Catching Up On the Weekend

Well, let's see, where are we? Oh, we're right here. Even though Karl (with a 'K') didn't do significant damage, I've noticed several trees down around town. Right here at home, one of our coconut palms has developed a noticeable lean.

In addition to the lean, it's the cave-ins. I told you about those on the last posting. Here's an update.

Working On the Smaller Cave-in

We have two major ones inside the back yard and one right at the rear corner (north) part of the bulkhead deck. The guys spent a good part of Saturday digging them out. Monday, they'll pack them with rock, pound 'em into submission, cover them with marl, and we hope that's all that shows up.

Work on the Larger One

At one time, these cave-ins would have terrified me. Now it's just a part of living by the sea. It's gonna happen. Sure, I would rather they happen to someone else, but it's no real big deal.

In addition to filling cave-ins, the guys were also removing form materials from around our bulkhead deck.

Removing Forms and Sticks

I was struck by the view of the bulkhead decking from the pool deck, so that's why I took the next picture.

Boat Slip Deck From the Pool Deck

Sunday's are supposed to be quiet and sleepy. Not here. We had several visitors. Some of them were our Godson, Isaiel, his wife, Amarily, and their son, Joshua.

Isaiel had come in part to install the last of the burglar bars on the guesthouse for us. These were destined to go over the A/C units.

Here he's giving them a final wipe-down prior to installing them over the outside part of the A/C unit.

Final Wipe Down Prior To Installation

And then installing them went fast. Well, it did for me anyway. All I had to do was hold the ladder.

Final Bit of Installation

The other thing Isaiel had come for was to show us the new stacking table he had made a Dianna's request. We have a set of plain ones that he measured and used as a template.

What he produced in light-years better! These three tables are simply gorgeous. He fabricated the metal part of the table, hired a Mennonite carver to carve out the three tops, and then, he also added a 3/16" plate glass top for each table.

Isaiel's Gorgeous Stacking Tables

We're trying to convince him to display these at Art in the Park. We think they'd be a hit. They're beautiful, utilitarian, and, they don't take up much room when you're not using them.

Isaiel Proudly Showing His Tables

These are going to be a great addition to the furnishings in our guesthouse. We love them!

Got 'Er Done

Stealing a line from Larry the Cable Guy, a noted high-brow comedian, just seemed appropriate for today's effort.

Here we were, in the midst of TS Karl (that's Karl with a 'K'), with the wind which kept picking up, and the rain, which also was increasing its tempo, and here were the guys mixing cement and hauling the resultant concrete around to the canal area to fill in the deck for our bulkhead. I thought they were crazy, but what did I know. Our half is finished!

Here's the view of the completed pour from our fence looking to the canal.

The Pour Is Done

Another view looking around the bend and up the canal

The Big Picture

This one shows how the boat slip area looks after the pour.

The Boat Slip Area

This one, last of the pour shots, gives you a good idea of the slope. It looks steep in the photo, but when you're on it, you forget that it's sloped. Of course, when it ices up, it'll be a different story...

Showing the Slope

A few days ago, we had a conversation with a friend of ours regarding the need to fill the vacant lots. I took a couple of photos that are pretty self-explanatory.

Lots Beside US

Yes, you do need to fill, and serious consideration needs to be made to drain the property away from the road to the canal. That's what we did and it works well.

Looking Toward the Canal

Ok. That's the end of things till tomorrow. Oh, yes. I forgot to mention effects of K for Karl - we lost current for about 2.5 hours (not unusual in itself), we lost a branch off a small tree in the parking area, and we had an old deck umbrella blow from under the palapa into a planter bed. Short version: no problemo.

Workers will be back tomorrow, starting on Elsie's half of the project. Till then...

Whistle While You Work

I was all settled in, listening to the wind whipping around and the pitter-patter of rain falling on the zinc roof, when Dianna called to me, "Workers are here".

What? That can't be. They're not that crazy, or are they?

Just Workin' In the Rain...

Ah, what could be better than pouring a slab in the middle of a Tropical Storm? Not much, apparently. At least, according to our workers - "It beats doing it in the hot sun". I'll have to give them that, but I still think they're crazy.

Dumping A Loaded Barrow

They had to lay a boardwalk so the loaded wheelbarrows didn't get bogged down in the marl.

Smoothing Out the First Loads

Here's the first of the pour being smoothed out. Just a few more loads to go. Starting at around 7:30 AM, they'll more than likely be done before noon.

I just had to take a break for a second... One of the workers called to me. My Isuzu was parked right on the water hose they were using to fill the barrels for mixing. They had filled the barrels last evening to get ready for today and this was the first they had to turn the water on to refill. Oops. So, I'm sitting here dripping wet having just got back in from moving the vehicle out of the way.

Always A Clown

It's moving right along. Already the stack of bags is significantly lower than it was yesterday. I suppose I'll have to brave the elements in a bit to go out and take a few more fotos of the fun and games. At least it's a warm rain.

That's Karl With a 'K'

Yesterday morning we drove up to Santa Rita hill, beside the Corozal Hospital to visit the Methodist Eye Clinic, which is open on Tuesday mornings.

The Eye Clinic

We met Doug and Twyla there. Twyla was doing the same thing. Eventually, we all got in to see the technician, who from my perspective, gave a very competent exam. My right eye is really screwed up. I suffer from astigmatism, and have a developing cataract and some other stuff that causes straight lines to look wavy. An interesting thing to go through when you're trying to measure lumber and cut straight lines.

The left eye is apparently A-OK. The technician told me I need to schedule annual exams to keep track of the cataract and the wrinkling. Eventually, I'll need an operation for the cataract. I'm not sure there's anything that can be done for the wrinkling. Getting old is such fun...

While waiting at the clinic, I called Blue PC, a reliable local Internet Cafe and computer repair shop located right next to Central Park. I wanted to get his prognosis for my 2-year old laptop. Well, it looks like the motherboard is toast, so I'll begin shopping for a new laptop. Fortunately, I've already found someone to bring it down for me, so other than the frustration of moving everything (yes, I've actually been doing daily backups!) and installing software, it'll be a short time and I'll be back to normal. For this, I'm using my old, old Toshiba that I converted to Ubuntu Linux as an experiment and as a play toy. It works pretty good. It just doesn't have some of the software I've come to rely on for fotos, etc. But, I must say, since I've been forced to use the Linux machine, it's not half-bad as an OS.

Looks like we stand a chance of getting at least mildly whacked. Karl, a brand new tropical storm, grew up from an undefined group of showers and clouds that had been passing slowly by Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, etc.

Just yesterday morning, it was still looking kind of iffy - whether it was going to do anything or not. Well, POOF!, there it was - a tropical storm.

TS Karl - Courtesy NOAA National Hurricane Center

If it holds to this track, we might just get brushed. Hopefully, it won't go POOF!, it's a hurricane. We'll keep paying attention.

Actually,it was a little past 1:00 PM and we had just gotten to the Purple Toucan for the monthly Friendship Luncheon. I was talking to Charles and he informed me it was now TS Karl. Just before we left home to head there, I had checked its status on the Internet. How fast things change.

Of course, by the time we got back home, the guys working on the bulkhead had heard the news about Karl as well and were busy at work trying to get it ready to pour in the morning (assuming there's no rain at that time).

By way of a recap of the day, here's some shots I took that provide a pretty good recap of the day. The guys put in an almost 12-hour day, trying to get everything ready for this morning - hopefully before the rains from Karl arrive (right now, it's 1:47 AM and the rain has started, so I'm not sure if the pour will take place today or not).

Here's the Forms, Looking Good

This one shows the form laid up outside of the bulkhead itself, so that when poured, it becomes an integrated unit (I hope).

Forming A Nice Rounded Corner

Bracing On Outside of the Forms

This is a nice shot, showing the sticks used to brace the form as it hangs over the edge of the bulkhead.

Laying Rebar

The guys worked hard trying to get this all done for a projected pour for this morning. One of the last steps was placing and tying the rebar.

This Bit's All Ready For the Pour

Working Their Way Into the Corner

Boring Holes to Anchor Rebar

The rebar is all anchored into the fence footing, giving it an additional brace to hopefully keep it from slipping in the future.

Looking Straight Down On Anchored Rebar

This is an odd shot. You're looking straight down the fence to the rebar anchored in the footing - kind of disorienting.

Laying and Tying Rebar

I think it's safe to say that morning walkies is out of the question. By the time 5:45 (our start time) rolls around, the road will be a quagmire. Unless I miss my guess, I think the pour is going to be delayed a day or two as well. Oh, well. At least it's ready for the next step.

Somthing New Down the Hatch

Every now and then when we cruise through the market, we see something that just catches our attention. This morning was one of those days.

Pitahaya or Dragon Fruit

This is what caught our eye today. It's called Pitahaya (pronounced just the way it's spelled, for those who understand phonics). It's also called Dragon Fruit. Don't make the mistake of spelling it Pita Haya - that's apparently an Indian deity who even has a song written in his/her honor.

Anyway, Dragon Fruit is found all over central and south America, most of Asia, some of the middle east, etc., etc. It has three varieties - red, yellow, and white. This one looks red, but when you peel it, which is easy to do, it's white inside.

Ready To Eat

I know, it looks like we sliced up a poppy-seed muffin, but it's not. It's a pleasant-tasting fruit, quite moist and soft. You don't even feel the seeds. It's not too sweet either. Quite refreshing. It grows as a cactus, and is quite plentiful in season. I'm looking forward to having more.

Yesterday, I showed you a picture of the bulkhead work and it had like a wood shelf over the bags forming the bulkhead itself. I said they were going to change that. So, here's the result. There will be a lip or shelf extending out over the water a few inches, instead of the way they had originally intended to do it. Much better arrangement.

Bulkhead Work

Another view of the framing shows the view into the boat slip area. This shows a bit better how the framing is coming along.

Looking At the Boat Slip Area

Finally, here's a view that I haven't seen for quite a while - the pool and deck taken from the canal fence. The area in the foreground is destined to become a private little sitting and dining nook. Should be quite cozy when it's all done.

From the Canal

This 'n That

So, I know it's been a while since I made a posting. Here's some stuff to let you know what we've been up to.

For starters, Dianna and I paid a visit to Kim Longsworth's cabinet shop again. This time to order a medicine cabinet and mirror and a 2-door cabinet to go behind the toilet in the bathroom. I'm not sure of the time-line for those two pieces, but I'm guessing around the order of a couple of weeks. Kim is pretty fast.

When I went back to make the down payment for the cabinets, I took the opportunity to snap a shot of the wood tub, now finished. It is gorgeous. It truly is a work of art.

Kim's Wood Claw-foot Tub

As I understand it, the woman who asked Kim to make it, has reneged on the deal. So, anyone interested, it might be worth your while to talk to Kim about it. It definitely would make a statement in someone's mansion!

Not only does Kim do cabinets, but he has a whole showroom of wood products. He also does custom stuff (the tub, above, for example). Well worth the effort to stop and see his shop and showroom.

Some of the Other Things In Kim's Showroom

Lately, there has been more activity on our bulkhead alongside the canal. John's guys have returned and after a couple of days digging out behind the bulkhead where marl was still sloughing off into the canal - replacing that with a load of rock, then filling above the waterline with marl, as it should have been done in the first place, they've begun setting forms in anticipation of casting the concrete cap for the bulkhead.

Forms for Topping the Bulkhead

The picture above shows how they first started to set the forms. I didn't like that, as it would have left a gap under the cap (once the lumber was removed after casting). Now, they've gone straight up from the bulkhead then it will go out a few inches, allowing poured concrete to fully mesh with the bulkhead itself. A much better arrangement. I'll include a few more shots as work progresses. I think I see light at the end of the construction tunnel. Yea!!!

A sure sign, even though we still have hot temperatures and hight humidity, that things are beginning to cool down, is that Dianna has resumed gardening. Here's a shot of her working with Cindy in the front yard.

Cindy and Dianna Gardening

We've actually had a couple of nights where we slid under a sheet somewhere during the night. Gots to be cool to do that.

Our pool is still reaching 94° (f) during the day. I always get a chuckle because now is the time of year for all the Internet pool supply places to send out emails announcing end of season sales and info on closing your pool for winter, etc. In a couple of months, all we'll have to do is put a cover on it at night to keep the heat in the pool. It's year-round, baby!

Over the past couple weeks or so, crews have been clearing property next to us, I'm sure getting ready to sell it. The past few days, a grader has been over there smoothing out the land, and gathering the remaining wood stumps into piles to complete burning the debris. He was just about done this last Thursday, when he discovered one of the surprising features of land over a limestone base. Oops. Stuck but good. I'm guessing this Monday, they'll have someone tugging or pushing it out of the hole.

Victim of a Cave-in

It's not like they left it for no good reason for so many days. We have had a national holiday in between. Friday was a holiday to celebrate the Battle of St. George's Caye. This is considered now by scholars to mark the start of thoughts of Belizean independence. September 10, 1798, when Baymen fought the last of series of battles against Spain, who was trying to take Belize to add to their Mexican conquest.

There were a series of events around the waterfront in Corozal to celebrate, most involved music and some even included fireworks. A nice weekend.

And finally, yesterday while walking the dogs, I ran across Mayo Perez, one of the guys who built our guesthouse, getting ready to head out for a day of fishing with his two sons.

Mayo and One of His Sons Ready to Fish

In the photo above, his second son is just out of view to the right, holding the boat's painter. Looks like fun!

The Great Wall - The End Is In Sight

Our bulkhead, seawall, or the Great Wall, as I've been calling it lately, is nearing completion. At least this stage of it anyway. It now needs to sit idle for a month or two so that all the fill and the wall itself, has time to settle. Hopefully, the wall has already done its settling. Time will tell.

The Great Wall - Looking South

I know there's been a little interest in what went into the wall. Here's the tally to date:

• 1,825 - flour bags
• 60 yards - gravel (approx. 2,835 lbs per cu. yd. or 170,010 lbs total)
• 45 yards - sand (approx. 2,600 lbs per cu. yd. or 117,000 lbs total)
• 225  - bags of cement (110 lbs each or 24,750 lbs of cement)
• 1,200 feet - 3/8" rebar steel
• 6 - 20-foot long, 4" diameter PVC pipe (for drains and moorage posts)
• 311,760 lbs total / 1825 = 171 lbs per filled flour bag (not counting water content when wet)

And all that doesn't include the rebar, sand, gravel, or cement necessary for the beam and cap or sidewalk around the perimeter.

Walking On Around - Slip Area Looking South

And Looking North

I think it's actually looking pretty good. It certainly feels solid when you walk on the bags - being careful to avoid the rebar bits sticking up. Those will be used to bind to the beam when it's cast. Slso, there are still two more 4" PVC pipes to be positioned on my side of the boat slip area. They'll stick up about 6' above the concrete walkway to serve as moorage for a boat (some day, some day...).

Elsie's Side Looking South

To The Canal Entrance

Elsie's Side Looking North

Additing Fill

As you can see above, there's still a fair amount of fill to be added behind the wall. That will probably require a load of marl to be delivered so the workers can complete the fill. The two pipes above on the left that you see are simply drain pipes that Elsie had them insert looking ahead to when and if she builds a house on her property. She'll need somewhere to drain rainfall.

Right now, these are just positioned and in the ground till the need arises. I have the the same thing. Two pipes - one empties my house gutters and some driveway/parking area floor drains, and the other empties a french drain around the swimming pool and a couple more floor drains in the garden area. I'll also add the gutters from the guest house to that line, so as not to overload the one already draining the house gutters.

Once the workers finish with this bit of fill, then it really will sit for a month or two to settle. I'm really looking forward to having that done. It should really look good then.

The Great Wall Keeps Growing

It's been a while since I've updated the blog with progress on our canal bulkhead project. If you're a regular reader, you may remember my initial posting about the problem we had with our canal bank caving in. You can go to that posting here: (http://winjama.blogspot.com/2009/11/just-when-you-think-its-smooth-sailing.html).

There's several other postings and plenty of pictures showing the various stages of the project and the progress that's been made since November (Geez, has it really been going on that long?). If you go to the index along the right-hand side, click on it and scroll down to 'bulkheads' or 'canal bulkhead', you'll be able to see the rest of those postings.

This posting will bring you up to where we currently are with this project.

A Lot of Work

As you can see, there's been just a ton of progress. In the shot above, you're looking from the canal into the boat slip, with the guest house just beyond the fence. The tall flag pole-looking thing that's sticking up in the middle of the shot is actually a mooring bollard or pole. It will be trimmed down to six-feet above the concrete walkway that will be cast (you can see the gray line at the bottom of the fence. This marks the level of the walkway when it's cast). The remaining six-foot pole will be filled with rebar and concrete and have a rounded concrete dome on it's top.

The theory is (which I 'borrowed' from Pastor Doug's boat moorage, just up the canal), is that if canal water overtops the banks of the canal, and assuming we have a boat moored there, that the boat will simply ride up the poles and stay relatively safe and in proper position. That's the theory anyway.

Here's a few more pictures that will help give you a good idea of the work that has gone on. The project probably has used around two-thousand bags so far. I don't know how may bags of concrete, rebar, and loads of gravel and sand. A fair bit of all those materials though. I'll try to find what the tally is and post it later on.

North Side of Slip To Channel

From North End Looking South To Slip

Another View of the Slip Area

Showing Elsie's Side of the Slip And South

Elsie's Side South From the Slip

May and Craig and Dianna - Looking At the Project

Mae and Craig came over to drop off a big bag of books for Dianna's lending library (books are like gold down here). They wanted to see how the project as coming along, so I also took the opportunity to snap a few shots. They're also getting ready for an extended absence from the area. They're cashing in some air miles and taking a trip to Australia and Bali - the lucky stiffs. Not that I'm all that stoked on seeing Australia, but Bali has interested me ever since I saw the Balinese paintings by Paul Gauguin when I was eleven or twelve.

Once the guys get the walls done, then they'll let it sit for a month or two, so it has time to settle - both the bulkhead walls and the fill behind the walls. This will be before the beam or chain and the concrete walkways are cast. So, there's still a ways to go before it's finished.