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?