Desorden a orden

(Domingo 02 - Sábado 08 Junio )  Since the crew is all finished except for a few remaining small jobs, the whole crew including the foreman, Luís, will not be back. Was most sad seeing our friends leave yesterday. Do hope they will stop by occasionally. Two of the crew, the second in charge, Heri, and helper, Alfonso, are to return thursday.

Spent a long day sunday, just sorting thru leftover supplies and storing them when possible. Figured a new place for surplus building materials – hidden in the corner just where we enter the parking area. Dan plans to build a shelter wall out of leftover liftvan plywood on a masonry base. Just beyond this spot is the trunk of a tall bougainvillea. Where this plant meets our west wall, our welder is building a fencing unit to keep cats from going from the wall onto the roof above where the cars drive in, or they could jump down into the neighbor's yard, by way of ledges, and then the whole neighborhood would be reachable by a wandering feline.

There was a huge pile of rubbish outside the car gate for the garbage collectors to pick up monday, by the time we finished the post-construction cleanup. Dan took a last garbage bag out from the kitchen on monday morning and discovered a man going thru the stuff that was still there. He said that he checks every monday at that time, before the refuse truck comes by, picking thru for useable and recyclable materials. Already taken was one of the boxes that had wrapped the washer and dryer, and all the cans from small to five gallons. It is great that people actively recycle here, something we had not expected. What locals do not claim, the garbage truck crew separate, if visible. The next two days Dan put shelving in the laundry shop room and made a good start on moving his tools from inside the house to the new “shop.” As soon as the bodega (storage closet) is completed, he can build shelves there. So it seems as if we can have our dining room back.

Wednesday the carpenter and welder were supposed to be here. Neither showed up. Carmen spent much time gardening. She cut back all the bigger bushes. Weeded along the road edge where the sedges are planted. We bought five geraniums and planted them along the inside of the south-east wall of our front yard. Soon they will be peeking above the wall edge – a couple feet high. Put one geranium along the south and west wall of that yard, along with a new red and green variegated leaf small plant. These are near to one of the plants we planted earlier there, which we think is a Caladium bicolor, with largish light green lance-like leaves spotted irregularly with many shades of pink and white. Then dug up the area between the two plants and planted foxglove and hollyhock seeds –just to see if they'll grow here. An impatience is now just inside the front gate to the north and a lovely peach colored double begonia is filling in a planter. The potted plants suffered some while we were gone, but they are coning back to health.

Thursday two of the crew returned. Also the welder, Mauricio, and helper, showed up and installed the doors for the bodega. They came back friday to finish the brackets for the interior shelves, and Dan had them cut off and re-weld the latch on the big backyard gate which had been originally installed on the wrong side—now it works like it should. Heri and Alfonso have done much final painting and repairing of cement, plus cutting out the hole for our clothes dryer vent. Then they moved on to painting the bodega doors.

We happened to be looking out the kitchen window when we saw Cosme, the gardener who keeps bringing more plants to us, get out of a cab lugging two giant plants in clay pots, which proved to be Oncidium sphacelatum, aka Sweet Sugar or Burnt Spot orchid, in full bloom with hundreds of yellow flowers. We bought both of them and one now sits behind the roof stairway on the terraza, and the other outside the living rooms window in the backyard. He is to return monday to spray the whole house, inside and out to rid us of insects for awhile. That would be some sort of miracle! He also assured us that he has the perfect plant to climb up the south side of our front gate entry. A Cabeza de negro vine, which grows out of a woody “yam” which sits above the ground and looks like a brown tortoise shell. He also has some Heliconia plants, which we have admired as we walk along wooded areas.

Before Cosme left, Dan walked with him three blocks from here to show him a plant that we have been wanting. The flowering vine is on a sidewalk fence in front of a yellow house. While two little girls and a kitten were cavorting about near this plant, Dan waited to take a picture of the plant. A fellow came out of the house and spoke english – he had lived in Kansas City for ten years! He had noticed us looking at this plant before and told Dan that he had some starts and he would give us one in two weeks when it was ready for transplant. The plant is a passion flower vine, but fruitless. It will look good up on the south west corner of our terrace, climbing about on the cyclone fencing.

A lady who works next door asked Dan for a $200 peso loan for a birthday party for a fifteen year old. Dan assured her that, as foreign residents, we were not allowed to loan money. (Not the truth actually, but a good excuse.)  In other local news, Collin, from Santa Cruz, CA, a Seventh Day Adventist, is moving in three houses from here.  We see her walking around Fortín almost daily, spreading her word.

Dan has attached three hanging bracket sets to the terraza railing, to hold flower baskets. Carmen has planted nasturtiums in one. The sweet corn she planted has one sprout, and yes we will keep the sprouts covered for awhile so that the birds do not pull it. The pineapple top that we stuck into a pot with some calendula flowers is growing. The papaya seeds put in a pot are growing. Finally we have found something that gets rid of those nasty white flies, which are a relative to aphids. Mix 2 parts rubbing alcohol with 5 parts water and 1 tablespoon of liquid soap and spray on the plant's leaves.  Cosme showed up the next day with a huge Heliconia and some of the Dioscorea, the Mexican yams, with vines starting to come out of the top.  The guys continued painting, now finishing up some of the inside rooms.

Saturday was the last day for our crew, and all the final painting was done. Things look good around here. Sure wish the carpenter would show up and finish his work here (mostly door and window frames). He is also going to paint the laundry room's new steel door. We hooked up and used our new washing machine for the first time, including putting in a booster pump to get the incoming water pressure up to specs demanded by the washer manufacturer (Electrolux/Frigidaire). Worked just like it was supposed to. Our clothes dryer is not in place yet. We are still waiting for a reply from the manufacturer concerning whether the machine needs to be converted for propane or if it is set up for that already – instead of natural gas, as indicated on the machine's label. Can't imagine they are actually selling a natural gas dryer in an area without natural gas services, but we don't want to ruin the machine if it was equipped with the wrong orifice for the propane gas we have here.

Dan spent more hours out back on saturday, sorting wood left over from the renovation project, and building shelves for inside the bodega.. He has figured out how to build the structure for storage of long stuff, separated stacks of various sizes of lumber and stored some scraps pieces for firewood.  He is thinking about out how to construct a shelf under the roofed area as we enter the parking area, for ladders etc. Nothing Dan likes better than a construction puzzle, and Carmen likes nothing better than Dan putting something together to make some orden (order) out of the (temporary) desorden (disorder) of getting our lives together here.