What I Haven't Mentioned - Follow Up

Yesterday, I was all concerned about my desktop PC and the gate motor. Well, I still am, but there's been a great deal of forward motion. I'm not going to say progress, as I don't know yet, what all the results will be.

Suffice to say, that the gate wiring is repaired and is functional. The gate motor came through in good fashion, but the component card that controls the gate functions, didn't. Roger Chang had to replace that. The old one still had dead ants frozen or fried in place on the card. No doubt having caused shorts with their dying breath.

The gate now works better than ever. Well, at least over a longer range, than ever before.

There is one change however. With the old card, we could use a hard-wired button to open, close, and stop the gate. With the new card, we don't have that capability. We do have vastly increased range, and Roger gave me a new remote, that can open and close the gate from the pool house. We'll just keep that hanging in the house in place of the buttons.

What I Haven't Mentioned

What I haven't mentioned, is that a couple of things have happened while all this rain and flooding has been going on.

One, my desktop PC has totally crapped out. I can't get it to boot up at all. When I press the ON/OFF button, I hear the DVD player cycle, and a couple of fans start up, but nothing else happens.

The other thing that has happened is the gate motor has quit working. That, and the gate lights as well.

Yesterday, I took the PC in to Fred at Corozal Virtual Office, for him to take a look at it and see if he can find out what's wrong.

Then, I called Arturo Rancheron, the electrician, to see if he can get the gate motor working again.

He and his wife (who's an able assistant) came and began troubleshooting the gate area. What they found was a lot of the wiring was, in places, stripped of insulation, so it was shorting out.

Broken Pot Metal Waterproof Housing

Arturo blamed geckos for eating the insulation. I'm more inclined to believe ants are the culprits. Especially since each receptacle box they opened was stuffed to the gills with dead ants and debris from their nesting.

Receptacle Clogged With Dead Ants and Debris

Luckily, using my fish-tape, Arturo was able to run all new wiring to the gate motor at least. He tested the link with his meter, so we know juice is at the motor. Unfortunately, the motor isn't responding. I'm going to have to call Roger Chang at Capital Metal for his repair guy to come look at the motor. Dang it. And the gate lights still don't work. That means, all the rest of the wiring for each of the lights will have to be replaced as well. What a pain. Well, as they say, or at least as I say, often enough, "If it was easy, it wouldn't be any fun."

Arturo Cleaning Dead Ants Out of Receptacle

 Lots and lots of dead ants and stripped wiring, in some cases several inches at a time, so it's just bare copper wire touching each other and causing shorts.

Even More in the Cavity Behind

The ants are doing a couple of things. One, they're looking for high ground to avoid the flood water that is accumulating everywhere; and Two, they're probably fire ants or a close cousin and as such, they're attracted to electrical fields. They cause outages and shorts and get themselves electrocuted by the thousands.

Our front gate area as been a constant attractant for ants. Must be some juicy electrical fields right around here.

Yesterday evening, I called Fred for his assessment of the PC. Not good. He apparently got it to begin to come up, but that's about it. He said the disk is telling him it's locked. He can't get it to a state where he can enter my password. Not good news. He was going to try later in the evening again, but it's looking like I may be starting from scratch - new PC, and no recoverable data. Oof course, I didn't have a viable backup plan in place. Foolish me. Well, more on that later.

So, that's all I know for now. I'll let you know more as I know more.

Sunday - Almost A Day of Rest

Some of this actually occurred yesterday. Like the lights for the palapa and the switch and receptacle boxes out there as well.

Lights in the Palapa

Switch and Outlets

Wiring took a good half-day yesterday. Ozman really earned his keep with this project.

Finishing Wire Run Into Utility Room

Yesterday was also a great day for painting and other finish work.

George and Francisco Painting

Dianna Touching Up

Part of the wiring project was to get the gate motor hooked up. That's done too.

Waiting to be Hooked Up

Ozman wiring the Motor

Yesterday evening Rosie, Monique, Betsy and Michelle all came over for a visit. They had fun looking at everything and trying out Dianna's bike as well as my camera.

Rosie - Taken by Michelle

The Three Girls

Clowning for the camera - what fun!

Michelle, Monique, and Betsy

Betsy and Monique

The Three Girls Heading Home

Michelle Snapped a Surprise One of Me

We had dinner last night at the Cactus Plaza. About fourteen of us. We got together to meet and greet some new arrivals here in Corozal. Kevin and Karin. I'm not sure if they're just looking or buying or what. Anyway it was a fun evening.

While we were at Cactus, I made arrangements with Robert to stop by this morning to see the pour of their pool.

This morning, Isaiel showed up with the front fence bits. I had to make a run into town to Lano's hardware (It just wouldn't be a complete day without at least one hardware store run!) to get a nut for his grinder. So, on the way back I stopped over at Roberts and took a few shots of the pour of his pool.

EDITORIAL FOLLOWS...

Actually, on the way back, I drove down the road by Tony's Inn, which has become a real obstacle course now. Herman the German, owner of Paradise Villa's, across from Tony's and Corozal Bay Inn, ran a petition some time back to get more speed bumps installed. So, the Town, in their infinite wisdom or stupidity, installed three speed bumps - in addition to the one that was already in place. Now, there's even one more, making five in the space of about 300 yards or less. If that isn't the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life. I hope those responsible enjoy the f**k out of those f**king speed bumps!

END OF EDITORIAL

So, as I said, on the way back I stopped over at Roberts and took a few shots of the pour of his pool. It's actually pretty cool. I think I'm going to use the forms when we do our pool. I had been thinking of using 8x8x16 blocks instead, but seeing this pretty well changed my mind.

Robert and Lynn's Almond Tree Inn Pool Pour

Showing Some of the Framing

Rebar on the Curve

Inside the Hole

Length-wise View

While at their place, Robert introduced me to the newest member of their family - Polly. She's a lovable, local parrot. She talks a lot, whistles and sings, and calls Radar, one of their cats, by his name. She can even imitate his meow.

Polly Want a Cracker?

Sharing a Treat

Here's our fence bits in the process of going up. Isaiel's also going to get the gate motor hooked up to the gate. Now, we have to get our "doorbell" or gate-bell working again.

Fence Bits All Around

And More Fence Bits

Working In The Shade

First One Up

Taking a Break From Drilling

Carrying Out the Last Piece

Looking Like a Real Fence Now

It's The Weekend

Well, it actually started Friday. Isidoro and his crew were not here, as my original fence project had just been finished.

That left Franz and his crew. A few of them worked Friday afternoon, getting the utility room walls up and ready for the final column pours to complete the room corners.

Oh, I should mention that Eugene, who has been working with Isidoro on this project, was still about, working as my watchman, at nights and during the day when none of the other workers are there. Which was the case all day today, Saturday, and will be the case for Sunday as well.

That's ok, as progress has been very good on pouring columns and getting the utility room walls up. We just hope they get at least the bathroom and a bedroom usable on the new house so we can move in and not have to move into another rental for 2-weeks or a month.

So, with it being the weekend and all, here's a few photos to bring you up to speed on whats' going on. The first, is a shot I took from across the canal of our house. This shot makes it look like our house is out in the wilds of the jungle. Kinda cool.

Jungle Livin' At Its Finest

These next shots show some of the progress on getting the foundation together.

This first one shows a good-sized pile of blocks, which, by the way, have already been mortared into position.

But, it shows the view of the well house. BTW, the town garbage collectors finally came on Friday (was supposed to have been Thursday, but you can't be too particular about some things. It also shows that things have dried out enough that I can comfortably ride my scooter again.

Things Have Dried Enough To Ride the Scooter Again

Let's see, what else?... Oh, yes. You'll love this. I've gone up to BEL (Belize Electricity, Ltd.) to see about getting a street light installed. It seems that here, that's a political decision that must be made by the proper government minister. BEL told me that I needed to see Minister Vildo Marin at the Peoples United Party (PUP) office on College Street. I went there only to find a huge crowd of folks in the waiting room. I left and took care of some other business for a couple of hours, then returned. The crowd had gone down slightly. I waited politely and patiently (well, for a Gringo, anyway), until I caught the eye of one of the staff folks. I explained what I wanted. They told me to come back at 4:30PM, and I could meet with the minister.

I came back at the appointed time and let the staffer know I had returned. He informed me this was the wrong place, that I needed to see Minister Florencio Marin (no idea if they're related) who works at the Lands Department building down on the waterfront.

I jumped on my scooter and went down there. The receptionist/cashier told me he would be in at 7:30AM Thursday morning, so I left for the day.

Thursday morning at 7:15AM, I was there and was joined by 15 or so other local folk waiting to see him or conduct other Lands Department business. Two hours later... That's with a "2", I finally got to talk to his secretary, who was in a back office doing a cross-word puzzle.

"Oh, he isn't in today, and probably won't be in till late next week". Biting my tongue, I asked for her phone number so I could call before coming down and spinning my wheels again.

Any way, back at the work site, my crew told me Florencio is the wrong minister - he takes care of Ranchito, you now live in Corozal and that's handled by Vildo. So, Monday, it's back to Vildo's office and explain to the staff again that I live in Corozal, not Ranchito.

All the minister does, apparently, is say yes, you can fill out an application. His staff is supposed to have that form. Once he signs it, it's sent to BEL, which instructs them to install the street light. The electric bill for it is paid by government, but the cost of the light itself may or may not be directed to me.

Anyway, that's the theory of getting a street light so far. Subject to Change.

These two shots show Franz'es crew prepping the foundation for the utility room. Which is up and the walls almost finished. I'll try to get some newer photos to show you. The problem has been that lately, the Internet connection has been so spotty, that it's almost impossible to get this done with any reasonable speed.

Prepping the Foundation

Looks Like a Jumble

These shots show the walls beginning to go up. The first course of blocks are in place and they're tamping fill in to build up the floor to pour the floor and move the walls on up.

That Tamper Is Good Exercise!

Forty Pounds, Up and Down

I've taken a design for the front gate and the back (canalside) fence down to Vasco Doors and Windows. I should get an estimate from them on Monday. They're the same guys that built my well house door and trash door.

Checking around for who sells the controls for electric gates, I was eventually directed to Capital Metals, up on the highway to Chetumal. Sure enough, they do. Complete with two remote controls for the vehicles. The price is reasonable too (about $1,400B Z, complete)

I need to check back with them as to who they recommend to actually install the gate motor, etc.

Gate Motor, Bits and Bobs

Somewhere along the line, about Friday of last week, my right arm puffed up and the skin was tight as a drum. I don't know what bit or stung me. I never felt anything at all. But the way it was going, I could see my arm skin splitting wide open.

Naturally, I made this decision after everything had closed in town. So Dianna and I hot-footed it up to the Corozal Hospital on Santa Rita Hill (by Bowen and Bowen, the beer distributor).

Finding the hospital was a bit tricky. No street signs, that we saw. Finally asked a couple walking along where it was. They pointed us in the right direction.

Once we got to the hospital, just finding the right door to go in was a challenge, as it was once we got inside the place. Eventually, I found a nurse, who looked at my are and promptly wrote out a prescription and directed my around to another nurse's station. This nurse read the prescription and started preparing an injection with a huge (2 to 3") needle.

I thought it was a large need to use for a shot in the arm... until she tapped my on the butt and said "drop 'em".

What?!?! A shot in my ass? I haven't had a shot there since my Navy days and getting either the plague or some other exotic shot back there. Anyway, I dropped em, and she shot me. The shot didn't hurt too bad, but my ass was sore for three days. I have no idea what they gave me. But it did knock the swelling down. I also got prescriptions for ibuprofen and some other allergy medication.

All this, no waiting, and NO CHARGE! I was impressed. National health at work folks. I love it.

To be honest, when I went there the other day to shoot a couple of pictures of the hospital in daylight, they do have a snazzy emergency entrance under construction, so it will, in short order seem mo-betta soon.

Here's the entrance to the hospital. No extra charge for the horse grazing on the grounds. Present emergency entrance is sort of behind that little building in the center foreground.

Corozal Hospital / Not Sure if the Horse is a Patient

Here's a nice one. I just took this shot from our back porch into the canal. I saw this "dolphin-fish" as the locals call it (not a dolphin as we know them). He's about 3-feet long and was lasily swimming and letting me takes lots of photos of him.

I took this one just as he began to turn. To get him to stand out in the algae water of the canal, I manipulated the shot a bit. He isn't brilliant blue like that, more of a dark gray. But, the way it turned out, and with a bit of cropping to get rid of extraneous stuff, I ended up with a very nice photo.

He Really Is About 3-Feet Long - Gorgeous Shot