Just When You Think It's Smooth Sailing

Well, here it is, the morning after Turkey Day. I'm sitting in the living room. Dianna, out on the porch, calls me, saying Bob C. is across the canal hollering for me, something about the canal.

So I put my Crocs on and hobble on down the stairs (I bunged-up my knee yesterday morning walking the dogs. Right across from Caribbean Village, I slipped in the muck and fell pretty hard. The dogs were thankful I didn't use them as landing pads. Anyway, my knee is scratched and scabbed, sore and stiff today. But that's not the topic at hand, is it?

What Bob wanted was to tell me I had a river coming out of our bank and making a cute little waterfall into the canal. He was right. Looking down, I could see it bubbling away. I could also see some large cracks in the bank, in fact, along the whole left canal bank on our property, it looks as though a cave-in is imminent.

Taking Bob's advice, I jumped into the Isuzu and headed over across the canal to see it from his perspective. Wow!

Our Endangered Canal Bank

Our Endangered Canal Bank

And here's the waterfall - almost right in the middle of the span.

The Waterfall, Bubbling Happily Away

Here's a bit of a close-up of the waterfall.

Almost Dead-Center

My posting the other day regarding the need for remediation and restoration in the canal before we have problems? Guess what? We got's problems! I was hoping to defer putting in a bulkhead till after the guesthouse was completed... That ain't gonna happen now. This definitely takes priority.

I've got an engineer coming over to take a look at it sometime this afternoon, and what Bob and I talked about doing (I'll see if the engineer agrees) is waiting for four or five days, checking each day to see if the waterfall volume is decreasing, as long as we're (hopefully) done with the rain for now. Then, when it stops (hope, hope) we'll begin putting in the bulkhead with lots of 4" drain-pipes to allow the water to disperse, avoiding a pressure buildup, and at the same time protecting the dirt from needless further caving.

Well, there you have it. I'll let you know what I find out and what the plan of action will be just as soon as I know what it is, well, maybe a few minutes later.

You know, I always say, "If it was easy, it wouldn't be any fun." I could do with a tad less fun for a while.

Thursday Was A Good Day... Friday Was Too

Hoo boy. Busy, busy, busy!

Here's some shots of the progress on the pool deck. John and the crew he supervises go like a house-afire!.

Mariano and Emir Applying Smooth Plaster Coat to Wall

Emir Applying Plastering the Wall

Manuel Keeps the Mortar Hawks Full

Here you can see the first real load of the treated pine for the deck framing and surface. Agusto is unloading it.

Agusto Beginning Unload of Framing and Deck Lumber

Unload Lumber

Mariano Carrying two heavy 1x4s

Here's Mauel and Mariano stacking the lumber next to the work area.

Manuel Hard At It

Mariano Doing the Same

Framing for the deck is beginning to go up.

John Checking Spacing

John and Mariano Supervising Agusto

Here's Mariano laying out an angle to take into account the complex shape of the spa.

Mariano Wood Working

The decking moves right along. As you can see, it's about 1/3 done.

Agusto Working Half in the Spa

One-Third of Framing Done

Here's another view of the completed deck framing.

Deck Framing Another View

Here's the backside of the pool, all finished smoothly.

Emir Finishing the Backside of the Deck Wall

Cody had a different problem to deal with. He ran into a small cave almost right under the wall at the back of the property by the canal. This is where he's installing the 3" drain from the pool overflow, back-flushing, and a floor drain in the yard.

Cody Hard At It

Today, Friday, I was out of town. Doug and I went into Belize City to visit Brodie's, Bennie's, and Court's. We were looking for household items, some electrical fittings (no white rheostats - only almond), and some tool pieces (a keyless drill chuck for Craig), plus whatever happened to catch our eye. I found a bottle Traveler's Five Barrel Rum. Hope it's good!

When we got back, a huge amount of progress had been made on the deck. It's completely framed out and they've actually started laying and screwing the decking. Woo hoo! Does it ever look good. They even added in a deck hatch so I'll be able to get underneath to install the sewer pipe, etc., for the guest house.

Big Ups From the Massif on the Deck Progress