Back on Belize time

The last few days have been a little quiet around the construction site. The bulldozer and front loader have come in and dug out the area for the cistern and pool area. They pushed the cut off remains of the pilings into the hole they created and we will use them for ground support under the cistern and pool. That is not really a necessity but what else do you do with a couple of tons of excess pilings.

They have started to bring in fill dirt, or actually marl, to the site, and that will be used to bring the level of the lot up to the height of the pilings. After that, they will start to make the forms that will become the support beams for the house. Because the pilings did not go straight in to the ground, some extra work is required to make sure all the beams are tied together. Most of the pilings are off by only inches, but there is always one troublemaker. So to accommodate that one piling, the house has grown wider by six inches.

The roof for Pip and Jason’s place was poured Tuesday. It was done just in time for Jason to see the completion of the roof, because he leaves Wednesday to fly back to Canada. It is amazing to watch the workers pour that roof, five gallon buckets at a time. They worked like ants going up and down those ladders, with buckets of cement on their heads. And they would make these little hats out of the cement bags and put the buckets right on top. These guys worked virtually non-stop, for hours. Ah, to be young.

See, pouring cement roofs isn't dirty work

Roof pour at 11AM

Same view at 5PM

The winds have died down enough that I went kayaking today. I got another view of the construction site, from the water, but it doesn’t look like much. It was beautiful in the bay today and the sea was probably in the 80 degree range. I guess I’ll have to come back out when the house starts to go up. It’s a tough job, but I think I’m up to it.