Has She Sung Yet? A Mid-Week Grab Bag?

I don't think she has so far. By all accounts, my wallet, especially, she should have. I thought when I took the Isuzu with it's 'new' A/C compressor to Nirobi and got it charged up, that we might be done with expenses for a while. In a word, that'd be, uh... no.

Apparently, we still have the Rubicon somewhere in front of us. I went into town this morning on a quest to find a smallish piece of aluminum to make a tool for the pool chlorine tablet tower. About halfway through all that running around, I noticed the car was running more than a tad hot. Not yet boiling over, but getting there. Anyway, I shut off the A/C, much to Secret's and Bela's consternation.

After we got back home and the engine cooled down, Carlos took a peek at the radiator. Still had water in it. That sort of indicates a blockage in the radiator itself. There's a couple of shops around that flush radiators and that sort of stuff, so that's probably my next project.

Let me back up a smidge and tell you about getting the A/C charged. I drove over to Nirobi's place (easy once you know how to get there), and he let me in.

After popping the hood, he hooked up his gauges and asked if the compressor had been 'oiled?' I didn't know, so I called Rick and asked him. He must have been irritated with something going on at his shop because he told me in sort of clipped tones that that was part of the A/C man's responsibility - oiling, filling with coolant, and testing it. Ok then. I knew then that it wasn't going to be as quick a stop with Nirobi as I had imagined.

I told Nirobi that it hadn't been oiled. He shuffled off to his storeroom and came back with a bottle of A/C compressor oil. I didn't even know there was such a thing. He also replaced the o-ring where the tube from the compressor fits into the firewall. Then he told me to go across the highway to the Chinese store and get the coolant, Freon R134-A. So, I did that. They must sell a lot of it, as it was right near the front of the aisle near the cash register. $30.00 BZD.

Made it back across the highway (still under construction up at that end of town) and gave it to Nirobi. He plugged it into his system and began charging up the Isuzu.

Shortly after that, the acid test. I had had the A/C on while he was charging the system, but hadn't stuck my head into the cab to see if it actually had gotten cooler. Well, it had, noticably. Doggies were speedily becoming happy campers.

Finishing up at Nirobi's cost another $60.00 BZD for the oil, ring, and service. Not bad overall. Like I said, coming back to the present, I thought then that the troubles were behind us.

Now, I'm sure it's entirely coincidental, but just a few days ago Bruce had ordered a radiator from Guatemala. All metal, no plastic top and bottom cap, and he had just received it. Hindsight being what it is, I probably should have ordered one with him and we could probably have gotten a discount.

Well, we'll hope that it's just a matter of the radiator being clogged. if not, I may ask Bruce for the particulars on where he ordered his radiator.

I don't think it ever ends, does it?
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On a happier note, Sara and Jeff arrived a couple of days ago. They're renting Denis and Vivien's house across the street. We're breaking them in right. Last night, about 0100 AM, BEL dropped the load and we were without current for the better part of three hours. I sweat like a pig. Nothing like trying to sleep when you're just dripping sweat. I'm sure, since they haven't had a chance to acclimatize yet, that it was an interesting experience for them. Welcome to paradise.
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I thought I had someone lined up to take a whack at the custom font I purchased. After an initial round of emails, it's like they dropped of the end of the world. They actually live and work in Ireland, so I suppose it's possible. Maybe Leprechans had something to do with it.
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Related, sort of, but a separate issue, I'm still trying to get the Domain Name System (DNS) for my domain (winjama.net) sorted out. Confusing as all get out. Time will tell, however.
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I guess this is sort of turning into a grab bag, again. What can I say but yes, it is.
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We thought our new little girl, Bela, was done with her bout of Demodex mites, a susceptibility for them that is inherited, so they appear fairly early on in their lives. Not contagious, but unless treated, can be devastating. So, she's back on Ivermectin once again, with a daily dose until all the symptoms disappear. I've heard it's not unusual to have to repeat the course once or twice till their immune system is up to the task. It certainly doesn't slow her down any.

Oh, also, she has started walking the walk. She looks so cute with her little purple pack on. I'll see if I can get some pictures or two of her at work. She's actually carried mail, bakery goods and veggies for us. So, she's getting right into the swing of things.
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Carlos has been busy varnishing the house and the front/back porches as well. He first pressure-washed the house. It's really looking a lot better. Long over due for a thorough cleaning and varnishing. We'd had our old caretaker, Cody pretty much do a much lighter job of it before. But, it was time for really good going over.
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That's about all I can think of for right now. I have to get some lunch together and get ready to get in the pool and cool down. Well, I know it's rough, but somebody has to do it.

Everyday Is Amazing

I swear, each and every day, it's a new surprise. If it isn't the weather, it's some new plant or something that Carlos has brought with him and casually told us that he's planted it somewhere, either in the raised garden, or in the patio garden, or somewhere.

It's always something. Case in point. This morning, Carlos came up to the front porch where Dianna and I were talking, and he shows us this huge, beautiful bouquet. Something he'd whipped together from a coconut frond 'husk'. I just Googled 'What is it called that attaches a palm frond to the trunk?' The answer is it's called the 'leaf sheath.' And, now we all know. Anyway, he'd whipped this together from a palm leaf sheath, and several other flowers and leaves, all from plants around our yard.

As you can see below, he took some of the palm leaves and them to fasten the bouquets to the palapa posts. Pretty nice, if I do say so.

Carlos' Newest Floral Creations

Here's a bit closer view of each of the bouquets. These make just a spectacular display. Sometimes, you're just not all that aware of just how gorgeous many of these plants are.

Close-Up of One Of the Bouquets

And, here's the other one. They really look vibrant and full of color. It takes someone like Carlos putting them together to really pop us upside the head and to pay attention to some of the amazing color and varieties of what's growing in our yard.

Here's the Other One

The other thing he's done a couple of now, is a tabletop flower arrangement. This one he did with some flowers that were left over from the bouquets. It looks nice from a distance, just sitting on the table.

Table Arrangement

But close-up, it's as spectacular as either of the bouquets. Such a variety of shapes and colors. I'm still amazed that this is all stuff from our yard.

Close-Up of Centerpiece

I need to break out my big camera and take some serious shots at some of what's right under our noses. But, knowing me, I probably won't. I'll get sidetracked doing some repair or other... or working on the blog.

Here We Go Again

Ahhh, another day, another project. This time it's the shower. Upstairs in the Mennonite house, the shower has developed a problem. Of course, this sort of thing is always an opportunity to lend the manly touch to the decorating scheme of the house. It always surprises me just how quickly I can populate a space with tools and bits of stuff - all necessary to the art and science of repair.

Handy Tool Storage

Tool and Supply Storage

I said that it had developed a problem. Actually, that was two problems. The first is the shower head itself. Since PVC pipe is used almost exclusively down here, that can create problems. For example. Our shower head used one of the shower head apparatus that hung off the shower pipe. You know the kind - with the hose attached and all that. Plus, we had a wire shower caddy attached with all the stuff that is normally kept there. Altogether a lot of weight on that little piece of pipe.

Well, the problem developed over time as the weight began to warp the PVC fitting the pipe screwed into. It seems that no matter how much teflon tape I used, and no matter how much plumber's putty or epoxy I used, it was going to leak.

As it turned out, not only had the fitting warped or stretched, but, when I removed the old piping, I saw damage that had been there since the piping was installed. Now, it probably didn't leak from the get-go, but over time, something like this just provides an avenue for water to begin its inevitable attack on fittings. Combined with expansion and contraction from hot and cold water, it's easy to see how driposis can begin.

Part of the Problem

And leak it did. At first, as you can imagine, it was a barely perceptible drip. Over time, that has increased to such an extent that we had to put a bucket under the pipes downstairs in Dianna's workshop to contain the drips. And it was only going to get worse. Something had to be done.

At first, I was going to tackle the leak from the front, removing a piece of tile and hacking away at the problem. I soon realized that if I was going to fix it (at that time, we didn't realize exactly what the problem was other than that we had a leak), I had to access the back side of the shower anyway, so that soon developed to be the preferred method of attack.

Not that that access was altogether easy. We first had to move our armoire out from the wall about two feet. Not the easiest thing to do, considering that it is about eight or nine feet long and made out of solid mahogany. It weighs a ton.

Narrow Working Quarters

I carefully measured where the shower head was and transferred a small 'x' to the back side to mark the shower head location and then used my trusty stud-finder to help define how large a hole I was going to need. Since metal studs were used, that was relatively easy to do.

Access Hole

I used my hole saw gingerly, mostly to gouge a small hole to be able to feel what I was running in to. I then used a razor knife to score and cut through the sheetrock so I had enough access to do any required work. This had an additional benefit in that using the knife really minimized the dust that would have been produced using the saw for the entire hole.

Small Mess

Replacing the damaged fitting is fairly easy. It's nothing I haven't done many times around here with as much PVC as we have all over the place. I am going to add a bit of wood to the setup, because the metal studs that were used in the walls of the Mennonite house just don't provide the lateral support needed to give the shower head fittings the rigidity needed.

By using the back side for access, I was able to leave the tile on the shower side alone. So, that meant just having to mess around with the two floor tiles. A bit of a relief.

Showerhead Hole

There's no way to really fasten the pipe to the stud to obtain the necessary rigidity any other way. So, I'll add a piece or two of wood and cobble something together out of wire or something to bind the pipe to the wood to hopefully obtain the stiffness it needs.

That was my initial thinking. As it turned out, I was able to use two pieces of wire run through the metal stud and around the pipe to securely fasten the pipe so it won't move at all. 

Coming From Faucet

Also, what we'll do is not keep the shower head and hose attached to the pipe. I'm going to see if I can get a wall mount for the shower head itself. If I can't , then it looks like it will be time to get a new shower head assembly that comes with a wall mount.

Here, you can see some of the wire used to hold the pipe in place. You can also see some of the staining that began to develop because of the leakage. By the way, that's not sheetrock that's stained, it's a concrete board product called Plycem. So, even though stained, it's quite undamaged by the water.

Shower Outlet

Here you can see the new pipe fitting jutting through the wall. I'm going to try to mount whatever hook I can find right in that area. I'll have to figure out an alternate location for the shower caddy. Who knows, maybe the one hook will do double duty. We'll see.

Showerhead Poked Through

The other big part of this project (remember, I mentioned that there were two parts) is we have a couple of floor tiles that cracked. They're rather large tiles (one-foot square) and removing them is proving to be a challenge - especially since we don't want to demolish the adjacent tiles. The grout is tough and the Thinset (used to mount the tiles themselves) is also tough.

The day before yesterday we had chiseled, grout-sawed, pounded, cussed, sweat, cajoled, cussed, poked, prodded, grappled, (did I mention cussing?), drilled and drilled, and all manner of other rites and incantations to try and remove the old tile, all to no avail. Both Dianna and I took turns attacking the tiles, and have gotten pretty much nowhere. What to do?
What to do came to us yesterday evening. Dianna suggested calling Carlos to see if he could come and fix the tile part of the project for us. By that stage, that seemed the most expedient solution to the problem, so I called him. He'll be able to come over and help us Friday morning. Some things are just best left in the hands of the pros, I guess.

There were also a couple other spots where the grout was failing or where, for whatever reason, a couple of the little plastic spacers were left in the grout track. Carlos removed those and will re-grout those as well.

Carlos Chipping Some Defects

Here's Carlos showing just how easy it is to remove the tile - if you know the trick. Obviously, we're not qualified to do this stuff.

Carlos Almost Done Busting Out Tiles

It might not be quite like they would do on Hometime or This Old House, but it's getting the job done, and it will last.

Carlos Doing the Tiles

Carlos will finish up the grout tomorrow morning and we'll have our shower back. It's not like we haven't been able to shower in the meantime. We've been using the shower down at the pool house. It's just a convenience thing, y'know?

And just like that, it's this morning. Chilly, gray overcast. Reminds me of the Northwest. Only thing missing is the drizzle. Come on Sunshine!

Carlos showed up around 8:00 AM this morning and was ready to tackle the grout. He opened the bucket that had three bags of left-over stuff in it. Was any of them grout? Of course not. A partial bag of Thinset, a partial bag of white cement, and a partial bag of sand of all things.

Well, it just wouldn't be a good project without at least one trip daily to a hardware store or something. So, off we went, Carlos riding shotgun and me with the reins, to Creative Tiles and Windows in Corozal.

Carlos was pretty sure they sold small bags of grout. I wasn't sure. I had never seen a small bag of it before, at least at Creative. Lo and behold, they actually had two-kilo bags, which was great. Even greater, it was available in a tan color that closely matched what we already had in the shower.

Carlos Working the Grout

After scoring the grout, we swung by Lano's to see if they might have a bracket for the shower handle. Naturally, I didn't call it a bracket. I called it a 'hook' which presented a minor problem which was easily solved by the same girl I had the discussion with about 'inch and a half' pumps'. She asked if I meant "a bracket". Perfect was my response. And they had it too. Now all I have to do is bore a couple of holes through the wall tile and hang the thing up there, probably just off center from the pipe outlet in the wall.

As you can see, the outlet is framed nicely by the chrome bezel from the old shower setup. I had to use a hole saw and my drill to expand the hole for the outlet pipe. A bit dicey, but it came out quite nice, I think. All I need to do now is apply some caulk around the inner and outer edges and that's done - well beside hooking up the actual shower hose and handle.

Add Some Caulk and Done

The only thing left, which Dianna will do this afternoon, while I'm at an all-important Corozal Men's Group meeting (solving the world's major problems, of course) is to apply grout sealer to all the new grout. Dianna thinks we'll have just enough to handle the job.

So, after all that, guess what? We'll have a functioning bathroom once again. Just in time to relax Sunday and gear up for another episode of Downton Abbey in the evening.

Shipshape and Bristol Fashion

Just a lee project for the weekend. This started out as three PVC pipes stuck about six-feet up in the air from the dock. They wiggled a bit too since they didn't have any filler inside. Eventually, I decided there was no real compelling reason to have them so high, so I cut them down to 15-inches or so, then added on the cross-tee, eight-inch extensions, and caps all around.

A Bollard in the Making

Not to mention the two pieces of 3/8-inch rebar inside each one (they go down below the dock about five-feet). There's also two pieces of rebar in the cross-bars of each bollard.

Ready for Rebar and Concrete

That's what those things are called - 'bollard' - an ancient nautical term for a short vertical post for mooring a boat or ship. Wikipedia says the term probably comes from the Norman-French 'Boulard' meaning 'post'.

Last One Ready for Rebar and Concrete

Of course, I had assistance while working on this project. Carlos was available this morning to help. I had originally scheduled him to help on Friday morning, but as things happen, Lano's Hardware said they were unable to get the 4" cross-tees till this morning. I told Carlos to come about 8:30 AM or so to give me time to go to Lano's to pick them up. Of course, when I got to Lano's, Kim said, no they don't have them. I'd have to cobble something together that aesthetically, just would look like crap. So, they did refund my money. I then tried Villas - no go there. Then I went over to National, losing hope in the process and wondering if I was going to have to tell Carlos no go again. Anyway, I described what I wanted - three thin-walled, 4" PVC cross-tees. Not a problem. I bought them and went on my way happy as a lark.

All Three Are Completed

After I got home we promptly got to work. Carlos began cutting rebar and mixing cement, sand, chippings, and water into a soupy concrete slurry to pour down the pipes easily. I began gluing the various pieces together. I had earlier cut several 8-inch pieces of pipe so that all that would be ready when we started.

Finished

It all went together like clockwork. Carlos tied the rebar bits together and poured concrete down the tube as I guided the slurry going in so we didn't waste too much. Then I glued on the final cap and we moved on to the next one. All together, the project took about two hours to complete.

Looks Good to Me

Next comes the mooring cleats that Chuck already provided for me. The final piece will be the swing-up boarding ladder. I'm not going to explain it now. You'll just have to wait and see.

A Little Watah Here, A Little Watah There

When we first built the place, we put a single faucet on the back-side of the house. That was adequate for several years. But, now that we've added planter boxes and a compost bin, our needs have changed significantly. Which change necessitates digging holes, finding the old pipes, and figuring out just how we're going to route stuff to accomplish what I'm seeing in my mind's eye.

For starters, I had Cody dig out the piping for the existing faucet. Naturally, it's buried directly under a 3-inch drain pipe we installed later - after we had our roof gutters installed.

Work is Just Starting

As you can see below, it's a bit of a tight fit. One thing that did help (seems like it does with each project too) is that I take photos of just about every phase of a project. Makes it easy then to go back when change is mandated and figure out, more or less, just what we had done in the first place.

Bit of a Tight Space to Work In

I decided to cut the water line right under the drain pipe. There was enough room to put an elbow there and reroute everything without digging up more than necessary.

I wanted to run a new line from there over to the new compost bin so we could have a faucet to take care of that area and the whole yard by the street. This meant that we had to run the line under the sidewalk (You can see that at the top of the photo below).

If this was in the states, making a 'water-jet' would be easy. Just go to the hardware store and buy a couple of hose threaded slip fittings (male and female) for an old length of PVC pipe. Glue it together and hook it up to a hose and blast away. Well, unfortunately, those fittings aren't available here.

Improvise. I found a piece of PVC electrical conduit that was just perfectly sized to fit the diameter of the hose I had in mind. I cut one end off the hose, slid the length of hose through the conduit and attached a new hose fitting to replace the one I had cut off. I now had a rigid water-jet to blast a tunnel under the sidewalk. Perfect. After attaching the water-jet assembly to a hose and turning on the water, it took about five minutes to bore a pipe-sized tunnel under the sidewalk. No big deal at all.

Running Another Line To the Compost Bin

Then, it just became a matter of gluing all the bits together, and before burying it all, turning on the water to see if anything leaked - which nothing did, so we were good to go.

Pretty Much All Hooked Up - Ready to Bury

Here's another view of the completed assembly showing the pipe running under the sidewalk. I haven't removed the old hose rack and hose yet. The rack will be repositioned by the double faucet, bolted to the steel post right there.

Faucet Re-routed From Wall to Garden

We're looking at the business end with the double faucet ready to go. One spigot for the watering wand curly hose and the other for the odd filling up buckets and washing hands and tools. Handy, eh?

Two Faucets Now

Cody's filling in the trenches he had dug for the piping. The pipe runs for now over to the corner of the compost bin pad, where I capped it off till Carlos gets done building the bin walls. Then I'll add some more piping, run a length up, install a faucet and my last hose rack and it'll be a done deal.

New Faucet Will Go In the Corner

Dianna had a good idea about a drain field for the front of the compost bin. We had Cody dig a trench about a foot deep and wide, and then fill it with gravel. Hopefully it'll work as we imagine it will.

Seeing How Everything Fits

Carlos starting the compost bin walls. It's going as high as the terra cotta fence in the background.

Carlos Hard At Work

A couple more hours and there's some real progress that has been made.

It's Going Up

After completing the two courses of each wall, Carlos cleaned up for the day. Next Friday he'll form up the top of each wall and cast a cap with rebar to give some rigidity to each wall. Then, it's parging the walls inside and out, and painting the outside walls and the project is done.

Is This Camelot?

By Geroge, it sure is beginning to look like it, what with the brand new round table and all. It was a small project, but one of those that took pretty much all day. The table ended up being four-foot diameter and about four inches thick - pretty good sized, but still in keeping with the size of the palapa.

Carlos Smoothing Poured Concrete

 Carlos spent most of the morning prepping the form - wood bottom surface and Celotex (same thing as Masonite) for the roundy part of the form. It really looks nice.

Kane Almost Done With The Pour

 Kane, the go-to guy for working thatch in the palapa also is young enough to hump the 100-pound 5-gallon buckets of concrete, of which it took several to complete the pour.

Carlos Getting It All Even

 Carlos worked in between each bucket-full to ensure the table top became level and that it was a consistent thickness.

We Had A Good-Sized Peanut Gallery

 As luck would have it, the table pour occurred on a Friday, which meant that we had a pretty good Happy Hour crowd to play the role of supervisors for the pour.

Carlos Floating the Finish

Finally, here's Carlos putting the finishing touches on the table before knocking off for the day. I have to confess, with as smooth as it was after Carlos got done with it and left, I came out later and noticed a bug stuck in the concrete. Naturally, I grabbed a piece of paper and gently tried to remove it so there would be no permanent reminder on the table. Well, guess what? I managed to leave a few scratches in the tabletop, even though I was trying to be extremely careful. We had talked about possibly tiling the top, so it now looks as though that is just what we're going to have to do - thanks to my skills at bug removal.

Still, it's a mighty grand looking table. I can't wait to have a party around it. It'll be fun - scratches and all.

Ahhh, To Relax, Perchance To Lounge

Man, it seems like this past week was go, go, go - all week long.

We had the ladies swim/exercise group on Tuesday; Otilia, our new housekeeper came on Wednesday (she's still learning how Dianna wants things done). Friday, Carlos came and worked on the patio project and we hosted happy hour; and Saturday, Carlos returned to cast the counter top at the BBQ area of the patio project.

The photos below detail some of the patio project. The first one, Carlos has cut and positioned some plywood to act as the form bottom for a work surface counter top between the two columns. The space underneath will have one or two shelves for storage of stuff.

Putting Up the Form

This shot shows Carlos setting up the sides of the form.

Almost Ready To Cast

This one, he's almost ready to make the pour. He had to take off early on Friday as he had a guy coming over to see about buying his pickup truck.

Carlos Finishing the Form

Saturday morning, Carlos was back to make the pour, which is done in the photo below.

The Pour Done

 Here Carlos is troweling it out so it's smooth. No 'brooming' texture up here, as it's a work surface, not a seating area.

Carlos Troweling The Concrete

Finally, we had the men's group here, also on Saturday.

And now, today, Sunday... The only things we have lined up to do: Our usual weekly laundry and a little cleanup of the pool house from the men's group meeting. The rest of the day is ours for lounging around in the pool. Yea!

I'll tell you, this being retired is hard work!

A New Day, Another Project

I was called to task by a few folks at yesterday's happy hour get-together for not having posted anything about our newest and last big project. So, not being one to sit by complacently, here's the result. Like I told them yesterday, I did have a few photos in the mill, so it wasn't like I hadn't been doing something to stay current.

Anyway, the project is a patio/BBQ area behind the swimming pool to the canal fence - about the only open area we have left in our yard.

We were lucky enough to be able to offer employment to Carlos, Jim and Melanie's former caretaker. He's really knowledgeable about plants and concrete and stone work, among a whole bunch of other things. So, this project is Carlos' baby. It'll take some time for him to get it done, as he's only working for us one day a week.

Anyway, Friday before last, Carlos brought Cain on board for the day to help form rebar in the footing trench and to also help hump concrete from Carlos' mixer to the trench.

Here they're forming steel to proper length to fit in the trench.

Cain and Carlos Cutting Steel For Footing

 And, of course, a shot of Cain handling the wheelbarrow and concrete. At least there's no requirement to carry concrete by the bucket-full on their heads. Still, hot work at this time of year.

Cain Working Wheelbarrow

Of course, the rebar has to get to the trench, after it's cut to size. Here Carlos and Cain are hauling one of the long pieces to the trench.

Carrying Steel (Rebar) To Worksite

 After carrying it, all the steel needs to be positioned in the trench. Here they're doing just that.

Laying Steel In The Footing Trench

Finally, all the steel (there really wasn't that much used for the trench, but it's still necessary work) has been positioned and tied in the trench, ready for the concrete pour.

Steel In Position In Footing Trench

After positioning and tying the rebar, the pour began. Here Carlos is adjusting the steel after the first couple barrow-loads of concrete have been poured into the footing trench.

Carlos Adjusting Steel After First Footing Pour

The work is really speeded up using Carlos' mixer. It's only a half-bag electric mixer, but still beats using a shovel on the ground and makes for a much more consistent mix as well.

Carlos Adding Water To The Mix

While Cain is struggling with a barrow full of concrete over by the trench, Carlos is hard at it adding the ingredients for the next load into the mixer.

Carlos Mixing Concrete In His Mixer

And the last picture for this posting shows the concrete working its way around the horseshoe-shaped trench.

The Pour Advances

Stay tuned for more on this project as it progresses. I think soon you'll be able to see rock being positioned to make the planter bed walls and some other things.