Throwing cement

My neighbor across the street, Federico was bored during the Swine Flu outbreak way north of here. So, he decided to rearrange his windows. On the left side of the screen, you see a house and stores that need repainted. I was a day late taking the picture, since a big hole had already been knocked out of the wall.
Now your see the progress and where he was heading: Puma Palace! Federico is a big Puma team fan in Mexican football. The colors are gold and blue.

When my brother was here, he exclaimed at one point: "There's a lot of money here!" Why? Because of all the cement. Well, for us, changing a wall is like hanging new curtains. Not all that expensive if you have the right masons!
So during the H1N1 scare, I had an old Mexican acquaintance do some work for me too. He painted around the new meter tower and around the pool, where the carpenter built a shade cloth roof and wall. He drained the apartments' water storage tinaco and bleach-washed inside, and refiled twice to drain the crud. He also cleared my pickle and zucchini plants and sowed seeds for chard and cantelope.
Coming soon: an update on my golf cart!

Up and at 'em...

Just a short note to say, I'm up and at 'em! Eriso and I are going to Constuctarama, aka Marma, when it opens at 7am. He needs to get the poly-vinyl pipes and bars he will use as the "frames" to make the fence I decided on and additonal kind of cement to pour into them.
We decided that, rather than go to Cancun for poured pattern blocks.
Yesterday, his wife Debora stopped by to see how it was going. He got the fence down and the first distance of rebar in. During that time, I leaned in and gave the garden a good weeding.
I asked him to get rid of the yucca variety that had entwined with the chaya and as he was looking around for what to do with it, Debora appeared. They have a deep soil garden and she is saving that plant.
I made crock pot chicken terriyaki and gave him fresh pineapple, which was in a perfect state. Muy beuno, he said. He asked for water instead of soft drinks and I plied him with the glasses laced with a third of a squeezed lime. He was fooled and thought I had added sugar.
Muy saludable, he said. He went home for lunch, and a typical Monday lunch on the island is pork and beans. Debora made fish.
A health brigade worker came by and checked the property and structures for mosquito breeding sites. Dengue fever is a big concern and they have been on it like clockwork this year, even though we seem to have had more cases.
Lora was dying for some of my chicken terriyaki and denied even a taste. I decided she needed a consultation with Delfino for weight loss since she has started to refuse runs with Jose and me.
She is heavy and may have arthritis and even diabetes. I just don't know. She also needs a tick shot. Ticks are lighting on her again and I have picked two out of her skin.
So we have an 11am appointment with Delfino in the office. Out doggie dog, we are going out!
As I finish this up, the mosquito truck is spraying. It's bug season on Isla!

Stop and smell the cocos!

Wednesday's "day off" for work on the property taught me a lesson. I have been too much work and not enough play since returning from the US in July. So after another hectic day, I headed into town to "robando la cajera automatica." Rob the ATM! But I did stop and watch the sunset and, uhm, smell the coconuts. Masonry was well under way and again, the job was being well supervised. Taking care of the supervisor, Lora Doggie Dog, is a job in itself. She has to feel secure with the workers. And she has been eating like crazy under stress, putting on little spare tires. Llantitas.
But just as she has learned to love the Maya plant lady and the crowd she draws to the front of the house, she has accepted Eriso - the sea urchin actually name Abilio. For three hours, he was just one of the four workers Lora and I had to supervise. The compound was a job site for 10 hours.
And then there was the issue of my shoulder. I thought I had torn the rotator cuff. Mary Ann came and gave me a massage and concluded the ligament/tendon was severely stretched. On the same side as the foot I broke jumping out of bed, probably used defensively, she said. It has indeed had more than its share of lifting and moving since then too. Even with Ricardo and Jose variously as helpers, there was a lot of repetitive movement in the shopping trips last month. And pull toys with the dog instead of golf cart runs during heavy rains.
Mary Ann fashioned a pareo sling for me and I hit the ATM at Seven -11 and headed to Miguel's for and a guac and quick one. Back home by 7:30 and in bed by 9 to get up and take Eriso to Constructarama on Isla Mujeres to order delivery of cement, gravel and blocks and some reinforcing bars for the garden wall build up.
But I had so much pain, I could not sleep and finally around 3am took a narcotic pain pill prescribed for just such emergencies by the Cleveland Clinic. And I was up at 5, making Lora chicken liver chilaquiles and checking on the financial markets and politicos. Not that it makes a difference what I do or don't know about what's going on.
Eriso and I were at the cement joint by 7:30, where we ran into the carpenter, and were ready to roll by 8:45, when we came home and found Jose ready to paint. He cleaned up after the re installation of the AC in the upstairs unit (which had been installed incorrectly, with not enough breathing space) and painted that wall. When I checked on him, the TV was on and I asked to switch to CNN, which gave us the chance for him to learned legalese and slang, as in OJ Simpson. Culpable is guilty. He wrote that down. Then I added, guilty as sin! He wrote that down too!
Despite torrential rains until 2pm, everyone worked in and outdoors.
Everyone is gone now as sunset approaches on Saturday afternoon and I just took another pain pill. Mary Ann found the position I can rest my arm without pain. On my back, arm over my head and a pillow under the shoulder.
So hey, folks, it's siesta time!