Monday, Monday

Just about 5:30 AM, the rain came down for a while, scratching another walk day for the doggies. They were so disappointed. But, beyond that, sunshine and more sunshine.

Here's today's work on the pool. Trenches being dug for Overflow, Backflushing, and rainwater collection through another French drain and 4" drains strategically placed. It appears one just can't have too many ways of getting excess water out of one's yard. And then, there's also trenching being dug for the deck wall footing that will be coming along very soon now.

Deck Footing Trench Underway

Same Here

Cody and Agusto spent some time this morning figuring out where the French drain should be placed to avoid conflict with deck support columns.

Cody and Agusto Discussing Trenching

After removing via motorized pump about 5 or 6" of water, the guys put a final coat of Diamond Brite down and got the corner angle done with it as well. Looks sharp!

Diamond Bright Properly Applied

Looks Bright!

With all the rain we've had in the past few days, until the louvered window arrives for the pump house door, I had to improvise with some leftover plywood. Not fancy, but it does the job. Protects the primary pump from water.

Makeshift Rain Protection on the Pump House Door

As John is getting ready to do the deck, side bracing has appeared pretty much all around the pool where the decking will be.

Wood Deck Supports Have Been Fastened to the Concrete Block of the Pool

More Wood Deck Supports in Place

Here's a couple more view of the pool floor with the final Diamond Brite applied.

Yessir! This Passes Muster

Yessir! This One Too!

Looking from the spa (still unfinished as we're waiting for the jets, which are supposed to be coming from California to Florida tomorrow. Then it should be about a week or so to get here via USPS, then installed, and then, And THEN, the spa will be finished and the pool can be filled up. (More on that in a bit).

The View From the Spa

Ok. Now we can talk about filling up the pool. The first shot below shows water coming into the pool directly from the well. It'll take a couple of hours to fill the pool about half-way.

Water Entering Pool

By the way, that's a tile placed to prevent erosion of the new Diamond Brite. It's not a permanent feature.

And, as it's filling up, I just couldn't resist getting into it and enjoying. Here, it's almost deeper than our wading pool. Speaking of the wading pool, we turned the motorized pump on it and drained it in a few minutes into the new pool. 1,400 gallons of water reused and not wasted.

Dave Enjoying A Wade

John turned on the 2-hp pump. It works great. Our two inlet jets (other than the 3 jets for the spa which aren't installed yet) are working very well - strong, but not overpowering.

Cross-Jets In Action

These two shots were taken about an hour apart (notice the shadows, well, and the depth).

The Pool Is Definitely Filling Up

An Hour Later

The instructions from John were to continue filling the pool till the water is 1" below the seat of the spa. I think I fulfilled that mission. I sat on the steps for a while too. They are very comfy to just lounge on them. Can't wait to try the spa.

1" Below the Seat

Just When You Thought It Was Over...

It ain't over.

But first, I must digress.

Here's a couple more pictures of our newest family member, Cindy. She's about a year old, has had one litter of pups, and just got "tutored" by Dr. Sheila. So, she's still moving a bit slow from that. She's an excellent watch dog, doesn't like motor scooters, squeaky cars or ambulance sirens. She sings really nice when the sirens sound off.

Cindy Practicing "Sit"

Getting Some Lovin'

Next door, Elsie's lot has a shitpot-full of loads of fill. Like on the order of 58 or so (we had 52 on our lot). Here's Edgar Sosa using his Cat to level those loads.

Ed and His Cat

Part of the load delivery process is keeping track of which trucks brought how many loads. I advised Elsie to hire someone to do just that, and suggested Anthony (Cody's brother) would be ideal for that as Craig had hired him sometime back to do that very thing. So she did.

Anthony Tracking Load Delivery

Here's Elsie's lot pretty much level. The bit around the trees will have to be done by hand. So, she'll have to hire someone to do that sometime down the road.

Elsie's Lot - Canal Side

and Street Side (right)

So, now, to the topic at hand. Just when you think it's over, it ain't over. Heck, the fat lady hasn't even begun to warm up yet.

I hired Abraham on a contract basis now, to "cast" the floor downstairs. That also entails footings for the walls. So he brought on his older brother (a major in the BDF) and two young guys from their village to do most of the grunt work.

Footing Trenches Everywhere

Digging Footing Trenches for the Generator Room

The other project that is still proceeding along is Cody's work on the curbing. He's a little better than half way done with that now. Then, we'll being in black dirt for the planter areas and gravel for the driveway and walk areas.

Trenches and Curbing Everywhere

Of course, cutting and bending rebar or "steel" as it's known here, is an integral part of the job.

Cutting Steel

Bending Steel

Here's a couple more pictures of the trenching going on.

Trenching Underway

More Trenching

We've got so much going on, we even had the sandwich guy stop yesterday to sell us drinks and sandwiches - carried now by his bicycle. He used to use a motorcycle and a trailer to conduct his business. But, with the change in administration now, they jerked his letter of authorization and his license. Seems that hauling a trailer behind his bike was illegal, especially since he usually had someone (wife or kids, or both) on board to help with sales. the letter allowed him to use the trailer.

Apparently, he must have voted for the losing party, ergo, jerk his ticket. He has applied to the new administration for a continuance of the letter. We'll hope it get approved. It's a nice feature having hot breakfast sandwiches and drinks. The old "roach coach" is alive and kicking down here.