Falta de Drenaje?

Domingo 20 – Sábado 26 Enero 2013.  (Sun 20^th) Last night Carmen told the cats that they did not need to get us up early because the workers would not be here today. Well, there was a slight misunderstanding apparently. Gardi let us sleep only six minutes longer. Thereafter, he loudly told us, for the next hour, that it was his breakfast time. Dan somehow managed to fall back to sleep. At the end of the hour, the cat changed tactics. He got on the bed to give us pets and kitty kisses with purrs. Okay, we got up. After breakfast Dan had his hair cut. Actually Carmen was enjoying his hair longer, so she had put off the haircut for a few weeks.

After catching up on emails, Dan later started putting in the new electric circuit in the kitchen. This involved drilling thru the electric service box and the wall behind it, and attaching surface wiring elements to the wall behind where the refrigerator sits. The line will extend further under all the kitchen base cabinets and past the sink and range. In preparation for the drilling thru the cabinet walls, made of stuccoed brick, Carmen cleaned the contents off the upper shelves where the drill dust would land, Putting all the kitchen appliances on the one circuit for which we have additional space in the box, will leave all the remaining wall outlets in the house on another circuit. Carmen blogged and then caught up on some Spanish lessons.

Have you ever fried or charcoal broiled green onions that have a nice sized bulb on them? We fried them in olive oil for lunch today. We are especially fond of them. Yes, the green and bulb part. Other than cooking heat and hot water heat, we have no heat going inside our house during our cold winter spell. Temps up to 60ºF today outside and 66ºF inside. Looking forward to sun again. No rain today, just a white-gray sky.

Dan finished the day just as dark settled in, with a quick wacking of our tiny front patch of grass. Would you believe – a small dog had come thru our fencing and left its droppings on the grass, which of course Dan stepped into and then Carmen got it on the broom as she swept his shoes off. Nice way to end a day. Wasn't really the end. We read awhile before sleep took over.

(Lun 21^st) Another cloudy day. The sander was returned in full working order and all for about US$30, the cost of replacing the two main bearings. Our carpenter stopped by and removed the window that needs rebuilt. Left the glass with us to be put in when he returns with the frame. He took the cat door with him to be fitted into the bottom part of the window frame. Our fellows cut a piece of plywood to cover the window hole. They treated, sealed and stained the mirador decking planks today, and also plastered the wall where we had bricked in where we had removed two of the three laundry windows, narrowing the opening.

Carmen painted bathroom and what a horrible time she had. The paint ran down the walls, even with the tiniest amount on the brush! Never used anything like this before. Being that she is painting over a dark peachy pink, two coats will be needed. Dan installed his new printer, it's good to have scanning and copying ability back in-house.

Dan went to the water department to see when the engineer was coming here to tell us where we could tie into the sewer line passing by our back gate, that he had told us was there, somewhere. The city water department now tells us that there are no sewer lines on Avenida 21 where we planned to connect our new drain line for the new bathroom. How can there be a total lack of drainage (falta de drenaje) on a street with four lots (three occupied with houses) on one side, and the other side platted for at least that many more?  Our presumed options:  we can go up hill to Calle 11 (where there is a sewer line buried 12' below the road surface, so the slope would not be any problem, but the digging a major expense) or hope a new line is installed soon on 21st. We saw a new line installed a few blocks from here – so maybe. We have seen the plat for many houses the other side of the avenue, so surely the city will put a sewer line in to service them, and not let the sewage all run into the stream at the bottom of the hill. Right?

(Mar 22) Birds are singing. Carmen spent last night hanging over the toilet. No idea what caused the problem, but why did it have to be after eating peanuts? Thankfully Dan has been okay. Carmen did a second coat of paint on the shelving only today. If it will cooperate and dry before night time falls, we will be able to get the items out of the shower and back on shelves. Took nearly 24 four hours for the first coat of paint to dry. The can say the paint is semi-gloss, but in this small room it seems like full gloss! Carmen does not like gloss paint, but at least it's water cleanup and has little odor going on. Dan did his best at telling her how easy it will be to clean. The color is nice, nearly white with an ever so slight lime green cast. The hand-painted wall tiles in this bath are deep green with bright sunflowers.

Our crew banged away on the area above the laundry opening a vent in the wall for the water-heater combustion exhaust to go, and putting up the first deck planks on the mirador. Dan has started reading a new book just received from the Anacortes library. Carmen needs to get her trusty spanish dictionary and try to translate her way thru a book written in spanish.

(Mie 23^rd ) The crew was here earlier than usual today. Close to 7am instead of later...must have caught a quicker bus. We talked to Guy on skype and left our house at 8:45am. Drove into Fortín center and dropped off some recyclables at the grocery store, drew our daily quota from the bank and stopped at the post office to return the letter (from Germany) that was delivered to us wrongly—it will probably be some time to convince the postman that all letters from foreign countries don't necessarily come to this pair of gringos. Next IMSS again. There til 12:30pm. Carmen was finally okayed for a consult with the rheumatologist in Orizaba. Must go back again next wednesday for the appointment time.

We made a pastry stop at Chedraui, and also bought some veggies, fruit and cheeses. The specialty breads here are delicious, and in small loaves. There was also a new item today – a bran bar that was nice and moist and most flavorful, plus the price was right. On to Home Depot, where we purchased more electrical fittings, plumbing parts, caulk, and metal flashing for the roof edge. Spent much time looking at light fixtures for bathroom. Also Dan talked to an office person about restocking a specific screw we're using to put on the decking planks. At first she checked with another person and he said it would be two to three months. Dan's jaw dropped and he looked so appalled that she made some phone calls, and then happily told us they could be in next week, as they would raid their stock in Veracruz City for us. Which will it really be?

Drove our 4.8 miles home and arrived about 3:30pm. Dan immediately drove to the water department to talk to the engineer about where we must connect our sewer line. The techs were all in a meeting, so he was told to show up tomorrow first thing. Back home, Dan now called the tile store that was supposed to make a delivery this past monday. They are to check out the problem and call back. Had a quick bowl of soup before Dan left taking the crew to their bus. Phone rang while Dan was driving the guys to the bus stop, plus he was stopping at FortiFerre to place a large order of rebar, blocks and brick for tomorrow's delivery. Carmen did not answer the phone, knowing if it was anyone other than the dental assistant, she would be unable to understand a good part of the message.

(Jue 24^th) Dan went to the water-sewer department to learn that a crew was coming out to view the situation in about a half and hour. They, all seven, arrived an hour later than they said they would, and much discussion about locating where the present drain lines run. This happened just as the FortiFerre delivery was being made. Mass confusion all in the same spot. As a result we were nearly late for the dentist where Carmen spent 2.5 hours. A temporary bridge was put in, which Dr Soley made while we were there.

Since we were in Córdoba, we drove to the El Gigante tile store to see why our tiles had not arrived past monday as promised. Were told that they were being delivered today. Sure enough when we got home – there they were. Knowing that we would spend several hours at Home Depot, we got smart and took a snack with us instead of waiting until late late afternoon before we ate again.. Nine or more hours between nourishment is just too much for Carmen to handle. Finally decided on the light fixtures for several places. While we were gone, the crew dug ditches for footers and put the tied varilla (rebar) in the footings.

(Vie 25^th) Lots of activity today! Crew worked on the foundation for the new bathroom. Carmen put the second coat of paint in the upstairs bathroom. She still must finish the area above seven feet height opening into the bathroom, but that might get painted white like the ceiling. Also need to paint part of an outer wall and ceiling. These areas have not been sealed from possible water damage from outside, so they'll wait for awhile. Dan installed a light fixture we bought yesterday, in the living room, and completed the new surface-wired and below counter kitchen appliance circuit.  The light fixture looks so good, we decided we will buy more and replace all the white bare-bulb ceiling sockets on the first floor.

The fellows from the water-sanitation department were here again trying to figure out where the waste water flowed from the registros along Avenida 21. Oh horror of horrors, while Dan was speaking to the engineer he discovered that, no matter where we connect to any of the sewage lines here – they all drain into arroyos south of the city! There are plans for a treatment plant between Fortin & Villa Union, into which the lines will converge, but so far no funds have been appropriated, so that's many years away. Not quite the middle ages with open sewers along the curbs on the streets, but definitely a bad situation. So – this is why all toilet paper goes in waste cans instead of toilets. That way the paper goes into a land fill instead of into the creeks. We never thought to check where our sewage went to before settling here. We'll need to change some habits, and investigate some composting alternatives.

(Sáb 26^th) Our cabinet maker (ebanista), Melitón,  arrived with newly built window and kitchen cabinet. They look just like they were always here. Both look great now that he installed them, which took from 9:30 til 2pm. Melitón touched up a couple installation scratches on the cabinet and Carmen's hair got momentarily stuck in the fresh varnish. He also had to put the window together, besides drilling and screwing into concrete wall to hang the cabinet. We decided we will have him build the two cabinets we need in the bathroom. Our crew of abañiles (masons) laid up the rest of the foundation for the bathroom walls, with a stemwall of two rows of blocks, topped with a cadena (beam) bonding the stemwall together.  The also set up the rebar for the castillos (posts) that will tie the walls to the ceiling and floor.

Later Dan installed the cat door at the bottom of the new window, with Carmen's assistance. Did a quick bank run when we were putting the car to bed for the night. Was such a beautiful evening with many people in the park. Dan wanted to stay for a while, but Carmen realized she had dirty-fronted clothes on and would not wander about other people, looking like that. First evening as perfect as this in what seemed like a long time—Spring seems to have arrived (after less than four weeks of nights around 50F). Guess we made it thru the winter here with no problem...still we expect a few cooler nights for a number of weeks yet.

Muchas Compras

Domingo 13 – Sábado 19 Enero 2013.  (Dom 13^th) What a way to start a new week! Though if sunday is the last day of the week – the day of rest, perhaps we ended our week with this happening. Our neighbor Juanita about seven houses down gave us some of her homemade special gorditas, in the style of Guanajuato, where she is from. Our favorite filling in these small tortillas was a potato blend. There was also one of green chilies that was hot, but not too hot, one of a meat with red sauce and one of tripe, which Carmen just would not put in her mouth, but Dan enjoyed. (In return, a couple of days later, we returned her bowl filled with homemade snickerdoodle cookies, since that was the current kind of dough in our freezer. When Carmen makes cookie dough, she always freezes part of it instead of baking off the whole batch. So very nice to bake a few cookies at a time in our toaster oven.)  Again we say that people here are really friendly. Maybe it is just that we have time, without working, to be more friendly to all around us?

Dan worked on flashing the wood subroofing on the marquesina over one window. Testing the sheet-metal channel piece we found at Home Depot, to see if we are going to do this to all our windows, and all along the roof edges. Trying to prevent rot around the exposed wood there. The beams are not structural at least, but they do look nice. Later in the day we walked into the center of Fortín to get a sunday periodico. Carmen sputtered about this long walk, assuring Dan there was a closer place to buy a newspaper – we just did not know where. On the way home, there it was – papers being sold at a small store but two blocks away! Dan does pick up good info from reading the paper here. This is where he discovered that we could get a discount on our property taxes. This week he learned that we could get an annual pass for the Fortín autopista exit at the booth north of town. This would be great if we commuted on this route, but paying the about US$14 per year does not make sense for our rare if ever use of the highway, since we travel around on the libre roads between the communities here.

We are still debating whether or not to get the special card that allows us, as retired people, to get discounts on all public transportation and museums, etc. We sometimes are given discounts on buses anyway – think it is our gray hair, or maybe our increasing wrinkles, so Carmen is using this as an excuse to keep her hair gray, though Dan prefers her as a blonde. And let's face it – the saying goes that blondes are supposed to have more fun. We are definitely having a most enjoyable time here as it is. The velador stopped by today as usual to collect his 15 pesos or US$1.13 a week for his night time block watch job.

(Lun 14^th ) A full day out and about, first in Cordoba and then in Orizaba. Arrived at Home Depot by 7:30am, trying to decide on the bathroom floor tile, to see which coordinates best with wall and trim tiles we have seen elsewhere. Some decisions are much harder than others. We have not seen any tile for our floor that we especially liked, other than at Home Depot. There are three here that might work for us. We snapped pictures of these on the digicam to take with us on our searches elsewhere. While here we did purchase electrical boxes and water seal for our wood beams.

Carmen had to be at our IMSS family clinic for another nutrition consultation at 10am today. The nurse in charge of this specialty had been in a meeting since 8am and finally arrived for the office appointment, only an hour late. We at least had comfy chairs to wait in. We have still learned nothing new from her. We already know all about it – how and what to eat, exercise required, etc – most of which we do anyway. She would like Carmen to continue losing weight, however her doctor in the US told her not to lose any more at her age. The IMSS nutrition specialist is hoping that more weight loss will bring down her cholesterol counts. Always good to hope.

We got home about noon, after a quick stop at Metalurve for caulk. Had lunch and then drove west – Cordoba is east – to Orizaba, where we hoped to find more alternatives for floor tile (loseta), and for the walls and trim (azulejos). What a time we had there. Never saw sooooooo much traffic with no parking spots available – even blocks away. Orizaba is a beautiful city, but it was laid out before the automobile age. So it's attractive, and interesting architecturally, but best visited when you're not responsible for driving thru it. Finally got lucky, finding a parking space adjacent to the large Alameda park on the west side of town center. What a beautiful park this is. We saw a group of folkloric dancers entertaining on stage here two Novembers ago.

Okay – so we had looked in our trusty phone book for tile stores. Four possibles within several blocks of each other and all along the wide Avenida 6 from fourth to twelfth street west. The weather was good for strolling thru the maddening crowds. We then drove to another tile store a ways off from these four, right thru the narrow streets near the public market. Positively no parking here, but by then it was after 2pm and things were shut down for the two hour lunchtime break. We still have not found exactly what tiles our hearts desire. Stopped at the Chedraui on our way out of town, heading back towards home. They make most delicious donuts, so planned to stock up. Only a few there today, plus not the ones we prefer, so that stop was disappointing!. Left our car in their underground parking area and walked a block to a Chinese buffet. Really great variety and good today.

On our drive home, we were just too tired to stop and buy a pineapple in Cuautlapan, even though they were being sold right off the trucks along the road and they did look especially sweet. When we got back just before the end of the crew's workday, we found that the roof tiling was finished, and they had been cutting up some of the remaining tiles to cap our property walls (muros). The mirador is just about ready for the beams and wood decking.

(Mar 15^th) Dan and Luis went to Frank & Ania's house over on Calle Paraiso to borrow his table saw. Manuel and his wife were working there. They had to disassemble the saw to get it to fit into our car.'s trunk The crew needed to trim the vigas (beams) and tablones (decking planks) that will go into building the roof top mirador. Overriding Dan's hesitation, Luis insisted we borrow Frank's belt sander from the new house site too. Luis and Jose worked on processing the wood while Heri and David worked on the laundry roof, cutting channels in the walls for the security fence poles, and they also cut the parapet wall to create a wee passageway that goes between the laundry room roof and the eventual terraza over the bathroom.

While Dan was gone, Carmen scrubbed the kitchen floor, so that it would be clean when the cabinet maker arrived. She just had a feeling he would be by today – and he was. Got a good price, we think, on the cabinet, and he will rebuild the window for the office also. If all goes well, we will next ask him to build two more gabinetes for the bathroom. He also made a quote on refinishing all the cabinets in the kitchen – a job we did not ask for or want done, plus it seemed high.

Luis informed us that today would be Jose's last day. Did not understand exactly why. Seemed that he could not work so far from home and continue with his schooling. Glad to hear that he has these priorities. Luis has another fellow he will bring into the crew tomorrow. A 17 year old named Alfonso, who he has worked with before.

(Mie 16^th) Alfonso joined the crew and they ripped and sanded roof deck boards today, and worked more on the laundry roof. Dan ordered block & drain pipe from FortiFerre, to be delivered tomorrow. Today has been light drizzle and a cold 50 degrees, then it started to seriously rain. Guys are too cold to work all day, so they decide to leave after eating lunch. As Dan took them to the bus stop, he and Luis decided that they might not be in to work tomorrow if this weather continues, which it is supposed to do, so they stopped by FortiFerre to let them know that they should not make the delivery unless Luis called them in the morning, since Carmen and Dan would not be home to take the delivery.

On the way home, Dan stopped by the Fester store to buy some backer rod – a flexible closed cell foam extrusion, to fill the cracks around the windows where cold air was infiltrating. We spent the next hour sealing windows and it has really helped.

(Jue 17^th) As expected, no crew today as the weather is worse, colder and rainier. We left home at 7:30am and got home again at 5pm after many stops and lots of money spent. After finding some needed sanding belts at El Clavo, we headed immediately to the El Gigante store in east Cordoba. We had scoped this store out earlier, knew their selection of azulejos and today made our purchase, which they will deliver next week. We took one only of the walls tiles to match against the floor tiles we liked at Home Depot.

Carmen spent two and a half hours in Doctor Soley's dentist chair, with work done on the second root canal. We bought the Brother printer at Ofix that was ordered some time ago, and then headed off to Home Depot. We shopped hard here, eliminating two of the three floor tile choices,comparing them to the wall tile sample we had with us. Choose a water-saving toilet (sanitario) and handsink (lavabo) set. We will use the mirror and sink, then adapt the included cabinet for bedroom use. The azulejos and bathroom appliances will be delivered to our house tomorrow.  

(Vie 18^th) Spent lots of time trying to get the authorizing papers for Carmen's appointment with the IMSS reumatologist in Orizaba. We waited in one line where we learned she had been denied, so we had to stand in a second line to talk with the clinic chief who could contact this hospital clinic again. The clinic head was at a lecture, and didn't get back to her office until one hour before she was to leave at 1pm. Fortunately we were in the head of this line. Altogether, four hours at IMSS. Supposedly her paper work will be ready next wednesday. Another visit to Home Depot where we selected faucet sets for the shower and sink, safety grab bars and pricey stuff like that. We headed home with another stop at Metalurve to buy the wall mounted flex-hose shower set that will go with our new faucets. – buying more good things for our bathroom that is about to be started.

Really a week of heavy-duty shopping (compras).  When we got back we found that Home Depot had made their delivery while we were gone, and oh yes, to find out that the borrowed sander had burned out. Dan had to immediately go back out in the car to try to find parts to repair it. The crew left at 5:30pm as usual and had to walk to their bus stop. Dan finally returned home after a 2 hour search to the far edge of Cordoba, visiting more than ten stores and repair shops, finding no brushes that fit the very rare Oakland belt sander. He did find some too large that he hoped could be reshaped to fit. During his absence, someone came to the door to ask something about pintura (perhaps he wanted to paint the house—at least once a week someone stops to offer their services for jobs like this), but Carmen turned him away unable to understand what the message was. What a day!  While we were gone today, the guys had hoisted the support beams up to the roof, and the mirador substructure is now fixed in place.  Dan had persuaded Luis to wrap the beams in pieces of asphalt roll-roofing, and pin them into the concrete walls for a secure foundation for the deck.  Looking good

(Sáb 19^th) Luis spent some time with the sander brushes trying to fit them, and did get the maquina working. But now he called Dan over to listen to the sounds it was making. They determined it was a main bearing going out. We already know that this rare brand is unknown in all the repair shops in the city. Finally it was decided for Luis to take the sander home with him and ask a repair man he knows to try to fix it if he can. We took off for Home Depot and made a sander purchase. The previous sander used was a belt sander, so the crew is not too happy with the random-orbital sander we purchased. but at least the work can continue

The Sayer paint that was supposed to be here this past wednesday, was delivered today. Dan was not home yesterday when they brought it by--so that guy who we thought wanted to paint the house was actually trying to deliver and collect for the paint. Sunny day today! The steel pipe fence posts which will hold the chain link fencing up around our laundry building parapet and property walls, were concreted into place, and Dan cleaned up all the clamps. A roll of fencing, the galvanized pipes/poles and a box of fittings were left here by the previous owners, so we decided to use them in our project. Maybe we can later persuade some flowering vines to use this fencing as a support of climbing up high. We removed the glass bottle shards that had been installed in the concrete on top of the walls, so things are definitely looking nicer out there.

Cuentas de Predial y Utilidades

Domingo 06 – Sábado 12 Enero 2013.   (Dom 06^th) Carmen finished up with the final entries in the blog post covering last week. Dan proofed, and added a few more comments. Then Carmen proofed and edited some more. We go back & forth this way until everything seems perfect to each of us, and yet when its posted we likely as not will find a few additional errors to correct. Dan posted the blog from the netbook and turned the little computer over to Carmen, who downloaded a book from the Anacortes library. She spent the rest of the day reading the epub book and jigsaw puzzling. Dan shifted over to the office computer and added some pictures stored there into the blog. Beer battered chayote squash for lunch. Like delicious tempura. Dense fog all day – truly living in a cloud forest today.

(Lun 07^th) After trying to find a way to pay our electric bill online, with no success, we knew we had to go into the Fortín office and pay in person. Thought we should also deal with our property taxes and other utilities too today. First we stopped at the water & sanitation department to drop off the “solicitud” Dan worked on yesterday, asking the engineer to come out to locate the sewer line near our house. Since we hadn't received a bill for our property taxes (impuestos prediales), which are due this month, we went into the municipio building to ask how to get a bill. They directed us to the Centro Deportivo, the city sports center, which was set up to receive payments. It's only a couple of blocks away, but when we arrived, there were huge lines extending outdoors, and lots of people waiting in the bleachers – we will try another day.

Next we walked in to the Cablecom office back north across from city hall, to inquire about why we received a bill for telephone service, about US$25 or so. We had understood that telephone was part of our bundled cable bill. Yes, the phone bill is part of the cable bill – they mail us a copy of the bill so that we can keep track of our phone calls, and the monthly charge on the bill can be ignored.

On we meandered a few blocks north to the CFE building to pay the electric bill. Carmen waited holding a place in line while Dan investigated the machine that sits in the lobby there. It reads the bar code on the bill, and asks for the amount due. Dan put money in the slot and out came the proper change. Very slick! In doing so, he did not see that any receipt was issued, so he came up into the office to ask the secretary there how one got a receipt. She showed him where it was issued, silently, from a slot at the very bottom of the machine. He picked up the receipt there and found it was for someone else. He saw a women just walking out the door, called her and traded her receipt for ours, which she had picked up without checking the name printed there. The machine works great, and we'll use this next time until we can figure out the online thing, as the lobby with the cash machine in it is open all the time.

 

Now being north of the main east-west avenue thru town, we took the opportunity to walk east on Avenida 2 thru an area new to us, past a huge landscaped estate and the grand Hotel Fortín. Not all the streets pass thru this area, so by the time we got back to Avenida 1 it had changed into the Fortín-Córdoba boulevard, just opposite the new Bodega Aurrera. We trudged back west uphill to the Fester store and inquired about some caulking foam backer rod, which we haven't been able to find down here so far, but we had noticed some on a shelf here in 1/4” diameter size. We would like 5/8” or 3/4” to fill some major cracks between the windows and lintels, spaces that let in geckos and other critters. The lady would check with their supplier. (She called a few hours later and said she could only get it in 1/4” and 3/8” sizes, and we'd have to order the 3/8” in a full carton.) Home again after a good walk.  While we were gone, a couple of the guys framed up the formwork for the new concrete shelves in the laundry, and the roof tiling moved forward.

(Mar 08^th) We drove towards Córdoba on the bulevar to the DHL depot to drop off the monitor for shipment back to HP in Guadalajara, following the instructions in the email Dan received. The DHL employee told Dan that they would not take his malfunctioning monitor until they had received the new one from HP. Since a physical one-for-one exchange was not what the email had specifically said, Dan was a little confused until the clerk explained the procedure. (After we got home he called the HP office on their 800 number and was given a tracking number for him to know when it would arrive here in Fortin. He checked and found that it had left the HP warehouse in Guadalajara and was now in the DHL center in Mexico City.)

Stopped by the IMSS hospital to get papers for Dan's next doctor appointment and make the lab test date. Tried to get Carmen's papers for her Orizaba appointment and was told they will not be ready 'til next thursday. Walked the long blocks to see if the ordered printer was in at the Ofix store yet. Nope. On the way back to the car, we saw a meat mart catering to restaurants, which is half a block from the hospital. Browsed thru there and found really good prices. Kept our purchase down to a kilo plus of beef arrachera or marinated flank stead. So delicious------

Spent a good bit of time today visiting stores selling floor & wall tiles, and some bathroom fixtures, getting some idea of the purchase decisions we'd need to make. The last tile store happened to be at the east side of Córdoba. Across from it was what in the US we used to think of being a “little Mexico” shopping area, including a grocery where we purchased a few items of interest. Before leaving the city we shopped at Home Depot, seeing what their tile and fixture selection was like, and where Dan picked up some electric boxes he knew we'd need for the bathroom project.

Before going home, we stopped at the sports center in Fortín again and this time the line was not so long, so we started our property tax payment process. People here are so friendly and helpful. We got thru the first office where we had the tax bill printed out, after Dan pointed out his name on the bill was printed incorrectly, due to the different name order we use in the US. Here names are normally ordered “first name - paternal last name - maternal last name” --so the bill had his middle name appearing as his primary last name. This was changed and the bill printed out again, so we could proceed to the line where payments could be made. While waiting to proceed we looked at the bill in detail, and then discovered several more errors on the paper. The property address/location was the same old one we had been fighting with when we made the house purchase. So, we decided to bail out of the line and come back another day with proof of all the changes we needed to make with the documentation.

(Mie 09^th) Considered another walk into town to finalize the property tax payment, but got involved with taking apart the final pallets, the bottom parts of the shipping liftvans This material will be used for formwork of the ceiling of the bathroom and floor to the terraza above. Grueling work in the hot sun, but we got all the disassembly done and the nails and staples pulled out of the wood. Trying to get a hold of a carpenter who left his card with us in July. Seems that his line always has a busy signal. Perhaps we do not know how to properly dial here.

(Jue 10^th) Finally more was done on Carmen's teeth. Another root canal – next door to the former one. Turned out to be worse shape than the first. How lucky she was to have no pain. After this two hour ordeal, we did several other stops before returning home. DHL had received the new monitor to replace the one we had purchased in the US, so we made the swap. Buying from our last computer from HP provided us with an international warranty, as it turned out, a very good decision we made back when anticipating our move to Mexico.

We thought we would try again to pay our property taxes. This time the fellow happily typed in all the changed info – like the avenue number that had been changed from 19 to 21, and the fact that this address is in the colonia of Las Azaleas, and not Los Encinos. Also Carmen's name got put on instead of just “y/o cop” (and/or coproprietor). Next we had to wait but a couple minutes to go into the other office to pay. We asked for and did indeed get our discount of 20% for our age. Also one pays his garbage collection bill at this time. Garbage is collected twice a week and costs us US$1 a month. The extremely low property taxes here (less than 2% of those NoB) surely makes it more reasonable for us to live here than in the US. Makes it possible for us to take a vacation which would be financially impossible otherwise.

Went across the street and down a block to the paint store. Finally decided on a color – other than the present pink - for the upstairs bathroom. Now that the space over the bathroom (where the tinaco sits) has been freshly painted with red Acriton impermeabilizante and freshly beveled at the bottom of walls with a concrete chaflan, we feel good about chipping away the flakey areas of paint on the ceiling and changing the color of this room. The manager of the store was happy to see us. Said he would deliver the gallon of paint to our house next wednesday. We did not expect this service. Guess he is still feeling bad about our last order taking a couple months.

(Vie 11^th) Gardi cat thinks it is time for him to go outside and help the guys working on our house. Actually two fellows are inside building a deeper platform with concrete for our refrigerator to sit on. The present spot is not deep enough for the frig to sit the proper distance from the wall. Gardi went over to check it out, and the worker did not seem to know how to react to the cat.

Dan trimmed back the bougainvillea on the northwest corner of our property in preparation for tile to be put on top of the wall there. He cuts and drops the pieces down. Carmen then lugs them across the street and throws them into the banana field. For some reason, she is able to carry the thorny branches without getting cut up. Dan seems to get punctured each time he carts a load over into the forest of banana plants. Dinner today, eggs florentine...yum.

Our 20 foot ladder was not long enough to reach the roof edge on the north side of our house where the guys had to reach for the roof edge. So how did they get up there? Why, by adding to the length of the ladder with wooden extensions, attached it to the top of the aluminum side rails. Two guys are working on getting cement up to the top of the ladder to fill in the holes at the ends of the tiles to keep birds out. One stays at base of ladder while one climbs. They seem to take turns.

(Sab 12^th) The crew arrived in an unusually cheerful mood today. Yes, they are always a happy crew. They had worked extra long yesterday, since after they got home in the evening in Coscomatepec, they had to then finish the rough-sanding of the beams to be delivered here this morning. They got a ride from Cosco to Fortín on the truck doing the lumber delivery, instead of taking a bus and then walking the 15 blocks here. Wonder how far they walk from their homes to the bus in Cosco? The beams look really good. Before the truck left, Dan went with the fellows on the truck over to Frank & Ania's new house site to pick up some posts from there that actually belong to Luis, our foreman. These puntales will be used to support the slab formwork that will be put up here in a couple of weeks. The crew worked mostly on painting diesel onto the wood today, plus finishing along the north roof edge. Lumber is stacked, stickered & drying on the front porch and also in our back parking area. Carmen trimmed back the blue blossoming bush along with general plant care.

Dan talked to a man about installing new gas lines and measured where the addition's ceiling (& terraza floor) is to go, plus took trim off the bedroom window that will be moved to another wall. We had planned to go to Orizaba today to look at bathroom fixtures, but too much going on. The fellow who talked to Dan this morning said he would be back this afternoon to take measurements and give a price quote on the propane line alterations. He never showed up. Does he not want the job? Or did he just get busy? The hardest thing about this building project, is locating people and things that we do not know where to find. Even items for construction are in different sorts of stores here than in the US. Keeping us happily busy though.

At 9pm a carpenter, recommended by a lady a few houses from here, came by to see what we want built. At this point it's a window repair and alteration (the window that the cat door goes into, which was badly rotted at the bottom), and a kitchen wall cabinet matching the base cabinets that were in the house when we bought it. If his workmanship and pricing is good, we'll start adding more items, starting with cabinetry in the new bathroom. He is to be returning tuesday for more specific measurements and price quotes.

Progreso en Muchos Frentes

Domingo 30 Diciembre 2012 – Sábado 05 Enero 2013.  (Dom 30^th) Dan worked on moving the spigots in the laundry-shop building. They emptied into the pila, a concrete trough-type container that would have held a couple hundred gallons of water, before we had the side cut out of it. Now the spigots terminate over the concrete laundry sink (which is complete with washboard grooves in the bottom). He got it all finished and the darn thing had a slow leak. Will have to be taken apart and redone. The pila, cut out on the front, will serve now as under-workbench storage space. He also replaced the rotten outside eave-edge board on the marquesina (awning type roof) we've left over the northwest window in the living room, painted all the exposed wood with festermicide and discovered at the time that the short section of sloping viga (beam) on the south end of the marquesina was riddled with termite tunnels. This is non-bearing, and only inserts a short way into the wall, so it could be replaced with little problem

Carmen spent her day scrubbing, scraping and painting the windows on the north side of the living room. Since it is quite acceptable to have loud music in this country – she let the folks up to a block away enjoy her selections, until church time at two pm. The folks around here play a great variety in music. Most of the time we listen to others' (our workers, the neighbors, passing vehicles) selections which runs from classical to norteño, with a few selections in ingles once and a while. In the scraping process, it was discovered that the fixed window in the northwest corner of the office was rotted badly at the bottom. It was the window we planned to put a cat door in, so it was going to be re-worked at the bottom anyway. Now it will mean that we will bring a carpenter in to totally rebuild the window. The rot actually went all the way thru into the office and several inches up from the bottom. After scraping out the rot, Dan cut and caulked in a board across the opening to seal things up until we get it reworked.

At 4pm we walked into town to buy a sunday newspaper and visit the atm. We passed a pickup loaded with fresh pineapples and selected a lovely pineapple--it had such a small perfect top, that we planted it later amongst other plants to see if it will grow. It was a lovely day, so we sat in the park a bit, then made our way home with our purchases. Following custom down here (it's recommended twice a year), we had each taken a pill for internal parasites this morning which gave us the gurgles in the abdomen, so we were wanting to get home soon. We are very careful with frequent hand-washing and cleanliness, but realized that in the shower process, with the cold water mixing with the hot, we could possibly have gotten some unwanted organisms in us. Better safe than sorry. Generally speaking, we use water from the hot tap frequently, and always for hand washing and tooth-brushing, relying on that water (even if cooled off in transit) to have been heated to over 130ºF, which seems to take care of most of the bad critters that might have gotten into the city water supply or pipes.

On our trip into town we walked past one family's intricate Christmas display which was like a community in miniature, with all sorts of things one would find in a town, also including the manger scene and pastoral areas with animals. The folks add a bit to it each year, and there was a large poster listing newly added items for us to find in the display. Quite a masterpiece.

(Lun 31^st) We got up early expecting our crew to appear at seven as usual. Finally after eight o'clock our doorbell rang. One of the crew came to tell us that they would not be able to work today. They had another obligation. Hmmm, we could have slept in longer. Today Dan needed plastic pipe to redo where the laundry plumbing leaks, so we drove into town. We also bought some orange poliducto (flexible electrical conduit) we know we'll need to have for new bathroom job which will start as the reroofing gets finished. Also made another atm stop. Since this is a cash society, we need to keep ahead for buying building supplies and paying our crew. Eventually when our project is done, our bank stops will be fewer. Dan worked on the plumbing, and the support framework for the workbench top. Other than a major laundry, Carmen took the day off.

(Mar 01^st) New Years day. Ójala que todos nuestro amigos y familiares tengan un Próspero Año Nuevo. Just another perfect weather day. Yes there is much perfect weather, but to make up for that we have dark gray dust always covering everything, now that we're living in a construction site. What a night last night turned out to be. Never have we heard so many giant booming fireworks. Felt like our house was shaking. Soooooooooo many people must spend small fortunes on fireworks and three foot long sparklers. Luckily the noises were a block and more away. Until 2:30am that is, when some folks, including very young children, chose the corner across from our house to send up their final half hour of noises. There were also lots of flashes and color displays in the distant skies all evening. Needless to say, the streets have been quiet today. Thankfully.

We had a special breakfast for the New Year. Pancakes and bacon. Dan had chopped dried apricots in his and Carmen had chocolate chips. Yum, yum. Back to oatmeal tomorrow. Dan spent time with bringing our 2012 personal and business bookkeeping to a close, and downloading tax preparation programs. Carmen decided the house could wait no longer for a thorough cleaning. Next the plants needed some care.

We had a few skype sessions today. Carmen's brother, Guy, in Pennsylvania, twice, because the internet cut them off the first time. Peggy, our dear friend from California, and Ania & Frank along with her mother who is visiting from Poland. They are all in western Mexico until the end of February, visiting children and grandchildren. Sure wish Dan's daughters had called. Yes, we would skype them if we could, but neither popped up online. Dan sent a Happy Birthday email to his brother Mark and Carmen got an email from her sister Cindy. Lots of contacts makes our day fullfilled.

(Mie 02^nd) First rainy day since construction began, and first working day of the year for our crew of four: Jóse Luís, Heriberto, Jóse and David. The crew spent time in the laundry building prepping for shelving and taking out that bad viga under the marquesina. The sun came out, so they finished the day off on top of the roof. Seems that FortiFerre forgot to make the morning delivery of sand and cement. We walked up the ten blocks to inquire about it. Was delivered an hour later, just as our crew was using the final supplies that we had here.

(Jue 03^rd) Long day away from home. One doctor appointment at IMSS that took most of the morning waiting. The internist agreed the Carmen should see a reumatologist, and prepared a document authorizing this visit. Out just in time for both of us to go to separate dentists. Carmen's checkup took only 15 minutes, so she then walked the 11 blocks to Dan's location at Dra. Gwen's, where he was getting a clean and some small fillings taken care of. Actually, she was so very much enjoying the time out walking by herself, just checking out all the stores along the way, that when she finally noticed the street she was on, she had walked two blocks too far. Lumber yard was next on our list. Checked out prices for beams and decking for the rooftop mirador.. Now off to Chedraui for some fresh produce and on around the bend to Home Depot, which is fast becoming one of our “usual” outing stops. Long time here trying to find just the right sanitary PVC fittings for our new bathroom. Also checked out premade cabinetry, so we'd know what values are when we speak to a carpenter. We check out at the counter for contractors, and would you believe – the three ladies there knew Dan, and greeted him by name as we walked up! They were flirting with him too. Carmen best keep an eye on the situation. They were also impressed that he knew his contractor's account number, without looking it up. (Carmen also finds she's “appreciated” more by the males in this society.) Such are the trials and tribulations of living in a culture where you stand out a bit, no matter what you do to blend in.

On the way back, we detoured over to Ania & Frank's new house, which they had closed up before leaving for Nayarit. We used our key and checked out the premises and tools left there, determining that all was well. We made it home but a half-hour before time to take the crew to their bus.

(Vie 04^th) Now this was an eventful day, with progress (progreso) showing on many fronts (muchos frentes). Yesterday our crew had dug up the registro (sewer junction box) cover out back, going onto Avenida 21, to find if we could drain our toilet and other plumbing from the new bathroom into that box. They found the exit pipe connecting to the city sewer was too small. Dan saw Valentín, our neighbor, and asked him if he knew where the city sewer pipes ran down this street. He said no, and took Dan down the street to the end where the truck mechanic lives, assuming that if anyone knew, he would. No such luck, but Dan met another neighbor, which is always good.

Next we walked into Fortín to the water/sanitation department to inquire about putting a larger diameter line there and dumping the toilet there. The fellow we talked to was very helpful and after a phone call, told us that an engineer was in our area and would stop by and talk to us. He was there by the time we walked back home, discussing the situation with Luís. No problem. He will bring out an instrument that will tell us exactly where we have to dig, after we write a letter to his office making a request for that service.

Much roof-tiling done. Also the two younger guys filled in mortar along and under tile eave edges (ie bird-blocked) along the now-finished east side of roof. This put them on ladders on top of the lower porch roof, using the special slanted wooden supports that Dan had made for painting the windows there.

Got an unexpected call from IMSS. They have approved for Dan to go to the same consulting office and doctor that Carmen goes to. Dan had presented the head of the clinic with a letter requesting this, but we hadn't heard a thing positive about this for quite a while, and so had pretty much given up on this. What a pleasant surprise!

The next surprise of the day was an email from HP, authorizing the return of the faulty monitor, to a facility here in Mexico. This after going around and around with HP service people in the US and Mexico, both offices disclaiming responsibility for a monitor purchased in the US and failing in Mexico, despite the international warranty. What a good day.

(Sab 05^th) What is this world coming to? Our white kitty has decided that it is safe to be out of her hidey drawer and watching the men work outside. She did not even run upstairs when a big noisy truck went around the corner! Such bravery! A foggy day, 62ºF outside, and 67ºF inside. Part of the crew worked up top, now on the north slope of the roof, with some work done on the set of concrete shelves around the south and east walls in the laundry-shop. Dan spent a good part of the day the at computer tying up loose ends for the year, reconciling accounts and filing quarterly & annual state tax returns for his business. The crew quit work at 1pm, got paid, and then Dan dropped them off in town, where they planned to visit the boot & shoe tianguis that is taking place in central park this week, perhaps to spend some of their wages on the good deals they hoped to find. With the guys gone, our mood changes a bit as we have the house to ourselves, and we're sure we appreciate the weekend off as much as the crew.