Latest As Of December 2, 2007

Moving right along, here's a shot from a distance showing the house as it was around the first of December. Changes have come quickly, as you'll see with the succeeding days.

Mennonite House From Afar

All of the beams and columns are getting the plastering or stuccoing technique. It's time-consuming, but these guys are quite good at it. Notice the rather unique clips they fashioned from scrap rebar to hold wood pieces on either side. Pretty neat. They really work well too.

Plastered and Clipped

Our canalside fence is really taking shape as you can see from the following photos. Again, this also gets a good plastering. After it cures for a couple of months or so, it'll be ready to paint. There's also iron work that will go in the scallops and as the gate. Pretty much the same design as the burglar bars. There'll be a lamp on top of each post - a total of 10. Should be pretty dramatic-looking.

Canalside Fence From Boat Slip

And From the Front Porch

Plastering In Progress

Another View From the Gate Area.

Eugene Mixing Plastering Mortar

One morning, Eugene, our night watchman, told me he was being inundated with cats - at least four or five feral house cats were raiding the trash bin. He recommended I put a finer screen on the door than just the bars of the door. This picture shows the result. I still have to get a hatch for the top of the bin fashioned because they're still getting into the bin, just not quite as bad.

Eugene even had one come into the house where he was sleeping and that it tried to steal some food he had set aside.

Security-Minded Trash Door

Ah, the good life. I set the remote on the camera and this was the result. They actually allow us to live here and we don't even get in trouble! Imagine. We do buy our own beer. A downside to everything.

Life in Paradise

Another shot of the pool outside our temporary house. Dianna is having a relaxing conversation with Lynn. She and her husband, Bob, are building a nice little (11 rooms) inn just a short ways down the road from here.

Lynn and Dianna Chatting

Recapping the Past Week

The past week was busy - the "chain" as it's called was poured as was the rest of the beams for the foundation... And, well, I guess that was it. Doesn't sound like much when you put it on paper, but it did occupy most of the week, as you can see from the pictures below.

Here's Franz's crew pouring the "chain"

More Pouring the "Chain"

The chain is, in reality, the rebar that encircles the whole foundation and provides the lateral strength to it.

Workers Moving Scaffold

Straps To Anchor House to Foundation

Setting the Forms

More Pouring the Beams

An important part is placing the metal straps that actually join the beams to the wooden structure of the house - there's about 22 or so of them, anchored in the concrete then double-lag-screwed to the wood beams.

Setting the Straps

 Pouring Concrete into Buckets

If this guy looks familiar (he should to Owen and Sandy) it's because I think he followed us down here. We have several blue herons and a few white ones (and about a hundred egrets) that frequent the area.

Fishing From the Bank

Cutting Wood for Forms

Moving the Scaffold Again

Keeping the Area Neat and Tidy - Consolidating Gravel Piles

Pouring Concrete,

Pouring, and Pouring

And More

Protection for the Jacks

Looking At the Underside of the House

Setting Initial Rebar For the Streetside Steps

Concrete Work

Now, for you who might not be able to judge scale well, here's a shot of the smaller croc - the same one that is on our banner, being photographed by Doug. Notice Doug is not approaching any too close.

Shooting the Croc

Still the Weekend

Here's a few more shots of what's happening during the weekend. Of course, there's the shots that were missed entirely, like the ones of Dianna and me sitting on the front porch with Doug and Twila (they bought the big lot up Ferry Road from us) having a few beers and commiserating with each other about what rough duty being down here was. Sorry, folks, but that was the topic - well, in part. We did talk about fish, the weather, building, local roads, the ferry... that sort of thing.

Here's one to warm you up - Willie, a young kid who works weekends at the Copa Banana, torched the burn pile, so I shot a few pictures of it. This is one.

The Burn Pile In Action

These shots give you a good idea of the progress taking place under our house. We're hoping they get at least a bedroom and the bathroom working. Then we can move in. We only have about two more weeks here in this duplex. It's rented starting 1 December.

The Foundation Columns Are Almost Done

The Foundation Columns A Different View

Here's some better shots of the walls of the laundry/utility/storage/workshop room.

The Wall Keeps Going Up

View From Across the Room

Isidoro and crew worked very hard to finish up the fence project. Their work is excellent. It's been a real pleasure to work with him and his guys. You'll see more of them as they're going to build our canal-side fence and the wall around the septic drain field.

Myo and Esidoro Assembling Elsie's Gate

Putting Fabric Onto the Frame

Finishing up Elsie's side of the fence project brings this phase to a close. Eugene, a young man, (who Bob fired early on) has proved to be a worthwhile member of the team. He's been a steady worker and pretty reliable.

Isidoro's cousin (I'm sorry, his name slips my mind) is quiet and just gets in there and works. He's a permanent part of Isidoro's crew.

Eugene Cutting Tie Wire

Esidoro's Cousin Finishing the Edge

Here they are attaching the last part of the gate to the post. It's done.

It's Attached

Elsie's fence is now done. Once we closed the gate, it really felt like the yard was closed in.

Elsie's Fence - Done

Elsie's Fence -From the Other Side

Here's more shots of the"dolphin-fish" as the locals call it in our canal. He's about 3-feet in length. Maybe I'll try my hand a catching him after we get moved in. They're good eating along with the Tilapia that are also in the canal.

About a 4' Tarpon in Our Canal

Big Fish

Here's a really nice shot of him after he turned around. I can't wait to get to using my good DSLR and lenses. There's so much wildlife here to photograph.

Still A Big Fish

House Art Next to Copa Banana

The house that is being built next door to the Copa Banana has (had) some art in it. I took a shot or two of the guys doing it (Gayle and Martin). These columns turned out to be gorgeous.
The shot above shows Dianna supervising Martin (left) and Gayle (right). Martin is from Los Angeles. He married a local girl and is basically apprenticed to Gayle to learn the set decoration trade. Gayle has been a theatrical set decorator for about 30 years. The work they are doing is simply spectacular!

Here's another shot of them working on one of the columns. Just amazing work.
An update as of April 30... The columns above have been redone. We peeked in the window yesterday and they had been repainted white! WTF???

I've heard the owner has spent a fortune on change orders. Whatever. It's his money. Just a shame. The columns were simply spectacular.