The Weekend Has Arrived

Thankfully, I have my Thunderbird Email calendar to let me know that. Otherwise, I'd be totally confused. Every day here seems like Saturday to me.

Since yesterday was, in fact, Saturday, for some reason, we had entertainment by Captain Roby and the Original Band at the waterfront park (known as Plaza del Trabajador) across (or in front of as they say here) from the Social Security office on the Northern Highway at the entrance to Corozal.

The concert started at 1:00 PM, with a steel pan band and some other musical acts and DJs handling the opening honors.

Captain Roby In Concert

A Belizean musician, native Corozaleno, Roberto Hoare, is more commonly known as Captain Roby. He is putting the finishing touches on his second album. Recorded at Ludwig Studios in Belize city, the album is due to be released in September just in time for all of the national celebrations and the Carnival Song Competition this fall. It will feature mostly soca tunes.

Soca, for those who don't know, is hot, sexy, fast, and fun to dance to, with lots of whistles, flag and arm waving. It originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the eastern Caribbean islands and is popular throughout the Caribbean.

Roby's first album, Carnival Back Inah We Belize, has been popular throughout Belize since its release.

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Next up is a short update on the antenna tower and guy wires that I've been working on. the antenna tower is for the WiFi antenna that I wanted to provide Internet capability to our guest house without having to run huge amounts of cable, etc. And, since it uses an omni-directional antenna, it has the capability of providing Internet access to some of the adjascent properties.

Guy Wires Being Strung

Here's a couple of shots of the wires, all properly tensioned. The project is finally done. Hooray!

Guy Wires, Ceramic Insulators, Turnbuckles

, and Cable Clamps Too, All Contribute

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Last night, on our back porch, we had a little visitor. This little guy (about 3" long, crouching) was found up in the rafter ledge of the back porch. Obviously hunting bugs, he looked pretty alert and wasn't concerned in the least that I was taking his photo.

Froggie Comes A-Visitin'

Unfortunately, my camera settings were a smidge off so don't expect much if you expand the photo.

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Now that it's Sunday, we're taking a well-deserved day off. We did a little laundry, Dianna swept the floors, we washed the dishes, I've updated the blog, and at 2:00 PM, the Mariners are on TV again. It'd be nice if they win, but I won't say anything. I don't want to jinx them.

Oiling the Deck and Frogs in the Gutter

Ok, I think it's "grab-bag" time again. I seem to have a collection of unrelated things to shovel out onto the ether.

First up, it's been a while now since we had our deck installed. The recommendation locally was to use "burnt" oil. That is, used motor oil. That didn't sound too good to me, what with knowing there's a strong liklihood of contamination of the oil with heavy metals and other chemical changes in the oil from the engine processes over time. So, I opted for new 30wt Texaco.

Cody got started, luckily on a day where we had no rain and made great progress. Actually, he got better than half done yesterday, finishing it this morning. It took almost a whole case of oil.

Cody Finishing the Deck

Now, I know you're probably saying in your mind, something about the runoff, pollution, etc. I thought that too. That is, until I saw how speedily the wood absorbed the oil. You could watch it soaking in. And we only put on a single light coat. I don't think there will be much chance of runoff with it being absorbed into the deck the way it has. Besides that, down here, the major concern is bugs. Bugs eating your wood, even preserved wood will eventually fall prey to the little buggers. The popular wisdom is to use oil to prevent them from attacking. It also really brought the wood to life. The grain of the wood just leaps out at you.

I did take a check on the canal this morning after a light shower. There wasn't even a sheen, so I'm confident there is no runoff.

Sometime yesterday morning, while I was taking a shower, Dianna was being courted by a rather large frog, who had climbed up the down spout for the gutter. In this picture, he's about two feet from the very top, and in fact, later moved up and into the gutter itself. After that, we sort of lost track of him.

Mr. Frog Visiting

And showing that we're moving little steps at a time, getting closer to installing the mosaic, here's Cody (he's a busy man) painting some blue trim on the pump house. He'll next finish with the terracotta color on the walls. I've had him leave the face bare, as that's where I'm going to stick the mosaic. Any painting needed after it's installed will be handled at that time. I just don't want anything to interfere with the adhesion of the mosaic to the concrete.

Blue Trim Going Up

Froggy Come A-Courtin'

Well, even with a new cold front having blown into town overnight, it was still a pool day - if you know what I mean. The pool temperature was only 89° or 90° (f), so we didn't necessarily stay in a long time, but it was warm enough that we did go in - and without dipping a toe first.

Our pool had a visitor too. As you can see from the photo below a frog decided to give the pool a try.

Froggy At Water's Edge

Here he is a little closer. He wasn't having a problem being in the pool. The chlorine and other chemicals didn't seem to bother him at at.

Froggy Digging the Pool

Hark! What is that? Did Elsie get a new boat, or...?

Elsie's New Boat?

Naw. One second glance, it's simply a fridge floating in the canal. Probably left over from when Bob got his outboard ripped off several months ago. The popular theory holds that the "tieves" floated across the canal using this fridge the better able to ply their craft for their ill-gotten gains.

Canal Fridge

Well, this is all I have time for... It's my night to prepare supper. Some gastronomic delight will be forthcoming soon.

Probably left-overs again. That's my specialty.

A Sunday Visit

Before I get started on our Sunday adventure, I have to tell you about this little guy. I went out on the front (canal-side) porch the other night 'cause the dogs were raising a ruckus. As I turned on the porch light, a slight movement caught my eye.

Porch Frog

He was such a little cutie I just had to step back in and grab my camera. I snapped a couple of shots of him and decided to move in for a good close-up. The only thing I shot then was the concrete floor of the landing - the frog jumped at me as I moved in and he landed square on the camera. Surprised the shit out of me! So, here's the shot I ended up with, before his wild jump.

So, what could be better than going for a nice, cooling Sunday drive with friends out to the country? When was the last time you did that? Well, we did it today and it was great. We went with Doug and Twyla (they drove - a bonus) out to Four-Mile Lagoon to Gail and Earl's place to take a look at their new pool and see how it's shaping up. Their contractor, John Harris, has been working on it for about three weeks now, with probably another couple of weeks to go.

It looks outstanding. It's roughly the size that Dianna and I want for our own, so it was nice to see the pool during construction. Here's some photos of the bits and bobs and of the pool itself.

Waterfall Pump and Parts

Pool Chlorinator

It looks like the pump/filter/chlorinator assembly is going to be very simple and straight forward. I like the way it looks.

Two Views of the Pump, Chlorinator, and Filter

The Other View of the Pump, Chlorinator, and Filter

Pool Light

Here's the pool itself. This is the view you have coming to the pool from the house. The tall wall is the pump house, but is also where the waterfall will be. There are to Mayan glyphs attached to the waterfall wall.

Gail and Earl's Pool View

At the other end of the pool, the end you approach from the house, there is a set of steps to get into and out of the pool. At the top of the steps will be a sunning deck, which will have about 2" of water over it, so as you sun, you can stay nice and cool and refreshed. Under the sunning deck (where Earl is standing) will be two storage compartments for pool toys and supplies.

The Pools Steps - A Grand Entrance - Left Side

The Pools Steps - A Grand Entrance - Right Side

Here's a couple of views of the pool showing a skimmer and a novel way to top-up the pool, have rain water empty from the gutters into the pool. With the extremely hard water we have here, this will be a great way to soften the pool water.

Pool Gutter Outlet

Pool Skimmer

Here's a better view of the storage compartments at the end of the pool - also with Mayan glyphs attached to the end walls.

Pool Storage Compartments

Earl in One of the Storage Compartments

At the other end, where the waterfall will be, is the pump house. It will have a window and plenty of room for the filter, pump motor, and chlorinator, plus other necessary pool chemicals, etc.

Pump House Window and Doorway

The Other Way

Inside of the Pump House Showing the Plumbing

Here's a view showing how the pool is situated against the house. As Gail and Earl come out of the master bedroom, it'll be an easy few steps and they'll be in the pool. Nice.

Broad View of the Pool and the House

As we were leaving, about halfway back up the drive, we passed Earl's artesian well. At least it is during the rainy season. It really does pump out the water. Makes a nice water feature in its own right.

Gail and Earl's Great Artesian Well

After leaving Gail and Earl's, where they were nice enough to ply us with cold Belikins and some nice dip and chips during our visit, we cruised back into town. Along the way, since it was a little past 1:30 PM, we voted to stop somewhere for lunch.

Our first choice was Patty's Bistro, but they were closed. So, we opted for Butchie's Bar and Grill, located at the Marc Anthony Hotel on the north end of Corozal. We ordered some water and Belikins, as well as cheeseburgers. Twyla went for baked chicken instead.

They were just about done when (naturally) the power went out. Butchie came out and asked us if burgers sans fries would be ok as their kitchen is all electric and the fries would not be ready. Not a problem.

We dug into some of the best burgers we've ever had here in town. They were very, very good - even without fries.

From Butchies, it was a leisurely drive back to our place, where we invited Doug and Twyla in for a couple more beers and to enjoy the view from our front (canalside) porch. What a nice way to spend a Sunday. It seems like it's been years since we've done something that relaxing and fulfilling (and filling, too!).