all.

'Further' Reincarnated?

And now, a bit more on the story of the awning and what will be holding it up. After I had the poles installed and Isaiel welded the cross-braces, I thought it was still a little sensitive in the wind - especially with no load on it yet. I had the opportunity, since Isaiel was staying in the pool house for a couple of nights, while he worked another welding job in the north part of town, to get four corner brackets cut, and have him weld them in place.

Isaiel Welding A Short Bracket

As near as I can tell for now, they have stiffened the whole thing up considerably. We'll see in a bit just how successful this is.

And Welding Another Bracket

Since the brackets are now welded in place, I took the opportunity to paint the poles, cross-pieces, and corner brackets. I'm about half done with the whole process. It was kind of involved. Since all the bits were made of galvanized steel, I first coated them with Ospho, which is a balanced formula of phosphoric acid, dichromate, wetting agents and extenders. It also has the ability to etch the zinc coating on the steel. You can either apply it, wait about a half hour and hose it off, or let it dry thoroughly and leave it as a pre-primer sort of thing. That's what I did.

Then I had to prime everything with a direct-to-metal (DTM) primer, and finally I'm coating it all with a DTM acrylic enamel. I found a blue color that almost matches the blue trim of the pool house. So far, I've got one coat of blue on one half of the whole assembly. I have to prime the assembly that is mounted to the pump house and then I can paint that as well. The blue requires two coats. With luck, it should last for quite a while.

From A Distance, Progress

It's fun painting the bits from on high with my new 8-foot aluminum ladder. It's had a proper breaking in, already spattered with Ospho, primer, and paint. It's beginning to look like a proper ladder.

Climbing Up To Paint The Top

I can comfortably paint one whole section (one coat), starting at 7:00 AM, and finishing at about 9:00 AM. Just perfect, as it really starts to heat up about then.

Hard At It

And, just as a reminder, these are several photos of me actually working. Not only working, but working up a sweat too. Proof positive that it can be done.

Paying Attention To Details

This evening, we were going to have Alan and Elsie over for a farewell dinner. Wouldn't you know it, about an hour and a half before, we lost current (electricity). We called them and apologized that we were going to have to cancel the dinner. Too bad. I was looking forward to having some of that Kielbasa. Oh well, two large helpings of a very nice salad helped satisfy my hunger.

Tomorrow Doug and I will be heading to Belize City, to stop at Duke Marine and pick up some wide nylon webbing for Kent, the upholsterer I'm using for this project, to bind around the edges of the shade cloth. He's already got the grommets (I think). If all goes well, we might have the awning in place by the first of next week.

Tuesday, I go back to Dra. Monica to have the root canal... Finally. Even with Dr. Jose's surgery from Thursday a week ago, My mouth is still really sensitive to hot and cold. Major bummer.

That's it for now.

Cheers.

Pool Awning Project - Part Two

Contrary to some rumors apparently circulating, I do do some work. (Isn't English wonderful - how you can mix a scatological thought in with a serious comment on work? Maybe there is a connection, hmmmm...)

As you can see from the following shots, I'm hard at work dragging and connecting the 1/8" wire rope, vinyl-clad cables to the framework. The shade cloth fabric will be suspended from these.

First, I had the good folks at National Hardware cut four lengths of the cable to length, each about thirty-eight feet long. Then, when I was ready, I laid out the cables on the deck. As you can see, I wore leather work gloves for part of this project. The wire or cable (here the terms are interchangeable) had a coating of some really sticky oil on it - I assume to protect the vinyl, but, who knows

Working With The Cables

Anyway, after laying it out, and beginning to work with it, the didn't seem to be much of an issue, so the gloves went away when I began attaching the fittings to the wire and the stanchions.

Laying Out Cables

As you can see, I even work from the dizzying heights of the pump house rooftop. Here I'm connecting the first of the cables to the stanchion, using what are called thimbles - metal tracks the cable runs in as it goes around a tight bend. The thimble prevents the cable from making too tight a turn through a curve, thus protecting the cable from needless abrasion and other wear.

Connecting Cable to Anchor Point

Assuming that at least some of you didn't know that a thimble could be anything other than a metal thing that fits over your finger to keep you from jabbing yourself with a needle, the picture below shows, on the left, a wire thimble. The item to its right is a threaded shackle, a very strong item used to connect all manner of rigging. The shackle pin is threaded and one leg of the shackle is tapped so that the pin can be inserted.

Wire Thimble and Shackle

 The turnbuckle, which you see below (along with a thimble and a shackle) is used to tighten the wire. It's done by inserting a screwdriver or other rod into the long hold in the middle and turning one direction or the other to loosen or tighten as the case may be.

Turnbuckle

And lastly, for this segment, if you look closely (you can click on any of the photos to expand them) you can see that all the wires or cables have been drawn up taught, ready to have the shade cloth and caribiners attached. I have the caribiners, but we're still waiting for Jose, the upholsterer, to return from the States.

Wires All Tight

Till next time, Cheers.

Pool Awning Project

In case you didn't know, it gets hot down here. Especially during the summer - even right now, as a matter of fact. There's times when the wood decking around the pool is so hot you swear your feet are burning.

We began to combat this phenomenon shortly after the deck was installed. At various times we bought a couple of deck umbrellas, which worked more or less ok - mostly less. Still it was better than nothing.

Over time, while standing in the pool, we began to think about the problem and how we could solve it. We figured it needed to do a few things, such as:

• Shading most of the deck
• Shading most of the pool
• Be easily removed in case of hurricane
• Be easily adjustable, to control the amount of sunlight entering
• Be sturdy, yet inobtrusive
• Allow plenty of air circulation
• Be affordable

What we came up with eventually was a metal framework of some fashion. That was easy. I figured Capital Factory could fabricate whatever we thought of.

What we also needed to find was a lightweight knitted shade cloth - similar to that used to cover greenhouses and planter beds.

Additionally, we needed to find a method of holding up the shade cloth and of allowing one person to expand or contract the shade cloth.

Whatever connection method we came up with had to be easy to connect and to disconnect. This seemed quite important - especially the disconnection bit. Hurricanes do give us a bit of warning, but there are also a bunch of other tasks to be accomplished in preparation for a major storm. So it was vitally important that it be able to be taken down and stored in a minimum of time.

So, the framework. A lot of searching on the Intertubes found some really bombproof columns and beams and such. None of it very affordable or easily modified to our situation.

We decided we wanted to use steel wire rope (aircraft-type control cable is another name for it) about 1/8" in diameter. It didn't need to hold up a lot of weight but did have be able to withstand some loading in the event of a really heavy rainfall or a sudden wind.

What we came up with for the frame is essentially a galvanized steel 2 x4 - with two vertical poles and a crossbar. This assembly is duplicated at each end. We had three of the corners sunk in concrete, with the forth being bolted to the roof of the pool pump house. Sounds strange, right? It'll all come together as you see the photos of the system we decided on.

Where does it all start? Well, at the beginning, naturally. The photo below shows some of the deck timbers removed so Mayo can dig a footing hole and set up the forms for each of the three vertical stanchions.

Deck Hole For 1 of 3 Stanchions

Here's another hole in the deck at the far end closest to the canal. We lucked out with this project in that for each of the three holes, short pieces of wood was all that had to be removed, so most of the deck was still usable while work continued.

Hole For Another Stanchion

Here's a shot of the rebar Mayo formed to go into the holes to provide additional strength for the concrete.

Rebar Being Formed

Mayo tying the rebar pieces together to make a more or less rigid structure that will be encased in concrete.

Mayo Forming Rebar

The rebar is in position and ready for the concrete pour to begin. After Mayo pours the footing, he then adds the wood box making the form for the column. The steel 2x4 gets inserted into the middle of the rebar tower.

Rebar In The Hole

Mayo making a last minute adjustment to the rebar column.

Mayo In The Hole - Adjusting Rebar

On the hole close to the canal, the footing was complicated by the french drain that runs around the pool under the deck. It's drain pipe to the canal happened to run right where the footing had to go - necessitating some creative steel work.

More Complicated Now And Then

Mayo starting the pour. For those readers who saw the video of Mayo making a 'cement bag' hat, here's a variation on a theme. His 'cement bag' hat tops his baseball cap and looks particularly stylish.

Mayo Poring Concrete Into Hole

Day two of the project, Mayo is beginning to do the final trim of the deck wood to make it all look nice and pretty topside.

After The Pour, Reworking The Deck

Here's another view of one of the columns after the pour as set and the form has been removed.

Forms Removed, Stanchion In Place

This is what it looks like after the wood is trimmed and screwed into place and a parge coat of mortar smoothed into place. A nice and clean installation.

Nicely Done

And another one. Really sharp and clean.

Finished With Final Plastering

This shot shows the cross pieces with the center brackets welded in place. All that's needed is for them to be welded in place at the top of the stanchions. Each of them is 21'8" long.

Cross Pieces Ready For Welding

Here we have the ladders, one of mine and the other two, my neighbor Doug's ladders. Ready for the welding to take place.

Ladders Ready For Welding

Lucky for us, our Godson, Isaiel was in town and in fact, he and his boss, Castillo, stayed a couple of nights in the pool house. So, when they finished their work for the week, before heading back to Guinea Grass, they took time to weld the cross pieces in place for us. Sometimes things just work out great.

Here's an unrelated side-light. The chair below is one of 14 (that's right fourteen!) we had ordered from Home Depot and had shipped down here by Roy and Son Trucking. We got cushions for 10 of them. This is one of the ones without a cushion. Still a comfy seat. They're made of a UV-resistant vinyl and a rust-resistant steel frame. Hope they hold up. We really like them. We've got some in our office, dining room and front porch of the Mennonite house, and the rest in the bedrooms and kitchen of the pool house and on the pool deck.

Our New Deck and House Chairs

If you look close you can see the cross pieces in place on the stanchions. I forgot to take photos while Isaiel was doing the welding. What can I say? Old fart-itis at work.

Cross Piece Welded And Ready For Next Step

Here's the other cross piece that also shows the short stanchion that is bolted to the top of the pump house. There'll be four lengths of 1/8" wire rope (aircraft cable) run from cross piece to cross piece. The shade cloth, in two 40-foot runs will be hung between the cables using small locking caribiners for easy removal in the event of a hurricane.

The Other Cross Piece

Now, you have to stay tuned for part two of this saga. I have to mount the turnbuckles, shackles, thimbles, wire rope and get the shade cloth cut, hemmed with wide nylon tape, grommets set and the whole thing suspended by the caribiners. Hopefully the design works. So far so good.