Out with the old and in with the new

I have not kept up with posts for this blog. Barb and I have been busy and have had illnesses since my last post in November. I’ll review very quickly. Barb got a very taxing flu just before I went to Windsor, Ontario on Nov. 25 for RoseMary’s birthday. I suggested that I call off the trip, but Barb wouldn’t hear of it. Thus, she was left alone trying to recover while I was away for a week until Dec. 2. On Dec. 4, Jeff, Tara and the 2 grandsons arrived for a visit. Barb was eager and determined to see and do as much as possible. She had not fully recovered and after they left, she had a relapse and complete exhaustion. Then, I got sick on Dec. 22nd. I ended up spending most of 4 days in bed, including Christmas Day. Then, just after the New Year, Barb got a cold from which she is just recovering.

We are hopeful that we have turned the corner. Most of November and the first 3 weeks or so of December were cool. We probably wouldn’t have minded it so much if we had not been fighting the bugs we had. However, since late December, the temperatures have been rising. Saturday, Jan. 8th, the high temperature was 77 F or 25 C; Sunday was even better at 78 F or 25.5 C. This is very pleasant and should help our recovery.

This past week we had some significant work done. It started when we discovered that one of the big ceramic pots that we had bought for the palms (see the post for June 28, 2008) had broken. There was an absolute jumble of roots. After considering various possibilities, we contacted Jose Luis. We decided to have holes cut in the patio where the pots have been sitting and plant the palms in the ground underneath. Only one pot had broken, but it would only be a matter of time for the other one. One of Jose’s jobs got put off. As a result, his men were free to start immediately. At first they tried to use an electrical jack hammer, but it couldn’t make a dent in the concrete. Thus, they had to do it with hammers and chisels! Also, under the top layer which had been done in the renovations just before we bought were 2 more layers, one of brick. The photos show the palms duly planted just where they had formerly been in the pots.

As is usual, once we got started, we ran into another problem. The roofs on 3 sides slope to the patio. Thus, during the rainyseason a lot of water comes into the patio. There is a catch basin in the middle that has drains to take the water eventually outside the wall to the drainage aqueduct beside our lot. We had forgotten about the tile drains. They were right in the middle of the first hole that was dug. They would keep the palm too high but also, the roots of the palm would probably eventually clog up the tiles. Thus, it was decided to dig a new ditch into the catch basin to install a new PVC drain. Mexicans are amazing when working with concrete. They chiseled out the flagstones and set them aside. Later, after installing the new drain pipe and filling in the trench, the flagstones were replaced and already, it is blending in with the old.

In addition, Barb had 2 little tables and 4 lamps made of metal. She wanted them all painted the same colour. Also, we had a patio table with 4 chairs that we had bought second hand. But the paint had chipped and peeled. Barb had found a chaise-lounge in the same metal and style, but it was painted white. We decided to have them all painted; Barb had thought of light brown for the patio furniture, but I urged for yellow and as you can see in the photos, Barb agreed. Also, the fireplace in our bedroom was a bright orange that Barb had never been happy with. It is now toned down with a kind of burnt orange. It was all done in less than a week. It has been quite a while since we had any major work done, and it’s not quite done yet, so stay tuned