TGIF

The best minds in the business were nearly stumped. But, in true "best minds" fashion, they came through in the end. Dianna had asked for an arch to be constructed with straight sides and a nice oval top - sort of like an upside-down "U".

The problem is, getting rebar and PVC pipe to cooperate for that shape was harder than it looked. Cody and Francisco finally had to compromise on a semi-shaped arch. Here they're working on achieving that shape.

Putting Finishing Touches to Basic Arch Shapes

Entry Way For the Front Garden

Once the two basic shapes had been achieved, we needed a way to join the two together. Cody thought the metal wire fabric left over from casting the basement floor would fill the bill.

Cody Cutting the Wire Fabric

Romero is one of Abraham's friends and one of the more highly paid craftsmen around. He's very good and very fast applying stucco (or plastering) to walls. Below on the left everyone is watching him plaster a small wall section to see if he can get the "rough" technique down that Dianna wants.

Watching Romero At Work

Romero and George his Helper

Here's a shot that has gone a long ways to putting my mind to rest regarding the fragility of the sewer pipe. I don't think we'll have problems with it now.

Sewer Pipe Embedded in the Wall

Part of any work project requires taking a break now and then. I managed to capture Dianna, Cindy and the kitties relaxing.

Dianna and Cindy During A Break

Blue and Midas Enjoying the Tile's Coolness

Now to the cool bit. Romero, once he got the knack of the technique of applying "rough" plaster to the walls, went like a house afire. Here's a few shots of his progress.

Romero Doing some initial touchup Plastering

Romero Applying Plaster

Turning and Burning on the Streetside

Now, That's What I'm Talking About

Even His Assistant Has a Hard Time Keeping Up With His Work

All Done

Even though we borrowed the "machine" from Jim, for most work, the guys felt that mixing mortar or concrete was simply faster with the old-fashioned manual way. For one thing, they could mix much larger quantities than the machine could handle. Like up to 2 bags at a time vs. 1/2 a bag max for the machine.

Mixing Mortar Under Cover

Meanwhile, Cody has started running a trench so we can extend the water main and current down to the end of the drain field. From there, we'll be able to run a stub over to the parking palapa so we'll have a water spigot and lights in the palapa.

Cody and Abraham Taking a Bit of a Break

Oh, I didn't mention the palapa? Well, we're getting one installed that will be about 15' x 30'. Enough to hold three vehicles. Abraham says, the "bay leaf" for the thatch has mostly been cut, and that they will probably deliver it with a large truck this Sunday. They will most likely bring the timbers for it some time early next week. Something to look forward to in the construction process.

April 1 - Tax Day and Other Stuff

Not sure, but I may need to get a second job... Oh, wait. I don't have a first job. Hmmmm.

Yesterday, I paid our annual property tax to the Revenue Collector at Corozal Town Hall. The staggering amount of $140 BZ. ISYN (Navy-speak for "the gospel truth", litterally, "I shit you not"), a hundred forty bucks (or $70 US for those math challenged among us).

What makes this interesting is, sometime ago, when we were still staying at Jim and Melanie's, I was watching TV - some New York station. The talking heads doing the news announced a new program to help retirees to pay a portion of their property taxes. They could work part time to help reduce by "several hundred dollars" the expected average property tax of, get this... $12,000 US. OMG!

What kind of retirement is that? Come out of retirement and get at least a part-time job, just to pay down a piddling portion of your annual property tax.

I actually should have paid it on April 1st, but after coming into Town Hall twice that day, was unable to because March 31 is the end of the fiscal year here, and they were going over the books and were unable to take my money. So, I paid it yesterday.

Enough about taxes (with April 15th coming too!). I used a free online tax program from Turbotax. Hopefully, we'll be seeing our refund in the bank soon.

So, onto the project at hand. Yesterday, Francisco and I went to Contour Cement Products to pick up our decorative blocks. We laid them out in the sun to continue drying. They kind of have a Mediterranean look to them. I think they'll really cool in place.

Decorative Blocks In The Sun

Things are moving along with the plastering. Here the doorways are being plastered so we can be ready to install the wood doors (and get Isaiel working on the metal burglar bar doors too).

Plastering the Door Jambs

One of Abraham's brothers (left) who's a major in the Belize Defense Forces (BDF), and is on leave is helping Abraham with this project. Here, he and a helper are sifting sand in order to remove the debris and wrong-sized stuff from it so it will be good to use for plastering. It's amazing how much crud and corruption is hidden in the sand till you see sifting in action.

Sifting the Sand

Dianna is continuing with her projects. She was waylaid for about a week-and-a-half with sciatica. A trip finally to Helen and Warren at their massage center in San Joaquin Village (about 3 - 4 miles west of here), has helped her to be able to function again. Helen and Warren are Chinese from Taiwan and are certified massage therapists, specializing in accu-pressure therapy. They're very good. We just keep discovering new and varied practitioners down here. From sports massage therapy, Chinese massage, Mayan mysticism with Abel (worth the experience), to Chiropractors, etc., we seem to have almost all the bases covered.

So, her project... I got side-tracked again. She wants to have an arch installed. So, she has Cody working to engineer the thing, with plenty of help from everyone else.

Cody Driving Rebar For The Arch

Now that plastering is underway, it too uses a goodly amount of cement. Here's the warehouse for it - our generator room.

Cement Waiting to be Used

Part of the plastering process involves cleaning up the window areas and the doorway areas with mortar. Here Francisco and his brother are attaching 1x4 lumber to do just that.

Door and Window Forms

This afternoon, I'm going up to see Mr. Magaña, (notice the "ñ"? I just cut and pasted it from another web page instead of looking up and changing the html source code of this page) a noted local cabinet maker, about making a desk, file cabinet, storage, closet, linen closet thing for us in the office/spare bedroom. Here's the diagram:

Office Wall Project

At least, this is what we think we want - unless the price comes in big enough to choke a horse. I'll let you know.