Say What?

I had to go into Corozal this morning and I had to look for a grout saw (used to gnaw the grout out between tiles before trying to remove them) and the usual assortment of pharmaceuticals, and a whole slew of groceries.

I thought I'd be a nice guy and ask Denis or Vivien if they wanted to ride along since their vehicle is in the shop up at Rick's getting some new shocks. I picked up Vivien and we tootled off into town.

Our first stop was at Lano's Hardware Store. I needed to get that grout saw I had mentioned. While I was waiting for the crowd to diminish, I got into a conversation with one of the girls who works there about water pumps. I mentioned to her that I didn't see any 1/4-horsepower pumps in their selection. She said "quarter inch"?. I said no, "horsepower'. This prompted her to say "No, we don't have that size. We only have half-inch, one-and-a-half-inch, and two-inch pumps, no quarter-inch pumps".

This led me into a discussion with her about horsepower, what it was, what it meant and that it had nothing to do with 'inches'. It was plain that the further we got into the discussion, the less impact I was having on that stone wall, if you get my drift.

I gave up, just in time to have Mr. Lan's nephew, Kim come to my rescue and asked me about the grout saw. He knew what it was and told me they didn't have any, but suggested I try Villa's Imports - "They have strange stuff like that there".

By now, my head was reeling from the inches vs. horsepower incident. Vivien was done with her purchases, and I with mine, so we beat a rapid retreat to the sanity of the Isuzu. As we headed off to go look at grout saws at Villa's Imports, I tried to tell Vivien about my discussion. She had heard part of it and couldn't make heads or tails out of what we were talking about. Just as well. I couldn't either.

We got to Villa's a few minutes later. After talking to Mr. Villa's son, he found a smaller version of of the saw than I wanted, but I went ahead and purchased it anyway, just in case.

The Grout Saws

After Villa's, we went over to National Hardware and inquired as to grout saws. They had one, more in the line of what I was looking for, with a blade about 2-inches (not horsepower) long, so, long story short, I bought it as well.

Our next stop was at Caribbean Chicken, where I needed to get some boneless chicken breasts and three-dozen eggs. I also had three empty styrofoam egg cartons to trade back in. Something I had done previously several times with no problem. You trade in an empty and they knock a shilling ($0.25 BZD) off the price of a full carton. So, $3.35 down to $3.10 a carton.

Remember I mentioned "long story short"? Forget that.

Of course, it was crowded in Caribbean Chicken. And, as it got to be my turn I passed over my two packs of chicken breasts and the three full cartons of eggs that I had picked up off the table. I also started to hand over the three empty cartons to justify my shilling discount on the full ones.

Whoa right there partner! You'd have thought I was trying to wreck the Belize economy or something. The three folks behind the counter all started telling me they couldn't do that, that I had to be charged the full price of the cartons. Of course two or three shoppers on this side of the counter, chimed in and seconded the storekeepers. I was flummoxed at this point, not sure what to do.

The lady who ran the cash register (and ergo, who I would assume was in charge) jumped up and said they would gladly fill my empty's and give me the discount, but there was no way they could discount already-filled cartons and take the empties.

"Ok", I said. Let's do it that way. I handed the young man behind the counter my three empty cartons. He authoritatively took them and went over to another counter where there was a stack of trays filled with eggs and proceeded to fill each of my empty cartons. Remember I said the place was crowded? Didn't matter. He was out of the flow of customers and cashiers while he filled my cartons. Vivien could attest to this as she was behind me in line.

While he finished filling the cartons, I settled up with the cashier, including the discount. Oh, yes. I also put the previously filled cartons back on the table so there would be no confusion about how many cartons I wanted.

Where Did I Go Wrong?

Once he was done filling them, he re-bagged the now filled cartons in the same plastic bag I had brought them into the store with, and rather insistently offered to carry them out to my car. Obviously, he felt since I was such a dunderhead about empty egg cartons, I couldn't be trusted to accomplish something as complex as carrying them ten feet to the car.

By now, I was becoming embarrassed by the whole thing. I thanked him for his trouble and took control of the egg cartons and the chicken breasts and promptly made my own way, safely, to the Isuzu. I even managed to unlock the doors and sit down, where I waited for Vivien to come out and join me.

As we left Caribbean Chicken to go to our last stop of the morning over at New World Supermarket, we shook our heads and had a chuckle about the cultural differences inherent in speaking English and getting a grip on inches, horsepower, and discounts.

After an uneventful visit to New World where we completed all of the items on our respective shopping lists, we beat a retreat for our homes. It's lucky we're allowed to roam free. It must be the sun or something. Nelson has the right idea.

I Need A Nap!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Wouldn't you just know it... We (well, Dianna actually) spent a good part of the day yesterday reorganizing the bathroom after we completed the installation of our new bathroom medicine cabinets and shelving.

Bathroom Cabinet From the Doorway

Today, was supposed to be easy. We were going to do up the dishes (that is a team effort) and sweep and put all the remaining debris away - like the old and rusty over-the-toilet shelf, and our little three drawer thing that we've had for ages, stuff like that. Then, we were planning on relaxing for the rest of the day. Maybe spend some time in the pool and just kick back and take it easy.

Bathroom Cabinet From the Shower

Nope. Not us. Nosiree! We had something else to do. For some unknown reason we were both looking in the under-sink cabinet and I mentioned to Dianna that I thought we should put something under our 'Tupperware' containers (actually, our collection of margarine and yogurt containers) as it seemed kind of oily and wet.

Well, one thing led to another, as it does in these situations and before we knew what had hit us we had everything hauled out of the under-sink cabinets and found that we had a bona fide leak from the hot water line and sink shut-off valve.

Kitchen Blown Apart

The very next thing, I was rooting around found myself enroute to Lano's Hardware (trip #1, for those who count such things) to buy a new valve. Got that installed and, sumbeach, the press fitting of the line was leaking too. Back to Lano's (trip #2). This time, I bought two replacement lines, figuring that if I didn't also change out the cold water side... Well, you can guess.

Kitchen's A Wreck

Anyway, I got back and Dianna and I began scraping all the putty tape off the sink and the countertop. Now it was time to get some putty tape (Trip #3). And, I thought, brilliantly, that when we originally installed the sink, there were no sink clips, which actually hold the sink in place to the counter top and draw the sink down close to the counter, thus minimizing opportunities for leakage from the counter top.

Since by now, it was almost lunch time, I thought I'd stop at Mario's and pick up a couple orders of rice and beans and stew chicken for lunch. That part was fine. The part that didn't work out too well was the sink clips and the putty tape.

I stopped at Lano's again and asked Kim if he had any sink clips and putty tape. He immediately dove under the counter and came up with a plastic bag full of metal bits. We managed to untie the bag and examined the contents. I asked him if he knew how the pieces were supposed to work. His answer was a giggled "No." As far as the putty tape (I know I've bought it there before, but that doesn't mean anything) there as a "No" for that as well.

I continued playing with the clips for a couple more minutes and decided something must be missing. So, I didn't buy them. I figured I'd scoot over to Villa's Imports and see if they had my sink clips.

Mysterious Sink Clip

Villa's, short and sweet, no on both counts. Ok, what now? Still a couple minutes till twelve noon. Shoot for it, go over to National Hardware and see if Andy knows what's what.

Well, I get over to National and manage to talk to Andy. He didn't have any putty tape either. I asked him what everyone used to secure their sinks to the counter top. They use adhesive acrylic caulk. This was the same answer I'd gotten from each of the other stores as well. Ok, I'd buy a couple of tubes of that. Now for the clips. Andy went back to one of his shelves and also came up with a tied plastic bag. By the time I'd gotten it opened, Andy had slipped out onto his motorcycle and left for lunch. I asked the other sales folks if they knew how the clips were supposed to be used. Again "No". Well, by this time, I figured they were probably the correct clips. I was just too dumb to figure them out, so I bought the bag (it held eight clips).

On to Mario's. I was getting hungry. Rice and beans - true fast food. I had the two meals bagged and on the road in about three minutes. Dianna and I took a well-deserved break for lunch.

She looked at the clips and couldn't figure them out either. By then, it was time for her to take a nap. So, I got on the computer and searched for the clips on the Intertubes. They have all sorts, just not the ones I was looking for.

Shortly thereafter, Denis called, saying he needed a ride home from Rick Magana's, our mechanic. While ferrying Denis back, I had him look at a set of the clips as well. He couldn't make sense of them either. He did look under his kitchen sink after we got back home. No dice. His sink doesn't have clips either. Apparently his installers couldn't figure it out either.

Ok. That meant I was going to use the caulk to  hold everything together and screw the clips. Reassembly of everything went quite well. We only had one minor leak that was easily solved. The caulking went down equally easy, and then we were done. Not bad. Four O'clock in the afternoon and we were at exactly the place we'd been at eight in the morning. A whole day shot. Oh, well, we actually did stop a potentially bad leak, and the sink got re-caulked - something I'd been wanting to do, just really not right now.

I do plan to make it back down to National (would that trip count?) and see if Andy knows how the clips are supposed to work. Just not today. It's time for a beer.

More and More Progress

The guesthouse is moving along, so is the grading of the canal banks. So, I'll cover both as they occur.

As you can see below, the canal bank between our house and Doug and Twyla's has been pretty well smoothed out. In fact, you can see Doug and Twyla coming our way with a cooler full of refreshments and snacks.

Nothing like a 94° (f) pool to cool you down on a hot day. And it really does. Our air temp has been upwards of 96° (f) or so the past couple of days, so 94° really does feel cool. Besides, it's almost like being in a spa or hot tub. We aren't worried about the pool getting too warm to get into. Just the fact that we can get in it and even if you get out for a bit, with evaporative effects on your skin, it makes you feel a little cooler, which is good enough for us.

Doug and Twyla Coming For Pooltime

In the background, you can see Pastor Doug. He's helping Robert by supervising the grader which was still smoothing the banks of the canal out.

The grader has even moved over to the other side of our and Elsie's property. Here's a shot of the grader smoothing all that spoils area as well as a bit more work out toward the canal entrance to the left in the picture.

Work on the Far Side

It still is taking a bit to get used to all the changes in the neighborhood. Add to it the changes, suddenly with the guesthouse and it seems like everything is going topsy-turvy.

Plastering the ceilings and walls inside of the guesthouse is pretty much done. There's a couple hose bibs and stuff like that that have to be added so plastering can get done, but otherwise, it's pretty much done inside.

Gaposis in the Utility Room

I'll be making a sheet metal plate to cover the gap above the breaker box panel door. It'll hide the other wires till I'm ready to use them.

Below are some shots of the plastering outside. The first coat is almost completed, as you'll see.

Finishing First Coat

Raw Backside

Magically, It's Done

A couple of days ago, I had to order 40 4-inch concrete blocks. I tried a new block factory, quite a bit closer than Belmont or the others. This one is owned by Israel Gomez on San Andres Road. Reasonably priced and they delivered when they said they would. that works for me.

Delivering the 40 - 4" Blocks

The blocks are needed for the shower walls in the guesthouse.

We're going to have custom-made glass door for it as well. Something else we found that Texaco (pronounced Tex-aco - the 'a' sounds like the first 'a' in actual)  in Corozal can make. Two or three weeks ago, I went in to ask about some screens I was having made. While waiting, I noticed the young assistant working on a pickup truck outside rear view mirror - the old kind. I thought, "hmm", and asked him if he could repair a broken inside rear view mirror. Not a problem. And they did. Apparently, the mirrors take a tapered mirror so the 'day/night' lever feature works. It was fixed as good as new for $5.00 BZD. And I had driven around with it broken into about 8 or 9 pieces for about 2 years.

So, based on that, I was wondering how we were going to get a shower door the right size. One of our workers said "Go see Texaco. They can do it." Well, of course. Why didn't I think of that first?

Yesterday, Dianna and I went out to see if we could find tile for the guesthouse floor and shower. We stopped first at Texaco to see if they really could make a shower door for us. Of course they can. Tempered glass, polished edges, and the fancy gripping hinges and cool looking handles for the door too. Whatever size we want. It takes about two weeks to get the glass tempered and it comes either in 1/4" or 1/2" thicknesses (I think it even comes thicker, but I don't remember for sure). The hinges cost around $80 BZD each and the door (roughly 2'x5') will cost about $300 BZD for the 1/2" version. Is this good or what?

So, on we went to find tile. We stopped first at National Hardware and spent 20 minutes going through most of the tile they have on display... Their display consists of a couple hundred tiles piled on the counter and floor. you have to move each and every one to see what they have. We found one that we really thought would work for the floor (with non-skid grit built-in). We could get it but it would take at least 3 weeks to get here as it comes from Brazil, and as Andy, National's owner said, if they don't have a full container, shipment would be delayed. That wasn't going to work for us.

We tried the next place we'd heard of across the street (in front of, as they say here) the new Cinty's.  He wasn't open. We asked at the auto parts place next door who told us that the guy kept really strange hours. For Corozal, that's really saying something. We decided to go on to Creative Tile and see what they had.

We've had hot and cold experiences in dealing with Creative. If they have what you're looking for, you can usually get it right then. If they don't, the lady seems almost reluctant to order it - and absolutely hates to check other  Creative stores throughout Belize to see if they have something in stock.

Also, I swear their inside displays that they've been working on for two years, haven't changed at all in that time - still half-finished.

Well, this time, we lucked out. We found a salt and pepper looking tile with a nice grit to it for the floors. We also found a rectangular white tile for the shower. We also found an alternating light and dark blue 1" glass tile to use as a decrative band in the shower. Everything was in stock. We paid for it and thought, "Now how do we get 35 boxes of 12" square tile home, plus 4 boxes of the rectangular tile"? Inspiration struck. I called Isidoro, Our Contractor. He was about ready to go out to Consejo for another job he has, but could take the time to pick up and deliver the boxes for us.

39 Boxes of Tile Ready To Use

And, there they are. After helping unload the boxes, I thought for sure that I would be hunting up the Diclofenaco back-pain pills we get here, but I again lucked out. My back stayed quiet - probably because of spending a good part of the afternoon in the pool.

We're making progress on the canal and on the guesthouse. Things are in stock. Apparently, we can get anything made at Texaco that we want. Life is good.