Almost a miracle!

When Jose ran to Marma late in the morning for $70 more of cement, sand and gravel, we wondered if we'd see it later in the day since Saturday is a half day. It was at the house within an hour, casi milagro - almost a miracle.
With Lora's supervision, Debora helped - whether Eriso needed another bucket of cement or a trowel.
Debora also cleaned up outside the posts so it would be easier to slide the tube molds off. And Eriso and I got to talking and what they heck, go for it. He'll used cement posts for the front now too, rather than wait for the wood to rot in a year. We have neighbors who have asked for it.
Lora's girlish figure after 2 weeks of high protein, high fiber food. She's almost never hungry now either. But she's still a long way away from becoming a spokesdog for healthy living. With her muzzle on, she came home after her first out of the day with a box of cream gangling from a tooth behind her muzzle.
No more free, unsupervised outs! Word on the street is that the municipality is rounding up what they consider street dogs. Oh no, callejera! So I broke out a 25 foot lead I got in the states yesterday and latched it to a thingamajig intended to lock the bicycle to, which by the way, Jose serviced yesterday. Lora will still be able to supervise at a distance.
For lunch, I made a mixed greens salad with Swiss cheese and Catalina style French dressing. Jose kicked it up a few notches for himself with red habanero salsa.
The big question of the day - Will fishermen go out this morning and report back to Eriso for fish fries, or will Eriso detail the side fence?

We've got poles!

As promised, Eriso was on the job early, wiring rebar to rebar...setting up the pipes that will turn into poles once the cement is poured.
The rebar from the pipes has to be firmly attached to the rebar that is in the frame of the garden bed. He promises to come earlier today to get the side length out out of the way. The job supervisor showed her pleasure! Yep, it's one of her smiles.
Jose drained the pool and washed it. Gladys took up Lora's bed and Jose used water from the swimming pool to wash it with some assist from a wet vac. Mostly it's air drying since the nearby laundromats don't have a drier big enough.
Doggie Dog is taking it in stride, napping on the bare floor. She took to the low fat, hi protein dog food well. But then, the meat used was venison. La vida del perro!

Siempre algo...it's always something

One of the catch phrases Jose has learned, "It's always something," along with Roseann Roseannadana's additon, "If it's not one thing, it's another." As part of his lesson, he watched a vintange Saturday Night Live clip on my laptop.
When he arrived yesterday, after also having the day off at Miguel's Moonlite, after running errands and running Lora with me, it was time to work on replacing the golf cart headlights. One of the lights cracked and it would be his first time replacing golf cart headlights.
He was under constant supervision. And when he was done, he remounted the turn signal indicator handle as well. The old ratchet ring wasn't able to hold on to it any longer. It's always something. Siempre algo.
Ricardo was sweeping up after cutting the bars off unused rebar, and wondering what to do for a mason. All the locals were tied up with the Your Casita 2008 municipal program involving more than 260 Mexican owned houses on Isla Mujeres.
But then, Ricardo learned one of our neighbors got a vacation from the project and was available.
Abelio starts this morning, bright and early, cementing the rebar columns to one level height with finished edges and working on a shade cloth roof for above the pool.
He'll also replace the side picket fence with cement lattice and build up the all the planting beds so I can grow more varieties of plants.
There will be a lot of work for Abelio, the albanil, who's nickname is the Spanish word for sea urchin, the only name Ricardo knows hims by after 29 years. He never knew it was really Abelio, he said.
It took Lora a long time to get over shouting, uhmm, barking, at him. She does that with all new Mayas she meets, since she was abused as a puppy in a Maya village in Tabasco.
After Abelio left, Ricardo finished servicing one of the rental unit's AC and I noticed a lot of water around the above ground pool. Yep, there's a seam leak. So second thing this morning, I'll put my snorkel on and take the underwater patch kit and go for a dive (three feet!).
If it's not one thing, it's another. Siempre algo.