Near misses




Looking into Hurricane Hole

The question is often asked how could you possibly leave San Francisco. Looking at the picture above goes a long way to explaining some of the reasons. While admittedly looking like it was staged, it's not. It's hard to grasp, I know. Walk around with amber tinted sun glasses and this is how it looks. If you want to change it up just go to the same spot at a different time of the day.

Off the ferry, I got up to Roger's house and the truck started right up. Sweet Tacoma! Even the slow leak in the tire had plenty of air still left to drive to the gas station. Apparently I've been a good boy. The shack did its job while I was away. The microwave was still showing the time so I knew there had been no power failures. Everything in the frig was good to go. Having to buy condiments all the time is an expensive drag. A bowl of ice cubes in the freezer gives me an idea of how long the power may have been off had it been. The rain gauge showed about two inches, so the island remains fairly dry. But there is always something to remind you who/what is in charge.

The two wild goats who took up residence under the shack at night and during any downpours added a third and decided that it was a little too cozy. They moved into the downstairs of the house by breaking through my flimsy barricade. Yup, they shit a lot. How much? Enough to cover 16'x26' in an 1/2 inch or more. That sound you hear is "Green Acres" playing in the background. I'm not touching it until it dries out.

The next couple of days are always the same on returning. Chill, get to the beach to remind yourself why I'm doing this and jump over to St Trauma for food and supplies to start the next job on the punch list. Thank god I didn't put this trip off. Things immediately got squirrely.

A couple of days later one of my favorite aunts shows up--Irene. ;~)

She missed me but got him. Not ten miles away on the back side of Virgin Gorda, the world's number one narcissist lives on Necker island. As one snarky attorney said, god with a gas can showed up. Richard Branson's place got hit by lightening. With the luck that comes from having your every minute filmed or framed in pictures it was all caught on film. The naked girl is no accident!

Here's the blow by blow of his "heroic" moments.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2028865/Richard-Branson-ran-naked-rescue-Kate-Winslet-mother-Necker-Island-fire.html

It is said that Kate Winslet rescued his mother. That I would believe. She is after all the face of St John having replaced Angelina Jolie. ;~)

Here's the before layout.
http://www.businessinsider.com/richard-branson-necker-island-fire-photos-2011-8?op=1


We only lost power for five hours. However the tower got hit and I had no computer for almost two weeks. Something about the power grid being uneven so my air card/data connect did not function. Cell phones did work intermittently.

Other than minor wind damage St John escaped Irene. We gave birth but the main land suffered.

I got lucky. This tree snapped above the cul de sac blocking me in. By the time I finally cleaned up the property and went up to deal with the tree these guys were there from a management company for a rental house. I watched that tree miraculously survive a previous hurricane while I rode it out in my truck tucked next to one of my containers. I had told the owners if they saw what I saw they would take it down. How it fell this time without taking out the power lines still remains a mystery!

Lizzy shows up after Irene. She lives in the bush while I'm gone.

After storms come pristine views

With all the excitement over, basically fear and trembling, I got back to the grind. I set about finishing the skim coating of the original plaster job that I interrupted to do all the concrete work with Thor. The kitchen and dining room. Same scenario as the other rooms. Smooth out the uneven plaster. To refresh, the veneer plaster I had shipped went "off" in transit giving me a working time of 15 minutes vs one hour. So instead of working an entire wall through five steps I did little tiny patches. Why? Because I'm an idiot. Yes, I have veneer plaster but it is somewhere buried under your standard topping compound. A compound I was trying to avoid because of its comparative softness. I wanted rock hard walls like we have in SF with their added vapor barrier qualities. Plus if it is done right it has a certain pearlescent that can stand on its own. Painting would be optional, and I did not want to, at least not now. More importantly it is mold and mildew resistant. Now, with all this skim coating, I have to put up four or five coats of paint to get to a level five finish. The dreams of mice and men. F'k.

This tool saved the day on the arches.

The pros are probably laughing their asses off but for me what a huge problem solver. Trust me, build yourself an arch, mud it and get back to me. Sometimes five dollars is worth hundreds!

Just finished cleaning up the previous mess and we started tracking Katia. She followed that track and missed everything on a grand circle route that died near Iceland!

It seems all the young chickens have split or been eaten. The adults are still around but the flock has been culled or whatever they call it.

Continuing the tradition on running ships aground, here was the latest.

http://www.bviplatinum.com/news.php?page=Article&articleID=1314632892

She practically landed on a more famous wreck--the Rhone.

By the end of the first week of September I finished all the skim coating and had one coat of primer on all the walls. All the while the "plaster" failure was bugging me. When you are not getting paid, extra work can really be irritating. To change the pace, I jumped into the bathroom and grouted the floor, cleaned and sealed it.

Never a dull moment this year.

Coming at us, going away, coming back. Do I put up all the plywood again? Everyone is tracking  her. Next morning at 11 am she disintegrated. Go figure. Never mind!

My live entertainment. The three feral kittens that adopted me generally hang out for days at a time and then disappear for the same.

Sleeping by the door as young chickens look in.

This guy is something else. He's a male though so the big tom is probably going to make short work of him.

the local tom  ;~)

Next up, not a week later, Ophelia. She turned north at the last minute and missed us completely. Another near miss!

Here's where they start off Africa. Generally you have about a week.

On the rocks in Coral Bay

Now you would think that I should have put everything aside and started building my storm shutters upon returning. Seems reasonable but you are not in the Virgins! We are currently out of treated 1x4 stock on both islands. When is it coming? Two barges ago! I am not going to buy 1x6, rip it down and waste my money and my labor. Instead I'll do some more skim coating, refining the finish, and put a second coat of paint on all the walls.

To break the monotony and get some cardio I jumped outside for a week and dropped and cleared about 30 trees opening up the view.

The new look

It doesn't seem like much for a week's work but half the job is getting to the trees, climbing back and forth to the house to be certain you are cutting the right ones. Dropping them, cleaning them up and making sure that the countless wasps nest are not disturbed during the process. I am prepared to drop everything and run like hell if I walk into a Jack Spaniards nest. These guys will wake you up. I have bounced off many a tree in my needless panic. Have I mentioned the grade of the hill? I'm good for about five hours a day at this stuff meanwhile drinking almost two gallons of water. The best part--you don't have to go to the bathroom. You sweat it all out! Years ago the original view was the that little sliver of water on the left.

pregnant mamas on the beach


During the time I painted or cleared trees I designed my shutters in my head occasionally making sketches. The basic criteria was they had to be operable by an 90 year old man or woman, all from the interior, no ladders and with no effort, and I mean no effort--you could do it with a walker if you had to. All done in ten minutes or so. As an added bonus, I did not want to see any of the hardware if possible. Further still, on the porch, they were also going to be the doors. Plus they had to be extremely affordable!! I had a host of other criteria I won't bore you with.

To keep it simple I figured I'd do a sandwich board of sorts. The strength of plywood with trim etc on both sides. The ply would also act as my template. Then it would just be a matter of  screwing all the bits on. Of course at the time there was no marine ply available so I substituted a Brazilian ply that is popular for door and cabinet makers. Smooth on both sides with no knots, it will paint up nice, another of my demands. Strong, made with eleven layers, it marginally fits the bill. I would not use it again. I would use untreated form plywood, usually smooth on both sides. Smooth? I don't want to do any patching etc that ultimately will show through the paint.

Keep in mind all the 1x4's and 1x6's that I used are treated. Not the best choice but the most economical, bug free and weather resistant etc. The major problem--it comes wet. How wet? Dripping copper azole all over your truck when you transport it. In a perfect world you stack it for six months. I don't have six months to find out what pieces are going to "cup" or go "twisted sister" on me. I'm putting it up wet and hopefully all the screws will keep it straight as it dries. I'll hang all the shutters and let them dry in place. This was the idea behind the dry ply sandwich as a template.

Welcome to my treated lumber world. The plan as it evolved was great but the lumber wasn't. Putting aside the raised grain, dents and the like, dimensionally none of it was the same, even from the same pallet. I had first dibs as they opened the bundles and it still didn't help. Every dimension was off by a 1/16 or so giving me raised edges where anything met. This is why professionals have planers and mill their own lumber. Did I have a planer? Of course not. A huge mistake that was going to cause me untold grief/labor down the road. Keep in mind I'm learning all this as I go. I had no idea that 1x4's and 1x6's would not match up. WTF.

the first set hanging to dry

Color samples on the walls next to the eight foot doors

The back side of the eight footers

I had to make the eight foot shutters bi-folds to span the five foot opening. I took some time to design the back of the shutters so they still held the strap hinges and closed flat against the wall when open--another demand. I did not trust the hinges to hold if they were anchored just in the plywood. This way they pass through the ply and then into the 1x6 stock. I know, too much information. But each of those shutters is close to 100 lbs. You can close them, however, with one finger and you don't see any of the hardware when they are open. Ok, yes you can see the hinge profile tucked along the door frame but it does not stick out!

Denise arrives in a few days. I spruced up the outhouse and tiled the jungle shower--all big hits! Even some of the feral kittens showed back up. I made about 20 sample boards for color choices so we can get that out of the way.

Denise picking colors!