Monday and Tuesday

This covers Monday, 05 December, and Tuesday, 06 December, 2016.

We have now officially got two separate metered circuits here at Casa Winjama. One is for the Mennonite house upstairs and the downstairs laundry room. All the rest of the downstairs, gate, well house, and everything else, is on the other circuit. We're inching forward one step at a time.

One of the benefits of becoming an old fart here in Belize, is that once you become 65 and get a Golden Citizen Social Security card, there's actually two things that can happen.

One, you're able to get on the list for a ten-percent reduction in your electric bill for a year. It's a lottery thing and there's only so many slots per year for that. We're on the list for next year. I'm hoping our chances to win that are zero. I'm sure there's many more deserving people who could really benefit from a reduction in their electric bills.

Two, if you want to get a second electric meter for whatever reason, then thanks to the Golden Citizen card, there is no fee for the new meter. We definitely took advantage of that.

Back Corner Fence Repair

The back fence rebuild is almost done. It's really looking good.

Almost All Done

The steel is back in place, the mound of dirt has been smoothed out and several plants that I thought had bought the farm, look like they're thriving. Good for them.

Looks Good From the Dock

From the outside on the dock, the rebuild looks very good.

Flawless, Complete With Autograph

The rather large hole that had been cut in the dock to ensure drainage all the way to the canal has been almost seamlessly patched. You'll notice that somehow, unbeknownst to me, some doggy managed to autograph the patch. I have no idea how that happened. Dianna wondered if a dog that she saw back there one day, had been the guilty party. That might be right.

The Other Corner Got Done Too

The other corner of the back fence, although I hadn't asked them to fix that (cost savings, you know), was more than adequately repaired the the guys. They had some left over concrete and went ahead and did it. So the whole back dockside looks good. All that has to happen now, is to bring Cody, our retired caretaker back on for a couple of days to paint the fence, then all will be ship-shape.

Panels Galore

Getting the circuits separated required another 16-breaker panel. So, that is what we have now. The upper and lower panels in the middle, are, as you might expect, upstairs circuit and downstairs circuit.  The box to the right is the generator transfer switch which for right now only takes care of the Mennonite house. The small box to the left is the whole house surge suppressor that takes care of both upstairs and downstairs. We also have a second whole house surge suppressor in the pool house utility room

Upstairs Panel

The upstairs panel. The chart to the left needs to be redone. It's a guide for activating the generator and the order to turn on breakers when on generator power.

Downstairs Panel

Here's the downstairs breaker box. Rather simple. I still need to get with Bani and have him go over all the breakers with me so I can create updated charts for both boxes.

Concreting By the Hose

Endher created a small ramp for Dianna around back coming from the patio to the door that goes into the veranda.

Looking Down From the Deck

The guys also concreted the area right around the hose faucet to minimize chances of mud. The pipe sticking up will be a small floor drain once it's trimmed down.

The West Ramp

At the other end of the deck, Endher created another small ramp so that Dianna has a smooth transition to the parking area. Both this ramp and the one above have been colored and stamped. Nice work.

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.