Let's See Now, Where Were We?

Last time I posted about the patio palapa, the project had barely gotten started and that post was on 24 September 2018.

I suppose it would be better to give a brief synopsis of the project from the beginning.

Getting thatch from the bush, where you have to get it, has become expensive. The plants are still further into the bush and are becoming scarce, so it was time to rethink roofing materials.

We were very happy with the way the parking palapa turned out, so we thought, continue with a good idea for this.

What It Looked Like To Start

It was really looking raggedy and neglected. We waiting about as long as we could. Any more, and the lumber used for the structure would begin to rot before our eyes, and we'd be looking at completely starting over. So this was the perfect time.

Mario's crew, the same guys who redid our pool and its enclosure, were just finishing up a house for Sonja and Dan, friends of ours, building over in Ranchito near the airstrip.

We like their work, and attention to detail, so hiring them was really an easy decision.

Lots of Air Vents

I think in places, there was more air and daylight than thatch. It gave us a good indicator that it was time, time, time to get something done.

They got started removing the thatch and broken wood. That took pretty much all of the first day.

Once all the thatch was gone and the patio swept, it almost looked presentable again.

Framing Started

With things cleaned up, it looks nice.

You can see that the framing for the soffit area (I guess) and the framing for the screens which will go floor to ceiling is underway.

We have a ceiling fan that only works slowly. I suspect its capacitor is failing. It was in the utility room off the kitchen and has spent the past few months in a box.

Dianna suggested we replace the lantern chandelier with the fan and light because there are times when we used to use the palapa, where there was no breeze. It becomes stifling, and a fan might just do the trick to make it a nice, relaxing reading and relaxing nook.

Tool Repair

As with most tools down here, things break. One of their cordless drills, with a keyless chuck, naturally broke. Not good timing. Almost everything with this project involves screws, so it was really needed.

Forty-five minutes work, and it was back functioning again. I don't know if they were able to repair the chuck or if it required a replacement from Lano's Hardware.

Adding More Varnish

The next step after getting all the lumber in place was to apply a liberal dose of varnish.

Of course, when they started that, they were only able to do a partial coat when it started to rain. The rain continued off and on for three days.

Even after it stopped, it still took most of a day to dry the lumber out enough to be able to apply more varnish.

Screen Framing Done Too

Getting some real progress now. It's looking almost like it's time for the zinc roof to be installed.

But wait, there's more. I'm sure the framing for the screens will need a coat or two of the varnish.

I Think There's More To Do

Refilling a painting cup must mean that more varnish has to be applied.

That's what they're doing this afternoon. It was really doubtful that they'd be able to work this afternoon.

The forecast was calling for more rain and thunderstorms all afternoon.

A 'Lee' Bit of Gardening

I wanted to make some tomato cages. Thanks to Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/), I came up with the perfect solution. When I typed in 'tomato cages' in Pinterest, one of the first photos that came up was a whole role of 'matting', as used for concrete pads, walkways, etc. I thought that's perfect. Now all I had to do was find some matting.

I texted Mario Zettina, the same contractor who rehabbed our pool, and the parking palapa, to see if, by chance, he had some extra matting just laying around.

Brand New Tomato Cages

By a happy chance, he did. A couple of days later, Endher, his foreman, swung by and dropped off a partial role for me. Today was the day I decided to take a whack at making them.

I figured they would need to be roughly three-feet high, and about twelve inches or so in diameter. Oh, I could have used the old standby formula, 2𝝅r. I skipped that, and went directly to the intertubes for it to work the formula and give me the answer. The answer was about forty-three inches +/- a smidge.

The full roll was six-feet wide, so I cut the roll into two roles then laid out flat one role and cut that into 43-inch sections.

Roughly 36"H x 43" Circum.

Putting the sections together by crimping a bit of the wire to its opposite end of the section, I was able to come up with a round cage just the right height and diameter to work as a tomato cage.

After making four of them, I was covered in sweat and was pooped. So, I figured the rest could wait till Monday when Carlos was here and he would be able to help me make the rest.

I should end up with eight to ten tomato cages. We'll be able to use a couple of them for the cucumbers as well.

Miss Noel Supervising

Of course, no job can be done here without adequate supervision. You can see Miss Noel checking the quality of the work. She likes to ensure that standards are maintained throughout her domain.

Cucumbers Grow Fast

We have four cucumber vines that have taken off like rockets in this bed. I was going to use a couple of cages here, but I'm afraid the cukes have progressed too fast to be able to use them.

I'd like to see some zucchini growing as well. Since we've been on the Keto diet, we use zucchini for all sorts of things, like spaghetti noodles, ravioli wrappers, chopped up in salads, and for a host of other things as well.

Sweet Peppers Grow Slow

The slowest starting of the stuff we've planted is the sweet (or green) peppers. Carlos swears that there are four pepper plants growing in this bed.

On a tentative note, Mario's crew is supposed to be starting Monday morning on the patio palapa. But after one of the biggest holidays of the year, Independence Weekend (Independence Day was 21 September), it remains to be seen just how up for the task they'll be, come tomorrow morning. More on this breaking story as it happens

The Revised Drive Way - Wait a Minute

Below is a photo of our layout. You can see the proposed additions to the driveway in transparent white. If you know where the main gate is (lower right-hand corner) you can follow the driveway as it currently is configured, or follow the new driveway.

Take the first fork to the right and follow it around, bearing left till you come to the parking palapa (lower center of photo). Now, if we're parked under the palapa, that would present a problem departing easily.

You'll notice a second white area (immediate right-hand side of the parking palapa). That will allow those departing to get out without trying to drive under the palapa. From there, just follow the drive to the main gate and out.

From the other gate, (Chain Link), that's just going to be a service entrance if a big truck is dumping chippings, gravel, etc.

Proposed Driveway Changes

The long-awaited driveway renovation project began today. And, just like that came to a halt.

Unfortunately, communications between the backhoe driver and myself were somewhat lacking. I had assumed he was only going to use his front scoop and only scoop out an inch or two of grass, etc.

Stakes Showing the Wa

You can see the stakes I pounded into the marl to show the proposed areas to be scraped. They more or less match the image above.

Backhoe Bucket Tracks

He immediately set to work, positioning himself to use the backhoe. I assumed that maybe he was going to use that to pull out the curbing in that area. Wrong. He didn't go for the curb but set the bucket teeth into the soil. I signaled to go no more than three or four inches down, which is how he started, but for some reason, the bucket began to go deeper.

The Damage Done

By then, it was too late. Up came the PVC tube with the cables providing current to the main house. Or, they did provide current until they broke.

I immediately called a halt to the operation. Needless to say, I was none too happy and told the operator that he was done.


I immediately got on the phone, texting to Mario Zetina, our contractor for the swimming pool and enclosure rebuild, to see if, by chance, Emanuel, his electrician was available for an emergency repair. I assumed that it would be too much to hope for that he would be available right away, but I was hoping, maybe for the following day. Even though this was about our hottest day of the year so far, reaching 92℉.

Mario texted me back and said that he would have Emanuel come by as soon as he finished lunch. Wow! Too much to hope for. I was figuring, even if he showed up right away, that it would still be a good day or so before we got the current back, I was assuming the whole run of 300' of #6 wire x 3, or 900' of wire would have to be replaced.

After about forty minutes, Emanual and his helper showed up and immediately started clearing marl out of the way. Thankfully, he remembered he had constructed a junction box for wiring to go to the Mennonite house.

Starting to Dig Out

They've just about got the junction box uncovered. I had totally forgotten about the box.

After checking the wires at the dig site, Mario went to the power panel by the gate and determined that most of the three wires were in good condition. They had simply been pulled out of the screw posts.

Making It All Right Again

After refurbishing the wires and replacing the mangled PVC pipe (I had enough pipe left over and a coupling fitting for the repair) Emanuel reassembled the whole thing back into the junction box.

Good View of the Repaired Junction

Here's the completed junction box without the lid being attached.

Reconnecting Everything

And, in amazingly very short order, we had current again. Fans, ice, cold beer, and iced tea. In short, the whole nine yards.

Now, all I have to do is bring back the tractor and ensure that the operator only uses the front scoop and only does it exactly where I tell him, and we'll be good to go. Of course, after that, a large trip or two of chippings and getting that all spread over the driveway and we really will be good to go.

Stay tuned for part II - The Finishing of the Driveway, or Let's See What Breaks Next.

Finally! A Heater For the Pool

You know there's times when it's just too cold to get into your pool. I'm talking wintertime, folks. Frigid temperatures, like when the pool goes down below 80℉, like down to the mid-seventies.

Such was our case. A pool heater seemed like a mighty fine idea. One problem, though, was that I didn't want to spend a fortune on a heater, nor did I want to make it any more complex that necessary.

I did quite a bit of research over the past three years or so. Not continuously, but every now and then. Kind of a casual, laid-back sort of research. Anyway, it seems that most of the heating systems out there, at least for in-ground pools, want several things.

One, spend lots of money. Two, use your main pump so you can move massive amounts of water. Three, it needs to be complex. Adding a system to the pool after it's up and running is hard.

Those three caused me pause. That's why research went on for so long. Well, one of the reasons anyway.

I began to think about the cost. Was there a way that I could install a pool heater without breaking the bank, and that wasn't overly complex and didn't require me to modify the existing plumbing unnecessarily?

I noticed in my research, that there was a wide difference in heater system prices for above-ground pools, compared to in-ground systems.

Little by little, I began to wonder why I couldn't adapt elements of an above-ground pool to my in-ground pool. I realized that there was no reason I couldn't do just that. The pool doesn't know if it's above-ground or not.

I was taken with the idea of using an above-ground heater, especially the long strip types, with narrow little tubes for the water to run through. I had the roof space available, so why not?

I had thought of using large vinyl tubing to heat the water, but putting it into coils, for some reason, seemed like a lot of work to me. I have a roll of about 200-feet of 3/4" black tubing, so that wasn't the problem. For some reason, I just couldn't get motivated to do my heater that way.

The more I thought about the issue, the more the strip appealed to me. The one that captivated my attention was twenty foot long by about two or three feet, and it only cost around $150.00 US.

Some time ago, David Wright and I went together on an order for a solar system. This consisted of a two-foot by four-foot solar panel, metal support frame, to attach it to a pole, and a small, low-volume 12-V d.c. pump. That was a good setup to order. The boxes containing the ordered bits sat in my workshop for several months.

The other thing I had done to get ready was a bit of pool modification. I didn't do it, but I had asked our contractor, Mario, to include two ports in the pool for a heater system, They did just that and ran it to the pump house. That was all. You can see in the photo below, the little holes I'm talking about.

Little Holes

Not those on the left. That's some troubleshooting that was going on to track down an internal leak connected with the waterfall. The ones I'm talking about are on the right side just left of the black power panel box. See those two little holes? That's it. That was the extent of the prebuilt for the heater.

So, when I finally did get serious about the pool heater, I bit the bullet and ordered a twenty-foot heater strip. I was concerned because a couple of the reviews of it had stated that the 'non-standard' fittings created major problems, and the people couldn't understand why they used such oddball fittings. I figured that I could cobble something together that would work. Half of what we work on down here is cobbled together.

Shift forward a couple of weeks and Easy Shipping to Belize shows up at our gate with the rolled-up heater and some other stuff. Wow. Time to get serious. Especially since I had the help of Denis Patterson, our neighbor from across the street.

Denis and Vivien, his wife, were staying in our Mennonite house since their house was rented long-term and they didn't want to disturb their tenants. Denis and Vivien are from Alberta, Canada, and are nice people (aren't all Canadians?).

The Repair Shop

Denis and I took a break from the project to take care of a project of Denis'. His on-demand heater at his house had stopped working. We needed to get it running in short order so his tenants didn't rebel.

It may not look like it, but this is the best TV, stereo, and water heater repair place in town. When Denis first took his heater there, they said, "No. We don't fix them things no more." Ok. So, Denis and I went on an adventure to find who could.

We tried Nairobi Rancharan's place. Nope, He doesn't do heaters, only refrigerators and auto A/C units. I've taken my Isuzu there. He thought there was a guy down the street by a vacant lot, and to the left, who did that. On we went.

Turns out after a couple wrong turns, that you had to go through the vacant lot to find this guy. Nope. This heater has electronics in it. He only repairs the kind with a pilot light. He thought there was another shop down by the little park near Memo's Auto Repair (who I've never used). Memo's looks more like a bar than an auto shop, but what do I know? A couple of guys sitting on a bench out front thought that this guy was a little past the park and to the left.

Turns out he was. He was upset that we got there early. He didn't open till 9:00 AM. But, to our benefit, (he was talking to us through his bedroom window), he put on some shorts and came out to talk with us. From the way he talked, he seemed more educated than some. He repaired all sorts of electronics and computers, but not heaters. He even had a website (E & L Electronics) and has a small e-store for parts. Who knew?

When he turned us down, we were at a loss. Denis decided to go back to the first place, with hat in hand and beg them to look at it. So, that's what we did.

The TV Technician

Back at the shop, we went inside to find the TV technician busy modifying his hoodie to hold some small speakers. I can't imagine wearing a hoodie in this environment, but whatever. He hollered for the water heater technician, "Hey, Water Heater!" The water heater technician just happened to be coming through the door with a cup of coffee. "Yup, we can fix it," he said.

Now, keep in mind, this was the same guy who, the day before, had told Denis, that they no longer worked on heaters. It was like that conversation had never occurred.

Here's the Stereo Lab

Just before we left, I snapped a shot of the Stereo technician's workspace or lab. Ain't it wonderful?

The great end of the story is that the water heater guy called Denis the very next day and told him the heater was ready to go. Turns out the Solenoid had gone bad. Miracles do happen.


Now, on with the main story. Denis and I went up to Lano's Hardware and picked up several lengths of PVC tubing, fittings, glue, brackets and all that sort of stuff. I had also brought along one of the key fittings from the heater, expecting to spend some quality time figuring out how to cobble together something that would join the heater to my ½" PVC tubing.

I showed Vien (Mr. Lan's nephew, who runs the sales counter at the store) the fitting. He took one look at it after I briefly described what I wanted to do, and said, "I know what will work," and quickly disappeared into the back of the store. He returned with two fittings. One, a coupling, slid snugly over the fitting of the heater, and the other, a ¾" to ½" reducer. That was it. A perfect solution. A little epoxy, to ensure that it doesn't separate and we'd be good to go.

I had expected to spend at least an hour rummaging around trying to find something that would solve our problem. Sometimes, things just work out right, you know? Denis and I took our purchases and headed back to Casa Winjama and our project.

Where the Heater is Going

Here's the area of the roof where I thought of placing the heater. It's on the order of being 30-feet long so there should be no problem placing the heater there.

Proposed Track for the Tubing

I thought that with the heater strip laid out on the roof, that I'd be able to run the tubing over the roof parapet and along the top of the frame for the pool shade enclosure, over to the pump house and in through a hole somewhere to the inside of the pump house.

Over the parapet

In fact, the parapet is where we started the tubing work. You can see we're getting it assembled in good fashion. We have three tubes, one for incoming cold water, one for outgoing hot water, and one to hold the wires from the solar panel to the pump motor that we're locating in the pump house.

Running Down the Roof

The PVC tubing is now running down the length of the roof of the pool enclosure. Good progress.

The Heater Laid Down

Here's the heater in it's position on the roof. It works fine right there. I might add a framework to support the heater and the solar panel at the proper 15° for our latitude, but I'm not sure that it's really going to be necessary.

Looking the Other Direction

You can see we also have the solar panel more or less in place. Nothing is crowded and everything is in place with plenty of unimpeded sunlight for most of the day.

The solar panel is in shade in the morning till about 8:00 AM. So, the pump doesn't start till then, but that delay allows the water remaining in the tubes to heat up so that when the pump does start, it's moving hot water to the pool.

Add caption

Here you can see everything in more or less it's final places. You can also see the join between the PVC tubing and the heater fitting. There's also a union fitting on each leg to make separation of the heater from the PVC tubing easier, because when the pool warms up enough that the heater is no longer needed, it will be rolled up and both it and the solar panel will be lowered off the roof and put in storage in the pool utility room till the succeeding winter when it's needed again.

The Pump In Place

This is a view inside the pump house again. It's showing the pump on a shelf I installed, all hooked up. The black line has the wires coming from the solar panel through the roof and through the power panel to the motor.

Pump Detail

There's also a controller circuit in the little black box,since removed. It didn't work right and proved to not be necessary. The tube sticking up from the pump with a blue-handled valve on it, allows us, as needed, to prime the pump (brings to mind an old Kingston Trio song - Desert Pete). We even have a funnel on hand just for that purpose.

I also installed a switch (the old-school looking round thing), in case we need to shut the pump off during the day. I also will be adding a 15-amp fuse to protect the pump motor, just in case.

Final words on the project. Yesterday was its first full day of work. For a couple of weeks now, the pool temperature has been hovering around 79℉, barely able to make it 80℉ during the day. Well, yesterday, the temp was up to 81℉. Not bad for one day's work. We think it will take two to three days to get the temp from 79℉ all the way up to 84℉. Perfect till summer kicks in.

Pardon me. I've got my trunks on, a cold beer, and I'm headed to the warm pool. life is grand!

Gray Saturday Morning

Saturday, 19 November 2016, and another work day. Mr. Nelson's upset this morning. He likes to go downstairs (the basement) of the Mennonite house and snooze all day up in the top shelf of my storage area.

He can't do it today, as we're having Tulio (Arrest-A-Pest) come spray the Mennonite house inside, upstairs and downstairs. Nelson is just impossible to coax out from down in the basement, so it's a lot easier to keep him out in the first place.

There is some consolation however. In the new house, he's discovered his alternate hideaway. It's in the laundry/utility room off the kitchen. We keep the laundry basket up on a shelf by the window. He likes to sleep in the basket. That way he can keep an eye on the outside as well as the utility room and kitchen. Not as good as the basement, but it'll do.

Grouting the Tile

This morning, the grouting of the little tiles in the pool began. It's going fast too. Really makes the blue tiles spring to life.

The Top of the Waterfall

Not permanently in place yet, but the top of the waterfall will have pieces of stone tile covering it at an angle. The water will come between it and the vertical tiles.

Trial Run With A Hose

You can't really tell from the photo, but our first trial run of the waterfall was by hose, just to see if the water would cascade down the face of the waterfall. It did, and it looked and sounded very nice.

The successful test gives us the green light to go ahead with our ideas for the waterfall as they have been.

Pump Rigged For A Test

Bani rigged up the waterfall pump (a half-horse number) with flexible vinyl tubing to try it out by actually using the pump to provide the water for the falls.

After the pump was primed, water was drawn from a bucket and up and out at the waterfall head.

Cutting Concrete Casting Sprue

Theo is using a grinding tool to cut out casting sprue of concrete from where concrete oozed out during the casting process.

Bani Priming the Pump

I mentioned priming the pump, here Bani is doing just that. With luck, the next time we have to prime it, is if the pump needs to be taken out for repairs.

?? Cutting Slot in Waterfall Pipe

Theo is cutting a slit in the water pipe at the head of the waterfall. Mario is keeping a close eye on the proceedings.

Inspecting the Cut

Mario checking the cut. He came up with a good idea about having a small light over head, possibly attached to one of the beams, with its focus on the waterfall. Maybe have one with a multi-colored light that changes colors periodically.

Happiness. It Works!

Theo is very happy that the waterfall is working just the way that we thought and hoped it would.

Water Actually Cascading

You have to look closely, but there is water and it's cascading down the rocks just the way we thought and hoped it would.

Dianna and Mario Talking Waterfall

Dianna and Mario at the far end of the pool talking over the pool and the waterfall.

Saturday Has Arrived

That is, Saturday, 22 October, 2016. Of course it's a work day here at Casa Winjama. I would just as soon take the day off myself, but we also want to get this project done.

Not that we're in a hurry or anything. Just tired of having workers hanging around. It's the same with any construction project. It starts off with hugs and kisses and towards the end it's 'Don't talk to me. Just get done and get out of here.'

Not that we don't like Mario Zetina's crew, we do. They're excellent people and their workmanship is superb. We just want our privacy again.

In the mean time, like I said... It's a work day.

Blocking in the Beams

Mortaring shortened blocks in place down the whole length. As I understand it, there will be like a veneer of blocks across the front to block off the opening of each of the beams. As Endher says, 'To keep the geyco's from moving into the beams. Thanks to the GEICO gecko and those cute TV ads, nearly everyone down here calls them 'geyco's' and not 'gecko's.'

A Little Better View

Here's a little better view showing the beam ends and the blocks going up. It's going quite fast too.

The Reverse Side

And a view from the back side of the blocks. The beams are certainly strong enough for the workers to lay boards over them as a walkway.

Raised Pad for the Filter

Moving from the beams to inside the pump house. This is a newly cast pad for the pool filter to sit on. It's about three-inches high. You can see openings in the wall for the skimmer line, main drain, and backwash.

Window Louver Reinstalled

The window louver got installed late yesterday afternoon. They did a very nice job installing that. This is the louver from the old pump house. In fact, most of the stuff going in here is returning to service from the old pump house.

Skimmer and Main Drain Labeled

A little better view of the openings for the filter. I think this is going to end up being a very clean and well laid out pump house.

Sample For Deck Drain

We've been hoping to find something to use for a deck drain. I'd like it to run along the house, in front of the sliding glass doors, bathroom door and utility room door. It would be nice if it was all one run.

There doesn't seem to be anyone carrying actual deck drain material down here. We thought about shipping it in, but then this alternative showed up.

Detail of Sample

Mario found this. It's 1-1/2" or 2" electrical conduit. It also comes in 3". I opted for the 3". Now, Mario is looking how he can get grooves cut in the top to allow the water to enter the pipe.

If you look close, the lid or top pries off, so that would be perfect as a deck drain. I think the 3" is necessary for the potential amount of rainfall we could likely get.

Old, Crappy Hinges on Door

While the welder was here working on the beams yesterday, he was going to install the pump house door. It's welded in place with rebar sunk into the wall around the door and then the door is welded to the rebar. It becomes quite strong and long-lasting.

What isn't so strong is the crappy hinges that are used by almost everyone around here for metal doors, hatches, etc. He told me there is a good hinge available that can be lubricated and it only costs about $2.50 BZD per hinge.

Compared to the $0.20 BZD per hinge, they do seem expensive. Until you think that I've had the original installer back either two or three times to replace or repair broken or damaged hinges on this door, a gate, and our well-house door. For want of a little grease, we're keeping somebody in business. The welder will be bringing three lubricatable hinges on Monday. If those work as well as he says, I may spring to get the whole batch replaced.

Overall Shot of the Beams

Here's a nice view looking from the patio to the pool showing the beams and the block work. Pretty impressive, I think.

Filling Ends of Beams

The veneer of blocks going up with some stuffed in the ends of the beams to fill the hole, then it will be all plastered over.

Cutting Blocks Down to Size

The rock quarry, where the blocks are being cut down to size with a grinder and a  cutting blade. This brings to mind the song 'Breaking Rocks in the Hot Sun' by the Bobby Fuller Four , released in 1966. It was written by Sonny Curtis of the Crickets - Buddy Holly fame.

The Debris Pile

And here's the debris pile. Hot and dusty.

Hanging on the Laundry Line

I was on my way back from snapping the rock pile and this caught my eye. Hanging upside down, it's my drawing for the ramps. Looks like it might have gotten damp or something.