En Turno

Domingo 17 – Sábado 23 Febrero 2013.  (Dom 17^th ) A pancake breakfast morning, with chopped dates for Dan and, yes, with chocolate chips for Carmen. Dan remembers a Peace Corps language teacher who insisted that "pancake" was a spanish word, because they were a form of pan (bread)!  Today Carmen worked painting festermicide around planters and on the window frame materials that have been taken out and will be relocated, plus the new door frame pieces purchased from Home Depot. Dan started working on some of the electrical boxes in the bedroom, where the lines had been changed due to the new door opening.

Next he installed flashing all along the north end of the porch roof, and festermicided the tail ends of the tongue-in-groove roof sheathing and the face of the porch roof beams. A difficult job to insert the flashing in the crack between the roof slab and the sheathing, then caulking the joint at the top. This provides a drip edge for water to find, instead of soaking the wood every time it rains. Then he glued and screwed together the bedroom window frame that got damaged when is was removed, so now it's ready to install in a planned new opening on the north wall of the master bedroom. This will give us an outstanding view of the snow-capped Pico de Orizaba in the distance.

While Dan was working on the north side of the house, our new acquaintance, Edwin, and family stopped and chatted a few minutes. So good to keep meeting more folks – especially those who speak english!  The sage we planted here in September is growing nicely. Now what to do with it? Today we featured potatoes boiled and sliced, simmered in butter and chopped fresh sage. Quite tasty.

(Lun 18^th)  No crew today. Luis called this morn to tell us that they had been recruited to help with a bridge repair. Apparently, when you live in a small community, the family is expected to periodically contribute time to a faena (service task) that will benefit the local area.  Sometimes, you can arrange to pay some money for materials instead of providing the labor.  Luis's community is repairing the road and will eventually build a new bridge to replace a washed-out one leading up to the little group of homes there.

We moved stuff around in the area below where the skylight is being opened, where the comedor (dining area) is.  All our tools, supplies and things like the new water heater have been being stored there, in addition to our dining table.  In consideration of the soon-to-be hole in the ceiling, we moved the table into the living room.  Things are getting pretty crowded inside and we will be happy when the construction is finished, when Dan can move the tools into the back end of the cuarto de servicio (laundry room), and all the fixtures and fittings are in place.

(Mar 19^th)  Good to have our crew of four here this morn. Dan took Luis to Home Depot with him today, after Luis set the crew up for a couple hour's work. Luis had been in a Home Depot in Indiana when he lived there. Seems he has several primos (cousins) living in the US. Luis was impressed with the low prices and variety, compared to other stores selling these types of items.

As Carmen was skyping with her brother, Guy, Luis told Dan that we must order more cement, blocks and rebar to be delivered today. Drove into town to order the items and make a hardware and bank stop. Since we were but a few doors from one of our favorite chicken rotisseries, we bought one for lunch. Also in town was the propane truck that delivers our propane, of which we only have a delivery about every three months. Dan asked them to come to our house. He did not give them exact address or instructions, because he thought they recognized him.   Apparently they did not remember where we lived, as we saw them drive by, but they did not stop.

We went to the Super Ahorros grocery to buy some nopal (prickly pear cactus) leaves or pads. They did have them, but they were not well cleaned of the spines, so we only bought a grapefruit and avocado. Cat temptations apparently are not in yet. The manager who had ordered them was not in.

(Mie 20^th) Yesterday Carmen did a fair amount of work with festermicide. She also read more on the internet about getting rid of those beautiful, yet destructive white flies. Nothing so far is working, and the plants are suffering – which means Carmen is also suffering.

Got a skype from Frank while they were waiting for a bus at the Mexico City airport. They will be bussing into Orizaba and then taking a taxi on home. Same method we use. We did offer to pick them up, but they stuck with the taxi. It would have been difficult in our car, since Ania's mother is with them, plus her luggage from Poland. Will be good to have them back here again. They have been on the west coast, in Nayarit, since mid-December. They offered to let us use their house over there for the next however many weeks we wanted. Maybe another year. We just want to get our house project done this year. Their little house there is but a few blocks from where Merv and Delia stay every winter. The couple lives in Marblemount, WA, one of Dan's clients and friends from there. Merv operated the gas station while we had our restaurant there.

Part of our crew worked today on some of the small structures for the terraza: the enclosure for the top part of the water heater closet and the hand sink counter, which necessitated embedding the drain pipes in the wall and finalizing the vent stack location. Most homes here omit the vent piping for the drain pipes, but Dan designed this system with a stack running up inside the wall behind the toilet, providing a wet vent for the infrequently used sink on the terrace above, and then the vent continues up along the party wall in the southeast corner of the terrace. The noticeable symptom of unvented drain systems is sewer odors backing up the drains. The location for the skylight into the dining room was calculated and marked out, and the noisy, difficult job of chiseling out the rectangle of concrete was started. In the bathroom below, others did further work aplanando (smoothing, making plane) the block and brick wall surfaces.

(Jue 21^st) Spent less than an hour in line at IMSS for paper work for visiting a doctor in Orizaba, which we actually got this time! Next made a stop at Home Depot and ordered our floor tile for our terraza, to be delivered saturday. Finally, stopped at Walmart and low & behold, there in the cooler department was one of the items that Carmen has been missing – italian sausage, Johnsonville. Also there were small breakfast sausages of the same brand! Maybe bratwurst will be there next? Our crew was here in full force. They finished digging the concrete out where our skylight over the dining room will go, plus much work on bathroom walls.  What a good day--------

(Vie 22^nd) We spent over five hours waiting for Carmen's turno to go into the doctors office at the IMSS hospital in Orizaba. We finally saw Dr Alma Estevez, a specialist for scleroderma. She is very nice and pretty. Probably mid to late thirties. She gave us all the prescriptions we needed and we then had them filled for absolutely free at the IMSS pharmacy. And here we thought we would be refused because of this pre- existing condition. Of course we still might be. Carmen will be smart and try one new prescription at a time so that if there is a problem, we will know which one the problem stems from. Yes, the meds are all different, but according to the internet some actually sound better. The doctor actually gave Carmen an inhaler instead of nose spray. For the first time since she can remember, she breathed in fresh air today! Wonder if it will keep her nasal passage clear.

Carmen was supposed to get an appointment two months from now, but since we will be traveling in May, the appointment is in June. The clerk signing us up for the appointment clued us in that despite being given a fixed appointment time, all the patients arriving that afternoon will go in to see the doctor in turno (in turn or in order) that their booklets get dropped on her desk.  So this is the reason that everyone rushed up to the desk at 3:15pm -- Carmen, being polite, let them push past her, and hence ended up at the bottom of the stack, with four long hours to wait (and reading matter forgotten at home).  For the next appointment, she will have to have a total thoracic xray and very complete blood test, which can be obtained at the IMSS facility in Cordoba.  All prescriptions are refillable at our local IMSS clinic pharmacy. This system seems great so far - as long as one has days to wait in lines. Also, since we had to go to Orizaba for this appointment, we could collect about US$5 for viaticos (traveling expenses), which we do not intend to collect. Biggest problem with Orizaba is the parking situation, but we were lucky and found a spot about five blocks away. Also we had to drive the windy roads home, after dark. Not good for us.

Crew worked mainly on the area over the dining room, building the three tiers, very wide escalones (steps) really, for planters and seating.  These have to be in place before we can measure for and order the metal stairway going up to the mirador. The guys also filled in block, reducing the old bedroom window into a door shape.

(Sáb 23^rd) Water lines completed today. We will keep them full of water over the weekend to be sure we have no fugas (leaks) or gotas (drips). Also, Dan soldered short sections of copper water line together where they would exit from the walls (a little stronger than leaving CPVC fittings there for the valves and showerheads to connect to) and Luis installed them in the walls. Luis called Dan, in somewhat of a panic. He thought Dan had set the left side faucets to turn the wrong direction. Here they often both turn the same direction, which happens when one doesn't buy a matched set.  These however were purchased in sets, so all was the way we wanted it, with handle swings mirrored left and right.

Our delivery from Home Depot of loseta (floor tiles), tile cement, and pasta (grout) arrived this morning. We placed another order for sand to be delivered monday morning. We'll need this for more stucco work, and for the bathroom floor slab.

Carmen worked on weeding and watering plants, then painted the rusted brackets that Dan had scraped and wire-brushed, which hold up the huge gutters out front. Dan also festermicided and put more metal flashing along the front porch overhang, to prevent wood rot, and then caulked the joint.  Fortunately, the caulk he has now is water cleanup, so smoothing the joint went much easier for him than last time. While we worked out front, a fellow stopped and asked if we are the people from the states. Visiting down the street, he had heard we were here. He welcomed us to a the area, in english. He is from Rio Blanco, on the west side of Orizaba.

Tubería para Gas y Cables Eléctricos

Domingo 10 – Sábado 16 Febrero 2013.  (Dom 10^th) Between yesterday and today, we watched 11 hours of the show, 'Fringe'. We missed the first two hours on saturday, of what proved to a maraton of the entire last season of this intriguing show we had watched religiously NoB. What a show! This was fourth and final year of the series, and at the end all those questions about alternate universes and time line changes were finally answered. We did our periodic moistening of the roof slab, so as to slow the cure a bit. Other than watering plants, both in and out of pots, we did very little. Good to have a day like this.

(Lun 11^th)  Crew of only two today, and they had to leave at 3:30pm, so they had an eight instead of ten hour day. Really hot in sun today. The final dozen planks for the mirador deck were delivered, which gave our guys a ride from Cosco, where they all came from. Luis had worked about 2.5 hours over the weekend giving them their first rasping. This day was spent ripping, sanding, and cutting them to length, then applying a coat of festermicide, a termite and rot preventative, and a coat of tinted Thompson's Water-Seal. They did the job of watering the roof, and Dan talked to Luis about some additional electric conduit runs, including one forgotten in the slab. We took the guys to the bus drop spot. Then stopped by the CASF water office for Dan to let the engineer know that we would be ready to use our new toilet in a couple of weeks, so would they please tell us where to connect. Went to the public market to buy a bag of oranges, and pulled some pesos from the Banamex atm. Next was a stop at the grocery store for some ice cream, vanilla the choice today. With this flavor, Carmen finds it necessary to make hot fudge sauce, and Dan likes to put a locally made coffee liquor over his. Perhaps Carmen could cook all the alcohol out of a homemade caramel rum sauce, when using the microwave, so she can enjoy it.

First thing this morn, Luis was inside talking to Dan and Smij came down the stairs far enough to meet Luis. Not to touch – just to say hello' He likes cats.

Dan had to do a bit of redesign on the electrical runs, and marked spots on the walls where the blocks will be carved away for the switch and outlet boxes. He spent time catching up on his favorite web forums and reading the final book in Stieg Larsson's posthumous trilogy. Carmen is struggling with a puzzle that is an image of a tiger, with obviously some pieces missing. The worst kind of puzzle with all the pieces looking the same shape and coloring. Makes for (wo)man hours of fun? Dan washed the car, since we have been lately embarrassed driving by the local friendly backyard auto lavado down the street, and never stopping, tho' we look like we should.

(Mar 12^th) Today our crew of two, chose to work on top of our roof in the burning sun. They put down the final floor boards for the >mirador. We both traversed the ladders to visit them. What a view from up there, with 18,000' Citlaltepetl in the distance!  Later in the day, we got a surprise visit from the city! Two men were walking the streets, looking for building projects that needed permits, and they found us. We had to go to the ayuntamiento (city hall:  foto in this paragraph taken in the park just beside the municpal building), drop off a croquis (sketch ), copies of our escritura (title) and ID papers, and pay about US$24 for the permit, which we can pick up next monday.  Dan created a little sketch and rounded up copies of the other papers, and we got to the building department shortly before they closed at 4pm.  The price of the permit is based on the number of square meters of concrete slab we are adding to the building. Inspectors will come by later this week to check it out. We presume all will be OK, except the sketch omitted the little trapezoid of walkway added to the upper slab, going from the bedroom door onto the terraza.

When we drove the guys to their bus, we did another bank stop, and spent some time in the park in the center of town. We saw a 30 foot white bird of paradise plant. What a beauty, proudly sitting next to city hall.

A White Bird-of-Paradise (Strelitzia nicolai) is a huge plant often planted when it is small and cute. It is a clump-forming tropical plant native to the forested coastal regions of eastern South Africa. The plant's banana-like leaves with winged stems clasp to a trunk that is hidden until exposed as the plant ages and the older leaves fall off. They are dark green, 4 feet long or more, at least 2 feet wide and easily tattered by strong winds. Exotic foot-long flowers appear from between the leaves on long stems. They are borne in mahogany-brown to indigo boat-like bracts and produce many petals that are white to mauve and a dark blue tongue. The fruit which follows the flowers is a three-celled capsule which splits to expose seeds with orange arils.

Afternoon was pretty hot today. Near 90ºF. The evening brought a strong breeze and cooled us down into low 60s. Actually the hot time of the day seems to be only from 11 to 5.

(Mie 13^th) Ash wednesday and there were indeed ashes in the air from sugar cane burning.

At 10am the temp is a perfect 72ºF with a light breeze. Crew of two is working on the mirador again. Finally the man arrived, with a helper, to re-plumb our outside propane lines. He immediately made us a shopping list for his project. Luckily the hardware in town had all we needed, beyond what Dan had anticipated and had already. Also did our bank atm stop for the day. The next couple weeks we will be paying out lots of dinero – dentist, propane plumber, steel worker, Our atm draws are limited to about US$300, which in reality nets us more like $230 with the present peso exchange rate, since asking for 4000 pesos puts us over the top, so the 3000 peso choice is the highest option on the atm screen which is accepted). So this means we have to stay on top with frequent visits there.

(Jue 14^th) Day started misty and 65ºF, a couple of hours later it was raining. The guys were working mostly inside, taking down all the slab formwork. While we waited in line for a half hour at IMSS, the rain outside stopped. We discovered that we had misread our note from last week. We were a week early to pick up the paperwork for the Orizaba appointment which, yes, is next week friday – not tomorrow.

Did our weekly fresh foods shopping at Chedraui today, since we drive past there going to Home Depot, where we bought various little items. Dentist by 11:15am – he wished us well on this day of love and friendship, in the name of San Valentin. Bite impressions were taken, plus lots of poking around. When finished, Dr Soley did not seem in a hurry for the next lady waiting. Maybe she was early. At any rate, he sat at his desk and we all discussed various lands we had toured, and the foods from those places, plus foods we enjoy most. We happened to see a Mediterranean restaurant today and had asked if there were any German or Greek restaurants around. Nope.

Shortly after we arrived home, the propane plumber finished his job. He also said he fixed the problem with the hot water heater that caused it to “backfire” on occasion. Lots of hammering away in the new construction – opening up ranuras (channels) for electrical conduit runs. The procedure here, aside from conduits embedded in slabs, beams and columns as they are poured, is to put up the walls and after they are cured, to open up channels, using an abrasive cutter and then chiseling out the waste between the cuts, to run orange plastic conduit and inset the boxes, which are all mortered into place.  After everyone had gone home, Dan discovered that our propane man had taken Dan's roll of solder home, so he was called and promised to drop it off the next morning.

(Vie 15^th) Sure enough, the solder was returned this morning. Our crew is four strong again today, however no one will be in tomorrow. Seems that our foreman has planned a family day of planting corn and beans. Luis told us that they have to leave home by 5am to be here by 7am. Then they work a ten hour day, before we put them on the bus running north. Next, further travel time getting from Coscomatepec to the outlying village where they live. A long day!

They are doing additional conduit runs—we walked into town (20 blocks one way this time) to buy a special size of flexible conduit that was needed to make a run that had been forgotten when the slab was poured. We tried all the hardware stores in town first and finally at the fourth store, specializing in electrical goods, we got lucky. Figured that in spite of the high cost, it was about the same as driving to Home Depot. Plus we got some exercise.

Up on the terraza, Luis embedded a small wash basin, and located water, waste and electrical lines for a small work counter up there.  We can hook up a hose to irrigate plants, or wash hands with cold water from the hose bibb/faucet here. In the new downstairs bathroom, the brick interior partition that wraps around the shower area is being plastered and reinforced, in preparation for cutting channels and a space for the shower control handles. Luis would like to pour the bathroom floor next week. This way the concrete mixer can be returned as it is taking up a lot of space in the back yard and is cramping the work area. Usually the floor would be finished much later in the project.

(Sáb 16^th) Quiet rainy day, part of which we spent in the clouds. Our home here is at the southern edge of the small cloud forest bioregion. We put up with a little rain and frequent afternoon clouds in exchange for the lush landscape, free running streams, and of course the orchids and other flowers that grow so well here.

We have been reading about nopales, the fresh or cooked vegetable prepared from young prickly pear cactus pads, not too common here but grown for market all over this country. This sounds like a magical food for both of us, a good source of fiber and a nutritious way to maintain low triglycerides and lower LDL cholesterol.. Problem is – when cooked they are slimy like okra. Carmen does not like the mouth feel of such foods. Maybe we will try to learn to like it, and come up with some acceptable recipes, for the sake of our bodies. It is also available here as an inexpensive food supplement prepared with flax seed and senna leaf, Nopalina.

Dan worked on our tax returns, caught up on our personal bookkeeping, reviewed a data file sent by a former client in Anacortes, and emailed a few others who had contacted him. Carmen started reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And coincidentally, we recorded the swedish movie (subtitled in spanish) Män Som Hatar Kvinnor – the original title in swedish (“men who hate women”) that appeared on one of the cable channels, for viewing after Carmen finishes the book. Watching tv with spanish subtitles is one of the ways we increase our vocabulary. Subtitled movies we see down here are often in english, but german, french and chinese are also pretty commonly shown too, along with other european languages. Can't remember when we had the opportunity to view a subtitled movie back NoB – is lack of these films in the US media just another reflection of national hubris?

La Colada

Domingo 03 – Sábado 09 Febrero 2013.  (Dom 3^rd)   Umm, good old nourishing eggs florentine this morning, along with yogurt, turkey bacon, banana, papaya and a bakery-made cake like sweet roll topped with apple and sided with nuts. Can hardly wait for chocolate chip pancakes tomorrow morning. Then back to oatmeal the rest of the week.

Mauricio, a person recommended by Frank who does welding and metalwork was here to look at what we need done. Railings, stairs outside, window & door protectors and the mirador superstructure. He told us he had done a similar design to the steel window protection bars on this house, on another house that we had looked at. Carmen worked on sanding, festermiciding and painting the screen frame for the window that was removed from master bedroom, after Dan scraped it down. Dan spent some time in the office recording our week's expenses (we're keeping detailed records of the costs of the house renovations), and registering warranties for the appliances & fixtures we've purchased.

Dan contacted Juan, the propane plumber, this morn. He promises to be here first thing tomorrow. Our foreman did not let us know until he was leaving saturday, that the propane needed done today, sunday, or early monday morning. Rather a short notice? Then later in the evening, Luis, our crew foreman, called to let us know there would be no one here tomorrow to work. One fellow had gotten hurt, and the weather report he got, said it was to be cold and rainy. Darn – only two more weeks before Frank and Ania get back and they might want some of their workers back at that time.

(Lun 4^th) Beautiful sunny day, just like Dan told Luis last night that it would be, based our forecast from the web. At eight am, Juan, the propane plumber arrived. Dan explained all to him, but he wants Luis to tell him again. Apparently Juan does not believe Dan knows all that needs done. Silly man.

Out we went with the car again, and to think that we had originally planned not to bring a car here. After the construction is finished, we expect we can learn to do quite nicely without our own transportation. We made many stops. Searching the area for the best buys for many things. Doors of the sort we want for the laundry room were found in stock at Home Depot, just not in the exact size we need. They are all too long, but we are assured by Frank & others that cutting them off at the bottom is the normal way of doing things here. We ordered one to be delivered tomorrow. We also found out that Home Depot does free delivery, if your bill was over $2000 pesos ($150 US). Did we mention before that as one leaves this store, a guard takes your receipt and checks to see that every item leaving the store is on the receipt. The bigger stores, like Walmart, sometimes do this too. Since we were driving by, we stopped at Chedraui to get cash from the atm. Since we were right here – might as well visit the bakery, right?.

So far, we have not been able to find large envelopes, so we walked up the street from Chedraui a couple blocks looking for a papelería. Just as we were about to give up – there one was. Dan bought only five envelopes since they will probably have the glue stick the envelope together, if we try to keep more than a few of them. We also stopped at Josefinas since we were walking past. More shelled lime salted peanuts, a marvelous evening snack. Also bought more chocolate chips, but the ones we had purchased here before were not to be found, so we bought a different one. Hope they taste as good as Hersheys, as the last ones did.

Spent some time reading. Alex stopped by with his daughter, son and a nephew, to say hi. Had not seen him for several weeks. The catnip we planted is growing well, so kitties each had a couple fresh leaves. They would indulge in the whole pot of plants if allowed. Having a problem with white flies in the plants at present.

(Mar 5^th) Luis asked Dan to buy four kilos of nails, so we drove into Fortin – the whole 15 blocks to the hardware. Nails are difficult to carry. The clerks put the nails in fragile wrapped newspaper to be carried home. In the process of weighing the second batch, the paper tore and the clerk spilled them onto the floor, so this took longer than it might have. Next we went to the bank. There was a line out onto the street, on a tuesday! We had no idea why there were so many people at the bank and also the city was just teeming with people at noon. Most unusual. Did not seem to be a market day and there did not seem to be many at the school ball field – though people were dropping off and picking up their children from school. Until in their teens, children are often accompanied to and from school by an adult – so lots of foot traffic, and some auto traffic several times a day, as there are two shifts during each schoolday. At any rate – we skipped the bank. Bought a chicken cooked in a rotisserie grill over flames, which comes from a little restaurant called El Gallo de Oro (the golden rooster) with potatoes and cabbage, plus rice and a delicious salsa which unfortunately is too hot for us, except in moderation. We seem to be getting used to it, and save it for spicing up other meals

We waited til 1:30pm to eat, since this is the time our crew takes lunch. Shortly thereafter, Mauricio, the fellow doing our iron work, stopped by with the estimate for the first part of his job, and collected a down payment to buy the materials he'll need. As it turns out, he lives a short distance from Frank and Ania, and they had pointed out his house to us as we passed by once last summer. We told Mauricio about the bank and town being so busy. He explained that people were getting their funds on the first buisiness day after their prior month's pay had been deposited by employers. The normal sunday closure and the holiday monday, made tuesday the big day. We looked at our calendar to discover that monday had been constitution day. Will we eventually learn to check with the calendar which has all the holidays on it, before we go out our door?

Carmen was in a cleaning mood, thankfully. She got out the gallon of degreaser we brought from north of the border. The inner stove hood and outer area around the stove was well scrubbed. Now we can put our fingers up there to turn on stove light and fan without getting stuck in goo. Also she bleached the grout around the tile on one side of sink counter. Oh, the grout is not supposed to be dark gray! Yesterday we got two skypes from David and one from Peggy. So good to hear from friends. Peggy asked what we were going to do after this building project was done – wouldn't we be bored? Not for long we expect. There will always be small home care projects going on where ever we live – just the way we are. Also we are longing for the time to sit on our front porch or upper terraza or roof-top mirador to just relax and view the world. Plus we have been touring via the internet and there are so many places of interest that we want to visit. Waterfalls, ravines, towns, ruins and on and on.

Dan did an income tax return for a friend, and worked on plumbing lines with the crew. It is very difficult for Dan to watch this work being done, since he in the past has done everything like this himself.  But, you have to show confidence in your crew when they assure you that they know what they're doing. He did fret off and on about whether or not the water lines were going to leak. Time will tell. With the plumbing stubbed in, the crew poured the beam supporting the bathroom ceiling along it's south edge. Another job today was to finish hammering out the brick wall below where the bedroom window was and where our bedroom to terraza door is to go. In doing this, an electric wire was discovered – but of course – where would wiring go, other than where we must tear out a wall? At seven pm our door bell rang, well after dark. Home Depot was delivering the door we had purchased monday.

(Mie 6^th) Wish we could have slept longer this morning! Two of our usual workers are taking the rest of this week (and part of next) to go on a pilgrimage, so Luis brought one new fellow with him, so there were only three today. Both Dan and Luis realized last night that they had forgotten to put in the lines for the electric lines in the reinforced cement beam that was poured yesterday. So – what is Dan doing today? Yep – rethinking and sketching the electrical runs. Bedding is hanging on the line strung on the front porch today. Should dry quickly with the light breeze and today started at 62 degrees and will go to 80.

Dan and Luis drove to Frank's house under construction (the obra) to see if there was any wood that we could use for form supports. Nope, so Luis called and arranged to rent some from a friend of his at FortiFerre. He also arranged with FortiFerre, as a favor, since we are doing lots of business with them right now, to go to the obra and tow over Franks cement mixer when we'll need it later in the week. Only nine blocks away – but it is big and heavy.  His friend arrived shortly with the polines (purlins), and the rest of the day was spent putting up the formwork sheathing for the bathroom ceiling, supported by puntales (posts) braced with calzas (shims) against the earth floor below.

What is this world coming to? Our white cat that hides in her drawer all day, is out and about today. Checking on the workers every little while and gazing out her front door which is open with the screen over the gate. Smij is normally terrified of every little movement and noise. Good to see her more courageous. She will be tired tonight! Cats are supposed to sleep 18 hours a day.

(Jue 7^th) Another day – another line at IMSS. Only there an hour. The paper work for Orizaba was there today, and the clerk remembered Carmen's name! Have to go to a different line next thursday to pick up the actual appointment orders, and then to Orizaba on friday. Next off to, yep, Home Depot again. Bought two door frame sets and miscellaneous other items. Carmen always tours the newly arrived plants in the nursery section. The next stop was to Carmen's dentist, Dr Soley, where we were a bit early and found him available then. Today the endopost was fitted and cemented in place. Next to the bank in Fortín, and then the post office to mail a 1099 form to the IRS. In town we parked a few blocks away and had to walk a distance, as we had in Cordoba. Plus, we added a few extra blocks, just for exercise. The forecast today was for a sunny day reaching to 90ºF, so it was hot walking around today. If the car was parked in the sun, closed up, it took about a minute for it to heat up to unbearable.

Next stop was the Super Ahorros grocery here in town. We had asked the manager here if he could get in a case of Temptations cat treats. Our cats love them and we have searched all over with no luck. Dan made a copy of the product packaging from the internet to give to the store, to prove that Whiskas does indeed sell them in Mexico. The manager told us today that their supplier does not carry it, however he checked with Mexico City and it is indeed available – so they will be getting it in for us. Aren't small town businesses great, so eager to satisfy! Pineapples looked very ripe, so amongst other fresh foods, we bought one. It is like eating candy, it is so sweet.

One more stop yet – FortiFerre. Luis ordered some rebar and we had to pay for it so that it could be delivered today, in preparation for tomorrow's roof colado (concrete pour). The clerk wrote down the price on a piece of paper. We paid and then asked for a written receipt. The price came up mucho lower when tallied correctly—so much for having the clerk multiply things in her head..

We gave our kitchen counter ants a bait yesterday. Today they were walking  in a circle. According to the internet, they were committing suicide. Should one feel guilty? We just do not want them on the kitchen counter – and this is after the chlorination scrub yesterday! What could they be finding to eat?  Dan built and installed a handle for our front door gate. It did not need one before we installed the wire to keep cats inside, but the hardware cloth covered all our grab spots.

We were requested up on top of the new bathroom roof formwork, to make the decision of exactly where the skylight is to go there. Decision was made. Don't see how we can stand to be up there during the day without an umbrella over our heads – really hot, especially today. People here use umbrellas far more for sun than rain. There are signs and ads on tv to protect your skin from the sun. By the end of the workday, all the  formwork (constructed mostly of plywood and studs we had salavaged from our liftvans), was in place, and much of the rebar wired up

(Vie 8^th) A very busy day. Luis told us he was bringing two extra guys today, but only showed up with one extra – another brother, Jorge. All went well. Final reinforcing steel and the electrical conduit & boxes were put in place first. Dan and Carmen drove the car into Fortin, because we needed a couple gallons of Festermix, which is a concrete accelerant. Cures cement more rapidly so the forms can be taken off in five instead of ten days, so our project does not have to come to a halt. We also did a bank and bakery stop. Did not need the bakery, but we had not been into this one in a month or so and do like to support local businesses.

When we got home, we found no one there! A momentary surprise, and then realized that our crew had probably gone to get the cement mixer from Frank's place, nine blocks from here. The FortiFerre truck did the towing free of charge for us. We were relieved to see them return.

First, prep for the pouring of the roof above the new bathroom. This involved finishing up the rebar work. Cutting, tying and lifting into place all the varilla (rebar), including the structures for some imbedded in-slab cadenas (beams). When finished with this, Dan told them where the electrical lines were to be woven in. This of course made it necessary for us to make the final decision on where the three ceiling lights were going. These final calls are hard on us, if we have to make them quickly, especially so if we are not imagining the same thing in our respective noggins. Dan tries to stay ahead of the construction, keeping Carmen informed, so as to have such decisions and the supplies that will be needed, ready ahead of time.

The guys started the mixer going about 2pm and finished the colada  two and half hours, and a huge pile of gravel & one of sand, plus 13.5 sacks of cement, later. This period of time was extremely strenuous for them. Jorge shoveled the sand, gravel and cement into the mixer, then dumped the perfect batch on a trough they had constructed using one of our liftvan pallets. Next he shoveled the mix into five gallon buckets, which the two younger guys then lifted to their shoulders and climbed a ladder to dump over the forms. Here, on the roof top, in the hot hot sun, Luis spread the mix and tamped it in around the rebar. A six-pack of Gallo beer was shared when the heavy work was complete. Of course after this, they had a lot of clean up to get done and left a half hour later than usual. Luis informed us that they would not be in tomorrow, as this job today just wipes them out, and the concrete needed to cure. We quickly had to calculate each man's weekly wages – all different rates, then round up the exact amount of dinero to pay them. Dan and Carmen are both lacking when it comes to counting the small change, as we haven't yet developed a “set” for the various coin denominations. (The bills, colored as they are, give us no problem. Now, to us, US currency looks drab and uninteresting by comparison.)

As Dan drove the car into our parking area tonight he slid a bit in thick mud, where the mixing o. the cement had taken place. The fellows had left the big mixer on the road for the days work, but lugged it up the incline into our enclosed area for the night. They even tucked everything together enough so we could park our car there.

(Sáb 9^th) Dan shoveled the mud from where we drive into our parking area. Luis had given us a job for Saturday and Sunday. We need to sprinkle water on the concrete every three hours during the day, so the sun doesn't heat it up so much that cracks form while curing.

Walked into town for an atm visit and sat in the park for awhile. Beautiful day today. Kitties did let us sleep in. Carmen is still fighting with ants on one kitchen counter. Gave them a treat of festermicide, since the ant baits have not stopped them yet. Dan weedwacked our tiny grass front lawn.

While Carmen was hanging laundry, she saw a sight to behold. A motorcycle went by with a very large man driving. He was well dressed in a white shirt, sunglasses, looking pleased with life. The amazing thing was his stomach! It was large, real large, and it was like a bowl full of jello – a most amazing jiggling! A bit later, while watering plants, a fellow walking past stopped and asked Carmen something. She of course explained she would have to get Dan, since she does not speak spanish. Walking past also was a man, wife and child. This man, Edward, spoke english – helped the fellow out in spanish, then introduced himself and his family. They live a couple blocks south of here. Saw them walk back from the store later, but we were inside and Carmen did not get a chance to have Dan meet them.

Our hummingbird feeder so far does not seem to have attracted the birds. At least we have seen none. Bees love it, and then suddenly the night before last, the liquid totally disappeared. Being suspicious that it was nectar-eating bats, we looked the situation up on the internet – and we were right. The feeder is now soaking in a bucket of water, before bringing it inside to clean and put away for awhile. Just no fun feeding something you can not see. Also bats are known to carry rabies. These might be the same variety that catch bugs – in which case, they need to be doing that for us, selfish people that we are. We rarely see mosquitoes or flies here – maybe the bats are the reason?

Levantando los Muros

Domingo 27 Enero – Sábado 02 Febrero 2013.  (Dom 27^th)  Oh, isn't life exciting!!!!!!!!!! Dan advised on payroll taxes for a couple of his people while Carmen lounged in bed with the kitties. Had a nice leisurely brunch. Carmen spent a couple hours out front happily weeding and watering plants, after hanging out laundry. What ever will she do with her extra time when we get our washing machine? Clothes will still mostly be hung outside to dry, even with a new dryer. Dan now went into our work zone and installed cyclone fence clips. Carmen had to keep running out back to hold the ladder. We had stuff against open front door so that Gardi could see out where Carmen was. While Dan was going in and out back door – Gardi got outside and Dan called Carmen to come get him Gardi was simply wanting to mosey around smelling of things. Well kitty got his nose totally out of joint when he was not allowed to continue his great discoveries by himself.

Next we went to Home Depot to buy a lot of things that we knew would take a long, long time deciding on. We need to be mostly here this week because of what the work crew is doing. Much plumbing and electrical, which Dan must do part of. Shopping done, we went to check out and waited and waited and waited some more for someone to help us at the contractor's counter where we get a discount of up to 15%. Finally we were told that one can not check out there on sundays, or after 3pm saturdays. We left our very full cart there behind the contactor counter hoping it would not be unpacked by monday morning, since we had spent hours filling it.

Drove into Fortín to get another bank atm draw, only to find no available parking. Another beautiful evening and it seemed the whole town was there to enjoy life in the park.

(Lun 28^th) Got to Home Depot before eight this morning - they open at seven. Happy to find our cart there and full. No one in the contractor station yet, so we did a bit more shopping. The one metal door we have chosen might not be available, and if it is it will be a month in arriving. Eight o'clock rolled around and someone arrived to check us out. Home again by 9am. Went to the bank and the atm was out of money! Bank does not open til 10 am to refill the atm.

Our foreman did not arrive with his crew today. He had to go to the doctor with his wife. His crew is keeping busy. Saturday Dan ordered a sand delivery for this morning – it was not delivered be midday. The guys saw a truck go by from FortiFerre and hailed them down to inquire about it – did not know about the order, but would bring it soon – an hour ago. Meanwhile the guys are out of sand, so have had to change jobs. Dan called the store an hour later and they assured him it would be here soon. Wonder just what 'soon' means?

Also the city sanitation fellows said they would come here today to let us know exactly where we are to put our new larger lines. Our foreman says we must construct a larger registro, a sewage distribution box set into our sidewalk outside the property walls. In the US one would just use some plumbing fittings, perhaps with a cleanout fitting inlcuded. Dan installed more overhead lights that we bought this morning. All the overhead lights in the house were fitted out with the cheap white porcelain bare bulb sockets, or just a hanging socket at the end of a wire. The hanging bulbs we outfitted with paper Chinese globular shades, and now we're swapping out the white sockets with some good looking but inexpensive fixtures

Cosme, the fellow who likes to sell us plants and malathion spray our house, rang our door bell a bit ago. Here he is with bug spray again. No, we do not want our house sprayed, but some of the plants have way too many white flies and various other buggies and larvae. So we had him spray the plants. We looked out the kitchen window and discovered him spraying our porch roof. He said that the wood harbors insects so he assumed we wanted that sprayed too.

Carmen looked into the kitchen to see a flame shooting across a counter – over a newspaper. Dan was soldering some copper pipes and fittings. Looked scarier than it apparently was. Time to put items in our new kitchen cupboard, having left the fresh varnish to dry until there was no odor apparent. Oh what shall go there?? Such decisions. Sad report on lunch. Fresh green beans got their bottoms scorched. Carmen added fresh tomato slices over their tops on the dinner plate to pretty them up, though actually the dark streaks on the beans did add color to the plate.

(Mar 29^th) Luis was back at work today, and he and Dan decided the best next task was to get all the white PVC waste pipes in the ground. The crew started removing the paving blocks in the backyard, and opening the ditches we'll need to run from the new bath area to the road. While this was going on we cemented up a little Christmas tree of fittings and the four faucets which will control the water temp and selection of heads (one fixed, one on a wall slider bar) for the new shower space. These all have to line up and the whole assembly has to be let into the wall that will be going up later this week.

Our living room floor looked like a child has been playing with his building blocks, as Dan had all the plumbing fittings for the drain lines set out so they will know where each part goes. The old registro that took the 2” drain line from the laundry was broken out and enlarged into the sidewalk by the back gate. Still no help from the city as to where the line goes from there, but Luis seems confident that info will be provided later. He and Alfonso continued ditching in the addition's floor area, cut all the PVC pipe and dry fitted it all together. Dan looked it over and approved the layout, and the guys proceeded to glue up everything, and then backfill.

Carmen found a package of Nonsuch mincemeat, so of course she made a pie of it today. Oven worked great, though we have not determined exactly how to control the temperature. We spent some time on the internet trying to figure out the best route for our journey north in May. Going to visit Carmen's siblings in Pennsylvania, and also visiting Washington state. Lovely out today. Dan also spent time on computer helping various folks with bookkeeping, plus he made a quick run or walk to a store for a couple more pieces of waste pipe, so it could all be cemented together.

The car will remain on the street tonight, since we can't enter the backyard with the new registro box remaining, newly mortared blocks setting up & hardening, open in the middle of the sidewalk.

(Mie 30^th) Still trying to get Carmen's appointment for Orizaba. How many times have we stood in a line to get these appointment documents? Again this morn we arrived at the IMSS hospital where we needed to get these forms, as we were told to to this a week ago. Were there by 8:15am for an office that opens at 9am, and found only two people ahead of us. We were out by 9:15am this time. However, our paper work still has not gone thru, so we must return to stand in yet this line again, next week thursday! Oh well. What else do we have to do with our time, now that we are “retired”?

Now on to Home Depot to check on the door we ordered. Still not sure if we can get our first choice. The screws did finally arrive though This store has many empty shelf spaces and stock bins in it now. The managers are not yet good at predicting which items delete quickly and can not easily be replaced. A fellow shopper talked to us in english sputtering about the store not being like the ones in the US. We bought lights and fixtures for our laundry-shop room, plus more plumbing fittings and of course the long awaited screws. Carmen checked out the items while Dan talked to office personnel about the door. Took three ladies to cope with Carmen's no spanish. We stopped at Chedraui to purchase this week's fresh veggies and fruits. As we were checking out, Carmen realized that she had forgotten to cruise the bakery. That is a first! She and Dan checked out at different counters, since the good sale on juice oranges (less than US$0.06/lb) only allowed three kilos per person at that price. We do enjoy our fresh orange juice-----

Now we had an unusual situation. Carmen had a dental appointment at noon and it was not even 11am. Since we had no more shopping for the day, and the IMSS wait was so short today – now what? We decided to try the dentist early, and were in luck. His earlier patient was gone already, so we were thankful we thought to check in early. We find the fact that Dr Soley makes all the parts for teeth right there most interesting. Today Carmen opened her sleepy eyes and saw a flame torching up into the air. He was finishing off the pin or endopost that will go into the last root canaled tooth. Dan forgot to bring a book to read, but found an interesting publication, full of local history and commentary. Here's a link http://magazineveracruzano.blogspot.mx so you can look up this magazine on the internet.

We were home by 12:30pm. Would have been a few minutes earlier, but for the transito police not letting anyone thru - all had to make a u-turn on the bulevar and go back east on the road, back towards Córdoba! We assumed there was an accident up ahead. At any rate, there are few roads that go between the two cities. Luckily Dan had been eying this one cobblestone road – wondering where exactly it would take him, figuring it would go thru a subdivision that was gated. Yes it did go there, but we were able to find an ungated route around the gated areas. Dan's curiosity was satisfied and this detour saved us another half hour of driving to get home, plus a passage thru the toll booth on the autopista, which was the route most seemed to be taking.

We both took a wee nap. Workers filled in the paving blocks removed to run sewer lines and started mortaring up the blocks for bathroom wall. Time for decisions. Dan has spent much time on plans for the bathroom. Now we needed to refine a few measurements, to make the tile work be perfect.

(Jue 31^st) Dan is lodged in front of his computer this day, making sure credit card accounts are paid up, and trying to find out why the magazines we expected to be delivered here haven't been showing up. Carmen made chocolate chip cookies. They came out flat and rather crispy. Not sure what in ingredient is making this happen. Still yummy and shared with our employees – just warm from oven when they were taking their morning break. They are still working on the bathroom walls. This morning we had to dash upstairs and measure Carmen for the height of a short wall running along and a bit further from the seat at one end of the shower. Yesterday Carmen had to stand along where the window above the shower goes, to let Dan determine how high the window will be.

Since there will be copper piping being used for the gas line, Dan spent time on the internet studying the whys and why-nots of embedding the pipe in concrete. Raining at bit this morning and 55 degrees. Still the fellows are sounding happy. Near noon the rain stopped and temperature is up to 60.

There is a gray cat outside that seems to think this area is hers. A female, because we saw a kitten with her awhile ago. She can get on our roof next to several windows, which means of course that we need to keep those windows closed at night or our Smij thinks she must protect us by screaming and bouncing off the screen. Doubt that the screens will last long with her antics. Last night the gray cat was sitting on the back wall staring at our house. Pretty in silhouette.

(Vie 01^st) Had to turn the computer on to find out what day of the week today is. Too much retirement? More blocks, and gravel for the ceiling/roof slab delivered. Work progressing on bathroom muros (walls). Much chipping out of old concrete along our south retaining wall – to be able to key in the new bath ceiling/terrace floor slab. An upstairs bedroom window was removed to prep for the door opening on to the terraza that will go in it's place. Carmen must get the screen on the window sanded and painted. She refinished the rest of the window already.

Drove to Home Depot for some pipe insulation. Since the concrete was chipped out, the old water lines which were embedded in the walls to our existing upstairs bath are exposed and we want them insulated, reducing heat loss on the long run, with the hopeful result of more hot water for showers there. Wanted to do a bank stop, but being the first of the month AND a Friday, a long line of folks was at the atm. Stopped at an atm in the mall about 11am, and it was out of money. We have enough to pay wages tomorrow but little besides. Not good to get this low.  The guys installed the pipe insulation right away, the new beam and slab will cover this area soon.

We bought a piece of hardware cloth fencing to put over the bottom of our front gate so that little dogs can not come in and use our front yard for their toilet! Also will put some of the fencing over the lower part of our gate attached to the front door so that kitties can look out the door without escaping.

We toured the bakery at Chedraui. Did not expect to buy anything in the store this time so did not take a shopping basket. They have the best huge muffins there!! And there were maple covered donuts today – our favorite. Dan checked out the shelf of discontinued specials and we stacked Carmen's arms full of ½ pound bags of imported italian linguini flavored with salmon, squid ink, lemon and porcini mushrooms. . Next we happened to passed by the liquor section. All 30% off. So what could we do? A bottle of rum was added. Plus a box of specialty cookies and a specialty bread to freeze. Food shopping has become much fun here. Must admit that we occasionally can not eat what we buy. But always worth a try!

We traveled the length and breadth of Córdaba this morning searching for hardware for the windows we are having moved and rehung, converted from sliders to hinged. Also searching for a wall hung tiny sink for our terrace above the bathroom. There do not seem to be any in this part of the world. How would a urinal look up there, to use as a simple sink? All we need is the connection to the drain line, and install a hose bibb above it for a faucet and sometime connection for the hose we'll use to water the potted plants planned for the terrace. We just want to run cold water, and do little washing there.

While Carmen was waiting at the car gate for Dan to return from taking our crew to the bus stop, a young fellow stopped his bicycle and said hello. Carmen asked if he spoke english and he said yes, he just moved here from Los Angeles four months ago, and he speaks little spanish. His father is from the US and his mother is from here. She was so homesick that they moved back here. They live one block west and one block south from us. Carmen told Louis to stop by any time he wanted to speak english.

(Sab 02^nd ) Laundry out this morn – four days worth. Foggy, but see a wee bit of blue sky with 58 degrees at 7am. Kitties are most interested in the room upstairs that now has a piece of plywood over the window hole. The crew finished working their 56 hour week at 1pm. The walls are up and and work is progressing on tying the rebar cadenas to reinforce the beams that will be poured on top of them, tying everything together.  Dan took them to almost the bus stop – actually he dropped them off at an automotive supply store near there. The one fellow has a car in need of repair, and parts are cheaper here than is Cosco. Next Dan picked Carmen up and drove over to Fortín center. Finally made a successful atm stop. Bought a tiny hand sink for the terrace and more ½” galvanized mesh for the front porch area. Sat in the park awhile. Today the clerks at the hardware asked how old we are. We often wonder how old people are, so guess it is acceptable to ask them here. Last week Dan was asked how old he was by our crew and Carmen was asked by her dentist. Happily most people guess we are younger than we really are, so we must be doing something right.

We zip-tied the mesh up on the gates at the front of house. No more little dogs can come into our yard and we can leave the front door open for kitties to look out safely. The entry door itself is solid wood and the hinged gate just outside it is open bars, and it is not possible to window screen it because of the way is attaches to the wall. We have rarely seen mosquitoes or flies here, so no problem that way. The cats promptly took up positions just inside, examining their new vista our work has provided to them.

Carmen finished off this week with putting together a puzzle – though not finished. Dan spent time with his computer, struggling with some javascript that refuses to cooperate.