Sunny Saturday

Saturday, 03 December, 2016. A softly sunlit day. I guess that means, partially cloudy. Better than yesterday morning. Two of the workers showed up, hung around for a few minutes, then Dianna saw them strolling toward the gate. I hollered and asked if they were leaving. Yes, was the response. So I asked if they would lock up the gate as they left.

At the time it was drizzly and gray. Just as well, no work was going to happen yesterday. It had started Thursday afternoon. Everyone left early. There you have it in case you're tracking days by blog title.

By yesterday afternoon, of course, it was sunny. Dianna and I joked that workers would be streaming back for the afternoon. So, today's another day. and work is progressing.

Fence Walls Going Up

Work is proceeding right along today. Already two rows up on the fence. I'll bet by the end of the day, they have most of it up.

Everyone Bending to the Task

Another view of the corner work. It'll be nice to have that back looking like it should instead of something that was ready to fall into the canal.

Bani Finalizing an Outlet

Bani is uncovering an electrical outlet hole. He'll also be switching over the water, so that the pool and house will both have ¾" pipes feeding. The theory is that we'll have flow in the house even when the pool is filling. Something we haven't seen for years.

He's also going to hook up the motion detector light, speaker, and porch light. Be nice to have all that finished.

One of our 11 or 12 Motion Detectors

One of our old motion detection lights has been reinstalled just on the patio side of the house. Next to it is an electrical outlet that might come in handy for Christmas lights or something. Probably better to have too many outlets than not enough.

I just mentally counted up. We have about eleven motion detection lights around the joint. It's not that we're that paranoid (well, maybe we are), but as we built new stuff, we added one here and one there, even under the parking palapa, so there's light getting in or out of the SportTrac. Before you know it, we've got a bunch of the things all over the place.

Great Progress With the Fence

Work is moving right along with the fence. The guys are just finishing forms for the column.

New Electrical Panel Arrives

 Bani's been working on separating the electrical circuits so that the Mennonite house upstairs and the laundry room downstairs are all on one circuit and meter. The rest of the downstairs (the basement), the gate, well pump, pool and other house are all on the other circuit and meter. Progress.

The lower 16 slot panel was a story in itself. Vien, at Lano's sold me the panel and the cover. Unfortunately, it was the wrong cover.

I went back to Lano's to get the correct one. After Vien dragged out every cover they had (none were correct), the place looked like a shoe store with someone who isn't satisfied with the fit.

I went back to the house, got Bani and the panel, and headed back to Lano's to see if we could either get the correct cover or replace it (this is a Square D panel. We would be replacing it with a GE panel. Of course, the breakers used on one aren't compatible with the other. To replace it with the GE panel would mean having to purchase seven GE breakers for around ten bucks BZD each, so it was important to find a cover that fit.

After looking and trying most of the covers, Bani kept trying to tell Vien the part number of the covers they had was wrong. Finally, Vien called the downtown Lano's and they had one cover, that they would send 'right now' to the Ranchito store.

After about a half-hour, it arrived. Believe it or not, it was the correct one. We were happy. By the time we got back to Casa Winjama, it was time to knock off for the weekend. I told Bani, who had just rehung the panel, to leave it as is, and take up the work on Monday.

Fence Project Almost Finished

After the workers left, I snapped a shot showing the progress they made. It's damn near done, and really is looking good.

Mid-Week Wednesday

Here it is, the last of the 2016 hurricane season (20 November 2016), although, I wouldn't relax my guard till at least half way through December and even better through the end of December. Late breaking storms are not unheard of.

I forgot to cover some things yesterday, so before we zoom into the future, let's take a look at the immediate past.

Another Deep Dig

 I took this photo shortly before the guys knocked off for the day. The hole is getting progressively deeper. They have to remove the old footing and dig deep enough to place a bunch of rocks for the water to deep exiting without eroding everything in its path. Just like under and around the swimming pool.

Near Perfect Loaf

 I have a new bread maker, which I think I love, now that I've tried using Bebe Agua flour. Compared to the stock flour that I was using, this stuff is a dream. It not only behaved during the mixing stage, but baked up exceptionally well.

Small, fine grains in the flour turned out a very nice looking and tasting loaf of bread.

Two Thumbs Up

Here's another view of the loaf. Very nice. Using the bread machine is very hard work. Put the ingredients in in the proper order. Press a couple of buttons, and relax for two or three hours, then take the loaf out of the machine and admire your handiwork. It just don't git no better!

Got to Channel That Watah

I mentioned channeling the water. Here it is. It won't take long now to get that rocked in and begin forming up to cast the column again.






Alright. That took care of my forgetfulness from yesterday. On with today's activities.

More Pipes

This is that little step area on the south side of the patio to the right of the gate. It soon will be a small ramp so Dianna can get up to her fairy garden-to-be area. The long PVC pipe you see will become a floor drain for the hose and will empty out right beside the gate. The other big PVC pipe you see bending away, is one of the drain field pipes for the septic system under the utility room.

White Paint Makes A Difference

The pump house is becoming very bright. White paint makes all the difference. You can actually see everything in there.

So Clean Looking

Here's looking the other direction in the pump house. Clean and professional.

Water Level Is the Water Level

fill for the hole has already been underway. The far end is ready to begin concreting. The water you see in the hole is at the same level as the canal beyond. A few more rocks and it too will be ready for concrete.

Endher Troweling the Mud

Endher troweling concrete to form the garden ramp. It leads to and from the patio.

Better View of Him Working

This is a little better view. The part to the right will remain undone until Bani hooks up the water supply to the house. Then it can be finished along with the small drain for the hose hanger.

I Forgot, Pipes Haven't Been Glued Yet

Just a couple of shots to remind myself that there needs to be another valve or two placed on either side of the pump. Otherwise if you open the union, the pool will attempt to drain and pour huge amounts of water inside in a hurry.

Good View of the Filter Piping

Conversely, if you loosen the filter side of the pump fittings, the system will try to empty the filter the same way. With valves in place, the pump can be removed for maintenance with little worry about flooding.

Pouring the Ramp

Adding a bit more concrete to the pour. Dianna is most appreciative of them putting in this ramp. Otherwise, that area would have been unusable for her.

Bucket of Tablets and Bags of Sand

New supplies for the pool. Yesterday, I got a new big bucket of chlorine tablets for the chlorine tower in the pump house and for our floatie in the pool itself.

This morning, I had to take Noel to Dr. Charles (very nice man. I enjoyed talking with him), for some more flea meds. unfortunately what he had had dried up. He recommended I go to Prossers and get a spray bottle of flea killer.

Since I had to go there anyway, that's what Noel and I did. I got the spray, and picked up six bags of filter sand for the pool.

Colored, Stained, and Stamped

 Progress on the ramp. It's been colored, with the base color and the highlight, the purple highlight gives a burnished gold look, and stamped. Very nice.

Almost Done With Column Footing

Pouring more concrete into the hole for the column footing. They will probably form the column tomorrow.

Rene Working On the Footing

Rene is stuffing a few more rocks into the crannies of the hole.

Dock Hole Patched and Done

The hole in the dock has been filled with rock and capped with concrete. The rebar framework is for the column footing.

Little Bit of Tuesday

It's Tuesday, 29 November, 2016.

Great Big Hole In the Fence

Wouldn't you know it. They've knocked a great big hole in our fence. Actually, it sort of looks like a painting in a way. They have to tear it down to the footings and then some, in order to repair and build it back up.

Footing Offers Resistance

Endher and Danny busy breaking up the concrete footing. Tough stuff and seems to be a lot of it. Surprised the fence failed there. Well, no, I'm not. Considering all the damage we had with the pool.

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Here's the metalwork from the fence that was taken out till the concrete work gets redone. This was originally made (as were all the fence pieces) by our Godson, Isiael Pech, over in Guinea Grass.

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The painter was here today. He even got a start on painting the inside of the pump house. That will really brighten up the interior.

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Rene is working on replacing an awkward curb and stair arrangement that had no reason other than it grew because of several other projects, into what it was. Soon to be replaced with a small ramp so Dianna can go up that way as well.

Whatzit Has A Name

I had a devil of a time getting pictures and a description of this little critter to post to the Creatures of Belize Facebook page. Finally managed it around 2:15 PM or so this afternoon.

Papi Thomas wins the prize for the quickest response in answering my query, as well as being pretty much right - a Moray and mentioning that there are over 700 species of eel.

Next was Bob Lazell. He nailed it when he said it was one of the 'swamp eels.' Bob and I go back about 40-some years, huddled around the radar scopes and Dead Reckoning Tracer in the USCGC Boutwell's Combat Information Center (CIC). We'd 'lost contact' with each other until just recently, thanks to Facebook. The 'lost contact' is kind of an inside joke as we were Radarmen (now called Operations Specialists). Leave it to Bob to know about my swamp eel. He should. His wife has a PhD in Marine Biology.

Russell Gray wins the accuracy in reporting prize by providing the nomenclature and link. It's name is Ophisternon aenigmaticum, much classier than Whatzit. The common name is: Obscure Swamp Eel. Here's the link: (http://www.fishbase.org/summary/27762). He's what you call an expert.

Regina Allen was next with her suggestion of a salamander. Probably pretty close. I think there are some legless salamanders out and about. I don't know if there are any in Belize.

Ed Lamar came next. He commented about us having weird critters down here. Ed's up in Washington State, where Dianna and I came from. Ed and I worked together at the Washington Emergency Management Division for many years. He was one of our Emergency Operations Officers, helping to run the State Alert and Warning Center at the Washington State Emergency Operations Center (EOC). There's a link to the Division on the right side of this page, if you're curious.

Kristina Nadreau suggested another critter expert in Punta Gorda. I never could make contact with him however.

Gillian Kirkwood via Zoe Walker suggested that Paul Walker might know. Is there a relationship there? I never contacted Paul either. Sounds like Zoe might be an expert too. She agreed with Russell's comment. I know Gillian because when Dianna broke her hip, Gillian and her husband Gordon, most generously allowed me to share their home in Belize City for the ten days that Dianna was at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. I don't think you'd find two people more dedicated to animal rights and helping rescue animals (and the occasional stray student) throughout Belize. It was a pleasure to have stayed with Gillian and Gordon, the most wonderful and caring people you'd ever want to meet.

Last of the list was Colleen Steege, our soon to be almost neighbor, across the highway a bit, in Ranchito, the neighboring village to Corozal. She wanted details, and right now! Colleen was over here doing some bead crafting with Dianna (they were drinking wine too). She helped me finally get the photos and my description posted to the Creatures of Belize Facebook page. I owe you, Colleen.

Thanks everyone for your efforts. I appreciate each of you providing input. Your prizes are in the mail.
                                                                                            

Making Up For Lost Time

After having had a fairly dry and uneventful (knock on wood) rainy/hurricane season, now that we're less than a week from the end of the season, Mother Nature seems bent on ensuring we get our full alotment of the wet stuff.

National Meteorological and Hydrological Service of Belize

General Situation: A moist and unstable airflow will continue to dominate our weather for the next few days.
24hr Forecast: Cloudy skies today with a few sunny breaks.
Tonight skies will be mostly cloudy. Off and on showers and possible isolated thunderstorms will continue to affect most areas.
Winds: Easterly at 5-15 knots becoming gusty near heavy showers and thunderstorms.
Sea State: Choppy... Becoming locally rough at times.
    *Operators of small craft should continue to exercise caution*
Outlook: For Wednesday morning thru to Thursday morning is for a similar weather pattern to prevail.

It looks like this weather pattern is going to continue for at least the next few days. Hopefully, the timing will work out so that the girls can get some exercise in at least every couple of days. To say that Cindy and Secret are unhappy is putting it mildly. On the one hand, they're upset that it's raining hard at the same time we are scheduled to go for 'walkies' for two days in a row, and on the other, they're upset with the pack leader (me) for being such a wuss in not wanting to get wet.

Cindy & Secret Making Their Own Fun

Especially now that they're trapped in the confines of the yard thanks to Isaiel's fence installation. They just can't run out of the yard whenever they feel like it to harass armadillos, gibnuts, and bicyclists passing by.

Speaking of the fence, here's a few shots of Isaiel's handiwork. It's almost done. Just a few sections remain in need of painting. Isaiel's hoping to be able to get that done today.

Isaiel Inspecting the New Fence Bits

Fence View Looking South

Looking East

We're also beginning to move forward in a more coordinated fashion with the canal. The South End Canal Association, at this time a loose coalition of property owners whose property is immediately adjacent to the canal, has a Steering Committee. The Committee's purpose is to guide the progress of rehabbing the canal and to recommend and guide maintenance and future improvements to the canal.

After the last Steering Committee meeting at Doug's place, we all traipsed out to Doug's bulkhead and boat slip area to see how he did things.

Bob C.'s Boat Moored at Doug's

The Slip Toward Doug's House

Doug's place is a great example of how a bulkhead can be done economically and provide great protection against further erosion, and if the owner wants, suitable moorage for a boat.

Rocks & Concrete, Rocks and Concrete

Doug's Bulkhead

The process is simple. sharpened Pimenta sticks or poles (a local wood & I'm not sure if that's the right name or spelling) are driven into the bottom and plywood sheathing is added. Then local rocks are added, alternating layers of a dry-mix concrete (hydraulic concrete would be great... if it was available) up to the desired level. Then, if desired, like with Doug's boat slip area, a smooth concrete walkway is poured to cap the whole affair.

Here's How It Looks From Doug's Patio

Bob M. Inspecting the Moorage

Dianna and I will have to be doing something similar to what Doug has done with the bulkhead - and fairly soon too. We have some serious bank erosion underway. If we don't address it, we stand a good chance of damaging our newly completed fence. Well, it just goes to show you, if it ain't one thing, it's another. Hopefully, we'll be able to complete the guest house before we have to tackle the bulkhead. Stay tuned for further developments.

As an example of the kind of thing that occurs, since our properties all over northern Belize lie on a limestone base, similar to Florida, cave-ins, etc., are pretty common. This shot is of Elsie's side of the boat slip area, and shows a small cave developing. This sort of things can lead to the edge soils collapsing into the canal. Hopefully, with proper maintenance over the long haul, a well-constructed bulkhead will solve this sort of problem.

Elsie's Boat Slip Area

Our problem area that I already mentioned is worse. it is already collapsing into the canal. So we have to do something soon to take care of the problem. Like I said, stay tuned.

Let's see, what else has been going on? Internet connectivity issues. Since we live out beyond the reaches of civilization - that is, beyond where the two cable companies in town reach to, if we want to connect to the 'Intertubes', we have to resort to satellite, or at least really strong string and rust-free tin cans.

Well, if it was just for our house, that really isn't much of a problem. I set up a wireless network that broadcasts throughout the house, so we can sit in the living room and surf the 'tubes' while we watch TV (also on satellite - another dish is required). But, once we started building the guest house, we realized that anyone who was going to stay there would probably want to connect to the Intertubes as well.

Unfortunately, it's not quite as simple as running a piece of wire down there and plugging the visitor's laptop in. I figured the best solution was to do it wirelessly as well. So we did. With some great help from a friend we met through this blog, Bob from New York City, we managed to get that part of the 'Winjama Network' up and running. We have a good strong signal to the guest house.

Not only that, but the signal is strong enough to reach across the canal. It just so happens that Canadian Bob's place is across the canal and up a ways, and he has an unrestricted line-of-sight view to our antenna tower.

Bob Doing Technical Stuff

Dave Trying to Get Bob Connected

Dave and Bob came over the other day trying to get Bob's laptop connected to our wireless network. Unfortunately, it was to no avail. For whatever reason, the electronic gremlins would not allow a connection that day.

However, a couple of days ago, I went over to Bob's and tried to connect him. Again, no go. So, on a whim, I brought his laptop back over here and hooked it up physically to my router. Bingo. It worked. So, then I disconnected from that and tried again from the guest house. Success. I took the laptop back to Bob's. Still good.

Why we were able to connect now, I guess the stars and the moon were in proper alignment or something. Anyway, Bob is now happily surfing the 'Tubes'.

Finally, for this edition, we missed probably the entertainment event of the year - the Moscow Circus, which had been in Belize City for eight days, came to Corozal.

Moscow Circus Came to Town

We didn't go, having spaced on it. In any case, it was expensive - especially for local folks - $20.00 BZD per adult for general admission. We heard that for special seating, the fare went upwards of $40.00 BZD. For a family, the cost could well become prohibitive. I guess, probably no more so than taking the family to a Mariner's game at the Safe in Seattle.

Anyway, we did get to see them departing town. We were walking the doggies, as we do early in the morning. As we came past the Catholic church at about 6:10 AM, here went their gaily painted semis right in front of us. I just barely was able to grab the camera and take a shot.

Moscow Circus On the Road Again

Lastly, thanks for the emails and Facebook messages wanting to know if everything was alright, that it had been days since I made a posting. I'm ok. There was no problem other than a case of laziness on my part. I could blame it on writer's block... yeah, that's it - writer's block. That's what it was.

Dare I Say, Construction Starts Again?

Wow! It's been a good seven or eight months since we last had any construction going on here. Not that I minded the quiet, but I sure would like to get all this done.

Anyway, it's a start. We had our Godson, Isaiel, who built and installed most of the other metal pieces around the place get back to work finishing the back (canal-side) fence. He did the front fence so this was perfect.

Isaiel Readying Fence Pieces

Isaiel and Ramilo Unloading the Pieces

They unloaded them yesterday afternoon. Today is spent painting one side of the pieces and boring holes in the concrete for studs to mount the metal pieces, which will happen tomorrow.

Ramilio Carrying A Piece

Moving a Large One  

It feels good to finally have some forward momentum. Let's hope it continues through to completion.

Ramilio Positioning Pieces

Isaiel Painting Pieces

Isaiel PaintingAnother Piece

A little Rustoleum goes a long way to improving the looks of the pieces. Tomorrow, they'll be installing the pieces. Of course then, the doggies will stop talking to us for a while, once they realize their free and easy access out of the yard is history. They'll have forgotten all about it by suppertime.

Of course, while all the exotic construction is going on, the regular maintenance and upkeep must also move forward. Cody, our caretaker, is conveniently working near Isaiel and Ramilio.

Conversation has been going non-stop. That's all right. The work is getting done. Besides, it's not often on the job that Cody has company to chat with. He works alone a lot of the time, and he's a good steady, honest worker, so I won't begrudge him some company now.