Fuego en el Cañaveral

Domingo 17– Sábado 23 Marzo 2013.  (Dom 17^th)  A day for reminiscing. Started before getting out of bed this morning, and continued thru meals. Dan spent his day doing accounting stuff and Carmen started the green master bedroom curtains.  A strong wind came up early this morning, and blew blew away the clouds and brought in warmer weather. When we went out front to water the flowers, we discovered that the bugambilia had been lifted by the wind off of the fence, and was drooping into the yard. Dan hauled it back where it belonged and tied it in place there. Quite interesting how flexible the trunk was – in a habitat where it didn't have anything to climb up on, it must be quite a sprawling growth. A most beautiful day, finished off with chocolate ice cream and a shared huge cupcake.

(Lun 18^th) We are having a heat wave - a week in the low 90ºs days and down to near 60ºF nights until tomorrow when it will go only down to 70ºF. That night will be hard. Past couple weeks were 65º days and 58º nights. Chilly. We have huge bumble bees enjoying one of the anthurium plants at present. They do not like us out there near them. Unfortunately, we must pass near them many times a day.

Just before our crew left for the day, Carmen was out front watering plants for the second time. Plants in pots dry quickly in this heat. She heard a loud crackling noise coming from the banana field to our east. Knowing that sound, which was not only wind, she looked that direction and saw black billowing smoke rushing our way. Terrified, she ran into the house, yelling for Dan to call the fire department. He had to go onto the roof first to check it out. Had it been a real thing like this in the Skagit Valley, we would have been burned to death by the time he got up the ladder to the terraza and new stairway to look out from the roof top. Our crew assured us we did not need to worry. And – they were right. It was a sugar cane field being burned, over on the far side of the banana plants. Dan is sorry he didn't think to take his camera up with him, it was an awesome sight to behold from his vantage point.  Huge pieces of ash were landing on us. However, the fire did not spread! How can they do that, being windy, and right next to a banana field with many dried leaves. A mystery to investigate. By the way – it takes three feet of sugar cane to make the refined sugar in one cube.

(Mar 19^th) Our crew of four was not here today - their town's saint's (San José) day and a reason for a community-wide fiesta. We did however have a welder and his helper here finishing the stairs from the terraza on top of the bathroom up to the rooftop mirador platform. The stairs look good and are comfortable to walk - though steep, like a marine companionway ladder.

We also had a carpenter here taking out our french door from the west wall of the dining room. He will refinish them, and then one half gets installed in the bedroom opening onto the terraza, and the other in the small hallway between the dining room and new bathroom, opening into the back yard. Carmen is putting the vivid Guatemalan fabrics on both these doors. Very bright! The bedroom one will be lined in the green fabric that the other two bedroom curtains are made of. She finished them yesterday. The hall curtain, unlined, one can actually see thru a bit, as it's a loose-woven fabric.

We have asked our welder to give a quote on cutting and installing fence rods to go between existing rods, to make the fence narrow enough that the cats can not get thru, This way they can roam our back and front area, without escaping. Gardi has started asking to go out every morning as soon as his breakfast is done. Thought it was to go to potty, but so far that has not happened. He just likes to lie around and investigate the green space there.

We met another neighbor today. She was walking her four month old puppy, and stopped to introduce herself. She lives directly at the end of the block from us, to the west. Her name is Magdalena. She said when she was in the US, she could speak no english. She has a pretty black/brown, longish haired dog. I see one couple walk by every weekend, trying to train their dog to heel. I would like to go out and shake them. They do not treat their dog with kindness and respect. There are lots of dogs loose here, ganging about happily, several times a day. So far no dog fights. They especially like the plantings of variegated green sedges, along our sidewalk. We know these plants are sedges instead of grasses because of this ditty:

Sedges have edges, Rushes are round, Grasses are hollow, What have YOU found?

We now have pieces of plywood over the space where our french doors were. Must keep cats in and weather out. Hopefully all will be back together soon, as soon as the doors are refinished.  Dan finally got to speak to the architect and engineer at the Fortín water commission today. They would not take any of his money, because they are now thinking about doing a more thorough project, to be ready for the new development that is platted to go in north of our place. Supposedly, the engineer will be here tomorrow to let us know what is decided. Are we now going to have to pay for the whole thing, or just our section of it? No one seems to know yet. We will lose our country setting when the banana fields turn into houses. That will be sad. However, we will always be surrounded by nearby hills and mountains, all covered with jungle green trees!

(Mie 20^th) Crew of four today, except that our foreman went home sick at three. Repairing walls and doing floor tiling, plus stretching the green cyclone fencing between the posts we embedded on top of our back wall. These materials were left here when we purchased this property, so we are using them.

We went to IMSS this morning to make an appointment with our family doctor, in order to bring the prescriptions for Carmen from Orizaba to Fortin. Thought we had all the papers with us, but we did not.
While outside watering plants this morning – getting them ready for another 90ºF day, Louis, the teenager from Los Angeles, stopped and asked if we had seen his dog. No we had not. Later he stopped again to let us know that he had been found, visiting another dog down the street.

Lunch today was the best ever. Fresh bakery burger type pambazo buns with pan-fried tilapia with sharp swiss cheese melted over each piece, and further dressed with turkey bacon, tomato and lettuce. Lady stopped and asked for food waste for animals. We had none. Thinking it is the lady down the street with chickens and ducks, maybe.

Our order for more building supplies was supposed to be here yesterday or this morning. Will it arrive today? The welder's helper was here for a bit, chiseling notches for the steel supports in the floor of our mirador platform. Welder was expected today to give quotes on next projects. Leonardo (“Lenny”) was here to measure for made-to-order windows and skylights for the bathroom and dining room. He's from the same firm that made the windows we admired at Frank & Ania's new house.  At 8pm our order from Home Depot arrived. The roofing sheets were not what we ordered, so we sent them back, accepting only the spanish-style roof  peak sections that we had expected.

(Jue 21^st) Found the patient info sheet prepared by the doctor in Orizaba, which we needed in order to transfer prescriptions to our local clinic, so we were at IMSS by 8:30am this morning. The dispensing pharmacist there told us we needed to talk to the clinic department head. We went to his office and gave him the paper work. He will put all the info into the computer and tomorrow morning we need to visit our family doctor for him to write out the new prescriptions. We'll have to arrive very earlier in the morning, so that we can be squeezed in among patients with appointments.

Next we drove to Home Depot to straighten out our order which turned out to be the wrong item when it was delivered last night. Seems that they do not actually have the size and design of the Palram polycarbonate laminas (roofing sheets) that we ordered. The item is in their illustrate contractors' catalog, but the number there does not match up with the actual item that they stock. Marycarmen, the clerk, offered to call other Home Depot stores, but since the actual SKU number of the item is wrong, it would require people actually checking their stock in all the stores. She thought that the error was probably system wide, which meant that perhaps the item wasn't even in any of their stores in the country. So, after measuring and adjusting our quantities based on the other style of roofing sheets, we ended up ordering exactly the item that we returned the night before, and setting up an exchange of the cumbrera (roof peak sections) that we had at home so they would match. The undulating corrugations are not as attractive as the spanish teja style we originally thought we were ordering, but the roofing is the same terra-cotta color.  Way up there on top of the rooftop mirador they will not be too visibly different, we assume. Hope all is right with the next delivery, and the exchange of cumbrera pieces works out. First problem we have had with Home Depot.


(Vie 22^nd) Since the head of the IMSS told us yesterday to be at IMSS early today, to see our family doctor for new prescriptions, we were there a bit before seven. Already dozens of people were waiting! How can this be? It was another two hours before the doctor was in! However, we were out of there by 9:25am with free meds in hand. Not many of the patients were in line for our physician, whom we really like. He is so personable. He even speaks a wee bit of english to put Carmen at ease! Turns out that for IMSS meds, one must visit their doctor each month for the new prescription. No cost involved, just one's time. We suppose that when our building project is done, our main outing of the month will be our long sit at IMSS.
Upon arriving back home we seemed to have a steady procession of folks coming and going. First, we had barely gotten back and changed into our work clothes, when Home Depot arrived. This time the whole order for the mirador roof was correct. Yeah!!

After this we had a woman stop at our gate when Carmen was out tfront. She had a sales catalog in hand and wanted Carmen to buy something. Carmen assured her with a “No, gracias,” which the lady did not accept. So between her couple words of english and Carmen's couple words of spanish, Carmen gave in and leafed thru the whole small catalog, and then the “No, gracias” was accepted. Thru the day several other intinerant peddlers stopped by.

 

Our welder arrived and after discussing the mirador design with Dan, he used our phone to place an order for a delivery of steel stock. The order arrived in the afternoon and we paid directly for it. The mirador structural steel should be finished in about a week – maybe the roofing will take longer since it is done by our crew instead of the welder.  The tiling inside the new bathroom is pretty much complete, the last of it done when the sink was set into place today, and the floor, walls and trim colors & textures look good together.  Still no word from the water commission on our sewer connection.

Carmen made fresh garlic butter with garlic cloves instead of using powder. Plus added fresh basil, yum. We have several planter boxes of herbs growing well. Then just as Carmen was about to drain the pasta for italian sausage spaghetti, the door bell rings again. This time it is our happy window maker Lenny. He seems a bit shy, and always happy, and is a very tall big-boned fellow. All he showed us looked good, including the price. This included the sky light for the bath room and one for the dining room, the bathroom window, and the door for the water heater alcove off the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Carmen received an email from the pharmacy in Canada where she has purchased domperidone for several years, saying that our visa card was declined. This happened with an order to a vitamin company two days ago. The charge card company had assured us that time that they did not decline it, but it was the vitamin company. This upset Carmen...why is this card being declined? She has used it with no problem for 45 years. It seems that the visa thought the order was being charged fraudulently, since we live in Mexico and we have not used the card in a long time. Yes, this country is cash based, so rarely do we use a card. The credit card rep held on the line until Carmen emailed the Canadian company and they ran the charge again. All ended up well. Carmen's physician in Anacortes gave her a prescription to last her, at her current rate of taking this medicine, until she is 92 years old. Whatever will she do after that age? We assume we will have no trouble taking it back with us, in it's original prescription bottle. Unfortunately, this company will not ship to Mexico, so we'll have to pick it up on our trips back NoB.


(Sáb 23^rd) This early morning we were awakened by a strong hot wind blowing thru the banana fields, rattling the big leaves fiercely. By 7:30am the temp was 85ºF. We had to walk into town to purchase a different brand sealer for bathroom, as the fellows did not like the one we had. It did not prep the concrete walls well enough. Also bought another plumbing fitting, so we can install the drain for the sink. Yes, the atm too, plus the small grocery store for bananas and to see if the order for Temptations for the cats had arrived yet. No it has not. Lot of people walking the streets at 9am, trying to beat this afternoon, predicted near 100ºF. Thank goodness for the shade at this time of day, before the sun got overhead! We're also thankful it cools off to a nice sleeping temperature each night.

Dan saw young Louis, from Los Angeles, riding his bicycle up the hill by our house, like a unicycle. Kids! He always hollers a hello. Edwin and family also stopped and said hi. Of course everyone who passes our house says “Buenos Dias.” Frank stopped by yesterday but have not seen Ania in a couple weeks.
The tiling in the bathroom is finished, and the walls are partly painted. The sink has been installed and the water flows well. Looking good!

Plants had to be watered three times today. Poor things are not used to this heat. We are thinking about giving the front yard gate key to the gardener that we used when we first arrived, so that he can water our plants everyday as he passes here. He lives a few blocks south of us. He really wants some of our plywood from the liftvans, to build himself a new garden cart. This cart carries all his tools of his trade as he maneuvers around the area.

In this heat of the afternoon, a lovely lady in authentic indian dress tried to sell us dried flowers. They were beautiful long stemmed, and had our project been completed, so that we actually had some place nice to put them,we would have bought a bundle. Never know who will be at our door next. So far only nice people have happened by here!

Escalando

Domingo 10 – Sábado 16 Marzo 2013. (Dom 10^th) News! Carmen's brother, Gurney, who is with Lowes company, has met a lady in Monterrey, where he has been working. They have decided to get married the end of April and will reside in Monterrey, Mexico. He will either become a general manage for Lowe's or take one of the other jobs he has been offered. He says he loves it here, and he was considering moving to Mexico even before he met this lady. Lilia is a pediatric ear, nose & throat doctor. She has offices in two hospitals. As we understand it, her father is in the construction business and would like Gurney to manage for him. Hope all works out well for them.

Dan painted the welded protection bars for the bathroom window and gate protecting the patio door openings

The overhead power & communications lines thruout town are filled with these epiphytes, little native orquideas, which are now in bloom. A while ago a large clump blew off and landed right in front of our front gate. What could we do but put it on the wall there and mist it now and then. So little we had to do, for so much beauty. Beyond the greenery spikes, there is are short pink stems and then on each the tiny yellow flower juts out. Pretty up close, but not real showy at a distance.

(Lun 11^th) Left home at 6am to get to IMSS in Córdoba for Dan's blood test. Were in line by 6:30am and out by 7:45.  We're finally getting in sync with the scheduling practices and procedures to shorten our wait times here.  Had to buy more linen-pattern tiles, to complete the shower stall walls, so we drove to the east end of the city to the El Gigante store that sold us the original batch of these azulejos.

Also shopped at Home Depot for interior paint in a basic semi-gloss white. The top quality paints here are Behr. At Walmart today, we bought foods, wall sealer for the laundry room & addition interior walls & ceiling and a room deodorizer. We brought one with us, but have misplaced it. Need it for the waste cans in bathrooms. No pastry bought today, now that is a change!  Fellows did not come in today. It was raining hard and Luis had to take sick daughter with the flu, to the doctor.

(Mar 12^th) Carmen started the blue curtains for the smallest bedroom. She made a fresh veggie & chicken soup with dumplings. Since nopales (prickly pear pads) are supposed to help control blood sugar counts and also cholesterol, we are trying things with them. They are pretty slimy just fried, but in this soup, they were like green beans with an ever so slight sour taste. Actually very good, plus they thicken broth as if one used a bit of cornstarch. Dan read and did taxes – it's that time of year.

Crew arrived on time except for Luis, who had to take child to doctor again. He was here by 9:30am and they continued the tiling and wall prep.  They also installed the protective gate on the door from the master bedroom out onto the terraza.

(Mie 13^th) Today David of the crew is home with the flu. Carmen found the first cigarette butt on ground after crew left last night. She has zero tolerance for them. Dan will talk to the fellows and inform them of this this concern. Our guys do not smoke – so it must have been a visitor of theirs. He later learned it was one of brothers.

We were at the water department by 8:15am today with all our paper work again. We talked to the architect and after perusing our papers for the second time, he calculated the cost. We will pay it tomorrow, and the work could supposedly start within a week. We must decide if we will supply the materials or the city will. Seems it might cost a good deal more if the city orders the materials, but then they will not be sitting here overly long in our way. The city engineer is supposed to be here today to give us all the quantities & specs for such a purchase.

While in Fortín, we bought the additional curtain hanging fittings, went to the atm and to the Comex paint store to buy another small roller for the painting. We also looked at and took home some paint samplechips for the exterior of our house. Apparently Comex no longer has a color designation given to us by the former owner “azul lavanda” (lavender blue), so we'll have to try to select one of their present colors. Their highest quality exterior latex paint goes for about US$24 a gallon in five gallon (19 liter) pails.

Luis had to leave at 11:45am, due to an emergency at home, where his oldest brother was seriously ill. The other brother who is working a couple houses from here, also went home. Painting and tiling today. Our french doors, which are presently the outer wall of the dining room, are now being scrubbed. Lots of mortar was spattered on them. The rest of the crew worked on finishing the top of the wall on the south side of the terraza, and painting the little alcove where our water heater sits.

Carmen finished the blue curtains for the smallest bedroom. Next she gets to work with the deep purple Guatemalan fabric. When installing the rods for hanging the blue curtains, we found that a window pane had a space above it to the frame. Dan got out his caulk and took care of that. Eventually, varmints will have a harder time entering our domain. At the end of the day, our welder stopped by with long steel rectangular tube stock for the new stairs, and stashed his arc-welder here to start the job tomorrow.

(Jue 14^th) Dan had a noon doctors appointment with the IMSS urologist and we only waited a few minutes to be taken! Turns out that Dan's PSA test was normal, no problem – all is well. Thank you Lord.

The day was like a whirlwind. Just dashing from one place to another. We did take the time to purchase more Guatemalan cloth for window coverings for the two French doors being moved, one to new bedroom door opening on the terraza and one at the end of new hallway opening onto the rear patio/parking area. A stop at Home Depot and Walmart too, and altogether we were gone seven hours today. We also bought about 17 pounds of beautiful juice oranges from a seller who does business out of the back of his pickup, parked on the bulevar between Cordoba and Fortin. We had noticed him there on other days, so we decided to try him out. The oranges were half the price of those at Walmart.

Also our crew was down to three again today, with Luis home with athe older brother who was succumbing rapidly from liver failure. Visible progress on a number of tasks Dan set them to, with Heri in charge of the two helpers. Maurico, who will be building our stairway, put up the two steel tube stringers for the rooftop stairway, tying them into the terraza floor and at the bottom edge of the roof deck.

(Vie 15^th)  And we thought yesterday was a whirlwind!! Crew of four showed up a bit after 7am this morn. More often here a bit later. At 8am, our welder and helper arrived, to work on our stairs to the mirador. We had two of our crew, plus the two welders working on our terraza space above the new bathroom. Luis and helper, Alfonso, took out the old water heater, painted the rest of the alcove which was behind the old heater, hooked into the old water lines with the connection to the new bathroom, and installed the larger new propane heater. This required lots of soldering by Dan and more by Luis.

Dan was being pulled from one job to another all day! Later he went into the water department to pay for the sewer connection we need, only to find the person he needed to see was out of the building, and was told to come back between 4:30pm and 5pm. He was there before 4:25pm and found the water commission building closed for the day, as everyone left early for the three day holiday weekend. Monday Mexico celebrates the birthday of Benito Juarez, one of the leaders of the revolution and a dead president. The jobsite engineer has still not come by to give us a complete list of materials and specifications.

Carmen made a fava bean soup with lots of fresh nopal and garlic cloves. Yum, yum. Other than that she stayed on the couch, under a cover and finished a book. Yes we do read a lot. The weather was overcast today. Outside only near 60F and inside 65F – chilly! We put paper cover around our vanilla plant again tonight.

We sure do get great worldwide news coverage on tv here! Could it be that Mexicans are more interested in what happens outside their borders than folks in the US? Listening to the clearly enunciated newscasters is a great way to improve the vocabulary, as Dan likes to try to translate what Carmen can't pick up from the video broadcast.

(Sab 16^th) Luis called in to say that his brother passed away last night, and that David would come in to pick up the week's payroll. David arrived in the late morning, and told us that we were invited to the vigil later that day and evening. Considering that we had never met the man, and we had two welders here today, building our stairway to the mirador, we could not leave. The burial is tomorrow.

The welders left the stair treads tacked in place and they told us to tell the crew monday to not to step on them because they were not welded securely yet. They will be back monday morning to continue with the tread surfaces, handrail and bracing. The stairway looks really good.

Carmen spent today cleaning. Dan tried to get LogMeIn running on his computer, and then painted the new security gate on the laundry/shop with black enamel. Felt good to be busy.

Cortinas

Domingo 03 – Sábado 09 Marzo 2013.  (Dom 03^rd) Sun, sun – oh beautiful sun, back after a few darker days! (On the other hand, we wouldn't enjoy the sun so much if there weren't days to serve as a contrast. So, when the days cloud up, they're appreciated too.) Carmen is anxious to start making curtains, but she can't stop cleaning today. Since we now have a concrete slab instead of dirt outside our back door, there should not be so much filth tracked in, should there? Put out a large laundry this morning. Gardi was outside with us in the front area. Both Carmen and Gardi gave Dan a shock. This fellow walked buy, who speaks english. Carmen yelled SIR SIR, 'til he looked back at her, and she proceeded to ask him his name. Gabriel. She told him she really liked his puppy, to which he answered that the puppy belonged to his brother. Oh! This could be why she did not exactly recognize him. He does look much like his brother. Now to find out what the brother's name is, since he always speaks to us in english. These two guys run a car wash a few blocks north of here. They would like us to stop by, but Dan washes our car.

Shortly after this happening, Dan says: “Gardi is outside the gate.” Oops! The little rascal. He tried to get back in thru the front gate, as some people walked past, but then he remembered that the gate is blocked off with tighter fencing. Luckily he did not run across the road as he considered. At least he does not run from us as our other cat, Smij, would do. Once we got the gate unlocked and open, Gardi ran to go inside our door which was closed, so he laid in the sun and rested til we were done with wringing out and hanging laundry. Will be good to be able to hang laundry out back when the construction is finished.

Noontime, Dan called Mauricio, our ironwork man. He came over shortly there after, to bring the window bars he had finished, and to measure for his next jobs. Dan also called Melitón, the cabinet maker, to come measure for the bathroom cabinets tomorrow. Dan washed the car and had to call to Carmen to help dry it, since the sun was drying it so fast, and that leaves water marks.

Ania's birthday is today. She invited us over for the evening. She gave herself a wee birthday celebration by making two flans (date & almond) and a cake, plus coffee and lemon grass tea. Also there were her daughter and her husband from Veracruz, her in-laws from Cordoba. The suegro (father-in-law) of her daughter is a doctor in Córdoba. Also there was a couple from Mexico City, the god parents of Ania's children. Ania's mother was still here from Warsaw, Poland. Polish, spanish and english were spoken, sometimes all at the same time. Most interesting. Was great to be included in a family happening. A few days ago, we had sent Frank home with a fossil-filled rock for Ania, from a beach in California, so she treated it as a birthday present and was proudly showing it to all. Otherwise, she does not expect birthday or Xmas presents.

When we arrived home, Dan had an 'urgent' skype messeage concerning taxes, from one of his clients in WA. He spent an hour with the person, using skype. Carmen was wanting mexican hot chocolate. That is made with the cocoa that has cinnamon in it. Yumm. And don't forget those lemon flavored marshmallows!

(Lun 04^th) Last night dipped to 48ºF. Day warmed quickly to mid-80s. Busy around here today. Our carpenter arrived about 9:30am. Dan and he talked about Dan's design for the bathroom cabinetry. Then Frank and friend came to talk to the carpenter about doing a project for him at his new house. Meanwhile, we discovered that Luis's birthday is today. Carmen had planned to make chocolate chip cookies, so she made a huge one and wrote Feliz Cumpleaños Luís on top with frosting, and stuck a candle in it. Presented the cookie at lunch time, along with a normal-sized cookie apiece. Turned into six fellows for lunch on our front porch at our small table there, because one of Luis's brothers and one helper are doing a job couple houses south of here joined them. Soon we will have three fellows. Seems that Frank needs one of the helpers now, and we will not need four guys every day, as the tasks wind up.

Our garafon of drinking water was delivered and the two men each got a cookie too. Also all our visitors today got cookies (the carpenter, then Frank accompanied by Salavador visiting from DF, and they took along with them a pack to take home to Ania). Carmen spent awhile with plants out front today. She let Gardi cat loose out side with her. He did sit on the wall edge where he could have gone thru to the outside, but he apparently still remembered his fright from being caught out there the day before. He made no attempt to leave the yard. Don't expect that goodness to last. Dan spent some time on the porch bench reading. Much warmer outside than in today. Gardi got to go out a second time and he was ready to come in and take a nap in a sunny window before Carmen finished cutting back and transplanting stems of fuchsia starts, along with sweeping the porch. Dan had a woman stop along the sidewalk and admire the flowers along our fence. Wonder why more people do not grow flowers? Though there are many flowering bushes, vines and trees. Saturday we saw a huge tree loaded with large yellow sprays of bright yellow flowers.

(Mar 05^th) Carmen and Dan cut the material for the medium bedroom curtains. We carefully folded the full length that we purchased, and cut it into four equal parts. So smart, rather than measuring and cutting each piece. Right? Carmen finished two panels. One complete window. Now should she finish all the other two panels, or put these up and admire the work? Put them up! Thank the heavens that we chose to do this. The curtains were several inches different in length! Apparently our perfect cuts were not so perfect! Now, all the tops are finished, and the two bottom hems had to come back out. But, the two panels not hemmed yet were of equal length – what luck! Luckily Carmen was in a very good frame of mind today, so this hem removal and re sewing the hems did not bother her today. She said the fabric is beautiful and luscious to work with.

Dan spent some time painting the bottoms (where he won't be able to reach once they're installed) of the new window protections, basic gloss black. He also did some tax prep work.

Our crew worked on a final plaster wall coating. Most interesting to watch them preparing all the different mezclas (mixes) of cement, lime and screened sand as determined to be needed for each task, flipping the plaster onto the walls, then spreading and smoothing it all. Melitón the carpenter stopped by to measure for the cabinet behind the toilet and under the sink. He left with Frank to discuss Frank's project. He is unwilling to move his equipment to Frank's place and work there on an hourly basis, so Frank did not hire him.

(Mie 06^th) We walked to the store to order more cement and sand to be delivered. Turned out that FortiFerre, the place we had been buying it from was closed. At present, it seems they are out of business, Luís says from extending too much credit when they first opened last year, and not being able to collect those debts. Too bad for them, so we went to the Torralba Ferreteria, a nearby place where we had shopped several times before, and which also deals with block, cement and the like, along with a good line of hardware.

On our way home we stopped at our neighbor to the west. He works different shifts, but we heard music coming from his house. Dan talked to him about us refinishing his side of our wall, and attaching our fences securely to the poles we put at the top of the ten foot wall. Luís, our foreman, arranged to have his guys go over there when the neighbor, Valentín, is at home. Two of them worked there until 1pm today, and will continue to do so until the job is finished. Probably a week for all, including plastering the bare bricks, painting the wall with impermeabilizante and finally stretching the cyclone fencing in place. They had to first of all cut back our bougainvillea and hang protection over Valentin's plants. Will look good when finished, the sealer, from Fester, is a deep terracotta color The other crew worked finishing walls, the sink base counter and the seat in shower. SO GOOD to see these things happening. So much of the tedious work doesn't show as much time involved, but of course is most time consuming.

The welder dropped off some of his finished window and door protections, and took measurements for the next job of the stairway going up to the top of the roof. He said he has built lots of stairways, but not like this one. He needs some time to figure out exactly how he will construct it. Luis immediately cemented installed the protection bars over the window in the shower stall, and one door.

Carmen finished the cortinas (curtains) for the medium sized bedroom. Dan helped hang them just before he had to take the crew to catch their bus home for the day. We now have curtains instead of blankets on the windows of the room we presently are sleeping in. Dan again is enjoying his tax work.

(Jue 07^th) Bathroom wall tiling started today. More decisions. Being that there is a slight pattern in the wall tiles – which way to orient them? Final decision – sideways to make room appear wider, rather taller. Also the basket weave trim tile is oriented that direction.

While hanging laundry out – always an eventful time – a fellow stopped and started telling us where he was from, etc. Then he started weeding outside our gate, along the sidewalk. He did not ask for anything, just kept talking and weeding. What to do in cases like this. We did not ask him to work for us. Dan gave him a bottle of Ensure nutritional drink. This is what we intend to continue giving people who ask for food. Seems to be one or two a week. One fellow a couple weeks ago asked if we did not have any tacos. Pretty fussy?

Smij cat seems to want to go outside. She is so terrified of all, and she won't let us pick her up when she is scared, so she is certainly not allowed outside without a halter and leash. Gardi was on the front porch and she sitting inside the screen door watching him. Carmen showed her how Gardi gets picked up to go in and out the door. Next we got her a halter that we had been using on Gardi for his first outings (now he goes out with no attachments). Smij has a much deeper chest so we had to loosen it. When we felt the harness was ready, we next picked her up to put the harness on her. Ensued was a battle of the wills, which Carmen won. Smij now in halter and leash was carried outside. Interesting, but terrifying. Unfortunately, Carmen had not thought this thru about timing. The people for the office next door were just arriving for the day, so lots of foot and auto traffic. We attempted two brief Smij's outings. She did however have a bit of a look about. We decided to leave the harness on her a few days, and will give her some more outings. Want her to be familiar with what is outside the door – just in case she gets out accidentally. She, once inside with leash off, ran part ways up the stairs and sat there and cogitated about her adventures for awhile.

(Vie 08^th) We walked into town to go the atm and to pay our electric bill, and had a little set-to with the machine in the CFE lobby. Carmen insert two bills into the slot, but only the second bill was receipted. Dan went to explain the problem and a tech came out to open the back of the machine to release the other bill, which he then reinserted to pay our account in full. Live and learn! Also had to pick up another gallon of impermeabilizante at the Fester store. Later, while Carmen was out watering plants, the other brother from the carwash from up the street walked past. Turns out his name in Christian, and he and his brother were born, and grew up in, Houston,Texas. Recently, their parents were expelled from the US for being undocumented, so the whole family moved back here to live.

Today Dan worked on year-end accounting & tax prep tasks, and Carmen finished a hard jigsaw puzzle. Meanwhile, our crew worked on wall tiling in the bathroom (looking good) and finishing the west wall, making it ready for painting. Near the end of the day they installed the protective gate in front of our laundry/shop door. They will not be coming in tomorrow because they will be rewiring the church in their little community.

(Sáb 09^th) An adventure today! We took the bus round mid-day to go to Orizaba to attend a fair, their annual ExpOri. We love the ride from Fortín towards Orizaba along the winding hillside road through bamboo groves and jungle-like foliage. Many huge trees were in full bloom at this time. One in purple, another in orange, some white, some beige. Of course the pinks and yellows. Beautiful!

We knew where we were headed for, north of the main cemetery at the city fairgrounds. The only problem was that we got off the bus waaaaaaaaay too early. Had to walk several blocks in the 1pm sun. The event had many booths selling handicrafts, displays set up by local companies, plus all sorts of carnival rides & eat-from-the-hand foods. We were too early for the entertainment we had hoped to see – the voladores (fliers), men from Papantla who twirl down, suspended by long ropes from a rotating platform atop a high pole. The entertainment was oriented more for the evening hours, and even many vendor booths were not yet open, and the carnival rides not yet functioning. Having visited everything we wanted to see, and since we did not want to wait around for the crowds to show up, and darkness to arrive, we headed back to Fortín.

On the way back, in Cuautlapan, we counted 136 large huge stake trucks in lines eight deep, full of raw sugar cane, waiting for the El Carmen refinery to allow them in across their scales. The bus we returned on was destined for Córdoba via Fortin. We stayed on it thru the town to see where it went, planning to get off near the park downtown. Oops! No center of town stops anymore. So, we traveled five blocks beyond where we wanted off. Actually closer to home than to the bank where we needed to go yet. After a quick bakery stop at the panaderia, by the time we walked back we were ready for a quiet evening at home.

Aplanando

Domingo 24 Febrero – Sábado 02 Marzo 2013.  (Dom 24^th) Since she has been busy getting resettled, we have not seen Ania since she and Frank returned from Nayarit, while we normally would have had a visit by now. We got an email from Frank this morning that explained why. Seems that Ania's mother, from Poland, doesn't think it is proper to visit someone unless specifically invited. So, we called them and invited them for some peach pie. All, including Ania's mom Wanda, 85 years old, checked the progress of our little building project, including the top of the bathroom roof, our future terraza. Wanda thankfully only looked over the top of the ladder, and did not attempt to step onto the roof. Dan, Frank & Ania went on up to the very top of the house where the mirador is located. We then enjoyed pieces of pie, which Carmen baked early today, with coffee. Since the pie was a bit too sweet (canned peaches are not real tasty for pie),  Carmen had too added a bit of orange rind and a few raisins. Yumm. Always enjoy chatting with these folks. Wanda had many tidbits from Poland to interject in the conversation. She is a delightful lady, and as we said before, she speaks at least four languages. They borrowed the film, Mamma Mia, to watch while Wanda is here, which will be only a dozen more days.

The skies were not hot with sun, so we started on a short walk, south towards the dirt roads below town. Then headed east towards where a stream crosses. It is pretty looking down into the stream. Got a bit more than we had hoped for however. There was a bad smell, which turned out to be a dead dog laying half in the stream. Not so pleasant a view after all. About this time, the sun broke thru and pounced the upon us! So much for the perfect temperature for a walk. Back home we headed. Noticed a dirt road we had missed before. Also a cat the coloring of our Gardi. A couple different butterflies were strutting about on the ground and fluttering by. Walked past the window glass shop. It was closed. We took special notice of house windows – there are many different types, hand constructed. Met Louis and his dog Charlie down the block. Stopped next door to talk to Valentín about refinishing our wall on his side of the property.

(Lun 25^th) Wow – talk about hot!!!!!!!! It hit 90 by 10 am. Stayed cool and comfortable inside our house though, as the house holds pretty constant, whether the temperature turns hot or cool. Apparently febrero is renowned for its fluctuating too hot then too cold temperatures. Our crew continued working along, but it was too hot for us outside. We did walk down to the glass shop in hopes to make plans for windows and skylights. Owner was not in. We thought to walk a bit further since he was to return in a few minutes. The wind was in HIGH spirits, and just ahead of us a little dust-devil started up, and we turned our backs for it to swirl on by. Went back to the glass company and with no luck at finding anyone except an apprentice there, we came on home.

Hung laundry out this morning and it was dry in two hours, hanging on the front porch in the shade. While orchids were taking their turn, soaking in a bucket of water, Cosme, the fellow who sold them to us, appeared at our gate. He had brought us more orchids of different varieties. Was hard getting him to accept the fact that we do not want more orchids. Electricity? We had none for most of the day., apparently the wind had downed some lines somewhere. It returned shortly before our crew left for the day. Luckily they did not need it today. The night air cooled – good sleeping weather, with only a sheet for cover.

(Mar 26^th)  Cooling and some drizzles of rain started today. Thunder storms were predicted for past two days, but we felt them pass us by. Today was so dark, that Dan rounded up some work-lights to illuminate things for our crew. Thankfully they had inside work to keep them all busy 'til the drizzle stopped. Went shopping again to FortiFerre, where Luis insisted he last bought some hardware cloth. Nope, they still did not have it, so we checked the other hardware stores in town. Dan went back to FortiFerre and told them he had to have it today, so he would have to drive into Córdoba for it, since no one else in town had it, Armando the owner said he would get it from his other store, in another town, and have it to us by 2pm. Come that hour, where was this material? Just being delivered to our crew out back! Seems the store still hadn't located the large mesh for the slab, and would deliver that tomorrow first thing. Our crew immediately cut into the hardware cloth, using it to create a little hollow false bottom for the beam in the bathroom, hiding where the propane line runs across at the top of the wall. They also formed up the decorative sill under the bathroom window, using pieces of PVC drain pipe for forms.

When we were in town we saw a fuel truck from our gas company, and gave them more specific info on how to find us. Carmen is concerned we'll run out of gas before they deem to stop to refill us. It was too dark today to work on a very hard jigsaw puzzle with lots of dark pieces. But it was a good day for reading, and for cooking fresh beets, which gave us that tiny bit of heat we needed to take off the chill.

(Mie 27^th) The floor slab was poured today, after the welded steel mesh was cut and put in place. Another of Luis's brothers came along today, Ausencio. He heard there might be a job for him here in town. Apparently it did not happen because he was here all day. He helped a bit, so we feel we must pay him too, thought he was not expecting any pay. A neighbor a few houses south stopped and asked if our crew might be able to work for him on a masonry job. The brother will start the job, so it proved good for him to hang out here.

Again, we saw the fuel truck drive past. We are getting lower on propane, and Carmen is getting anxious to get it filled up.  We are still having problems with the pilot light in the old water heater (it blows out because the flame is so small), and she fears that an almost empty tank might make things even worse.

(Jue 28^th) Walked to the Fester store for a liter of festerbond. Fellows were aplanando (smooth plastering) the inside walls today. Gave them some molasses caramel popcorn in the afternoon, all wrapped in individual plastic wrap so that they could eat it without touching it.  They formed up and poured the concrete counter for the bathroom sink, over which the sink will be placed, surrounded by azulejos (wall tiles).

Started to rain harder by end of day. When on our way to bed, already warm in our jammies, Carmen noticed water on the dining room floor. We got dressed, with rain gear, and took large sheets of plastic up the ladder with us and covered the area that was leaking. Lots of concrete has been removed up there for the skylight construction to take place, and the rain worked its way thru, despite some protective plywood covers rigged by the guys. Buckets on floor did not catch much water after our repair.

(Vie 01^st)  Rainy today. 15ºC or 60ºF degrees out. Did not expect workers to come today, but they are here. Dan pointed out that a small lower wall in front of the water heater “closet” was out of square. No one would admit to doing the measuring for the wall. It will be repaired today. The tile would be hard to align if the wall remained crooked. Because of the rain, the crew concentrated on finishing the interior walls, readying them for applications of wall tile or paint.  The forms were pulled off and the counter for the sink was revealed.  There are no longer any leaking pipe joints, so all the grooves in the walls where the pipes run have been plastered over, except for a little access hatch Dan had them leave behind the shower faucets.

(Sáb 02^nd)  A cool day, cloudy which brightened later. Crew worked mostly on final plastering of the exterior walls. The window sill looked great with the forms removed. Carmen, outside in the front yard watering the flowers, noticed the propane truck coming up the street. She raced outside and flagged them down. It feels good to have our tank up to 90% again. After the crew was driven to their bus stop at 1pm, we had a dinner – a squid ink pasta with sauce of chicken, Italian sausage, and many fresh veggies, fresh garlic of course. Enough left for dinner tomorrow.

Next we thought we would visit nearby Ixtaczoquitlan, which was having a two day annual event in a small community south of there, with many pre-hispanic ethnic happenings. However, when we read that 24,000 people were expected in this six block village, and since the previous day had rained hard, we decided we did not need to be stuck in a field where we would have to park. Starting this late in the day, we'd just get there and then have to think about coming back home. We'll plan to catch this next year, when we don't have a construction job running, and chances are the weather could be a bit warmer then too.

So now what? Shopping of course. We did a short stop – buying nothing today – at Home Depot. Will probably buy the roofing for the shelter atop the mirador, perhaps next week. Our stop at Chedraui was eventful! There was a large bin of green tomatoes. These were actually green tomatoes, not tomatillos (husk tomatoes.) We are quite fond of fried green tomatoes, so Carmen's fingers did the walking thru the bin to select her perfect tomatoes for this gastronomic delight. The tomatoes must be the correct size and the correct greenness.

We wanted to look at fabric for our upstairs curtains. The largest material store we have ever seen is in downtown Córdoba. Saturday afternoon is a great time to shop as the city traffic is lighter and parallel parking spots easier to find. We felt lucky to find a good spot but six blocks away, and only one hill to climb.

We arrived at the ModaTelas store with totally open minds in regards to color, texture, etc. We inspected bolt after bolt. Finally narrowed it down. The only telas we both really lit up over were the Guatemalan fabrics. Even here, there were several to choose from. So the first final decision was – which room would this brightly patterned fabric go in. The smallest bedroom was the winner, since it has two large windows on the east side and two smaller ones on the north. Well, the small windows have yet to be installed. The dark purple background Guatemalan will go on the two smaller windows and a solid medium blue will go on the two larger ones. The colors just jump out at you and make you happy!

The medium bedroom has two large windows, both on the east side of the house. Here will be a rich light brown, with a slight red, rather than yellow cast. The fabric has a slight but hardly noticeable “palmera” weave pattern. The largest bedroom will have medium spring green curtains on its two large windows. One is on north wall to be installed yet, and the remaining window on the west side. The new, yet to be finished door in this room is where the other west window was.

Materials are sold by the meters here, not by the yard. Our purchases, including six spools of matching thread – about 24m (26 yds) of cloth, most of it 1.5m (60”) wide – cost about US$65. When looking for someone to help us, we asked one likely looking fellow and it turned out that he spoke english, however he was not a clerk. As many men, as women, work in this store. We have never seen male clerks in a fabric store in the US. We were wise and had all dimensions figured ahead of time. Nevertheless we were easily there a couple hours – what a job. Fortunately, we both seem to have the same sense of design, so decisions were easily reached, once we were able to eliminate fabrics that didn't feel right.

All the downstairs windows in the house when be bought it were clothed in a white light linen look. The glass upper section of door going outside from the pasilla (small hallway) hall of the new construction will either be this white, or maybe a Guatemalan tela? As Carmen was falling to sleep last night, she decided we also needed a Guatemalan fabric on the bedroom to terraza door. We will make it two sided so it can be green or colorful. We will need to go back to the store to get the other pieces of material.

Waldos? This store has good buys on dry pastas, a special oatmeal cookie that makes a great snack, US spaghetti sauces, plus other odds and ends from both US and Mexico. In other words – a heavy load. Our parking spot didn't seem so close when Dan was carrying the 16 pound bag of material back to the car. Carmen was loaded up too, carrying many bags from Waldos dollar store.

Next we tried to find a window maker not far north of the center of Córdoba. Frank has used this person in the past, so he had given us a name and directions. The directions left something to be desired to us strangers to this part of town. We finally did locate it, after going the wrong way on two different streets that were poorly marked, where the streets met at weird angles due to the course of the river winding thru town. It was closed this Saturday afternoon, but at least we can find it again. It was dark by the time we got home. To finish the day, we watched the end of one of the Zorro movies, and recorded the sequel which followed for later viewing.