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21 October, 2015

Wring Out That [Insert Item Here] - Part 2

I had high hopes the day before yesterday that things would be returning to normal. I was up and raring to go by 7:00 AM. My plan was to start work on the gate for the dog run that we finally decided was a project that was way past needing to be undertaken.

I was in my workshop bashing some fittings that would be needed to attach the gate to the columns. I enlisted Carlos, our caretaker, to help me. Once those fitting had been bashed enough, we needed a hammer drill to bore through the concrete of the columns. Carlos had one at his house, so we jumped into the Sport Trac and headed off to do that.

As an aside, we also had to run into town, so that I could pick up my compressor from Terrence. He'd been able to fix it. Apparently, one of the gauges rusted and froze, and another component had rusted some, but wasn't quite frozen. That's one of the problems with tools down here. If you don't use them every day, they rust, corrode, or decay in some other ways. Rubber bits decay from ozone and/or UV rays from sunlight, and probably other causes as well.

After picking up Carlos's hammer drill, and the obligatory parts for the gate and fence from Lano's, we set to work putting the gate together and getting it hung. Then we finished hanging the fence. All this was done in a drizzle, just like in the Northwest. The only difference being about forty or so warmer degrees of temperature.

An hour or so after we completed the dog pen, I got an email from Carl, letting me know he was still stranded over in Chetumal, so the afternoon was whiled away watching the weather steadily deteriorate.

Tuesday morning dawned, overcast, drizzly at times, verging on clearing up. It seemed like it might be heading toward better skies. At least, that's what we were hoping.

Around  10:00 or 10:30 AM, I got an email from Carl, he'd finally be able to cross from Chetumal to Belize, and that he and the guys were planning to come that afternoon and at least get a half-day's work in.

Of course, at 12:02 PM, just at the start of the lunch hour, the heavens opened up once again. Consequently, no workers.

Later in the afternoon, while I was napping, Carl and Omar came by to check things out. Dianna met with them. They are planning to try and get to work on Wednesday morning. Hopefully, that will happen. I just don't have a good feel for the weather right now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

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