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22 December, 2009

Back With the Living

One of the problems of being a couple, and a couple with no 'mobile worker units' or 'children', as they're commonly called, is that when you get sick, it's up to the other partner to care for the sick one. If you both are sick, it's terrible. Neither feels like doing more than sleeping. Both want to be cared for. But, guess what? Somebody's got to do it, 'cause ain't no one else gonna do it for ya.

Ah, well. We're past that stage now. I think we're well on the mend. Oh sure, we're still coughing once in a while, but overall, we're both doing much better and able to fend for ourselves without relying on the nursing skills of each other.

I even felt energetic enough yesterday afternoon to head into town and load up on some groceries and cough medications. I got one, a brand named 'Benjamin's' from Kingston, Jamaica. It was an expectorant and cough suppressant. You know it has to be good since it has the image of the 'Conquering Lion of Judah', more or less a Rastafarian symbol, plastered on the box. Well, that and the fact that it contains 96% alcohol. It helped me sleep good last night - I wonder why?

So, this morning, we even got a worker. He's busily shoveling gravel into the void behind the bulkhead.
Gravel Placed Around the Drains
Of course he's only going to be able to go so far with it. We're almost out of gravel, and the wall is not up to its final height. Emir, the foreman, said this morning that more bags were coming possibly this evening from Mexico. Somewhere around a thousand or so. That should get us just about half-way on the project, maybe a smidge further along. We'll also be getting another load of gravel as well.

This next view shows how the bulkhead is being turned around the bend. It should look quite nice when it's finished. A nice smooth curve all topped with a concrete walkway.
Going Around the Bend
This next one shows how the bank is undercut by the soft layer - which is the cause of all the problems. If we don't do something like the bulkhead, we'll continue to lose land forever. All the property owners on this side of the canal have the same problem. the water flows from west to east, toward the bay, so without some sort of retention structure, it'll be a constant headache.
Showing the Bank Undercut
Here's what happens without a bulkhead - cave-ins. This is a pretty good-sized chunk of land that just a few days ago - after our big rains, that split off from the bank. Thankfully, the water is quite low now, so if we are successful getting the additional bags, the guys should be able to make significant progress with the bulkhead, and pretty soon, these sort of occurrences on our properties should be a thing of the past.
Undercut and Cave-In
Here's a closer view of the cave-in. You can see the undercut that occurs first, with significant holes or caves being gouged - well, they're not really gouged as much as sloughed off because of water seepage through the banks.
Closeup of Elsie's Cave-In
Oh sure, we'll still have to keep an eagle eye out for something weird happening, but in general, cave-ins should be a thing of the past for our patches.

And lastly, here's the worker tasked with filling in the gravel and marl behind the bulkhead. It'll stay a one-man operation until the other bags show up, then it'll be the full crew again.. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for bags to show up, and soon.
Shoveling Marl

1 comment:

Julian in SC said...

Glad you both are returning to a more healthy state! No fun to be sick at Christmas time.

Last year when we were staying in Corozal I began to feel the start of something and my lymph nodes in my neck began to bother me. So... in your lovely country I was able to go into town and stop at one of the Pharmacies, tell them my problem and leave with 20 antibiotic pills (cost $5 USD) and they fixed me up right away. That is a nice health care system!


Merry Christmas to you and yours! We're heading to spend Christmas with friends in Blountville, TN - where it snowed 8" last Friday.. All told, I believe I'd rather be in your swimming pool!!!!