The big pour

Flamboyant tree in full bloom.......

Mike showed up as previously mentioned on Friday, May 4th with Mario. Cleon was awol with a bad back--actually it was carnival on St Thomas, aka "bad back". No worries, the three of us got it done. Closing up the walls is a lot easier and goes a bit faster. We worked Friday and Saturday with Cleon returning Monday. I spent Sunday checking things finding a couple of small mistakes in the layout and figuring how to remedy them without spending a lot of time. The long and short of it is the bathroom will be two inches narrower and I'll have to epoxy two anchor bolts for one of the supporting posts. I'm not concerned with how Mike made the mistakes I'm just happy I found them early. Once they got poured in concrete I would have had to live with them. The outside dimensions were spot on but the inside dimension of the cistern was off by two inches when the wall changed from 10 inches to eight. Ultimately everything is on me so I was very happy to spot it. Early on I decided to butt out of all the measurements in regards to the concrete forms. There are a lot of little twists and turns to what seems like a simple process. The last thing someone needs is me asking "how come" on every step. The silver lining? The bedroom is two inches bigger.

The work went fairly quick. After work Monday I stopped by Majestic to get in line for concrete. I had two choices, Friday the 11th or Tuesday the 15th. I called Mike to see if he thought we would be ready by Friday knowing that if we poured on Tuesday the 15th I would have to cancel my flight back to San Francisco. He thought we could make it by Friday. I paid Majestic for 48 yards and they penciled us in for Friday afternoon. It would be a long day with six trucks carrying eight yards each up that mountain.

the driveway landing pad!

Semi tame wild burro.......

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we worked like dogs with the concrete delivery hanging over our heads. While I'm new at this game, I knew we would never make it. What was going to get short changed was the very big retaining wall/driveway landing pad that was so necessary for sculpting the driveway so that I could finally drive down it for the second stage with all the steel. It's one thing to toss and drag plywood and 2x4 down the hill along with the rebar but it's totally out of the question with steel beams, posts, etc. I could not sleep Thursday night. Friday morning I stopped by Majestic and asked them how late in the day I could cancel the last eight yards--the retaining wall. I also asked Patsy not to mention to anyone that I might be doing that. Keep the pressure on.

Armani goes jungle......

Within an hour it was obvious we were not going to get to framing the retaining wall. Huge bummer. Not only is it the key to the driveway but it actually plays a big part in the process for back filling the foundation. My grand design for the universe has the excavator digging out the cottage above and using that dirt to back fill the retaining wall and the foundation below. Meanwhile he grades the driveway, digs out the small swimming/wading pool and hoists, out of the foundation below, the hundred sheets of plywood and assorted 2x4's and places them in the newly excavated hole for the next cottage well up the hill. I don't want to have to think of alternative plans at this moment.

Well, the other shoe drops at about 10 am. Jeff, the pumper truck guy, breaks his rear axle trying to make it to his first pour. Majestic starts looking for a different truck for us to meet the afternoon pour. Meanwhile we keep working. Now it rains, not enough to stop us from working but enough to keep the cement trucks off the "slick" roads. Majestic cancels the afternoon pour but promises us Saturday. A break for the good guys! However we are still not going to be ready with the retaining wall. Heavy thunderstorms Saturday morning again keeps the trucks off the road. The other pumping truck doesn't even try to get up the mountain. This is turning out to be pretty good news. Majestic thinks I'm crying the blues, paying a crew for waiting around for concrete that never comes, so they keep bumping us to the front of the line. Now we are on for Monday am. Jeff's other truck, which was getting its bearings replaced is now ready for work. We put in a full day on Saturday. I work Sunday laying out all the bolts and tightening up all the whalers etc. We still have a lot of work to do on the retaining wall which Mike expects to do while I'm working pouring the walls.

scaffolding platform up and ready

Flamboyant tree flower blooms June-July for over a month......

Monday morning comes. The weather is perfect. How we are going to get the wall done is any one's guess. I assume it's not going to get done and I'll be calling Patsy to cancel the last eight yards. This is going to be close. Jeff calls while I'm up in the container getting some anchor bolts. He can't make it up the mountain with this different truck. He's losing power. With no power he has to back all the way down the mountain. The good news--after three delays for concrete caused by the pumping trucks, the retaining wall gets completed up to eight feet. Majestic bumps us again to the front of the line for Tuesday the day I fly out. Do I stay or do I go? Will Jeff's other truck with broken axle be repaired? After Tuesday we no longer get bumped to the front of the line. It will be at least a week before we get concrete. I talk to Mike and decide to get on the plane with everything completed. Not what I really wanted to do. But.

a new wild burro.........


Invasive vines I thought I was going to cut down until I saw them bloom.....

Jeff's truck finally gets up the hill on Tuesday. The cement starts showing up while I'm heading to the airport. Of course there's a a panic moment for Mike and crew. They topped off one of the trucks and fresh cement spilled out of the back going up the steep incline. Everyone had to rush down the mountain to sweep the road so the next truck could make it up the hill. Other than that everything went as planned. Thankfully I had put all the anchor bolts in place with Simpson anchor holders the night before. They would have never been put in. Some crews put the anchor bolts in after the pour. With the crew short handed they would have never had the time. I would have had to drill and epoxy 75 anchor bolts probably hitting rebar on every hole. That's why I bought my 50 cent plastic Simpson holders. Thank god! And just to be safe, Allah Akbar!

The vine flower--blooms in April-May for a month.......

Finally some great news. Majestic was packing those trucks with concrete. We did the math several times. Even with the pumping truck eating a yard and the piers taking one extra we should have still used 46 yards with 48 ordered. Anything extra I would just add to my splash driveway. Meanwhile Rick, a nearby builder stopped by and mentioned in passing if there was any extra concrete he would by it. Extra concrete? How about eight yards! He took it all. What a save. He just lowered my bill $1700. The only thing we can figure is that Majestic was putting almost the full nine yards in the trucks and after the first five trucks it started to add up leaving us with an extra truck. Whatever. I got mine and Rick has his footings! Yah man! Jeff also stepped up after all the delays. Last time he charged me $1390 to pump thirty yards. This time $1250 for forty. Maybe they are just happy to not have me there!

Just in case you think I spend my time holding drinks with little umbrellas, I have not been to the beach since the middle of March. All the work above was performed while we were being attacked by mosquito hordes which appeared after the big rains breaking a mini drought that lasted four months. We had fires going at all times, feeding it with whatever we thought would make smoke. I wore long sleeves etc. Only my face was exposed.

I'm typing this freezing my butt off in San Francisco. It is nice to come back to our fur lined rut here in SF. This is easily the most beautiful city in the world. I leave here June 3rd. Home for eighteen days!

our hood.......

where our pets go to heaven.......

I thought I was leaving on June 3rd. What was supposed to be my usual skin cancer removal routine turned into an extremely painful, trip delaying eyeful.

I had to change my return until the 13th, only to have Jetblue then basically cancel my trip to Ft Lauderdale where I then board Spirit Air to St Thomas. These guys collectively are all highwaymen. When I called Spirit from the Jetblue counter to inform them I would not be making my connection the next morning they told me tough luck--as I was within the 24 hour cancel period I would lose my whole ticket value. And, just to kick me while I down, they had no seats until two days later and I had to buy a new ticket at the much higher price. Jetblue, for their part, simply said they were sorry! Of course that's just half the story. For virtually the first time in my life I decided to check bags. Not just any bags but two forty pound collapsible thermos bags with twenty pounds of fresh halibut and salmon, ten pounds of fresh cherries, ten pounds of cheeses, and assorted other fresh things too many to mention. That fresh fish is now frozen in our SF freezer. The day of new flight I went and bought fresh fish again and more cherries and tomatoes. You don't even want to know what this is starting to cost!

Jetblue remembers me from two days ago as I'm chitchatting at the counter. Same two heavy bays with moisture showing. Thank god I don't look like Ahab. Anyway the bags get grabbed and labeled and taken away. After I'm handed my ticket the counter person asks where my bags are? Say what? That guy put tags on them and put them on the conveyor belt. Hey you, where did you send this guy's bags. I sent them to Boston on a rush because the plane is leaving in fifteen minutes. I am about to die. After a two day delay, canceled flights, one ticket lost with no refund, five hundred dollars of fresh fish and produce and they lose my bags at the COUNTER. I assume the plane I getting on is going to crash. This has bad news written all over it. Plus they don't even fly to St Thomas. It's gone. It is everything I can do to avoid arrest. The ticket counter personnel disappear. What's worse, I'm a Jetblue fan. I'm crushed as I board my plane an hour later.

Sitting next to me as it turns out, are two Jetblue stews heading home to Lauderdale. I want to strangle them. They overhear my conversation with my wife on the phone as I'm still seething. Denise tries to calm me down. They offer their condolences. I'm resigned. As they are closing the main cabin door the counter person comes bounding down the isle with an orange vest on. Mr. Neid, the Boston flight had to return to the terminal with technical problems on takeoff and I personally retrieved your bags. They will be waiting for you at the gate when you get off the plane. I can't believe it. I guess this plane isn't going to crash after all! For one last scare, the bags were not at the gate. I went to baggage just in case and there they were. Whew.

I won't bore you with the details of paying an extra $110 with Spirit Airlines in Lauderdale because I had to return to check-in when I failed security with a liquid in my bag--melting ice. Duh. Then the four hours of sitting in the waiting area and on the tarmac while they looked for a new co-pilot. My poor fish. We arrived four hours late but i still caught a ferry to St John. Roger, Fran and I are happily eating halibut and salmon once a week! Moral of the story? Use dry ice. They allow it on the plane in carry on luggage.

I still have to write a letter to Spirit Airlines. They tried to tell me the responsibility was with Jetblue for the ticket. OK. We shall see. The Spirit flight which got delayed is usually the return flight I catch to Lauderdale where I catch Jetblue to Oakland. Spirit would have caused me to miss that connection. Would they have paid? I don't think so.

Back to construction 101. I went back to work on Monday, June 20th. The site was a mess of debris and spilt concrete. Unfortunately in several instances it was up against the forms causing all kinds of unnecessary work tearing down the forms. I'm new at this but its not rocket science. After the pour you take the time to shovel back any concrete away from anything that later has to be moved. The guys certainly worked, I'm sure, but they bailed at a critical junction. Work that should have taken ten minutes took hours breaking concrete with a sledge hammer. After work some days it was all I could do lift my arms. Cosmetically I have a cold seam running around the building excluding the cisterns. It happened when one of the trucks was delayed. While they say I'm wrong about this, I intuitively think that's where my earthquake cracks will be. St John is Zone 4 for earthquakes--same as San Francisco.

I'm going to take a few pictures before finishing the walls. All my plumbing and electrical survived the pour. What I should have done is taken pictures when the walls were open so I wouldn't have to think about the layout. My brain goes to toast if I'm gone more than two weeks and "out of shape" definitely returns after one month. I had to go through the heart attack stage when I got to taking down all the forms. The first week was deadly.

I have to add another four feet to the height.......

I'm typing this again waiting for Mike and crew. The retaining wall on the driveway has to be raised another four feet by my calculation. Possibly less, but more is better. Once that is completed I can bring back Jose, the excavator, and sculpt the driveway, back fill the house and put a splash driveway down so I can bring down all the steel etc. Right now it is not possible to drive down the hill--actually it may be but I'm not risking it. It's not like I can make a phone call and get pulled up the hill!

before and after

Two major termite colonies to be burned out. One is pictured below. These suckers got into my forms already.

Minor problem that I need to resolve immediately. One of my piers for a column has settled one inch out of whack. We can drift the bolts but I'm worried about more of the same. With the area being totally dry and under a tarp I'm thinking about finishing the back patio now rather than later. I'll have to get some advice on this. The pier in question is marginally on the edge of the fill area and my guess would be as more water saturates from above it can only settle more. If I put down some crushed rock and six inches of concrete it would certainly prevent any water seapage and further settling. We shall see. I have found a person with a mini cat, about five feet across with tank treads and a small bucket. He could get down to my back area without doing to much damage to the foiliage. That little machine could dig all my footings for a couple of retaining walls, grade the patio, put in all my drains lines etc in less than a day at $100/hr. Money well spent.

For the last wek, ending July 4th, it has been carnival here on St John. All day and all night. Bunny Wailer was the big act among several. Folks come from all islands for this one. Last, but certinly not the least, I went to a private party at a famous building on the water front--Christian fort (Danish) now known as the Battery, built in the early 1800's to watch the fire works given by/for the new Governor of the Virgin Islands. Sitting on the lawn we chatted for a bit as he made the rounds. No, I didn't tell him how to run things--I"ll save that for next time.

Just spoke to Mike after he canceled again. He blew out his back, yet again. I'll do the retaining wall myself. Thankfully it is only four feet. I'll have to built some scaffolding. I did finally finish the trench around the back and side for my drain lines. Next week I'll waterproof the foundation and build the slide to bring my gravel down. Galvanized roof segments is the material of choice around here for the slide. Hopefully I can get it in sixteen foot lengths at no extra charge. I'll pick that up Monday on St Thomas when I drop Roger and Fran at the airport as they depart for Argentina.

That's it for now.