Log #61, October
Heavy into Remodeling the SolCasa RanaQuemada
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30 October
Chivo, Rescue Success
Chivo, October 14th
Chivo, October 29th
Hey, look, there's a kitty attached to that tummy!
BuckyKat, Chivo and Gale,
getting along, esp. when food's involved
26 October
'Tween Contractors
Santiago/Miramar beaches while Kiko stood off-shore, last week
Gale and Chivo
While we prep for the second contractor onslaught, we're enjoying the scenery, weather and wildlife close to home, sin otras personas. It's nice to have privacy in the house, again.
Canon close-up
And we're snapping pictures. Debra and Candy brought us a new Canon to replace the injured Olympus when they returned from Austin a couple of weeks ago. Still getting the hang of it, but pretty impressed with its capabilities, like close-ups and wiggle control (although galloping kitties were still a challenge, the pencil holder held fairly still...).
Stan cementing
Our projects include getting ready for the kitchen cabinet installation. Stan's been installing outlets and wiring conduit, a ceiling fan, a house ground, and a gas line. He's a fully qualified Mexican electrician and plumber, and also a master bricklayer. Where he's re-surfacing the pass-through between kitchen and dining room, the new fan he just wired hangs behind him in the kitchen, as well as the conduit he laid for the recessed lights. We're installing a drop ceiling, so the fan will need an extension bar, and the recessed lights will mount right into the ceiling panels - no need to bury the conduit.
MJ scraping
paint where the closet will be installed in the master
While Stan dealt with the technical stuff, I attacked the stoop labor, scraping old paint, and sometimes mold, off of walls that will be hidden behind closets, cupboards, counters and the ceiling. Mindless labor requires loud rock and roll, and we're thankful for the ipod.
Three installers stopped by to measure for the second time on Thursday the 25th, in preparation for submitting our order to the manufacturer. Estimate is for two weeks in production at the factory and two weeks installation, in-house. Given a little wiggle room, we might, just might, meet my goal of cocina por navidad.
19 October
More on the Menagerie
Shy back yard iguana, between 3 and 4 feet tail to snout
Besides a flock of chickens, our other back yard residents are iguanas, three different types that we've ID'd so far. The chickens roost in the mandarina tree by night, the iguanas flit around the mangos by day. Every once in awhile there's a resounding thud from back there. If one is quick enough to run to the window and look, they'll see a big ole lizard scurry up a wall or back into the trees. It's reported that iquana's can drop 40 or 50 feet without injury, ours do it on a daily basis. With so many fruit trees producing a wide variety of tasty treats, they have gourmet meals to slurp up, year round. Too bad they don't eat chicken.
Another critter, TS Kiko, is parked offshore, and hopefully won't be joining either chickens or iguanas. The wind has kicked up a bit, and other thumps are coming from the back yard. There's only one coco tree, and that's in the neighbor's yard, but at every little puff, another frond or fruit plummets. It's wise not to walk underneath when the breeze is blowing.
Kiko is still building, slowly. He's predicted to follow the coast and then turn left, but he's hung out off our coast for five days, now, and is still poking along. The surf inside our bay hasn't built much and neither have the winds down here in the RanaQuemada holler, but temps have moderated to the mid-eighties, and that's been a big relief. As temps decline, kitties wind up; lot's of frogginess around the SolCasa.
TS Kiko's circuitous track, noon Saturday, winds 55mph, moving NW @ 5 knots
Bondo, Stan and Chivo
Even Chivo's getting into the act as he continues to improve. Bucky sees him as her own personal toy, revving up a head of steam and charging, then pulling up as Chivo arches and fuzzes up in defense. Bucky counts coup with a little slap, then takes off in the other direction and Chivo thinks he's the conquerer. He's pretty cocky, but after we-don't-know-how-long successfully surviving the mean streets of Manzanillo, he was already cocky to begin with.
13 October
And Then There Were Three
Chivo making his mark
Eyes, one blue and one...?
Frantic email from Candy, of Rosie-the-rescued-puppy fame; found tiny kitty on street, dirty, emaciated, dehydrated; needs home. Candy took him to the vet, I picked him up the next day. Made a box for him with blankie, food, water and new litter. None of those interested him, he promptly climbed out and did his business underneath Stan's desk.
Moved the big-boy litter box within easy reach, added stairs, and he's been pretty good about using it, but he has trouble with the cover it, don't walk in it concept.
A serious worm problem has his tummy boiling, thus he leaks. Four sets of bedsheets later, he's on a yogurt, canned food and kitty crunchies diet. The worm medicine slowed him down. Sleeping lots, not so playful. Expelled a pile of worms in his carrier on the trip home from the vet and lost his bulging tummy. Cuz they were sharing the same box, the big kids got the pills, too. Follow-up dose in two weeks.
In the meantime, construction work was progressing. Unfortunately, while snapping pictures of the guys digging ditches, the camera slipped, hit its face on the floor, and whoops! no more lens. Thankfully, for these picture-addicted cat owners, Winter, who now lives in our old casita, lent us her Kodak. I had a little trouble getting used to it, as you can see by the lousy exposures, but we were able to continue documenting kitty as well as construction progress.
Bucky stalking Chivo, and Gale watching
Kitty was named after Stan's favorite futbol team, the Chivas, a team neither Juan nor Rafa liked, and razzed Stan about daily. Besides being a tribute to the team, the name also reflects kitteh's appearance. With wrinkles and scabs from malnutrition and dehydration, Chivo's little face kinda looks like an old goat's, or ET, or Yoda.
Compiled a collage that we printed for the contractors. Armando, their supervisor, announced that this was one of the few jobs the guys didn't want to finish up and leave - golly, they liked us! Juan paid Stan the ultimate compliment as the crew made their get-away. He pointed at Stan and said, "Puro Mexicano." Stan was thrilled - reached his goal of blending in.
Collage of Rafa and Juan at work
2 October
While You Were Out - Remodeling....
BuckyKat laying in wait
The plumbers started on the decommissioning project and immediately dug a hole over the septic tank, which is situated smack-dab underneath the new kitchen. In the process, they punched holes in the existing sewer lines and also exposed the tank fill, which they stuffed with a rag. Then they went home for the day.
The plumbers left at 5:00, at 5:02 Bucky discovered that the exposed hole was full of wriggling targets. At 5:05, I applied nasty chemicals to the hole and covered it up. The rest of the night and the next morning, Bucky and I tag-teamed roaches. She'd identify the staggering target as it emerged, coughing and gasping, then herd it out onto the tile where I assumed the chase with my trusty flyswatter.
By 9:00 the next morning, the BK/MJ annihilation team scored 40 dead bodies, which we stacked in the corner. Stan, bless his high yuck-tolerance level, acted as undertaker. In the process we discovered that the smell we'd attributed to the septic tank was actually coming from the morgue corner, the dead were off-gassing, again proving that "you are what you eat," or something like that.
Gale, not waiting, after hole filling ceremony
Gale's backyard friend
In the old days of boat flies, Gale was the consummate hunter. He could snag a fly in mid-air. With a huntress in the pride, however, he's not so keen on wasting his king-of-beast energy on domestic tasks. He generally strikes a pose and lets Bucky do the work.
Sometimes Gale will expend a little more energy during his posing. We caught him chattering at one of the backyard flock through the screen.
