Guess What's Started?

I admit it. I did take a brief hiatus for a few days. I'd like to say it was due to some sort of equipment malfunction or something, but no. It was mainly due to laziness on my part. My apologies to everyone.

Here's what's been going on. We've started making great use of Skype, as evidenced by the photo of Dianna below talking to her brother, David.

Dianna Talking to Her Computer

Since we're on Satellite, we can use Skype. If we were still on BTL, well, that's something that they block. I've heard they block it illegally, but still it's blocked.

Skype works pretty good. It's not perfect by any means, but when you think of the distance and nearly instantaneous comms, well, it's really better than pretty good.

I've finally started shooting more stuff with my DSLR (a Canon). A couple of days ago, I fired up my telephoto lens and snapped this great egret roosting in the pine trees across the canal from our place. If you look carefully, there's someone else in the picture also checking out the crane.

Two Visitors

Long-time readers will remember Cody's (our caretaker) silver and red Chevy van. Well, he finally sold it (for more than he paid for it too). He took that money and now is the proud owner of this nice little red Nissan. BTW, the stereo works fine - sounds like a jukebox on wheels as he comes down the road.

Cody's New Ride

Now to the news... Construction has started again. Our guest house is finally underway. Here's a couple of shots showing the logistical end of things, the staging of the materials. Loads of sand and gravel, and about 700 6" blocks, and under the palapa, 35 bags of cement. Oh yes, and a bunch of lengths of rebar.

Getting Ready for the Job

Getting Ready for the Job - Part II

And here we are with construction underway. You can see it's going to be about 23'x23' and will but up right against the pool deck. A nice location.

Forming the Footprint

More Forming the Footprint

Isidoro and his brothers are doing the construction, working for Bob who's the GC. Footing pour is well underway in these shots.

Guest House Footings Being Poured

More of the Guest House Footings Being Poured

More of the Pour

And More of the Pour

Esidoro Adjusting the Bridge

We have a new "pool boy" - Cody. We enlisted (ok, press-ganged) him to clean tiles in the pool. Here he and Dianna are hard at it. I know, it's pretty rough duty. Notice the liquid refreshment...

Dianna and Cody Cleaning the Pool Tile

Still Cleaning the Pool Tile

Quackers is Keeping an Eye on Things

Cody Hard At It

We had been thinking of having a mural painted on the pool house where the waterfall comes into the pool. We met with Gale Peterson and Ali Shandiz and they suggested doing a mosaic. Here's a design they've proposed for us. It's based on a Roman spa mosaic and looks pretty cool. It will definitely be a great addition to our pool. They have a website too: (http://cpsnetworki.com) showing off their artwork and projects they have done.

Proposed Mosaic for Our Pool

Last but not least, just to show that we have done some things in the interim, I've been working some to neatify the pump house. I've added a bracket (actually a planter box support frame) to hold up the vacuum hose.

Pump House Beautification