Monday, Monday

Monday (24 Oct. 16) lived up to it's name this morning. I tried to get a jump on the week and make it down to Atlantic Bank to deposit some money so I could make my payment to Social Security (Belize). Of course I forgot to bring my passbook. No problemo. I've done that before. They just look up the number and everything goes nicely.

Uh, not this morning. Forty-five minutes after joining the line, I made it to the next teller. I hand her my cash and the deposit slip and explain I forgot my passbook. She tells me she can't look up the number. I don't know if she doesn't know how to do it, or if there's some reason that their computer system won't cooperate in looking it up. She does tell me if I go get my passbook and come back, that I don't have to wait in line. Just wait till she's done with her current customer and jump in. I told her I'd be back later.

I zipped home, grabbed my passbook and hotfooted it back downtown. I got back in line at the tail end, since I would have felt guilty jumping in, even though she said I could. So, another forty-five minutes (I've become Belizean in more than having a nationality certificate. Waiting in line for me has really become as much an activity as doing something.) and I get up to the next teller - thankfully, not the same one as I first had.

I completed my deposit and left. I stopped over across the street at Fred's place (Corozal Virtual Office) and got a replacement mouse for the one that started acting up - even after major cleaning the innards. My sounds on the PC stopped some time ago. I had already consulted with Fred of what to do. My motherboard doesn't have the slot necessary to add a sound card, so I thought my only option would be to replace the motherboard.

Fred had a novel solution. He had a USB thing (technical term) to convert from USB to audio. I bought it and had TUNES once again. Caribbean roots, Bob Marley, Soca, Punta, Salsa, all on AccuRadio. Years ago, I used to subscribe for close to ten years to Live365.com and listened all day every day.

Well, AccuRadio is the successor to Live365.com. It's almost the same thing. Close enough. Probably drove people I worked with nuts. luckily my cubicle was away from everyone elses. In fact, it was more a private office than a cubicle. I had turned off the flourescent lighting overhead and all my lighting was warm incandescent stuff. I had plants and my tunes. I was a happy camper.

Anyway, back to the present day and time. Once I got back here with my purchases, Monday became much more tolerable. Here's some photos to kick off the work day.

Beam Ends Filling In

Once the beams and block additions get plastered, they're going to look pretty good. It's already looking good. I can't wait till the shade cloth gets applied.

Determining Positioning of the Pump

Bani does double duty as electrician and plumber for Mario. Here he's figuring out how to manage the connections for the main pump.

Continuing Block Fill

Endher is continuing with laying the blocks to complete the extension of the beam. Not much more to do.

Back Side of Pump House

This is a shot of part of the back of the pump house with the window, showing what a clean installation it was. Nice job.

Backside Pump House Detail

A detail of another part of the back of the pump house showing the returns for the main drain and skimmer, along with one of the ports for the heating system, which has yet to be installed. It's not part of this project and is still in the 'I'll figure out how to do it' stage.

More Stuff Moving Inside

It's nice to see more of the working stuff of the pool, the filter, and pump inside. It's beginning to look like the project might just come together.

Scaffolding Always On the Move

The scaffolding is on the move almost constantly. Here it's being moved back to the west side to plaster the beam and blocks. I didn't get a picture of it this evening, but there's forms up on the west side of the west beam, if that makes sense. They're going to cast concrete there instead of putting in a block veneer. I 'll snap that in the morning.

Whaddyado?

This past week I've been reorganizing my pool pump house. By that I mean, when my main pump sprung a leak (the shaft seal was leaking), instead of waiting for it to destroy the front bearing on the motor, like I did last time, I pulled the pump out and promptly ordered a new seal and diffuser and housing o-rings.

While I had the main pump out, I decided this would be an ideal time to reposition the main pump and the waterfall pump, putting both up on concrete blocks so they're not sitting on the floor in potential puddles of water.

I also added a couple of valves that were missing from the original installation - so I could remove the main pump without going through the gyrations I had to do previously to remove it.

The other thing I decided to do was to essentially re-orient the outfall from each pump so that if I disconnect the pump, water in the pipe doesn't run all over the top of the pump. I installed an elbow with a short (4 or 5") length of pipe so the union, when separated drains to the side of the pump.

So far in the process, I've successfully re-done the waterfall pump. Everything with it works fine with no leaks. No problems there at all.

I've redone the main pump as well, with the two additional valves in place. The valves work fine with no leakage either.

Incidentally, I also took the opportunity to fix a couple small leaks at the connections for the filter. Those leaks are stopped now too.

The remaining problem is the main pump outfall union. I've used three different o-rings and the union still leaks.

I am having a problem here with getting o-rings of exactly the right diameter and thickness. But, you work with what you have as much as possible. I've stretched the o-rings so they fit into the groove, tightened up the union, and still have leakage.

I'm pretty sure the surfaces of the union that join together where the o-ring fits, are meeting flat - as flat as any of the other unions I have in the pump house. It's not exact, but you get it as close as you can. With gluing PVC parts together, sometimes 'close' is as good as it gets.

So... I have this leak. This morning, I'm going to try a really thick o-ring. If I can stretch it enough so that it fits in the groove, maybe that'll solve the problem. If it still leaks,

I'm looking for ideas. Anybody have any? I'm willing to consider anything - voodoo, incantations, burning incense, a bigger hammer, better curse words... anything!

Still No Bags In Sight

Ok, we're done with Christmas, although the tree traditionally won't come down till a day or two after New Year's, I'm ready to get back to the projects at hand.

That would be the bulkhead project. But, there's a problem there. We still don't have any more bags. As is the norm here in Belize, everyone talked as though their arrival was imminent, in fact they would more than likely be here the next day. Uh huh. So, here we are waiting.

There's also a slight problem that needs correcting. After packing gravel behind the concrete bags and around the drain pipes, the workers put marl in the rest of the void. Of course now, the marl has turned to an almost quicksand-like mush. That has to come out and be replaced completely with gravel. It was a nice idea, but totally defeats the purpose of what the gravel was supposed to do. That is, to provide support to the bank against the bulkhead - not turn to soup and be of no use. We'll get that taken care of when work resumes.

So, since there's no bags, and no workers right now (in fact they took the 'machine' away day before yesterday, I assume to use it on another project, probably that doesn't require bags), I have a few more photos that I took this morning during walkies.

Early Morning Fishermen

Again, during the false dawn period this morning, as we approached the Thunderbolt pier, there were a couple of fishermen poling their skiffs along and they periodically cast their nets, probably netting sardines for fishing for larger fish later on.

Poling Gently Along

As you can tell, it's another sleepy morning in Corozal. Hardly anyone was stirring as we walked. It's Boxing Day - the legal holiday today (It would have fallen on Saturday), but you can't have a meaningful holiday on a weekend, can you?

Watching the Sardines Below

And, so it goes. It turned into a wonderful, still, sunny and not too warm morning. I ran the pool pump for a while, supervising it since it is leaking. Jim, who's in Florida, was kind enough to allow me to have a seal kit shipped to him to bring down, so I can get the pump repaired. While the pump was running, I checked the temperature of the pool. Almost 80° (F), entirely too cold to even think about having pool time today. Dang it.

Not only is it a sleepy day in Corozal, but here at Casa Winjama, we've decided to relax and just go with the flow. Reading and maybe a movie or two will be the order of the day. After all, the girls and I did do three and a half miles already. That passes for our one project a day, for today.

Saturday's Hi-lites

Another beautiful day here in Corozal. Saturday in Paradise. Where the sun's hot, the beer's cold and the pool pump is busted... Wait a minnit! That's not right. Right or not, the pool is inoperative right now. Larry and Carlos and Terrence, the scooter mechanic, found the problem - The impeller is kaput.

We're waiting to hear from Jim the owner if he wants Larry to get a new impeller or if Jim will pick one up in Florida, where he and Melanie are at till they return on January 5.

So, since I couldn't swim, I went over to the construction site to see what was happening. I also made a run into town to find Frontline for the little dogs - not available till about a week from now from either Prosser's Agricultural Supplies or Dr. Martha, the Cuban trained Veterinarian. She is really nice and personable. While I was there, a young guy came up and said I owed his boss for a delivery he'd made some time ago. He described the delivery, and by golly, he was right. I hadn't paid for the delivery. I remembered asking my workers at the time, if anyone had paid for delivery. They hadn't and it just slipped my mind. So I went over to his boss and paid up. I also got his name and phone number for the future, in case I need a delivery of my own.

After that, I went to Comfort Rest Products and made a final payment on our new couch. They were getting ready to head over to the property to take final measurements for the kitchen cabinets and shelves.

At the property, Abraham is making great strides with the window trim. He's got the living room, dining room and part of the master bedroom completed.

Window Trim Pieces

Window Trim in Place

Bit by bit, more stuff is creeping into the house. We already have the reverse osmosis water filter system, and we should have a Culligan water softener. Turns out there's a dealer down in Placencia, and he will ship to Corozal. So, once payment is arranged we should have the softener and RO system in place as soon as the water is hooked up.

The tile setter is starting to get quite a collection of stuff here as well. He's doing a good job too. Especially considering he doesn't have a tile saw. He uses a hand-held power cutting wheel and a tile scorer.

Reverse Osmosis System

Tile Setter's Stuff

Here's a couple of shots showing the tile in place in the shower stall. Looking pretty good, I must say.

Shower Tile

in the Shower Stal

Little Tiki, one of Jim and Melanie's Yorkshire Terriers, is a biker. He'd sell his soul for a ride. Every time I put on my helmet, he whines. At first, I thought he thought the helmet was hurting me, then one day, Lynn said that maybe he wanted to go for a ride. That was it! He loves to ride.

Tiki Getting Ready to Go

Tiki Cruising Down the Road

Nearly At the End of the Ride

Tiki Dismounting After a Run