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.

Pool Project - A Week at a Pop - 08/30/2016 - 09/06/2016

And, here we go with the next succeeding week. As happens, the project grew a little bit. It had been in the planning stages before, but now, the real work had begun.

Hole in the Dock Aborning

It was necessary to channel the water straight back to the canal. It's natural course had let if veer a little to the left, which contributed to the collapse of the corner fence post.

Here they've cut the outline for the hole and done most of the sledge work to open it up.

Lot of Muck to Remove

Of course, there's a lot of muck that has to be removed from the hole, and not a lot of room to work in. Such is the lot of a 'tunnel rat.'

Working Back Under the Fence

And now, digging at the face of the hole, working back toward the fence and under that to mate up with the rest of the ditch from the pool area.

Bela and Nelson Inspecting

Of course, every project requires supervision and inspection. Here's two of the best making their daily rounds.

One of the Jacks Ready to Place

Part of the project was to see if they could level the pool, or at least get it close to level. That required use of five or six hydraulic jacks like the one you see here. It was successful, to a point. the guys managed to raise the pool a little over an inch and a half. They were hoping for about two and a half. Still, better than nothing.

Skimmer Free At Last

There was a lot of concrete behind the skimmer, from previous patching of cracks and leaks. It took Indir about two days with the jack hammer to get it free.

It's going to reside down at the other end of the pool. The plumbers feel it will function better being closer to the pump and the filter.

Jack in Place All Weekend

Here's one of the jacks that has been in place all weekend. This was a test to see just how stable the underside was. The boards bent as pressure initially was applied with the jack. It held steady for the weekend, so the lift went ahead and we managed to get an additional inch and a half gained on leveling the pool.

Rock in place up to Fence

Here's the ditch going to the canal. You can see the hole in the dock just through the fence. The rock in the ditch is about three and a half feet thick.

Well, that's it for another week of the project. I'm still working on getting the slideshow software installed so you can see all the photos for the project. I'll let you know.