Don't Fence Me In

This just might be the mournful song Cindy will be singing before too long as the last of our metal fence parts go up alongside the canal.

Cindy Thinks She's Pretty Smart

She's still not exactly sure what's going on with the fence parts. Up till now, she's been the ring leader on the sporadic escapes from the yard. Well, that's all about to change.

Fence Bits At the Ready.

Note Isaiel's Welding Machine 

Isaiel Welding the First One

Above, you can see several of the fence bits ready to be put up. In fact, the first one had already been tac-welded in place. Below, the guys are hard at work fitting the various bits for welding.

Ramilio Cutting Steel

Isaiel Welding the Pieces in Place

The way they're mounted to the concrete wall is like this. Holes are bored, and steel rods stuck in place. These are trimmed as the large piece is fitted to ensure a consistent and level fit. Once Isaiel decides the fit is correct, he tac-welds it all together, and then does a final welding to ensure everything stays in place.

Pegs in Ready for Fence Bits

After the first two pieces were fully welded in place, it was time to knock off. Monday is when they'll finish up. Isaiel's band has either a three-day gig or three gigs this weekend, beginning on Friday. It's ok. We're not in a huge rush for them. I did ask Isaiel to place the remaining pieces up against the wall positioned to block the low places, so we can get the dogs used to being penned in (I think Cindy thinks it's just a temporary measure).

This morning when I went into town to get some packages from the post office, I saw our neighborhood vultures waiting their turns for a meal.

Yummers! Man Does That Look Tasty!

And It's Done

Here's the finishing touches on our palapa. Florencio and his crew showed up at about 0615 this morning and got right to it. As you can see from the picture below, there's still a bit of haze in the air. It was nice and cool too, so they were able to really make some progress today.

Not Much More To Go

Twist, tuck, braid, slide. Repeat as necessary say, about a couple of thousand times. That's thatching a palapa roof in a nutshell.

Twisting Leaf To Tie It Into the Roof

A couple of more examples of the lines used to haul leaf to the upper level so the guys can tie it all into the roof structure.

The Leaf Elevators At Work

Raising More Thatch

Now, we're getting into the home stretch. Suddenly, it began to look like there wasn't nearly enough roof on top for the three or four guys doing the thatching.

Finishing the Last Row

Working Along the Peak

Here the guys are working the peak, There's one log on either side of the peak. They're feeding leaf under one piece of lumber, over the peak, and then attaching it under the other piece of lumber. They put a lot of leaf on just the peak.

Running Out Of Room

Barely Enough Room

While they were finishing the roof, I installed the rest of the water and electric piping to the palapa. I hooked up a faucet, and added a hose and hose rack. The electrical, I ran up to a junction box mounted about waist high on the pole where it can be used as a switch or plug and the rest of the wiring for the palapa can be branched off from there.

Utility Run

Of course, Cindy did her part. Grabbing stray pieces of leaf and shaking the daylights out of it.

Cindy At Work

Extra leaf is applied over the major wood joints that formed the basic "A" of the roof. Especially to keep the threaded rods used there from rusting.

Finishing It Up

Here, Florencio demonstrates large and small pieces of leaf. Large leaf is infinitely more desirable than small. As you can see from the next photo, that where it takes one large leaf, the workers have to place three small leaf pieces. Too much work, and also, the coverage isn't as good down-slope. Large leaf will cover about 3 rows, whereas small leaf only covers one-and-a-half to two.

Florencio Showing the Big and Small of It

Big And Small In the Roof.

Immediately after completing construction, the guys sprayed Selignum On the lumber as well as the leaf in the ceiling.

Done With The Sprayer

Here's an example of how neat and tidy this job looks. All the wood is bolted or screwed in place. All the leaf has been uniformly cut. It just looks huge inside. I'll be able to store lumber, etc., up there.

Beautiful Basket Weave Look To the Roof Interior

Now, they're done. Dismounting is a careful slide down to the ladder. Last man down, and it's all done.

Sliding Down From the Roof

Last Man Down

Here's the finished product. We'll finish out the electrical setup, fill in the trench, and begin using it. Dianna already has the far stall staked out as "hammock country". As cool as it stays under there, I'm joining her!

A Beautiful Job

It certainly wasn't the cheapest palapa around, but I'm willing to bet, it's one of the best constructed, with quality wood, leaf, and enough threaded rod, lag screws, wood screws, etc., - no wonder I had to make so many trips to the hardware store!

Moving Right Along

I am going to try to document as well as I can the construction of our parking palapa. It's basically a traditional construction method, using native materials, but in this case, quite well engineered and fastened completely with threaded rod, nuts and washers, and lag screws.

We were extremely fortunate to get the services of Mr. Florencio Rodriguez, arguably the premier builder of palapa structures in this part of Belize, if not the whole country. He built (and repaired after Hurricane Dean) the extremely impressive roof structure of Jim and Melanie's Trinity House on Gringo Lane.

The best comparison is right at their house - Florencio built their palapa roof, which withstood Dean with minimal damage of a few lost pieces of thatch, whereas, the palapa roof of Greg and Connie, right next door, wasn't built by Florencio. It collapsed and after Dean was converted into a burn pile. I guess that about sums up his expertise and provides the best recommendation of his skill and art.

And he really does look at it as art. He tries to do something a little different and unique in each palapa he builds. From the selection of interesting wood shapes and types, to differing geometries of the structure, etc., he tries to create interest in each structure.

This is how palapa's should be built.

It starts off yesterday morning, shortly after 6:00 AM when Florencio and his crew arrive. They get to it right away. We had marked out the location for the columns the previous day, so they were able to start digging right away.

As soon as the holes are dug, "Thunk"! In go the very heavy colums.

Digging the Holes

Preparing for the lift of the Column

This next photo shows the crew hoisting the column to slide it into the hole. It really reminds me of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi, on Iwo Jima during WWII. One of those things you don't notice at the time. It only leaps out at you as you're editing the photos afterwords.

Getting It Up

Of course, after the columns are raised, they tamp in sand to stabilize them. Florencio doesn't like to use concrete to encase the columns, because it doesn't let water run away from the wood. It traps it and only causes the wood to rot. It's such a dense, heavy wood that as long as water can get away through the sand, a column should last 35-40 years. I really don't think I'll care much if it rots out after that time.

Tamping Sand Around the Column

Columns Growing Before Our Eyes

Once the columns are all upright, they're trued up and trimmed to the proper height. Then each is notched to receive the longitudinal beam.

Getting the Columns to 8 Feet High

Florencio Cutting the Beam Notches

If a longitudinal beam isn't long enough (as was the case with one of our two) then Florencio notches the two pieces and they're joined by a series of threaded rods, washers and nuts before they're raised into position.

Notching A Beam For Joining

Raising A Longitudinal Beam

Once the beam is up in position, then it's tied off and drilled so that threaded rod can be fed through it and each column. Then as cross beams are added to the mix, they're trimmed after being bolted into place.

Tying Off Beams For Drilling

Trimming Cross Beams

It's beginning to look like a structure. Cross beams all get placed, then the rafters are placed. These are also bolted - at each apex and to the beams, then they're joined by a ridge pole which is also bolted into place.

Cross Beams Going Up

Roof Taking Shape

Rafters and Ridge Pole in Place - End of Day One

During the day, Florencio, took a couple of hits on his big toe, which he had previously injured. He was in quite a bit of pain. Dianna took over and doctored him with some antibiotic ointment and Ibuprofen. Later, he went to the hospital and got some pills to help with infection and swelling.

Good Job, Dr. Dianna

Just so we keep everything in perspective, some folks just don't get too excited about all the hub-bub going on around them.

Midas Not Overreacting

Blue and Dianna Sharing Nap Time

Even though she likes to supervise everything going on, even Cindy needs some down time. Here she's resting in her favorite perch. The railing was tailor-made to just the right height for her to rest her chin on it and still be able to keep an eye on all that is going on.

Cindy At Her Favorite Spot

Cody, even though he's recovering from a pretty severe cold, managed to put in a heavy day's work as well. he finished up one soak away for the roof gutters to come and started another. He also filled in the trenches for the water/electrical line additions out to the palapa.

Cody Digging to China

Adding a Bit to the Trench to the Palapa

The third project going on at the same time (three-ring circus anyone?) is the finishing of the "basement". Installing the metal studs to separate Dianna's and My workshops, and to provide definition for the store room.

Putting Up the Metal Stud Work

More Metal Studs

During the course of the work, the guys put a skim-coat of mortar on the floor of the store room, just off the utility room. Shortly after that, Cindy trotted right through the middle of it, leaving nice, great big prints right through it. After that, I chained her up outside to prevent a recurrence. Of course, shortly after that, guess who tromped through themselves? I managed to avoid being chained up myself - I'm sure the workers would have like to have chained me up too for that. Mea culpa - I thought it was firmed up enough to tread on safely.

Footprints in the Sand

Sometimes, even the project manager has to get down and get dirty. So I did. Here's a couple of shots Dianna took of me connecting the new water line to the existing water main. That pipe in the air is the drain from the washing machine. Wasn't much other way to do it. It's a minimal traffic area anyway.

Dave Doing Physical Labor

Dave Hooking Up Laundry Room Drain Pipe

Even with all this activity going on, you still have to remember to take time to smell the roses - or whatever is growing nearby. In this case it's a flower in Dianna's garden that decided to bloom a couple of days ago. Right pretty at that.

Nice Yaller Flower