She who must be obeyed arrives

 

 

Has it really been a year since Denise's last visit? Wow. On the positive side a lot of things seem to have gotten done on the house. Sometimes it doesn't seem that way when you visit every six months or so. For myself, nothing seems to get done, everything is a drawn out slow motion play. I don't know what possessed me to start this blog many years ago but thankfully I did. It forced me to take pictures and write a general outline. Had I not, I can say without reservation, I would have no idea what the sequencing was. It's all a blur now,  hustling from one thing to another.

 

the ruins of Leinster Bay

 

 

 

 

http://seestjohn.com/history_leinster_bay.html

 

 

Waterlemon Cay

 

Because dueling was illegal in the Danish West Indies, those convinced of the necessity of settling disputes or defending their honor in this manner would travel to Tortola where the practice was legal. In 1800, however, the British Virgin Islands also prohibited dueling. Consequently, the remote and uninhabited island of Waterlemon Cay, far from the eyes of Danish or British authorities, became the new "field of honor."

http://www.seestjohn.com/beaches_leinster.html

 



Mangrove snorkel

And just like that, Denise was gone after two weeks. While she was here I generally worked every morning, finishing the Juliet balcony off the kitchen/dining room. We went hiking or to the beach later in the afternoons--usually the beach. With Wi-Fi in the shack Denise also worked when necessary. Who doesn't love the connectivity these days? But a lot can also be said for the old days. All those years I spent travelling in the 70's the only real means of communication was letter writing. Post offices all over the world had general delivery where they held your mail until you showed up weeks, months later. It's true, I missed family weddings and a funeral by the time I got the notices but I would have not returned anyway. Hitch hiking from Central America back to New York, Michigan, California or wherever was quite the effort. I did it a few times--both ways! Best time, seven days, SF to Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.

Lake Atitlan, worth hitch hiking to.

Next in line--the downstairs, framing out the rooms. The only drag, it's my storeroom and general workshop.

I did the typical work around. I only moved the 2x4's! Previously I had put all the plywood, sheetrock and doors within the confines of what would be the utility room. You would be surprised how much labor it takes to move 60+ sheets of 3/4 inch plywood and 9' sheetrock. I was pissing and moaning about just having to move 50 or more 16' - 2x4's. Virtually all the stuff in the picture below has to stay sheltered otherwise the elements, termites etc will destroy it.

Hanging from the wires on the back wall was a Bananaquit nest with babies! Yes, yes, I framed around them ultimately leaving open walls so they could fly about. They tested my limit though when we had a mosquito bloom and I had to leave the window opening unscreened.

They are really small. The first time you see them flitting about you might think they were very large humming birds.

On a sad note, after 37 years Maho campground is closing after losing their lease. Maho among other things was a springboard used by many short and long term residents on St John. They had a long standing, slave labor to some, work for lodging arrangement that gave some folks the toe hold they needed to stay on St John until better job prospects surfaced. Here's the story.

http://stjohnsource.com/content/news/local-news/2013/04/25/stanley-selengut-reflects-37-years-maho-bay-camps

http://newsofstjohn.com/2013/12/05/and-the-maho-bay-buyer-is/

I did not have enough steel to frame out all the walls so I happily went with treated 2x4's. Generally I would have done everything in 2x6's but I needed the extra two inches from each wall. Things are tight for a number of reasons and none of the walls are load bearing although I felt good about them adding support to the floor joists.

Rather than skim coating the back concrete wall I framed it out by splitting 2x4's in half lengthwise and hung sheetrock. Basically it was a 28' run encompassing the bedroom and walk in closet. Like so many concrete walls it was neither smooth nor plumb. Now it is. The other walls I'll skim coat. Those walls have very large door and window openings not to mention that any framing would screw up how I planned to frame and trim each.

the walk in closet

 

 

Too many birds. Where are the hawks when you need them?

No question, working with wood is easier when it comes to plumbing, electric, and putting up sheetrock. As previously mentioned, driving screws into 12 and 14 gauge steel is not an easy task especially when you are holding up sheetrock doing a ceiling. More on that later.

Thor shot me an email and mentioned he would be on island for a day or two before returning to Maine after the boat delivery. He volunteered to help if I needed any muscle. He said the magic words, "volunteer". With the money long gone, the days of having paid help are warm memories! Long story short, I still had a 20' container up the hill with 40 sheets of 10' siding and about 30 sheets of 9' sheetrock. I had previously moved some of the sheetrock myself and it was insanity. It was every thing I could do to prevent snapping the sheets in half. Out of the container, slide under the camper shell, drive down the driveway, out of the truck, walk the ramp, down all the wooden stairs, around several corners and scaffolding, more stairs and then find some place to put it without flexing it so it doesn't break. You only do that a few times. It will prove to be the heaviest 70 lbs. you will ever carry! Now where was I going to put seventy sheets of assorted materials?

Why of course, under the shack!

Despite a lack of headroom to swing a pick, it was dry and the grade sloped downhill. Looking back I think I stretched it over two days. We got everything moved except for about 10 sheets of siding. There's no risk of breaking those so I can get them alone at a later date. Thanks Thor. Now I can sell the container when the opportunity knocks.

Discipline!!! I played every song on shuffle/no repeat without touching the iPod.

 

Hole in the ceiling? There is a method to the madness. Everywhere there is a joint in the plumbing pipes I left the ceiling open so I can check when I get water pressure. Right now the cisterns are empty and there is no utility room. Those are my last two major projects. For some it is their first, for me I have chosen those last for a whole host of reasons. Blah, blah, blah.

I mentioned that moving 9' sheets of fibre glass sheetrock was very difficult. I chose nine foot lengths because that was my wall/ceiling height but when it came to do the ceilings I knew I would have one foot of waste as the rafters are 16" on center ending at 8'. To make things easier on myself I cut my pieces under the shack at four feet making carrying and putting them up a breeze. The only work was one extra seam to mud. No big deal.

I had to leave the bathroom wall undone because we hadn't been able to find a suitable medicine cabinet on St Thomas. What is it with these gi-normous medicine cabinets? Are they secret in-law units? We had been looking for what used to be the standard 20x26 pedestal sink cabinet. We'll have to order it online and hope it arrives in one piece. Until then the hole shall remain.

God takes care of idiots. Thank god I left that wall open. It's through there that I carried all the sheetrock to finish the other rooms. I almost painted myself into a corner as they say. All the sheetrock is on the other side of that wall or up under the shack. Whew!

And yet another opening! We could never decide on sink and shower fixtures so I had to just keep on moving forward. Boy, they are not playing around on pricing. Stuff that just a few years ago was a couple of hundred dollars now sells for $500-$700. Good grief.

MSI had Durabond! It's hard to beat for a first/second skim coat on sheltered concrete. The walls look great and I'm not even finished yet. You will not be able to tell the concrete walls from plastered sheetrock. That's one huge worry off my list.

Yeah, this is what I do in my spare time! ;~)

One last task before heading back to SF. Carrying down all the Travertine for the bedroom etc.

Extreme bummer. I carried down about 300 square feet, almost a ton over several days, started to dry lay it, and realized I did not like it at all. The light reflective quality changed dramatically compared to upstairs. It went all muddy looking. I stared at it for a day, moved them all around and basically ended up crying the blues. Not only was I out tile, with none on the horizon, I had to hump it all back up to the truck area. 50lbs a box doesn't sound like much but 40 trips up several sets of stairs and traversing an uphill ramp is a very depressing thought. Plus, now I have to estimate the future thickness of a floor so I can trim out all my doors etc. The work has to continue. I had to do the upstairs that way and it sucked. It can be done but it's pain in the ass stuff.

On a sad note, I found one of the feral kittens dying outside the shack. I took him, made him comfortable and he died later that night. In the wild most animals die young, that's why the litters are so big. Out of every 100 bush chicks, maybe 2 or 3 make it to adulthood. Even the lizards eat each other.

The one month party ends on the day I leave, July 4th.

The queen goes by as I wait for the ferry to St Thomas...