Sunday Morning Grab Bag - Tuesday Morning Edition

Lynn and Pete, friends from Seattle, arrived Thursday afternoon, just in time to sit around under the palapa and have a nice cold Belikin.

Pete and Lynn Arriving at Casa Winjama

Of course, they came down for a bit of vacationing, but their overall purpose was to check up on the lots that they own. It'll be a few years before they're ready to make the 'great escape' and move down here, so in the meantime, a quick getaway every now and then keeps them somewhat sane.

Lynn Under the Palapa

Pete Relaxing After the Trip

Then, about sunset, we headed over to Corozo Blues for a couple of nice wood-fired pizzas.

Allow me to digress for a smidge here. A couple of days before Lynn and Pete arrived, we had gone to Orange Walk Town with David and Elizabeth, who're working diligently to try and get their new kitchen cabinets installed and functional. One of the major goals of the trip was to visit a couple of hardware stores to see if they could find drawer pulls and cabinet handles - which, surprisingly, they were able to in short order.

Of course, we had to go to Family Market while we were there. We drove by Panifacadora La Popular Bakery but managed to resist going in. I'm not sure that was a good thing.

Since I was running low on tee shirts, I really wanted to stop at the American store and see what they had available in the mens gently used tee shirt department. It's not unusual there to find tee shirts still with tags attached. Generally, these finds go for around $3.00 to $5.00 BZD. Quite the bargain. I managed to find a couple. Dianna and Elizabeth found a few tops and some other things.

Then it was time for lunch. We went to one of our favorite eateries over there at Carlos' Pizzeria. A nice break for lunch. After that it was back on the road and heading for home.

It was on our way out of town when Elizabeth called our attention to the two restaurants. Hmmm, which one to choose? We've never eaten at either one. Too much of a decision I guess.

Which To Choose?

So, back on the topic at hand now. Lynn and Pete have arrived and gotten settled in. Naturally, they wanted to freshen up a bit. And of course, the hot water wasn't working. Not even a whimper. I piddled around with the heater for a bit, deciding that I'd take a crack at it in the morning.

Dianna and I had looked at it just a few days before they showed up and had gotten it working after brushing out all the carbon deposits, rust, dead bugs and other debris. Of course it wouldn't work when we actually have company.

Well, the following morning, I popped the cover and attacked it with my trusty retired tooth-brush, which is great for getting into those hard-to-reach places to get rid of the soot, rust and fried critters - all to no avail, however. I could get the igniter to spark once in a while, but that was about it. We tried new batteries, cuss words and other incantations. Nothing seemed to work, but that I hot-foot (no pun intended) it over to Lano's Hardware and plunk down about $395.00 BZD for a new on-demand water heater.

A bit more cussing and gluing and drilling (I had to get a power tool in there somewhere) and we had it done. The damned thing works like a charm. A bit too well, according to Lynn and Pete. I've been working to get the water temp down to a pleasant 52-55 (C). While you're at it, check out the spiffy connections. Mr. Lann suggested I use the braided hoses as it would allow me to disconnect the heater much quicker if I needed to do some repairs. He also included a shut-off valve on the cold water (inlet) side. The man's a genius I tell you. What an elegant solution. Much better than glued up pipes.

New Water Heater For Pool House

Wasn't it just a couple of days ago I was repairing a faucet at the other end of our place in the well house? I think so. Kinda makes one wonder what else is going to crap out next? Oh well. At least that's about the size of most of my projects now. Our days of huge construction-type projects seem to mostly be behind us, so these little challenges are kind of fun. Expensive but fun.

We were glad that Lynn and Pete would be here for Friday's happy hour. We had a fairly good crowd with several new folks in town, in addition to Lynn and Pete.

Chatting At Happy Hour

Enough folks arrived that we began to run short of chairs for everyone. I think we may have to request folks think about bringing their own chairs if this keeps up. Either that, or we move the seating from the deck down to the palapa patio and take advantage of the bench ringing the patio.

Everyone Huddled in the Shade

Pete Enjoying A Cool One

Some of the new arrivals were new faces in the crowd - not just folks returning from the north. There was John, who had been in touch with me by email for a couple of months before coming down, so I was glad to see him. We also had Darrell, a younger guy who was down visiting, looking at the business opportunities of the area. I'm afraid I was really no help there, so I hope he got some good poop from some of the other folks. Then there was Larry, who had ridden his bicycle from the Sea Breeze Hotel. He had heard about happy hour from Stan, another friend of ours. Quite a jaunt for someone who doesn't do it every day. They all seemed like nice guys. I'm glad they could make it.

The One That Got Away

Lynn and Pete Enjoying Happy Hour

Both Lynn and Pete seemed to enjoy themselves at happy hour. Hopefully when they move down here, they'll be among the regulars.

Chuck and Jamie came, as usual, all the way from Orchid Bay. Jamie was showing off her new craft design, some hand-made Swiffer-like hand wipe things.

Jamie Showing Her Swiffer-Like Mitt

In All Their Glory

Chuck had designed a handle thing for the mitts. He designed and made a cast plastic piece that looked like a tuning fork that went inside the mitt. That in turn connected to a turned wooden handle which allows the user to keep their hands dry while using the mitt.

Chuck Showing His Custom-Made Handle

Lynn cooked for us last night, whipping up some shrimp gumbo from a Zatterain's box that she had brought down. It was pretty yummy. We've been introducing them to some of the roadside fare that's available here in Corozal. Some small tacos from the stand that is right in front of Gomez' Cemento Maya, on 7th Avenue (just across from the Uno station), and this morning to some meat pies from Vivi's (just down towards the water from Caribbean Chicken.

I think Lynn's going to prepare another dish for us this evening. If I remember, it too is a taco dish. So, I'm looking forward to that, for sure.

Tomorrow morning, they take their leave of us. They're going to be flying down to Placencia to spend some time on the beaches there. They'll be flying back to the states from Belize City when they leave Placencia. I hope they enjoyed their stay with us. It was fun having them here. We're looking forward to the day when they finally get down here for good.

Won't be much rest for us however. Tomorrow evening Vivien comes in from the colds of Canada (-27 (C) I think she said in a recent email). We've already told her that the pool is ready to go. She'll only be staying with us the one night, as her house is across the street from ours. It's sure going to be good to have her and Denis (whenever he shows up) here for a few months.

Sounds like we're running a damned guest house. Well, we're not, so don't even inquire about rates and availabilities and all that stuff. We don't do that.

This morning we met Doug and Twyla down at Al's Cafe for breakfast burritos and coffee. It's been at least two years since we've been to Al's. The food was every bit as good as I remember it too. I see the lady who waited on us at the market just about every morning. I think she was wondering how come we haven't come in, but she was too polite to say anything.

Just after we got home, our intention of having pool time was interrupted because of a small thunderstorm moving through the area complete with a little rainfall. I hope it clears up quickly.

I guess that is pretty much it for this edition. I'm sure I've forgotten something, but whatever it was, will just have to wait for the next edition.

Hard, Hot Work

Yesterday morning dawned as it frequently does here - picture perfect. We know this because almost every morning we walk the dogs into town. Depending on the season, that trek begins about 15 minutes before sunrise, or 15 minutes after sunrise.

On this particular walk, as we (Doug and myself, along with the usual gaggle of doggies) were going by the waterfront, we spied a young man diligently painting the underside of Christina's hatch cover. I thought it made a nice photo.

6:15 AM and Hard At It

After we got back from the walk, our work was getting set to begin. We've been plagued for quite a while with cloudy water. We were pretty sure our chemistry for the pool was finally under control and the water had become blue as it should, but it was cloudy. So much so, that standing in the pool, you couldn't see your feet. Not quite the effect you want.

Well, we'd had enough of that. We had decided to drain the pool, pressure wash the whole thing, and refill it to see if that made a difference.

As we drained the pool, it became obvious what the problem or culprit was. It was marl dust. This occurs during the extremes of the dry season, when the road bed marl becomes finer than talcum powder (reminiscent of Mt. St. Helens ash, for those of you who also lived through that experience).

We thought we had been pretty well free of it as the prevailing breeze pretty much always blew from east to west, directly away from our house. But, the problem is that the marl will even turn to dust in the absence of vehicles. A fine layer, to be sure, but there nonetheless. that layer, blowing around fairly constantly, always got into the pool, where it roosted in the wall and the floor of the pool. When Cody vacuumed the pool, it would be sucked up by the vacuum, only to flow right through the sand filter and be redeposited into the pool, since the filter was unable to trap such fine particles.

Along with the marl in the pool, Dianna wanted to tackle the remaining tiles that still had not been properly cleaned. We tried several things, muriatic acid (diluted, of course) and some other products. It seems that the only thing that really works is good old-fashioned elbow-grease - of course.

Here's some shots of the pool drainage and Dianna hard at work scrubbing the tile. You would not believe how hot the inside of that pool became.

Dianna Working to Clean Pool Tiles

Dianna Still Working on the Tiles

Thankfully, Doug and Twyla came over to help work on the pool. As hot as it was and as labor-intensive as the job became, the two of us would have been at it for another week.

The job would have gone faster if the main pump had sucked all the water out of the pool - as we thought it was going to do. Instead when it got down to about 3-4" of water in the pool, the pump, although sounding like it was working wasn't sucking... That sucked, big time. That meant we finished draining the pool with 5-gallon buckets, cups, hands, whatever we could find.

That process took about an hour and a half longer than we had thought the whole thing would take.

Here's a couple more shots of the pool drained and waiting for the final pressure washing.

Couple Views of the Pool Cleaning

Another View of the Pool Cleaning

Unfortunately, this is all the photos I took of the activity. It was such hot and hard work, with all of us sweating profusely (not just profusely, but gallons) that we forgot completely about photography of the pool cleaning party.

It took us till about 4:00 PM before we were satisfied that we had cleaned the pool sufficiently. Then we started filling it - a 7-hour process in it own right.

Also helping for a while were Lynn and Pete, who came over on their last day before heading back to Seattle.

We told everyone that we'd treat them all to burgers and beer at Scotty's, but Lynn and Pete had already made other arrangements.

So, after showers and dry clothing changes, Twyla, Doug, Dianna and I all headed to Scotty's. I think towards the end of the evening, all four of us were ready to fall asleep right there. We were all pooped out and sunburnt as well. We could all hear our beds calling our names.

Monday morning finds us refreshed and finishing the pool filling. I'm going to run a chemistry test of the pool as soon as that's done and then take it easy for the day. It may be pool time this afternoon.

About the filtering, I think I've found the solution for our problem. It's something called a slime bag. One of the options is that it will fit in plastic filter housings. I found them at Cleaner Pools.Net (http://www.cleanerpools.net).I think ganging two of them together and putting them in-between the vacuum and the skimmer will go a long way to solving our problem of the fine materials just shooting through the sand filter.

I'm not sure yet exactly how to set it up, hard-wired in before the big filter in the pump house, or make a stand for the two housings and plugging the vacuum into one end with the other end plugged in to the skimmer, and vacuuming away as usual. Further investigation is warranted.

I've also found the perfect waterfall/mosaic light. It's a waterproof 20" long LED light bar with 18 LED's in it that will mount just above the waterfall. It's 12Vdc, so as safe as can be and easy to install as well. I found it at elementalled.com (http://elementalled.com). It can even come with a dimmer to really control the mood lighting - and it's reasonably priced.

Well, that's all for now. I've got to go shut off the pool filler valve and do some testing. Makes me feel like Dr. Bunsen Honeydew... Where's my assistant, Beaker?

Time For a Now-And-Again Grab Bag

As often as not, and sometimes, mostly not, it's time for the Grab Bag of photos that document some of what we've been up to.

First up, Lynn and Pete visited us a short while ago. They're from Seattle and own a lot just across the canal from us. It'll still be a few years till they can retire (What a bummer!), but they do come down to visit every now and then.

When they came, they brought a couple of well appreciated gifts too. One of them rhymes with "computer". Anyway, it was nice to see them again.

Lynn and Pete

Pool Via Wide-Angle Lens

I took a few more shots here and there with my Canon SLR. Sure is nice to shoot with a real camera. I just don't like to run around too much with it.

Couple More Shots Using the Wide-Angle Lens

Enjoying the Deck, Using the Wide-Angle Lens

Last of the pool shots, here's a glimpse into the pool pump house. What a mess. I've been shopping for some shelving for it. Finally, I found some plastic shelving at Lydia's Emporium, on the north side of town. But, I still need to find a way to corral the growing stack of toys for the pool. It's amazing how quickly one accumulates these things.

Pool Toys in the Pool Pump House

I did shoot some of the inside of the house. I really like using my wid-angle zoom. It just covers everything so much better.

My Office - Neat As a Pin...

Our housekeeper, Edna or "Eddie", washing window screens. You would not believe how dirty those things get down here - especially since we don't have glass windows to stop air flow. They really act as filters for much more than just bugs!

Eddie Hard At Work

We thought we had lost Eddie some time ago, as she had moved temporarily to Mexico. Well, as soon as we found out she had come back to Corozal, we asked if she wanted to work for us again. Luckily, the answer was yes.

Here's a couple more shots with the wide-angle. This time of the kitchen and living room.

More Wide-Angle Shots

The Living Room

We've had workbenches on order now for some time with Comfort Rest Furniture Products, Ltd., here in Corozal. After several delays (not unusual down here, after all, it is Belize) we finally got Dianna's workbench. It's pretty crowded in these shots as she's just unpacking all her miniature hobby stuff.

Dianna's Workbench

Another View of Dianna's Workbench

Of course, not everything gets delivered at the same time. We're still waiting for my workbench to show up. And, there's a couple sets of storage shelves and a set of overhead cabinets for my workshop as well.

You can see from the photo below, that my workshop is ready for the workbench and cabinets... Maybe by Saturday, or possibly Monday, or... Who knows?

Wall Ready for Workbench and Overhead Cabinets

Some of the delays were due to weather - it was too wet with rain and humidity to apply finish to the workbenches, then, the van they use for deliveries, an old Frito-Lay van, broke a ball-joint coming back to Corozal with a load of lumber from Punta Gorda. The resulting accident sent the van into a ditch where it sat for two days till they could extricate it and the lumber.

Since we put in the swimming pool, Cody, our caretaker, has been busy building curbings to outline planting areas, etc. Here he is, putting "black dirt" into one of them.

Talking of black dirt, we made a new find. Something called "filo" (fee-low). It's actually the by-product from the rock-crushing operation at A-1 Gravel's crushing machine. It's some stone dust mixed with dirt that is cast off in the crushing process.

To look at it, it looks just like stone dust, but if you take a handful and rub it, it feels mostly like soil. And, it's really cheap. Like $10 a yard compared to $30 or so for black dirt. We'll probably still use black dirt when we dig a hole to plant a tree or something, but for general dirt in the yard for grass, etc., I think this is a find. It's certainly cheaper.

Cody Spreading Black Dirt

How about a couple more wid-angle shots? Ok, here's the canal, with pretty low water in it.

Looking North Along the Canal

Looking South Along the Canal

And, finally, a shot showing me walking the girls in the central, down-town park. This was thanks to Twyla this morning on our daily walk. She walks her two girls, Lola and Tupelo, and I walk Cindy and Secret.

Our circuit covers about 3-1/2 miles each day. We also stop and check the mail at the post office and the really big treat, stop at the market-place to purchase fruit, veggies and bones for the girls.

You'll notice Secret is wearing a back pack. Well, she has to earn her keep. She gets to carry all the fruit, veggies, bones, and mail, not to mention my jacket (it's been sooo cold early in the mornings, the past two weeks - like down to 60 or so). Lola has a similar pack.

I just ordered two more packs for Cindy and Tupelo. Cindy's will have to be tailored to fit. I've already consulted with Alex, a local street-side tailor, who is looking forward to modifying the new pack for her. Then all four doggies will be working for their goodies.

Dave and the Girls in Central Park